Hot Rods Experience running aluminum flywheels on the street?

As a comment: an A/Fuel car (circa 2002) leaves the line at idle say 2000 rpm with a 70 pound clutch combo! Go figure...

 

******, How does it defeat the purpose of using a lighter flywheel ?
You have to use a pressure plate anyway.......

 

Rocky...Just make sure that the "long " style pressure plate ,that you will require, has fingers to be used with 1 1/8 TO Brg that your Muncie uses

 

Weight. Lighten the fly well then ad a heavy clutch kind of defeats the purpose.

I am just saying what the old timers told me when I was young. Always made sense to me and unless you are pulling trailers or have one hell for stout mill and don't want to go modern on your clutch the 12" is kind of overkill.

The aluminum wheel I had in my '55 had holes for a 9.5 and an 11" clutch I ran a 9.5 in a car that I raced all the time, including when I was driving it 27 miles to the track and back home again.

Now there is a trade off here that perhaps I am not mentioning, with the aluminum wheel you are still saving weight and maybe can afford the heavier clutch, and with a 12" clutch you can run lighter springs and it should be easier on the leg. So I am being a little extreme, and there is advantage in another direction that I am not using for my theory.

 

My 'very general' recommendations for wheel weights is based on curb weight; about 1 lb of wheel for 100 lb of curb weight. Additional factors must include the available engine torque; Big torque allows for lighter wheels and small torque needs a bit more wheel to keep things moving. Yes, there are practical limits at each end.
If the wheel is too light or the gear too tall then you will be slipping the clutch. Not so good for the bronze liner and the reason it is replaceable.

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72RR
The steel liner in my first aluminum wheel was replicable. My later wheels were not. I guess someone must have figured out that by the time you wore the face out it was time to get a new wheel.

 

Aluminum Wheels were popular in the 60s because of lack of traction.

 

Running a aluminum flywheel in my coupe,made a few changes since I first put it in but it's street friendly for the most part. 425 nailhead stroked to 453 10.3 scr solid lifter. 6 97 s vertex mag.
Dn5 speed 3.60 first gear 5th 1:1 olds rear 3:47 gear 31in tire.
Had a old shieffer. Alum 3 finger pressure plate with a bronze face. It was north of 2000 lbs force.
The motor makes 475 pounds foot of torque at 3700, so I thing it just grunts through anything.
Roasted the rag disc in a month,the car hooks well I have to say. So a talk with jack merkel one day and he said he ran into a problem with one of his cars in the 60s. The big pressure pressure plates were actually causing the flywheel to bend like a bowl when the clutch was applied,Not allowing the disc to completly contact the flywheel.
Whether or not that was my issue,when I refaced the flywheel it was out of whack quite a bit for the little use I had on it.
I bought a multi disc McLeod rxt ceramic. It uses a diaphragm pressure plate and requires half the pressure.
Releases super clean and crisp
So far so good.most of the time on the street I start off in 2nd out of pure laziness but no ill effects.

 

Every one these cars has an aluminum wheel.... Yes even my dads 49 Olds ..In fact he's got the lightest at 12 lbs..... 15 in my own car.... 14-15 in the y-block and a 14 in the nailhead..... And they all drive just fine.... If your Saying you can't drive one on the street..., ********.... I'll take s light rotating ***emble anytime....they drive nice.... Engine is quick and the car doesn't have that "lazy" feeling ....if yours won't drive right,either your induction or engine combo is screwed up... Gearing is way wrong... Or dare I say it.... Maybe an automatic is a better fit for your capabilities

As far as drag cars .... Even a 283 in a 4000 lb super stock car ....I've a customer that's gone from 15 to 38 lb wheels ..... He's going faster with the 15 lb wheel

 

^^^^^^^ What he said!^^^^^^^

 

powerglide!!!!

 

Exactly!

