Technical 153 vs 168 tooth flywheel performance potential

deto,
if we were honest we would probably all say the same thing, we run what we can get our hands on unless there is some rule that says we have to run something more expensive.

I have been known to run an aluminum stock bell behind a pretty hot engine. I have even run an aluminum bell and flywheel behind a mill that makes way more then most of the readers run on the track. I am lucky to still own all my toes, I'll admit that right here in front of gawd and everyone. But that is life some of us are just born lucky.

Oh and in answer to your question a 50+ year old ansen will not save your feet any more then a stock bell. No one but a fool trusts their life to antique safety equipment.

 

Pay now [for a good bell] or pay later...Just get a new one and be done with it...If some one pisses at you for it not being period correct tell them to kiss off...

 

Ok guys. I got my answer. Looks like it's a Lakewood bell for me. Now if I paint it to match the engine and take it to the track am I going to fail tech?

 

Lakewood will probably give you the SFI # for it, keep it with all your safety info when you go to tech so they don't even have to ask.

 

Usually goes like this:

Multiple clutch burning drag racing starts causes flywheel to overheat, severely and repeatedly

Overheating causes flywheel to turn blue and crack. The friction surface gets covered by a spiderweb of cracks.

More abuse and metal fatigue eventually causes the cracks to spread

Under severe stress of centrifugal force at 7000RPM the flywheel explodes like a grenade.

As you can see, this is a definite possibility in a drag car after 100+ full throttle clutch burning starts. But practically impossible on a street driven car in normal driving.

But, this is the reason for discarding a flywheel at the first sign of bluing or cracking, and the reason for ****ter shields and flak blankets.

 

Back in the mid 70's I had a 68 Camaro SS396/375 HP with a Muncie 4 speed with 12 bolt rear with 4:10 gears. The car was running but thrashed hard it's whole life, 108,000 Miles on it. Only paid $600 dollars for it. I worked at Honest Charley auto parts in Decatur GA. I rebuilt the engine (Atlanta Speed Shop machine shop in back of the store.) Polished crank and was able to use standard size crank and rod bearings. The stock 11:1 forged pistons were a .oo2 below spec. but was low on cash and used them with some double moly rings. Used a L88 cam and valve springs. The heads got a 3 angle valve job. It had the factory high rise aluminum intake. The previous owner had installed a Holley 850 double pumper, 2&1/8"****** headers and a Lakewood ****ersheild. It had a 40 or 45 pound Hayes steel flywheel (168) tooth. I was getting all my information from the How to Hotrod Big Block Chevys book by Bill Fisher & Bob Waar. The main mantra of the book was to use the factory hi po parts. So I ended up using the L-88 153 tooth flywheel with GM 10&1/2 clutch and pressure plate. This is the same set up that the L-88 427 Corvettes came with. Bought them from Doug Macurdy Chevrolet parts department for a little over $100 dollars! The L-88 flywheel only weighed 15 pounds. When I got put back together it ran like a scalded dog! The throttle response was awesome with the flywheel. It launched harder. revved quicker and spun the tire less on gear changes vs the 4o pound Hayes flywheel. The clutch was like new a year later when I sold the car.

 

It's the quality of the clutch materials/design and the clamping force of the pressure plate that determine how much stress a clutch can take. A quality 10" clutch/pressure plate will handle more hp than a junk 12".

 

Unless your building a 10 second car they are not going to be looking for a ****ter shield at most tracks. But no they are not looking at color, a good tech knows what he is looking at.