machined flywheel?
 

i was thinking, instead of spending $300+ on a lightweight flywheel, would it be possible to just get the stock flywheel machined? like grind off all unneccesery metal off of it? and if it is possible what is the lightest i can make it? Thanks

The idea poped into my head when I was thinking about buying a flywheel, but I decided against it because I frankly dont trust my machine shop that much. Theres also the fact that the flywheel was made a certain way and taking off to much metal could weaken it which wouldn't be a good thing at 7 grand.

Probably wouldn't be worth the time to figure out where and how much material to remove, since the counter balance is built in. I'm sure some guy that owns a machine shop would say "no prob" if he was doing it for himself, I don't know. Probably cheaper to just get the automatic counter balance and buy a light flywheel.

i believe it would be more cost effective to buy a lighter weight flywheel than have someone machine it for you. if you can machine it yourself then you need to weigh the cost of a new flywheel that you would get immediately against the time and effort of machining your own flywheel.

i just got a rb steel flywheel, i like it.

Agreed. The flywheel is designed to hold together as designed. A lightweight flywheel is also designed to hold together as designed.

In addition to the safety issues (do you REALLY want to be alpha testing a flywheel in your car?), the balancing would have to be refigured. I'm not a mechanical engineer type, but I'm willing to bet that simply taking metal off and keeping the static balance of the flywheel would affect the dynamic balance as it was turning at high RPM.

It's a good idea, but I don't think it's safe/practical. Now, if you have access to a machine shop & a bunch of stock flywheels and the needed equipment to test the dynamic balancing & RPM limits, I'd love to be proved wrong. I just wouldn't put a lightened stock flywheel on my car unless it had been tested completely, including it's failure RPM.

-=Russ=-

Syonyk, I believe, is dead on. The stock flywheel is not the same material. And there is balancing issues. I would NOT TRUST THE STRENGHTH OF A STOCK FLYWHEEL MACHINED TO THE WEIGHT OF AN AFTER MARKET LIGHT WEIGHT FLYWHEEL! I feel this would be very dangerous!

lightweight flywheels are made of a chromoly steel if i remember right because the machinist was bitching about my flywheel i had to resurface because it was taking 3 times as long to machine as a stock one. being that the material is much tougher means you may also be able to walk come tomorrow. lightening a stock flywheel is not a smart thing to try, it is in fact dangerous and why scatter shields were invented.

Dreamers and Scheamers!
 

Even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then. THIS AIN"T IT! Dude needs to bail on this idea.

It's been done before.
The odds the flywheel will "shatter" goes up tremondously.
This is not a very good idea.


-Ted

I don't think "shatter" is the right term here.

"Explode with the power of a hand grenade" is probably closer. There's a LOT of energy in a rapidly rotating flywheel. I've seen pictures of shattered flywheels (and the remains of the car that it happened in), and it does look like an explosive charge went off. Flywheel bits and pieces rip through everything in their rotating plane.

It's not something you want to mess around with. High revving engine + experimental flywheel = wheelchair.

-=Russ=-

OK.... To sum up what these guys are tyrying to tell you.....

If you like your FEET.. just buy an aftermarket flywheel and get a counterblanace from the same year Automatic.....

i have actually SEEN what happens when a flywheel decides to hand-grenade itself.. not on a 7, but on a 70's camaro..

<----- My avitar roughly displays my facial expression as they drug the dude out of the car at the track and tossed him on the litter and then to the ambulance.. All I could do was stare and blink with my mouth hanging open. lets just call the guy "stumpy".

Dad later told me that the tach replay needle went to 5,750 when it grenaded (that was high RPM for a v-8 in the 80's..... Now think about what happens if YOUR fly wheel goes at 8K (with about 2.5X as much kenetic energy).....

Yeeeeeesh....