Lightened standard flywheels

[wicked-vtr]

Hi all. Is anyone on here running a lightened standard flywheel? Any issues? Im considering having mine lightened but am worried the removal of material will weaken it too much.

I was going to buy the atspeed billet item but it is significatly cheaper to have mine lightened.
Any opinions/experiences welcome.

James

[AXracing]

A few of the race guys have had problems. But as longs as you have a good flywheel to start with and is lightened with a bit of restraint by a reputable company it should be fine. There is only so much they can do to a stock flywheel so don't expect anything drastic like you can get form some of the steel or alloy flywheels out there. But then saying that for a road car you really don't want a overly light flywheel. Just play it safe with the stock one as when they go pop they really go.

[wicked-vtr]

Cheers for the reply, how do you mean when they go pop? Literally fracturing into pieces? My main concern is that it remains properly balanced tbh.

[ryanmt]

Yeah they break up, and if its spinning at 7000rpm it tends to sail straight through the gearbox, then the bonnet and the bulkhead etc.

[jeffchiz]

nasty things have happened from lightened flywheels :S

how much is it costing btw? always wondered this?

[wicked-vtr]

Do I not fancy it coming through the bulkhead... At least it will be on the passenger side I suppose.
The bloke only wants £20 to do it, which made me sceptical. He says he's been doing machining for race engines for years, but anyone can say that.

[atspeedracing]

seems very cheap to me. should be looking at LEAST £50 to get it done.

you can remove SOME material from standard flywheels, but too much is destined for failure. especially if your going for high RPM. also the more material you remove the less material there is for heat dissipation. Especially being a low quality cast metal. will be more likely to distort.

obviously the billet steel ones are extremely high quality steel, and machined from a single piece solid billet. so you can run far less material, yet with better heat dissipation and strength than the stock flywheel.... which is nice :P

get what you pay for as with anything.

we have our clutch flywheel bundle deal on at the moment if you was after saving a few quid? may be of interest anyway.

- colin.

[LWS_71]

If he has been doing it for years ask about previous customers for feedback. Him telling you hes been doing it for ages doesn't mean anything really. Better to be safe than sorry mate, especially as its only 20 quid i wouldn't bother.

[wicked-vtr]

Yeah sounds a bit too risky for my liking, cheers for the helpful replies guys.