Ive got a 96 351, and I have a question about pulleys. I have heard they they dont work well enough to pay for themselves, and that there are charging and cooling issues. I had bought a set of ASP pulleys for my '01 5.4l, but never installed them before I sold it. They went for about 230. I checked soon after buying my 96, and there were only 70 or so for it. They werent balanced tho. Does anyone make pulleys that are balanced? Are they even worth it?

Rich

 

I asked this question before and the replies were mostly negative. I don't understand why you can buy two kits from March one with alternator pulley and one without. I would go without changing the alternator pulley and shouldn't have charging issues. What I didn't understand is why these are so popular with Mustang guys and not with Bronco guys?

 

When I talked to guys that warned against them because they werent balanced. Do the mustang guys just not care? I am just assuming that they have a better design for the stangs than the broncos (based on sales)

Rich

 

"Balanced", in this context, probalby refers to the speeds that the accessories will be spinning - not to each spinning pulley. Since the truck guys are more frugal, the pulley kits are designed to use a stock belt - the Mustang guys are more about top-end performance, so they'll pay more for a pulley set that "balances" the accessory speeds but uses a special belt length.

But that's pure conjecture...

mweeps
If the alternator pulley stays the same, but the crank pulley is changed, then the alternator speed will change.

 

I can see what you are saying Steve but why do they sell with and w/o the Alt. Pulley.

 

To keep the alt speed the same as stock, but "unbalanced", I guess...

 

I used to have the march pulley's on my mustang before I moved up to a bronco. The term balanced is for the proportional speed between acc. and the crank and not the individual pulley's balance like balancing a tire. The reason I was told for the Alternator pulley was that it was an option and a really small one. The biggest drag on a motor is the water pump. So the cheaper kits are just the crank and water pump. Which actually change the ratio from a 1:2 to about a 1:0.8. That's right, the water pulley is acually larger thank the crank. The crank is so small that they usually come with new bolts in the form of allen bolts. Because the head of the bolt is so freaking close to the wall of the pulley that a wrench or socket wouldn't fit.

The alternator is about the second biggest drag on the motor because of it's rotational mass. The problem is that you will sacrifice charging if you move it to a larger pulley with the kit. The makes the ratio between the crank and the alt. better and easier on the engine but the main problem is the charging now. The Mustang alt. sucks! It's only rated at 55-65 amps and that's at full power. At idle, all stock, it can't even charge the bat. with nothing on. You but a larger pulley on that thing to make it spin slower, and you've got a dead battey. So, most give up that .000001 HP for a charged battery. Now if you are running a 130 3g alt, it really doesn't matter.

It's odd that anybody would care about a "balanced" belt system becuase the whole point is to change the ratio's, to change the balance, this makes it easier on the engine to turn the acc. and therebye saving energy for smoking tires on demand.

personally, i thought it gave me a little better pickup but I had an electric fan too, I thought the engine was a little quieter, didn't notice charging at all (130 AMp), and don't know about Gas milage.

Hope this helped.

Mike

 

I have a Moroso underdrive crank pulley and left all other pulleys stock. If I remember right it underdrives about 34% and took a smaller belt. I haven't seen any bad effects after installation. Everything seems to work as normal.

Randy