My Aluminum Flywheel is dead. This flywheel came with the engine. A new aluminum Flywheel is $100 bucks more than steel. Is it worth the money. Will I notice a drop in performance. Is the aluminum less reliable...etc. As always, thanks for the help.
The engine won't rev as quickly with more rotating mass to turn - is that important to you? Most people run steel flywheels and never care. What engine, trans and car are we talking?
More info on the engine... It's a '52 331 Hemi. The tranny is a t-10. The car is a '27 Roadster Pickup. The car accelerated like crazy before with alum. flywheel. Can anyone really quantify the difference in acceleration? If I go to steel will I really notice a difference?
in a heavy car with tall gears the steel will help the bog on launch, in a T I would take the aluminum all day long. If you go with steel e-mail me I know where there is a stack of NOS mopar flywheels I paid 10 bucks for my last one a few years ago I don't know what they're charging now. but they do ship around the world
Sound like your little Hemi puts out a decent amount of torque. In a light car a steel flywheel might not make a noticable difference, at least not enough to matter. The steel flywheel will be more durable. Frank
48 Hemi, You are the man. If I can get a fly wheel for anywhere under $100 bucks, then this question is moot. I'm sending you a PM...Thanks. Viva La HAMBa!
It takes more horsepower to make the steel flywheel with greater mass CHANGE speed than it does the lighter aluminum flywheel with less mass. But that's what the flywheel is for, to resist changes in speed. Think about it this way. If you pick up the front of a light weight bicycle you can spin the wheel fairly easily with your hand. Now jack up the wheel of a car with a big wheel and heavy tire and try to do the same thing. You can do it but it takes a lot more initial force to get it going. Now if you want to stop the bicycle wheel from that spinning you can probably just grab it with your hand and stop it with about the same ease as catching a frisbee. Try that with the car wheel spinning the same speed as the bicycle wheel and it just might pull you over because of the flywheel effect of the flywheel with greater mass resisting changes in speed more than the one with less mass. (I'm saying mass rather than weight because the flywheel works in weightless conditions too. That's how they use gyroscopes to guide missiles, becaue they also resist changes in direction. Physicists call it all acceleration. There is no such thing as deceleration, it's just an acceleration in the opposite direction. "Turning" is just an acceleration from a lateral direction.) So, if you actually RACE the car and like the way the engine CHANGES rpm quickly then stay with an aluminum flywheel, but if you just "style" around town in this car, save your buck$
I understand the physics, but I was just wondering what if someone might have a quantifiable comparison. I would like to see something like with steel flywheel 0-60 time is 5s and with aluminum flywheel and all other things the same 0-60 is 4.5s, or something like that. I was also thinking that I can reduce the rotating mass of the fly wheel from 30 lbs. with steel to som'n like 13 lbs with alum. This seems like a big deal at first, but to be accurate wouldn't I have to take into account the entire rotating mass of the drive line to figure an actual precent reduction in rotating mass. So I would have to figure in mass of crank, pistons, rods, driveshaft, differential, half axles, wheels,tires, and flywheel. Add the wieghts of all that and then divide the 17lbs of weight savings to figure the actuall percent reduction in rotating mass. This might have less of an impact than one might think.
[ QUOTE ] ...So I would have to figure in mass of crank, pistons, rods, driveshaft, differential, half axles, wheels,tires, and flywheel. Add the wieghts of all that and then divide the 17lbs of weight savings to figure the actuall percent reduction in rotating mass. This might have less of an impact than one might think. [/ QUOTE ] Yep, all the above... I think it's only going to effect hundredths of a second at the drag strip.
[ QUOTE ] I think it's only going to effect hundredths of a second at the drag strip. [/ QUOTE ] Well, it sounds like it ain't worth the money, 'cause I'm going finish the 1/4 mile about a second ahead of Crease. Thanks.
The car will just feel a little more lively and nervous with a lighter flywheel. I have a aluminum flywheel in my Roadster, and I like it. You need a little more revs and slip the clutch a little more to get going from a stop. Since I got the Blower working ( changed cams for that too ) it feels like it has a heavyer flywheel in it, can somebody explain that one to me? Is it the rotating mass of the blower or is that just how blown engines are?
One thing you CAN do to that steel flywheel...... Chuck it up in a lathe(even a rotor lathe will work) and whack some weight off the back side of it. It won't be as light as your aluminum unit is,but if you can knock 6-8 lbs off,it WILL make a difference. Just something to think about......
I just got an email from a new friend I made at the Round-up and he mentioned that he was able to cut his flywheels down to about 20 lbs. So, I'm looking for a steel flywheel and he says a flywheel from the old chrysler flathead 6 will work, too. I hope 48 Hemis supplier still has them for sale.
The old flat 6's and hemis can bolt up to the same trannies, so it makes sense that the flywheels should swap also...
[ QUOTE ] just got an email from a new friend I made at the Round-up [/ QUOTE ] you made a new friend?
Yep, the lastest Baron, Andy, was the source of the info. He's a lurker but he doesn't have a handle. If he was a good friend I would have had to talk some shit about him, but I'm going to let him get to know me first. Barnett...I'll call you when I have paint and interior decorating questions. Now, get back to huffin..er...painting or your eye might start to shrivel .
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