Input needed on what flywheel with turbo car?

94svtturbo

Active Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
845
Reaction score
0
As many of you know i am in the process of finishing the turbo build on my 94 5.0. The next thing on my list to do is clutch and flywheel. I going to go with a Spec stage clutch. I was going to go with a Spec billett aluminium flywheel weighing only 12lbs. over the stock 25lbs. flywheel until i talked to some people and they said to rethink doing this. something about the inertia. I want the car to rev quicker than it does stock so i figured i would do the flywheel while im doin the clutch but now im not so sure. This is my first turbo car so im learning as i go.

Just wanted some input on what flywheel to go with or even if i should get stock replacement weight?

And also does the flywheel really affect the turbo by enough to notice?

Thanks guys
 

karrarararararar

Active Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
310
Reaction score
0
i've got an aluminum flywheel and I really don't see why people make a big deal about the whole inertia thing. The big thing people complain about is the driveability with them but I haven't had any issues with mine at all and I dd my car. Don't know about the effect it'd have on a turbo though
 

Paul

Legend
Joined
Apr 30, 2007
Messages
9,859
Reaction score
255
You'll be fine with the aluminum flywheel. You'll lose some rotational inertia in the flywheel, but it's not going to negatively affect the performance of the car.


...moving to general tech.
 
OP
OP
9

94svtturbo

Active Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
845
Reaction score
0
Paul said:
You'll be fine with the aluminum flywheel. You'll lose some rotational inertia in the flywheel, but it's not going to negatively affect the performance of the car.


...moving to general tech.
Thank you. I really wanted to cut the flywheel weight in half to make it rev a little better and just wasnt sure if it would hurt the performance enough to worry about
 

Paul

Legend
Joined
Apr 30, 2007
Messages
9,859
Reaction score
255
All the actual dyno testing (not internetz speculation and people's "feel") that I've seen proves that the lighter flywheel will improve power. I would have zero reservations about putting aluminum flywheels in any of my cars.
 
OP
OP
9

94svtturbo

Active Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
845
Reaction score
0
that was kinda my thinking. I have never heard of a lighter flywheel doing wrong over a factory wieght flywheel
 

duff daddy

Legend
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
8,213
Reaction score
22
Location
Boston
I know a few ppl that have no luck with aluminum flywheels on high hp cars so I always stay with steal flywheels. Also after talking to alot of the NMRA guys and hearing their experiences with drag racing and higher hp cars im gonna be a steal flywheel car
 

P51CrazyHorse

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
204
Reaction score
0
Why not go with a polyurethane flywheel and cut almost ALL the weight out?

(Kidding, btw)

Yes, the aluminum flywheel will cut weight, improve rev speed slightly, and also dissipate heat better. I see no reason to NOT use one. If I wind up switching my '98 over to a T5 when I stuff my 302 H.O. in there this spring, I'm going to use an aluminum flywheel. Just my $.02, though.
 

MustangChris

Mythic Level
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
27,282
Reaction score
951
Location
Aurora, CO
P51CrazyHorse said:
Why not go with a polyurethane flywheel and cut almost ALL the weight out?

(Kidding, btw)

Yes, the aluminum flywheel will cut weight, improve rev speed slightly, and also dissipate heat better. I see no reason to NOT use one. If I wind up switching my '98 over to a T5 when I stuff my 302 H.O. in there this spring, I'm going to use an aluminum flywheel. Just my $.02, though.

my neighbor claims aluminum flywheels can warp in street-driven cars, take that opinion of an old-school hot-rodder or leave it.

i personally suggest an aluminum flywheel. Ive installed (help installed) one on a 2003 V6 mustang, you could tell a difference in the ability of the motor to gain RPMs faster. this would be benificial in spooling a turbo. eventhough ball bearing, carbon-fiber finned, anti-gravity turbos can spool pretty quickly now adays, every little bit helps.



as for the polyeurthain FW, i just took mine completely out. total weight loss, yo.
 

