DIY Warning - Removing the Crank Pulley
 

This warning has to do with installer error and has no bearing on the quality of any pulleys.

The above quote is from the Perrin blog. The part shown in the picture may come out slightly when you remove your crank pulley. If it does, it can be quite challenging to put back. It took me a little over a hour just to get it seated right. There is a keyway on the back side of it that links to a key on the oil pump. There is very little play in this connection. They must line up perfectly, or the part will not seat correctly. Pay close attention to this piece; it should be flush with the crank case. If it does not seat correctly, there will be a wobble in your crank pulley, and you may get oil leaking out. Look at it while it's idling. Is it wobbling? Cut the engine off and fix it. Don't end up a horror story.

ALWAYS CHECK YOUR WORK BEFORE TEST DRIVING.

Here, @Gopherboy6956 explains the process and the problems, in detail. I'd like to give a huge shoutout to him for great pictures, and even a video!

This should be stickied with all the recent threads that are having issues

This should get a bump and stickied

& it is sticky now

I ran into this issue when installing mine this weekend. The Oring came off with the old pulley. I tried to place it back in, but it was ever so slightly bigger than the area for it. So, i ordered a new one for about $2.

Found here:
http://wardmuscatellsubaruparts.com/...iagram=7610205

So I put my pulley on yesterday on my replacement frs so this is my second install. When taking the bolt out I actually got some oil that came out that I don't remember having the first time around. This sleeve stayed in as far as I can tell. Now you got me worried. I need to double check. Anyone have a pic of how fush the stock one sits in the block? Is it just pressed in?

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A picture of the backside of that little nugget might be helpful......so people know what the key-way mate up would be.

From what I remember, when seated correctly, it is almost exactly flush. The pulley will most likely wobble if it is seated incorrectly.

Yep, exactly.

When first took off the stock pulley, the end of the crank stayed in, but then when I took it apart a second time (because i forgot the oring, that end piece came out. Pretty easy to slide it back in, and yes, there will be a little oil, that's normal. It won't gush out or anything.

So - check this - I just took off my pulley today, armed with my new O-Ring. Of course, the crankshaft pulley spacer (as it's actually called) came out. I sat there for what felt like forever trying to get it back in. I eventually gave up when the cold got me (~15f).

Now, what I think may be complicating this is there is really TWO parts of this that come into play here... One is that stupid key, and the second is a moveable ring on the inside of the crank tunnel.

See photos -

In this image, you can clearly see the key on the end of the crankshaft. (red arrow)
The Yellow call-outs and arrows point to the two side keys, WHICH are on a ring that rotates freely. So, you need to have both those items lined up to get it back in.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps9de4546e.png

This is the backside of the crankshaft pulley spacer

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps374b361f.jpg


So, If you only get it seated with the outside ring, it won't slide in flush as seen in this DIY:
http://www.lastonehere.com/misc2012/...perrin-12s.jpg

Also - take note, as Perrin says if you don't get it flush in there, the pulley will wobble. When i put it back in this time after changing the o-ring, I did not have it flush and it did wobble for a few seconds.

Now, I'm not sure if this is going to be an issue for me yet, but it seems it could be easy to damage the spacer and/or crankshaft key.

This is what my spacer currently looks like which has me a bit concerned:

It looks like a bit was sheared off when the engine started and the pulley was wobbling.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps829c8dd0.jpg

And a closer look at my crankshaft might show a little damage too

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps5245723e.png

This makes me a bit nervous - but I'm going to order a new spacer and maybe play with it some more before I do anything drastic.

So - Let this be a strong warning to all - MAKE SURE YOU GET THE SPACER FLUSH before you start the engine.

I'd like to do a quick callout to @thejevans and @PERRIN and see what they think, and specifically to thejevans - how did you get it realigned?

OK!

6 hours, a sore back, lots of curse words, loss of hope, and a 15F degree garage, I got it!

I was so frustrated, and actually just gave up. I was going to get the BRZ towed to the dealership tomorrow and bite the bullet. I figured they may take pity on me, so I went about putting both the intake and pulley back to stock.

I took the stock pulley, put the new o-ring in place, attached it to the Crankshaft pulley spacer, lined it up as close as I possibly could to where I knew the key was (I used a mirror and light to better see inside) and gave her hell.

Just as with the Perrin Pulley, it went in, but not all the way. So, i decided i'd bolt it down anyways, got it to 94ft/lbs, and started to put the stock intake back on.

