Aluminum Flywheel pros and cons

[kabacj]

I have very little first hand experience with the corvette clutch / flywheel setup. However using a dual disk clutch to support my mild ls3 (550hp/500ft lbs) driving the mendiola. I was wondering if folks had an opinion on using an aluminum flywheel. It seems to make logical sense to me as the car is lighter you don't need that giant 30 lb flywheel to store up energy to allow smooth street driving starts from stopped. It also makes sense that the car will rev up more quickly with the lighter flywheel.

What are the downsides of the aluminum flywheel? Trickier to start from stopped?

Thanks
John

[ArtGirl]

I wouldn't go for the lightweight flywheel. I think you'll find it less than smooth on the street. In another thread somewhere, Mendeola recommended a heavier flywheel.

[Mendeola Transaxles]

I have very little first hand experience with the corvette clutch / flywheel setup. However using a dual disk clutch to support my mild ls3 (550hp/500ft lbs) driving the mendiola. I was wondering if folks had an opinion on using an aluminum flywheel. It seems to make logical sense to me as the car is lighter you don't need that giant 30 lb flywheel to store up energy to allow smooth street driving starts from stopped. It also makes sense that the car will rev up more quickly with the lighter flywheel.

What are the downsides of the aluminum flywheel? Trickier to start from stopped?

Thanks
John

Mendeola

Aluminum Flywheel:
An aluminum flywheel can weigh as little as 1/3 of the weight of a factory unit. Because the flywheel resides on the end of the engine crankshaft, a unit that is too light can cause premature synchromesh wear, excessive low end clutch chatter, or worse, possible engine damage. Excessively lightweight flywheels also lack initial inertia, causing the car to stall when the RPMs drop near idle. It lets the engine rev up very quickly and allows the engine to work easier due to the reduced weight spinning around on the back of the crank. This is fine as long as you are at full throttle and wide open throttle all the time like in a Road Race or Drag Race only car. As soon as you let off the gas the engine RPM drops instantly and the car slows down. In a road car this causes surging and bucking at cruise speeds and poor driveability and clutch engagement. These are generally around 10.5-12.5 Lbs. cost=$280.00-$350.00

Stock weight steel:
This makes the engine very smooth and enables it to retain energy at part throttle cruise and up long grades for better fuel economy.
It is matched with both engine and driveline components.ex.Bearings,synchros,valve springs,axles.These are generally around 23.5-29.5 Lbs.
cost=$80.00-$100.00

Lightened stock:
A lightened stock unit on the other hand gives you the best of both worlds. It is a compromise between the heavy OEM unit and a Too light Racing unit. You get the benefits of both with none of the bad qualities. These are generally around 14.5-16.5 Lbs. cost=$180.00-$200.00
:D

[kabacj]

Perfect Ian. I was going to call you but I figured it better you answer the question here.

I'll post the solutions I come up with for review.

Thanks
John

[LCD Gauges]

I swapped in an aluminum flywheel in my 3500+ lb. Camaro and never had issues at the drag strip, or on the street. There was no significant difference in dead stop launching with
respect to engine bog, and no measureable/noticeable difference in acceleration.

This may have been due to the heavier pressure plate rotating mass making up for a bit of the flywheel weight (upgrade clutch to McLeod 800).

Ian makes a good point about wear-n-tear due to interia and additonal forces on the transmission internals, but again my case did not reveal any premature wear in shift quality.
This is an outsider's perspective without tearing down the transmission gears for inspection however.

I'm still leaning toward an aluminum flywheel for the GTM for the same reasons stated above.