jeremym

iTrader: (3)

Is a alum flywheel good for the track? If not why? What are the pros and cons between the two? I just got a mcloed twin disk with there steel flywheel installed. My stock fw weighed 22-23lbs and the mcloed weighed 25lbs. Is that a big diff and will I notice it on the street and my times on the track? Should I get a alum fw over my steel fw? I will be putting fi set up on the car if that matters. (800rwhp+) Thanks for any info

jeremym

iTrader: (3)

Anyone????????????????????????

SPEC-01

iTrader: (2)

The flywheel that we would recommend is dependent on the situation/usage of the car. Though this could be turned into a much longer post I wanted to make this as concise and simple as possible in hopes of helping others with similar questions.

The primary difference between a Steel and Aluminum Flywheel is weight and thus inertia. Inertia effects the way that power is transmitted from the motor through the transmission to the wheels. A heavier flywheel is great for cars that bog off the line (due to tire or gear choice). An Aluminum flywheel is great for folks that are overpowering their tires and need something to dampen the "hit" of power thus allowing better traction to be attained. Lighter flywheels will also be better in applications where high-RPM is used for the majority of the run and in situations where reduced unsprung weight is of the highest priority (i.e. in road racing). How does you car respond in the situations that you use it? Let me know and I will be happy to provide more info. Thanks!

Jeff@TotalPerformanceEng

iTrader: (6)

Simple answer:

Aluminum= Roadrace

Steel= Dragrace

Doc

iTrader: (9)

We have one in one of our shop cars (yellowbird1232). It has been in there for 2 or 3 years with over 150 passes. He launches at 5600rpm on the bottle and the clutch has not had a problem. You are already 3 lbs heavier than the stock unit. The car has gone 10.98 with a 1.6 or 1.7 60ft. I do not believe that it has hurt the performance being aluminium. He daily drives it without a problem also, MS4+4.10's.

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

Exactly, there are EXCEPTIONS to this guideline BUT for the most part with m6 cars, they either....

A) Weigh too much and the owner isnt going to lighten it much more

B) Doesnt run enough gear

Either way this creates the BOG/SPIN situation that eventually aggrivates the **** out of most people.

Jeff@TotalPerformanceEng

iTrader: (6)

To go a little more in depth in rerards to your question. Although there IS a point where you can have TO MUCH drivetrain shock during 1/4 mile racing, the purpose of a steel flywheel in dragracing applications is to allow the inertia of the rotating mass to get you going without bogging at the line. You want the flywheel to push through the clutch just enough to control the launch.
In an aluminum flywheel application during 1/4 mile racing, the racer doesnt have as much of an inertia advantage. This is why most guys who run aluminum flywheels on the track (or even street), they really have to get the R's up and use alot more clutch control to launch.Which almost ALWAYS results in more inconsistant times, and fried clutches.
The trade off, is power.. You loose a little more power with the steel, but get get way more consistant launches. With the aluminum, you gain a little power, but really gotta work your foot, or you'll bog at the line.. You can almost always pick out the guy with the wrong clutch/flywheel setup at the track. He brings his rpm's up REALLLL high, then his high clamping force cluthch gets ahold of it and the car drops about 3000 rpms. With a steel flywheel, the flywheel will be able to push through the clutch, and allow it to slip without killing the rpm's. But in a controlled and fast fashion.

On the road coarse, roadracers HATE heavy flywheels. It not only uses to much power, much the high RPM shifting, with the high intertia of the steel flywheel, makes for hard engagements, and unnecessary drivetrain damage. Not to mention coming into the powerband faster.

Although they can "Both" be used in "Both" situations, if you ask the guys who run the majority of your style competitive racing, they will always lean one way or the other.

Its always a fine balance...If you dragrace, you find the lightest steel flywheel for your power application, that will absorb the clamp, yet not kill the car. Thats why the Textralia clutches have always done so well at the track. Although their heavy, their not ridiculous. That is also why the lightweight Fidanza and SPEC flywheels do so well on the roadcourse

But me personally, I HATE aluminum flywheels. I'll make the power up elsewhere. I dont like having to always leave a stop light at 1500 rpms, and clutch it for the first 50 feet..

So for my just under 1000 rwhp sprayed C5, and my new 1100/1100 blown C5, I run the SPEC billet twin with a steel flywheel. I could NOT be happier..

But.....Ask the guys you race with so you get an idea of what works for you at your track.

JDP

iTrader: (21)

another one of these threads, everybody has their own opinion, neither way seems to be wrong depending on your setup. i have an old thread where people voted which flywheel they like better and it was a pretty even voted, 118 for aluminum and 94 for steel

heres the thread, some good info in it
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/492270-aluminum-flywheel-1-4-mile-car.html

Bratvold

Let me add my .02 cents.

Steel is heavier (duh). The extra weight is useful for takeoff since it's inertia is transmitted through the drive train, but it's not good for road racing since the engine's up and down revving is slowed. This is bad for quick shifting.

The opposite is true for aluminum...quicker revving which is good for up and down shifting, but doesn't have the useful inertia for drag racing.

FASST LN

iTrader: (5)

So is it possible to have an aluminum flywheel used in my Textralia setup? Or does it have to be specifically balanced with the rest of the stuff?

Thanks,

SuperSport4life

iTrader: (7)

check out this thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=492270