Steeda Under Pulley | Charging

[96blak54]

Another solution!
Have a good battery with your under drive pulleys and use a small solar battery charger on the dash or rear deck. Honda guys do this all the time.

 

[ttocs]

a solar cell that fits on the dash would be enough to generate enough juice for your iphone but its not going to make much of a dent in a car battery. Also doesn't fix the problem of lights dimming at night.

 

[Frank.JD.Perez]

I know this is kinda off topic but do you run a timing adjuster with your pullies? I want to upgrade to the newer steeda UDPs but I haven't gotten concrete evidence of a steeda timing adjuster and their UDPs working together. I have the newer blue pieces and want to get their new black UDPs for my car but have no idea if they will actually work together

 

[96blak54]

Hey! iphones are power hungry! Have you ever seen one in use not plugged in?..lol Grab a newer crownvic(panther platform) alternator. They are 130amp. Might just be enough!

 

[JerZeyStangz]

the new battery will help for a while, but since the piece you need to recharge it isn't working 100% its going to slowly drag the battery down when it can't recharge. Putting an upgraded alt to make up for slower speeds is also just a band aid on the wound as again its not going to cool itself just like the stocker, and besides that an upgraded alt creates a bigger load on the motor then a stock alt so your borrowing from peter to pay paul in this scenario. Again UDP's are great on track cars but on a daily you will figure out pretty quick if its not a good idea for you when the battery/alt fail.

I was scheming the V6 forums and they tend to run UDP's as a serious mod and I haven't read anything negative about upgrading to stronger alternator. I believe it would be very minimal. I do not know this for fact but I read somewhere that PA Performance Alternators 130a/200a units have a underdrive pulley already attached to the alternator. If I go with a stronger alternator I can line up the pulley from the old Steeda UDP's and see if they are the same size. I will call them up and ask some questions...

Another solution!
Have a good battery with your under drive pulleys and use a small solar battery charger on the dash or rear deck. Honda guys do this all the time.

Sounds like a neat idea!

I know this is kinda off topic but do you run a timing adjuster with your pullies? I want to upgrade to the newer steeda UDPs but I haven't gotten concrete evidence of a steeda timing adjuster and their UDPs working together. I have the newer blue pieces and want to get their new black UDPs for my car but have no idea if they will actually work together

Hey Frank, I do not have steeda timing adjuster at all. I just want to let everyone know that I am using a brand new set of the first generation Steeda UDP kit. The newer generation has a different water pump pulley and the harmonic balancer for the crank pulley looks bigger as well. I would call up Steeda and email their customer service. They know their product better than me or you...worth a shot.

Hey! iphones are power hungry! Have you ever seen one in use not plugged in?..lol Grab a newer crownvic(panther platform) alternator. They are 130amp. Might just be enough!

I also read that the 99-04 GT/Cobra alternators are 130a stock so this makes sense why the newer mustangs really haven't experienced idle charging issue. If I bought the newer style UDP's I probably wouldnt have that much of a issue to begin with...

 

[ttocs]

the only negative about a bigger alt is it will take more of the engines power to turn it. So paying for the pullies to free up a few hp, and then paying for the bigger alt to take some of that back up $$$ + $$$ = how much gained? I would bump the idle myself and save your money on the alt for when/if it burns out.

 

[JerZeyStangz]

the only negative about a bigger alt is it will take more of the engines power to turn it. So paying for the pullies to free up a few hp, and then paying for the bigger alt to take some of that back up $$$ + $$$ = how much gained? I would bump the idle myself and save your money on the alt for when/if it burns out.

I respect the wisdom ttocs. Man, the engineer in me wants to get to the bottom of this. I started looking at the second generation Steeda Pulleys and they are significantly different than the first generation. It looks like a complete redesign. I might pull the old pulleys off and sell them to a person who doesn't mind the small sacrifice in idle charging speed. First thing first is getting a new battery, then I will go from there...

As a band aid the stock alternator pulley is back on which is doing an ok job but not steller like the stocker. I read your post from another mustang forum and I agree about burning out the alternator and messing up the battery in long term effects. The newer style Steeda UDP's seems like win so maybe thats why they redesigned them. I will keep updating this thread and posting results so other people know what they are getting into...

Steeda First Gen UDP's


Pros:
20-30miles extra per tank
Low end torque feel at lower rpms
accessory drag eliminated (a/c)

Cons:
Slow charging speed
Dim headlights at night at idle
Possibly hurt battery (long-term)
Possibly burn out alternator, lack of cooling (long-term)

 

[ttocs]

I see why people do them. I ran them myself for a short time and found the best thing about them was I got them used and sold them for the same amount I had in them. Save your stockers, worst case scenario you can switch later.

 

[JerZeyStangz]

I got them stored safely in my garage. I never throw away good stock parts.

