I always thought exedy only made exact oem replacements?? do they make lightened fliywheels and performance clutches as well?

 

I got a nice PM about some good pricing..... I hope to do this well before Dragon time... maybe right after Christmas.....

 

Exedy does make an aftermarket clutch and flywheel for the mini, I have one in my car and Tuls just put one in his. We had one car at the track and the exedy held 300+whp with full slicks. Exedys parts are almost too nice to cover with the transmission

If you can handle a little noise you will love it, if you are super picky about noise and rattles you may not like it.

As for torque loss its not a big issue, these cars dont really have any torque anyway. ( especially down low ) You just have to drive it a little different. I can launch my car better with the light flywheel than with the stock one and on a roll the revs come up MUCH faster.

 

Anything that you can share or PM me with?


I'm interested as well.
I'm never in traffic jams (I Hate LA), I rarely use the A/C and I've had lightened flywheels on VW bugs many times and it really improves acceleration and fun factor.

Paul

 

and no loss while going up hills?

 

Stupid question, why does it rattle or is noisey? Have had many lt wt alum. and steel wheels in Chevys,they grabbed quick (either engaged or not,very little in between.) but no additional noise.

 

I too appreciate a chromo flywheel, but our friend in Malaysia describes a clutch actuation I wouldn't want to drive around town... Traffic on my route home is hellish these days.

Never having driven a car with modded flywheel I'm wondering how much effect it'll have on cruise control / up hills? While I don't use cruise that much, I do set it when on long trips or going through radar hot spots. I imagine the engine might 'hunt' around to try and sit comfortably @ 70-75.

Thoughts?

More driving impressions would be great

EDIT: driving impressions... specific to the Exedy clutch, f/w & PP, as opposed to light-weight flywheel's in general. Thanks tho' kapps!

 

I'll try to add my comments (not having a LW flywheel). The lighter weight reduces the spin up/down time of the engine. Shifting should be faster as the syncros can work better when the engine revs down quicker. In-gear performance should be a little better since there's less mass the engine has to rotate. It'd be similar to getting lightweight wheels. You should accelerate a little faster and decelerate a little faster in gear.

The downside (to some people) of the LW flywheel is the fact that they chatter when sitting at a light in neutral with the clutch out. This is from the actual gears chattering against each other as the cylinder fires. The heavy flywheel would deaden the individual hits. There shouldn't be any noise when driving.

 

the biggest differences with the exedy is that the engagement is more of an on/off in the way it grabs. Very driveable though.

Uphill is no problem at all weather you are traveling down the road or stopped at a light, once you learn the clutch. Remember that whenever you do mods there is usually a trade off somewhere. Some are noticable and some are not. To me the only thing that I see being a problem for some folks is the noise.

 

I'lll give you my inpressions. I've been running the Spec flywheel with a Stage 3 clutch for 2 years, 14k miles and 2 autocross seasons. For autocrossing this is an excellent combination since RPM changes must occur quickly and repeatedly. I'm not sure that there would be much of an advantage when road racing since the throttle changes are more smooth and farther apart.

This setup does rattle, especially when the motor is very warm. I've had people ask me if my Mini was a diesel. The combo of the stage 3 clutch and light fw makes stop-and-go ,as well as hills, problematic. If you drive a lot in traffic, best get your left calf mucles in shape. You'll be attempting to feather the clutch prettty much continuosly.

FWIW, my clutch is about toast so I'm going to the Stage 3+ which supposedly has Stage 5 power capability but is much easier to drive than the Stage 3. They're on sale from Spec in December for $483.65.

Also, UUC = rebadged Spec.

 

Sorry Mario, I don't want to de-rail your thread but I have to know more on this.

Tuls,

I was planning on adding a 2% crank pulley in January. I have a 15% SC pulley. Should I not do this? On the cars you are talking about, how much HP were they putting down?

Longboard

 

From my experience ( not on a MINI ) the binary nature of engagement is more a function of clutch/pressureplate than flywheel weight.
A light FW with an OEM clutch will be quite different than that same FW with a Stage 3 combo.

Is this still true with the MINI?

