well up until today i had been having trouble with my batterys, alternators and everything electrical related in my 87GT 3.4L so i decided to put the stock pulley back on after 5000 miles with the smaller pulley. my battery stays charged at 15.3 volts while the car is running and at 12.8 volts when its shut off. the throttle response is much better, and fuel economy went up 3 MPG in the 100 Miles i drove it.
with the power pulley installed my voltage would run about 11.8 volts off and 13.4 volts running if i turned the heater on high with the headlights on, the volts would drop to about 10 volts. now it stays above 13 volts, Im much happier now!
my large aftermarket stereo system now sounds great too!!!
anyone wanna buy a powerpulley
matthew
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03:12 PM
PFF
System Bot
MiZer Member
Posts: 1673 From: Chilliwack, B.C. Canada Registered: Jun 2003
Is that the power pulley they sell for the 2.8l? I wasn't aware that it fit the 3.4 as well. Anyway, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. PM and lets talk.
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03:59 PM
Fie Ro Member
Posts: 3735 From: Soest, The Netherlands Registered: Sep 2001
Originally posted by Mastermind: What was the power pulley suppose to do?
Robbing power! With the smaller pully the alternator turns slower so there is more HP available at the cranck. But it seams the alternator turns too slow to deliver enough current. I heard several bad stories about this setup...
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04:34 PM
LoW_KeY Member
Posts: 8081 From: Hastings, MI Registered: Oct 2001
We found the same thing when I changed the diameter of the alternator pully to get more belt surface area contact. Larger pully on the alt without changing the harmonic balancer. I believe this is what killed our first alt, but I am still running it.
The thing with running "power" pulley arrangements is that the power only becomes useable at wide open throttle, or maximum power output for any given RPM. What does that mean in the real world? Well, if you think about it the only time that becomes a factor is on a dyno or a race track environment. On all public roads if you run a motor at full power output for more than 30 seconds or so one of a few things will have happened. You will have crashed the car, you will have blown the motor up, or you will have been arrested.
So for daily driving use a power pulley is pretty meaningless, and moreso when it starts killing batteries and alternators. I'd be more than happy to sacrifice a horsepower or two at WOT in order to have a reliable daily driver.
I have had absolutely no problems since I installed mine 1 year ago. I reall think it depends on your electrical system. It isn't the pulley's fault alone. I mean why does mine work fine? And BTW the car seemed to have better throttle response when I installed mine. Spins up faster.
I agree with Conneticut, i never had trouble with mine either. These cars are not new and even though your gauge may look like it's charging fine it might actually be getting weaker. If you put the power pulley on and it causes problems it's a good possibility that your system is weak in one way or another. The alternator was designed to provide power for all the Fieros accessories easily and the pulley is designed to be small enough to gain more power without effecting this capability to charge and cool the car. This means that when you add something that draws a significant ammount of extra power that you'll probably have a need for as much juice as you can get. So in Mosh's case, he might not have an electrical problem but the stereo and pulley just wont play well together in other words. The pulley helps reduce the parasidic loss from your accessories on the engine. It does in fact benefit the engine at all rpms and not just WOT or top end. Basically, there's less drag on the engine at all times.
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Activities Director N.I.F.E.
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12:49 AM
Larry Nakamura Member
Posts: 412 From: Clearlake, California, USA Registered: Jul 2003
I have the power pulley to put on my 3.4L, but have not yet. So I'm very curious about this thread.
One point was made, but hasn't been asked about yet. He said he has a large aftermarket stereo. Just how large. What power are you running for your stereo??? Maybe it's a monster set up and is part of the problem he had. Did you try disconnecting the stereo and see if the problem persists? Were you measuring the voltage with the battery gauge or a multi-meter (DVM).
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02:33 AM
ceo Member
Posts: 306 From: Wichita Ks USA Registered: Sep 2003
I got the Fiero Store power pulley, and had a weak alternator. At a stop light at night, my lights would dim ALOT. my dash lights were almost off. wipers barely made it across the windshield. blinkers barely blinked. The alternator finally died, and I replaced it with the CS alternator. world of difference. everything works great. blinkers blink, wipers wipe, lights light. I even have a better idle now, went from a 900 rpm that hunted up to 1100 rpm, to a rock solid 750-800 rpm idle. The power pulley makes a bad alternator seem 10 times worse. but with the new CS alternator, you'd never know the difference.
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08:56 AM
m0sh_man Member
Posts: 8460 From: south charleston WV 25309 Registered: Feb 2002
i disconnected my stereo and it didnt make much of a difference.
ive got a sony mobile ES 5046 amp, pulls 60 amps of current at max draw. im already running a CS alternator. and i put a smaller pulley on it so it turns faster. Id like to get a larger output alternator.
my current battery is about 6 months old, and my alternator is less than a year old. im starting to think the problem lays in the wiring of this car.
matthew
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02:40 PM
jb1 Member
Posts: 2146 From: Tullahoma, Tennessee Registered: May 2003
most all high output alts run a smaller pulley. contact Powermaster http://www.powermastermotorsports.com contact coy hudnell and ask for a smaller pulley for your alt, then put you power pulley back on. it should leave your alt running @ same as factory rotation but will leave everything else running slower. Last alt pulley I bought was around $10-15.
[This message has been edited by jb1 (edited 11-28-2003).]
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04:38 PM
FieroMonkey Member
Posts: 3294 From: poway,CA,USA Registered: Nov 2002
I dont see it being very noticable. How true it is or not I was told on an average 65-80 amp alt it only took 1 hp to turn. I have competed in DB DRAG racing (car stereo comp) for several years and ran 350 amp alts with 20+ batts when the batts go dead the alts will actually lock the motor down and will not allow it to turn over. But slowing down alt and water pump i dont see how it could be a big differance.
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12:18 AM
Fastback 86 Member
Posts: 7849 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Sep 2003
Are you still looking to get rid of that pulley m0sh_man? Despite the possibility of problems listed here, I'm still interested. My car charges great, so I'm not too worried.
The thing with running "power" pulley arrangements is that the power only becomes useable at wide open throttle, or maximum power output for any given RPM. What does that mean in the real world? Well, if you think about it the only time that becomes a factor is on a dyno or a race track environment. On all public roads if you run a motor at full power output for more than 30 seconds or so one of a few things will have happened. You will have crashed the car, you will have blown the motor up, or you will have been arrested.
So for daily driving use a power pulley is pretty meaningless, and moreso when it starts killing batteries and alternators. I'd be more than happy to sacrifice a horsepower or two at WOT in order to have a reliable daily driver.
JazzMan
I think this really depends on how you drive every day. I don't do dyno runs, and I don't race my car on the track. But I do use my cars power every time I drive. I have a power pulley on my 88 GT and I love it. I have had a few problems with it, low charging with the AC on at idle, had to replace an alternator once (under warranty-no charge), but other than that, the throttle response is much better, I have more power throughout the whole rev range, and I have loved it. I've had mine on for more than three years. Highly recommend it for a 2.8.