do lightweight pulleys really make a noticeable improvement?

Simplt anwser.......YES!!!! you will notice it! Check out the group buy in sponsers section!

Simply anwser.......YES!!!! you will notice it! Check out the group buy in sponsers section!

YES! you definitely feel a difference, especially if your driving a 5-spd

it helps free up some hidin power

YES big difference! Much better acceleration. More even powerup.

Really smometime this year iam going to do the intake/headers/exhaust thing would pulleys add to that. Also with that combo plus lowering springs and lighter rims do you think i will feel the diffrence in the butt dyno?

is it an easy install for a complete novice?

I installed an CNR underdrive and lightened pulley! Big difference. The engins revs much quicker and the down shifts are much smoother. Highly recomended! Very easy install. 45min tops!

I just sent payment for mine. WOOHOO.

let us know how easy the install is and what sort of improvements you get? cheers

I got in on the group buy and I will be very curious to see the changes the pulley will make with my I/H/E package. Sad thing is I will have to wait for a warm(er) day to install in the this New Hampshire winter. :tap:

i/h/e/pulley is a great setup, the car truly does feel a lot better, pull harder and accel. quicker. the butt dyno sure is happy! it still may not be a rocket ship, but it is A LOT more fun to drive.
Keith

i/h/e/pulley is a great setup, the car truly does feel a lot better, pull harder and accel. quicker. the butt dyno sure is happy! it still may not be a rocket ship, but it is A LOT more fun to drive.
Keithi couldn't have put it any better, now imagine adding a s/c a lightened flywheel and new clutch!!

I got my perrin installed, I love it, revs alot freer

yes , very well worth it mod.

LOL ive had mine since may of 05 but didnt get to install it. i dont know if im going to install it in my new xa cuz this one is automatic.

Just finished installing mine, I got in on the Perrin groupbuy. Some people reported a 15 minute job. Not the case with me and I'm pretty handy. The only problem with installing the pulley is getting at that stupid bolt under the alternator. I only had a 12 point socket and a 90 degree socket wrench. That bolt is on there TIGHT and it took a lot of maneuvering to get the socket on each time to turn it 1/8th of a turn. A really short socket with a ratchet would have been ideal but the 14mm sockets I have all made the ratchet too big. After tightening it all back up, I found out the belt somehow got loose so I had to do it all over again. What a PITA. Most everything else was easy.

Overall though, the car does seem to rev faster and jump off the line faster. It was worth the effort, now I'll have to see how my gas mileage reacts with this (someone reported better MPG).

Question with specifics. If you:

drive up\down hills (Denver, CO type hils, not Florida hills)
auto tran
no other mods

does the xB maintain power going up hill?

***history***

Just driving around I tend to lose power going up a hill. I'f I'm doing 65-75 when I get a hill it will drop 5-10 mph by the time I get to the top. I'm not looking to pass anyone, just trying not to have to be at 4500+ rpm on every hill. Thanks.

Ive got the ZPI lightweight pulley...I love it, there is a big difference especially in the 3000-5000 rpm range. Pulls a lot harder now.

Question with specifics. If you:
drive up\down hills (Denver, CO type hils, not Florida hills)
auto tran
no other mods
does the xB maintain power going up hill?
***history***
Just driving around I tend to lose power going up a hill. I'f I'm doing 65-75 when I get a hill it will drop 5-10 mph by the time I get to the top. I'm not looking to pass anyone, just trying not to have to be at 4500+ rpm on every hill. Thanks.

You won't see a difference on the hills. I just had my Perrin pulley installed (about 300 miles ago) and really don't feel any difference. My box is also auto w/ no other mods. I am still waiting to see how it affects my mpg.

Underdrive crank pulleys do make a noticeable difference in performance based on my experiences over the past few years. www.NonStopTuning.com offers some sick crank and alternator pulleys for the xA and xB. I highly recommend you guys looking into their products :)

I'll have to see how my gas mileage reacts with this (someone reported better MPG).

Reporting back in. Absolute zero difference in gas mileage after 2 tanks. I have a 2005 Automatic xB.

On my first full tank after switching to the Perrin Pulley I was able to go 20-25 more miles. I am finally getting 300 miles out of a tank of gas for mostly city driving!

I have an auto, and definately noticed a diff.

For the money it's one of the best mods you can do.

Ive got the ZPI lightweight pulley...I love it, there is a big difference especially in the 3000-5000 rpm range. Pulls a lot harder now.

From where did you purchase this?

If you want to get it a "ZPI" pulley there is only one source. Zero Point Industries themselves.

http://www.zeropointindustries.net/store/product_info.php?products_id=75&osCsid=faccaf795c04691831e00de83ef21704

If you just want the lightweight pulley, Agency Power is the company that actually manufactures the pulley. Vivid Racing has some of the best pricing I have seen on it.

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/vivid.php/cPath/1573_1844_675_2037

Hope that helps.

i really wanna get a zpi but im afraid that it will f up my engine, how long have u guys had urs on for

BTW, I assume our engines are internally balenced? No need for a balencer on the pulley?

Sushiboy Posted: 3/30/06 7:58AM Post subject:

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BTW, I assume our engines are internally balenced? No need for a balencer on the pulley?

Our engine's are balanced internally. No worries there at all. This is a wise investment with large gain's. My girlfriend has Tc and this made the accelleration feel more similar. Also for highway on ramp's, nice mod to have.

do these underdrive pulleys mess with your audio equiptment? or your charge? I know "thier" ads say they don't but is that true?

After reading through the messages I decided to buy the Unorthodox Racing Ultra S Underdrive Crank Pulley. Is the correct one or are there different types of pulleys for our xb's.

i found out that it really smoothed out my idle and my power band is smoothed out also...

