[Vincent Hill]

I had just written up everything I did and hit the control instead of the shift button and something else and lost the entire write up on how I installed the pulley.

A word of advice, you cannot gauge the distance from the casting (Which needs to be a loose .125"), because as you tighten up the bolts, the pulley moves inward. It only needs about 75 inch pounds of torque but moves in about 1/8 inch more than you think. After making a small puller that would fit and pull it back apart, after 3 trials and errors, I found that the back piece of the pulley (That goes on the shaft first) needs to be pushed in until you can just see a a small space / gap between the housing and the 1st part of the pulley! I ended up at about .130" which is fine!

Like printed somewhere else on this board, get the pulley in too far and the belt WILL HIT A bolt head that Protruded from the block This is what happened to me and took a rib out of the belt!

It took me about 8 hours the way I did it and would have taken 6 if I had been more decisive on how to cut off the old pulley! (I used a dremmel tool and a lot of fiber cut off wheels!) Also I covered the Altenator with several layers of wet paper towel to make sure no dust or metal got in and then cleaned everything 3 times with Espree mag wheel cleaner and a power spray from the hose!

[MINIAC]

Congrats ... you'll enjoy the pulley

The Alta taper-fit pulley is much easier to install as its "closed end" design positions it perfectly:



Cutting off the stock pulley much safer to rent a puller.

[Vincent Hill]

I found the thread! Somehow, I thought this was under "Techinical" as opposed to performance, or Faults and fixes! I will learn this board one day!

Miniac, two things to understand here. Other than removing the belt and the Fuel sensor bracket along with moving the Dip stick tube to the right, I did not remove anything else or raise the engine to do this! I did it in the very narrow confinds between the pulley and the subframe. There is just no room for a puller in there.

Second, I like the looks of your pulley, (I guess it is a 3 piece split pulley, but once tightened up, how can you get it aloose? The plate covers the end of the shaft to use any type of a puller to get it apart!

On mine, I put a bolt in the shaft and took the arms off of a small puller and removed the center bolt and then using 2 thich 3/4" washers and 2 of the bolts that squeeze the pulley together I was able to pull it back apart with bery little work!

I always look for a way to do something that I can get into the least amount of trouble once I get started! Using the pulley splitter would still require the removal of the Tensioner. Using the puller, required the raising of the engine to get at the pulley! I just could not see any simple way to remove the pulley, other than cut it off!

My next trick will be the simple plug in of the programer they are making! It plugs into the diagnostic plug and will allow me to programe the fuel & Ignition curve just like I do with My ZX12R that has a Dynojet Power Commander "PC3R"! These cars just run waay too rich after 4,250 rpms. I will tune it on the Dyno with a WideBand O2 sensor and hopefully pick up about 10 more HP over hte pulley!

[MINIAC]

I didn't realize you removed the pulley without raising up the engine

The Alta pulley [which Randy Webb has been installing at his pulley parties] is a taper-fit pulley just like MiniMania's, except it is a two piece design:



I imagine it can be removed as easily as the one you installed.

Whose "plug and play" ECU upgrade are you planning on using?

[Vincent Hill]

Actually your pulley is "3" pieces Including the cover! Seeing that it is in "2" functional pieces, it is hard to understand why the 3 piece design? It is nice piece of work!

Now that you know that I did it all without really removing anything, that puts a different light on the subject! My Father always said that "Experience is always something you get immediately after you need it!" I could do it the way I did it in about 6 hours! I just do not see anyway around that time figure. Mainly I would have more fiber wheels, because I ran out and had to use the very easy to break cut off wheels that are made out of the abrasive!

The "Plug & Play" is not on the web site anywhere (Yet), but was first mentioned by Steve at Mini Mania and then I saw it in a brochure from them! It is supposed to be available by the end of August (2003) and cost $399.00. The system works Piggy Back to the stock system. You can add or remove fuel from what the system feeds the engine and the same for Ignition timing!

I like it for several reasons which we all have! It does not require the removal (Down Time) of the stock ECU, Nor does it require any changes to the stock ECU (Warranty claims). Further, (The best part for me) is "I" can make the changes "I" Want to control the A/F Mixture that will best suit where I live and how I drive and for the slight differences my engine has vs. all of the others! Then when time to go to the dealer, I just remove it and who knows!!

Maybe next weekend, I will strap the car down again to the Dyno and see whee I am now! My first test was with the BMC Filter and I made 152.7 HP and 139 pound feet of torque! Now that I see the hole in the back of the area of the Air Box, I will enclose it around the brace and maybe enlarge the hole!

If you read any of my other few post, My wife set a new Land Speed Record with the car at 122 MPH in the standing Start mile at Maxton! She want to see 130, so hopefully this will do this for her! Thanks for all of your real time and help!

[MINIAC]

I don't have the Alta pulley on my 'S' and was merely pointing out another alternative. Unless your counting the screws as a piece, the Alta has only two pieces, as the "cover" (face down in the picture below) is incorporated into the piece that tightens onto the supercharger shaft:



I knew that the Shark Injector was coming from MiniMania, but I wasn't aware that you could program it. I thought you could just switch between stock and pre-programed performance maps

AmD will have something similar available in September called the OneChip:

http://www.stratmosphere.com/mini_oneclick.htm

Powerchip is working on something that will allow switching between 2 to 4 ECU maps:

http://www.minicooperonline.com/modu...topic=14391&16

Hopefully, all the competition will drive the pricing down

[Vincent Hill]

I see said the Blind man! I was not counting screws, I thought (like mine), the part that gets squeezed was open in back! I also see that to get it apart, you use the screws into the threaded holes to push back the Pulley part and it comes off that way! (Even better yet!)

From what I read, what you say is true (About the switching back and forth between the maps), but my understanding is that with an adapter, you can plug it into your computer and Change the mapping! (Those maps have to get in there some way??

No way I will send my stock ECU for major changes! The only thing I may need to remove is the MPH Limiter! Also looking around, this ids the first one under $400 also! We all will soon see what is up!

[MINIAC]

The Shark Injector at about $400 has the lowest price I've seen.

Hopefully, someone will do a "performance gain" shoot-out on all these chips.

[Vincent Hill]

Max, you are a Bad Man!! When you get to be as old as me, you never want to lock yourself into anything "Forever"! I am on the conservative side with this car and only plan to put a barrier around the BMC Air Box and open up the area behind it and install something that will allow me to adjust the Air/Fuel to around 12 to 1! At Maxton, I might slip a little Nuetec or oxygenated Sunoco in it for a run or two, but this is the "Family" car! If anything, I may install softer straight wound springs!

[Vincent Hill]

I just realized that I had mail! I had the installed a Mini Mania Pulley and where did I get Mini "Madness" From? I guess after I lost my original Post! Not used to mail or how it works, but I will know what to look for in the future!