so on thursday, my one week old 2006 MCS had the harmonic balancer go. now the dealer i bought it from said they may cover it on their 90-day warranty, but i would have to bring it back to them...which would be fine if they were not 200 miles away. with that being said I did a bunch of searches on here and found that:

1.) i should replace it with a ATI pulley like this one:
http://www.waymotorworks.com/super-d...ulley-r53.html

now if i buy this pulley, is this a DIY project? I have yet to find a thread on here yet, but am still searching.

if its not a viable DIY, how much should I expect in labor? is it about the same amount of labor as a supercharger pulley replacement?

finally, if it is a DIY, is there anyone in the WNY region (more specifically buffalo) willing to help me out? i would be willing to pay for your help.


thanks for reading, and all of your help

 

It's a real hassle to be honest, it's diyable but mine didn't want to come off, even with the proper tool. It's really based on whether yours wants to come off or not. I would definitely buy a belt tensioner, crank seal, and s/c pulley kit and get it all done at once.

 

is the belt tensioner an entire part? or is it just the stopper that I need? Whats the crank seal? and i was planning on getting the s/c pulley package from WMW

 

http://www.waymotorworks.com/front-crank-seal.html

that there?

 

Belt tensioner is an entire assembly its $80 for a gates on rock auto, crank seal is an oil seal behind the harmonic balancer. Wmw package is a good way to go.

 

Im going to do the crank and supercharger pulley replacements myself. any recommendations on which to do first? i imagine that its easier to do the crank pulley first and put on the new belt then, then jack up the engine and do the supercharger pulley?

 

You can do the crank pulley without jacking up the motor so I would do that one first. Then when you decide to do the supercharger pulley replace or rebuild the belt tensioner at the same time and put in the WMW Tensioner stop http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-tensioner-stop.html.

I would definitely buy the tool to remove the crank pulley. It's worth it's wait in gold and you can always resell on here when your done. http://www.waymotorworks.com/crank-p...l-r52-r53.html

 

You do not put the belt on.....keep it off (if doing both on the sane day)...or you have I'll need to take it off to do the sc pulley....
You do need a heat gun or hotplate for the crank pulley, and getting the old one off can be an issue...folks do it...just be ready...
The sc pulley needs a specific remover...a genaric one will NOT work.period.
Look at the sc....the stock pulley is hot pressed...no bolt holes ..I'd guess that 50% of cars have an reduction pulley, and owners that bought the car used do not know....so look.
Stock is black, steel, ugly stock looking.
Most aftermarket are CNC machined....very different look.
The diy's you are looking at are fairly involved.....you need a pretty good supply of tools....can be done...but kinda jumping in with both feet!! Only you know you limits......and remember, rusty old bolts can be a pain....good luck!!

 

yep i did buy both the tensioner stop, and all pulley removal tools. I am doing this all in one day, so i guess i was wondering if i should do crank then s/c pulley. and is installing the tensioner stop good enough? or should i replace OEM tensioner?

 

The OEM tensioner are good for about 5 years or so...the strut tends to fail...then they get bouncy...letting the belt jump...if no tensioner stop is present, it can take a big chunk out of the crank damper when it swings free....
At $80 the gates (OEM with the mini markings ground off) is a screaming deal ...but you just need to determine how far down that slippery slope of "might as well" you want to go....yours might be newer... Might be already dead, might be fine....only the mechanic looking at it can tell...and you are him!!

 

When doing the supercharger pulley, what's the consensus on using loctite on the screws? I've seen some diy's that say yes, and some say no. Is there harm in not using it?

 

I didn't use any, my friend helped me do the job and he had a reduction pulley on his car for 5 years, and he also had no loctite. Hope that helps.

 

That does! Ended up doing mine today(mini dealer wanted 2 hours of labor, even though they were replacing crank shaft, so I decided to do myself). Decided against the loctite, just trying to get the belt back on, crazy tight fit...

 

Awesome the power boost is awesome, which crank pulley did you end up with? Hopefully you have a strong bypass valve, when I changed my pulley, the extra boost stretched the spring out and finished of my bypass valve.