Technical Insert for Weber aluminum flywheel?

I should actually take a good close look, but I think its cast. I thought all the weber ones were cast?

 

Bruce, I washed it up, took a couple better photos, and sent you a pm. In the meantime, I will check some of the Hot Rod "Whats New" columns from the late fifties and see if I can find any reference to weber forged flywheels.

 

Try to get a Schiefer alum clutch & flywheel, as they were sprayed with a bronze type of coating and looked like hell after a few runs but worked great

Ran the same set up in my gasser for 4 yrs and never a problem

DND

 

You can get almost anything water jet to size that will work.

I made a steel insert for a billet aluminum flathead Ford flywheel.

 

I decided to give it a good cleaning and really appraise what I have here. I think this is forged, Bruce concurs...


Matt, did you waterjet the insert yourself, or get it done by someone on the island?

 

Could be a casting, will take some up close and personal examination to tell for sure George, so send it to me and I'll check it out real close!

 

Hell, I have a scattershield, I'll just put it in there, wind it till the valves float and drop the clutch, should figure it out pretty quick...
Seriously, I am going to do a little research, but I am not convinced this is a casting.

 

As I said above the Ansens and Wedges were cast steel. In 63 at Lions drag strip you could not use aluminum or cast iron bellhousings, too many hi rev blow-ups I guess, so I bought an Ansen to run my 4 speed 62 Chevy II with a Rochester injected 283. I don't know if the checked every car but mine was always checked. AHRA Fomula 4, B/ Hot Rod. I still have some trophies from running that class. Since ChevyII's didn't have V8's yet I used a 55-57 bell so I could have something for the clutch bell shaft to bolt on to. Good luck on finding the bottom half. I see one occaisionally at the Long Beach Hi-Performance Swap Meet.

 

I heard from someone that was there that there was a bottom at Monroe last May, I am hoping it will still be there tomorrow.

 

Looks forged to me....

 

It does to me too, but I am not 100% certain. If it is cast, its one of the nicest, cleanest, densest looking castings I have seen.

 

If that's cast, I would have to say it's die-cast and there's no 'circles' from the vents/fill points you would expect to see. The back looks very similar to the Schiefer forged aluminum flywheel I had on a FE....

 

Bleed has an Ansen bottom on the "parts for sale", $500, free shipping and it comes with the top half!
A certain HAMBER who lives close by also has an Ansen top and bottom plus the bottom bolts that has the script ANSEN on the heads. As luck would have it he is missing one original bolt! Must drive him nuts!

 

Don't like to hi-jack a thread but I sold an Ansen bell (not the tri-Chevy style) with the bottom and Ansen bolts for $250 last Saturday at the Iron Invasion. Might have brought more but I'm not starting a museum, I'd rather sell off stuff I'll never use. Petersen's Basic Clutches and Transmissions, No.2, 1971 states that Weber made cast steel, forged steel and forged aluminum flywheels. There are photos of the steel 'wheels but not the aluminum.

 

By the look of it I would say it had loosened up in the past. Bad deal. Do not use star washers, make sure you use grade 8 SHOULDER cap screws with thin hardened washers. If they are loose fitting in the flywheel tap out your crankshaft threads to 1/2" fine and use Pontiac cap screws they have nice shoulder, balence everything as close as possible and use an ATI Super Damper balencer. You do not want it to get loose, I've even added up to 3 dowels on every aluminum flywheel I've ever used...once again Good Luck.

 

I think the clock idea would be cool.

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing, you can see the marks on the mating flange where it's been "working" against the back of the crank.
I hope talking about this flywheel isn't "too traditional"

 

That is a forged flywheel. Spot face the bolt holes lightly and use the dowel pin.

 

The block side sure would make a nice clock.
But I guess if you do use it and have concerns use a stick on the load pedal and move your feet back.

 

Thought some might be interested in this follow-up...
1960 Weber ad...


and 1964...


So somewhere between '60 and '64 they changed from "pressure cast" to forged. I will see if I can narrow that down for future reference.

 

Now, which one do you have?

 

Spotfacing the bolt holes is good. I would definitely clean up that surface front and back. I'd be comfortable with a front washer to cover all six holes and increasing to 1/2-20 in the crank holes and good fitting clearance holes in the flywheel. The clamp force between the flanges is what's supposed to keep it in place.
The balancing drilling on the back is odd to me. Too many holes, why would they be in a pattern to divide sort of in thirds?
I agree with Jimmy six that a good front damper will go a long way to prevent vibrations that might tend to loosen things up.

Use a brass insert for the clock application!!! That would look great.

Down here the Ansen bells I see are $650 asking price for the 2 pieces.

Frank

 

Those "circles" on die cast parts are not from the fill points or vents, those are from the ends of the ejector pins.
- EM

 

Since more folks are responding I'll throw this in too. If you make any "depth" changes between the mounting surface and the clutch disc surface you MUST check the gap between the heads of your bolts and the springs in the disc. This has bit me many times because I went to thicker heads on the bolt with flat washes under them. It is one of the many reasons I quit using aluminum flywheels. Since most use is on a race track I've used only solid center discs, but this not advised for street use. Good luck.

 

I ran into a similar issue with an aluminum flywheel behind my Buick motor, although mine had no accommodations for an insert at all. Even with a new clutch and pressure plate it would slip on the highway.

I sent it to Mcleod Clutch in California and they machined it and put in a new insert. Been on the road driving happily since. I'd send yours to them.

 

I see zero point in running a steel flywheel in any car with HAMB friendly tires and a rear gear steeper than 3.73. I will be using a disc with a sprung hub and marcel, probably with a good aftermarket diaphragm pressure plate. Its a street car, it might make a pass or two, but it wont really see much in the way of track time. I will check the bolt hole fit with std. chevy flywheel bolts (The holes do not look wallowed AT ALL) and probably drill and safety wire.

 

Thanks, I will check with Mcleod, I have excellent experiences with their products in the past.

 

I am pretty comfortable at this point that its forged, it looks identical to the flywheel in the second ad. I plan to put a new insert in it and run it.

 

FYI the price they charged me for the work they did was way beyond reasonable, I couldn't believe it was so cheap.

 

thanks! That's good to know! I am going to email them a couple pics tomorrow and see what they say.