Re: Lightened flywheels?

[Mark Shaw <autox@inficad.com>]

Shawn C Meze wrote:
> Id rather keep this a secret but I cant. Velocity sells a lightened
> flywheel. Not only do they bring the flywheel down from 12lbs to
> about 7lbs (YMMV) but they also have it ballanced too. 

Good info!  Is this only the 200 or 210 mm version?

My past experience with Bugs was that a trimmed
flywheel was really neat for two reasons, one,
it spooled up quickly sitting at the light (scares
the hell out of some more powerful cars :-)
and two, it gives some added acceleration potential.

The acceleration edge comes from not spinning
up the mass on the rim.  A 5 pound mass at 6-inch
radius requires 2.5 lb-ft of torque to accelerate,
which is about 3% of your maximum engine output.
At other engine speeds it is even a higher percentage
of available torque.

This was more dramatic on a Bug since the stock 
flywheel weighed about 20 pounds! I trimmed mine 
down to 12 pounds and had it balanced.

BTW, I would recommend going with a commercially
available lightened flywheel which is balanced
as Shawn suggests.  Poorly machined (or in the
wrong places) can cause vibration and/or more
serious a rupture.  And you don't want the flywheel
scattering in a FWD VW unless you want metal
debris flying up your pants!  :-0

regards,

Mark

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