STILLEN 370Z Underdrive Pulleys Released
 

Hey guys, wanted to drop the news of the STILLEN Underdrive Pulleys that we've released today (along with the Standard Pulley we've been shipping for months).

http://www.stillen.com/images/STILLE...ve_Pulley1.jpg

http://www.stillen.com/images/STILLE...ve_Pulley2.jpg

From the STILLEN Product Page

Underdrive is approximately 20%, not enough to effect your charging system or A/C (unless you have a MONSTER audio system.. it would need to be BIG.. then you should consider the lightweight standard pulley). Underdrive pulley does require a shorter belt, which we have in stock as well (top quality Gates).

Standard pulleys for those who don't want to underdrive the accessories, and for those planning to go the supercharger route (as you wouldn't want to underdrive the supercharger, which is also run off the crank). Standard pulley doesn't require a specific belt, but if you're already in there with the belt off, you should consider just replacing it with a quality Gates belt. Up to you.

Good news is we put the pulleys on special this month, and are including the new underdrive pulley with it. Crazy cheap pricing!

STILLEN : STILLEN Performance Lightweight Pulleys

Oh gawd, now we have listen to Semtex raving about these too! :stirthepot: ;)

Nice stuff Josh! :tup:

:icon18:

so...which one should i get, underdrive or lightweight (not planning on supercharging...have a system, but nothing monster)

I would go with the underdrive for maximum gains with your plans..

if you decide to supercharge later you can always swap it back to the lightweight standard one.. I'm sure dumping it in the classifieds would be easy.

:)

Damn you Stillen! My shopping list keeps growing... ;)

Any dyno results?

95% sure I'm buying.

Anyone see anything wrong with doing this as a first mod (since it's the cheapest)?

nothing wrong, but i would do the intakes or the HFCs first (jmo)

Not at all... this is a modification that will continue to benefit with everything added..

The less effort it takes to get that pulley spinning, the better.. and quicker..

I hear AC and alternator mentioned, but what about other systems driven off the shaft? Power steering? Or is PS electric on the Z?

Power steering is crank driven.. but no noticeable effect at RPM..

Some very very sensitive people have reported a slight increase in the effort it takes to turn the wheel when stopped or at less than 5mph speeds.. but that effect went away in less than a week as it becomes normal.

Once the revs are above idle, there is no discernible difference..

HFCs?

High Flow Cats

I bought a non-underdriven pulley if anyone cares. review coming sooner or later.

I'm stuck between the two. How'd you make your choice? Supercharger down the road?

Cool. I will be interested in what this feels like.

1) Supercharger plans

2) Ben got the UD one, this way we can kinda compare results.

Nothing to do with the fact that it is underdriven and will affect other stuff. Unless you are going SC, there's no reason not to get the UD.

im planning on going turbo, ive always heard its not good to have these lightweight pulleys on a turbo car. is that true?

Brazilbro - for turbo it makes no difference.

nice!! this will be my first mod! off to the stillen site!!

You bought one too? Nice, join the club. It will be interesting to see what you will say about it since you're stock. We can compare results later on :)

now just need the flywheel and she'll be rev'n like a champ

Hmm the underdrive version (but not the standard-size version) is gone from Stillen's website. What's up with that?

Yep.. unintentional.. weird even! I'll get it back up ASAP..

Sorry about that!

All this Stillen talk is making me want to take that 10 minute drive down there to check out the magic that goes on. I go to OCC, so the drive isn't too bad haha. It's practically down Baker and a left on Airway.

I want the non under-driven one, but I'd like to see what RCZ has to say about it first!

:tup:

We'd love for you to.. Let me know when and I'll personally give you a tour of the entire facility..

Erm.... Sorry for sounding noob, but what is this UD pulley used for and what kind performance gains are we to expect?

I was about to explain it, then I realized that you can just Google it and get your answer. In a nutshell, your auxiliary items (like the air conditioner, for example) are powered by a crank pulley. An underdrive pulley is smaller and lighter, and sends less power to those auxiliary systems because they don't actually need as much power as the stock pulley generates. Power that is sent to those systems is power that is taken away from your wheels. So by replacing the stock pulley with an underdrive one, you are returning some of that power back to the wheels. End result = gain in whp.

