Unorthodox Supra Ultra S - Lightened Crank Pulleys

[Kuban]

I was in the middle of replacing my front main seal (leaking quite a bit due too pcv issue) and i was pulling off my main pulley when my trusty pulley puller (haha say that 5 times) decided to take a piece of my pulley with it when it broke. SO. I called the dealer, asked them how much a new pulley was and the SST for the pulley. Turns out the pulley goes for a solid 440$ roughly. Well, i already had ordered an engine gasket set and a cusco oil catch can a day earlier and $400+ for a pulley was just out of the budget if you know what i mean. So i checked out what horsepowerfreaks.com had for pulleys and found this little guy.

http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/pric...Engine/Pulleys

The Unorthodox Ultra S Lightened Crank Pulley. Now i noticed this one little thing after i ordered this, as i should have before i ordered it. It eliminates the harmonic balancer. Or so im assuming since it only weighs about 2-3lbs vrs the stock 15-20lb im assuming. Now i have read up on multiple sites about how these things can be horrid for your engine for multiple reasons.

1) being they underdrive things such as your alternator, possibly interferring with your charging system and your computer, causing inaccurate readings.
Also the water pump slowing down the rate at which water flows through the block.

2) With the harmonic balencer eliminated, an engine that produces alot of vibration will over time litterally SHAKE the crank out of the car often causing it snap in two or sheer at the ends. Now this part i read on a E46 tech website aka Newer BMW M3's.

This pulley in perticular says with the design they kept "extreme underdriving" in mind. Meaning they didnt underdrive it to extremely for the main purpose that the charging system and cooling system were kept in mind here.

"However, we do not push the amount of underdrive for two main reasons. First, it is important to keep charging systems, air conditioning, power steering, and water pumps moving fast enough for every day driving."

CONCERNS

My main concern is, with the supra will the lack of the harmonic balancer cause major engine issues? I know with a few other cars such as dsm's, the balance shaft is commonly eliminated for power gains. The balance shaft serving the same purpose as the harmonic balancer in the supra. I just heard that over time it can cause issues and i want to be sure before i install this thing. I also know that these sort of things are VERY car specific and cant be factorial upon by a generalization.

Help appreciated guys.

[grygst76]

Originally Posted by Kuban

I was in the middle of replacing my front main seal (leaking quite a bit due too pcv issue) and i was pulling off my main pulley when my trusty pulley puller (haha say that 5 times) decided to take a piece of my pulley with it when it broke. SO. I called the dealer, asked them how much a new pulley was and the SST for the pulley. Turns out the pulley goes for a solid 440$ roughly. Well, i already had ordered an engine gasket set and a cusco oil catch can a day earlier and $400+ for a pulley was just out of the budget if you know what i mean. So i checked out what horsepowerfreaks.com had for pulleys and found this little guy.

http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/pric...Engine/Pulleys

The Unorthodox Ultra S Lightened Crank Pulley. Now i noticed this one little thing after i ordered this, as i should have before i ordered it. It eliminates the harmonic balancer. Or so im assuming since it only weighs about 2-3lbs vrs the stock 15-20lb im assuming. Now i have read up on multiple sites about how these things can be horrid for your engine for multiple reasons.

1) being they underdrive things such as your alternator, possibly interferring with your charging system and your computer, causing inaccurate readings.
Also the water pump slowing down the rate at which water flows through the block.

2) With the harmonic balencer eliminated, an engine that produces alot of vibration will over time litterally SHAKE the crank out of the car often causing it snap in two or sheer at the ends. Now this part i read on a E46 tech website aka Newer BMW M3's.

This pulley in perticular says with the design they kept "extreme underdriving" in mind. Meaning they didnt underdrive it to extremely for the main purpose that the charging system and cooling system were kept in mind here.

"However, we do not push the amount of underdrive for two main reasons. First, it is important to keep charging systems, air conditioning, power steering, and water pumps moving fast enough for every day driving."

CONCERNS

My main concern is, with the supra will the lack of the harmonic balancer cause major engine issues? I know with a few other cars such as dsm's, the balance shaft is commonly eliminated for power gains. The balance shaft serving the same purpose as the harmonic balancer in the supra. I just heard that over time it can cause issues and i want to be sure before i install this thing. I also know that these sort of things are VERY car specific and cant be factorial upon by a generalization.

Help appreciated guys.

underdrive pulley's have been debated over and over again, some have great luck with them, other's do not. If your engine is solid, has no mechanical issues and is fresh, use the pulley and forget about it. If your motor is tired, or old and your oil pressure is not really up to par, then it could do some damage as vibrations from the crank could and will cause havoc and "walk" the crank or wobble too much.