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Okay this is lame. You can't put up such an alarming big type note just to say that we have to wait a few days before you tell us, and then on top of that you will only tell us by post. Is it something negative that we should watch out for. You may not have any details, but come on, at least give us a little insight. I am having a pulley installed in two days. Is this a "I shouldn't have the pulley installed because corporate BMW has issued an edict that states that all pulleys will invalidate all warranties", is this a "BMW will offer the JCW pulley for sale by itself", or is this " I have seen a few pulleys and you should make sure to loosen this bolt" type of information?
Again, I state, this is a lame post without anymore information.
Well before saying that it is lame maybe you should give some time to gather my info. It is not from BMW in any way shape of form. Just a tech tip so you guys dont mess up your engines......just trying to help...dont think thats lame!
Well I guess I can start off by asking if any one knows what a harmonic balancer is?Another term is vibration dampner? Well I need to know if installation of this pulley requires any removal or modification of this part. Can anyone tell me this?
I still stand by my lame comment. I know you are trying to help, but don't make it such an alarmist note, like stop the presses.
Secondly, if you don't know if a harmonic balancer is removed when changing out the pulley, I am not having a lot of confidence in this thread.
There are people with almost 60,000 miles, many of them with a lot of track miles that haven't had any problems or made any comments on the various How To... documentation. There have been at least 500 pulleys put on that I have seen documented, so I am not sure what special news you have.
Not trying to attack you, I love information and appreciate people sharing it, just have to do it with a little tact. You don't yell FIRE in a theater without first checking if the smoke is from a fire or the guy smoking behind you. Good luck with this one!
As far as I am know it requires no removal of harmonic balancer.I am actually surprised that underdrive pulley kit is not yet on market for other pulleys.Had underdrive set on my Vette and made a diff.
Justin, you work for MINI and your asking us what's required to do the mod? Call John Coooper and ask him or better yet start with your service department someone over there should know.
Hi Justin, pulley installation instructions are provided by Randy at Webb Motorsports here, there are two different methods of doing it and neither has anything to do with the harmonic balancer which is mounted on the crankshaft. You can find the links to the how-to articles at the top of the Performance Modifications forum. You mention that you've been with BMW a long time and have no knowledge of what a harmonic balancer is and what it does? I hope for your and your customer's sake that you aren't turning a wrench on these cars with such limited knowledge.
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>>Justin, you work for MINI and your asking us what's required to do the mod? Call John Coooper and ask him or better yet start with your service department someone over there should know.
Uhh, that's the problem guys, the service department.
As for Justin, I've known him for several years on and off the track. And many of you know I wouldn't be pulling any punches when it comes to MINI. I believe he's just trying to be helpful and warning us of possible situations you may encounter. I know he isn't trying to sell the JCW kit since they can't get enough of them. I have also let you know that I would suggest getting the pulley and ECU upgrade at the same time so you won't run lean. A bigger FMIC would be even better. Just watch our for the increased heat from overdriving the sc.
Now, looking at the MCS and doing some research, the easiest way to install the pulley would be to unbolt the motor mounts on the car and lift the right side several inches. This will expose the stock pulley and make it easier to remove and install the 15, 17 or 19% pulley.
The only reason I brought this up is because I read an interesting bulletin from Steve Dinan who has been very active in modifying BMW products Here is the link to the tech bulletin on The Danger of Power Pulleys & Understanding the Harmonic Dampner http://dinancars.com/html/danger_of_power_pulleys.htm
Just leave the stuff up about the pulleys. I guess people are getting a little antsy about the installs that are going on at pulley parties. I started a thread telling people to ask about mods instead of just jumping on the bandwagon or going off the deep end. This concern was for their well being and their car's. In juxtaposition with the pulley installs, it could have been misinterpreted as an act to sabotage the pulley party. I wholeheartedly support this party as my tools are being used for it and I will be in attendance to wrench if needed. However, I do hope people will understand this pulley change will most likely invalidate their warranty.
Beastmaster, actually this is straight from the BMW/MINI Warranty Manual in the section regarding Modified Vehicles/Anti-tampering: I t reads:
Procedures:
1. Installation of an aftermarket part or accessory does not necessarily void the vehicle warranties. The scope of possible alterations is very large and therefore a listing of all situations would be impossible. Common sense must prevail and in a questionable situation the BMW center staffshould ask for assistance by calling the Warranty Department. In General terms the BMW warranty is void due to a modification where the modification, alteration,or installation of an aftermarket part was directly responsible for the failure.
This is where I thought this was going. Dinan is writing about the underdrive pulley, not the supercharger pulley which is commonly talked about on this board. There is a lot of discussion going on about the lighter underdrive pulleys that are being marketed and this type of issue.
The supercharger does not have a harmonic stabilizer, either the factory one, the JCW one, the Dinan one, the Eurosports, helix, alta, hartge, BBR..... I don't think anyone is jumping on the bandwagon without discussing the issues including warranty issues.
Beastmaster,
First, the pulley doesn't invalidate the warranty as talked about extensively on this site as well as outlined in the Magnuson-Moss Act. Secondly, the 15% pulley is not a radical change to the Mini. The JCW pulley with extensive testing and certified and warrantied by BMW contains a 15% pulley. At least 500 pulleys have been installed in the US with no known issues or a warranty claim being denied by BMW relating to the pulley (at least none that anyone has ever heard of).
No one is afraid or concern that Justin is sabotaging the pulley parties. In fact, he isn't even talking about the supercharger pulley, but that wasn't what he first stated. But that is okay, no harm done.
By the way the same issue is being discussed in regards to the flywheel as well. You can do a lot of searches to see the different discussions as well, especially since a lot of the lightened flywheels remove the harmonic stabilizer.
