Lightened and balanced flywheel

[MarkGolf 0]

Anyone had this done?

 

Hiflowheads will lighten it for £55 and balance it for £35 + V.A.T..

 

Were the 'benefits' noticable?

 

Also, has anyone just had it lightened and NOT balanced and could you feel the 'judder'?

 

What increase in perforamce can it give?

[Henny 0]

I've got a lightened and balanced flywheel in my G60... it improves the spin up time of the engine quite a bit which makes her quicker rising through the revs and very quick to drop revs as you change gear... adds quite a bit to the engine braking effect too... 8)

[Valver 0]

Mark> i hear that the VW flywheels are well balanced anyway and you can get away with just lightening it as long as you don't lighten it too much?.....not 100% certain how true this is tho - may want to check on the vortex... :? :wink:

[dr_mat 0]

The original may well be balanced, but how balanced will it be when some machine shop hacks chunks off it (even if they know what they're doing)? I'd say it's a must to rebalance it afterwards.

IMHO.. Ahem. :)

[Henny 0]

with ya there Matt.. Balancing of the flywheel may not take a lot to do, but I'd say it was essential 'cos if it breaks loose due to vibrations, you're REALLY gonna know about it! :crazyeyes:

[MarkGolf 0]

100% going to have ti balanced..

 

No VR6 owners with it then??

Does it add anything to 'pub talk' BHP and Torque figures?

 

Sounds good on a G60..

[dazzyvr6 0]

phatvr6 has got a light flywheel :lol:

[dazzyvr6 0]

http://unorthodoxracing.com/cgi-bin/mer ... =061410200

[yellowslc 0]

I have lightened 5 vr flywheels and 1 g60 flywheel. This is a job to be performed on a lathe. Rebalancing is a must as all vibrations will be transmitted through the crankshaft = excessive bearing stress/wear. DO NOT order autotech flywheels. They sent me 2 mismachined pieces prior to getting the 3rd correct. I personally just ordered a fidanza flywheel.. 6061 T-6 billet aluminum with 1050 modified heat treated steel friction surface and ring gear. NAS aircraft hardware holds the replaceable friction surface on. Weight is 6lbs. The safe weight for a lightened OEM vr f/w is ~11lbs.

 

R

[flusted 0]

I have 1 on 16v.I think it reduces transmission losses so affectivly more bhp at the wheels

[MarkGolf 0]

Hi, sounds good!

Im just getting the OE one lightened and balanced by HiFlowHeads (hiflowheads.co.uk)

How much do these aftermarket ones go for? Must be £250+

[yellowslc 0]

fidanza's are 350USD plus freight.. at 6lbs it really isnt that much.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

Thinking aloud.

 

How can a lightened flywheel alter the power and torque outputs of the engine, or even those available at the wheels? There are (almost) no losses such as friction or drag from turning the flywheel, only inertia which is a measure of the system's capacity to store energy. So, yes, as you are converting that kinetic energy into the potential energy in the flywheel, there must be a reduction in power available to the wheels when accelerating and this is recovered when on the over-run. Reduce the inertia of the flywheel and the effects are reduced. Better acceleration, better engine braking.

 

I had a flywheel come loose once upon a time - it was a bit noisy! Fortunately the gearbox spigot shaft stopped it coming out of the bell-housing and cutting me in half... Moral : get it balanced (in combination with the clutch if possible), use new bolts and do them up to the specified torque.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Rpmayne 0]

One question, why don't VW fit lighter flywheels as standard? I thought the engine breaking effect would be reduced with the reduced load on the engine not slowing it down as quick? And the quicker engine response leading to a less smooth ride when cruising? Just interested really, must be some down points, there usually is a compromise somewhere.

[dr_mat 0]

Lighter flywheels make the car more jerky to drive, and make the engine easy to stall. The VR has pants-all torque at 750rpm anyway, without adding a low-mass flywheel to the mix...

Car manufacturers wouldn't be very sucessful selling cars that are harder to drive and even harder to drive *smoothly*..

[davidwort 0]

Lighter flywheels make the car more jerky to drive, and make the engine easy to stall. The VR has pants-all torque at 750rpm anyway, without adding a low-mass flywheel to the mix...

Car manufacturers wouldn't be very sucessful selling cars that are harder to drive and even harder to drive *smoothly*..

 

I agree, from my experience on 16v's even when quite heavily tuned they are very docile and easy to drive around town, I wouldn't want to compromise the smoothness I've now got on my current lump and have been advised not to lighten the 16v's flywheel, that's not to say that limited lightening would cause much of a problem, but then you wouldn't get much of a gain either. If you constantly drive your car like you're on a track day then you may be able to live with it, bit like wild cams really, you need to be careful you buy what suits your driving style and requirements. If possible try to get a drive of a car with what your planning on doing first.

All that said, I did drive a mk1 GTI for a while, an early 1.6 with an 1850cc conversion and a few other mods, the 1.6 'lighter' flywheel made the 1.6 really revvy and eager compared to the later 1.8's, but then the car only weighed as much as a fag packet :) .

 

David.

[dr_mat 0]

Also bear in mind that a lightened flywheel makes more difference in low gears. You will notice pretty much NO improvement in 5th, for example!!

[Scruffythefirst 0]

Lightening a cast iron flywheel is a recipie for disaster and has killed people. That place sound like a bunch of muppets and I wouldnt trust them as far as i could throw a standard flywheel, balancing a flywheel is pretty much a necesity as if its unbalanced you'll wear no 5 main bearing and the gearbox input shaft main bearing pretty quickly. If you really want a light one, get a proper lightweight steel one and always fit new bolts.....

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I had a flywheel come loose once upon a time - it was a bit noisy! Fortunately the gearbox spigot shaft stopped it coming out of the bell-housing and cutting me in half... Moral : get it balanced (in combination with the clutch if possible), use new bolts and do them up to the specified torque.

 

Was that in a Mini or LHD VW?

 

I have heard a stories of race minis throwing their flywheels at and through the driver :?

[g-dub 0]

if your gonna stick with the standard flywheel ridgewoodracing.co.uk do one for £85 + exchange, lightend and balanced

[yellowslc 0]

if anyone wants a fidanza.. send me a PM. These are SFI approved (US santioning body for drag racing safety).

 

R

[PhatVR6 0]

I run a fidanza 6lb billet FW in mine. it's a fantastically made bit of kit and makes the engine rev up so much faster. it actually makes the car feel lighter.

 

I got stung £375 for mine from Helix, the UK importer. Robert can do a lot better than this.

 

Parts and seller highly recommended, buy with confidence.

[PhatVR6 0]

Lighter flywheels make the car more jerky to drive, and make the engine easy to stall. The VR has pants-all torque at 750rpm anyway, without adding a low-mass flywheel to the mix...

Car manufacturers wouldn't be very sucessful selling cars that are harder to drive and even harder to drive *smoothly*..

 

are you speaking from experience there?

 

I am, and I can tell you for a fact my ins't "jerky" at all...

 

sure, you need ateeny bit more revs to pull away, but that takes all of a day to get used to.

 

and you can't chage gear lazily anymore, or the revs drop off to fast. that's the only time the car will jerk, but that's driver error, not a fault of the flywheel.

[flusted 0]

The flywheel for the 16v corrado is huge and very heavy! I had mine lightened to half its weight and didnt notice any side affects!

[yellowslc 0]

lightweight flywheels help when rev-matching prior to entering corners as the engine is much more responsive.