There are so many different flywheels out there. Is lighter better? Can a flywheel be too light? Is aluminum that much better than steel? What about warping of the flywheel under extreme load? Do segmented flywheels really do anything? Is it necessary to have a replaceable friction surface? Is there a way to know a flywheel can take higher than OEM power and torque levels?

Untill otherwise noted, assume I will use a Clutchmasters FX400 with any of these. Also, cost is irrelivant.

Here are the flywheels that are available, all seem to be billet something that has been CNC machined.

Fidanza: 12 lbs. and is made of 6061 T6 tempered alloy (aluminum?) with a .25" thick replaceable friction plate, 1045 steel.

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Clutchmasters: claim around 50% lighter than stock, (13.5 lbs then) 6061-T6 aircraft grade or better billet aluminum. Replaceable high Carbon steel friction surface.

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MINI Madness ACT flywheel: CroMoly steel flywheel, weighs in at 13.8lbs. Fixed friction material. Also has a laundry list of benifits, including finite element analysis, computer balanced, 'properly' distributed mass, and is made of a uniform piece for efficient heat transfer.

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MINI Madness regular lighted flywheel: weighs 14.5 lbs, CNC machined tempered aluminum 6061 T6. Friction plate is 1050 high carbon alloy, not replaceable? This is the best picture they have of it.

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cyn-r-g flywheel: 15 lbs, segmented 'heat sheild' (friction surface?) Surface is steel, grade unknown. Flywheel is aluminum, grade unknown.

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Irreland Engineering: 10 lbs aluminum flywheel, grade unknown, replaceable steel friction surface, grade unknown.

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If anyone wants to weigh in on this with any comments or personal experience, as well as clutch recommendations, please do so. Note: I will never use a SPEC clutch again.

 

I'm clueless about flywheels, I've had the stock one in my car and will have a clutchmasters in it soon. I'm more questioning your choice of clutch... is there a reason you went with the FX400? The 300 is much more appropriate for the street/every day driving and works great unless you're pushing some serious power .

 

I haven't bought anything yet. I just want something that will grip well, engage fast, not slip at all under any load or condition, and dissipate heat extremely well.

 

There is also the Ireland flywheel. Not sure if this is just a re-badged somethin-er-other or what, but it's only 10 pounds.

Sorry - click on "Engine and Drivetrain" and it's the second item down.

 

My Clutchmasters flywheel(from RMW) is 11 lbs on my scale. 11.5-12 lbs with the 8 crank bolts and plate washer. Maybe Jan at RMW can weigh in a few just so we all know. I'll weigh the stock flywheel, pressure plate, and disc to compare after I remove it.

Jeremy

 

I've edited the first post to add the new flywheel.

Many sources say that the stock flywheel is about 27lbs. I'm not sure on the clutch or pressure plate weight, though I do have my orginals somewhere in the garage I could weigh.

 

What kind of power are you putting down right now? That'd help a lot in offering any advice.

 

Even a lightly modded car can benefit greatly from a better clutch and flywheel. I loved the quick action of my old SPEC stage 2 clutch, but I always wished it had more grip and acted faster. Someday I want an RMW cylinder head and header, a good clutch will come in handy then. Right now I've never been to a dyno and have only a 15% pulley, CAI, and cat-back for speed mods.

 

Dont forget the m7 flywheel. Segmented, 15 pounds and bright red. Looks identical to the cyn-r-g

 

I think it is a re-branded cyn-r-g flywheel. Cyn-r-g's site claimed it as patented.

 

I have the ACT. It's a sweet piece. Revs faster without ecu tuning, grips like hell with my stage 3 SPEC clutch. Very nice combo, for a nice price on Mini Madness. It is chrome moly, balanced, etc. It doesn't rattle too bad at idle, but you will hear it in the lower gears if you accelerate and then engine brake.

 

Better, yes, but too much clutch can be annoying if it's unnecessary . I think the FX300 would be great for your car, even after the head it still has plenty of grip. Unless you have plans to push 240+ lb-ft of torque I see no reason to upgrade to the FX400

 

Answers to questions from nabeshin:

"Is lighter better?" A lighter flywheel will allow the engine to rev up (and down) faster, allowing you to more quickly synchronize engine speed for much quicker shifts. A lightend flywheel might also add a horsepower or 2 to the wheels.

"Can a flywheel be too light?" Depends on what kind of driving you are doing. If you are driving gently, then engine speed could drop too sharply between shifts causing excessive wear on the synchronizers if the flywheel is too light. If you double-clutch all the time like I do, it's not an issue.

"Is aluminum that much better than steel". Depending on the alloy, aluminum can be stronger for the same given weight and is lighter per unit of mass. Not better, but can produce a lighter product to perform the same task.

"What about warping of the flywheel under extreme load?" Warping is a function of overheating at the friction surface. On an aluminum flywheel, the friction surface is still steel (aliminum is not tough enough to withstand the heat and abrasion of a clutch engagement). The mass of the steel friction surface insert will determine the likelihood of warping.

"Do segmented flywheels really do anything? Is it necessary to have a replaceable friction surface?" If you do a lot of full throttle starts, the replaceable friction surface will be worth the differential cost as you will only need to replace the surface. I always have to replace the friction surface (or entire flywheel in not segmented) every time I replace the clutch. My friction surfaces are always blue burnt with heat fractures by the time the clutch wears out.

