Sorry guys I am sure this has been asked a lot, but I'm new to this car. I did a search quick and couldn't find the answer easily.

I am trying to buy a smaller pulley for my roommates stock 96 ssei, and was wondering what pulley diameter is stock, and what a safe inprovement size would be. I am assuming just one step smaller whatever that would be.

Also, if there is anything special it takes to swap it for him (3-jaw puller etc.), and where I can buy one from.

Thanks a lot, Julian

The stock pulley for the '96-'99 is a 3.8. The usual swap is to a 3.4.

The best place to start before the pulley swap would be Cold Air Intake,then the exhaust.

Here'* a thread to get ya started in the right direction on the CAI

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...624&highlight=

The exhaust would be a matter of preference, Most of us around here run a Magnaflow F-body hi-flow muffler.Make sure the muffler is a single in/dual out.

When changing the pulley,you have to run one range colder plugs,so now would be a good time to do a tune up. Autolite 104'* or NGK TR55'* are suggested,gapped at.055. O2 sensor,plug wires and assorted fliters.

A 3 jaw puller is not a good idea. A special puller is used to remove the pulley,since the puller is also used to press the pulley back on.
If this is going to be a one time swap,the puller can be rented from either Intense racing or zzperformance.
Also,you'll need a 715 belt to make up the difference after the swap.

I got my pulley and rented the puller from zzp and believe me,it made a world of difference

Maybe one of the gearheads can chime in and add,if there is anything I missed.

That about covers it.

Of course, having a Thunderchicken (Tbird for those that don't understand street-slang) you'll want to investigate that plug gap and part number.

Also make sure that the number of ribs on your stocker are the same as the number on the donor pulley, and make sure the smaller pulley doesn't cause a belt tension issue. We normally run a larger idler pulley or smaller belt.

I personally had to go with a larger idler, as my pulley is so damn dinky, I wasn't getting much belt wrap circumference on the pulley and was getting slip.