DIY - Stillen UnderDrive Pulley Install for the VQ35

[dangeris]

Ok guys, got the pulley in yesterday and this morning I took it my buddy's garage who helped me install it. I could have done this at my house, but hey, he has a lift and that makes all the difference in the world when working on your car. And it's still frick'n cold out.

So let's get started on this install;

First jack up the car, (in my case, the lift) and remove the wheel and access cover which is held on with 5 clips.



Here's a tip: before you remove the belt, make a sketch of how it's suppose to look like once you re-install the belt. We used the underside of teh access panel.



The flash kind a distored the pic but you can see the diagram we drew. It's probably in the FSM.



When everything is exposed, you'll see the crank pulley and to the left of that you'll see the tension pulley. To the left of the tension pulley, you'll see these two hole/circle thingys. You'll need to lift up on the belt and swing the tension pulley to the left until you line up the holes. When they're lined up stick a screw driver through the holes to keep the tension off of the belt.



If you have an impact wrench handy, use a 19mm socket to remove the pulley bolt. If you don't, I'm sure you'll be able to use a breaker bar but it'll be easier if you have an impact wrench:



Once you have the bolt off, the pulley will come off. It it doesn't, tap it with a hard nylon hammer around the pulley to loosen it up. The crank is keyed so you don't need to remember the position of the pulley.



Now get the new pulley. Since it's made by Stillen, I knew that the dimensions would be right on with the exception of the diameter size. But if you guys decide to buy a different pulley, make sure that the height dimension is equal to the OEM pulley.



Put the new pulley on and make sure the key on the crank is lined up with the key grove on the pulley. Gently tap it into place with the nylon head hammer. Hand screw the pulley bolt back on pulley



Now get the new belt and put it back on the way it came off. Use your handy dandy drawing you did on the access panel to help you.. Make sure the belt is sitting into grooves of all the pulleys. If not, the belt will be shredded into pieces when you run the motor.



Remove the screwdriver that's holding the tension pulley so the tension is re-applied. Use a sharpie to mark the pulley and the pulley bolt at the 9 o'clock position and just the pulley on the 12 o'clock position. These marks will serve as reference as you tighten the pulley bolt. When the bolt is tightened, the mark on the pulley bolt will get closer to the 12 o'clock mark you placed on the pulley.



Use a torque wrench to place 33ft-lbs on the pulley bolt. This is to "seat" the pulley flush before you secure it with an impact wrench. remember, this will be spinning at high revolutions. You don't want this to be seated crooked at those speeds! Use a screwdriver to "wedge" the pulley when you do this or else the pulley will just spin. You'll notice the mark on the bolt is now between the initial reference marks.



Once you have the bolt tightened to the 33ft-lbs with the torque wrench, use the impact wrench to tighten it down further. Again this will bring the reference mark on the bolt pulley even closer to the 12o'clock mark.



Once you're done with the pulley, put back the access panel with the 5 clips, and put the whell back on. Lower the car and call it the day.

Oh,..one more thing. This is probably the most important step of all. If you're using a camera to document the steps and you have a friend helping you, DON'T LEAVE THE CAMERA UNATTENDED!!!! If you do, when you get home to download the pictures, you'll find weird and obscene pics like these!..








Modified by dangeris at 6:00 PM 2/21/2009

[D-Roll]

Great write up bro!!

[Mr. Music]

Great write up man. How does the car feel now? Everything still working good with the under drive? (Sorry if I missed reviews somewhere else.)

If not, the pulley will be shredded into pieces when you run the motor.

You mean the belt, not the pulley right?

[dangeris]

Great write up man. How does the car feel now? Everything still working good with the under drive? (Sorry if I missed reviews somewhere else.)

You mean the belt, not the pulley right?

Yup..fixed it! Thanks for pointing it out.

[FGFCacoupe]

Great write up

[rocko76]

Thanks for the write-up.

I'll admit to being a bit of a noob to automotive repairs, but why bother torquing to 33fl/lbs if you are finishing with the impact wrench?

[shmack1388]

dude great job wit the write up... i would have sent u the pics but i had some trouble puttin them on... plus u did a better job on the write up then i could ever have done. so hows does it feel? do u feel the gain in HP... let me know dude just so i can be on the same page as everyone else.

[dangeris]

Thanks for the write-up.

I'll admit to being a bit of a noob to automotive repairs, but why bother torquing to 33fl/lbs if you are finishing with the impact wrench?

Not a noob question at all. The reason why you want to secure it with the torque wrench first is so you can slowly "seat" the pulley. Remember, it's only put on with the light tappings of the nylon hammer. Torque wrench will seat it even further. The impact wrench will drive it home.

dude great job wit the write up... i would have sent u the pics but i had some trouble puttin them on... plus u did a better job on the write up then i could ever have done. so hows does it feel? do u feel the gain in HP... let me know dude just so i can be on the same page as everyone else.

Well I drove it for about 30 minutes after I installed it and the motor seems to respond quicker than it did before. It felt as if it was pulling a little harder than it was initially. I also fired up the lights when I was in the garage and cranked up the radio and put on some hard hittin' bass and there was no flickering of the lights nor was there any signs of degradation in the sound. Keep in mind that I'm only running a 1000W RMS amp with 2 10" subs too.As for the power steering, I'm not sure who said that it was a little tougher to steer but it felt the same for me. I don't think this pulley made the steering harder at all.

I also just got home from running errands with my wife and she even noticed the difference! the funny thing is, I never mentioned anything about the pulley to her. On the way home, she told me that she noticed that the car was pulling a little faster and harder from what she remembered before! I think I 'm going to be very happy with this mod!

Thanks Stillen!

[Alt.ImaCoupe]

Great write up. Very clear and easy to understand. Thanks

[legend_217]

How long did it take you guys to install it ? I might take it to my shop and have them install for me.

[dangeris]

Total install time was less than 30 minutes. Keep in mind that with a lift and air tools.

[D-Roll]

Did yo notice any improvement in performance etc.? Didyou need to use a pulley puller?

[RobPaulson]

STIICCKKKYYYYYYYYYY (aka add to the DIY section of the coupe forum pllzzzzzz lol)

[brandonbeeb]

haha at your friends pictures. i was reading the post and im like ok this looks good, not to hard i start scrolling down and then bam lol.nice write up, going to have to do this on the lift in a few weeks.

[lcmjr55]

is the main bolt a right or left hand thread, I cannot get it out either way with the impact

[stevek3670]

hey dangeris how did you manage to get the belt tensioner out of the way, because the thing would not budge for me

did you have to loosen any bolts before you tried to loosen it and move the tension pulley out of the way?