After that, i gave it one more cautious start, and to my *fucking* surprise, it ran WITH NO WOBBLE, absolutely perfect.

So, I cursed with joy and sorrow for time spent, and decided to take one more shot at the Perrin pulley, now that I knew the spacer was seated correctly.

Here is the part, that should be included in the DIY to keep that spacer seated:

When removing the stock pulley, wedge a socket extension (or two) into the bolt hole to keep pressure on the spacer in place. It would be much easier with a friend, but it's possible to keep pressure on the socket extension and pull off the stock pulley at the same time. I can take a shot of this just to make it easy to see tomorrow.

Here are two photos of how I used the socket to keep the spacer in - The bolt is obviously in place, I just wanted to show how I used the socket extension.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...psb385313e.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps64fe8548.jpg

Here is my spacer completely in place.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...psb31012f8.png

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps4e2e8db5.png

And a reminder of when it is NOT in place:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps913be009.png


Also, here is a quick clip of my Perrin Pulley after this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJD-u...ature=youtu.be

Hope this info helps someone.

Fantastic. Thank you

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I got it back with lots of luck, and patience. The tolerance for that keyway is so low, that it's almost maddening. I actually filed down the outside corners of the keyway, slightly, to give the key room to slide in.

Thank you so much for your pictures and information. I'm glad you got it back in. I'm going to update the first post with quotes from yours.

That is funny... I actually filed down my edges as well!

Haha, well, great minds think alike. :happy0180:

After nearly killing our cars haha.

Nearly ;)

Hey I'm confused a bit about the below statement with the bolt hole. I'm not sure i'm seeing what you're illustrating, even in the picture.

I see that you're putting pressure onto the crank pulley, but I see nothing there about a bolt hole -- if you can explain a bit further or point it out to me, that would be great. It'll be my 1st time doing something like this, since this car has it's more easily accessible.

When removing the stock pulley, wedge a socket extension (or two) into the bolt hole to keep pressure on the spacer in place. It would be much easier with a friend, but it's possible to keep pressure on the socket extension and pull off the stock pulley at the same time. I can take a shot of this just to make it easy to see tomorrow.

The photo doesn't depict the ACTUAL process of using the socket extension to hold the spacer in.

I just wanted to show the angle and how you could use it to apply pressure.

The first step is to REMOVE the bolt (about 100lb/ft of torque required). Once the bolt is out, then you use the socket extension to hold the spacer in while you remove the pulley.

Great, thank you for clearing that up for me. It was a bit confusing because I was expecting another socket or another place to hold the pulley.

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Pulley Wobble? or just the new belt?
 

Help! I think I did everything correctly, but there does seem to be something amiss, or at least a little different than the video posted by Gopherboy6956. The automatic tensioner is moving quite a bit. Could it be the new belt I installed at the same time as the pulley? The movement of the tensioner does not seem to be fast enough to indicate a pulley wobble, it seems slower as if there is a bit of a bend in part of the new belt. I used a new bolt form the dealer and torqued it correctly.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5sz7...ature=youtu.be

These photos are higher resolution than the ones posted by Gopherboy6956, but I think the spacer is as flush as in his photos. Help and comments would be appreciated.

Your pulley seems to be rotating correctly, which is good. The tensioner seems a little too bouncy, but I don't know enough to say whether you should worry about it or not.

Did you try it with your stock belt and see if there is any difference?

I did NOT change belts when I put on my pulley, mostly because my stock belt only had about 100 miles on it..

So, i'd check that and see if there's a difference.

As far as the spacer, it looks all the way in to me. BUT - when i look at your video, there still seems to be a tiny amount of wobble, which looks like mine did when the Oring wasn't fully in the spacer channel.

Did you get a new Oring? They are NOT reusable.

I did not get a new Oring, but I didn't see the need. The spacer did not seem to move at all, so none of this was removed or reinstalled.

Edit: I think you are on to something with the O-ring. I removed the crank pulley (again). This time I lightly oiled the O-ring. It seems that it is too small for the space that it is supposed to be in - it seems that it does not fit snugly like a kid trying to wear his dad's shoes. It is probably stretched, and I think I should replace it, but everywhere is closed now. Also, I lightly oiled the back face of the crank pulley that would be in contact with the O-ring. I think that the amplitude of the vibrations on the tensioner is a bit less. See this new video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85ZGt...ature=youtu.be

Did you get you Oring from the dealer? If not, what size did you buy and where did you get it?

