I have a couple pulleys that have bad bearings so I am looking for an aluminum set from summit...opinions/recommendations?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BB...BIRD|Liter|5.0

 

Pulleys don't have bearings - so if you have a bearing issue, this won't help. ie the power steering pump - the pulley is pressed on the shaft - if you're having power steering "bearing" problems, then you need to replace the pump. Same with the smog pump, and A/C and the alternator - nothing goes wrong with the pullies, it's the parts themselves that go bad.

 

Not completly on topic and I know this isnt exactly what he is talking about but,Pulleys can break.My Power steering pump was making a weird noise on my tbi truck.I thought it was the pump itself.About a week later I cranked it and bang!the pulley broke off the shaft going into the pump.You may want to take a close look at the pulley just to be sure it doesnt have any stress cracks in it.

 

I fail to see the logic in installing a light weight pulley on an engine with a 56 lb crankshaft.

Save your money, buy a book on EFI tuning instead.

 

i was also doin it for cosmetic appearance as well.

 

Never seen that happen before!

 

If you want to spend $150 on a cosmetic upgrade, that's your call.

Don't get me wrong here, lightening the rotating assembly will help. It just has to be a large enough percentage of the total rotating mass to help. Light weight pulleys on a 9000 rpm Honda 4 banger, ok, that might work. Light weight pulleys on a 5500 rpm Chevy V8, not so much.

 

So what ur saying is I won't be getting my money's worth in hp gains?

 

There are better ways to spend that money to go fast, mostly saving for something better.

 

Thanks for the input. I never wanted to do the upgrade for hp gains. I originally wanted to do it to spice up the look of my engine. I didn't even know about a possible hp increase until I done a bit of reading about the pulleys.

 

well there seems to also be an underdrive ratio with these, so it's not only the lightweight that will help with performance. there's no info about the ratio though.. and there are many different opinions about underdrive pulleys (udp) for our cars on our board with arguments of too high cost/hp, not enough coolant flow or low alternator output with UDPs.

 

Me either,until then.It appears a small stress fracture started and eventually mad its way far enough around the pulley about a 1/2 " from the shaft.Luckily I was at idle.It was an easy fix though.

The UDP debate has been covered here 10,000 times.I think its a personal choice depending on the use of the car and mods
.Just dont expect any real power gains.Its something I may do for looks and when I run out of other mods.

 

not looking for power gains to tell you the truth, just the cosmetic aspect ot spruce up my engine bay. I didn't know anything about the hp gain until doing a little research.

 

Not recomended. you'll end up being sorry because your charging system will take a downgrade too.

 

why will my charging system take a hit?

 

underdrive pulleys = less revolutions for the alternator = less electrical power output of the charging system, same goes for the water pump. as said, you'd prolly want to do some research about this. you can also get sets with crank underdrive and alt overdrive so all belt accessories will spin slower except the alternator

 

i was talking to summitracing.com customer service and he informed me that they have sold tons of these for birds and camaros and had no complaints so I assume they may have crank underdive and alt overdrive, not for sure though..he wasn't sure what i was talking about when i asked him about it. I may have to ask bbk themselves.

 

His charging system wont take that much of a downgrade, trust me I have a set of hawks underdrive pulleys on my camaro. The only notable difference is when your at idle the charge drops down to the quarter mark but its never hurt me any at all. As soon as you even touch the pedal it goes right back up to normal. It won't affect you unless you have a badass sound system with subs and whatnot.

 

i don't have any subs yet, but they may be in the plans. like i said earlier its just for cosmetic appearance for the most part but i don't really want to take a power drain.

 

alot of underdrive pulleys sold now will not mess with your charging, March calls them Power and Amp series(which have been out forever, but the other companies are putting out there own) most are saying 11-18 HP gain(i think thats for 350 C.I.) at the rear wheels, thats enough for me to justify buying Underdrive pulleys for 100-250, its not a bad price, and like you are looking for they make you engine bay look that much better

 

ya my engine bay is dreary to say the least.

 

I got the power and amp pulley set

 

what ones did u buy?

 

March power and amp kit - black. On the 305, you may feel some SOP difference or it may just be in your head. I think in the long run it slows down all the other accessories enough so that wear and tear are a little less. Since the 305 is choked both on intake and exhaust to begin with, every little bit makes a difference. Any lightening of the rotational mass will help, from motor internals to wheels. I felt most from my aluminum flywheel which let the motor rev quicker. Now on a 400hp motor, I think you would feel less from just pulleys.

 

u have a link?

 

Billet Specialties has nice pulleys, too many, actually.

 

If you are looking for an upgrade in appearance then check out march's clear powder coated pulley sets. They make the three pieve set which has a crank, alt, and h20 pump pulley included. The polished aluminum is gorgeous and is then clear powdercoated so that the finish lasts and doesn't have to be polished, just wiped down. If you have spent alot of money on bigger parts then 200 bucks for some sweet looking pullies isn't bad at all. Do what you want, remember it is your call and an extension of your good taste.