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Aftermarket crank pulley options...
mediabloke - 22/1/09 at 10:39 PM

I noticed during my recent block-rebuild that the rubber damper on my Vx crank pulley was starting to split, but had some trouble scouting for a new one. Judging by some posts I've seen on some of the Vx forums, the main stealers are charging up to 200 quid for one. I could've got a Zetec for less than that!!!!

Anyway, I'm too far down the road to sack it now - it's almost a member of the family.

Has anyone replaced their existing damper pulley with an aftermarket one? And where did you consider?

SBD advertise one for £110.40, but I'd be a bit reluctant to start drilling / dowelling / grinding it to fit an EDIS trigger wheel to it...

Thanks in advance,


Francis.

[Edited on 22/1/09 by mediabloke]

bill132hotrod - 23/1/09 at 12:04 AM

Hi there what engine you got??????

bill132hotrod - 23/1/09 at 12:06 AM

Hi there what engine is this pully for ???????

mediabloke - 23/1/09 at 12:34 AM

quote:
Originally posted by bill132hotrod
Hi there what engine is this pully for ???????

Hi Bill. It's a x16xel - 1.6 ecotec from an Astra F / Vectra B. The existing pulley's similar to that of the 2l XE, but with a single large centre bolt, instead of 6 smaller ones around the edge.

I'm considering fitting a solid one in place of one with a damper, but wasn't sure if anyone else had done it.

OT: Liking your build. Must remember to ask you later about those alternator brackets though, when I get round to that job...



[Edited on 23/1/09 by mediabloke]

MikeRJ - 23/1/09 at 08:24 AM

The damper is there for a good reason, to reduce torsional vibration which can cause premature crank failure. This is something rarely considered when people replace them with lightweight alloy pulleys.

mediabloke - 23/1/09 at 12:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
The damper is there for a good reason, to reduce torsional vibration which can cause premature crank failure. This is something rarely considered when people replace them with lightweight alloy pulleys.

Thanks Mike -that makes sense. In this case though, an OE pulley appears to cost more than a new crank (although the latter doesn't factor in gaskets, big-ends, rod bolts, etc.). It begged the question though.

I'd be interested to know if this has happened to yourself / others.

MikeRJ - 23/1/09 at 01:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mediabloke
I'd be interested to know if this has happened to yourself / others.


Ever since a friend of mine described the results of some engine testing he did when he worked in Lotus, I've always been wary of messing with the crank damper. Crank life can be reduced hugely in some circumstances, though typicaly engines with longer/weaker cranks suffer most.

The fact that the rubber has degraded just shows that the damper has been doing work, it converts torsional vibration into heat.

However the Vx crank is fairly tough (though I've seen a couple of failures on rally cars) so it may be perfectly fine for the kind of low mileage use that it's likely to get in a Locost. It would be worth speaking to Nat as he has far more experience with these engines than I do.

mediabloke - 23/1/09 at 08:18 PM

Fair point.

Some of the diesels & later ecotecs appear to have 2-way, single-vee pulleys for the aircon, power steering, etc, for which I can understand the need for a damper - better that than some valve-piston interference from shedding the pulley & timing belt.

I was thinking the load from my alternator would be a good bit lower. It drives the alternator and holds my EDIS trigger wheel, but that's about it.

I'll give the chap a U2U shout. NS Dev, you mean?

Cheers - Francis.