Joined
·
1,291 Posts
I just purchased 2) MWR under-drive pulleys for the alternator and water pump. While I had everything apart and was looking around I noticed the Belt Idler Pulley on the rear of the engine. Looks like this is where the power steering pump was for other cars. See image below.

Has anyone looked at doing anything to completely remove this useless pulley? I know it would probably require reworking the belt tensioner design completely. Looking at the post below, when they changed out the alternator and water pump pulleys with light weight aluminum they saw a nice little power gain. (I realize there was some resizing/under/over-driving involved too) but I would assume 1 less pulley would give some back.
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f25/nst-pulleys-tested-33226/
If no one has a solution to completely remove the idler pulley, what about getting a nice light-weight equivalently sized pulley? Based on NST's light weight hardened aluminum pulleys they are cutting out at least 1/2 the weight.
NonStopTuning Lightweight Pulley Kits - Lotus - NonStopTuning
I contacted NST and they would just need a sample pulley to create the new one from and told me that it would probably cost in the $140 range for just one. I am not sure if they would have a Group Buy price, but if folks are interested we could ask. Might also want to get MWR in on this thread to see if it would be something they would be interested in adding to their pulley lineup.
:nanner:
So who is up for a group buy or for deleting the idler pulley?

Has anyone looked at doing anything to completely remove this useless pulley? I know it would probably require reworking the belt tensioner design completely. Looking at the post below, when they changed out the alternator and water pump pulleys with light weight aluminum they saw a nice little power gain. (I realize there was some resizing/under/over-driving involved too) but I would assume 1 less pulley would give some back.
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f25/nst-pulleys-tested-33226/
If no one has a solution to completely remove the idler pulley, what about getting a nice light-weight equivalently sized pulley? Based on NST's light weight hardened aluminum pulleys they are cutting out at least 1/2 the weight.
NonStopTuning Lightweight Pulley Kits - Lotus - NonStopTuning
I contacted NST and they would just need a sample pulley to create the new one from and told me that it would probably cost in the $140 range for just one. I am not sure if they would have a Group Buy price, but if folks are interested we could ask. Might also want to get MWR in on this thread to see if it would be something they would be interested in adding to their pulley lineup.
:nanner:
So who is up for a group buy or for deleting the idler pulley?