Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

That's a lie right there, anyway. Steeda quit recommending their underdrive dampers for the Mach 1s after the rash of oil pump failures were plastered all over the Corral in 2003 or so. Their recommendation against using those pulleys on Machs even used to even be on their website.

I would have went with another stock damper, ATI, Innovator's West, or even a Fluidampr over the Steeda.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Thanks for the clarification.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Any balancer that comes apart has the chance to ruin the engine . Like Hyland said ..any new one installed wrong will fail too. As far as Ford is concerned ..on the Aluminator the engine was put together wrong by Ford nuff said. The stock ones have failed on GTs,Machs and Cobras some damaged engines like my friends Gt some did not. Made poorly is youre opinion... since Steeda is a partner with Ford i dont think so. :crazy:

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

The little emoticons slapping me in the head and calling me crazy are cute but that's the nice thing about opinions. Everyone should be allowed to have one. But it's unfortunate when an opinion is incorrect and negatively affects others. Your opinion is that Steeda is fine. If you're wrong, engines fail and cost others. No sweat off your back, it's not your money.

My opinion is that it's prudent to be safe. If I'm wrong, nobody gets hurt. In light of all the evidence presented in this thread, why would anybody take the risk. If you want a safe underive damper, buy a Fluidamper. If you want the best, buy an ATI. It's a no brainer. Don't screw around.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Actually it is my money!:smack: I have been using Steeda for 2yrs now and on the other 4 Mustangs Ive owned .No Failures! I agree that ATI is good but Steeda and ASP were given out in the post i provided by Sean Hyland . So much to youre dismay it was not just my opinion ...unlike youres which provided no proof. I am sure that his advise is more valued than youres !Besides you got this opinion that was posted in 5-26-05 by PHP not to use them .PHP was the first ones to put Steedas on a Mach for a drag test in a mag in 03 !

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Sean Hyland is no fan of small diameter underdrive dampers either.

From his book, "There also seems to be increased instances of oil-pump failure when some brands of underdrive pulley kits are used. I believe this is due to inadequate damping with the reduced-diameter harmonic balancer provided. Steeda and ASP both make pulley sets that include a built-in harmonic balancer." (p. 22, How to Build Max Performance 4.6-liter Ford Engines)

He goes on to say, "The net of all this information is to use the '96-'01 Cobra balancer (F6ZZ-6312-AB) on all manual transmission, forged crank applications, and the newer '99-'03 GT balancer on the cast-crank, manual transmission applications. The '03 Mach 1 automatic balancer would be the best choice on a cast-crank, automatic-tranny application." (p.23)

So basically every major Modular engine builder agrees, small diameter underdrive harmonic dampers increase the likelihood of broken oil pumps gears in Modulars. Since these guys are the ones who personlly see hundreds and even thousands of these engines, they can see commonalities with certain failures.

I'll take their word...

Read the quote carefully, they are two examples of the small-diameter balancers he was just saying increased the likelihood of an oil pump failure. He wasn't giving Steeda and ASP the OK, rather exactly the opposite.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

WOW!, what a hot topic here. I am running the Steeda underdrive pulley on my 5 speed Mach and have not had any issues with it yet but have only had it on for about 6 months but have made about 15 passes down the track with it. I am a little concerned now. Where can I buy the fluiddamper underdrive pulley for my Mach to replace the steeda? This post has me a little concerned as I don't have $7,000.00 to spend on a new motor. This pulley deal sound alot like the nitrous debate. Can it be used safely well in my book Nitrous is not worth the risk and this pulley deal sounds the same way.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

March dampener/WP pulley, CobraR PS and Alt... running strong

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

can anyone tell me if the march UDP's are as bad for the cobras as they are for the mach 1, i have a set that i was going to sell to my buddy and didnt know if he would run into the same problems with the oil pump n stuff?

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Mines March, not sure why I said ATi in the post above.

MANY guys swear by March.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

If you ever got off this site to other mod motor sites, you'd see they do.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

I've recommended the March Fluid dampener to numerous people and none have had any problems.

How mnay people have spun rod bearings becuase they beat on their car? How many engines have been damaged to bad or aggressive tunes? How many engines have been hurt by nitrous or too much boost? I bet the numbers of these incindents are far greater than those that have been damaged by a small diameter dampener.

Install one and keep the RPMs at a level that is safe and the engine will be fine.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

You really need to get rid of the big @ss sig, geez.

No one can change physics and I'm not trying too, but I've seen no failures with this dampener and it's installed on a lot of Machs and Cobras. As for it's mass, it may have less but the fluid makes up for it. Also, the new Steeda and Moto Blue dampeners have a large amount of mass, equal to or more than a stock dampener so I would recommend them also.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

March fluid damper here.

Used to use Steedas, but I like the March better.

No problems to date with modulars and ud's. (since 1999)

I spin stock motors past 7k, quite often.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Dunno about the fluid filled units but the way Steeda and Moto Blue have distributed the mass they've added to their dampers is suspect. I'd give these new dampers a little more time before trusting one on my own vehicle and by all means we need to quit making excuses for their failures by comparing them to other negligent parts as if that somehow makes it OK.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

And how many others do you know of? hm?

With the fact that oil pumps have gone on stock engines, for all we know that pump was already on its way out. Nothing was ever shown that it was the pulley that actually caused it, Did they tear down the engine and inspect it BEFORE the pulley? I'm sure they didn't.

If March was actually the cause they would also have to pull the Cobra pulley due to there would be hundreds of Cobras blowing up from it.

I look around on SVTp, and I NEVER see people complaining about "omg my pully killed my car!" about 1/3 of the users there are running a pulley of some brand and in 5yrs I have NEVER seen a post on that site blaming an oil pump failure on a pulley. Hell look around here, there are many people here using them too, yet since I've been a member I've never seen a oil pump break and be proven its the pulleys fault. Same with my local mustang club, we have a Mach1, 99 Cobra, and 01 Cobra, none have issues due to the pulleys, and the Cobras are using Steeda brand (the new redesign), and I hve a March. 18,000 miles with no problem in my case.

Just because an engine builder doesn't use it, doesn't mean it's not a good product, it just means they might not be getting a discount or sponsorship on them.

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

Hmm . How old is this, I am not sure , but they are using March pullies and talk about in the first couple paragraphs about the balancing and dampning of the SOHC
http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/fcar/pull1.htm

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

I have almost two years on my Steeda UDP's....:smokin:

Re: Under Drive Pulleys..and the problems they cause.
 

3 years and a daily driver.