 

obehave, thanks.

I also still want to know about the advantages of a lightened FW IN COMBINATION with the OEM clutch. Do you get the more rapid acceleration but without all the "chattering" and "on/off" syndrome of the competition clutch? Seems to me from the discussion above that the LWFW with OEM clutch would be perfect for a daily driver?? Thanks.

 

The chattering is from the LW flywheel, not the clutch. The "button" style of engagement is more influenced by clutch so an OEM clutch should have a more civil engagement than a stage 2 or 3.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I'd never pay 8 hours of labor + $400 for the fw just for the minimal performance gain, especially if I didn't autocross.

 

this is what I am wrestling with..... what to do.... I am going to need a clutch.... do I go flywheel and quaiffe and which clutch..... this is a street/twisties driven car..... it easy to say do this or that but once it is in the $ is spent and unlike and exhaust or intake it doesn't come back out in minutes.....

 

http://www.altaminiperformance.com/p...Single-Stage-3

 

The nice thing is even heavy duty pressure plates on a MINI aren't that bad. Work out with a comp clutch pack on a big block for a couple months and the MINI will be a breeze You want more clamping and friction than OEM. At your mod level that's a given. So you're talking Stage 2 at a minimum. That's the easy decision.
For me personally the big decision is the Quaiffe. Everyone jumps on the band wagon and insists this is a must mod, but is it really?
How often does your car break loose now? You get snow but not really enough to make that a big decision point either.
If you were a track/auto-x junkie it's be easier but even then unless you're really committed i.e. onasled et al is it worth $2K+?

Let me know because I'm approaching the same place you are now.

 

I'm in much the same place as well (or would be if not for $$). Obehave, your comments are sensible and sane with regard to need/use. I have come to recognize that I'm crazy and irrational when it comes to the MINI and feel that there are many of "my kind" out there (perhaps even Spider). I don't track my car but would like to, never seem to find the time though. Still, it is important for me to "feel" the performance and would spend the dough for that alone (quick revs up and down, etc.). I can live with learning the new engage but might have trouble with the noise (sensory input again). Is it possible to discribe the desiel like rattle volume?

 

With the deal I have with my favorite mechanic the labor is no more for the quaiffe so once I am there I may as well do it..... because hopefully I won't go there again... anytime soon..... it is really an $1100 decision....

I'm thinking stage 2 with whoever I go with..... drove one the other day and it was fine..... trying to avoid the costs until early next year......

the clutch is squaking a bit when it is cold and that can go on for a long time.... I don't do "launches" and the clutch holds fine once I'm moving... it is really the squawk that is letting me know.....

 

Well with a deal like that I'd have to go with it.

 

I anybody's interested I could try to take a small video clip of the rattle. Unfortunately, I only have a Treo so the sound quality won't be that great.

 

Is a Quaife worth it for an autocrosser? Heck yeah. Not only is it faster, the car is more fun to drive with it on course.

For a purely street driver? I'd say no for a mostly stock car and mildly aggressive driver, but SpiderX is probably in the power realm that he would appreciate the added grip and notice the change more often if he is in the habit of playing with the throttle in the twisties.

Are there any drawbacks to the Quaife? Only the purchase and install bucks. Once it is in there, it is wonderful with plenty of benefits and no downside. I haven't regretted it for a second, and my install also cost me about 1500 miles worth of gas and two nights in a hotel.

Scott
90SM

 

Yep for sure. I was refering to the exedy clutch in general. I had an RPS flywheel/pressure plate and a stock disk and it was just like stock except the screeching noise the setup made on low rpm clutch engagement.

 

At 150K miles and 89 Track (road course) days its time for a complete motor refresh, I am having DMH rebuild the engine and he suggested Spec Flywheel and stage 2 clutch since I also use the car as a daily driver.
If it was not for track duty I would not touch the engine, but I do not think that I will get 35 more days out of this engine without some work, so new head, rings, quaife LSD, fly wheel, and clutch + a full custom tune, no more MTH, this is scheduled for the first week of January so that I can make it to VIR end of January with NASA and THSCC, I instruct with these clubs