"Is there a way to know a flywheel can take higher than OEM power and torque levels?" In all my racing and driving years, I have never seen a flywheel failure due to excessive torque. They usually fail because they are exposed to extreme rpm over long periods and the centrifugal forces pull them apart.

 

Flywheels/clutches other than stock can be a tough call. Many people go overboard and create a car that's tough to drive smoothly/daily. (it's pretty easy to make the car very digital, only on or off).

Personally I like a flywheel that's ~ 75% the weight of stock, and I've just about never had problems with clutches slipping but I'm also easy off the line to save other driveline components.

 

I had a Spec stg 3 and lw flywheel from jan. Felt like i leost torque, which you do, but the way it pulled up to the rev limiter was amazing.

Jack

 

When it comes to flywheels, most of the answers are "it depends".

Lighter will obviously reduce rotational inertia, allowing quicker revving and quicker rev-matching during gear changes, however that reduced inertia will also make the car easier to stall from a standstill and require riding the clutch pedal more to launch the car smoothly.

My response to littlehandegan's experience in feeling as if he lost torque is: most likely you were feeling the reduce rotational inertia off the line. The engine's torque output didn't change, however the whole systems' available instant torque [inertia] did lower because of the lighter flywheel. You can't let the car launch itself by just letting go of the clutch like you can with stock, you have to feather the throttle and clutch now with a lighter flywheel to get off the line.

The stock '02-'04 dual mass flywheel weighs 26 pounds on my scale. I've had my hands on four brands of flywheels to date.

*UUC is a blue anodized rebadged Fidanza. It's clear it's a Fidanza because that's the address the warranty card has on it in the packaging box! It's the usual 6061 Aluminum billet piece with a bolted on 1050 steel-alloy ring gear and 1045 steel-alloy clutch wear surface. The finished product weighs 12¾ pounds on my scale. I had this one on my turbo R53. It had minimal chattering with a ClutchMasters FX300 clutch.

*Fidanza is exactly the same as above except bare aluminum instead of blue. Same 6061 center/1050 ring gear/1045 wear surface, and same 12¾ pound weight

*RPS Syn-R-G is a unique design in that it uses 4 quarter circles for clutch wear surfaces. The RPS flywheel looks very professionally manufactured with quality materials. The segmented wear surface in theory allows for the aluminum base material to thermally expand as it sees fit with reduced restraint from a traditional 1 piece wear surface. In practice it's probably not going to make a big difference with our little MINI's making under 500HP* (*just a rough guess where it might start mattering in terms of heat generated from the clutch). From my fading memory, the Cyn-R-G flywheel weighed about 14.9 pounds.

Just this past weekend I installed a ClutchMasters flywheel. This looks to have a similar design to the Fidanza with an aluminum base, bolted on steel ring gear, and bolted on steel wear surface. One improvement over the Fidanza is an included steel washer that is used between the bolts and the flywheel when bolting up to the crankshaft. This is essentially 8 washers, one for each bolt, but instead they stamped it out of one big piece of steel so it's one piece for all 8 bolts, spreading out the load as much as possible. It's pretty neat, and provides a harder surface to torque the bolt-heads too versus the softer aluminum. This flywheel is the lightest I've felt to date at 12 pounds even. I'm preparing myself to stall the car at all the stoplights for a while, LOL.

--->nabeshin: For your needs pick a flywheel you like. All of them are going to work for the relatively low power you're searching for, so pick one you want that will match the inertia you want. What determines torque holding capacity is primarily the pressure plate, and to a lesser extent the clutch disk itself. For your needs, a ClutchMasters FX200 will hold everything your M45 MCS can throw at it. It's rated for about 260 Lb/Ft at the crank which is way more than you'll ever get out of an M45 setup. I just finished installing my FX200 this weekend. The clutch pedal feel is much lighter than it was with my FX300 in my old turbo R53, about as light as stock, however it has a distinct "peak" where the pressure plate releases the clutch disk. Very easy to figure out and very positive feeling.

I hope that helps,
Ryan

 

Thank you for all the great information.
I know this thread is mostly about flywheels, but talking about clutches is ok too.
About Clutchmaster, the FX300 looks just like my SPEC stage 2 (segmented kevlar), and they claim a slightly stiffer pedel feel. I want the clutch to be stiffer than stock, even stiffer than the SPEC was. Would ordering the FX300 with the 'Power Plus II pressure plate' accomplish this or would that only make a binary clutch? I realize that from an engine power stand point it is over kill, but I want a stiff clutch - something to utilize my bike-toned legs on.

 

If you're just looking for a stiffer pedal to match your massive leg power then a ClutchMasters might not be right for you, at least the Power Plus 1 pressure plate as you mention. I'm not sure if the Power Plus 2 pressure plate is something that could be custom fitted to say an FX200 disc [versus an FX300 disc, which would make engagement longer [less digital] than a segmented disc]. I'd give ClutchMasters a call and ask if they can accommodate your preferences.

For max pedal effort, you need a Centerforce clutch! Wow I just looked and they actually have a lineup for the R53 too I was kinda joking here, Centerforce clutches are notorious in Mustang circles as being aggressive leg exercisers.

 

Does anyone have experience with the Exedy setup that Alta sells ?

 

I have put an Exedy setup (flywheel and clutch/pressure plate) in a friends MCS. I don't remember what the specs were, but he was happy and has been for about 4 months or so.
I do know that it was lighter, but not by how much.
It was also a "pretty piece", as one person mentioned, with it's purple pressure plate.