Not to dive too deeply into gearing here, I am certainly aware of how that works and I know I wish our final drive was indeed few points lower/slightly longer geared after being tuned. So much of the car is designed around the stock power output with Ford obviously intentionally neutering a nice chunk of natural generated torque from the tiny turbo to fit the "package" they had in mind, and that's clear from seeing how much torque can be had with just a tune, but that's the thing: Typically we see an e30 car making 50 whp / 80 whtq over stock and even a Stage 1 Cobb OTS tune makes only a few HP but a good chunk more torque, almost like it's just that easy to unlock what Ford has removed intentionally. Now, with just an OTS tune, the car actually feels pretty well balanced and could pas for what Ford could have chosen to easily tune for from an engine reliability standpoint, but they have long-term warranty issues with axles, transmission, emissions, etc... But going back to e30, at that point gearing definitely feels short adding even more torque that the tiny turbo likes to make.
So what are some solutions for putting that power down? We already know the typical things like upgraded mounts, suspension and of course LSD... But is there any way to actually spread that power from donkey kick, wheel spinning torque at lower RPM's in 2nd to a little more up high instead so the tires have a chance to hook up? That's what I'm wondering if this pulley can help with a little, it could be an overlooked way to help tame that as we know that the stock turbo simply does what it does based on its size, it can't just be tuned to flow differently without sacrificing overall performance... Also, if the water pump is being spun slower with the larger pulley, does the extra time the coolant spends passing through the radiator help give it time to cool off to make up for the slower flow? Only while moving maybe and could create even more heat issues if stuck in stop n go traffic in the summer? Would just a thermostat change from to the new 180 Ford one help? These are all things I'm curious about, as if it does help spread that power band further up, even a little, and doesn't negatively affect cooling much this could be a great little upgrade for those of us on stock turbos.