Lightweight Crank Pulleys

1) "What are lightweight crank pulleys?"
Alutec lightweight crank pulleys are stock diameter (O.E size) crank pulleys, utilizing the original belt layout. The section that drives the alternator is the same diameter as the OEM crank pulley, hence no underdriving. Alutec crank pulleys are designed to maintain alternator output at exactly stock output levels so car owners with big stereos need not worry about flat batteries or weak charging capabilities. Constructed out of aerospace grade 7075 aluminum, these crank pulleys weigh between 650 to 850gms on average as compared to heavy O.E units ! 7075 aerospace aluminum also outperforms conventional pulleys made of 6061 grade as they have higher tensile strength, are more durable & lighter. Through extensive weight savings, power gains of up to 10% can be seen on a NA car and even more than 10% on a forced-induction car, depending on individual car's set up. All Alutec crank pulleys come fully balanced and counter-weighted from factory, features ultra hard anodizing for superb wear resistance & strength and are one of the most cost-effective power upgrade in the market today. Instant linear power gains can be felt across the entire rpm range and power curve after upgrading to these crank pulleys. It's the simplest hassle-free direct bolt-on crank pulley type which is most recommended for daily street use.

2) "What is underdriving/underdrive or overdriving"
Underdriving/underdrive is slowing the speed of the accessories, or the driven component, from the original speed they were turned by the OEM crank pulley. Underdriving can be accomplished in two ways. First is by increasing the diameter of the accessory pulley/s. The problem with this method is that it increases the size of the accessory pulley/s which increases their weight. Weight reduction is the most important key to increasing engine performance and response. This method also eliminates the ability to underdrive the a/c, which is a tremendous robber of horsepower.
The second method, used by companies like Unorthodox Racing (USA), is by reducing the diameter of the main drive pulley or crank pulley. By using this method they can achieve the best ratio of size reduction, underdriving, and most importantly they can maximize the reduction of weight on the crank pulley where most of the weight savings can be seen. This reduction in weight reduces the moment of inertia allowing your engine to respond faster to throttle inputs and perform better at all RPM's.
Overdriving is increasing the speed of the accessories, or driven component (like a supercharger), from the original speed they were turned by the OEM crank pulley. This can be done or accomplished in two ways. First is by decreasing the diameter of the accessory pulley/s. The second method, used by Unorthodox Racing, is by increasing the diameter of the main drive pulley or crankshaft pulley. Overdriving can be used to either increase the boost output of a supercharger or to increase alternator output due to increased voltage demand from a large/competition stereo or auxiliary lighting system.

3) "How do lightened crank pulleys give me more power?"
Weight loss is the most critical factor in making, or more accurately, releasing Horsepower! Each pound of weight taken off the engines rotating assembly is worth approximately 2.7HP and the figure increases dramatically with forced induction, nitrous, VTEC and increased RPM's. There are no adverse effects from using any of these pulleys. Bolt them on and forget about them, then just follow your vehicles normal maintenance schedule. For the daily driver who wants to ensure regular maximum driving pleasure with big stereos or other electronic gadgets, Alutec crank pulleys are strongly recommended for daily street use.

