First off:
Ya fuk the harmonic damper cuz technically our car has none . Those who worry about the ‘harmonic damper that doesnt exist’ shouldnt have a lightened flywheel either. Well i wasn’t expecting any hp, but i mightve got a some (ill just say i wasnt expecting any). Like my proposition earlier i felt that lightening the crankpulley would be exactly like lightening my flywheel (i already have a CM 7.5lb one). It turns out that i got exactly what i paid for and what i wanted = increased acceleration and more rev happiness. A flywheel or lightened pulley does not make more peak power, but i believe it increases power by increasing the area under the curve because you get to ur power sooner vs RPMS and u go to the same redline etc; therefore, you got more overall power and it actually feels really nice on the street. The power increase here is not like an intake or something that increases peak or just certain points of your rpm curve. It’s just different. Those of you who lightened your flywheel and know the feeling it’s the same thing over again, but not as much. There’s no extra sound. What do you expect for $160? Hell people pay $200 for a AEM Cold air and i bet they get nothin but the extra sound.
Opening the box & measurements:
It’s nothing more than a piece of billet aluminum. There’s no high tech stuff in it it’s just a simple functional lighter and smaller pulley. The diameter of the front is 3.75inches vs the stock at 4.5inches this is a pretty aggressive underdrive for 15% stated by unorthodox. Im assuming the other pullies are reduced proportionately also. The pulley is made out of lighter material, less complex, and much smaller. Weight is approx 1lb vs stock of 6lbs = 5lbs less rotational mass. Essentially this is going to feel like another 5lbs shaved off my already light 7.5lb flywheel and it did. Unorthodox pullies dont come with belts like AEM, but a trip down to the autostore got me a 2 new belts (unorthodox was nice enuf to give u the belt sizes and alternates; perfect fit). Quality is great. All edges are deburred especially the important ones. The belt grooves are exactly like stock and the timing marks are all there. The polish starting to get old but a little rubbing compound made it look like new.
installation:
This is one of the easiest modifications i have ever done. 19mm or 3/4 socket for the crank with a big breaker bar, torq wrench, screwdriver, 10,12, 14mms to get the belts off and retensioned. Getting the stock crank off was hard tho and you may need a few people to help. I personally didnt follow the instructions because the drivetrain wouldnt hold enuf torq i needed to free that crankbolt. It is supposeldy torqed to 133ft/lbs, but it felt like 500lbs. I used a “flywheel-lock” since i had my ‘scattershield’ off and the crankbolt came right off with 1 swift kick. Total installation time was about 1 hour. The crank fit on perfectly without any problems for fitment etc. Instructions are kinda crude, the disclaimer and legal stuff is way longer in back ;).
Note: i neglected to put on the AC belt cuz my compressor is broke anyway. So only PS and ALT are working. Dont forget to oil up the unused pullies or else theyll rust.
Start-up:
I dont know where people come up with this extra vibration bs or shockwaves cuz i didnt feel any. I got all the polyurethane moto mounts and shiet too. Dont believ this false info cuz it’s fulla crap lol. Car is sooo damn rev happy and free. I got what i wanted that’s all. Compared to a $200 intake this was worth it.
The car idles slightly higher, but maybe the ECU needs to adjust to it? Ill see.
I have NOT tested the ALT underdrive YET. PS feels exactly the same as before. I will make notes of the voltage differences while the car is on with a multimeter. For now 14.6volts was stock voltage with car on at idle. I assume it may drop down to 14.0volts while on at idle. Im pretty sure my headlights will be very dim at idle cuz it already does it stock with my high wattage bulbs. I dont really have a system tho so im not worried.
I’m not going to debate the whole dampener thing with you cause its been gone over a bunch of times. Really i just don’t want anyone to come by here and believe 100% that you’re right about the dampener. I’ve read about it on the net a handful of times and from sources i’d consider more reputable than just some guy on a message board.
