[DMGJLG]

Okay guys and girls. I have sent an e-mail to the president of Unorthodox Racing to see if they had pulleys that would work with our Odyssey's. Here is the answer:

We can't say if the Accord/CL Ultra SS kit we are working on will fit the 3.5L. We could check if an owner was willing to come in. If it is not the same then we would need 30 pre-orders to start a new model (Ultra S or SS). We would need a subject for measurement and testing. 50% deposit would be charged at time of design completion and 50% on delivery in 5-7 weeks after design completion. Our head or R&D is out of the office until the 27th of Aug. But let us know if you are interested.
Respectfully,
Shawn Baumgartner
President
Unorthodox Racing Inc.

So, if we have anyone willing to drive to their shop and test fit the Accord and Acura pulley's then this might work out. If not then we can still have a batch made if we get 30 people in on this. The main reason I want the pulley is for the increased gas mileage you get. The added power isn't too bad either. I figure we should see the same performance as the Accord and Acura pulleys. Please post if you are interested. David



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2001 Tafetta White EX

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by DMGJLG:
The main reason I want the pulley is for the increased gas mileage you get. The added power isn't too bad either. I figure we should see the same performance as the Accord and Acura pulleys. Please post if you are interested. David
</font>

Hi David,

Sounds interesting but my questions are:

1. What kind of gas mileage / performance increase did they see on the Accord / Acura models?

2. Do they think the Odyssey might deliver simular increases, percentage wise?

3. What kind of degredation can I expect from my peripheral accessories? Specifically, the AC system. I live in a hot part of the country and seeing as how I'm not that disappointed in the fuel mileage I'm getting now, I'm not sure I'd be willing do sacrifice AC efficiency to get an extra point of two in fuel economy.

4. Also, does this adversely effect the charging system or power steering?

If the answers to the above questions are positive, I'd probably be interested which leads to questions 5 & 6.

5. What is the cost likely to be?

6. Do we keep the factory drive belts?

Intrigued but cautious.

Drive Safe,
Steve

 

[twinmomma]

Wouldn't something like that negate the Honda warranty?

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-'01 MB EX
-Honda cassette
-plenty of Scotchguard!

 

[tvvinkie]

Answers to questions:

1 & 2) Here is their page with results from various cars: http://www.unorthodoxracing.com/dyno.html
There are no Accords or similar V6's listed, but I'd guess a 6-10 hp increase would be about right. This will mostly translate into better acceleration. City fuel economy would most likely see a small increase, but highway efficiency would probably be mostly unaffected. I say this because the main result of the reduced weight is less rotational inertia in the powertrain. Once your cruising, the intertia is no problem.

3 & 4) Well, the "S" kit is just a crank pulley; the "SS" also includes accessory pulleys. I think we're just talking about the crank here. UR doesn't underdrive the accessories all that much, at least not with the crank pulley. According to the website:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">These gains are obtained in two ways. First, and most important, is the weight loss. An average of 2.7 HP is gained from every pound lost off the crank shaft. 85% of our gains are from weight loss.

The rest of the gains are from underdriving, which accounts for about 15% of the total gains. We do not push underdriving for two main reasons. Our main reason is to keep charging systems, air conditioning, power steering, and water pumps moving fast enough for every day driving. Second, not much horsepower is gained from extreme underdriving. All of our underdriving is done with the crank pulley, not the accessory pulleys.</font>

5) I'm guessing about $200 + shipping.

6) Nope. The belts have to be replaced. UR recommends belts by Gates. They can probably give you the model #'s of the ones from the V6 Accord, but they may be different. Some trial and error will likely be involved, but I'm sure the first person to solve the puzzle wouldn't mind posting the correct part #'s.


Will it affect the warranty?
No aftermarket part can immediately void a vehicle's entire warranty. Fortunately, we have a certain level of protection here. For Honda of America to refuse warranty service on your Ody with an aftermarket component, they have to prove that the component in question caused the malfunction.

So, if you install the crank pulley, and your transmission craps out, they're going to have a really tough time proving that the pulley is at fault. A dealer may tell you otherwise, but we all know how trustworthy the dealers are, don't we?


As soon as SuperHonda.org is back up (if ever

), I will ask some of the Accord V6 owners what kind of results they've had with the UR pulleys. If I get any good responses, I'll be sure to post them here.

