Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior AEM tru power pulley

i am wondering what kind of hp gain would i get with this mod and would these pulleys work with a turbo

power gains are fairly minimal and can be compared to that of a cai on an otherwise stock setup on the celica (about 2-4 horses)

according to AEM:

"AEM Tru-Power- Pulleys increase horsepower by decreasing the parasitic effects that factory accessory pulleys have on a vehicles engine. The pulleys lightweight 6061 T-6 billet aluminum construction reduces rotating weight and increases efficiency. All pulleys have a tooth profile that is guaranteed to match Original Equipment (O.E.) specifications, eliminating the chances of premature belt wear. Each Tru-Power- pulley kit includes comprehensive instructions, performance belts and AEM decals."

it will work with turbo and NA the same, i say get it

you will get WAY less hp than a CAI. like maybe 1.

do any of you know of any dyno sheets with the pulley??

i dont think there are any...the gains are minimal and i've heard mixed reviews from the AEM pully regarding engine problems and lack there of. Therefore i'm not gonna get one.

The AEM pully replaces the pully on the alternator if i'm not mistaken...therefore it cannot give you much if any power.

can we do the pulley change ourselves? Or do we have to have someone re-measure the belt?

just save up your money and get an unorthidox racing pully kit.

yeah...and then save up more to replace your engine after the UR pullies toast it.

word~

i was under the impression that getting the pullies wern't so much for hp gains, but more for better throtle(sp) response...

pulleys give both hp/ torque and throttle response. the best thing about gains from pulleys is that you are not really making the power! they are basically freeing up whats there! so its a solid gain and its across the rpm band.not like say cold air intakes where if the ambient temp outside rises or the piping gets heat soaked the performance changes!with pulleys its there and nothing changes it! gains are small though.

how would the ss pulley's screw up your engine? i was thinking about doing the change to aem. or do you guys think i should leave it stock?

the unorthadox pulley replaces the crank pulley and therefore takes out the harmonic balancer resulting in more vibration and causing engine damage.

i would say go with aem.
in fact, i am selling mine.
go check out the "for sale" forum

this is correct..the aem pulley has been dynoed to show an increase of 1 or 2 horses...but the normal acceptable error of a dyno lies within that area, so it's not exactly certain what gains (if any) the aem pulley makes.

the main advantage to this pulley isnt added power...but the fact that it is lighter and therfore will decrease engine stress. this frees up a slight amount of power (as mentioned--maybe 1 or 2 horses) and decreases wear.

i alsofound outwhen it frees HPits not peakpower and the power freed is in the low to mid range

[/quote]
the unorthadox pulley replaces the crank pulley and therefore takes out the harmonic balancer resulting in more vibration and causing engine damage.[/quote]

That is not a fact, It isnt a v8, they are balanced because all four cylinders are in a staight line, cylinders 1 and 4 move up together, and 2 and 3 move down together balancing the motor. Un like a v8 were the crank will woble.
Some new 4 cylinders may have harmonic balancers, If the pulley is designed correctly the harmonic balancer will work w/ the pulley.

If what you said is true, then puting a lightweight flywheel, would also cause damage. because it is lighter than stock, and would "be out of balance" too...

Call a machine shop who builds 4 cylinders, they will explain in detail.

the unorthadox pulley replaces the crank pulley and therefore takes out the harmonic balancer resulting in more vibration and causing engine damage.[/quote]

That is not a fact, It isnt a v8, they are balanced because all four cylinders are in a staight line, cylinders 1 and 4 move up together, and 2 and 3 move down together balancing the motor. Un like a v8 were the crank will woble.
Some new 4 cylinders may have harmonic balancers, If the pulley is designed correctly the harmonic balancer will work w/ the pulley.

If what you said is true, then puting a lightweight flywheel, would also cause damage. because it is lighter than stock, and would "be out of balance" too...