Like i said, i’m not gonna argue. Really i don’t know if there is one or not… you say no, everything else i’ve seen says yes. Personaly i lean towards there being one (because of all the info i’ve read on it) and so I’m gonna stay away from this type of mod. I just want any of the newbies out there who may read this to know that they may want to look into the harmonic dampener factor before they just trust you like its gospel.
one thing to note is that this article pertains to bmw’s; it is relative to hondas as well since no production motor is without its own respective harmonic resonance. take note of the use of ‘dual mass’ flywheels–my previous e36 m3 was equpped with one [see pics below]–basically a multi-piece flywheel that helped reduce drivetrain vibrations that result in chatter. i found this out when i swapped out the stock flywheel for a 13 lb. aluminum flywheel. but a point made in the dinan article is that this dual mass flywheel would help to dampen some of the harmonics from the motor from the other side of the crank pulley, negligible as it may be, and further points that the majority of the torsion/stress is found at the part of the crank furthest from the flywheel. hence, the need for a harmonic dampener.
jh4db536 said: “Those who worry about the ‘harmonic damper that doesnt exist’ shouldnt have a lightened flywheel either.” i’m thinking if honda isn’t utilizing dual mass type flywheels for our particular cars (b-series motors), then the engineers must have felt that the stress levels for that part of the motor’s bottom end were indeed negligible. however, they did decide to include the rubber insert on the pulley itself, on the other side of the motor. so, having a lighter flywheel in my opinion is somewhat different than having a lightened crank pulley like the unorthodox racing piece on a b-series motor.
here’s a couple pics of the dual mass type flywheel as equipped on an e36 m3 (lightweight 95 edition excluded). notice the multi-piece design. excuse the rust–it’s an old piece.
here’s a look at the stock honda crank pulley rubber insert courtesy of inline4:
i’m not trying to argue or debate this issue either; i have no personal experience with the u.r. crank pulley nor do i have any comments as to whether or not this piece is beneficial or harmful. i’m just posting up some things i thought were pertinent to the matter, that’s all. but! in my humble opinion, i think a piece like the u.r. crank pulley belongs on a motor that has been carefully and thoroughly balanced.
JH4DB536: Sorry man, but you are wrong about the B series not having a dampener, cause they do. Just like the guy above mentioned, look at your stock pulley. It is comprised of two pieces separated by 1/8" thick rubber. Inner core and outer ring, with rubber dampener in between. If this didn’t have a purpose, don’t you think they would have just made 1 solid piece? That would have been easier for Honda. I had one of those unorthodox racing underdrive pullies on my Mazda MX6 and it went through 2 oil pumps in 60k miles, and when I got another engine installed which already had 70k miles on it, the oil pump went out 7k miles after the engine was installed. Now I know Mazda is not Honda, but come on… Also, I disassembled the 1st engine, and the bearings look like they had been beat to hell. I ran Mobil 1 Synthetic the whole time I owned that car, and it still didn’t protect those bearings. So the only thing I can blame is the underdrive pulley. Plus, ntpog disassembed a Prelude engine that had been running a pulley also, and they mentioned the bearings were also shot with only 80k(?) miles on the engine. So, to you, all I can say is good luck…
. Those who worry about the ‘harmonic damper that doesnt exist’ shouldnt have a lightened flywheel either. Well i wasn’t expecting any hp, but i mightve got a some (ill just say i wasnt expecting any). Like my proposition earlier i felt that lightening the crankpulley would be exactly like lightening my flywheel (i already have a CM 7.5lb one). It turns out that i got exactly what i paid for and what i wanted = increased acceleration and more rev happiness. A flywheel or lightened pulley does not make more peak power, but i believe it increases power by increasing the area under the curve because you get to ur power sooner vs RPMS and u go to the same redline etc; therefore, you got more overall power and it actually feels really nice on the street. The power increase here is not like an intake or something that increases peak or just certain points of your rpm curve. It’s just different. Those of you who lightened your flywheel and know the feeling it’s the same thing over again, but not as much. There’s no extra sound. What do you expect for $160? Hell people pay $200 for a AEM Cold air and i bet they get nothin but the extra sound.
