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I'm quite sure it would... but it would also void ant chance you have at keeping the engine under waranty. Plus, 1 guy could afford and would install a turbo kit for 20 guys getting the pulley.

With the pulley, the install is so quick and simple that you could just put the OEM pulley on before you go to the dealer for repairs... so there's much less possibility of it voiding your waranty.

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Looks like the pulley is a good to go for my car, just waiting for my car to get out of the shop. Since the car will be decommissioned for the winter i don't really have to remove it unless i need to go into the dealership.

 

Call me crazy, but I wouldn't imagine that a company like Unorthodox is going to take a good hard look at the facts when all they really offer is underdrive pulleys. Cheap part, easy install, proven results = tons of $$$. Just need to downplay the whole engine damage/wear and tear part. I've never seen so many people sign up for something that quick as everyone did with Joe's pulley. I'm all for mods but I just think we need to take a good scientific look at these things before we outfit all of our cars with it.

 

Good luck, but I don't think you're doing to hear one - one way or the other. The pulley argument is one of the oldest out there, and I haven't seen conclusive evidence one way or the other yet. I've had several cars now that I have personally used underdrive pullies on over the years, and again only speaking from personal experience, I have had no problems with them whatsoever. But I can see the logic in the arguments against them - just have not, again personally, seen the direct evidence of the harm they can supposedly cause.

Will I get one for the Ralliart? No. Why? Well this is a car I will own for a LONG time and will no doubt (baring unforseen circumstances) but a LOT of miles on...hey that 10 year warranty I will test to the limit! Now the previous "pullied" cars I owned I did not keep into high mileage, and I do believe that is is a key part of this argument. If you plan on keeping your Ralliart for just a couple years, I really don't think you'll have a problem with pullies (I know I didn't on previous cars). But if you do plan on keeping the car a good long time, AND put lots of miles on it, well then there is no denying the physics of the argument against pullies, and over that kind of long term, then I think an undamped pulley will adversely affect your engine. So in the long run for me, for THIS car, the extra few ponies I can live without for peace of mind.

Depends on your priorities and plans for your car. But again, I don't think you'll ever see a "definitive" answer either way.

 

ive had underdrive pulleys on my mustang for 7 years and 90,000 miles its at 125,000 right now no engine problems

 

Pulley"s"? More then one? Did you use the crankshaft pulley or the accesory pulleys?

 

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Well, as far as I know you can use an underdriven crank pulley and still add some OEM size but lightened accessory pulleys. But I don't see the logic in getting underdriven accessory pulleys (and of course keep the same size crank pulley). Too much engineering involved to acheive the same result... it wouldn't make any sense.

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But isnt this exactly what AEM has been selling for years? I believe the sense is that AEM will not make under driven crank pullies because of the possible problems.

 

"There is some controversy about the pulleys, as they are not equipped with the harmonic balancer that the stock pulley has. We feel the risk of removing the balancer on certain engines is not really a risk. Inline, four-cylinder engines for the most part have short, stiff crankshafts. These do not need a balancer as much, because of their high natural frequency. Engines with long, whip-like cranks, like inline six-cylinders, need balancers to prevent failure, but most four cylinders do fine without them." I got that from sport compact cars write up when they put an under drive pulley on a GA16DE (1.6 sentra engine). I know the engines are different but the overall statements makes me believe for the most part U/D pulleys are safe on 4 cyl engines.

 

i race my ralli 3 days a week and have no problem

 

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Please people, understand that we are talking about long term problems. Not short term. You will probably not see any problems for some time... its later in the cars life that problems tend to come up.
If you are intending on selling the car in the next year or two, go nuts. If you intend on keeping the car for a long period of time, or maintaining your warranty, be aware of possible problems down the road.

 

I love how they cover there asses with these words. This also from a company who has no problem getting a free rebuild if the pulley messed things up down the road, in exchange for some advertising or sponsoring.
Good find though. Good info in there.

 

Alright I think it is time that I make some statements here. If you are looking for explicit emperical evidence on the long term effect of engine wear with and without a undampened pulley you will not find it. Furthermore the balance shafts in these 4Gxx engines do more than a dampener/external crank balancer could do anyways. Just stating the fact that our motors have an internal balancer shaft supercedes anything an external balancer or dampener could do in the first place.

