pulley's plus system = bad combo?
 

i was looking into getting some AEM pulleys for my 97 teg. I was told that it might not be a good idea for me to get the pulleys because I have a system in my car. I use a 425 watt MTX amp that pushes two lil bitty 8's. What do you think?

The alternator will run slower... if you drive hard, you should be ok (higher rpms)... if not, you may find your battery gets drained quite often when you've been cranking the system.

you'll be fine. when you stop, your headlights might dim a bit whenever it hits, but when you drive, and you dont have to drive hard, it wont matter that you have pulleys. so pretty much, whenever your not at idle, everything will seem the same.

I'd stay away from pulleys as a general rule. Read this white paper by Steve Dinan (the famous BMW tuner). He knows a lot more about this subject than practically everyone.

http://www.dinanbmw.com/html/danger_...er_pulleys.htm

he is talking about the harmonic damper. not the accesory pulleys. you car couldn't care less if you ran no accesory pullies. but if your remove the harmonic damper, your engine will vibrate itself to death.

If you want to get the pulleys go ahead, I wouldn't, because you should be able to get a capacitor and solve that problem of the headlights dimming. The capacitor should store enough power so that when you are stop at lights and so on your lights won't dim

Right, but I was simply alluding to the fact that, at least in BMWs, the harmonic damper is built into the accessory drive pulleys. Many aftermarket pulleys do not include the damper and that is what can cause problems. Maybe it's not the same for tegs, but anyone considering this mod should certainly look into it and make sure. Reading this paper doesn't hurt. If you don't understand how an aftermarket part works and why it was designed a particular way, you might want to stay away from it.

Also, modern cars need electricity to run for any length of time (ECU, fuel pump, HVAC, radio). Removing your accessory pulleys, as you stated, would not be the smartest thing to do. You could probably drive for a little bit until the battery dies, but then you'd be stuck.

i doubt that the aem gears slow down the alternator enough to drain the battery. Im almost certain there isn't a harmonic damper in the alternator or power steering pulley. I know there is on on the crank but this would not be removed. The alternator isn't totally shut off just slowed down a bit. I doubt you even have to drive hard to get enough voltage for you system. Do know if your amps or regulated or not? how loud do you usally listen to your music?

on hondas, the harmonic damper is on the crank. i know this because i helped my friend install and underdrive pully on his alternator. we removed the power steering belt. after we put in his system(1000 watts total power) his lights dimmed slightly when it hit hard. but we put in a 1 farad cap and its fine now. and hondas, as do pretty much every other car, have a voltage ragulator in line with the alternator. if they didn't, everytime you got the engine above idle you would fry the electrical system in your car because it would push waaaay more than 14 volts.

if you still have anymore questions, dont be afraid to ask!

I have the power steering pulley for an integra. I'm tryin' to get rid of it cheap. It's a red AEM pulley, just the power steering. If anyone wants it, E-mail, or PM me.