My flywheel is showing signs of wear--lots of small hairline cracks. I believe it is time for a replacement. Option 1: buy a new one from TRutland 700.00 Option 2: have this one machined down and a new hard steel insert installed. Option 3: make one( or buy aftermarket) from aluminum with an insert. anyone try options 2 or 3 yet??? anyone have any info on flywheel companies that been tried?
I dont' know if yhis will help, but I just bought a clutch from tilton (7.25", 3 disc), and they quoted me $1000 to custom make a new flywheel to hold it. I decided to just mount it on the stock flywheel, which meant cutting a .100" deep pocket and bolt pattern. http://www.tiltonracing.com/driveline/cc.html
Has your flywheel evr been machined before? A really good indicator of an over machined fly wheel, is the lack of timing marks on the wheel itself. If the wheel has been machined to a point were the marks are gone then it is time for a new one. If you can still fully see the marks then go ahead and get it machined. 308's don't put out enough power on a good day to worry about shattering a flywheel.
Same thing with mine. Mine had loads of cracks, but I had a couple thou' shaved off and no problems since... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Detail of "new" surface (Man, major P.I.A. doing individual posts for each pic...) Image Unavailable, Please Login
Nice pictures Peter...I always find your posts very enlightening and educational.....you just need to get a DSL line and you can really start cranking up your post numbers!
Peter's right, the cracks are superficial and magically dissapear when turned. No problems with mine after 8 months
Soon. Both Shaw and Telus offer it but both have had tech glitches in the last while. Waiting for it to get sorted out...
Hi Guys, I had an aluminum flywheel madeup by Mueller Fabricators several years ago. Unfortunately, I have not installed it since my car has not run in Four years now (How Sad....) Attached is a picture of my flywheel clutch set up. Anyway, there are two other companies I know that can make a flywheel for you. Quartermaster makes a flywheel and clutch package, I think its for racing although it seems like you can opt for a streetable clutch. The other company is Paeco. www.paeco.com These guys can make an aluminum flywheel using your old ring gear. Paeco uses some sort of bronze insert. The also do full 308 engine rebuilds and seem to offer very competitive prices. Their flywheel was pretty reasonable. You also might want to check out Unorthodox racing. They used to be connected with Mueller Fabricators so they might have the template used for my flywheel. Fidanza might also make you a custom flywheel. Lastly, If I'm not mistaken, Norwood makes a replacement ring gear.
Thanks Peter, when I had it made, they said it would be completely streetable. The flywheel was made on a cnc machine and engraved with two sets of timing marks from -15 to 50 degrees BTDC. The flywheel has a replaceable steel insert, but I will now have to make my own if it wears out. Luckily I now have access to a machine shop and can make my own if I have to. Its actually a dual disc setup. One disc is sprung and the other is solid. Both are 4 puck discs. I sent my original flywheel in because it was unserviceable. Mueller Fabricators was well known in the import scene for a while. They were always featured in the magazines. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think someone passed away and they folded their business. Too bad for me, as the unit was custom made. On the other hand, the clutch discs look completely serviceable and I am sure I can get someone to reline them if needed. The Quarter Master set up sounds interesting and I'd give them a call. I have a catalog with a part number of 506276 and shows a weight of 10.9 pounds. I think the original is somewhere around 14 or so (I could be mistaken as I weighed it a long time ago). The flywheel works with their 7.25" multi disc clutch setups. I have not called them, but it seems like they have some options to make the setup streetable. Their phone number is (847) 540-8999. If anyone calls them, please post what they find. I keep thinking one of these days I'm going to put all this "trick" stuff thats been sitting around my house in to the car. I have a TWM FI intake setup that makes the coolest paperweight, Modena Engineering camshafts, a 328 crankshaft under my desk at work (brake booster too), Car doors in my dining room, a bumper in my closet, a brand new outdated Electromotive TEC II to go with my TWM FI paperweight. Cars are a terrible addiction. Alan
Alan, Nick sells the quartermaster set-up and I talked to him about it in great detail. It's a simple $200 rebuild if it ever needs it. They say adding a hydraulic throwout bearing makes it "streetable as long as you're willing to live with some chatter". I didn't think I was. I decided to go with the a 3 disc tilton carbon-carbon unit which they claim is perfectly well mannered on the street. It should be here today, I'll let you guys know if it does what they say.
