Daniel60

Well I'm finally happy. I just ordered the Steeda Pullys at www.brenspeed.com and that coupled with the CAI/with Brenspeed tune has my car a f*cking hot rod. If you haven't gotten this combination then I highly suggest you to. This may be wasted space to some who drive rocket ships with plenty more but believe this makes my freaking day. Also if you get axlebacks get MAC axlebacks they are freaking rock n' roll baby, they too can be purchased at www.brenspeed.com.

stangxs

I got the C&L + SCT Tuner, Magnapacks cat-back in last week, and having my pulleys installed as we speak, can't wait

saud alzaabi

cool man..... i dont know if its the right time to order mine or not because u see..... im about to change my mustang with a manual transmition but just waiting for the right time .... anyway i always ask my self when im driving that ' if i got the cai and xcal 2 and used it on my auto mustang is it ok to use it on a manual mustang too ? ' cuz if not then im gonna wait

Daniel60

Hey Guy if you do change transmissions you do need a different tune. I know that was the first question brenspeed ask me, "Do you have the 5-speed or the automatic. They both have separate tunes. Good Luck on what you do.

Gloves

Excues the noob:

What do these pullies do? I mean how do they 'free up 10 hp?'

if they cost $200... that's $20.00 a horse. do you have to re-tune your engine after the install?

Daniel60

to go fast cost money that something you will learn in this business. These certain pullys slow down the accessories that your engine has to supply power to this in return gives back more horsepower to the wheels. Another answer it makes less revolutions instead of the stock pullys that make more that takes more horsepower to supply the accessories.

ford4v429

just an opinion, but I'm very cynical about a lot of claims. heres my thoughts, maybe someone can help convince me otherwise- I'm thinking the tune is biggest 'seat of the pants' gain- as required with the CAI, I think often the CAI might get more respect than the invisible tune...but I think maybe a tune alone would make similar 'noticable by seat of the pants' power changes...those are the most valuable for a everyday car.

I wonder what the 'reduction' in ratio works out too? 25% reduced accessory rpm maybe? if so that means 'normally' accessories draw 40hp? I kinda doubt that...if a/c compressor running, batterys dead, stereo/lights/fans/everything on 'high', cranking the power steering it might draw a lot, but doubt that would draw more than 10hp total...doubt water pump could pull over 1~2 hp...Ive never really looked too close, but never saw any advertised Wk² values or even just ratio 'percentage of change' for underdrive pulleys...

I think the inertia reduction would probably make a noticeable difference in rpm response if free revving, but under load, I kinda doubt rpm climbs fast enough to really see much difference. I'd really love to see a couple sets of dyno pulls before/after WITHOUT tuning, and I really doubt much RWHP change would be seen-from the few pulls Ive seen, from one to the next can vary a bit without changing anything(maybe coolant temp?), and often wonder if best/worst pulls often snagged for advertising purposes.

I'm do think at dragstrip the reduced inertia might help a tiny bit (in first gear mostly) by letting rpm climb a bit quicker, but Id still also guess running at 1/4 tank instead of full tank would show much bigger change. Turn the air off, blower off,lights off, let it idle long enough to fully charge battery, go straight, and I doubt pulleys would make any 'noticable' difference on the street...maybe half a tenth in the quarter? get stuck in traffic on a hot day, hope the engine dont get hot, the ac works ok, and the battery dont drain while youre sitting there at 75%(or whatever) of the factorys intended minimum...with fuel economy, OEMs surely tweak parasitic drag all they safely can while still maintaining function...

I am convinced tunes can be all important- surely the factory keeps things conservative for best emissions and warranty reasons- so I could see the right tune could really really make a big, big difference. pullies...I just cant see it.

theres a thread on pulleys over at themustangsource.com in the v6 section- a guy posted a link about some other issues that can arise(referred to bmw though)- if UD pulley replaces harmonic balancer, or changes mass of inertia ring(I'm sure it does change the inertia of the assembly at least a little bit), they could even cost power due to harmonic tortional vibration in the crank...I have no idea how much research has been done by pulley sellers, but doubt its 1% what ford spent tuning out harmonics for warranty reasons...Ive never really looked that close at mine, but picture the 'pulley' was the OD of the inertia ring? I'll have to look, as it dont sound right, but I swear I thought the outer rim of harmonic balancer was the pulley...dunno. tortional vibration you cannot feel- but it could twist a crank till it fails...

Personally, I'm probably going to look at a tune first, but I'm hoping to save my pennies for a supercharger- a roots type (positive displacement) so bottom end/everyday driving can 'feel' better without getting into the all too tempting upper rpm that these cars love to live at...the car is a absolute blast even stock, but more bottom end torque to me is where I'd prefer to be able to enjoy it stoplight to stoplight. wouldnt need a dyno or dragstrip to feel the difference every time you go to the store you'd know its there. Blower pulleys are a different thing altogether

PonyGT2005

I just installed my C&L with XCal2 and tune from www.brenspeed.com...I can't stop grinning either!!
Next on my list are suspension and wheel/tireupgrades .... need to shave some seconds off my lap times.
Hope to get a S/C installed....someday

freefallpat

Hi guys,


If anyone is interested,

I have a K&N CAI and Predator for sale. My car is at the shop for a Vortech kit. The S/C comes with its own Predator so....


The CAI has 1500 miles on it.

PM me if you are interested.

The CAI and the tune make a pretty good difference.

Patrick

Philostang

ford4v429,

First, nice work on the Galaxie! Your neighbor must have been ecstatic.
Second, thanks for your post--questions like these keep us honest and not all full of hype. I thought I might offer some thoughts.

Personally, I think underdrive pullies and light-weight (i.e. aluminum) pullies are doing their jobs differently. Aluminum pullies are meant to decrease the rotational inertia felt by the engine--so more power is available to the crank. This month's Popular Hot Rodding features an excellent tech article by David Vizard on the effects of rotational inertia all the way from pullies through crank, drivetrain, to wheels. This is pretty well documented even on older carburated cars--so the "tune-effect" is isolated out as the source of the gains. I think we have a tendency to underestimate the impact reduced inertia makes.

Underdrive pullies, on the other hand, are supposed to deliver gains due to less drag (not inertia) on the engine--but there isn't a 1:1 relationship between the reduction in rotation (ex. 25% slower) and the amount of hp robbing going on (so that wouldn't translate to 40 hp, it is said to usually translate to something far less). At any rate, that's an effect that is present as long as the accessory is moving. So, it doesn't matter if you have the headlights on, the stereo blasting, and are leaning on the horn--the alternator is turning the same (and in theory, if it is turning slower it is creating less drag, then you'll see a gain). Now the AC is a different story, because its pulley has a clutch that engages when you turn it on and otherwise rotates freely--that's why you see your performance drop (in any car, tuned or stock) when you try to hit it with the AC on.

I think you're right about the balancer and crank pulley on the new engines--that's one reason why you don't want to get a pulley set from some joe-shmoe shop. Personally, for this reason alone, I wouldn't go with a company that doesn't work very closely with Ford. Steeda and Roush have such a relationship, and they have access to Ford's R&D files, so I think this is a safer bet. But othewise, I'm with you, casually messing with the balancer is risky, and you're not likely to notice this for 40-50K miles (but hey I want to be driving my "reliable" car at that point).

Thanks again for your post--we need more critical thoughtful inquiry like this.
-john