Billet Aluminum Flywheel Recommendation

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70sublime340

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can anyone recommend,from experience, a good lightweight billet flywheel? Trying to kee it around $400. I kee seeing RAM but I have neve used nor known anyone to use their parts. Also have seen a lightheeiggt steel McLeod that's around 18# but brewers says it's a 3 week wait. I'm gonna need one in about a week for engine balancing. Any suggestions are appreciated
 
Building a hot 340 with a short tire 3.55 rear. Not a drag car. Doing more research in leaning toward the lightweight steel McLeod fly. It's about 18-20#. I've read a flywheel that is too light can do more harm than good in terms of inertia/rotating mass when taking off.
 
3.55 isn't much gear. What FIRST gear do you have.

I'd still use aluminum. My FW weighs 11 pounds. But I run a bit more gear than you.
 
Stock geared 70 833. It's not a real steep gear rear end but with short tires it acts lower than I ever expected. What engine combo you running with the 11# fly?
 
70sublime340 said:
Stock geared 70 833. It's not a real steep gear rear end but with short tires it acts lower than I ever expected. What engine combo you running with the 11# fly?
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mcloed, # 564102. it's 11 #, it will work very well. the faster an engine rpms, faster the car will go. simple physics!!! I've ran that l/w type in 265 chev, 273 dart, also, its in a 340 duster. of a buds
 
perfacar said:
mcloed, # 564102. it's 11 #, it will work very well. the faster an engine rpms, faster the car will go. simple physics!!! I've ran that l/w type in 265 chev, 273 dart, also, its in a 340 duster. of a buds
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I saw that 11# flywheel (I think from brewers for ease of searching) I just wasn't sure if it's too light. I do know that a little more rotational inertia can help drivability to a point. And I think I mentioned it's not gonna be a dedicated drag car being launched hard constantly. Were the motors you have ran the 11# fw behind stock/mild/radical? Thanks for the replies
 
70sublime340 said:
Stock geared 70 833. It's not a real steep gear rear end but with short tires it acts lower than I ever expected. What engine combo you running with the 11# fly?
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Just a little 340 with a purple cam, headers and intake. I use a McLeod aluminum FW and Sof-Lok sintered iron clutch and drove it every day until I parked it to update the clutch and engine. I hope that in the next 2 weeks I can drive it. Haven't driven it since 09/30/2014. Yes, it has taken me a long time to update stuff but it's been a nightmare of a couple of years.
 
Obviously some like light flywheels but I sure didn't. I used a lightweight steel (believe it was around 18-20 lbs) & aforementioned sof-lok iron disc and it did not work out. Flywheel was too light & initially decent clutch feel eventually deteriorated. A standard weight steel & organic disc greatly improved street drivability. When in doubt apply the KISS method.
 
396 Signet said:
Obviously some like light flywheels but I sure didn't. I used a lightweight steel (believe it was around 18-20 lbs) & aforementioned sof-lok iron disc and it did not work out. Flywheel was too light & initially decent clutch feel eventually deteriorated. A standard weight steel & organic disc greatly improved street drivability. When in doubt apply the KISS method.
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when we changed over to soft loc clutch, mcloed said, you need the aluminum flywheel as it disipates heat from the clutch. a steel wheel will retain it, and clutch will be grabby and engage harshly. it's not a good combination.
 
perfacar said:
when we changed over to soft loc clutch, mcloed said, you need the aluminum flywheel as it disipates heat from the clutch. a steel wheel will retain it, and clutch will be grabby and engage harshly. it's not a good combination.
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This is correct. Heat makes SI discs hook more. So if the FW retains more heat, you need to tune for it. Also, if you have more FW weight, you have to account for that in your tune up. You may have had more base than you needed.

Somewhere on Mcleods web site there is an article written by a guy who had a street/strip car and he went from a twin disc to the Sof-Lok and covers how he tuned it and how much faster he went. I'd go find it and post a link but I don't know how.
 
