d.i.y lightened flywheel

[jimbob-mcgrew]

is it possible to do this yourself by finely marking out and drilling a bunch of holes in it, without upsetting the balance of it too much, im curious, proper ones are expensive

[BIGS]

i wouldnt bother, people in the past that have lightened a flywheel by drilling or skimming and have had there ones shatter and even come through the front of the car

[tom reid]

Dont do it, lol, you'll just end up ruining a perfectly good flywheel.
How expensive is too expensive?, a properly modified std item isn't that expensive, imo.

[Adam]

Seriously dont attempt it.
You could put hairline fractures in it which then may lead to it shattering at 6000rpm and heading into the car/its passengers.....

[jimbob-mcgrew]

hah - 3 replys within less than 5 minutes saying dont do it

[~~joycey~~]

Yeah i heard from a mate about some one's flywheel shattering and it cutting through bonnet/gearbox ect!?

[tom reid]

hah - 3 replys within less than 5 minutes saying dont do it
Good advice though

[L14MNP]

LOL yep, it will have no problems munching the ali of the gearbox and the bulkhead/front end when it decides to leave at a few thousand RPM.
Suicidal pikey mod IMO. Cut springs, it's safer.

[dumpycorsa]

I bought one a while back from a shop on ebay. Flat type xe fly wheel.Just needed to add the starter gear ring from the old fly wheel. Took it into work and crack tested it, de-magnitised it, checked the balance, clocked the starter gear ring in on a marking out table then weighed it. It now weighs 3.6kg. Paid £125 for it. Wouldn't risk lightening it myself as it could cause dangerous imperfections. This one was done on a cnc mill ensuring all the holes were evenly spaced. Even so I still had ot checked for cracks and checked it was balanced before I fitted it to the engine.-

Removing the gear ring using a Oxyacetylene torch

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e251/trish26gordon/DSCN3683.jpg

Then heated up again and fitted on to the new fly wheel. Ideal


http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e251/trish26gordon/DSCN3685.jpg

[ck]

now this i would not want to happen to my car!!! also what is worrying is what it could do if some parts got into the passenger compartment when the seat is occupied... :eek:
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/flywheelbang.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00010ft4.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00007ic7.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00001tt0.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00003te3.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00004yt5.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00005zo7.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00006ao7.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00008dk3.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/img00009lm5.jpg

[BIGS]

tbh it is dam right dangerous when done and why people want to do it anyway i havent got a clue. even if they did lighten the original one it still would never be as light as a proper one, and is it really that much more money.

[Philsutton]

as said dont do it, a flywheel at 7k will have a serious amount of energy and not alot is going to stop it if it comes off (which is what it will do if its not 100% balanced right).

[mayhem]

i had mine done by a big rally/race shop. cost me 90 euro, and it weights a good 5kg.

[BIGS]

i had mine done by a big rally/race shop. cost me 90 euro, and it weights a good 5kg.

you havent got that in your car have you? if you have i would do any high revs!

[burgo]

you havent got that in your car have you? if you have i would do any high revs!what makes you say that

[BIGS]

have you seen the pics that ck posted. i would just never trust a lightend flywheel done buy a shop yourself ect. ive seen what can happen and how weak then can get

[burgo]

well if you dont want a lightened flywheel done by a shop how do you plan on having one

[BIGS]

buy a shop i mean as in use the original one and go to a work shop and get them to put it on a lave and shave it down. i would buy one from courtenay sport ect

[Philsutton]

^^ courtney sport just shave down theirs???

[burgo]

bigs i think your being silly lol

[BIGS]

^^ courtney sport just shave down theirs???
:confused: am i getting this very wrong then. who is it that uses a lighter material instead of just shaving them down

[burgo]

errr very few people as that costs lots of pennies

[BIGS]

bigs i think your being silly lol

you got me thinking i am aswell now lol

im sure someone told me a place that uses a lighter metal thats how they get a light flywheel :confused: hmm now you got me thinking if i just dreamed that :roll:

[Welsh Dan]

I can make you a fibreglass one if you like. ;)

[BIGS]

I can make you a fibreglass one if you like. ;)

prefer if it was carbon :D

[Philsutton]

Hardly anyone uses different material as thats cost loads. Its is the best way to do it though.

[BIGS]

Yea ones ive seen are around £250 - £300 so im not dreaming then.

[Austin_Nova16]

You talking about the fidenza (sp?) flywheels? Alloy with a bolt on friction part......

[BIGS]

yea thats the one, very well made

[Philsutton]

TBH I cant say much really as Ive gypo worse things on the corsa light shaving down my pistons lol

[jimbob-mcgrew]

fkinell u see those pics, chomped thru the rad and bumper on that nova with ease by the looks of it. and the calibra - took the dizzy off clean and punched a hole thru the bonnet, hopefully some poor fcuker in the next town didnt have that lump of disc come down on them like a meteorite.

after seeing those pics and hearing what everyone has to say about the matter, not even sure if i wanna risk messing with a professionally done one now

[white2lSR]

im liking the pics of the flywheels making sharp exits lol

[Andy]

Yeah they can be dangerous,imagine a Stihl saw with a blade as thick as your flywheel plus a clutch bolted to it exploding.........carnage lol

[dhdev (Oli)]

Get it done properly http://www.autosprint.co.uk/?p=p_43

[ck]

i would no way trust a lightened standard flywheel, once machined it cant be heat treated properly again to get its strength back. most ppl that lighten them can only take them down a very small amount and generaly only take material from the rear surface.

courtenay flywheels are steel billet, my friend has one on his LET. i used to run a fidanza alloy flywheel on my LET the std flywheel was around 9.5kg's (pot type) and my fidanza was only 3.5kg's. the steel ones arent as light.

[dumpycorsa]

the steel ones arent as light.


Mine only weighs 3.6 kgs with out a starter gear ring

[ck]

yeah, my pot type fidanza was 3.5kg's with starter gear. the flat type i think was 3.2kg's with the starter gear.

[mayhem]

you havent got that in your car have you? if you have i would do any high revs!

its in my c20xe nova..

[Ash]

Hey? I had mine lightened and balanced at a machine shop, cost about £30. I didn't want to take too much off mind.