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lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:58 pm
by pardizzle21
Set up this topic to get some info and opinions on lighweight pullys.
I understand that losing weight on moving parts is alot more benificial than reducing in-car weight.

Anyone using /used one?
Iv found them online for about £50

Any ideas if u lose p/s?

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:36 pm
by saxophonias
are they stock hondas that they have been re-machined?i would be more worried whether they are balanced right

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:19 am
by 007
it is a widely held belief that running undamped solid pulleys leads to bearing failures but there is no conclusive proof of the same when a solid pulley from the factory is replaced with another lightweight solid one. so you may want to keep that in mind before you proceed.

I was running an extremely light Al pulley myself and everything was going very well until I spun a bearing. to this day I dont know why exactly that happened though. it could have been an oiling failure or the pulley. I plan to find out when I build another engine that can be experimented with. decided to play safe for now and went back to the stock pulley on my daily driver.

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:12 am
by pardizzle21
ahh iv also read about pullys being a 'harmonic balancer' and if from factory they are not solid then they should not be replaced.

hmmmm how long were you using the pully 007 before you span a bearing?

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:52 pm
by 007
the "harmonic balancer" is the rubber part of a pulley.

my factory pulley was solid. I was running the lightened pulley for somewhere around 2000 km before spinning rod bearing#1. all the other main and rod bearings were good as new.

Ive also had past experience with locally made replacement pulleys on my earlier 1.5 engine because I kept breaking my pulley bolt because of bad keys and later, a bad key groove on the crank. these pulleys werent balanced at all and despite running them for thousands of kilometers and sometimes running without a pulley itself, the bearings showed no signs of wearing out.

I am not entirely sure of the true cause of the spun bearing but think it has to do with a lubrication failure and not the pulley. however, I dont know enough to rule the pulley out completely.

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:35 pm
by pardizzle21
great reply 007,
il have to research round 'dare i say it' other forums online to find out :oops:

But I would agree, if honda install rubber in the crank pully, then it NEEDs to be there

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:15 pm
by 007
well I would say yes if the engine is completely stock. for higher revving, higher torque modded engines, I would seriously doubt that the damper would still function as Honda intended it to.

from what I gather, the rubber doesnt work across the rev band. it is "tuned" for a particular frequency. something like this would be sweet: www.fluidampr.com/

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:31 am
by saxophonias
to be honest i would play it for the safer side. You can always reduce loses with other lighter pulleys and maybe a flywheel

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:06 am
by 007
just a lighter flywheel with a stock pulley should be fine too. Im running a 8lb Fidanza flywheel with a stock solid pulley. works great.

Re: lightweight crank pulley-d14/d16

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:46 am
by saxophonias
007 wrote:just a lighter flywheel with a stock pulley should be fine too. Im running a 8lb Fidanza flywheel with a stock solid pulley. works great.
I have the fidanza around the garage for many years waiting for the time that the stock clutch will need replacement. So tell me, did you face problems with the revs dropping fast due to light flywheel? Do you have any videos of how it revs?