 

[DMGJLG]

tvvinkie, thanks for taking care of the questions. I just received another e-mail from Shawn and he said his head R&D engineer is not in right now but should be back next week. He gave me the phone number to call him up and set up an appointment for one of us Odyssey owners to do a test fitting. Who wants to volunteer for the test fitting? It may be a while as they mentioned the V6 pulley's are still in development. If anyone has feedback on the UP pulley's, even from another type of car, please post so we can see how what improvements might happen. Thanks, David

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2001 Tafetta White EX

 

[Jim F]

I run UR pulleys on my daily driven SE-R. I live in Hell ... er, Houston where traffic and heat are killers. I have zero problems with the A/C or anything else.

As for power, don't expect to feel it at all.

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Jim
'01 GG EX w/stuff
'93 Nissan Sentra SE-R with more stuff

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jim F:
I run UR pulleys on my daily driven SE-R. I live in Hell ... er, Houston where traffic and heat are killers. I have zero problems with the A/C or anything else.

As for power, don't expect to feel it at all.

</font>

Well, Jim, if I shouldn't expect to feel an impovement in power, what about fuel mileage? If fuel mileage isn't improved significantly (>2 to 3 mpg) then why should I invest in this little modification?

For that matter, why do you?

Just wondering.....

Drive Safe,
Steve

 

[Jim F]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Intrepid175:
For that matter, why do you?
</font>

Why do I what? I'm not sure what your question is.

There will be a percentage of power freed with the use of the pulleys. You just probably won't be able to feel it driving around town. Chances are throttle response would improve slightly. Gas mileage should improve slightly as well due to less drag on the motor from the accessories.

I would recommend the pulleys from past experience. I'd love to see a dyno run before and after the pulley installation. If I get a set I'll make a couple of pulls to see how they work.

------------------
Jim
'01 GG EX w/stuff
'93 Nissan Sentra SE-R with more stuff

[This message has been edited by Jim F (edited 08-22-2001).]

 

[ody]

I've had a set of UR pulleys (SS set) on my 4 cyl. Accord for about 20k miles now. The performance improvement comes from the crank pulley (much lighter, slight underdrive) and the accessory pulleys are just for looks (although somewhat lighter too). They are absolutely BEAUTIFUL pieces, real works of CNC art! As for felt performance increase, well...I would have to say minimal at best. It's hard to be real objective, because you always hope for noticeable improvement. The placebo effect comes into play here (do I really feel better acceleration or is it just wishful thinking?) To sum up:
>minimal HP increase-of course that could vary depending on vehicle.
>ZERO problems with electrical, AC etc. The underdrive aspect of the crank pulley does not create any problems IMO.
>Some have expressed concern over the lack of a harmonic balancer on the UR pulley as on the stock piece. Again, NO problem with the oil pump or anything else in 20k miles. If anything, the engine feels smoother and revs quicker than before.
>Unless you are a pretty decent mechanic with the right tools, forget about putting this on yourself-it's a royal PAIN!
Hope this helps...I have to say this doesn't seem like the kind of mod I would make on my Ody, but to each his (or her) own

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On the waiting list for my '02 EX Nav in RED!

[This message has been edited by ody (edited 08-22-2001).]

[This message has been edited by ody (edited 08-22-2001).]

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jim F:
Why do I what? I'm not sure what your question is.

There will be a percentage of power freed with the use of the pulleys. You just probably won't be able to feel it driving around town. Chances are throttle response would improve slightly. Gas mileage should improve slightly as well due to less drag on the motor from the accessories. </font>

In the post I replied to, you said "As for power, don't expect to feel it at all." So I stated that if I couldn't feel any power increase and if I wasn't going to see any siginificant (>2 to 3 mpg) increase in fuel mileage, why should I invest in this modification? I then asked the question, "For that matter, why do you?"

In your statement quoted above, you say that we probably won't be able to feel a difference, throttle response and fuel mileage should "improve slightly." I guess I'm just looking for something a bit more quantified before making a decision on this one which brings us to the balance of your post below!

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"> I would recommend the pulleys from past experience. I'd love to see a dyno run before and after the pulley installation. If I get a set I'll make a couple of pulls to see how they work.

</font>

My question here is; OK, you've apparently had good experience with the pulley mods in the past. Can you give us any information (subjective feel of the car, actual fuel mileage numbers before and after the modification) for the vehicles you've done this to, the Nissan for example? This might help clarify my concerns a great deal.

I too, would love to see dyno information before and after this modification. I take it, you know a shop you trust with the dyno equipment to make this kind of test? I wouldn't mind being around to witness that too!

Drive Safe,
Steve

[This message has been edited by Intrepid175 (edited 08-23-2001).]