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Anyone done this and is it worth doing?

Also the one's on sale on ebay, anyone tried these out?

No. I wouldn't do it. A couple HP gain, only to loose your alternator power at idle? Screw that.

I have the unorthodox one on my ze and it made a difference in acceleration..me and my friend had the same set-up and he was suprise how my engine rev faster that his..never had a problem with the alternator wath so ever..if you're really worried about it..adjust your idle 200-250rpm higher

Originally posted by lakersfan1:
No. I wouldn't do it. A couple HP gain, only to loose your alternator power at idle? Screw that.

There have been numerous write ups on how UD pulleys are bad for your engine. http://www.team3s.com/FAQudp.htm

I dont know on my mx3 but on my maxima ..ok it does make difference with acceleration BUT at idle..you may not notice it but the alternator woudlnt charge. The maxima had a mattery light that would come o. On the mx3 after installing my projectors...dang those things drain battery quick, when I was aiming them I had them on for around 10 minutes..with a new battery. The car didnt start hehe I had to juice it up from another battery. Anywho..Im assuming if i *** an UD to my car which by the way I consider to be expensive.. I would defenetly need to get my idle much much higher.ANd well if you got the k8..why even bother moding it with a pulley? when you can just get a klde for around 300 think about it, your paying more in mods on the k8 when yopu could easily surpass the hp gains with a klde.

why the f$$k can't they make a NONUNDERDRIVE lightweight crank pulley? then i'd buy one!!

i'm not compromising my a/c and alternator output with one of these damn things

I have one of the UO ones on my K8. You will notice a rather large difference on how quickly it revs. That will make some difference but remember that only is how quickly it can rev but it does not actually give it more torque. Speed without power if that makes sense.
Now, the alternator is another issue. I have no idea how my alternator was when I had the pulley installed. At first my alternator light would flicker on when I was at idle and had the car out of gear. In gear at idle was fine. After 8 months or so it was coming on more though and I had to replace the alternator. I don't truly believe the pulley killed the alternator it just showed that the alternator was old and not working perfectly. Since I put in a new alternator the only issue I've encountered was actually a couple of weeks ago when someone needed a jump. My car was at idle out of gear and I had my stereo on (I have a 300 watt amp on the speakers and a powered sub). The guy's car wasn't getting enough charge to turn over. I thought about it for a moment and realized I probably wasn't putting out much extra juice so I rev'd my engine a little bit and in a few seconds he had enough to start his car. Now I don't consider this a real issue but some might.
A couple of things you will need to be aware of if you are wanting to put one of these in. First, you will need to a little bit of modification. I believe it is the belt cover that doesn't fit perfectly with an underdrive crank pulley. Part of it will need to be cut off. Also, it will need a different sized drive belt. Neither are big problems but you should know about it going into things.
Steve

i was considering buying an UP but after reading that article, no way.
thanks.

i didnt know that such bad things can happen from upulley, I wanted one off of ebay, but I guess I wont get one now.

Pitty that i didn't know this BEFORE I mounted my UOR pulley.

I put over 50,000 miles on an MX-6 with an under pulley and fidanza flywheel. I had zero trouble. I wouldn't hesitate to get one again. I had no charging troubles. The steerin was slightly heavier, but it was overboosted to start so I liked it better.

Our engines DO NOT have harmonic balancers. They do have small strip of rubber between the pulley center and outer ring- this is not a balancer. The outside ring on our cars weighs nothing and is doing nothing to dampen resonant vibrations. Our engines are internally balanced and all the dampening is in the engine. Chevy V-8's and a lot of other engines are externally balanced- By the crank pulley or the flywheel. Those engines will have trouble if you put on a solid aluminum pulley.

Flavor Flav said it best - don't believe the hype

<small>[ December 07, 2004, 07:59 AM: Message edited by: TsiMiata ]</small>

Originally posted by TsiMiata:
I put over 50,000 miles on an MX-6 with an under pulley and fidanza flywheel. I had zero trouble. I wouldn't hesitate to get one again. I had no charging troubles. The steerin was slightly heavier, but it was overboosted to start so I liked it better.

Our engines DO NOT have harmonic balancers. They do have small strip of rubber between the pulley center and outer ring- this is not a balancer. The outside ring on our cars weighs nothing and is doing nothing to dampen resonant vibrations. Our engines are internally balanced and all the dampening is in the engine. Chevy V-8's and a lot of other engines are externally balanced- By the crank pulley or the flywheel. Those engines will have trouble if you put on a solid aluminum pulley.

Flavor Flav said it best - don't believe the hype

thats what i had been told

Originally posted by TsiMiata:

Flavor Flav said it best - don't believe the hype

I thought it was much more insighful when he said '9 1 1 a joke in yo' town.', but I digress. I believe the reason we don't need a harmonic balancer is because the crankshaft weighs a million pounds. A little differential on the pulley or cluch end isn't going to throw things off too much percentage wise.