Pulleys: Worth it?

[red94fiveo]

I have been thinking about buying some underdrive pulleys. Are they worth it? About what kind of power gains will I see and how much hotter will I run? The only time I am worried about the reduced cooling is when I run SCCA. Oh yeah, who makes the best ones and what finish can I get them in? Thanks.

 

[zenboy99]

I have ASP aluminum pulleys, got them on sale for $90. Best mod I've ever bought. They go on in a few minutes in the driveway, GREAT sotp feel and I haven't had any charging or cooling problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[GTJake]

I got my pulleys from Joe. They're March/Steeda Underdrive Pulleys and I think he dyno'd them to 8rwhp or there abouts. Cheap, easy mod.

Jake

 

[Killercanary]

I HIGHLY recommend ASP aluminum underdrive pulleys! They are the best bang for the buck I ever did.

 

[95snoozer]

pulleys = great for daily fun and passing ppower without having to down shift.

they will help you get out of a bog better if you are on tire

just do an easy high speed fan switch and you wont have to worry about getting hot.

I atsy at 175 on stock radiator. this is on a mechanical autometer guage

 

[Aftrbrnr]

With my pullies, I've felt a difference in performance but I've also been having some charging problems. At low RPMs, my headlights dim, my climate control fans don't run as fast, and my CD player will shutdown too for no reason. I don't run an amp or subs, and the only thing that is really high-drain on the battery are the PIAA headlight bulbs I've got. I think it could be the alternator or battery, but I've heard of a lot of guys who have had charging problems with pullies, too.

 

[GTPhreak]

don't you have a foxbody though? the 130A 3G is much more efficient than a 75A fox unit

 

[viperos]

red94five0... pulleys are totally worth the $$$... just make sure you get a good quality product, not BBK or MAC, and make sure they are aluminum! (the parasitic loss is amazing between those and steel!) www.rpm-mustangs.com has them for hella cheap too (ASP Aluminum ones)... through a misprint on the website, I got mine for $65 shipped!... other places I've seen them are $115...

-you will notice a slight battery drain at idle, when the car is warmed up... but nothing to worry about... just slight dimming of the headlights, and not as strong blowing of the air if it is on...

 

[rio95]

i got march powdercoated steel pulleys and i think they are one of the better choices. the aluminum ones are pretty much for looks and some of them discolor anyways.

 

[viperos]

what are you talking about, "aluminum ones are just for looks..." they look exactly the same as steel (black for black)... and those don't discolor... I think you need a new source of information... (or you might not be talking about ASP... but march or BBK ones...)

 

[Killercanary]

Rio, I totally agree with Viperos. I've had my aluminum ASP pulleys for almost 5 years now. Steel is heavier than aluminum and will rust, aluminum will not discolor, even the anodized ASP ones. My cousin has 4 year old red anodized ASP's on his '95.

I never had a charging problem, and I even ran a 600watt amp in addition to my mach 460 stereo. I just this past year replaced the stock battery. At idle you will notice a drop in volts, but by the time you hit 900rpms you're back at full charge, so don't worry about that. I have no cooling issues either, at least not from the pulleys. My xenon front fascia doesn't let enough air past and has caused me some issues since installing it.

 

[viperos]

well, as far as cooling, I have noticed a little difference... but I just put a 160 thermo in during the racing season, and wired up a switch for my fan (because we can do that in our years, and not previous ones , had to throw in that plug for the sn-95s ), and I run the fan inbetween runs at the track, and around town... don't need it when you are on the freeway though...

-the thing is, the whole belt is turning slower w/ pulleys, so everything is a little less... but not even close enough to make them not worth it!

 

[red94fiveo]

Rio, I totally agree with Viperos. I've had my aluminum ASP pulleys for almost 5 years now. Steel is heavier than aluminum and will rust, aluminum will not discolor, even the anodized ASP ones. My cousin has 4 year old red anodized ASP's on his '95.

Can I still get the ASP pulleys in red? I guess I could just buy aluminum and paint them.

 

[viperos]

you don't want to paint the pulleys... just buy them red... www.aspracing.com has them... blue, red, black, silver... I think that's it... but I know they have red... I was looking into some for me, but when you can get black ones for $57, you settle...

 

['94Vert5.0]

I'll put in another vote for the pulleys. I got ASP aluminum ones and have had no problems with charging or cooling. They made a very noticeable difference on my mostly stock car.

 

[DonCoryon]

I run 1000 watt amp, with a continuous rating of, I think it's pretty high, about 300 or 400. Hooked up to two 12's and a aftermarket deck.

Does anyone know if I would have problems running this kind of amp with pullies? I can get asp nitride coated steel ones pretty cheap and was thinking of picking those up. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[stunner6910]

no problems whatsoever, doncoryon. i had an 800watt amp for my subs and a 400watt amp for my mids with aluminum pulleys. this was in my old mustang, never had any kind of problem. very highly recommended on my behalf, as soon as they're in, you'll see the difference.

 

[nmcgrawj]

I have a kenwood 1,000 watt amp on two 12's that pound PRETTY hard. I have never had any problems with power. I know my batter gauge likes to wave at me sometimes but i never notice my lights dimming

Buy 'em, enjoy 'em, and come back and thank us. You wont regret it!

 

[94DreamGT]

Wow...I can honestly say I don't agree with a lot which has been said in this post. Maybe only me experiences, but:

1) Car ran noticeably hotter after the pulleys went on. I knew the water pump spins slower as a result of the larger pulley, but my gauge ran consistently higher after I put them on. I remedied this by installing a manual fan switch.

2) The pulley's absolutely sucked my volts down and ended up killing my battery which ate my alternator. Cost me over $300 in that instance. I had a 4 channel 800W amp pushing a 10" sub, which I disconnected afterwards. Still sucked the volts down to where everything dimmed and it drained the battery at the track a few times on me. I switched to the stock alternator pulley.

3) All that being said, it is still worth it to me to run them because of the horsepower increase. The alternator and battery thing was bad luck, but it can happen.

And for whoever said BBK quality sucked...here is a picture from last month of my 3-year old BBK pullies. Keep in mind they have been through 3 winters and a lot of crap (banging wrenches, greasy hands). I cleaned them up after this and they looked new.

 

[DaveL]

Pulleys are the best bang for the buck. I think most of the people that do not have cooling issues or low voltage issues have a manual. When I first put on a set of pulleys in the cooling suffered and the voltage dropped significantly, especially in severe traffic and I had to rev it a little to maintain some power. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore and took them off. Since then I've put in a 200 amp alternator, Fluidyne radiator and a custom burned Autologic chip that turns the fan on sooner. I've put the pulleys back on and the voltage drops slightly without accessories on except the radio. At night if I'm in traffic with headlights, A/C and radio on the voltage will drop a great deal but not to where it becomes a concern.