Call a machine shop who builds 4 cylinders, they will explain in detail. [/quote]

very good post

someone find out more

i have seen a dyno of pulleys and it only gave a gain of 1.7 hp

to quote celicaracer18 (whose post can be found above):
"i alsofound outwhen it frees HPits not peakpower and the power freed is in the low to mid range"

without saying yes or no...maybe the pulley actually frees up more power than that 1.7hp (i'm assuming this is a 1.7hp increase in TOP END). maybe the gains are more than this on the lower end of things

i've had no probs with my aem pulley but dont expect to notice anything. looks good and i guess helps a bit. i've havent heard of any probs with aem alt pulley, but with UR pullies i have heard of bad probs. just my 2 cents

brad

i have also head of people having problems with their unorthodox pulleys...but in any case every problem i have heard involved multiple things gone wrong. so whether the pulleyes caused the problem or the other problems caused the pulleys to have problems..i don't know.

in any case, i have taken them off my wish list.

I got the AEM pulley like 3 weeks ago. You really can't tell much if any difference. Like it feels like it pulls a little quicker from 3-4k rpm. Probably not though, I did groundwires like three days later and i didn't notice anything from them. I wouldn't expect anything really. I mean 1hp here and there will add up, and its pretty cheap.

yeah, its hard to 'feel' anything that is only adding a few horses. in my opinion, you need to gain at least 7 or 8 horses before you can really feel a difference.

that said, just because you can't feel a difference doesnt mean that a difference isnt taking place..its just on a smaller scale.

i just want to know about the UR problems and hp and tourque gains. what all went wrong and why'd it happen? i like to know things. haha

some people with the ur pulleys experienced oil pump failure!the stock pulley has a two part design that comes together as one inner and outer ring with a hard rubber in the middle separating the two.
it is this rubber insert,that everybody is saying makes the stock pulley a harmonic damper. the nature of dampers on most motors esp.v8s is to compensate for rotation assembly vibrations(crank)and natural vibrations (resonance)that will occur at certain frequencies that a rotating crank and engine combo gives off)

this is my personal feeling now,
though it has some merrit that the rubber insert helps with vibrations on a motor thats designed to spin 8.5k,i think it can cause slightly more vibrations but nothing to talk about. as for oil pump failure,i dont think so.most of the cars that had pump failure were heavily modded cars,and some even had more solid than normal engine mounts.
if the mounts were too solid,the natural vibration of the 2zzge and its harmonics would have vitually no place to be dissipated!thus compounding the problem.i have the ur pulley kit and had only one problem(my battery was dead and it stayed long to charge)
when people started having problems with the pulleys,i asked my tech guy what he thought,at first he was pissed that i bought the pulleys and didnt check to see if the stock was of the damper type(he said i should have known better!)
but when we actually took the pulley off,he was like, i thought you said it was a damper!(i know a great deal about cars,not blowing my horn)but this guy works on hi performance drag cars,boats and bikes! and after he examined the pulley,the tensioner along with the belt system came to the conclusion,that it will cause a slight increase in vibration but nothing to cause the massive oil pump and pre mature engine failure!unless other factors come into play.

an intersting thing to note also,is
1)the fact that my stock pulley did not have balancing holes drilled into it,

2)some of the pulleys that was replaced had as much as four holes drilled into them.

3)and the rubber insert looked thicker in some.

4)some people had difficulty getting the pulleys on the snout for the crank(mine was the easiest crank pulley off/on i have ever seen,the one with no holes drilled)

i am of the opinion that all the pulleys should be the same and maybe some of the motors depending on the year,or what ever were offbalanced and the pulley with the holes were used on them to bring them back to tolerance .this would pose a serious problem if you were to replace that pulley with one that is not balanced in a similar way!
my question is:
WHY WOULD SOME CRANK PULLEYS HAVE THAT MANY BALANCING HOLES AND SOME DONT HAVE ANY AT ALL!
it would mean that some of the rotating assemblies are out of tolerance and were balanced by the pulley and those that had no holes were ok.
or it could be the other way around,a shit load of pulleys were nanufactured and were off balanced and those guys just drilled them to get them balanced.
or,it could even be my motor is off balanced and i should have had a pulley with the holes drilled into it and i'm due for some kind of failure !
(true if you look at it from all unbiased angles)
in any case,some thing is up! pulleys with/without holes for balancing,and the fact that they limited the rpm band in some years, when first it was higher then put it back the following year!
my $.02

get the AEM for everyday driving
get the UR for racing only..take it off after racing...and still have to becareful with it when racing...

i would just get the AEM if you really want to do pulleys...

thx for all the info