4) "Is my crank pulley a harmonic/torsional/vibration damper or a harmonic balancer?"
People are getting their crank pulleys confused with the harmonic dampers found on some V6 / V8 engines. "Harmonic Balancer" is a term that is used loosely in the automotive industry. Technically, this type of device does not exist. The "balancer" part comes from engines that are externally balanced and have a counterweight cast into the damper, hence the merging of the two terms. None of the applications that we offer utilize a counterweight as part of the pulley as these engines are internally balanced.
The pulleys on most of the new import and smaller JDM engines have an elastomer (rubber ring) incorporated into the pulley that looks similar to a harmonic damper. The elastomer in the OEM pulley serves as an isolator, which is there to suppress natural vibration and noise from the engine itself, the A/C compressor, P/S pump, and alternator. This is what the manufacturers call NVH (Noise Vibration & Harshness) when referring to noticeable noise and vibration in the passenger compartment. It is important to note that in these applications, this elastomer is somewhat inadequate in size, as well as life span, to act as an effective torsional damper. If you look at the pulleys on some of the imports there is no rubber to be found at all. This is not to say that with our pulleys you will hear a ton of noise or feel more vibration from your engine compartment. Most who have installed and driven a vehicle with our pulleys will notice the engine actually feels smoother. This is a natural result of replacing the heavy steel crank pulley with a CNC-machined aerospace aluminum pulley. NVH is variable and unique to every car. NVH will increase with the installation of an aftermarket intake and/or exhaust, for example. Think of OEM intake systems in newer cars, they use baffles and resonators in the intake to quiet all the intake noise. Aftermarket intakes eliminate these resonators and create dramatic increases in engine noise from the throttle opening and closing. So to most tuners, certain types of NVH can make the driving experience more enjoyable.
The purpose of a traditional harmonic damper is to protect against crank failure from torsional movement. This is not necessary in most modern engines because of the many advances in engine design and materials. Factors such as stroke, displacement, inline, V configurations, power output, etc., do determine when and how these harmonics and torsional movements occur.
Again, there is a lot of internet hearsay about the pulleys. When engine problems occur, too often people are quick to blame the pulley first, rather than taking the time to look logically into why there was a problem. We hope that after reading this you will understand the crank pulleys better.

5) "Will these pulleys cause premature engine bearing wear?"
This is a fear many prospective owners have and is a valid concern since we are dealing directly with the rotating assembly. Fortunately it is another urban myth with no basis in fact. The fact is that our pulleys have the opposite effect on engine bearings. The combination of tight tolerances, quality control, perfect balance, and dramatic weight loss versus the stock pulleys reduces stress loads on your engine, extending the total service life you can expect from your engine. Engine bearing problems are purely associated to poor engine maintenance, use of heavier than factory recommended oils, improper engine building practices (which includes poor balancing), excessively revving engines when they are cold, and owners expecting their factory oil pumps to handle engine power outputs beyond 3, 4, even 5+ times the stock power levels.

6) "Are these pulleys hard to install?"
An installation done by a professional mechanic should take no longer than one (1) hour for crank pulleys.

7) "Do I have to change my belts when I install the pulley?"
For Alutec crank pulleys, most applications do not require a belt change as they’re O.E sized. When the belt sizes need to be changed, it is usually because the pulleys are either smaller or larger than the factory pulleys. The belt/s you will need are available from your local auto store or garage. Most qualified mechanics also include a belt change in the installation work.

8) "Does the anodized coating wear away?"
The anodizing on these crank pulleys are ultra hard to withstand long-term friction, ensuring durability. 7075-T6 aerospace aluminum has phenomenal weathering ability that allows it to remain beautiful even in the most severe weather environments, outperforming 6061 grade in this aspect. The anodizing color may wear away on the belt sections where the belts ride on the pulleys over time. There is absolutely no cause for alarm.

9) "Can the anodizing cause the belts to slip?"
No. Even without the anodizing, the belts have the same grip that they do with the stock pulleys.

10) "Is there any long term maintenance required with the pulleys?"
The only maintenance required is to check and replace the respective belts at the manufacturer's specified intervals. Other than this you basically bolt on the crank pulleys and forget about them.

11) "Will my engine RPM's change?"
The pulleys have nothing to do with the transmission and the gear ratios. The pulleys only change the speed of the accessories and nothing else. The transmission and the differential, as well as tire size, control engine RPM at any given speed.