Mustang Mark

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
1,848
Reaction score
7
MustangChris said:
P51CrazyHorse said:
Why not go with a polyurethane flywheel and cut almost ALL the weight out?

(Kidding, btw)

Yes, the aluminum flywheel will cut weight, improve rev speed slightly, and also dissipate heat better. I see no reason to NOT use one. If I wind up switching my '98 over to a T5 when I stuff my 302 H.O. in there this spring, I'm going to use an aluminum flywheel. Just my $.02, though.

my neighbor claims aluminum flywheels can warp in street-driven cars, take that opinion of an old-school hot-rodder or leave it.

i personally suggest an aluminum flywheel. Ive installed (help installed) one on a 2003 V6 mustang, you could tell a difference in the ability of the motor to gain RPMs faster. this would be benificial in spooling a turbo. eventhough ball bearing, carbon-fiber finned, anti-gravity turbos can spool pretty quickly now adays, every little bit helps.



as for the polyeurthain FW, i just took mine completely out. total weight loss, yo.

+1 on just taking it out completely help is rev ALOT faster, sorta kills the acceleration though...
 

NXcoupe

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
1,369
Reaction score
80
The use of an aluminum flywheel in a street driven car is not a problem. When you stated in your earlier post that you plan on drag racing this thing, you will see why lightening up a flywheel in a turbo stick car is not a good idea. If you go with a spec unit and a spec clutch, which is heavier than a factory unit, you might not see as much of a loss of momentum on launch, but you will def see what I mean. The rpm's will fall very quickly on launch, and that causes the turbo to not be in it's rpm for 'spooling' and you have a pig of a launch. An aluminum flywheel is not going to make your car faster, I couldn't even tell the difference in mine on the street, but when I went to the track I could.
See, I have a different problem, my car makes 500+ ft lbs of torque at 3500 rpm's. You do the math on a steel 25lb flywheel and the heavy spec pressure plate, and it makes for tire frying torque. So I went to an aluminum flywheel and the car picked up .15 in the 60ft. I have a customer with a 4.6 n/a car, and he insisted on an aluminum flywheel, because it 'reved quicker', well he can't get a launch without bogging unless he leaves at 6k+ r's.
I wanted to experiment with the new spec lightweight aluminum pressure plate, it has a small steel insert like their flywheels have. I put it in my race car, only change I made, and went out to the track. put it on the two step, nitrous on, and popped the clutch at my old launch rpm of 3600. Well, it fell on it's face and didn't like it at all. bogged, and on nitrous, that's not a good thing. I thought about it and at the next race, I put it up to 5600 rpm's and launched it, the pictures in my race car thread are the result. it falls nearly 2000 rpm's to the max torque and then takes off. before it wouldn't even fall, it would just launch. much more controlled. Did I see any better et's? nope. just spent money. It did however improve my 60ft once we tamed it down, but in hindsight, I wish I would have just stuck with what worked.
Now, in conclusion, and I am kidding if anyone really read all of this, but my opinion is, if you want an aluminum flywheel so bad, throw it in there and make it work. Lots of people do it every day. Is it optimum? Who knows, you haven't made the first pass to even know what the car will do yet. I have found that making too many changes without watching what each change makes at the track or on the dyno just makes for a car that is unpredictable and becomes a problem child. jmho. Drivability on the street, that's not much of an issue, just rev it up a little higher when you take off, and there is no slipping a spec clutch, you'll have one chattering pos if you slip it from new. dump it for the first 500 miles, talk to Markcore on here, he just got a new one in his car.
 

