72zcar Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 What are the benefits and/or negatives of a "Steel light weight flywheel" Here is the description of the flywheel i am thinking of buying for my 68 327 / wc t-5 for my 73 for Chevy small block and big block standard transmission applications with internal balance. 153 tooth design for lighter mass with outstanding Quality and machining. Light design used in Dirt Track and Road race applications where weight is a plus off the corners. Faster acceleration is made by using this 16.5 lbs flywheel. Two piece Seal Crankshaft design for early model Chevy with internal balance. 10 1/2 Clutch will fit this flywheel.. The flywheel is manufactured from high quality 1045 steel and has ring gear that is made manganese carbon steel . This flywheel is machined on CNC machine center to guarantee it's accuracy Thanks, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 The benefit is the motor will rev a lot quicker. Some of the horsepower the motor makes goes to accelerate the moving parts of the motor, so when you make the parts lighter, it takes less power to accelerate them. This means more horsepower is available to accelerate the car. The motor doesn't make any more power, just more of it gets to the wheels. It won't necessarily help a drag car run any faster, since traction is usually the limiting factor there, but it might. It will almost certainly help a road course car be quicker. Negatives are cost and you have to be VERY precise with the throttle when shifting. Otherwise your shifts will be rough and jerky. I mostly do open track events with my car, and run a 15# aluminum flywheel. It really explodes out of a corner, but if you're not just right with the gas pedal you get a very rough shift, because the motor rpm changes very quickly. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72zcar Posted September 12, 2003 Author Share Posted September 12, 2003 Thanks John for the information... What are the differences between the Steel light weight flywheel and the aluminum flywheel. Are the steel 16# flywheels good quality? Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 Not much difference really. My aluminum one has a steel insert for the clutch disc to mate to, and a steel ring gear for the starter, so the aluminum doesn't gain you a whole lot. GM made a few nodular iron flywheels that were pretty light, maybe 18-20 #'s, but they're scarce and I'm not sure what application they came in. I think a lightweight steel one would be fine. They take some getting used to shifting, or at least for me it did. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72zcar Posted September 12, 2003 Author Share Posted September 12, 2003 ok cool.. one more question the description says "Two piece Seal Crankshaft design for early model Chevy with internal balance" My question is how do I know if my motor is internally ballanced? The motor is a 1968 327 from a 68 camaro. All the flywheels I have looked at say for "internal balance" thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baddriver Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 I believe all chevy small blocks, except those using the 400 sb crank, are internally balanced. The 400 crank is too large and heavy to completely balance internally (it can be done, but was not done by the factory) and so the flywheel and harmonic balancer both have weights in them to offset the crank weight. I beleive that the internally balanced, 2 piece main seal flywheel should work on a 68 327 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 Yep. All 327's were internally balanced. Is your 68 327 a large journal steel crank motor? Fairly rare item if so, 67's were small journal, 69's they went to 350's. It probably is if it came out of a camaro. How do you have it set up? Those are great motors, I had a 68 vette with a 327/350 and it was a honker. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72zcar Posted September 12, 2003 Author Share Posted September 12, 2003 this 327 may have been out of a vette.. I bought a 72 vega for this motor and the guy I got the vega from said it was a vette 327. When I look up the #s it says "Passenger/Chevelle/Chevy II/Camaro/Corvette " but when I try to find the numbers on a vette site no matches so I'm not sure. I dont have the block number on me so I will post it tomorrow, maybe someone can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 FWIW, I've got a 327/T5 and if you haven't driven yours yet let me say that if you're really on the throttle you'll be shifting PDQ, the first 3 gears going almost as fast as you can shift. I am not saying this isn't a good idea as maybe it's what you're looking for, just know you'll be busy shifting whether running stock or otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sx240z Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Just curious is this flywheel off of ebay from amsracing? Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72zcar Posted September 13, 2003 Author Share Posted September 13, 2003 yes, why are you the one that beat me out on the bid? hahaha.. Have you done business with them before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sx240z Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 haha no i got the same flywheel a while back for 60$. I don't have the car running yet but I did run in to one problem. The recess for the flywheel bolts was too high and the stock clutch springs hit the flywheel bolts. So, I had to sand down the recess a bit and also grinded my arp flywheel bolts down a bit. This was with a stock clutch though, I believe performance clutches have a smaller diamater spring. The flywheel other than that looked great, but I have yet to run the car. I'll let you know how it is, cuz hopefully it'll be up and running soon. Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deMideon Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 As my understanding goes (which therefore may very well be wrong!), the lightened flywheel will help in a V-8 Z, if you are willing to put up with the drivablity issue mentioned earlier, since it is so light of a car. There will be less energy stored in the flywheel at launch so the rear wheels won't break loose as easily relative to a heavy flywheel, and as mentioned it will accelerate quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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