do the pulleys actually help any? I was thinking of putting them in my 89. I would assume it would be the same pulleys for a 351w as with the 302. curt

 

i have march underdrive pulleys on my truck. i installed them at the same time as the electric fans, and noticed a nice little increase in performance.

 

I had considered getting pulleys for my truck as well, but I didn't want to lose too much power to my accesories. Every time I turn on my defroster or heater, my alternator/battery does all it can just to keep from running out of juice as it is, I'm afraid to get underdrive pulleys! I do have an amp. in my truck and I wanna get fog lights so I was thinking of getting one of those high powered alternators, but I'm afraid it'll have the opposite effect as the pulleys-- that my truck will lose power to the engine. So how does your voltage hold up with the pulleys?

 

I have the FRPP three piece set on my '95. With lights, AC and radio on the charge drops just to the lower edge of the normal range at idle. Not enough to cause problems, but enough that the fan slows and the lights dim slightly.

As for power, they seem to help some. I feel that they helped more at higher rpm, but I did see a small mileage improvement, so they must help at lower revs as well.

Most tests I have seen show that pulleys will give an honest 8-12 hp at the wheels, good bang for the buck for only $100 or so.

 

what he said. at idle, if i have my radio on and my loights on, the lights dim a little, but not much. voltage drops a little, but as soon as i get the truck running, it comes back up.

 

Thanks for the replies...

What about the heater/defroster? I can have my headlights on, my radio cranked up and my windshield wipers going and I won't see a budge in my voltage meter. But as soon as I turn my defroster on, the needle goes down to the lower mark of normal. This is my biggest concern-- will I still be able to use my defroster without my truck stalling on me? It has happened in the past.

 

hmm i dunno since i never u se my heater (since i live in FL). next time im in my truck ill turn it on and see...

 

TF,

On mine using the blower doesn't make it go any lower than the low on the "normal" range. On my truck it stayed towards the middle of the normal range with the defroster, lights and other crap on.

I'm not sure if alternator output changed on the early models or not.



Donate,

Have you gone through any summers with the AC running and the pulley/electric fan combo? I've considered doing the fans, but deal with a lot of traffic at times. The summers here are similar to Florida summers.... hot and humid. Not using the AC isn't an option for me.. I just don't want to push it to the point of early battery replacement, or worse yet having to turn the AC or something off at lights to keep from stalling.

 

sorry, but i cant help you there either because i never use my A/C since it doesnt work. kinda sucks when youre in 100 degree weather with 100% humidity! i went to 1 place to swee how much it was to fix and they told me that most of the system had to be replaced, and quoted me $2000. after that i went to a couple of other places but the cheapest i could find was a buddy of mine who told me he could get it working for $1200. to me, since ive lived in hot weather all my life and im used to it, id rather lower my windows and spend that much money towards something else on my truck.

 

Donate,

You can have my A/C. My system works just fine, I just don't like using air conditioning. I much prefer rolling down my windows and breathing the fresh air and saving a little bit of gas. The heat out here in California is dry heat, so it is definately tolerable. I don't know if "donating" my a/c system to you would save you any money or not but it was just a thought, and it is certainly something I could live without.

 

I agree that A/C is pretty much an unnecessary luxury here in So Cal, but I still like it. I am curious about pullies, but my concern is overheating. My truck has always run at the upper limit, IMO, of where it should, as far as engine temp is concerned. This is mostly because I have always had the timing advanced, whether by the ECM chip, or on my own, and have grown to need that extra power. I'm afraid that if I added the pullies, I would have to reduce my timing to prevent overheating, and I don't know that the performance gained from the pullies would exceed the power lost from resetting the timing. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Take care,
-Chris

 

I did the pulleys and love them, felt a nice SOTP improvement. I added an overdrive alternator pulley from rpmoutlet.com (713) 858-8095 for like $20 and the voltage gauge doesn't move any. As for temps and timing I'll let you know this summer..

 

Chris,

I haven't had any cooling problems. I do get a slight swing of the temp gauge under certain conditions. If I get on the gas hard from a low speed corner, but not hard enough to force a 2-1 downshift, the needle will move slightly above where it normally stays. In my case "normal" is right in the center of the normal range on the gauge.

It quickly settles back down. I doubt that it could actually generate heat that quick, even if the water pump and fan weren't turning at all. I tend to think that the water moving slower over the sender allows it to "heat soak" more than it would with stock pulleys.

If I drive the truck hard and let it rev, the gauge is normal or lower. I think it actually cools better because the radiator has more time to remove heat, since the water is moving slower.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the input!

Take care,
-Chris