any body happy with there underdrive pulleys on lt1

I have a crank pully on mine and if I drove the car at night much I would take it off. The alternator does not turn fast enough with the lights on at idle. Above idle is ok. I have no idea if it helps the hp much but I doubt it does much. An airfoil for around the same $$ is a better bet.

Some guy figured it out several years ago...and I think he had the underdrive pulleys saving about 1/2 hp total.

LMAO, that pretty much says it all.

Click to view attachmentwow 1/2 hp ,I don't know if Ican handle all that power,that sounds like a waste of time and money .what mod to do?I have little time to kill this week

Yeah but you gain 5 lbs of torque, so it's worth the price.

was that a serious comment about the torque or more sarcasm?

I would spend my money elsewhere unless it was dirt cheap.....or free.

Maybe it saved 1/4 hp. The math and the posting is somewhere on this forum from several years ago. It was really pathetic...I mean the companies that make the pulleys claim so much, but then when the math is all said and done, it comes out to like 1/4 hp!

When you think about it, what do the pulleys actually do? First, the power steering...slow it down and that saves hp right? The power steering is out of the picture when the wheels are straight ahead, so it costs zero hp when it is not used, and when it is needed, we want it to work and that means it takes some hp...oh well.... The water pump...slow it down and it saves hp? well, the water pump is gear driven from a spur gear off the camshaft. There is no way to slow it down, so the pulleys don't help at all, and why would you want to anyway--so that the engine can overheat? The AIR pump is electric driven, so that doesn't help--it only runs for two minutes just after the engine is cold started anyway. The A/C can be slowed down with a special pulley...but then the A/C is only needed on a hot days, right? I don't know about anyone else, but when it is hot and humid out there, the last thing I'm thinking about as the sweat is pouring off my face is that my suffering is saving a few hp. And, here's the fly in the ointment...the A/C pulley has an electric clutch that automatically disconnectes it from the drive when the engine is floored--so, technically, it costs zero hp even if it is turned on! If you don't like that feature--turn it off. That leaves the alternator and why would anyone want to modify that? The underdrive pulleys slow the thing down and that bit of slow down, causes less output at idle so the headlights dim, the fancy aftermarket stereo packs it in and the battery gradually discharges, all for saving anywhere from 1/4-1/2 hp.

Like Tyler said, I'd spend my money elsewhere. Those aluminum pulleys do look good, though.

^ Well said, if you want to screw up your LT1 just spray it down with a hose, that should do the trick.

Seriously guys the pulley is worth it. 1/2 hp and 5 lbs of torque to the ground isn't bad for $60-70. Plus it is the combination of performance parts that make true hp. A intake will gain you 8-10. A good cat back will also give you 10. the combination can give you 25. So if you have done alot of work to your engine the pulley can net you more!!! I've won races with 3-5 hp more than the other guy. The number are based on dyno: http://www.ws6.com/mycar.htm

One more thing. How much hp does an MSD ignition add? Not much alone. How many people use them and want one?

I've been arguing that point for years--most of this forum's members can attest to that.

The stock ignition is sufficiant for all but the most radical built motors. When you go adding nitrous or some from of forced induction it might be good to beef that area up. It wont really add hp to a stock or mildly modded engine. At least not enough to consider.

I already showed that it adds hp to a stock engine on the dyno. Look at the link. For you info, it added an average of 5 hp on the STOCK engine. That means it adds 1hp for every 10 dollars. Also can be done it less than an hour. What other mod can do that(being safe and reliable). Don't believe look read what the experts say.
http://www.marchperf.com/underdrive2.html If you bother to read that either

Let's consider that what you said is correct. That would mean that the stock engine is not burning all the fuel, consequently, it failed the Fed emissions test at the factory with excess hydrocarbons coming out of the tailpipe. Since it didn't fail the Fed emissions test at the factory, that means it burned everything. So, if everything is burned, how is the engine going to make more hp by burning more than everything? I've also seen tests where a stock engine lost hp with the addition of an MSD system.

I'm really not in favor of the typical mom and pop dyno tests, but when there are a lot of them, they become very objective and accurate. The amt of tests out there show that the MSD system "makes" very little hp, none at all, or it can lose a few hp. That means it produces zero hp on average--a very poor upgrade in my opinion--unless as Tyler stated, the owner makes radical changes to the engine--nitrous, and lots of it...require something like an MSD system. However, for my money, I would beef up the wires and the coil and leave the rest alone.

5 hp for $500? A lightweight driveshaft that is stronger than stock, costs around $300-$350 and is worth from 5-10hp. An airfoil adds about 3 hp for $50. The best, and most expensive 1.6 ratio aluminum roller rocker arms (Crane Gold Race), can produce a minimum of 15hp for $300. They can produce a great deal more in a modified engine with ported and polished heads! And all of this can be done using the stock and unmodified ignition system.

It only takes about 10,000-15,000 Volts to ionize the air gap at the spark plug tips. After ionization, it only takes 2,000 Volts to fire the mixture! These voltages are well within the capabilities of the OEM system. Multiple sparks are not needed, but proper spark dwell (how long the spark lasts) IS, and that is just what the OEM system is designed to do.

but that red cover does look pretty cool though eh? haha

I got MSD only because I was having a ton of problems with the electrical aspect of my car...but thats cuz i got shorty headers and also burnt out 3 wires...