Well, since the search feature is disabled, I guess I'll have to post. Sorry, I'm sure this has been answered before.

Who here has installed Underdrive pulleys? What are your impressions? I've been thinking about getting some for my 98 4.6L. Do you know of where I can get them for cheap?

 

i do not have them...but you can purchase them here at the online store. i was looking for them for my 4.2L but have not had anyluck. oh well, good luck with your purchase.

 

Try some Mustang site they should be about the same as our trucks same belt patern and all I think most of the diference between the Mustang and the 4.6 in our trucks is internal stuff like cams and pistons.

 

Kelly,

I am going through same process. I have a 99' 4.6L. I have a superchip, modified stock airfilter housing box and front/rear hellwig anti-swaybars.

Now, I am trying to decide on underdrive pulleys, electric fan kit, and catback exhaust.

As to the underdrive pulleys, I have found Jet Performance, ASP, and Steeda.com They range from $170 for the 3 piece Steeda set to $190 for the two piece ASP set. The ASP set seems very popular. I have not researched the Jet pulleys.

I want to go with the Steeda set, since it has three pulleys, which should mean less drag than with only two pulleys, as well as the steeda set is a little cheaper. However, you must get another belt and in pre-97' models, some people noticed "too much" of a decrease in drag and electrical accessories would not function properly. Yet, no one has commented about any problems with 97 and up models with the three piece sets.

With the two piece ASP pulleys you retain your original belt and I have not seen any negative comments about them.

I have found no place that has them cheap. I have continued to look on ebay and the classifieds, but have not found them cheap. If only the mustang 4.6 underdrive pulleys would work, then you could get them for under $100 bucks. But, no one can tell me if they interchange.

 

.....and if you tow you could likely find it not circulating water as it should.

 

Iron horse,

I've got the Lincoln Mark VIII fan and stuff all ready to go in. It's my next mod!

 

Kelly,

Even though I emailed you, just wanted to thank you for the excellent info on the electric fan. Looks like I am going to save about $250 to $300 bucks thanks to you! Now, I can get the pulleys and the fan kit faster. I wanted to install both at the same time. Now it looks like I can.

But, if you consider what familyride said about the water pump, I do have some concerns about summer time use of the electric fan with the underdrive pulleys. We will have increased heat with less water circulation, therefore a need for more electrical output to run the fan, yet if I use the steeda alternator pulley, I do not know if I will run into problems? As well as the fact that some people use a twin fan set up for increased flow.

What exhaust are you looking at? I am trying to decide between a MagnaFlow or JBA catback 3 inch single exhaust system.
Our local muffler shop wizard just told me that he does not like Magnaflow and that with the o2 sensors and the need for backpressure for the modular Ford engines, you can not use a real high flow exhaust set-up, unless you want to lose power and a lot of torque. He said that a single "Full Boar" or "FlowMaster" muffler with some 3 inch pipe was the best way to go on a catback system. He also said that parts and labor for those systems were only about $200 (Full Boar) and $300 (FlowMaster).

Yet, Mike Troyer, a real expert in this site, highly recommends the Magnaflow system for the late model F150. I tend to believe Mike T. But, the Magnaflow system is around $400 to $500 bucks. JBA reports higher (actually the highest I have found) numbers than the Magnaflow and costs about the same.

 

Jason,

I'm not too worried about overheating in the summer. The Mark VIII fan flows a crazy amount of air, and I think the addition of WaterWetter would help.

 

Kelly,

I just reviewed your site. I see that you have a FlowMaster 50 muffler. Does it have a 3 inch single exit pipe? Did you see any increase in torque? Or did you gain horsepower and a decrease in torque?

I too, cut a hole in my stock airfilter housing box. I cutt a large rectangle shaped hole starting at the top of the housing and going down toward the front of the windshield wiper fluid contanier (and away from the engine heat). It seemed to help a little.

But for me, removing the silencer actually hurt my take-off torque power! Mike T and I both think that it had detrimental affects upon the air velocity, therefore torque was decreased. I put it back in and my performance was restored.

So far for me, a big improvement (besides the Superchip) was a homemade throttle cable adjuster. I removed about 1/2 of an inch of the existing 1 and 1/2 inch of throttle cable slack near the accelerator pedal. However, everyone says to be careful to not remove all the slack or the throttle could get stuck in wide open throttle and cause you serious harm!

I found a universal throttle cable stop and plan on installing it while I get someone to open the throttle wide open, so that I take just enough slack out with out getting it stuck.

 

Hasn't FRPP made a pulley set for the 4.6 yet? I would think that with all the Mustangs on the road they would have one. I bought a three piece set for my '95 from the local Motorsports dealer for $99 bucks, and that was the powdercoated set.

A few notes on the comments in the thread.....

Most three piece sets have a smaller alternator pulley that will help keep the charge up. I considered keeping the stock alternator pulley, but to be safe used the smaller one.

Cooling - My truck cools BETTER with the pulleys. The flow through the radiator is slower, and it pulls off more heat. The only time my temp changes is high load heavy throttle, but without enough pedal to make it down shift. I assume that what happens is that the pocket of slower moving water has more time to heat soak and is warmer when it hits the temp sensor. As soon as the revs come up a little it evens out.

I work and tow with the truck, and the pulleys have been fine.

 

signmaster,

Now that is some good info! I am getting the three piece set for sure now.

Do you also run an electric fan?

With the three underdrive pulleys and less rpms to stay at a constant speed, have you noticed an increase in gas mileage?

Did you have to get a different belt with the three pulley set?

Is the power increase noticable on take-off?

Dumb question-what is FRPP?

 

Kelly,

I thought I would pass this on to you and whomever reads this thread. I just asked a local truck performance vendor about electric fans and underdrive pulleys. He said the electric fan really helps (if you look at my Engine thread "salvage yard electric fan kit for 4.6L", you will see a post by Cowboy-Up, that provides some good info on electric fans for our trucks). However, he said only the crank pulley helps. He said that the alternator underdrive pulley will eventually kill the alternator?

I am going to call steeda.com and ask them about their pulleys.

 

I disagree about the alternator pulley killing the alternator. So the alternator thinks the truck is at 3,000 rpm instead of 3,500. I don't see how that would damage it??

-Jon

 

Ford4ever,

I agree, yet, some say that some kits come with an alternator pulley that spins "faster", which, they say can damage it, yet, some say that the alternator underdrive pulley is just that an underdrive pulley therefore, it spins "slower" and may cause your lights to go dim, etc.

I still am going to get the steeda three pulley set, unless someone tells me why the two pulley set is better.

 

Right now I'm not running an electric fan, but will most likely do one in the future. I don't think it will be a problem since at idle the stock fan moves little air. If the electric comes on at idle, it will cool the radiator quicker than the stocker and cycle back off.

I did get a slight mileage increase, about 1/2 mpg. Most of my driving is around town with few highway miles on the average tank.

My set did require a shorter belt, not sure about the 4.6. I found out that many parts places will let you try belts out front and swap it for another size if needed. Another easy way it to route a piece of string around the pulley path and then measure it.

My truck is a 302 Supercab 4x4 with 3.31s, so not much really helps it off the line. It did seem to help the truck rev quicker. I have a friend who put the same pulley set on his 'Stang and got 13.5 HP at the wheels, which BTW was about 6 more than he got with his chip.

FRPP is Ford Racing Performance Parts, they used to go by the name of Ford Motorsports.

And here is a link.....

http://www.fordracing.com/performanc...cessories'

The set I have is the one on top for the Mustangs. In most cases the Mustang parts will work.