HI EVERYONE PLEASE PLEASE CAN YOU GIVE ME HONEST ADVICE ON EXPENSIVE AFTERMARKET ENGINE PULLEYS ???????? ARE THEY WORTH THE COST ??? ANY ADVICE PLEASE

THANKS CRAIG...

 

Hi Craig

I have a Perrin pulley on my MY00 and it makes a hell of a difference so yes it is definately worth it.

 

Wurzel, how you do quantify a hell of a difference? i dont want to be picky or start an argument, but my own car with a full set of pulleys and a 4.6KG flywheel has made a *small* amount of difference. Feels nice reving it at a standstill but actual performance is not really noticeable.

IMHO they are worth it as a bit of bling, but money is better spent elsewhere if you are after performance.

 

no mater what you decide stay away from 'Kent' pulleys (as in kent cams), i know of one court case going on due to part failure, also know about 4 or 5 people who have had them fail.

 

I changed my OEM 2.5kg pulley for the perrin one which weighed in at a massive 500g. When I fitted it and drove home I noticed that my engine pick up was noticably alot quicker and smoother, gear changes were alot quicker and smoother probably due to the engine pick up, I am not a mechanic and do not profess to understand how engines work but I can honestly say that there was a major noticable difference in my car when I changed the crank pulley, I still have the other 2 OEM pulleys fitted. I also changed the flywheel to a 4.5kg MRT one a few months ago and yes the engine revs alot easier put also pics up alot better, once I got used to not bogging it down on pull away it is nicer to drive. However once I changed the flywheel the power band was shunted 1000rpm further up the rev range so turbo kicked in at 4k, this was brought back down with a remap though.

I do not have many engine mods on my car but with the few I have my car was mapped to around 340ps by Bob Rawle, with 4 adults in the car at the time.

the mods I have are

Lightened flywheel 4.5kg
Perrin pulley 500g
SS decat DP
Prodrive PPP centre pipe
T75 back box
3port solenoid
VF24 Turbo
APS CAK
and mapped using a mixture of 95 and 100ron petrol as we get 100ron over here.

Result is a missile on wheels.

So TBH I can not answer why you got next to no benefit from your pulley and flywheel change but believe me I did.

 

I have had a 4.6 kilo flywheel fitted to my STi with no lightweight pulleys and that has made a great difference for the better.

What pulleys make the biggest change once lightened as I'm thinking it might be worthwhile

 

nice one - maybe my *** is too fat and insensitive to notice!

the theory actually says gear changes wont be as smooth. for the same reason the engine picks up RPM quickly, it will loose them quickly as well. hence more RPM drop when you dip the clutch and less off an even RPM/road speed match to slot the gear home.

I agree with everything you say (feels responsive, bit more difficult to launch etc ) about a pulley/flywheel combo, apart from the massive diference you can feel.

 

It would be nice for someone to some dyno work before and after with flwheels/pulleys.

Alloy? you were on a dyno not so long ago , before you fitted the flywheel.

 

Correct the engine does also spool down quicker, and I also found that once I changed the pulley but had the OEM flywheel still fitted the engine felt like a V8, it was rocking and bouncing abit. Changed flywheel had it mapped and now it is sweet as a nut admitedly you do need to rev a bit further than you normally would to change gear smoothly but you get used to that over time.

 

Yeah thats true, but since then i've had a few mods and remap etc now the flywheel, so not a good test bed

 

Thats the rooute I'll be going down so, when the time comes I will post my findings!

Underdriven or lightened pulleys which is the best for a 2001 WRX bugeye?

RR

 

from what i've read lightened are better than underdriven but thats not gospel so wait for some one more clued up to pop along

 

Under-driven are bad.. lightened can be good. Depends on how light you go on the crank pulley and if you have a lightened flywheel fitted as well. Just remember even though boxer engines are 'naturally' more balanced than their in line counterparts, you are removing the harmonic balancer when installing a lightened crank pulley!

 

and what does this mean exactly..?

 

Are you talking about the balancing of the pulley itself or the whole crank? (i.e. Primary and Secondary Forces etc?)

 

I got a 5.4 kg kaiten chromoly flywheel on my MY03 WRX since last week. Definate difference, as per what is stated above really.
Can tell the car fires up a lot quicker. I dont have any problems inbetween gears but you do need more gas to match the revs. But i find the revs stay better matched? Anyway, that one could be just in my head.
More pro's that con's imho.

 

Hi guys!

We have just finished out latest design for the crank pulley,

The are now stock size but weigh the same as underdrive pulleys-

Check them out in our store...

My WRX the home of WRX cars

Can offer discount on these,

Chris

CDF Racing, performance pulleys

 

pulleys....
they look nice, you will not feel much difference IMO, underdriven can cause problems with alternator loads etc etc.

you will feel a much better difference with a flywheel.