Hello, I apologize if this has been asked before but I didn’t see it. I have a Mina Gallery Lower pulley for a 2018 F-Pace S with the 3.0 SC and have not installed it yet because I was under the impression I had to tune it. Is it possible to drive normally and at high rpm’s with the pulley installed and no tune?

 

I don’t think so but you should check with Mina or VAP first. Also be aware VAP had a run of bad pulley’s recently and you should check to see if the pulley in your possession is one of those. If you got the pulley second hand it may have slipped through the cracks. Changing the pulley gives you more boost but if you don’t change the tune then the existing tune won’t know what to do with it. Could be no performance upgrade or worse.

 

Whats wrong with VAP pulleys?

 

It is possible to drive at low rpm and low throttle without problems, but if you put your hoof into it and/or hit high rpm the car will have a hissy fit and invoke limp home mode (restricted performance in JLR speak). The general advice is do not exceed 3,000 rpm.
This is because the lower pulley increases the SC boost beyond what the ECU is expecting/tuned for.
Years ago I had a Eurotoys crank pulley (virtually identical to the VAP pulley) installed on my V6 then I drove home some 40 miles gently with no problems, then I installed a VAP "with pulley" tune and have had zero problems since.
So yes you need a tune to go with the larger lower pulley both for everyday driving and to get the benefit of the larger pulley.

 

They had a batch some time ago where on some the outer flange cracked away from the core due to a poor manufacturing process.
Once VAP became aware of this problem they jumped on it quick smart and offered all affected customers a free exchange to a good pulley.
That batch is now long gone and no longer a problem.

 

Hopefully, I am riding on good pulley. Before installing i send it to balancing shop, I wanted to make sure there it is with in spec, since where was no balancing marks on VAP pulley...