 

don't forget a poncho has heavy internals unless you had it lightened , and a aluminum wheel on one does make it a little more peppy on a throttle blip it really doesn't help it off the line unless its a light car ( under 3000) and your going to have to have high numerical gears to help as it will take away from the torque curve at the lower end . and with some cams you have to increase the idle speed as it takes away from the momentum .

and aluminum or steel when the rotational m*** comes apart its destructive and packs alot of energy . so unless your using a newer SFI certed flywheel and ****ter sheild it don't make a difference , and if your flywheels quality is in question have it magged or PT'd ( aluminum ) and x rayed and always use a current ****ter sheild ( oem Aluminum/iron bellhousings are shrapnal makers ) . and if the SFi sticker is more than several years old and the wheel saw race duty it needs to be done anyways as that sticker is only that a sticker and it proves the inspection when it was made its not a guarantee . on the street I use a magged OEM iron wheel or lately have had to buy a SFI steel wheels as Oem irons are getting hard to find .

 

Stimpy...........part of the reason for using the new Schiefer flywheel is because I've never found a ****ter shield for this ancient Pontiac engine with it's weird bell housing bolt pattern. I just got lucky finding an iron bell housing. They're hard to find.........I believe using the new aluminum flywheel is a lot safer than using the old resurfaced [and balanced] original Pontiac ambulance steel flywheel.
Since I haven't bought a clutch for either flywheel yet, I believe I'll go with the aluminum flywheel after weighing all the responses here.....now I get to go shopping for a clutch.
Thanks, guys...I appreciate the responses .

 

if you use either one I would have them checked for hairline cracks before putting it to use . unless the aluminum one is not less than 20 years old I would say use it out of the box , but prior to that they are kind of iffy at best . as for for a SFI bell housing quick time made some odd ball stuff , I do not know if they still do because they were bought by Mr gasket corp and rolled into the lakewood family , there housings were the easiest to fit as they were spun steel with weldments .

 

LOL I can't believe you said that. Well I can because I would have but I can't believe you said that.

 

In years past it was not uncommon to make a steel 'cover' for the top half of the bell that would, hopefully, force all of the debris out the bottom and save some feet. We use used 5/16 steel plate and bent/rolled to get it somewhat close. I recall some folks using strips of flat bar as it was easier to work in the shop. Joints and seams were all welded.
Certainly not as neat and tidy as a bell but better than nothing.

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Like a ****ter shield for an automajic, correct? That is certainly doable although in a car that didn't have a hump from the factory it would take up a little more leg room I suppose.

 

What the hell is that 283 in? An Edsel stationwagon? LOL Lippy

 

Yup, similar in fashion. And it will take up a lot of space that some floors just don't have.
Plenty of trade-offs in this 'sport'...

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What?? Do I always have to be "politically" correct and careful of what I say?

 

66 impala. SS/O

Sorry I lied 3950 lb 11:30's 117 mph

4gc carb
Iron heads
10 to 1

 

We could just build better floors. LOL

One of us should, ah hell let's leave it to the wannabes and keep being ourselves.

 

Don't know what Pontiac this is for, it could be the shield you need.
https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pts/5041871811.html

 

If you read a lot of ****** posts something rubs off, or in, or out...Well something happens...The build better floors for instance; first ya think smart *** but then in retro it would help some?

 

Aluminum flywheels work GR8 in lightweight cars,3,000 pounds or less.All of my hi-po flatmotors(big bore,big stroke) have benefitted from a light flywheel and have run a light flywheel in 8 different flathead powered early Ford vehicles.I prefer a br*** or bronze center for the clutch disc to ride on versus an all aluminum flywheel.I also have run nothing but Chevy Muncie 4 spds or later GM 5 speeds(for over 40 years) because I like to "grab a gear and run them hard" and not have to worry about Henry 3 spd coming apart at the seams(usually 2nd gear or cluster gear or both)

 

Thanks, Mark...that's the plan.

 

Been running a steel faced aluminum Weber flywheel in the 31 Pontiac since I got her together. If you are making enough power, it'll work great and you'll enjoy how fast it raps up.