? about pulleys

[Ike83]

My power steering pump is going out. It whines when I'm idling, and it REALLY whines when I hit the throttle.

Bottomline, the thing's going to be replaced next weekend.

But I was just wondering, has anybody replaced their stock p/s pulley with a lightweight or underdrive pulley?

My stang already has a Ford Racing underdrive pulley on crank, so can I still get away with underdriving the p/s pump and the alternator without messing anything up?

 

[riceslayer302]

i wouldnt put one on the alternator, i did on my old car and the battery wouldnt hold a charge

convert it to manual steering.

 

[NIKwoaC]

i wouldnt put one on the alternator, i did on my old car and the battery wouldnt hold a charge

convert it to manual steering.

Ehh I've driven manual steering cars and I'm just not convinced. Its great for straight line fastness and working your delts, but sucks for anything else.

Check out Welcome To Auto Specialties Plus Inc - 1 887 928 8678, I have a set of pulleys from these guys and I am pretty happy with the quality. I believe they make power steering pulleys, and IIRC they have a few different color choices.

 

[Ike83]

Ehh I've driven manual steering cars and I'm just not convinced. Its great for straight line fastness and working your delts, but sucks for anything else.

Check out Welcome To Auto Specialties Plus Inc - 1 887 928 8678, I have a set of pulleys from these guys and I am pretty happy with the quality. I believe they make power steering pulleys, and IIRC they have a few different color choices.

Let me ask you guys something. Do a lot of people underdrive the p/s pump or the alternator on the Mustang? I've only heard of underdriving the crank, whereas on my previous car (Contour SVT), underdriving the crank would throw off the harmonic balance.

Therefore, on my CSVT I had underdrive pulleys on the alternator and p/s NOT on the crankshaft.

On the otherhand, my Mustang already had an underdrive pulley on the crank when I bought it, and when I asked the previous owner about underdriving the p/s and alternator as well, he just stood there and looked at me like I was stupid.

So has anybody else underdriven their p/s or alternator? Or is this just NOT the thing to do on a fox-body Mustang?

 

[NIKwoaC]

When you "underdrive" the crank, you are effectively "underdriving" (slowing down) all the accessories that run off the belt. Typically, with a underdrive pulley kit, the most critical thing that changes is the crank pulley gets smaller, which effectively slows the belt speed, and thus, the accessories driven by the belt. Some kits manipulate the other pulley sizes to keep the stock belt length without throwing the tensioner way out of its correct travel. IIRC, the ASP kit I have only had a smaller crank pulley, the alternator and water pump pulleys stayed the same size. SO, in doing that, the power steering pump is slowed down as well, even though its individual pulley was not changed by the kit.

Since your system already has an underdrive crank pulley, I'd venture to say that you shouldn't underdrive any of the accessories any further (which would be achieved by switching their pulleys for LARGER diameter pulleys). If you want, you could measure the PS pulley and see if you can find a matching aluminum one with the same diameter. It might be futile though, because I don't see you gaining anything from it, performance wise.

Really, UD pulleys are only worth a couple HP to begin with, so I see it more as a way just to pretty up the 'bay by throwing in colored aluminum ones.

 

[nero6]

I did not have a u/d pulley on my power steering pump but I had one on the crank, water pump, and alternator. I was afraid to drive it at night as with the lights on and any other accessories, it would pretty much die at every stop. Even in the day without the lights on it barely held the charge at a stop. I have seen several people upgrade to a larger altenator but for the few HP you gain it was not worth it. I changed back to the stock pulleys and have no problems now.

 

[LiquidGT]

A lot of the road racers like to underdrive the p/s pump for less steering assistance at high speeds. the bigger pulley comes from the 94-95 V6 Mustang, they were also in 3.8 fox T-birds/Cougars and they were probably some other Fords too.

The part # is E2SZ-3A733-A for the OEM steel pulley, the new composite material dealer replacement is YR3Z-3A733-AA. Some say its harder to steer in parking lots and that the pump shudders; others say its fine all around, it really depends on the car. It might be worth a try if you can find the pulley for cheap.

I have the ASP underdrive pulley set with a 3G alt. and I have no problems with charging, even with the headlights and Taurus fan.

 

[NIKwoaC]

I think idle speed takes a big part in maintaining a charge. I have my idle set at about 800-850 and I have no problem with charging, though my lights do dim when the car slows to a stop. I actually still have a stock alternator, and I have an aftermarket electric fan.

 

[Ike83]

I appreciate the help guys. I think I'll just stick with a new p/s pump and keep the OEM pulley.

Let me ask you guys one more question. My pump obviously makes a high-pitch whining noise at idle, then it REALLY chatters when I hit the throttle and the rpms climb.

I'm pretty sure this is common sense, but I AM losing hp due to the resistance being created from the worn out p/s pump bearing...right?

Am I correct in assuming that my car will probably rev a little smoother when I get a new p/s pump and eliminate the resistance on the accessory belt?

 

[NIKwoaC]

I appreciate the help guys. I think I'll just stick with a new p/s pump and keep the OEM pulley.

Let me ask you guys one more question. My pump obviously makes a high-pitch whining noise at idle, then it REALLY chatters when I hit the throttle and the rpms climb.

I'm pretty sure this is common sense, but I AM losing hp due to the resistance being created from the worn out p/s pump bearing...right?

Am I correct in assuming that my car will probably rev a little smoother when I get a new p/s pump and eliminate the resistance on the accessory belt?

I doubt its eating that much power that you will notice a change in performance with a new pump. If it were requiring that much force to turn, you'd be getting a lot of belt slip and probably would have fried a belt by now.

 

[Ike83]

I doubt its eating that much power that you will notice a change in performance with a new pump. If it were requiring that much force to turn, you'd be getting a lot of belt slip and probably would have fried a belt by now.

True...but I'm sure every time you can eliminate some resistance, it will help the natural flow of things. Therefore adding...





















1,000,000 hp!

 

[NIKwoaC]

True...but I'm sure every time you can eliminate some resistance, it will help the natural flow of things. Therefore adding...





















1,000,000 hp!

Haha, hey, I'm not saying its a bad idea to change out the bad pump and that it won't positively affect operation. I'm just making sure you don't get your hopes up. You know what they say, its better to be pleasantly surprised than utterly disappointed.