I am looking intoall areas of performance tuning and i just want to know how easy it is to install a new flywheel,
the benefits of lightened flywheels and how they perform with a boosted B16.

And what are popular brands and how much am i looking at.

Thank you

 

They are pretty easy to install with average knowledge but it is more time consuming than anything.

 

the install isn't that difficult, but its a pain in the *** and time consuming. A lightened flywheel really just makes ther car more responsive to throttle input. I have a clutch master's 7 lb in my car, and I'm happy with it. Fidanza makes a good one too.

 

there are good brands out there, just do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY from a lightened stock flywheel. they arent sfi approved and have been known to come apart. i had a Clutch Masters in my car for 2 years no issues. i have used fidanzas in customer cars no problems. the RPS segmented is a good idea as well. a little pricey but a good piece nontheless.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by unrefined7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">there's misconception of the lightweight fly. IMO, quicker acceleration is always a . </TD></TR></TABLE>

quicker acceleration is a misconception of the lightened flywheel. You will not be any faster in a straight line with one.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by unrefined7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it's hard as fudge to get used to though. i can balance my car on hills now. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You mean, feathering the clutch/gas to stay up on a hill? Just trying to get a better idea daily-drivability.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IHateJDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

quicker acceleration is a misconception of the lightened flywheel. You will not be any faster in a straight line with one. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i'm only limited to 5 post, please explain.

 

i heard that if you are pushin quite a bit of a power and your running a lightened flywheel... it can give you traction problems, thats what i heard somewhere... and if it doesnt make you any faster what gd is it?

 

a lighter flywheel just decreases the amount of mass the crank has to spin. The engine will rev up and down faster while not in gear (your rpm's drop farther between shifts). The decreased mass also decreases your engine's momentum, meaning it'll be harder not to stall in stop and go traffic since the engines rpms will drop faster when you let out on the clutch (you get used to it though). As far as traction problems go, it'll make it easy to modulate the pedal to get traction when you launch. If anything, a heavier flywheel would cause more traction problems, especially when shifting between gears and not launching in 1st.

Its doesn't make your car any faster because you motor is still putting out the same power regardless of the flywheel weight, a lightened flywheel just requires less energy to spin (or stop spinning), so the motor feels like it has more power.

 

I've been running an 8lb. Aasco motorsports aluminum flywheel and its great.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IHateJDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its doesn't make your car any faster because you motor is still putting out the same power regardless of the flywheel weight, a lightened flywheel just requires less energy to spin (or stop spinning), so the motor feels like it has more power.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It doesn't make more power at the crank, but wouldn't it transfer a little more to the wheels since it's less weight for the engine to spin?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimmyAtlantis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

It doesn't make more power at the crank, but wouldn't it transfer a little more to the wheels since it's less weight for the engine to spin?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, you get a little more to the wheels, but its a small difference. Think about how much weight is in (or attached to) your drivetrane, wheels, tires, axles, brake rotors, halfshaft, tranny internals... 7-8 lbs doesn't have a large effect when you compare it to the weight of everything else the motor turns too. I've never seen anyone drop time in the 1/4 by installing a lighter flywheel either. Its effects are most noticable when in neutral, or changing gears (especially launching).

 

THATS GREAT INFO!! thanks everyone...

So its defintiely worth getting one, and how much do you think i will be looking at tops.

Also is it always "the lighter the better" or is there an ideal weight?

 

here's something i googled:

Suppose you had a magic flywheel with all the mass concentrated at the outer edge. Now the flywheel is stuck directly to the engine, so you can't reduce its effective moment via gearing. The only way you can reduce the moment is by lightening it and/or changing its mass distribution. If you could somehow remove 10 lbs from the rim of the flywheel, and the flywheel's radius was also one foot, then that would have the same effect on acceleration in first gear as reducing the mass of the car by 10x13.57 or 135.7 pounds. Now I am guessing the flywheel's radius is more like six to eight inches or so, so 10 pounds off it's outer edge would have the same effect as reducing the car's mass by more like 70-100 pounds (in first gear). Only you can't take that much weight off the edge, and moments of disks look more like 1/2mr^2, etc. etc. Point is that in first gear, the mass of your car appears to be only 20-30 times that of 10 pounds out at the edge of your flywheel, as far as the engine can tell. So the reduction of weight of the flywheel begins to be pretty significant. Expect bigtime effective acceleration improvements in first gear for proper flywheel lightening, similar to what you'd expect from reducing the weight of the car by anywhere from 70 to 100 lbs or more. The benefits decrease in higher gears in proportion to whatever the ratio is.

Obviously, the lighter your car is to begin with, the bigger an acceleration improvement you'll see since the flywheel mass represents a larger portion of the perceived mass of the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IHateJDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah, you get a little more to the wheels, but its a small difference. Think about how much weight is in (or attached to) your drivetrane, wheels, tires, axles, brake rotors, halfshaft, tranny internals... 7-8 lbs doesn't have a large effect when you compare it to the weight of everything else the motor turns too. I've never seen anyone drop time in the 1/4 by installing a lighter flywheel either. Its effects are most noticable when in neutral, or changing gears (especially launching). </TD></TR></TABLE>

All I know is I just did mine Monday and my car goes REALLY FAST in reverse. So fast that I now just get the car moving and stick it back in neutral. Launching and shifting are something to get used to, but I'm working on it.

 

Reciprocating weight reduction is the most important weight reduction. A lightened flywheel, conrods, pistons, wheels and tires will make a HUGE difference in acceleration and braking characteristics.

And yes, you can free up quite a bit of power by going from the stock flywheel to a 7 or 8 pound unit. The less rotating mass the engine has to move, the more of the engine's power makes it to the wheels. More power at the wheels and less parasitic inertia in the reciprocating mass of the engine = more speed.

 

hmmm i think i want one now... so what are your reccomendations on different makes?

Thanks for googleing that bit of info, its quite interesting

 

i have a Fidanza 7.5lb flywheel for b16 hatch and i love it, and its my daily driver