I am considering diving into this upgrade today. I've installed the DINAN exhaust and intake already.. Is this installation relatively easy or should I not even attempt it? I would reuse the stock belt.

 

You should get a shorter belt if you are getting a smaller pulley. Regardless of what others may say it's better to be safe than sorry, and a new belt should only be about $20-30. If you have the tools and know what you're doing you should be good to go. It took my mechanic about 3-4 hours to install my pulley.

 

I read somewhere that I need a heat gun?? what exactly is that for?

 

maybe to heat the stock pulley if its not coming off very easy.

Its a doable job. I did mine, took about 2 hours. but I did a few short cuts. plus my pulley puller doesnt require you to remove the belt tensioner. I did however just change that out. I wont get into it, but WOW, not easy!

what kind of puller will you be using?

 

A big flat head screw-driver. lol I'm serious, I do not have a puller. Is that important? And how much are they?

 

I just changed mine yesterday, and it was WORK. I am not a mechanic by trade, but I am fairly adept at working on cars. It took my friend and I ~ 8 hours to finish this job. We did also replace the lower engine mount bushings, and gearbox mount bushings at the same time but that only added ~ 20 minutes to the job MAX. My biggest problems were getting the stock pulley off, once I got the pulley off the shaft it was stuck between the frame and the engine, getting the lower engine mount back on correctly, the belt took a little while to get on, and the stupid intake clamp onto the throttle body is always a PITA as well.

Also when you pull off the stock pulley put a bolt in the hole you uncover with the plastic cap. This was not mentioned in Randy Webb's instructions which I was following...I thus messed up the end of the shaft a bit with the puller, not enough for me to be entirely concerned, but I'd be happier if I hadn't done it.

You WILL need a proper pulley removal tool, a belt tensioner tool, and a smaller belt. I used a Napa 060535 belt...it worked just fine.

A flat head screw driver WILL NOT work, and your stock belt WILL slip even though you wont really know its happening. I rented my pulley removal tool from Alta and after using it I understand why Webb's design is square...that would do a much better job IMO.

 

ohh BTW, if you live in a city with a good Mini mechanic who would do this job for ~ $175-200...I'd pay for them to do it, considering you're spending $100+ in tools anyway and the rest is just to save you the hassle.

 

If you use a screw driver or pry bar, be sure to budget for a new supercharger! When using the proper puller, you see that it takes A LOT of force to get the pulley off. When I did mine, it took about 6 hours (including putting on an Alta intake). This was after observing the process a few times. I also used the Alta puller which requires removing the tensioner. The second time I did it, I used one of the pullers that doesn't require the tensioner to be removed and it took me half that time. Most places that do it on a regular basis could probably pull it off in under 2 hours.

 

I would get on to your local areas forums and see if anyone has a puller that you could borrow. I dont think you will be happy with the outcome if you did the old screwdriver removal!

 

Us 'Mericans in Germany have done a couple of pulley parties over the last two years and we've gotten the times down to just under an hour. Mainly because we have the right tools (puller, tension bars, etc.) and two (real) mechanics. The rest of us are amateur wrench turners.

I would not even consider doing this job without the right tools. I've seen installs go horribly wrong for lack of the proper tool, as can be seen here. Luckily, 91Eunos was able to get everything together and working fine. My luck just doesn't run that way.

Hindsight being 20/20, I would not have considered my pulley install complete without a tensioner stop strap, like this one. I've posted the details over in the NAM Europe Club site (my post is #125 on page 5), however, if I would have had this $20 part, that more than likely would have saved me from a €650 / ~$1000 repair bill when the Gatorback grenaded!!!

Could I do this job now that I helped the mechanic do mine and another car? Yeah, with the following requirements I'm sure I could do the install:

1. The right tools: puller, tension bar
2. The right parts: pulley, strap and belt
3. Good instructions from Henry / WP4LDU
4. Enough time to do the install right.

Sorry for being so long but I hope this helps, especially about the strap.

Cheers!!

 

I attempted it on my own with "proper" rented tools, got the engine out tensioner set, pulley would not budge. Put it all back together, went and visited a friend that had done several, we did it in 2 hours worth of work, with the proper tools and a little more practice and two sets of hands running on it.

 

I think that's the main thing. If you have done it before or have been with someone who has done it before, then you should be fine. You're going to have a lot more issues if you are trying it for the first time (even with the how-to's). I've installed my intake, exhaust, even aftermarket fog lights but I'm going to leave the pulley up to someone professional who's done a bunch of them.