The article on Sof-Lok clutches is found in Cars & Parts Sept/Oct 2015 issue written by Jim D. Moore.

It's a short read but good.
 
Regardless of disc type, a light flywheel impacts takeoff from a standing start since it lacks the inertia of a heavier one. You will have to slip it more to get it moving, increasing wear. If you want to drive your car in every day, stop & go traffic & have steep hills like around here I would strongly recommend a standard weight flywheel. It depends on the type of racing that dictates the weight of the flywheel, drag racers like big mass & road racers the lightest possible.

As far as manufacturer's recommendations, I always take them with a grain of salt as they are trying to sell their product. I originally bought the iron setup based on McLeod's recommendation. Regardless of flywheel type an iron disc is always brutal on the equipment, it will eat into your flywheel & PP & is inherently high maintenance. Never again will I use an iron disc on a street car.

Incidentally, Ram is on my personal S-list as they sold me a bum pressure plate once, it was a hemi Borg & Beck & they set the springs improperly. They also did the same on a buddies Chevelle. I tend to like the diaphragm types most, recently I've used McCleod units with good success. I also like to match the pressure to the application, more is not necessarily better.
 
396 Signet said:
Regardless of disc type, a light flywheel impacts takeoff from a standing start since it lacks the inertia of a heavier one. You will have to slip it more to get it moving, increasing wear. If you want to drive your car in every day, stop & go traffic & have steep hills like around here I would strongly recommend a standard weight flywheel. It depends on the type of racing that dictates the weight of the flywheel, drag racers like big mass & road racers the lightest possible.

As far as manufacturer's recommendations, I always take them with a grain of salt as they are trying to sell their product. I originally bought the iron setup based on McLeod's recommendation. Regardless of flywheel type an iron disc is always brutal on the equipment, it will eat into your flywheel & PP & is inherently high maintenance. Never again will I use an iron disc on a street car.

Incidentally, Ram is on my personal S-list as they sold me a bum pressure plate once, it was a hemi Borg & Beck & they set the springs improperly. They also did the same on a buddies Chevelle. I tend to like the diaphragm types most, recently I've used McCleod units with good success. I also like to match the pressure to the application, more is not necessarily better.
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I have no idea what you are talking about but I drive mine on the street every day, with an aluminum FW and an iron disc. My wife can drive the car. It's not eating FW's or pressure plates and I don't have to slip it to get the car to move. Just blows my mind how things get this sideways. Most guys should run a diaphram and a rag disc and forget it.


EDIT: I do not know one single drag racer who wants a bunch of mass hanging off the crank. On my street car, I want the least amount of rotating mass I can get away with, let alone in a DR application.
 
yellow rose said:
I have no idea what you are talking about but I drive mine on the street every day, with an aluminum FW and an iron disc. My wife can drive the car. It's not eating FW's or pressure plates and I don't have to slip it to get the car to move. Just blows my mind how things get this sideways. Most guys should run a diaphram and a rag disc and forget it.


EDIT: I do not know one single drag racer who wants a bunch of mass hanging off the crank. On my street car, I want the least amount of rotating mass I can get away with, let alone in a DR application.
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Excuse me for giving erroneous information in an attempt to save a guy time, money, and aggravation. 35 years of owning, building and driving manual transmission vehicles and I really haven’t learned much, my own experiences were figments of my imagination. Somehow the magic elixir of lightweight flywheels and/or sintered iron discs has eluded all the car manufacturer’s engineers & bean counters to the current date, perhaps you could enlighten them. The sintered iron in the sof-lok is very gentle on steel or nodular iron surfaces and shouldn’t scratch it any more than leather, they might start calling it the million mile clutch.
 
396 Signet said:
Excuse me for giving erroneous information in an attempt to save a guy time, money, and aggravation. 35 years of owning, building and driving manual transmission vehicles and I really haven’t learned much, my own experiences were figments of my imagination. Somehow the magic elixir of lightweight flywheels and/or sintered iron discs has eluded all the car manufacturer’s engineers & bean counters to the current date, perhaps you could enlighten them. The sintered iron in the sof-lok is very gentle on steel or nodular iron surfaces and shouldn’t scratch it any more than leather, they might start calling it the million mile clutch.
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No sense getting offended. I've been doing it as long as you so who cares? I'm doing it. I know others doing it. You couldn't do it.