MustangChris

Mythic Level
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
27,282
Reaction score
951
Location
Aurora, CO
NXcoupe said:
The use of an aluminum flywheel in a street driven car is not a problem. When you stated in your earlier post that you plan on drag racing this thing, you will see why lightening up a flywheel in a turbo stick car is not a good idea. If you go with a spec unit and a spec clutch, which is heavier than a factory unit, you might not see as much of a loss of momentum on launch, but you will def see what I mean. The rpm's will fall very quickly on launch, and that causes the turbo to not be in it's rpm for 'spooling' and you have a pig of a launch. An aluminum flywheel is not going to make your car faster, I couldn't even tell the difference in mine on the street, but when I went to the track I could.
See, I have a different problem, my car makes 500+ ft lbs of torque at 3500 rpm's. You do the math on a steel 25lb flywheel and the heavy spec pressure plate, and it makes for tire frying torque. So I went to an aluminum flywheel and the car picked up .15 in the 60ft. I have a customer with a 4.6 n/a car, and he insisted on an aluminum flywheel, because it 'reved quicker', well he can't get a launch without bogging unless he leaves at 6k+ r's.
I wanted to experiment with the new spec lightweight aluminum pressure plate, it has a small steel insert like their flywheels have. I put it in my race car, only change I made, and went out to the track. put it on the two step, nitrous on, and popped the clutch at my old launch rpm of 3600. Well, it fell on it's face and didn't like it at all. bogged, and on nitrous, that's not a good thing. I thought about it and at the next race, I put it up to 5600 rpm's and launched it, the pictures in my race car thread are the result. it falls nearly 2000 rpm's to the max torque and then takes off. before it wouldn't even fall, it would just launch. much more controlled. Did I see any better et's? nope. just spent money. It did however improve my 60ft once we tamed it down, but in hindsight, I wish I would have just stuck with what worked.
Now, in conclusion, and I am kidding if anyone really read all of this, but my opinion is, if you want an aluminum flywheel so bad, throw it in there and make it work. Lots of people do it every day. Is it optimum? Who knows, you haven't made the first pass to even know what the car will do yet. I have found that making too many changes without watching what each change makes at the track or on the dyno just makes for a car that is unpredictable and becomes a problem child. jmho. Drivability on the street, that's not much of an issue, just rev it up a little higher when you take off, and there is no slipping a spec clutch, you'll have one chattering pos if you slip it from new. dump it for the first 500 miles, talk to Markcore on here, he just got a new one in his car.

the heavier flywheel holds a larger amount of stored energy. upon launch, this energy is transmited to the wheels (eventually.) is the loss of this energy (with a lighter flywheel) worth the reduced rotational mass for the remainder of the track?

if you run into a brick wall with a prius at 100 MPH, will you drag it farther than running into a brick will with a semi truck at 50 MPH?
 
OP
OP
9

94svtturbo

Active Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
845
Reaction score
0
Thanks for all your input and help guys!! I really apreciate it! This is my first REAL kinda build. Im only 20(only got 3 more months til my 21st!! :eek:ccasion14:) so im still a little new to what works best.

I was thinking about doing the flywheel at the same time as i did the clutch seeing as everything would be apart already. But I think i have decided to go with the stock flywheel for now. partially due to lack of funds. and then i see how everything works and tear it all apart again if i do indeed still want a lighter flywheel
 
OP
OP
9

94svtturbo

Active Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
845
Reaction score
0
Yeah. Of scourse i can afford to get it resurfaced. just dont have the 350 bucks for the lighter flywheel
 

MustangChris

Mythic Level
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
27,282
Reaction score
951
Location
Aurora, CO
i read a thread where a guy didnt resurface his flywheel.... and how it chatters... .. .. i just wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page that being cheep can bite you in the ars sometimes.
 
OP
OP
9

94svtturbo

Active Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
845
Reaction score
0
That just dumb!! You cant fix stupid!! Go return some pop cans and then you will have the very minimal amount needed to resurface the flywheel
 

MustangChris

Mythic Level
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
27,282
Reaction score
951
Location
Aurora, CO
im the last person to point out peoples stupidity due to my abundance of it... so i didnt name names... but i just wanted to make sure you didnt need to borrow a 5-spot from me to make sure you did it right... thats all. lol.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
78,534
Messages
1,535,733
Members
16,186
Latest member
Armand

Members online

Top