mr. Jones

I read about a few timing chain breaks and some mentioned the ASP underdrive pulley possibly being the cause.
I am in the middle of a cam & head upgrade and I discovered that my pulley was bad.
It has two cracks in the insulation material between the inner and outer material

The outer portion can be easily rotated 1/2".
you also can feel some front to back movement between the two pieces.
I did get a little belt noise. it would go away after a few minutes of running, no thrown belts.
pulley is about six years old. 33,000 mixed miles, no winter salt.
The timing chain looks good. There are no signs of binding links (rollmaster double)
no excessive stretch.
Looks like an ATI pulley will be the replacement.

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Interesting...I've always heard horror stories, and it sucks that this happened. Good thing you caught it though...might have been worse otherwise.

youguessit

thats why you buy powerbond/slp

SuperSam

iTrader: (7)

If i were to get another pulley...I would get the slp pulley. The asp pulley has given me nothing but problems.

Paul57

I would like to know how a pulley could break a timing chain??? Seems highly unlikely to me...but, I am not an expert.

1979rs/z28

iTrader: (21)

Wow, that sucks. No problems here with my asp, probably has 20k miles on it now.

youguessit

Harmonic balancer absorbs vibrations also known as harmonics which would usually vibrate the engine apart. timing chains and valve usually the first victims when one goes bad.

Paul57

Thanks for the info. I will keep that in mind.
If you have a balancer that failed, could there be a bigger problem internally (something causing excessive vibe) ??
From the balancers that have failed...are they being heated before installing them?? Too much heat would definitely affect the lifespan of a rubber-type component.

mr. Jones

I put this on so long ago I don't remember if I heated it.
If I did it would have been only slightly in a oven.
I did some searching and the powerbond underdrive pulley is tempting.
The price is 1/2 the ATI pulley. I did find some issues with the cam also-excessive wear in some lobes.

35th SS

iTrader: (2)

I better check running on both cars.asp here.

mr. Jones

powerbond ordered $179 New Era Performance (site vendor)