need review on the difference on the feel of having the idler pulley and not.

 

It's not a huge difference in driveability really. The engine feels a tiny bit more responsive, but not really faster. It's probably just placebo mostly, although rotational mass savings are always more significant than just a simple weight reduction.

I weighed the extra pulley and mounting bracket assembly on a scale and it's 1216 grams total, which is about 2.7 pounds. About 2/3 of that weight is rotational too since the bracket itself isn't that heavy but the spinning portion of the pulley is. You're basically saving about 2 pounds of rotational mass by doing this mod plus an inch of serpentine belt length, and a little bit of a drag reduction due to the lack of an extra pulley and bend in the belt configuration. There are also 3 fairly big bolts that are used to secure the pulley to the motor, and I put all 3 those back in on my car rather than leaving the unnecessary 2 out of the 3 bolt holes empty. The unnecessary 2 bolts might weigh another 1/4 of a pound in total, but it's not rotational mass and won't make any difference and I wanted to keep those holes clean in case I ever wanted to go back to the stock configuration.

It's definitely worth doing though because you're getting a free upgrade to your car that removes an unnecessary part which will eventually fail. The shorter belt is actually about $3 cheaper than the stock size belt too so you'll save a few bucks in future belt replacements. I kinda like having the extra distance between the crank and power steering pulley too because short distances between pulleys makes your car that much more likely to have problems with belt chirping as a result of very minor misalignments in your belt-driven components (which can happen over time as the bearings in these components start to wear down).

This mod definitely cleans up the engine bay quite a bit though... and I highly recommend everyone do it when it comes time for a new belt.

I paid $6 for the spacer from my local Nissan dealer, but you can get a whole kit from Z1 Motorsports online which includes an OEM Nissan belt as well as the spacer for something like $24 (not including shipping), which would have been $36 for me including shipping.

I got the belt for $13 from advance Auto Parts using a 30% off coupon code, so that worked out well. Advance Auto always has awesome coupon codes that you can use to make your purchases online and then pick them up in-store and save anywhere from 20-40% off your purchases.

 

Go to auto parts store and ask for the belts for a 2008 FX35. You can also ask for the belts for a 2007 G35 Coupe, however the store I went to tried to give me a Sedan belt which is totally different.

 

You're better off just going in with the exact part numbers mentioned earlier that way there is no risk of confusion at the store or them giving you the wrong sized belt or the other belt for the A/C. The belt length that you want is a 45 inch belt with 6 ribs. Just tell them you need belt 6PK1145 and they should be able to bring up belt options from numerous different manufacturers for that part number... Dayco, Goodyear, Bando, Gates, etc.