Installed the power pulley in my 88 formula this weekend not only was it easy but my ass-o-meter is very happy. The biggest improvement (haven't clocked her) is she says in the power band when I shift from 2nd to 3rd. Before, the gear ratio was large enough she would drop out of the power band when shifting between 2nd and 3rd. As a bonus I hooked up the belt on my air conditioning (I bought the car last fall with no air belt) and it's cold as ice. Nice!! I also ordered the Hella driving lamps from the fiero store and they are nice, come with a relay set up and cast metal cases.

I've seen that system offered in the Fiero Stores catalog,....How does it work? Can it be istalled on the 2m4?

I don't think that will fit on a 4 cyl. The power pulley is a smaller diameter aluminum pulley mounted on the front of the crankshaft and drives the alternator and air conditioner pump. Since it is smaller in diameter less hp is used to drive the accessories. In addition, the rotational weight is reduced to ~ 0.5 lbs compared to about 3 lbs for the stock pulley.

How's installtion? Easy? Hard?

Installation is very easy, in fact the hardest part is putting on the @$%#*& air conditioning belt. The other thing that would make it easier is to have a allen or hex socket to put the new pulley bolts on. I used an allen wrench which was slow, but this still took less than an hour. I don't remember the size of the allen wrench but if you are interested I will crawl under the car and get it for you. Finally you need some Loctite to put on the pulley bolts.

You should recalibrate your @ss-o-meter. I instaleld the same one and didn't feel a thing. I had it dynoed. Only picked up a few hp. The gains from the pulley are seen in the top end of the rpm spectrum. Trust me you won't feel 5 hp. I did gain a tenth or two in the qtr mile with my pulley. Trust me you won't feel that difference either.

But yes it is a good upgrade for the cost. good hp per dollar ratio.
http://members.aol.com/FieroGtNOS to see install instructions and pics as well as pulley dimensions

Shaun I appreciate your input. Dynos beat the cheeks in reality.

Shaun do you have specific dyno graphs and numbers on this upgrade? There has been a lot of talk here about the power pulley but I don't recall seening any dyno numbers. If you do please post them. All I can say is that the shift from 2-3rd is now much smoother and the engine stays in the power band. Before I was unhappy with the lag when shifting from 2nd to 3rd because it would drop out of the power band and didn't pull as good. In addition the car feels a bit stronger when I accelerate. Now I not saying my ass-o-meter is calibrated but I sure feel a change, I guess I'm just a sensitive guy!

Some people have more sensitive heinies than others.

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Looking for a white '88 GT 5 sp...
...Could it be...Found?
Stay tuned!

After looking at Shaun's web site one thing that stood out to me is Shaun did this testing with nitrous so his hp over stock I would guess about 50% greater. Therefore the percentage change due to this upgrade on his car would be much less than a stock engine. So performance increases in his set up would be less.

quote Originally posted by Shaun41178: You should recalibrate your @ss-o-meter. I instaleld the same one and didn't feel a thing. I had it dynoed. Only picked up a few hp. The gains from the pulley are seen in the top end of the rpm spectrum. Trust me you won't feel 5 hp. I did gain a tenth or two in the qtr mile with my pulley. Trust me you won't feel that difference either. But yes it is a good upgrade for the cost. good hp per dollar ratio. http://members.aol.com/FieroGtNOS to see install instructions and pics as well as pulley dimensions

You may not "feel" the increase, but 5hp and a tenth or two in the quarter is a HUGH performance increase from just a pulley change. What did you expect? An extra 50 HP? It's the small things like this that add up. 5 real HP here, 5 there, 10HP from ported exhaust manifolds - it all adds up to a major increase. Changing one thing won't make a huge difference, but it works well with other mods. The power pulley would be especially helpful on 3.4 swaps with a bigger cam, cuz it'll help the engine rev quicker - seeing the HP improvements even faster.

I also dynoed it without a nitrous run. Don't have that graph scanned though and no longer have a scanner. I am telling you I got 5 peak hp and that was at around 125 mph on the dyno or about 5200 rpm. And believe me you most likely won't be seeing 125 mph trap speeds in your Fiero in the qtr so you most likely won't see all 5 hp when drag racing. Don't believe me then take it to a dyno and rent it for an hour or two and get your own results and post them here.

The pulley will not make your car shift better or smoother. Also its the tranny gearing that decides what rpm the engine goes to when shifting gears not the pulley on the crank. Perhaps your butt is more sensitive then mine cause I could not tell a difference going from a 14.8 qtr mile to a 14.6 after the pulley was on and that was after numerous runs down the track and many streetraces so I know how my car feels. People say they felt a difference from a Spiralmax and Travis proved that added no HP on a Fiero. I say 99% of mods are mental when it comes to dictating a power change.

Yes Formula88 I agree with you. .1 in the qtr is impressive for just a pulley. Its roughly a half car length or so. And with several mods working togethor one can see impressive results. After the pulley, CAI, ignition and ported exhaust manifolds I went from a 14.8 to a 14.2. WIth a cat-back I could probably hit a high 13.

I also dynoed Darrel Morse's ported TB mod and got 4 peak hp from that. No you won't feel that either as it was high in the rpm band as well.

Port the exhaust, add a cat-back, put a West coast CAI on, pulley, ignition all at once and you will feel a difference. But adding one at a time and driving it for a while and then adding another and you won't be able to feel a change. Take it to a track and then you will actually be able to see a change in times with those mods.

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Shaun 85 GT with nitrous
0-60 in 5.6 seconds
Preferred Performance

Well there is one thing a dynamometer can’t measure and that is the reduction in reciprocating weight. What montage felt was probably just that. The engine probably revs quicker and doesn’t drop in rpm as much when he shifts.

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Shaun I am still with you on this one. You say it like it is. Everything plays in harmony but little if any in solo. If they are only interested in assometers than a mod might make a difference. Dynos are real figures.

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• Red 88 GT T-TOP
  
• Red 86 GT
  

I have both the pulley and the bored t-body and there is definately an increase in performance. Did you use different dynos when you tested the pulley verses stock base-line runs? You can take the same car to two different dynos on the same day and get different results.
Also: if you have exhaust mods. this may have
already moved your power-band higher.

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Dave Gunsul
N.I.F.E. member
86 GT modified
85 SE daily driver

[This message has been edited by Dave Gunsul (edited 06-04-2001).]