curls

I'm looking at doing the underdrive pulley mod this year and have been looking around at the differences in performance and cost of the NST versus the UR (Unorthadox Racing) types.

The UR set comes with the underdrive, lightweight crank pulley, as well as the alternator and power steering lightweight pulleys.

The NST comes with the underdrive, lightweight crank pulley, and an optional overdrive alternator pulley (for little/no drop in voltage).

I do NOT have any aftermarket electronics, and have no future plans for any, including stereo. I would likely not get the overdrive alternator pulley if I went the NST route. That means that the NST pulley would be about 1/2 the price of the UR set.

What set of the two is better, and what gains are expected from each? I see the UR set dynos from Zaskers, JTso, and others, give anywhere from 6-12whp or so, and about the same 6-12 increase in torque. I havent' seen an NST pulley before/after dyno though.

Discuss!

Tsx536

There's some dyno numbers in this thread. No graph though:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=pulley

speedlimitz

i was talking to a guy from top setup in IL and they said replacing the crank really doest do anything just the alt and pwr steering. any truth to that and does anyone just sell those 2 pulleys?

WlcTL

the crank pully is where most of the weight is... its like 5 or 10 pounds(forgot) the aftermarket ones are like 1 pound and also smaller which makes it easier for the engine to turn, which is why you get better acceleration=more power!!

Abrams

Go with the UR. I asked Kenny (Tsx536) about the NST pulleys because I have an aftermarket stereo and this is what he said word for word. I plan on getting the UR pulleys as soon as I have some money.

"Anyway, the thing about the NST kit is there are only 2 pulleys replaced instead of 3 pulleys like the kit by Unorthodox Racing. More people are running the UR pulleys mostly because that company is more well known and has been around longer. UR is also based in Buffalo, NY I think, while NST is based in Texas.

NSTs customer service I heard is really good though. You can always get ahold of them on aim. I've talked to the lead guy and he is very knowledgeable.

With that being said, I would go with UR if it was me. Mainly because more people are running those and have not reported problems. And also because their kit has 3 pulleys instead of 2. NSTs kit does not replace the power steering pulley. It looks like it overdrives the alternator though. That might be good thing if you have a lot of electronics running. People with the UR pulleys and a lot of electronics have not reported any problems either though."

626tsx

actually, i the UR pulley was the one that gives you problem at idle when you have a stereo system.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

People have their skeptics about ur but had mine in since 06 no problems since.

Ur pulleys are based in buffalo,ny? where did you find this info i saw their website and looks like their in long island. (631)

I'm at buffalo for school let me know the address i wanna check out the place if it is here.

chuson

Really, who told you that?

Did you have UR pulleys and experienced such a problem?

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

only if your stereo exceeds the recommended wattage that the UR site mentions. it's 600 watts.

i went w/ UR since there's a decent segment of users on here, and i haven't read a bad review or any issues after install from them, and they're being sold by a trusted vendor (excelerate).

Tsx536

I could be mistaken that it was Buffalo. I just remember it being somewhere in NY. Looks like the website says Long Island. My mistake, I'm from Cali and I don't know NY very well

Tsx536

Most of the gain is going to be from lightening the crank pulley because that is the pulley that is actually driving all of the other pulleys.

To the OP, I think the power gain from both kits is going to be close to the same. If there is any difference I doubt you would notice much on the butt dyno.

DAYTA

One nice thing about NST is that they also make custom pullies.


For that reason, I'm getting my pulley from NST... .

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Only if you are over 600 watts RMS. If you search for unorthodox and Jtso you will find he did a comparison chart with the voltage readings with the UR underdrive pulley set and the voltage differences were negligent after the pulley install.

speedlimitz

you cant buy the pulley set from nst til mid may? that kinda sucks, might make me go with ur

curls

I ended up buying a set of UR pulleys, used, from a guy on since it's the same pulley set for the 04-08 TSX as it is for the 02-05 RSX-S.

I'll let everyone know my impressions once they arrive and I install them - T-minus 2 weeks since next weekend is a no-garage weekend (wife is leaving me with the 2-year old all weekend...)

jeneah

I got a UR crank pulley on my WRX and noticed no difference in acceleration or performance. IMHO, these things are a waste of money.

chuson

I don't think you should put a conclusion on it, because your WRX is not TSX. Turbo car has progressive gain, and take advantage on downpipe, +boost, or bigger turbo, and we are talking about at least 15+whp @ a time; whereas N/A mod has linear gain, and needs to add up all the small gain together in order for a better balance car.

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

Right, and by the same token, a grounding wire kit for a WRX makes like 5-10 WHP and makes the engine run smoother, but it is a waste of $ on a TSX from what we have seen.

You are looking at apples to oranges.



Anyway, not to revive this thread, but we are actually doing a UR GB here if anyone is interested!

Marcus

Thecrazytrains

Sorry for responding to an old thread. I'm planning on getting just the crank pulley, is there really any difference? UR vs NST in this case?

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

From what we've seen, the UR material is a bit more durable.

Thecrazytrains

Have there been quality issues with NST?

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

Not specifically, however we have had a few sets damaged in shipping.