flywheel antics

[superls]

It's all steel EN24T - integral ring gear machined into the flywheel at fabrication stage

Designed to fit Lotus Carlton 3.6L Crank using an Audi S4 pressure plate and std Opel Monza friction disc - bit of a hybrid

PS when I can get them made for under £300 why bother to try and make them yourself

ah i got a bit mixed up i thought your flywheel was aluminium.

yes it is somewhat of a hybrid

 

[clairetoo]

show us some pics of your flywheel please, what did you do for the ring gear, reuse the old one?

I'm a bit short of pictures , sorry
I re-used the old ring gear , shrunk on with a smear of red loctite - hasnt moved yet !

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Can some body enlighten me please ?

I thought the idea of a flywheel was to carry the crank over to the top /firing of the next compression and smooth out the cycle to keep crank shaft & piston stresses down

All things being all , a correctly designed flywheel would give a better power to weight ratio if the engine was on a dynamometer test rig .

I always thought that the shaved fly wheels would give very high stresses to the crank shaft , con rods and thrust side of the pistons.

So guys what's your reasoning behind shaving flywheel to look like spiders webs?

 

[Justme]

To marginally reduce the rotating weight (when you add all the other bits in the engine clutch & gearbox) so it revs up quicker. But then I thought the revs would be slowed by the tyres in contact with the ground?

I think stationary test bedding shows a quicker pick up time. Not sure than equates to a faster acceleration on the road.

 

[piman]

Hello Justme,

it reduces the torque required to increase the speed of the flywheel allowing that torque to accelerate the car instead. Quite how measurable it is I don't know but that is always the aim for competition cars, even the clutch is reduced in weight.

It does make the engine less smooth at idle, but competition cars don't stay at idle for long.

Alec

 

[brightspark]

it makes a fair improvement on aceleration in a racing situation . on flat ground that is.no use on hill climb or standard roads though as more momentum is required once up to speed

 

[Dr pepper]

On a tuned mini it made a fair improvement for me.
4 pot bikes dont have a flywheel at all, a 4 pot 4 stroke will run without one.

 

[Weldingartisan]

I've seen a calculation somewhere that on initial acceleration 1kg weight off the perimeter of the flywheel is equal to 39kg weight saving off the vehicle. This advantage rapidly decreases as momentum inreases. I've lightened quite a few cast iron flywheels but I use a 6mm radius tool to avoid any sharp transitions and (hopefully) reduce the stress/fracture element. http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/FLYWHEEL.htm (Just found it) W/A

 

[brookie456]

Looks like a small VW flywheel I did at work a while ago, did almost exactly the same as yourself, customer well chuffed and no comebacks...so far

 

[superls]

as for effects it really improved the pickup rate on flat ground, clutch control is tricky the first couple of times out, its alot more delicate, but after a couple of starts its fine.

ive finished messing with mine now, took a shave more off the backside, a couple mm undercut,

reached the target weight of 4kg now anyway









8.25lb

3.74kg.

im happy now, tidied it up a bit, especially on the back centre

scott

 

[superls]

been a while since ive been on, long story but ill not bore you all

anyway i got a lump of ally and made a flywheel

i cant upload the actual pics of it as im at work, but heres a link to the thread of it on my car club

http://www.micra.org.uk/threads/39510-flywheel-antics?highlight=