Quote Originally Posted by Prozack View Post
I've been kicking around an idea for awhile to make pulleys from aluminum. I'm a machinist and have access to cnc lathes. I've been thinking about turning some out and using my car as a ginea pig. I feel aluminum would work much better than steel, with it being much lighter and better heat dissipation properties. Right now it's just an idea tho. I have my old plastic pulleys in the shop to use for measurements.
Hey, I like your innovative thinking. Maybe Teflon treat the rolling surface to wear on the belt a bit better? On some race application's I have seen timing belt idlers that I would swear were just a skateboard wheel machined down to fit. Good quality aluminum should wear on these belts fine IMO. I know the Opel engines in Europe these engines are copies of do have metal idlers in production, not sure why Korea went with the plastic stuff, other than to shave cost.