Iam not sure? I think there might be a difference between "underdrive" and a "light weight" pulley but I am not sure?

the underdrive pulleys will make yer alt go out and or not charge yer battery enough.,

So this is not the Pulley I want...

http://www.sportcompactonly.com/product.aspx?p=2332&c=22&l=2

The one I have been researching but have not bought yet is the perrin light weight pully. From the forums I read it sounds pretty good. And most people say it does not effect your charging.

hmm.... was with a friend that installed the perrin... he loves it.. and most of my other xB friends have the perrin on their cars as well... very lightweight.

Go with either the Perrin or the Agency Power. I would avoid any of the "underdriven" pulleys. Even the ones that provide other pulleys to help with the alternator issue. You can get these through Zero Point Industries, Vivid Racing, etc.

Cool...Thx guys...I bought the Perrin...Just read in the part review section that the UR Pulley is smaller and nedds a smaller belt...That woulda sucked.

Let me know how it works. I have been wanting to buy one.

Cool...Thx guys...I bought the Perrin...Just read in the part review section that the UR Pulley is smaller and nedds a smaller belt...That woulda sucked.

Also the underdriven would have burnt out your Alternator, and wouldn't have charged your battery enough.

I have the ZPI. Its not underdriven, just extremely light.

I have been considering this mod for about a month now, since 1st TO 2nd is so sluggish. I look in my rear view all the time, seems like anyone behind me is going to rear end me, because of the slow speed up. Does this happen to everyone else and did the lightweight pulley get rid of this problem? Thanx!

Viki

I've gone ahead and installed a Perrin pulley. Here is my 2 cents, and a little extra....free of charge.

Install:
Tech section walk through thread is great.
Get a GOOD wratchet.
Leave youself a couple hours if it is the first mod you've done. It isn't hard.
That 19mm bolt on the pulley itself is a mother%&#$* to get off.
It is wild how different in weight the two really are.

Driving:
I wouldn't say there is a huge difference, but it is noticable.
Power seems a litte more balanced and smooth.
Going up small to medium hills it is more apparent.
Large hills still down shifts a time or two but handles it better.

Overall:
I like it.
I'd do it again.
I'd recommend it to anyone interested in one.

hum sounds good so now is the alt puley no good??? i was thinking about this kit that you mentioned anyone have it or used it ....???

http://www.nonstoptuning.com/pKitToySciXAXB.htm

someone put some vid's of the light weight pully in action! at idle, reving, driving, downshift, the whole 9 yards! =)

I just installed my NST set, i can definatley feel the difference, its not neck breaking, but it is a difference. Also the throttle responce is more immediate.
as for issues with pullies, unless you plan on keeping your scion for 8 year and run 100,000 miles then i would not worry about any immediate issues with the pullies damaging anything.

One thing to remember is you need to replace the crank bolt and the little pin that aligns the pulley, those parts are only supposed to be used once.

One thing to remember is you need to replace the crank bolt and the little pin that aligns the pulley, those parts are only supposed to be used once.

Woah, I've got mine in now for about a week and it seems ok. I didn't see any pin and the bolt looked fine.

Mind if I asked where you got this information?

When I had my car dyno tuned it started to wobble, so I took the car to the dealer and they said those bolts are only to be used once because the threads are "soft" and they stretch out when installed since you can't use loctite on the threads. The little pin goes where the little hole is on the perrin pulley mine came out when I removed the stock pulley. BTW the pin cost 4 cents and the bolt was 1.29 from the dealer.

When I had my car dyno tuned it started to wobble, so I took the car to the dealer and they said those bolts are only to be used once because the threads are "soft" and they stretch out when installed since you can't use loctite on the threads. The little pin goes where the little hole is on the perrin pulley mine came out when I removed the stock pulley. BTW the pin cost 4 cents and the bolt was 1.29 from the dealer.

That's good info considering I just installed mine less than an hour ago. I guess I'll have to pick one up Friday. Thanks!

I only took my car for a quick test drive to make sure the belts didn't squeel. It felt peppier but I didn't really try for any speed. The butt dyno definitely felt a difference. I'll play more on the way to work tomorrow.

hattrick: There is a small pin in the shaft that is supposed to fit in the small hol just outside of the bolt hole. If you didn't see it, you either got lucky and you are mounted correctly or you crushed it and it's possible your pulley isn't straight or may possibly slip under high load. I'd be more worried about alignment.

Wow. I'm guessing I'll go check this out. It would most likely help a lot of people to put this on the install walkthrough in the tech section.

Thanks again.

I forgot to mention something in my previous post. I decided to weigh the pulleys in the middle of the install.

This is what Perrin claims: "Made from 6061T6 aluminum and weighing in at 1.3lbs, the PERRIN� pulley is more then 4 lbs lighter then the stock crank pulley."

Per the Pelouze digital postage scale I have, that is dead on with the Post Office, the Perrin weighed in at 1 lb. 5 oz. and the OEM weighed in at 3 lb. 10 oz. I have a 2004 XB. They are pretty far off unless it's changed before or since I bought mine.

still over 2 pounds lighter. decent enought for me. damn manufacturers lying and making false claims tho.

It is still a good improvement. I just wanted to share the facts.

Well the butt dyno is happy with the new pulley. It's definitely a change you can feel immediately. Some of the main things I noticed right away were:
a. The car was easier to start moving from a dead stop. I almost stalled it once not paying attention and it wasn't nearly as violent.
b. The engine doesn't sound as strained as before particularly on hills.
c. The car just seems to be more peppy and fun to drive.

I have an intake, headers, and exhaust but if I had to start all over again, I think I'd get the pulley first.