Engine Oil – What It Does & How To Choose

What does my oil actually do?An engine oil's job is primarily to stop all the metal surfaces in your engine from grinding together and tearing themselves apart (and that's the last thing we'd want!). But it also has to dissipate the heat generated from this friction too. It also transfers heat away from the combustion cycle. Another function is that a good engine oil must be able to hold in suspension the nasty by-products of fuel combustion, such as silica (silicon oxide) and acids, whilst also cleaning the engine of such nasties. And it must do all of these things under tremendous heat and pressure without succumbing to fatigue.

Mineral or synthetic?Mineral oils are based on oil that comes from dear old Mother Earth which has been refined. Synthetic oils are entirely concocted by chemists wearing white lab coats in oil company laboratories. For more info, see the section on synthetics further down the page. The only other type is semi-synthetic, sometimes called premium, which is a blend of the two. It is safe to mix the different types, but it's wiser to switch completely to a new type rather than mixing.

A couple of words of warning:

If you've been driving around with mineral oil in your engine for years, don't switch to synthetic oil without preparation. Synthetic oils have been known to dislodge the baked-on deposits from mineral oils and leave them floating around your engine. It's wise to use a flushing oil first.

If you do decide to change, only go up the scale. If you've been running around on synthetic, don't change down to a mineral-based oil - your engine might not be able to cope with the degradation in lubrication. Consequently, if you've been using mineral oil, try a semi or a fully synthetic oil. By degradation, we’re referring to the wear tolerances that an engine develops based on the oil that it's using. Thicker mineral oils mean thicker layers of oil coating the moving parts (by microns though). Switching to a thinner synthetic oil can cause piston rings to leak and in some very rare cases, piston slap or crank vibration.
Gaskets and seals! With the makeup of synthetic oils being different from mineral oils, mineral-oil-soaked gaskets and seals have been known to leak when exposed to synthetic oils. Perhaps not that common an occurrence, but worth bearing in mind nevertheless.

SyntheticsDespite their name, most synthetic derived motor oils are actually derived from mineral oils - they are mostly Polyalphaolifins and these come from the purest part of the mineral oil refraction process, the gas. PAO oils will mix with normal mineral oil which means Joe public can add synthetic to his mineral, or mineral to his synthetic without his car engine seizing up. The most stable bases are polyol-ester (not polyester). What we meant by 'stable' is 'less likely to react adversely with other compounds.' Synthetic oil bases tend not to contain reactive carbon atoms for this reason. Reactive carbon has a tendency to combine with oxygen creating an acid. As you can imagine, in an oil, this would be A Bad Thing. So think of synthetic oils as custom-built oils. They're designed to do the job efficiently but without any of the excess baggage that can accompany mineral based oils.

Pure syntheticsPure synthetic oils (polyalkyleneglycol) are the types used almost exclusively within the industrial sector in polyglycol gearbox oils for heavily loaded gearboxes. These are typically concocted by intelligent blokes in white lab coats. These chaps break apart the molecules that make up a variety of substances, like vegetable and animal oils, and then recombine the individual atoms that make up those molecules to build new, synthetic molecules. This process allows the chemists to actually "fine tune" the molecules as they build them. Clever stuff. But Polyglycols don't mix with normal mineral oils.



A quick guide to the different grades of oil.


Fully Synthetic
Characteristics 0W-300W-405W-40
Fuel economy savings

Enhances engine performance and power

Ensures engine is protected from wear and deposit build-up

Ensures good cold starting and quick circulation in freezing temperatures

Gets to moving parts of the engine quickly


Semi-synthetic
Characteristics 5W-3010W-4015W-40
Better protection

Good protection within the first 10 minutes after starting out

Roughly three times better at reducing engine wear

Increased oil change intervals - don't need to change it quite so often


Mineral
Characteristics 10W-4015W-40
Basic protection for a variety of engines


Oil needs to be changed more often

So what should I buy?

