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help with light weight pullys

2K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  SteveJohns29 
#1 ·
i dont know alot about engines but my friend told me to get some light weight pullys i was just wondering what exactly they do and what i would gain from them?
 
#3 ·
If you aren't knowledgeable about them, DO NOT get them.
 
#4 ·
You'd gain less rotating mass on the engine for increased power. But those weight savings won't last and in a few months, you'll also have a couple hundred pound paper weight. Which is good, because you'll want to weigh down all those letters from your dealer saying "warranty denied"
 
#6 ·
I took out my lightweight pulley last week after a year. The risk is just to great if something should go wrong. Honestly, I felt no difference from stock and lightweight
 
#7 · (Edited)
Unfortunately a member or two here have had some poor experiences with inferior pulleys, but pulleys are absolutely safe as long as they are of proper build quality and properly installed. Your friend was absolutely right, they are one of the best modifications you can do for the money.

Check out these, you will not be disappointed.

http://www.gencoupe.com/vendor-clas...meter-pulley-sets-now-available-preorder.html

Also, if anyone has questions on these please do not hesitate to contact us or even unorthodox racing themselves. This forum is clouded with myth and poorly made pulleys and hopefully everyone does not miss out on a great performance mod due to this that will quickly be de-bunked once members experience having a top quality set of UR pulleys on :)
 
#10 ·
^ I'm sure your pulleys probably are as good and safe as you say they are, but there has been a lot of talk on here recently regarding pulleys and engine problems that members have had because of them.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you are still a business trying to make money, so understand why some people are hesitant to take your word for it that their investment won't go boom. Until the product is tested and proven by third party members, its too much of a risk for most people.

That being said, I've been following your thread for the 3.8 pulleys and they're on my list for a little further down the road once I can see some long term reviews.
 
#12 ·
Absolutely understand and hopefully we will have plenty of reviews on these very shortly by all and definitely hope we can change your mind with them. Similar to any product, whether it be an intake exhaust or shift knob, if it is poorly made it will certainly bring some negative attention to the product. However I'm still extremely confident just knowing how much time, money, and extreme care that were put into these pulleys that those who purchase will be extremely satisfied. Just as those who having been running them on 300ZX's for 15 years are still extremely happy. We want to be here to help answer any and all questions on this :)

Some engines respond well to lightweight pulleys, because the pulley does not act as a harmonic balancer. Subarus for example have no issues with lightweight pulleys, but their engines are also self balancing by the nature of it being a boxer setup. The fact there are 2 (maybe 3?) people who have blown up their motors with very small mod lists, and within a short time of installing a lightweight pulley? Yeah. I'd pass too.

Also, how exactly is your product different? Lightweight pulleys are usually just a chunk of aluminum, tossed on a lathe and made to shape. 6061 as a product from metal suppliers is going to be pretty darn uniform, and as long as the lathe is in decent repair, any aluminum lightweight pulley is going to be damn near identical to the next one. Unless your pulley has something inherent in it for harmonic balancing, like a 2 piece construction, I doubt yours is any more safe or quality than the next piece.

EDIT: just read the site, and yeah. Generic aluminum pulley set. You can argue that maybe unorthodox racing has better run out/concentricity on their components, which leads to a better balanced pulley, but when the motor blows and hyundai points at that shiny aluminum pulley and says that caused it and you're warranty is denied, 15+ years of on street experience isn't going to pay for the replacement motor.
Let me start out by saying, I do fully understand the hesitation around here on these, but would hate for a performance part that in most markets is considered by far one of the best modifications for the money, I'd hate to see it completely written off due to another product. The last thing I would be here doing is trying to sell anyone parts they do not need or would cause them harm. Those who have shopped with us in the past I'd hope would know this from experiencing our service, but we are here to convince the rest of you as well :D

Harmonic balancing is a bit of a myth out there, I will be posting up some articles on this topic (there are tons on UR's website for those who want to do some reading both in the FAQ and Blog sections) but in brief, the pulley is a perfectly balanced 1-pc construction. This is actually superior to a 2-pc construction due to strength characteristics that a two piece pulley would be more prone to breakage and there are no ill effects of a perfectly balanced 1-pc pulley. We've had everyone down to the President of UR look into those articles that seem to be the issue, and while we won't be posting our thoughts on it as its not our place to make comments on a competitors product, please know that we have thoroughly read up on the issue. As far as differences, we cannot comment unless we were to place our pulleys next to every single competitors, but top of the line equipment, analysis, etc are some of the differences. Similar to an intake or an exhaust or making a cheeseburger, the technology, equipment, and overall knowledge on being in this market for so long really makes this part stand alone from the pack.

In the end, we would just hate to see people miss out on such a great modification due to the (fully understandable) sour taste left in their mouth from others.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Some engines respond well to lightweight pulleys, because the pulley does not act as a harmonic balancer. Subarus for example have no issues with lightweight pulleys, but their engines are also self balancing by the nature of it being a boxer setup. The fact there are 2 (maybe 3?) people who have blown up their motors with very small mod lists, and within a short time of installing a lightweight pulley? Yeah. I'd pass too.