That's why they make diaphram pressure plates and rag discs.

You have to use what you can make work. Doesn't mean the rest of us have to be stuck in the 1950's does it?


EDIT: there is no magic or unicorns involved. It's called science.
 
yellow rose said:
No sense getting offended. I've been doing it as long as you so who cares? I'm doing it. I know others doing it. You couldn't do it.

That's why they make diaphram pressure plates and rag discs.

You have to use what you can make work. Doesn't mean the rest of us have to be stuck in the 1950's does it?


EDIT: there is no magic or unicorns involved. It's called science.
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It was really tough for me getting through engineering school and all those tech jobs because I could never understand all that gosh darn science and ciphering mumbo jumbo. Good thing there were always scientists like you to help me get by when my brain just couldn’t get it done.

Sorry, gotta go, takin’ the Kaiser down to the shoe shine stand to get my wingtips polished, there’s a big “I Like Ike” reunion coming to town. Some of these whippersnapper millennial types ask me why I don’t get a new car, I just tell ‘em they’re way too fast and flatheads are all I understand. That and my old hit or miss engine with the 300 pound flywheel that I use to churn butter out back.
 
396 Signet said:
Regardless of disc type, a light flywheel impacts takeoff from a standing start since it lacks the inertia of a heavier one. You will have to slip it more to get it moving, increasing wear. If you want to drive your car in every day, stop & go traffic & have steep hills like around here I would strongly recommend a standard weight flywheel. It depends on the type of racing that dictates the weight of the flywheel, drag racers like big mass & road racers the lightest possible.
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Perhaps a better way to say it is that finer clutch control is needed with a lower drivetrain rotational mass. The heavier mass is more forgiving of letting out the clutch a hair too fast.

I would assume drag racers would like a lighter flywheel too..... less energy needs to be put into the flywheel and more would be left for acceleration of the whole vehicle.

For a street car, I would expect the 'herky-jerky' motion that often comes in first gear, low speed, light throttle driving would change with a lighter flywheel; whether it will be better or worse, I can't say for sure.

The damper design up front is partly dependent on the flywheel and clutch mass; the torsional frequency changes with total mass, and the damper is designed for a certain frequency range. Not sure if it is a big factor in this decision though, and I would think a fluid-type damper would fix that anyway.

Not that it helps the OP, but I have found a heavy flywheel useful in rallying a RWD car. Going into a corner, downshift and pop the clutch; it'll break the rear wheels loose, and with a little wheel already dialed into the corner, it'll help set the car sideways. That is the opposite of what a road racer would ever want to do.

I'd like to hear what you decide, OP, and how it works out for you.
 
Thanks guys. Car isn't a daily nor drag car. Just a weekend hot rod. I don't expect it to drive like a new tremec car. I just wanted to hear some peoples experiences. I'm torn between the aluminum 11# and steel 18#, both McLeod. As far as clutch I am buying a McLeod but haven't decided which one. I need to do some homework on the sof lok and others that were mentioned
 
I would do the 18 pound steel wheel long before a 30 pounder. You have a 8.66 first gear and that ain't much. I was at 12.13 and now I'm at 14.09 so I'd say you need more first gear. A 2.66 would get you 9.44 and that's better but not great.

I just talked to McLeod last week and they no longer make the B&B/Long cover which sucks. That means unless you buy the Sof Lok you are stuck with a diaphram PP. Diaphrams are about worthless for birth control and almost as bad for a clutch. Get in touch with Cale at Black Magic Clutches and see what he may be able to help you with.
 
Ya, a stock heavy 30#+ wheel isn't happening. It's not a drag car or a rallye car or anything like that. So now it's looking like clutch decision
 
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