Here, go to this link, it explains it more fully and better than I can: Underdrive pulleys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:google:

Edit: Here is the link to Stillen's web page for the pulleys.

http://www.stillen.com/product.asp?i...SAN&model=370Z

And on our engines, in case you were wondering, only the A/C, Alternator, and Power Steering are belt-driven. The only one that is really any cause for concern is the alternator at idle possibly not giving enough charge for your load and causing battery drain.

But... you have to consider that the alternator's output at idle is designed to handle every electrical load in the car all at once plus some aftermarket addons and then some safety margin as well. Unless you're installing a huge audio amp, and then running it at full volume with the window defrosters and headlights on, constantly rolling the windows up and down, with several amps of crap plugged into your lighter sockets, I don't think you have to worry about it.

Thanks for your short yet detailed explanation! Appreciated it.

Yes I agree I could have googled it, but coming from a consumer's point of view, I could not find any explanation from Stillen's webpage or from their initial first post on this thread. Which seems odd because how could a business can sell a product without providing even a small explanation on what the product does is beyond my "business imagination". I suppose the vendor expects us to google for it.

I come from a pretty modified Mini Cooper S background so I do have some understanding of what an under sized pulley will do for the Supercharger. And when I bought the undersized pulley for the Eaton supercharger, there was an explanation as to what the pulley does in terms of benefit. You know... smaller pulley = supercharger spins faster = more horse power to wheels = happy motoring days!

Anyways, after reading the wikipedia link, I have a better understanding of the pulley now and this product is probably better for colder climates not not for my equatorial country where I need the air-conditioning power! That being said, the stock sized pulley will be be the one for future consideration.

Yes, you should see benefits from the stock-sized pulley as it is lighter. Not as much as an underdrive, but you will still see gains. That's the one that RCZ is installing, so if you keep an eye on his posts you should be able to see what gains he gets from it.

Competition for Stillen?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Unort...1%7C240%3A1318

Same price, free ground shipping. Slightly lighter than Stillen's stock size lightweight replacement.

Stillen: 1.32lbs

Unorthodox 1.20lbs

Thoughts?

Well, Unorthodox is at least a company I've heard of before, so it's not like you're going with a total no-name. I'd still rather have the Stillen unit. Seems funny to me someone's selling it for our car on ebay when the mfg doesn't list a 370Z application yet (although to be fair, even Stillen is using the same part number across the same range of applications). Also, the design of that pulley looks like it would be a major pita to remove with a puller (those little round holes), the Stillen one looks pretty easy. They also list our stock pulley as being 8.25 lbs, which is definitely inaccurate. Stillen claims the stock units are 4.72. I didn't weigh mine, but that sounds about right from when I removed it.

Unorthodox is not very happy with us, as we've developed our own line of pulleys after carrying theirs for a while. We had some issues we weren't happy with, and went ahead and now there is a line of STILLEN pulleys, including new applications like the 370Z underdrive and several others that aren't available from them.

You'll notice if you look throughout the internet that their stock sized pulley used to be over 1.5lbs a little while ago, and the price about $50-60 higher. I would imagine our design of the pulley being less weight has caused some issues for them, and while I haven't seen that pulley (which is identical in the looks dept to the one they have had) in person, I'd imagine it's easier to change your marketing materials and your price than redesign... but I do not have that info.

They also misrepresent the factory pulley weight in their (not for 370Z) mfg listings.

I've said before, careful with the ebay purchases.. you want to get something reputable, and ensure that it's coming from a reputable manufacturer.. but I have no idea about the ebay vendor, he could be extremely legit.

are these pulleys easy to install?

In your case, I wouldn't recommend trying it yourself (no offense intended). But a good mechanic shop should have no problem installing this quickly for you.

hehe not at all. i guess i'll order and get amplified to install these.