Since I have the LS/VTEC almost ready to drop in I was wondering if there is any downside to installing one of the lightweight pulleys. I know a few years ago there was some concern about bearing wear with them, but since all the other cars out there seem to be using them OK I wondered if there was any new info.

 

They will cause bearing wear, but really good performance gains for the money. Depends on if you want long engine life or not.

 

nothing has changed, they (still) smoting the oil pump gears over time ... just chop the stock 3 layer pulley and make a one layer out of it. The rubber runs thru the alternator and A/C layers so you can chop off as far as the a/c layerfor a 1 layer ligther pulley ... rebalance it also.

greg

 

im not exactly sure what that last guys post meant, but i had an unorthodox racing crank pulley on the teg, and heard that it can lead to a warped crank. i never had bearing probs or crank probs, though. and it was alternator only. i think that on a brand new engine where bearing clearances are almost nothing, that it wouldnt hurt anything, since there would be NO unwanted movement. just my .02

 

What "I" have noticed, it's the D series that have this problem. Peeps with b16's, ect... "seem" not to have it. Here again this what I have seen/read.

If you pully does have the rubber in it. Chances are you will pick-up the vibration that is talked about. Anyway, thats what happened when I tried to use a HF on mine.


[Modified by 88_SC_CRX_Si, 4:00 PM 12/18/2002]

 

what vibration is this?

i would think anything lighter on the rotation of the crank would make everything work better and easier, just like how a lightweight flywheel puts less tress on the motor because it has less weight to turn common sense would tell me that the same would apply to a crank pulley

 

if you go with an aftermarket crank pulley get an unorthodox racing pulley...best pulley out there

 

Like 1 off these...



more here...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=361690

 

how much discrepency is there amongst the various pulley makers? i mean a pulley is pretty much just a piece of metal with some grooves for the belts

this is the one i ended up getting do u guys think its any good?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1874582461

i suppose i shoudl start asking you guys about stuff BEFORE i buy it lol

 

What i heard was that it wasnt the lightened pulleys that cause wear, but the ones larger in size. I have a lightened pulley thats smaller in size and it seems like being lightened it would have sort of the same concept as a light flywheel.

 

Thats about the size of mine, maybe a little bigger. Mine seems to be doing fine so far.

 

well this one is actually smaller in size and lighter in weight so it should be easier on everything and make stuff last longer right?

 

From what I understand, the vibration is caused by the firing of the cylinders...it's not a smooth process. The fact that you have a heavy flywheel actually absorbs these vibrations, which is why your idle suffers with a light flywheel (correct me if I'm wrong). Because of that, from what I read, if you have a lightened flywheel AND an aftermarket crank pulley, you're really asking for trouble.

Besides, a heavier flywheel doesn't really put more stress on the motor. I mean, the motor has to push around a 2000+ lb car anyways, what's a flywheel gonna do?

 

well because one reason is that big heavy stock flywheel is the first thing the crank moves

i would really like to hear from someone who knows theri stuff about this

are you trying to say it would cause damage to have alight flywheel and a light pulley or would it just be uncomfortable? i can deal with uncomfortable

 

I don't think it makes any difference to the engine what kind of load is on it and where this load is. The engine puts out a torque. Depending on how much torque is countering it it will change its rpm or not...but torque is torque. Doesn't matter where it's coming from.

And I am saying it will cause damage. It's not a comfort issue, but a durability issue. The vibrations are not good for the crank, bearings, and pretty much everything. Based on what I've read, I'll never mess with an aftermarket pulley. I will however get a lightened flywheel.

 

i dunno i just dont see why a crank pulley would have that much bearing on how the crank behaves

but like i said when i hear from someone who really knows motors...

 

I have a 7 lb clutchmasters flywheel + a lightened small crank pulley. My rpms rise and fall very quickly both ways but it doesnt seem to be uncomfortable. I do have some vibration when its idling but im having some idle problems as it is so it could be that. I just have to keep a little gas going so my rpm doesnt drop to much while im shifting. But having these eliminate alot of the bogged down feeling with the stock heavy parts and make my car rev and accelerate very quickly.

 

how long have u had them on? how many miles? what are your driving habits like? a lot of city/higwhay? how does it run on the highway...higher lower or same rpm as before?

thanks

 

Stock pulley is a dampener that absorbs vibration from the crank, without it your front main bearings WILL wear faster, this is a fact. If Honda could have saved money by using a piece of aluminum thrown on a lathe instead of engineering a complex dampener for the particular motor vibrations, and been able to claim more HP, they would have done it. But instead they chose reliability. This is why I drive a Honda. If it was a race car that I rebuilt after every race, I would get a UR pulley.

 

Honda N1 race pulley.
look it up
i BELIVE it has dampers and is balanced.
only has belt line for an alternator so no AC/PS.

 

If you are going to buy a pulley get a honda pulley (like kamin said) or just stick with the stock unit. I have seen (FIRST HAND) an unorthodox pulley break on a b18c5 in a civic.

 

The CTR N1 pully does NOT have a damper and is NOT factory balanced...

 

With dampers it is more importantly about the rubber, or viscous dampening method and only slightly about the change in weight.

A solid rotating member attached to the crankshaft stores kinetic energy (flywheels) they really don't dampen rotational vibrations in any simialr way that damper pullies do.
The dampers however are very important to counteract the rational vibrations that result from (in varying importance) firing events, cylinder pressure, slight valvetrain vibrations, slight accesory vibrations, driveline vibrations, etc. Let's just say there are alot of things to consider....but firing events and the degrees of cylinder pressure are most important to consider. Keep in mind that different engine configurations have varying degrees of natural balance. V6 engines are pretty bad for example.

Failure to effectivly dampen these rotational vibrations can cause crank failure (it can crack), bearing failure, oil pump failure (gerotor type pumps), etc. I'm not saying that these failures will happen immeadiatly....but over a period of time they can develop.

Just some quick info, take it or leave it
**I have yet to use a non-oem pulley on any of my engines**


[Modified by SLPR, 5:44 AM 12/19/2002]

 

If your gonna go that route, IMHO I'd get the whole lower assembly balanced as one unit... pulley, crank, flywheel, etc.

A cut down OEM pulley would be more reliable.

 

ok guys,
i am going to throw something else into the mix..
i just bought a underdrive,lighted crank pulley...but here is the kicker..
i had my bottem end taken to a very,very, reputable machine shop that builds full race BMW's for the 24hr events, of lemans and ****. when the machinest tried t balance my bottem end with the stock crank pulley he couldnt!!! he said that every thing was great until he bolted the pulley on to the crank shaft, then he said it went off scale on the balance machine. yes this was with the crank,timing gear,flywheel, and all of the other rotateing stuff..

so any how i order this pulley and take it up to him so he can finish my bottom end, and what do you know, with this ONE PIECE CRANK PULLEY, NO DAMPNER BUILT IN, it cam out to .5 of a gram at 1in... it is perfet now..
all i saying is that they maybe bad for a stock bottem end ,but if you are getting it balnced to the rest of the bottem end,then there should be no problems at all..
Brian