lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

People use them and say they like them because they haven't had a failure yet, and they don't want to admit they wasted $150 on a part that really does nothing.

Ask Shawn if he'll honor a warranty claim for a spun main bearing, a new flexplate when the bolts back out and the holes get thrashed, or a broken cam chain? I'll bet he tells you what he's said for the last 10 years - we warranty the pulley - nothing more. So, he won't even acknowledge the very well documented Supra owners running his pulley that had crank position wheels rotate, flexplate bolts back out, and main bearings spin? Sounds like Shawn. He'll warranty the pulley for defects in manufacture, not defects in design. He continues to tell lies to sell product. Is this really someone you want to do business with?

If he said he'd make the drive pulleys or even build a dampened crank pulley, I'd say sure, it'll be fine, but that's not what he does. YOU assume all risk of internal damage.

Would you like to see what happens to a 2AZ running an undampened pulley? How about a 2JZ (which you can't run at an NHRA track without a dampened pulley)?

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're not going to see squat out of it and you're assuming all risk because your warranty will be void. Unless you believe in warranty fraud and would remove the solid pulley before taking your blown engine to Lexus to be replaced.

This isn't hate. It's engineering. Solid pulleys are bad engineering when they replace a dampened pulley.

BTW, doesn't the title of this thread say "Unorthodox Racing Pulley - opinions?" You now have mine.

al503

I think both are well designed. I'd take the OEM intake over one of the HAI (hot air intakes) any day. Also, have you ever noticed the inner sleeves inside of the OEM exhaust pipes? They're there for a reason. Long story short, bigger isn't always better in certain circumstances.

al503

I had the Unorthodox crank pulley in my G35 (which had the same engine as the 350z.) The stock crank pulley was about 11 lbs and the UR pulley was about 3, IIRC.

I think they came out sometime in 2002 or 2003. I thought long and hard about putting it on and read all of the threads on the G35/350Z forums before making the plunge. Many of the same arguments for and against it here are the same as it was back then. I put mine on sometime in '04 after there had been no reports of failures and some of the guys had put 40 to 50K miles with them installed.

There was one failure that someone tried to attribute to the pulley but the owner of that Z had a supercharger and was admittedly running about 3 quarts low on oil at the time

That was 4 years ago and I haven't heard of any failures on any G's or Z's and there has to be thousands out there not to mention that there have to be more than a handfull with over 100K miles with them now.

The guy who bought my G still has it on and has about 70K miles with it on. His engine is still running strong.

While this mod won't get you bump in power, the engine will be a little more responsive with it, just like a lightened flywheel.

I thought it was a very worthwhile mod and might consider it for the IS if a lot of people do it before me, put a lot of miles on their cars, and have no issues.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Then what are you waiting for? Why would you ask for opinion if you're not willing to accept it? It seems like you really want to do this mod and are waiting for someone to give you the okay to go. Just because no one believes in this mod doesn't mean that they're haters. Post up the same thread about a Tornado fuel saver crap and you'll still get the same responses.

Or you can try it on your car and let everyone else know of your result when you hit 70k miles, or if you even reach that point without abnormal vibrations.

Lextasy89

what am I waiting for?? hes not going to spend all his time and make the part for just me.. if he would then i would buy it..

but he obviously wants to know more people are willing to purchase the product other than me before he start production

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Well let me ask you this...why do you think it'll be okay to run the unorthodox pulley? Because the owner said it would be okay? Any scientific reasons as to why these pulley will not do harm to the IS engines? I'm sure if you can prove that they're harmless, you'll have lots of people lining up behind you.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

That was exactly the point of the post I made, and why the ISx50 shows so little aftermarket gain in either area.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

BTW- a nice read on why pulleys aren't a great idea

http://www.dinancars.com/bmw/technia...armonic-damper

Lextasy89

^^ thats already been put up.. but manaufacuters like steeda and lingenfelter like them apparently.. al503 like them on his G35 just like many G35 and 350z owners do.. i think our engines will be fine and i would be willing to try out the product..

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Lingenfelter sells ASP pulleys... which include a harmonic dampener

Guess what Steeda pulleys include too?

Lextasy89

well then couldnt we try and get unorthodox to do that too.. if it would be safe for our engines and have an increase in performance then people would obviously be very interested in this part..

Unorthodox racing may have to spend mroe time developing.. but they would obviously charge more.. so it would all workout in the end..

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

You'd be way ahead to talk to ATI or Fluidamper. The problem is, anything with enough mass to do the dampening isn't going to be much lighter than the stock piece. The biggest advantage to aftermarket dampers is they can last much longer than stock. The stock ones eventually have the rubber in them fail and they self destruct. Usually takes at least 150k miles before this happens though.

Shawn won't even talk about building a dampened unit. He'll be happy to tell you there is no need for it.

Lextasy89

my email from Shawn:

There has never been a problem with our products and to put our
money were out mouth is we have carried 2 million dollars in product
liability since we brought this product to market in 1997. We are making
dampers for domestic V8 engines but I doubt anyone with these cars would
spend $400 for just a damper that is unnecessary and will be the same weight
or heavier than the stock pulley meaning it will have no performance
improvement. Then add 2-3 accessory pulleys and a kit would cost $600-700
and gains might be 5-7 HP just from the accessories being lighter than the
stock ones. I guess It's not going to happen then, sorry to see that closed
minds prevail again.

mikes rx

iTrader: (14)

Just some facts:

1) all engine mods for our cars are around $500.
2) the same pulley kits (with balancers) made by others for V8 engines are only in the $200-300 range.
3) aren't the point of underdrive pulleys to UNDERDRIVE the accessories, not decrease weight.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

http://www.lingenfelter.com/store/c72.html

Lingenfelter, not known for being "cheap", is getting $250-299 for their pulley sets, crank AND accessories, with dampeners, for V8s.

The more I hear from "shawn" the more I'm agreeing with Lance that he's shady... (though his suggestion that most cars don't 'need' harmonic dampeners was really enough to be sure of that... what he's doing is banking on the fact folks who put cheap pulleys on won't keep the car long enough to try to sue him for engine damage or that they'll have put so many other crap parts on he can blame those instead)