I can't wait. I already have the PILO ignition upgrade (HIGHLY recommended!) and a short ram intake.

For those of you who already have a pulley upgrade, what was your initial impression when you drove it for the forst time?

 

Congrats on the pulley. You'll enjoy it. Just curious, why do you so highly recommend the Pilo ignition? ...and how do you have a "ram" intake?

 

I guess it's more commonly referred to as a HAI. Sorry for the confusion.


The ignition upgrade is awesome. The kit came with a Screamin' Deamon coil, Firewire 25 ohm (!) wires and plugs that are specifically meant to burn a little colder for cars with pulley upgrades. Smoother and better accelleration throughout the power band. It's one of the easiest upgrades you can do, and you can really feel the difference. The coil requires that you gap the plugs to .065".

 

OK, problem:


I can't get the belt to keep from walking off the pulley once I start the engine. Has anyone else run into this problem??

 

I am curious as to who installed the pulley?
In the near future I am thinking of upgrading to a pulley and I am just gathering details.

rajron

 

A friend and I installed the pulley yesterday. We install it and everything seems perfect, then when the motor cranks the belt walks off the pulley by about 2 grooves. Any ideas? The pulley is all the way on, but the belt wants to move that direction anyway. I don't understand!!

 

First, I'd crawl under & check that the belt is properly aligned on the crankshaft pulley & the a/c compressor.
Luck - Bodinski

 

I'll double check today, but I'm almost certain it is. We checked that twice. Maybe it came off track when I was putting the tensioner back on.

 

Is there some sort of incompatibility with regard to the Alta 15% pulley and the '04 MCS?

 

My guess is that you are not lined up on the crank when you put the belt on...if you are off by two grooves on the crank, the rest will walk.

 

OK, I will double chack that. If it's that simple I'm going to kick my own ***.

 

Hey Moomman,

I have not installed a pulley myself, but have carefully observed 2 pulley installs by the master himself, Randy Webb. During the pulley install, he was very careful to properly align the pulley using his own technique. He made a specific comment about the importance of this step.

I'm guessing you haven't aligned the pulley correctly. Other than a bent shaft (or a tensioner that's misaligned), there really should be no reason why the belt would want to wander.

BB

 

I was certain to align the belt, although I should double check that tonight when I get home.

 

Cool, good luck !!

By the way, to answer you question about 04 incompatibility. I have an 04 and have had no problems at all with mty 15% pulley.

BB-

 

Read your thread.

I installed the 15% alta pulley myself about a month ago.
One of the things I ran into when I slid the new pulley in place:
The little plastic cover over the pulley shaft needs to be removed.
Otherwise, the pulley will not line up properly.

Wondering if you ran into this....

You did not mention which way the belt was wandering (towards the engine or towards the passenger side).

let us know what you find...

spirit16

 

Plastic cover?

 

the same shaft you took the OEM pulley off of and put the 15% pulley on.
What type of pulley removal tool did you use?

 

Moonan,

Did you check the runout in the pulley after placed and tightened? If not, pull the belt check to see that it is not ecentric by turning it with a caliper against it.

I went to Randy's pulley party in L.A. this weekend. He mentioned that it is easy to get the pulley on and not quite straight as it has a Morse taper that will tighten but not necessarily align.

BTW- had a 15% pulley put on my '03 and it is fabulous. Torque off the line is so much better, I don't fear pulling out in traffic anymore. This was my first mod and am very glad I did it!

Good Luck,

Dave

 

We used a pulley puller my buddy had. I specifically used a clean cloth to clean the pulley shaft and I did not notice any plastic covering.

You know, it almost seems like the pulley should be closer to the supercharger itself, but that seems impossible because the pulley is all the way on the shaft!


Runout?

 

If you can, please take a photo and share with us here.

Another possiblity is that pulley itself could be faulty, namely the grooves. At the Bay Area pulley party, after inspecting an "Alta" pulley that was not fitting on the shaft, I noticed that the grooves were funky. On a normal pulley, the triangular grooves will be of the isosceles variety - the two sides sides being equal. On this strange one, they were right triangles - one side vertical, or perpendicular to the the pulley. If the pulley would have fit on the shaft, Randy felt that it would have shreded the belt, or quite possibly, it would have walked-off...

FWIW, this was a cust-supplied pulley, not one that Randy provided.

A photo or two would certainly help...

 

The plastic piece mentioned earlier is a "cap" that plugs the threaded holes on the end of the s/c shaft. If that was left in place, or put back on...that would be your problem, as it would not allow the pulley to seat all the way onto the shaft. (ie. not close enough to the supercharger)

 

Ah. Yes, we removed that cap. From what I remember the grooves were normal; not right triangles.

I will take pictures soon. Thanks for all the replies!

 

OK, I had my Alta 15% reduction installed by Randy at the LA Pulley party. This guy is awesome....no problems with running off at all. I do remember Randy checking a alignment measurement with a tool that aligned to 1/1000th's or something. You may be ever so slightly off, and that could be a problem.

I cannot believe the difference in driving the car. On Friday I had the software upgrade done V3.8, and the car did not feel great at all. Got the pulley installed Saturday, and any issue with the 3.8 upgrade (hesitation) is gone. This car needs to come factory equipped this way. I also had Randy install Iridium plugs and new plug wires.

Hope you get yours sorted out.....Viraf

 

any new news?

I plan on doing this soon myself...

 

I've been running the car as it is until I can bring the car in to a local Mini performance shop this Friday. Apparently the belt being off 2 grooves is OK for the time being.

I by no means want to keep it this way, but so far it's been OK. I will keep you updated!