Light Flywheel or Stock?
 

Hey guys I'm doing a Turbo swap in my 88 GXL and i'm not sure if i should go with a light weight flywheel. I'm not really into auto-X or road racing. More than anything the car would be street driven and dragged on the weekends. I'll be making more power than stock for sure and will be running an ACT 6 puck clutch. I have no question about the clutch. If I go with a light weight flywheel I'll be buying the ACT streetlight. I believe its 13.9 lbs. Please post your EXPERIENCE with such a combination. Thanks.

With the ACT 6-puck & grippy tires, more flyweight is better.

Warning - don't even try auto-x or you will get hooked & want to switch to a light flywheel.

yeah don't get a 9lb flywheel and wonder why your ass is handed to you in a light to light race.

guys light flywheels arent that bad off stop lights.. pretty easy just takes a day to get used to it and then you can launch like you could before anyways

i have LW one... i don't like it... feels WAY too clumsy.(sp)

what is bad about the light waight flywheel?

I have the Exedy unit. Think it weights about 11lbs? So far feels very good. Slightly changed speed of revs but seems to have increased response significantly.

I had the Centerforce LW 13lb flywheel and was awsome. I will never like the heavy ones again. The engine reved noticably quicker to red line and response was awsome. First thing I noticed was revs dipped faster while de excelerating. Stop lights were allitle bit clumsey for me always boging for a second but at least I only stalled a few times then I was fine...The idle was a solid 850rpms still and the tach would dip to 100 after snaping the throtle and letting it drop but it would only be a split ssecond and pop back to normal. very cool.

From my expierience 13.blah was perfect for me. Any lighter I would be miserable. Any heavier and I dont think I would feel much a diff.

I drag raced the 13lb flywheel few times. Slightly more tricky but I do not think it slowed down my 60foot times at all regardless of what poeple say. The difference is if you dip below your power level after dumping the clutch you would bog allitle. All I had to do was dump the clutch allitle higher and feather the throttle allitle bit more carefully thats it.

I think the weight of the flywheel depends on the type of racing you want to do.

I am going with the 17lbs one from RB for a little of the best of both worlds. Not to mention I am dropping 5k into a standalone and turbo set up in a few weeks so I don't want to mate up a 6puck with a 9lb flywheel and start tearing stuff up. But I fully agree that 26lbs stock t2 flywheel is to heavy. I think a 60-1/6puck/17lb flywheel/ and 4.30 to 4.44 rear end gears will get it done.

Any more input guys?

so what are the advantages to having a lighter flywheel? what would be bad about it?

There's no arguing that less rotating mass has the potential to accelerate faster, but with a lower HP car with the ability to stick the power to the ground could there be advantage to the heavier flywheel.

I'm not an expert on this topic, but here are a few of my views, opinions and observations.

For my FD I'm most interested in seeing what it can do on wider than stock street tires or drag radials. Basically how much power can stick to the gourd before traction loss causes a reduction of acceleration. I use my G-tech Pro Competition to analyze assorted data. One useful way to see what the stock flywheel is doing is to view the Gs chart.

Here's a Gs chart for a 270 ish wheel HP FD with stock flywheel.
http://members.cox.net/sonysnakes/93...ckFlywheel.jpg

Currently I have slightly worn Bridgestone S02 265/35 18 tires. If you look at the beginning of the Gs chart at launch, the weight of the flywheel and power of the engine cause more tire spin with rpms jumping around than I'd like. The car has more energy than the tires can put to the ground in first gear. Once into second gear the tires spin again, but the condition isn't quite as bad. Stickier tires would help the traction loss condition. Next note the little pushes in Gs at the 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and the 3 to 4 shifts. Much of this is due to the inertia of the heavier flywheel as the clutch hooks before rpm drops. If this run had slower shifts and rpm dropping to the rpm of the next gear before clutch hook the effect of extra Gs from rotating mass inertia would be gone. With a lighter flywheel and faster rpm drop between shifts much of the Gs spike would be missing as well.

Here's a comparison chart of the same car, same tires, same clutch, same stock flywheel after adding about 30 HP. the black line is the 270 ish wheel HP. The red line is 300 ish wheel HP
http://members.cox.net/sonysnakes/Gs...20flywheel.jpg

With the extra HP flywheel inertia seems to become a disadvantage at shifts and launch because of traction loss. It would seem either stickier tires or a lighter flywheel would improve traction and acceleration at this point.

I have the RB aluminum flywheel. It has been the biggest bang for the buck yet!
My 91' didnt even feel like it had a 1/2 a nut stock... After the flywheel, holly shit, first gear go's by in no time at all.
Allthough i was impressed with how easy it was to take off with, that is not why i bought it, or what really got me hard! Autocrossing on a tight track, the ones where your in such a tight section that you would love to shift to 1st, but its just not quite worth it... Thats where the flywheel made the difference! Low RPM second and even third gear are much much much more responsive! Anyway, shooting out of the apex of your turn is where i found the love for this flywheel!
For some people the alum flywheel might be a chore... for me it is just part of the fun in driving a sports car!

-Blake

I did a search and found this Thread
and instead of starting another this will work.............

So whats the verdict? is it worth me getting the ACT streetlight?
I'm shooting for 450 to the wheel once I'm finish with all the mods.....
Mostly into going to the drag strip for fun

The Streetlight is 13lb right? and the counterweight is another 4lb
for a total of = 17lb of rotating mass (give or take) compared to 27lb stock TII S4 flywheel
In my search on this subject, some people say if your into dragracing, to not get a lighter flywheel..

Help me out here before I go shell out the $$$ for a flywheel that I dont really need

Whats the pros and cons of a lighter*** NOT light like the 9lb versions flywheel
down the 1/4 mile

greg schroeder, does your FD really runs 12s or is the gtech innacurate?

i have a sr motorsports flywheel. and extreme hd act clucth and PP . i love it .. yes when it heats up the take off gets a little annoying . but you get used to it .. but i can still drive it smooth for the most part. but ill tell you this. i love it . being able to rip through the rpms is a great feeling.. i have also driven a few other cars with LW flywheels. ill tell you this. i think from now on im getting them. it makes the cr alot more fun to drive. if you dont wanna a semi shaky take off. try a mid wieght flywheel. i have a 9 lbs with a 2lbs counter weight. and for the most part its smooth. the only bad time is take off when it heats up. i would say go for a 11lbs + flywheel if you want smooth for a daily driver.