Is It Bad To Get An Aluminum Flywheel?

**preston1980** · 12-27-2005, 06:02 PM

Just wondering if anyone has any opinion on aluminum flywheels?
Good or bad? Some think lighter= better!!?

Also should i go with the lightwheight pressure plate on my spec 3+ clutch setup?

or is that too much light weight stuff, aluminum flywheel and lighweight pressure plate?

**ibanez7** · 12-27-2005, 11:30 PM

if your racing strip and street, drag style, stay with a steel flywheel

if you circuit track racing then go aluminum!

**preston1980** · 12-28-2005, 01:06 PM

why is that? ive heard that before, but dont understand it.

i only steet race or go to the track to due quarter mile times.

also, what due you think about mixing lightweight pressure plate with aluminum flywheel?

**1Bad F N Z** · 12-30-2005, 04:29 PM

I run the McLeod twin disc clutch in my car, with the steel flywheel. But after the races in fontana in January, I'm going to pull the tranny and clutch and have the tranny freshen up. 120,000 miles on the original tranny, and hundreds of nitrous launches with slicks down the quaarter mile.
Popular hotrodding just had an article about using the aluminum flywheel aganist the steel flywheel on a high ten's Mustang. According to the article they pick up I believe a half a second. Since I use my car on the track so much, any time I can pickup a half a second and not have to increase my horse power level it sounds good to me.
I used to have a Toyota landcruiser, and it had a aluminum flywheel in it. That sucker would really rev. Great for the sand. As I got into rock crawling I went with a steel flywheel to help the low end torque. It would'nt rev as high or quick, but the steel helped crawling at low speeds.

**preston1980** · 01-01-2006, 12:08 AM

so are you saying that aluminum is better in sports cars, but not 4wd stuff?

also, Why is a lighter flywheel harder to launch? is it because of the quick revs make the tires spin and not hook up? if this is the case, how come lower gears help people launch better (ive heard) and lower quarter mile times?

in that case, adding 100 horse power would also make my car harder to launch, but isnt that the point, to get more power to the ground?

**1Bad F N Z** · 01-01-2006, 09:24 AM

In the article by popular hotrodding, they had to raise their launch rpm's with the aluminum flywheel to get the car to leave the start about an additional 500 rpm's. I would reccomend that you get the magazine, or go to w. popularhotrodding to read the article.
The third law of motion states ( every object in a uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion, unless an external force is applied to it.) It means that it takes X amount of power to move an heavier object, an less power to move a lighter object.So if we have a heavy flywheel, more power or torque is used to get it turning, but once it is turning the weight of the flywheel has the tendencie to want to continue turning on its own. I understand the logics, but I don't believe I can properly explain it here. Were getting into physic here.

**hammertime** · 01-02-2006, 06:13 PM

An aluminum flywheel has less inertia than a steel one, so when you drop the clutch, it imparts less energy to the clutch disk. This means to get the same amount o energy, you have to rev higher (read: spin the flywheel faster) to get the same launch.

After the launch, the lighter flywheel accelerates faster, so if you can get it out of the hole ok, it will be faster.

9sec302 · 01-25-2006, 11:29 AM

Just be very very careful on powershifting/speedshifting that car with an aluminum flywheel. You miss a gear and them RPMs will climb a lot faster than a steel flywheel. If you're going to use this as a daily driver, dont go with an aluminum flywheel, stick with the steel one.

**gnomee** · 01-25-2006, 02:40 PM

I went with an aluminum flywheel and spec stage I clutch in my daily driver and I have no problems at all.

**blazinws6kush** · 01-25-2006, 03:50 PM

I have a spec 3 on a Fidanza aluminum flywheel as a daily driver with over 30,000 miles. I think the engine gets in its powerband quicker, faster acceleration too!

**1Bad F N Z** · 01-30-2006, 04:22 AM

Just put the McLeod aluminum twin disc flywheel in my car this week, and man what a difference. The clutch is really smooth, and the pedal pressure is soft. Stock tires can't even begin to hold, and that is on a roll and just stepping into it. The car revs so much quicker now, so as soon as I get some break in miles on it, I'm, going to see how much difference at the track. Weighing on the bath room scales, the steel twin disc complete weighed around 65 lb's. The aluminum weighed in around 38 lb's. Big difference. Oh really some nice people at McLeod to do business with. Kevin

**Mr. CarelessAndImprudent** · 01-31-2006, 04:35 PM

You have enough torque, so you won't need the extra inertia provided by the steel flywheel. The aluminum flywheel will let you rev up to your powerband quicker, but it'll drop lower in the rpms quicker when you shift. I'd go for it, but if you don't make sure you check your flywheel to see if it needs to be resurfaced when you have your clutch out.