Quarantine Project - Pulleys

[ftapache]

Looking for something to do...bored with quarantine. My car needs new drive belts. If I get those replaced, thinking about upgrading the water pump and underdrive pulleys as well.

Has anybody replaced their underdrive pulleys with Active Autowerke/Turner Motorsport and water pump pulley with ECS? Thoughts on these? Thoughts?

[MrClutch55]

following. by turners description, it frees up a few ponies, but need ppl who actually replaced them for a review.

[heinzboehmer]

Probably won't give a noticeable increase in power. However, those pulley kits usually have a metal version of the power steering pulley, which is a great upgrade over the factory plastic pulley that is prone to cracking.

[Tbonem3]

One of those mods that's not really gonna do too much, but may as well if you need belts anyway, it's not very expensive - used kits like $150 new like $250.

Deleting the mech fan at the same time gives you a little bump maybe 5 crank hp?

[Dr._Dinan]

Personally, I would go with FCPEuro and enjoy that lifetime warranty.

[kermmmit7]

I installed Turner Motorsport kit and I am happy with that. I even feel nice difference on low rpm . I don't have nav or any sounds system so I installed 3 pulleys kit .

[Arith2]

Alternator pulley doesn't stop your car from having enough power with stock components. The pulleys are cool to have... They do improve performance on paper but don't expect to feel it. Your temps won't increase, everything should work electronically and electrically, and the steering gets slightly harder at complete stop turning the wheel. Definitely not the best bang for your buck but it's something you can easily upgrade. I'm happy with my Turner pulleys because if you do the math, they help. It is NOT 5whp at 8000rpm as advertised. Components spin slower meaning less wear and tear also.

It's mostly subjective though. It's a personal preference. Some people see them as stupid.

[ftapache]

Thanks for the inputs. Seems like the consensus is the mod is cool for the bling factor, but the butt dyno won't feel a difference.

Found this video as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u41RMqvGZjo

[Arith2]

Thanks for the inputs. Seems like the consensus is the mod is cool for the bling factor, but the butt dyno won't feel a difference.

Found this video as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u41RMqvGZjo

Feelings are a terrible thing to base mods on in my opinion. There are mods you feel and mods you don't. They all do something pretty much. You also can't feel your components wearing out slower but that's part of it.

[beefaroni]

TMS kit here. I had to loosen the Oil cooler lines and rotate one out of the way because the PS pulley came about 1/2” from rubbing. If nothing else, the heavier steering and elimination of a plastic pulley are worthwhile

[Dre1485]

I have the 3 pulleys installed. After a few DE sessions, i realized on the straights my car was noticeably faster than others E46M with the same tune and without the pulleys. The difference is a little less noticeable on the street, but low end torque feels good. My car is also catless and Epic tuned.

My heavier steering is fine. The one question I have for anyone with this is: does this cause starting issues? Not sure if I’m having a starter issue or if this an smg swap related item.

The car is parked with a tender at home, but I turn the key, dash lights but no crank happens. I have to turn the key off/on a couple times to get crank, then it turns over with one crank. Thanks for any insight!

[Cubieman]

I have to turn the key off/on a couple times to get crank, then it turns over with one crank. Thanks for any insight!

This may very well be a leaky fuel injector or something else letting pressure out of the system and not leaving enough until it is primed again by keying on/off a few times.

If this is happening all the time a fuel pressure test would be a good thing to do, I need to do this as well but couldn't find a FP test kit locally with the an adapter (5/16"?) and need to find one online. The M3's schrader valve is down by the fuel filter and is very small in comparison to other vehicles I have seen.

Definitely test pressure but more importantly test how long the fuel pressure stays where it needs to be after the vehicle is turned off. Don't remember the #'s off the top of my head unfortunately.

Also, sounds like you noticed your pulley upgrade, I may have to look into that down the line.

[Kcalhoun27]

I have the 3 pulley TMS kit and have not had any starting issues. Didnt seem to affect the aftermarket stereo either.