I ordered a new one from the Dealership. Just told them the part # and called it good. The two o-rings were VERY different sizes when i compared them, so they must expand once in place for the first time. I don't have the part # here are work, but I can grab it when I am home tonight.

Dunno if anyone mentioned this: If you have a small mirror (like your gf's mascara or make up unit with mirror on it), it helps out a lot too.
You'll be able to look inside and match everything up
:D Took me 5 mins to install back in.

The first time I took mine off (Before i had the new o-ring) it took me seconds to get back in as well. the 2nd time, however... not so much.

But yes, the mirror helps a ton.

If you follow the DIY - you should remember that the tensioner pulley is a LH thread, if you loosened it to remove the belt you are going to need to tighten it again to spec (but bear in mind, LH Thread).

would have been nice if the DIY told you needed a new O-ring before people tore things down and it's not seating properly. now they are on back order and can't even put things back together and have a usable vehicle...

I mentioned it in later posts...

I psyched myself out but this thread was important to read.
 

Hello all, I ended up doing this diy and this thread really scared me and had me second guessing my work.

When I tried to install the crank pulley (the first time) it was such a tight fit that when I attempted to re-position the perrin crank pulley the metal o ring popped out along with it. :cry:

I got scared. This thread immediately started flooding my mind. After panicking a bit, I found that with the o-ring off I was able to knock the perrin pulley on with my gloved fist. But because the pulley was on I wasn't able to see how the o ring was sitting in the crank case.

By slightly twisting the crank pulley it locked into position as well as sliding down a bit. When it is on properly I believe it will NOT rotate. IF you are able to rotate it is not sitting correctly. I found that spinning it back in place was not very difficult at all despite some of the earlier posts here. All you have to do is take a picture inside the crank case if you forgot which way the key was pointing and then put the crank pulley with the key pointed in that direction. After that twist until the crank pulley slides down a bit and locks into place.

But because of this thread I started second guessing my work and I took the pulley off to inspect how the o-ring was sitting. Here's my picture of the re-positioned o ring. https://plus.google.com/photos/10900...PCsg8rEiuv1gwE

I looked at the back and there was no damage. After removing the lightweight pulley and re-installing it seems to spin a little smoother than stock. So I think as long as you check to make sure that the crank pulley is not able to spin and you have the key pointed in the correct direction you will be fine. I hope this reduces some people's fears. I did get a CEL after the 2nd install but I think this post http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27900 is what happened >> "It was the intake. I didn't push it in far enough when reconnecting it to the inlet at the front of the engine bay where it connects in front of the airbox." I'll go take the car to auto zone to check the cel code but the pulley is spinning fine. BTW this mod was the most noticeable upgrade I've made so far. Highly recommend it. I haven't notice any increase in stalling after the upgrade and love how revs are less labored.

EDIT: Okay the next day I started the car and I was relieved to find that the CEL was gone. I did not disconnect the battery. I took it to autozone and they told me CA laws prohibit them from reading the CEL code for me. They did tell me that spinning the crank may have set the CEL.

Anyobe every do this on an automatic

Anyone ever do this on an automatic

Should be the exact same process.

Ive heard it might mess with the torque converter

I've had the Perrin pulley on my AT for nearly 18000 miles with no issues.

What made you take it off, also will this set off the check engine light or anything in that nature?

My question is, does a crank pulley make a noticeable difference on the car? I've never put much stock in "performance" pulleys but I'm guessing this is an effective mod judging by the popularity of it.

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Here's my take - The stock pulley is nearly 5lbs, and the Perrin one is 1.2lbs.

So, you're taking away that much weight that the crank has to accelerate every time you rev the engine. The advantage lies in rotating less mass at all times. You feel it when you rev for sure, it's a bit quicker compared to stock.

Add the looks, the relatively low price, and the easy install (once you do your research) and it really becomes a "why not?" situation.

There are some people who question the reason the stock one is so heavy, what it's made of, etc... But the deal is - most engines have some sort of dampening or vibration reducing material in their pulleys to reduce engine NVH from the crank - but those are usually I-4's, V6's, etc. Ours doesn't. Because the Boxer balances itself out at each rotation, there is no rouge vibration to dampen.

This may be a lot more info than you wanted, but I read wayyyy to much about these before I bought one. I put it on at about 200 miles on the odo, and I'm at about 4,500 now with 0 issues.

Hope this helps!

Good answer. Thank you!

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