I just ordered a 15% pulley for my 04'. I dont want to pay the dealer or any mechanic to do the job so i want to do it myself. I have a lot of experience with older BMWs but the limited space in the mini has me intimidated.


How hard it is to install the new pulley?
What are the steps? any help will be much appreciated!!
Do i need a shorter belt?
Should i get a step colder plugs? IE iridiums(i have a set laying around)



P.S my mods right now are KN drop in filter and one ball

 

First off, you may want to have this thread moved to the 1st Gen. side.

Now, I have a 15% pulley with the stock belt and stock heat range plugs. I was going to go colder with the plugs but was told it wouldn't be "nessesary". I'm still going try them one of these days. Here is a link to more info. (Randy) Webb Motor Sports did my install. Made it look real easy, he has done thousands, and had the right tools. Pulley puller is highly recomended.
http://webbmotorsports.com/index.php...d=13&Itemid=31

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ey-how-to.html

No pics. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-2-how-to.html

 

colder plugs and a shorter belt arent necessary. I take it you have a manual, so theres more room to play around in there. just lift the engine a bit, use a pulley puller from ALTA or something similar, out come the old pulley in goes the new... well its more complicated than that, but thats the gist of it

 

Oh i didnt realize where i put the thread lol stupid noob mistake

This does seem a little more complicated than i thought. Thanks for the help you guys! I'll set a Saturday aside and get to it!

 

I installed the Webb 15% reduction pulley myself with very little auto-repair experience. All the instructions out there are very straight forward and you really just need the right tools, a little intuition and a decent amount of gumption. The pulley-removal tool (I rented mine from Alta for $30), belt tensioner tool (not necessary but I figured I'd need it eventually and it made taking the belt off a 30sec affair), red loctite, two jacks and a block of wood! There isn't much room by the pulley, but that's why you jack up the engine to get it out of there!

Although you don't need either colder plugs or a shorter belt, I thought it was cheap insurance. If your 04 has some miles on it, the belt might be close to needing replacement so why not do it at the same time? In regards to plugs, Randy Webb recommends colder plugs and many have posted improved response when swapping the plugs on a regular basis. Colder plugs can't hurt, are cheap and since there is the possibility they'd run more reliably I decided to take the plunge. Do it! It was a lot of fun and the performance gain is immediate and very satisifing ...

 

Thanks! Ya, i already have a set of new colder plugs so ill just install them...why waste them. I have 66k miles on it so a new belt wont hurt either. I'm kind of nervous jacking up the engine like that but i think it should be fine. Its not the first time im taking on a big task.

 

Having two jacks really helped when I did the pulley. Getting the engine up and out isn't the issue, just go slowly. It is getting all the bolts, mounts and holes to align properly when lowering the engine that was a bit of a challenge. Oh and I only found out after-the-fact that the screws on the new pulley should have red-loctite on them, which isn't mentioned on any of the general removal/installation instructions. It makes sense as the S/C can spin at 2-3x the RPMs of the engine and blue loctite isn't designed for those stresses/heat. Nothing bad has happened to mine yet, but I do worry a bit.

 

Thread moved. Merry Christmas.

 

gar23,

One word of advice for this job: Get a tensioner stop. It's an inexpensive part, ~$20, available from Detroit Tuned, Alta, Minspeed, and others. It's very easy to install as part of a pulley install, not so easy by itself. Regardless, I know that if I'd known this when I did my pulley install, this simple part would've/could've saved me from a ~$1000 repair bill. Because when my belt grenaded about 200 miles after install, the OEM stop failed and allowed the tensioner arm to fall against the crank pulley.





Again, it's an easy job whilst installing a new pulley and an inexpensive part, to boot. Just a thought.

Cheers!!

 

Poppa Bear,
I was looking at that when i ordered the pulley and thought the same thing to myself. Thanks for the advice and i am going to order it. If all hell breaks loose i dont want to pay that much for a small mod. This is turning out to be one hell of a mod lol

 

Maybe so, but it is so worth it. Our cars should have come with a 15% pulley from the factory. This will be you on your test drive....

 

+1 for using 2 jacks, this helps so much in getteng the bolts lined up after you've installed the pulley

 

hahahaha nice i cant wait!
i get where to put the first jack to raise the engine but where does the 2nd go exactly?

 

When lowering I put the second jack near where the engine and tranny mate. It lets you "wiggle" the transmission side of the engine when lowering so that everything lines up more easily. Go slowly and watch that the lower engine mount point doesn't rest on part of the chassis mount on the way down. Even with the two jacks I did my fair bit of yanking and pulling on the engine to get it all to line up. When suspended by two jacks, the engine doesn't feel heavy to move around.