 

[ttocs]

lol saying you put them in a safe place is the kiss of death in this house = never to be found again.

 

[DropTopPony]

What kind of system (radio) do you have in there?

When I switched to the 200 amp power master alt it fixed all my charging issues from my tunes. After 13 years it just gave up 2 weeks ago so I ordered another.

Now I always thought the 96 had a 130a alt stock???

 

[JerZeyStangz]

lol saying you put them in a safe place is the kiss of death in this house = never to be found again.

Haha! Garage with a bunch of other mustang parts

What kind of system (radio) do you have in there?

When I switched to the 200 amp power master alt it fixed all my charging issues from my tunes. After 13 years it just gave up 2 weeks ago so I ordered another.

Now I always thought the 96 had a 130a alt stock???

Stock radio from 1996 lol. If stock alternator is 130 then that sucks to know [emoji17]



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[SikkStang]

I'm having a similar issue to this with my new '95 GT. Previous owner installed UDP's, and I already replaced the battery due to it not starting a couple times in one weekend. Also, since I fixed the broken(actually disconnected for an unknown reason) temperature gauge, I've noticed the car runs on the high/hot side of normal. I replaced the thermostat with a 180* unit, it has new coolant, and radiator looks decent enough. I've read that an under driven water pump pulley may not flow enough coolant, causing the car to run hot. Thinking if I switch back to stock pulleys it should go back to normal. Sound about right to you guys?

 

[JerZeyStangz]

I'm having a similar issue to this with my new '95 GT. Previous owner installed UDP's, and I already replaced the battery due to it not starting a couple times in one weekend. Also, since I fixed the broken(actually disconnected for an unknown reason) temperature gauge, I've noticed the car runs on the high/hot side of normal. I replaced the thermostat with a 180* unit, it has new coolant, and radiator looks decent enough. I've read that an under driven water pump pulley may not flow enough coolant, causing the car to run hot. Thinking if I switch back to stock pulleys it should go back to normal. Sound about right to you guys?

Yeah I heard it's really bad with 94-95 because you guys have the 2G alternators. In your case I would switch to stock. Upgrading the alternator to 3G will help but you will get sub par results. The stockers will bring everything back to normal.

In my case temps are good, just charging system is suffering at idle under load. I'm also skeptical about the first generation design of these pulleys because Steeda updated them. They look nothing like mine.


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[SikkStang]

Yeah I heard it's really bad with 94-95 because you guys have the 2G alternators. In your case I would switch to stock. Upgrading the alternator to 3G will help but you will get sub par results. The stockers will bring everything back to normal.

In my case temps are good, just charging system is suffering at idle under load. I'm also skeptical about the first generation design of these pulleys because Steeda updated them. They look nothing like mine.


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I plan on it, just having a hell of a time finding stock crank and water pump pulleys. I fount the stock alt pulley on LateModelResto, but all I find for the other two are Under drives. Maybe I'll post an add in here. Someone's gotta have some somewhere.

 

[ttocs]

yes the coolant being slowed down is another problem I never touched on. IMO by the time you get serious and do a HCI swap or throw some boost on it ensuring its flowing everything especially the coolant is much more important then the few hp they might get you.

 

[SikkStang]

On a good note, just found a stock crank and water pump pulley on eBay. Ordered both of them, and ordered the stock alternator pulley and a new locking nut/washer for it off of Late Model Resto. Hopefully they'll all be here by the weekend so I can swap 'em out and go for a cruise to see if it fixes my issue.

 

[JerZeyStangz]

Yeah post the results even though your engine configuration is different then mine. Are you using a piggy-back underdrive pulley system? I do not think you mentioned the brand?

 

[SikkStang]

The previous owner installed them, so I am unsure of the brand. They're a light blue color. Everything else I've had to fix on the car is because it was either done improperly, or with cheap parts...

I installed a new Radiator Air Deflector under the front bumper today since the original was missing. I was shocked to see that after driving around for a good hour or more straight the temperature actually stayed noticeably cooler than it has been. Never would've thought that a little plastic shield like that could make a noticeable difference. Then again, Ford must have put it there for a reason, right? lol

 

[JerZeyStangz]

The previous owner installed them, so I am unsure of the brand. They're a light blue color. Everything else I've had to fix on the car is because it was either done improperly, or with cheap parts...

I installed a new Radiator Air Deflector under the front bumper today since the original was missing. I was shocked to see that after driving around for a good hour or more straight the temperature actually stayed noticeably cooler than it has been. Never would've thought that a little plastic shield like that could make a noticeable difference. Then again, Ford must have put it there for a reason, right? lol

Mine is bent instead of it being like this -> | <- it looks more like this -> / <-. I can't believe a small plastic piece to deflect air for the lower portion of the radiator has a serious impact lol.

On another note I would be be surprised if you had some BBK pulleys.