W211 AMG Discuss the W211 AMG's such as the E55 and the E63

Preferred pulley setup for daily driven car?

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Old Feb 19, 2024 | 02:09 PM
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Preferred pulley setup for daily driven car?

Been around for a while; once upon a time had an ASP crank pulley on, took it off and then was stock for a while. Now I'm looking to add some more power but looks like the pulley landscape has changed a lot: clutched pulleys, fixed pulleys, and now VRP with their modular balancer combo.

My car is my commuter and gets driven about 60-70 miles daily, I am not looking for any compromises in drivability or comfort. Taking out any variables such as labor, and cost, what is the current preferred method to adding reliable power via a pulley?

I guess really I'm trying to understand if there are benefits to a SC pulley VS a crank pulley at this point. I could go either way but don't fully understand the pros and cons of either setup. Thanks in advance for any help/advice.
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Old Feb 19, 2024 | 07:01 PM
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Personally, I'd never touch the crank pulley - but that's me. Tons of people have done it for thousands of miles with no issues. I would never do it to my car, the potential of damage is far greater than if something happens to your blower pulley.

Throw an 83mm upper pulley on there with box tune (tune of your choice, they're all tried and work). It's the perfect daily driver setup with zero compromises and good bit of power/TQ bump.

For what it's worth, I daily drive my car and rarely drive it like a granny.
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Old Feb 19, 2024 | 07:53 PM
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2nd on not touching the crank pulley. It's not just a pulley, it's a harmonic balancer.

I've done 70k miles on a 72mm upper and stock lower and it's fine... except it eats oil 1qt every 1k miles.
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Old Feb 20, 2024 | 12:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Sulaco
2nd on not touching the crank pulley. It's not just a pulley, it's a harmonic balancer.

I've done 70k miles on a 72mm upper and stock lower and it's fine... except it eats oil 1qt every 1k miles.
The vrp kit uses an innovators west harmonic balancer. It's just a standard pulley, does this change your stance?
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Old Feb 20, 2024 | 05:49 AM
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If there would be an ATI Super Damper then I would've invested in that. I know that someone over here has one, which was custom made. I had one on my Mini Cooper S and was highly impressed with it





It was 2% bigger and a even bit lighter than the stock rubber unit.
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Old Feb 20, 2024 | 08:02 PM
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Originally Posted by bobgodd
The vrp kit uses an innovators west harmonic balancer. It's just a standard pulley, does this change your stance?
I would be fine, but I don't know the benefits of replacing lower pulley over upper pulley if they achieve the same results? Upper pulley is a 10 minute job if you have the right tools. Crank pulley is a much more involved job; is it worth it?
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Old Feb 21, 2024 | 12:45 AM
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Personally I use a stock lower pulley and the oem upper pulley, which I had milled down from 91mm diameter to 88mm. So original build quality and oem nachi bearing and about 0.1 bar more boost. With supporting mods I have about 100hp more than stock (cams, headers and 80mm throttle body)
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Old Feb 21, 2024 | 11:29 PM
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ASP crank 195 here since 2013 and 30k miles and I have it pinned for extra piece of mind.

crank will give you less belt slip as you increase the surface contact area of the belt. A smaller upper course is less to grip so more belt slip. BWK will help but likely to still get some. I still run a BWK with my 195 to ensure still lower chance.
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Old Feb 22, 2024 | 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by black06c230
ASP crank 195 here since 2013 and 30k miles and I have it pinned for extra piece of mind.

crank will give you less belt slip as you increase the surface contact area of the belt. A smaller upper course is less to grip so more belt slip. BWK will help but likely to still get some. I still run a BWK with my 195 to ensure still lower chance.
I do have a belt wrap kit already installed, decided to jump on a really good price once upon a time. I would think all things being equal the keeping the largest upper pulley would be the best prevention to belt slip, but I'm not even sure how to measure belt slip in the first place.
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Old Feb 22, 2024 | 07:24 PM
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I have a 72mm and stock lower, so my upper pulley is on the very small end. I have an UltimatePD belt wrap kit.

Belt slip is virtually a non issue.
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Old Feb 22, 2024 | 08:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Sulaco
I have a 72mm and stock lower, so my upper pulley is on the very small end. I have an UltimatePD belt wrap kit.

Belt slip is virtually a non issue.
I guess another thing to consider is I already own a replacement crank pulley/balancer in my garage for when I start to see mine separate... Might as well run with that and go upper pulley, rather than have that money wasted.
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Old Feb 23, 2024 | 01:41 PM
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I've ran various sized upper pulleys on all three V8Komp cars I've owned and not one slipped to be noticeable having the belt wrap on it. Held boost steady all the way to shift. If there is/was any slippage whatsoever, it would be negligible.

Last edited by ArmoE55; Feb 23, 2024 at 01:44 PM.
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Old Feb 23, 2024 | 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by ArmoE55
I've ran various sized upper pulleys on all three V8Komp cars I've owned and not one slipped to be noticeable having the belt wrap on it. Held boost steady all the way to shift. If there is/was any slippage whatsoever, it would be negligible.
Did you ever run a 77mm and LT's on any of your cars?

Is there a noticeable difference between stock and an 83mm and tune?
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Old Feb 23, 2024 | 11:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Fountain35
Did you ever run a 77mm and LT's on any of your cars?

Is there a noticeable difference between stock and an 83mm and tune?
Trying to figure out the same thing now... Is there any particular pulley that I should avoid? How small is too small for daily driven?
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Old Feb 24, 2024 | 04:46 AM
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83mm pulley is a good pulley i tried one out after having the stock pulley for all these years, i had the griptec coating on mine. the car makes 537-533 hp and 570 torque that is with several deg of timing less then my stock pulley tune. on a 35mph to 130mph pull lugging it in 3rd gear to check air fuel on street only a 38 deg rise in air charge temp. Race fuel over 600ft pounds of torque. pretty sure if i wanted to dip into the 10s with the 83 i can considering the stock pulley times. unless your getting the proper cooling and recovery 83mm pulley works just fine all around.
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Old Feb 24, 2024 | 12:18 PM
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Originally Posted by 99lightning
83mm pulley is a good pulley i tried one out after having the stock pulley for all these years, i had the griptec coating on mine. the car makes 537-533 hp and 570 torque that is with several deg of timing less then my stock pulley tune. on a 35mph to 130mph pull lugging it in 3rd gear to check air fuel on street only a 38 deg rise in air charge temp. Race fuel over 600ft pounds of torque. pretty sure if i wanted to dip into the 10s with the 83 i can considering the stock pulley times. unless your getting the proper cooling and recovery 83mm pulley works just fine all around.
Thanks for the reply. I've made the [potential] mistake of googling past pulley threads from the past decade or so, and seems a lot of people have had issues with clutch springs on the 83mm. Safe to assume these issues have been addressed? Is there any particular vendor to avoid? Not trying to start a flame war but I've got no desire to spend a lot of money on a ticking time bomb.
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Old Feb 24, 2024 | 01:28 PM
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i got mine from upd in texas bought things in the past from them.
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