Pros and cons of lightning flywheel

[GreenZoomBug]

67 Baha, building a 1600 with 88 mm piston kit, Engle 110 cam, single progressive weber. I can resurface and lighten my flywheel or get a new stock flywheel. What's the pros and cons ???

[sled]

a lightning flywheel sounds sketchy!!

no but on a serious note...a lightened flywheel allows the engine to rev faster, which can help in performance (racing) applications. Benefit on the street? none really other than they can be more "fun". Stock weight flywheels keep the engine from revving quickly (up OR down). Can definitely be a good thing for heavier cars like buses or a Baja beetle thats going to cruise around in the forests.

for what you're doing, Id keep the stock weight flywheel.
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drive your split.

[GreenZoomBug]

Thanks for the "lightning" response Stock flywheel it is then. Cheers

[Alstrup]

That, all of it

On a second note, 1680 cc. - Baja, progressive,,,, That cam is NOT what you want. You want torque, not rpm power (I would expect)
Web 218/119 at the most.
I´m thinking CB 2234
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[67rustavenger]

[Glenn]

I find lightened flywheels are great on Beetles. It helps get them off the line quicker. You don't have to be racing, just pulling away from a traffic light or stop sign it will make a noticeable improvement. And getting on the highway, you'll get up to speed quicker.

Now for a Bus you want the stock weight since it needs the energy that it stores to keep it moving.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
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[bugguy1967]

Pros of lightening: quicker acceleration. Cons: jerky on decel, and carries less inertia for starting from a dead stop.

Pros of heavy: easier to drive because it has a smoother decel and you can load-up the engine to get going from a dead stop. Cons: slower acceleration.

I use lighter flywheels on everything. Even on a near stock engine, I'd compensate less inertia with more compression to get moving easy.
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"A petrol engine can start readily, run smoothly and give every appearance of being in good order, without necessarily being in good tune." - Colin Campbell, "The Sportscar Engine"

[BFB]

probably be beneficial to know how light were talking?
average lightened flywheel is what 12, 13 lbs?
I've got one in my rail and can't say I've ever noticed anything negative at all. i thought about getting an aluminum / steel flywheel that was 6lbs but thought that might be going to far ...
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[evanfrucht]

Use your original german one.

It's chrome vanadium which is the best material for these

The new reproductions are chromoly which is almost as good.

OG is always best.
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[modok]

I see a lot of pictures with new flywheels, I think they don't know it's cast iron and the original is steel.
A "8-dowel" cast flywheel should NOT exist, but it does, and they sell a lot of them I'm sure, and they are "lightened" a few pounds too.... even more profitable! requires less material to make, and reduces shipping costs

And they ARE just fine for mild engines, mexican VW taxis all had cast flywheels. Rarely hear any complaints about it.
But it's not as strong as a steel one, and I suspect 8-doweling them weakens the flywheel too much, better to maybe just use a scat gland nut torqued up to 350 or so with the iron flywheels.

[Ohio Tom]

A light flywheel is one of those things you want at first, it sounds cool.

Then later learn that car actually leaves and hits harder between gears with a heavy flywheel.

In any application where power is limited (most N/A motors), a heavy flywheel can store alot of energy on launch, and between gears.

Road racing guys like them light as possible since they are on/off the gas so much.


For big cc turbo applications, it doesn't really matter. They don't need the energy. They have boost waiting.

[GreenZoomBug]

Thanks Guy's. I'm trying to wrap my mind around all these numbers.
From the Web site. I must be reading these numbers wrong, but it looks like more lift and less duration ? I'll send a email off to my engine builder see what he thinks. It maybe price and availability that drives this..

459/.422

280°/276°

242°/240°

218/119

[GreenZoomBug]

I don't know how this plays in, but l bought a quiet power exhaust system. I was told the 1.5" tubes were a bit big for my engine combo but that's all l could find.

[GreenZoomBug]

[modok]

That should be a good cam for a small single carb engine.
Don't worry about the hype.

[donald.lemay]

An 8 dowel cast flywheel in a bus is no good ask me how I know
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2085cc
9to1compression
ported polished heads 40x36 valves
010 distributor
VS 42mm exhaust
40 IDF carbs

[Ohio Tom]

Customer just brought me a cast flywheel with wallowed out dowels.
Wasted out bad.
I told him it was "yard-art" now.

[madmike]

I've made some huge 'wind chimes' from old ones ,,, wife made me take 'em down,, too loud she said must of been 'forged' cuz they rang real good
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