I was reading the tech specs for the 2002 JDM Integra Type-R and found out that it comes from the factory with a lightweight....ready for this....CHROMOLY flyweel.

HONDA Motor Co. chose to use chromoly steel for their production flywheel over aluminum. What does that tell ya all? tells me what I've known from day one: chromoly flywheels are more durable than aluminum. No wonder top Japanese tuners like TODA, Spoon, etc use chromoly. Even the Germans like Alipna, RUF, etc use chromoly.

Everyone preaches aluminum flywheels and gives different technical explanations, but HONDA with their huge engineering budget and engineering talent goes for chromoly.

2002 ITR factory flywheel (chromoly)





[Modified by Blade, 3:27 PM 7/11/2001]

 

nice!

 

I hate to say I told you so, but, well, I told you so.

 

Who preaches aluminum? You want a flywheel to be durable and if it's light, so much the better. I'll take my rotating aluminum in the forged rubber wearing variety, please.

 

Wonder what the aluminum disciples will preach now?


Jason

 

it's also forged

 

i dont really have a strong opinion either way....but why dont yall just agree there is more than one way to skin a cat.,...

hmmm, how many ways ARE there to skin a cat?!?!

 

4,620 to be precise. EV.

 

If you want a durable one, don't bother upgrading your flywheel and keep the STOCK one.

 

I bet it weights more then 6.75lbs

 

stock didnt seem to be to reliable for me...

 

are aftermarket flywheels usually one peice or multiple pieces?

 

depends, Fidanaza/Clutch Masters which is a aluminium is a 2 or 3 piece design (since it uses the teeth off a stock flywheel)


cromoly is always a 1 piece design....


Clutchmasters (3piece)



[Modified by eg6ajk, 6:20 AM 7/12/2001]

 

Weres import review to tell me My JUN isnt reliable. I drag every weekend and have dropped the tranny for clutch inspection have not found any stress cracks yet.

 

Import review is run by the Atomic Performance people right? the same people that posted all that garbage between Endyn and themselves over the net?

I have a very low opinion of them and noticed they pimp whatever company is cool to them, but if the company doesn't treat them well, they make it their mission to discredit them. Ever notice why they always put down the TODA cams? because when they contacted TODA for some free cams, they wouldn't give it to them. Soon after that it became their mission to post bull **** TODA cam dyno runs. I have this from a very good source that's close friends with one of the Atomic guys.

 

I do not share the same views on aluminum being bad... aluminum is bad when it isn't put together/engineered properly.

If someone takes the time to use say a chromoly surface and correct fact pinions on an aluminum base, there is not a single reason as to why it shouldn't work. Problems arise when people who THINK they know what they are doing, really don't. Things get messy, and a whole bunch of erroneous info gets spread around.

Honda has most likely gone to chromoly (over aluminum) for 2 reasons: 1, strength, no denying that, and 2, cost. It is considerably cheaper to produce one single component rather than 3 and then have to put the whole works together and balance it.

Just a little insight into alumininum as a serious load bearing flywheel: I know a guy in town who builds particularly fast Porsche's. One of his more recent creations is a 780bhp Twin Turbo. Guess what? It has an aluminum 3 piece flywheel. Guess what else? It is extremely reliable and the car is used as a daily driver. Hmmm.

Don't believe everything people say about something. Good design, engineering and implementation is what you are looking for here.

 

Lets look at material costs, chromoly is MORE expensive compared to the aluminum aftermarket compaines use to make flywheels. This is a fact.

Now lets look at manufaturing. A chromoly flywheel will need to go through 2 or 3 CNC work stations before it's done. Because it's a harder material, it's harder on the CNC bits and wares them out faster. Aluminum is easier on the CNC bits. Simple example: You can use the same bits to make 100 chromo flywheels, but the same bits can make 400 aluminum. That means per unit aluminum flywheels have a lower production cost. Why do you think the aluminum ones are cheaper by around $100 compared to the chromoly ones?


Well, I know of this one guy in Germany who's been buidling 200mph Porsches for the past 20 years. He sells complete cars and has a great reputation for solid engineering. He uses chromoly flywheels in all his cars. His company is called RUF, you might've heard of him.

 

WHY CAN 'T ALL OF YOU AGREE TO DISAGREE. This argument will go one forever. I have no real opinion on this matter to be honest with, I've got an ACT clutch and ACT aluminum flywheel, and have had NO troubles at all. If someone I know were to ask me to try the chromoly I probly would just to see if it made a diff. either way doesn't matter to me, I like it the way it is....

 

This applies to everything, not just flywheels...LOL!!!!!

 

Who gives a ****? A lightweight flywheel is a lightweight flywheel.
I don't know anyone who broke one, chromoly OR aluminum!
If you need peace of mind knowing it is "made by a good reputable JDM company" or if it is "stronger and less likely to break", then spend the extra $100.00. It's your money.

Same thing w/ McDonalds and Burger King. Same ****.
Some people like Big Mac better than Whopper.
But McDonalds gives you the ***** after an hour.
It's all the same ****.

For the record, I have owned both JUN and Comptech flywheels.
I like the Comptech one better because it is lighter. Thats all.

 

Good info!

 

Blade,

paying a diligent Japanese worker to produce three pieces of metal, and put them together is more expensive than paying the same person to do only one thing. Most people will advise you that using an aluminum only flywheel is a recipe for failure. Aluminum is soft, so it requires a different friction surface, I.E. Steel. The same is said for the pinion; the starter would eat the pinion in a very short time, due to its bendix being so much harder than the aluminum it is mating with. So now you have three components for a RELIABLE street car. Somone still has to put them together and balance them. So in the end, although chromoly is more expensive in base form, it will cost more to produce the like piece in aluminum.

Carbide bits are harder than chromoly; this is why they use harder bits in order to machine softer materials. True, the wear factor may be higher, but on a mass production level, the cost spread of say 200US/bit over 300 pieces is nothing; a couple of dollars on the bottom line.

Labour is what is expensive in Japan, not bits.

Yeah, I have heard of RUF. In fact, my father has a bunch of his components on his Turbo.

The point was not that other people (tuners) use or do not use chromoly, the point was that a well engineered and designed aluminum piece can (and will) perform just as well, and in some cases, better.

 

I'm willing to bet that Honda modified the gear on the starter to compensate for the increase in hardness of the flywheel. Hence no toothing problems like previously.

Dave

 

let's stir the pot:

1. can you resurface chromoly flywheels when a new clutch is needed?

2. do you want a light flywheel for drag racing, especially a standing start launch? how light is this flywheel in the JDM RSX -R anyway?

3. how many Jun owners does it take to admit they have starter teeth problems?

4. we covered this debate over at SHO (no snide remarks please) on the tech archive and got the major manufacturers of flywheels to put in their 2 cents as to why one material is better than the other and I like Mike Bibinoff's (Comptech...who sell an aluminum flywheel but have used chromoly in road racing) reply: like 2fknfst said, if it's engineered and built properly there's not much separating these.

Tastes Great!! Less Filling!!!