Perrin Lightweight Crank Pulley - a review
 

Just installed a lightweight pulley from @PERRIN. I got it used and dirt cheap. I've read all the threads and how physics says it's impossible for these to yield any sort of discernible increase in power or torque.

Let's start from the beginning…

Price: I think retail price ($110ish) is pretty reasonable for what it is. It's a precisely CNC machined chunk of aluminum with what looks like a good amount of R&D. Most people will look at it as HP/$ but you can't, not with a part like this. More on that in a bit.

Install: Install was cake. Inlet hose and air box have to come out and the drive belt slipped off. The crank pulley nut is a little bit of a PITA because even in 6th gear and e-brake pulled, there's still a little "bounce" in the bolt (kind of like trying to loosen a nut with a rubber band). The rad support is too close to fit an impact gun in there. Eventually with a long enough breaker bar and that nifty trick where you can move the prop rod so the hood is vertical and out of the way, I got the bolt loosened. This is where you need to stop and take things slow. I've read the threads, and I liked the idea that you can stick an extension in the hole to hold the spacer in place while taking the pulley off and that's exactly what I did. Worked like a charm. I then slipped the Perrin pulley on and put her all back together. Took me 20 minutes and I was in dress clothes (lunch break, I'm a service advisor).

Performance: Flame me all you want and call it the Placebo Effect but I truly, honestly feel like there's a difference. You can go on and on about physics and engineering and all your experience building motors. You can be a forum-trolling keyboard-warrior. But at the end of the day I'll be behind the wheel with a big smile on my face as 3rd and 4th gears, in particular, wind out like they should have from the factory and you'll be waving your engineering degree in a forum of people who couldn't give a shit. I don't think the car will run faster lap times. I don't think there was an increase in HP or TQ. But I do believe if you stuck two identical cars in 3rd gear, one with and one without Perrin's pulley, at a 30mph roll and told them to accelerate to 80…the car with the Perrin pulley would get there first 10 out of 10 times. This has not been tested or evaluated, just what I believe.

All in all I think the pulley is well priced, easy install, easy uninstall (in case of warranty questions) and makes that 86 Driver's smile just a littttttle bigger. If you're on the fence about it…GO BUY ONE!


Thanks @PERRIN!

I have the perrin pulley, I didn't notice shit aside from the engine being a little bit smoother at low RPMs

I got mine used for about 2/3rds the retail price so whatever...

Good review, but yeah this has been beat to death several times over. I went with a different brand and feel the same effect.

The truth is that the engine is now doing less work so yes there is more available power to propel the car. Not an increase in power though and you won't see it on a dyno since the loads are so high in 3rd & 4th gear pulls that the minimal decrease in drivetrain weight won't show.

Same thing goes for lighter flywheels, lighter driveshaft, wheels/tires, etc.

Just installed mine and it feels great. An excellent mod that compliments the platform very well. I think a carbon fiber driveshaft would be a great addition as well.


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Sorry to revive an old thread, I can get this at a discount and was thinking of getting it. Looks like a cheap simple mod that might make the car more responsive. Looks like the OP on this review thought it was worth it. Has anyone had any issues with it? I assume those who installed it a while back, if there were issues, they’d have come up by now? Cheers.

If you want it get it. Also put on your flame suit these threads go ballistic really fast. Fluidampr is another brand that gets lots of praise.

Thanks for the advice and brand tip. Do you personally have it on your car or do you think it's worthwhile?

There is a search feature on this forum. There are something like 2.34 x10^18 posts on this subject already.


This.

Let the flames begin, lol. All good I have read a few threads on here. I guess I was more interested if anyone had anything go wrong recently. I've mainly heard positive reviews or not much gain with no adverse affects. I guess if no one has any bad news to share related to this then OK and thanks.

AFAIK there were issues for ones that changed both CP & also had lighweight flywheel. In most cases changing out just one worked just fine for most.

only on cars with forced induction and other mods. There might have been 1 car with an issues that could have been tied to the pulley, but that isn't really clear because there were other mods too.

I have NST, because they were selling a set that was blue.

That's basically an ad for fluidamper

A lightweight crank pulley will have no measurable performance increase.
In neutral with no drivetrain components effecting the engine, it will have a slight noticeable difference in revving faster. This is like removing 1 LBS from a 50 LBS atlas stone and rolling it. Still a very small improvement but possible to measure.

However once the entire drivetrain is engaged it is now like removing 1LBS from 1000LBS atlas stone and rolling it. Yes it is "technically" an improvement but so minor and small it would be almost impossible to actually measure any improvement in making it easier to roll.

Now the fluidampr and ati pulleys are different, they are improved harmonic balancers, any amount of vibration is wasted energy. If you can reduce vibrations you theoretically "free" up power from being able to utilize that wasted vibrational energy. However most people use these more for the protective properties that reducing vibrations have, especially with heavily modified and FI cars.

ATI's IIRC also was undersized one. Another way to reduce power spent on turning accessory pulleys except just lowering way of pulleys themselves. Fluidampr .. IIRC stock sized and even slightly heavier then stock.