Also, how exactly is your product different? Lightweight pulleys are usually just a chunk of aluminum, tossed on a lathe and made to shape. 6061 as a product from metal suppliers is going to be pretty darn uniform, and as long as the lathe is in decent repair, any aluminum lightweight pulley is going to be damn near identical to the next one. Unless your pulley has something inherent in it for harmonic balancing, like a 2 piece construction, I doubt yours is any more safe or quality than the next piece.

EDIT: just read the site, and yeah. Generic aluminum pulley set. You can argue that maybe unorthodox racing has better run out/concentricity on their components, which leads to a better balanced pulley, but when the motor blows and hyundai points at that shiny aluminum pulley and says that caused it and you're warranty is denied, 15+ years of on street experience isn't going to pay for the replacement motor.
 
#13 ·
How exactly does new pully's make the car faster?

Would you need a retune if you bought them and have BR/PA flash?

What exactly is going wrong with the pully's when people blow their engines because of them?
 
#14 ·
Overall concept of pulleys is pretty simple actually. UR pulleys weight a fraction that of OEM (typically around 85% or so less than stock) which dramatically reduces the rotating mass. Less weight = more power and makes your car more efficient (another point I think I haven't mentioned) because it works less hard to move the pulleys!

You do not need a re-flash/tune with any of our pulley sets, however like all performance mods you may see even larger increases with one.

I can't speak to even if any of the issues were related to pulleys as we didn't take a look at the exact case (or have access to the components to analyze). As you can imagine, pulleys are a critical engine component, so they do need to be balanced and of proper build quality. We would be happy to elaborate more for anyone if they'd like :)
 
#15 ·
I had the UR light weight under drive pulley on my previous car, 2003 Nissan SE-R. Had it for well over 5 years and no issue at all. In fact, a significant amount of SE-R fans have the exact pulley for years with no problems too. UR does make great quality products, and so I agree with Throwdown that we shouldn't quickly dismiss pulleys. The previous manufacturers may have sucked, but UR is not like them.
 
#17 ·
Rageguy - appreciate your feedback and review!


I'll quote Unorthodox's website as it literally has tons and tons of information and facts on this topic.

Is my crank pulley a harmonic/torsional/vibration damper or a harmonic balancer? (linked)

People are getting their crank pulleys confused with the harmonic dampers found on some domestic V6 & V8 engines. "Harmonic Balancer" is a term used loosely in the automotive industry. Technically, this type of device does not exist. The "balancer" part comes from engines that are externally balanced and have a counterweight cast into the damper. None of the applications we offer use a counterweight as part of the pulley, as these engines are all internally balanced.

The pulleys on most of the new import and smaller domestic engines have an elastomer (rubber ring) incorporated into the pulley making them look similar to a harmonic damper. The elastomer in the OEM pulley serves as an isolator, which is there to suppress noise from the engine accessories; the A/C compressor, P/S pump, and alternator. This is what the manufacturers call NVH (Noise Vibration & Harshness) when referring to noticeable noise and vibration in the passenger compartment. It is important to realize in these applications, the elastomer is inadequate in size and durability to act as an effective torsional damper. If you look at the pulleys on some imports there is no rubber to be found at all. We have samples of these, mostly from Acura/Honda B & D Series engines, Nissan Altima, 1.8L Eclipse, 2.3L Fords, Chrysler 2.2L's, and 1.8L VW's just to mention a few. Most owners who have installed our pulleys notice the engine actually feels smoother. This is result of replacing the heavy crank pulley with our crank pulley. NVH is variable and unique to every car. NVH will increase with the installation of an aftermarket intake and/or exhaust, for example. Think of OEM intake systems in newer cars, they use baffles and resonators in the intake to quiet all the intake noise. Aftermarket intakes eliminate these resonators and create dramatic increases in engine noise from the throttle opening and closing. So to most tuners, certain types of NVH can make the driving experience more enjoyable.

The purpose of a traditional harmonic damper is to protect against crank failure from torsional movement and frequencies of high amplitude. This is not necessary in most modern engines because of the many advances in engine design and materials. Factors such as shorter stroke length, smaller displacement, piston dwell time, piston pin off-set, power output, etc., do determine when and how these harmonics and torsional movements occur. More importantly the actual tune of the engine, espcially with modified vheciles, is the biggest factor in potential engine damage. Poor tuning leads to detonation which is an engine killer that no damper can stop.

Again, there is a lot of internet hearsay about solid crank pulleys. When engine problems occur, too often people are quick to blame the pulley first, rather than taking the time to look logically into why there was a problem. We hope that after reading this you will understand our crank pulleys better.

Also, here's some more info in their blog section : UR
 
#19 ·
go for it, so you can tell the rest of us how it goes :D
 
#21 ·
I have NST prototype waterpump amd alternator pulley on now.. The crank will come soon. Obviously there are no issues with these :) once the crank is fitted I'll be making a post for everyone
 
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