As far as long term effects I have no way to test for those. I base my test data on a short term and used many elements in my testing. The main reason for the the stock dampener is to:
a) To allow crankshaft vibration
b) Allow the engine to run smoother
c) To allow the possibility if one of your other belt driven components seizes up the pulley will slip and throw the belt off which this is a long term possibility
d) To counter the effects of vibration on the knock sensor

Now to back up all of these:
a) Vibration in the engine is more dangerous and furthermore external vibration such as what partly caused crankwalk in the 2G 7 bolt motors was blamed on poor transmission design including poor engine design caused this. An undampened pulley will reduce external vibration thus causing the motor to run better.
b) Without the extra weigh involved with the stock pulley the engine runs better and has better response. It is undoubted after the testing I did that the motor was better to drive and had great gains in power.
c) It is usually more costly to have the crankshaft pulley fail then to replace it with one that is a solid unit. Usually the stock pullies will wear out anywhere from 100-150k miles. Many DSM owners run solid pullies for this very reason.
d) NA engines have a less sensitive knock sensor than forced induction engines. The knock sensor is no different. I did a before and after test with the pulley at my local Mitsubishi dealership. They used their laptop used to check engine codes and other vitals. Levels of knock with the stock pulley and this pulley were witin a 2-3% variation. The knock sensor did not have a problem with the undampened pulley and all other vitals were doing great with the pulley.

I personally WOULD NOT have market this pulley if I believed there was going to be any problems direclty resulting from the use of it. I did more tesing on this part and brought it to market with great detail and supporting documents to make everyone comfortable with it. If you do not want to use a pulley then good for you. If you want to do a long term engine test and see the effects go humor yourself.

The ONLY failure I have heard of with a 4Gxx engine with an undampened pulley was a 1G race talon running 35psi of boost on a fully built stroked motor. It took them 2 motor to figure it out. When I look at this situation I would concur that the race motor was built so well that it needed the stock pulley to keep crankshaft vibration down. On a stock motor the clearences/tolerances are much lower and will handle these vibrations better. Now if you plan to be pushing 400+ whp in your RA I would say the stock pulley may be better for you, althuogh at this state of tune if you turn the boost up 1lb it will net greater benefits than the pulley itself so the choice is yours.

The bottom line: Buy a Pulley, enjoy it, and trust the long term effects that other Mitsubishi motors have shown with an undampned pulley...none.

 

Thank you Joe for this wright up. That had to be the best, informed, statement that I have seen on this topic. It has put some of my concerns to rest. However, as I quoted you above, there is no true proof out there.

So, please, if you plan on keeping this car long term, be cautious, thats all I am saying. This is an amazing product, with HUGE man hours spent creating it. It will, without a doubt, give you great results. But for me, and my plans for keeping this car for a long time, and the warranty intact, I have to pass because of the unknowns.

My concerns come to the surface when I see someone with a legitimate concern ask if there may be problems down the road, gets answers from trusted sellers in the form of an absolute "No.", or "So far so good." Please be honest with the person and atleast say that the product has not been longterm tested, or some thing along those lines.

Thanks again Joe, maybe now this topic can be put to rest.

 

IMHO I think it should be put to rest. The mechanical stress of the engine cannot be measured by electrical sensors directly. If our engines were built so poorly that a pulley could affect it then a lot more would be broke before now; with or without the pulley.

I would not hesitate to add a pulley to any Mitsu engine. There are DSM owners with 200k+ miles on the motor from the afactory that have ran pullies. There are some EVO guys that have run 60K+ miles with pullies. Mitsu built a good motor for all of these cars. If they were built poorly then I would agree a pulley may stress it. Although I think people are crying for no reason.

I think there are more things to be concerned about than the engine the RA has. Maybe the sagging rear end, the crappy lower control arms, the rattling stock downpipe, the bad grind to second when speed shifting, and resonance an exhaust makes, the cold start issue sometimes taking multiples attempts(before and after pulley). Someone said it best early on, the stock car is going to last the longest.

Although a pulley has not been proven to cause trouble in any Mitsu engine. Although the stock pulley after 100k+ miles has been proven to fail because the rubber hardens/brittles and causes the pulley to slip which then can cause further engine damage. My pulley/RRM's pulley will get rid of this problem, which in my mind is far worse than b*tching about potential effects that nobody can quantify. Buy the pulley and don't look back, if your engine is going to fail it is not the fault of the pulley.