Quality Counts! It doesn't matter what sort of fancy marketing goes into an engine oil, it's what's written on the packaging which counts. Specifications and approvals are everything. There are two established testing bodies. The API (American Petroleum Institute), and the European counterpart, the ACEA (Association des Constructeurs Europeens d'Automobiles - which was the CCMC). The API

The API classifications are different for petrol and diesel engines:
For petrol, listings start with 'S' (meaning Service category, but you can also think of it as Spark-plug ignition), followed by another code to denote standard. 'SM' is the current top grade, which recently replaced 'SL' and 'SH'. 'SH' will be found on most expensive oils, and almost all the new synthetics. It's basically an upgraded 'SG' oil which has been tested more sternly.

For diesel oils, the first letter is 'C' (meaning Commercial category, but you can also think of it as Compression ignition). 'CH' is the highest grade at the moment, (technically CH-4 for heavy-duty) but 'CF' is the most popular and is well adequate for passenger vehicle applications.

The ACEA standards are prefixed with a 'G' for petrol engines and a 'D' or 'PD' for diesel. Coupled with this are numerous approvals by car manufacturers which many oil containers sport with pride. ACEA replaced CCMC in 1996 primarily to allow for greater read-across in test programs (eg. for viscosity, viscosity modifiers and base oil). The CCMC specifications were G (1 to 5) for gasoline, D (1 to 5) or heavy duty diesel and PD1 and PD2 for passenger car diesel. ACEA though have a slightly different nomenclature they can be summarised as A for petrol, B for passenger car diesel and E for heavy duty diesel. The ACEA grades may also be followed by the year of issue which will be either '96, '98 (current) but coming soon is 2000.

Full ACEA specs are:
- A1 Fuel Economy Petrol
- A2 Standard performance level
- A3 High performance and / or extended drain
- B1 Fuel Economy diesel
- B2 Standard performance level
- B3 High performance and / or extended drain
- B4 For direct injection passenger car diesel engines
- E1 Non-turbo charged light duty diesel
- E2 Standard performance level
- E3 High performance extended drain
- E4 Higher performance and longer extended drain
- E5 (1999) High performance / long drain plus American/API performances. - This is ACEAs first attempt at a global spec.
Typically, these markings will be found in a statement similar to: Meets the requirements of API SH/CD along the label somewhere. Also, you ought to be able to see the API Service Symbol somewhere on the packaging:

If this is all confusing you, then rest assured that all top oils safely conform to the current standards. What you should treat with caution are the real cheapies and those with nothing but a maker's name on the pack. Cheap oil doesn’t mean it’s good!

SAE Grade counts too! The API/ACEA ratings only refer to an oil's quality. For grade, you need to look at the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) ratings. These describe the oil's function and viscosity standard. Viscosity means the substance and clinging properties of the lubricant. When cold, oil can become like treacle so it is important that any lube is kept as thin as possible. It's cold performance is denoted by the letter 'W', meaning 'winter'. At the other end of the scale, a scorching hot oil can be as thin as water and about as useful too. So it needs to be as thick as possible when warm. Thin when cold but thick when warm? That's where MultiGrade oil comes in. For ages, good old 20W/50 was the oil to have. But as engines progressed and tolerances decreased, a lighter, thinner oil was required, especially when cold. Thus 15W/50, 15W/40 and even 15W/30 oils are now commonplace. Synthetics can go down as far as 5W which seemed unbeatable until some brands came up with a 0W30 formulation! 'Free flowing' just doesn't describe it! It's predominantly a workshop oil but recommended for use in places like Canada in the winter. So again: what should I buy? That all depends on your car, your pocket and how you intend to drive and service the car. All brands claim theirs offers the best protection available - until they launch a superior alternative. It's like washing powders - whiter than white until new Super-Nukem-Dazzo comes out. For most motorists and most cars, a quality mainline oil is the best. Ones which are known to be good at their job and accepted by the general public. Go up a step again and you're looking at synthetic oils aimed squarely at the performance market. These are the ones which provide better endurance and favorable oil pressures for the demanding drivers.