If you want to make yourself laugh

[BillBoost37]

Be careful when you do put the metal on. Some of them protrude a bit further than the plastic and this can make belt replacement a bit tougher by reducing the clearance between the pulley and mount for the belt to slide past.

[BonneMe]

.

As for running without the belt it doesn't sound like a good idea. Theory has me believe there would be a large obstruction to airflow to get around static SC rotors.

I have to agree, No way the car is as efficient when you're running belt-less. It's just keeping your urges inline..

[harofreak00]

I have noticed that the SC rotors spin from the vacuum, even without the belt on. The engine sucks enough air to get what it needs.

[olblueeyesbonne]

Aeroforce indicates it's taking 28 HP (IIRC) to cruise @ 70 mph.
7-9 HP to idle in park.

38 MPG average cruising @ 70 MPG with +35*F indicates there's good air flow too.

[bonnevillain]

38mpg cruising at 70?!

[00ssei]

When i first got my 00ssei which was like 4 months ago, i got it withoug a S/C belt. I was confused on why it was off and didnt even ask previous owner, so i just bought one ASAP and a new idler pulley. BIG difference, i just love thw wine. I think its bad not to have the belt on. You may see other improvments like mpg, but its better with the belt on.

[radomirthegreat]

On my 94 SSEi, the supercharger belt fell off and was shredded about 3 times. Each time before the engine overheated, I tried to see what it was like running without the supercharger. I equate the feeling to slightly better than my friend's 1986 Olds 98 with an LG3 3800. Since I replaced the cracked rear accessory plate about a year ago, this belt issue has gone away.

[gweg_b]

I have a 2001 SSEi, but 3 days after I bought it, I had the S/C idler pulley go on me on the way home from work. Completely stalled the car out, and I smelled something burning. I limped it home, and found the S/C belt was tangled in with the accessory belt. Was pretty nasty.

[tan96ssei]

billboost i understand your concern and you are correct about the size difference but olblueeyes i can vowch for the metal pulleys i bought my 96 SSEi with 58K miles on it and the original owner was an old couple in their 50's. so car was kept in great dealer quality but it still had stock plastic idlers and tensioner pulleys. i replaced thoughs all on accessory and S/C belts and have since ran 85K miles on it with out a squeek squeel or rattle so head out get all metal pulleys