ZO6 Fan

Suggestions-opinionsPlease-which one works better for a daily driver/ weekend racer ( I know weight advantage is a plus for aluminum) Thanks to all

6Speeder

What KIND of racing?
Drag racing with sticky tires? Don't do it. You need the inertia the heavy flywheel provides.

Road racing or street use? Absolutley! You'll love it.

IPS Motorsports

If you like to slip* the clutch then stay away from the fidanza, as you will warp the aluminum disc quickly,and then have a bad seating surface. I would stick with a light weight steel or a twin disc style clutch.

6Speeder

The Fidanza flywheel has a steel friction surface and gave me 6 years of trouble-free service, including slipping the clutch as needed for smooth street operation.

From their website:


Our aluminum flywheels are made from the highest quality 6061 T6 aluminum. The material is fantastic for strength, heat dissipation and of course reduction in weight. The friction surface we use is an icredibly strong 1045 steel. The flywheel friction plates are milled to meet our high specifications. A Fidanza aluminum flywheel can mate with any type of clutch material, including organic, kevlar, ceramic, metallic and sintered iron. We attach the replaceable friction surface with military grade aerospace fasteners. With these replaceable friction plates there is no need to replace the entire flywheel when the clutch or flywheel is at the end of it's life, saving time and money. The ring gears we use are also made from 1050 steel and are heat treated for durability. The flywheel ring gears are heated then pressed on and secured with grade 8 button screws. We were the first to utilize a stepped dowel system in most of our flywheel applications. This doweling method ensures that once the pressure plate is installed the dowels cannot be removed because they become locked into place.
No chromemoly can compete with the awesome serviceablity, strength and superior design of Fidanza's aluminum flywheels. If there was a better material out there, we would be using it.

John Shiels

work great easy to drive. I let the clutch out twice and I was use to it.

PowerLabs

I've always had lightweight steel flywheels on all my cars and they were one of the very best mods I've ever done; I can hardly wait to get one put on my Corvette.
That said, I personally think that the aluminum flywheel is a bit too light, specially if you plan on getting a lightweight pulley as well; too little rotational inertia on your engine and it be very difficult to launch without a top of clutch slip. Also, if you get an agressive cam, the flywheel will greatly intensify the surging and lope.

SpinMonster

I think I know where the myth came from but there are quite a few variables you skipped. First to let you in on a secret. The fastest C5 coupe with stock dispalcement 5.7 liter ran a ram 900 with a fidanza aluminum flywheel at the 1/4 track.

Phil reported zero launching issues and the car required no additional revs from the less weight. He said the bog was . He didnt have to rev it any higher than the prior set-up.

Shorter stroke cars such as the old 327 chevy motor that didnt make the TQ of other motors had this issue with needing all the TQ help they could get. Anyone with direct launching experience OF A C6 with one of these flywheels knows there is an rpm at which the car will blow off the tires. These cars make thier share of TQ. Even with my new found traction, I find no issues what so ever of getting the car launched with a 3k clutch drop. The rpms are as sharp. Corvettes dont bog from aluminum flywheels unless its a gen2 with a 327 or a 200hp GEN3.

My Dart, wheelie and all on launch, has no issues at the track with an aluminum flywheel.

I have had the fidanza on my 2001 H/C/4.10 with a SPEC 3 clutch and on it is currently my 2005 with 3 different cams along with a RAM 921 and a Z06 clutch. The Z06 clutch is the heaviest freekin clutch in the world and is ideal for use with the fidanza. The weight of that combo is about the same as any normal C5 clutch you would put in a C6 and therefore makes no difference what application you use it on. The use of the SPEC 3 with the fidanza is when I knew everyone that said this non-sense about launches on the street and at the track were absolutely false. So many people told me exactly what is said here and I didnt believe it. I think the place it started was the import rice world.

I have never noted any change in 1600rpm surge/lope since that is where is is evident on any cam and with my current set-up, I dont even need to touch the gas pedal to get the car moving. With the RAM 921, the combo weighing far less than stock was no more difficult to get the car moving. PHIL97SVT noted the same BS rumor was false when his huge cammed C5 had no issues on the street requiring no additional revs to do the same things it did the day before when he destroyed his clutch. His comments were based only on the flywheel's addition since he replaced it with the same clutch.

My current set-up with the Z06 clutch feels and engages exactly like stock and since I know people who used 325 hoosiers on the street with 650rwhp and 780rwtq, the Z06 clutch can handle anything on the street. As I said, the engagement of the clutch requires no different amount of throttle than a LS2 with the stock flywheel. You will notice nothing other than much faster revs when the car is in gear and the car has no bog with any of the 3 cams I have used. 4.10's and 3.90's would certainly make that a closed case.

Those in the know on 1/4 mile track driving dont like the Z06 clutch for that application but if you were to do it, the weight savings from the stock flywheel gets the clutch only slightly lighter than a typical C5 clutch and flywheel.

So in the end direct experience with 3 cars and 4 different clutch set-ups on 6 different cams total on my part and one other forum member's experiences say: 1/4 or oval, get the fidanza unless you have an import with bogging issues from lack of TQ. All else is a perpetuated rumor not from a C5 or C6.

The bog rumor starts from some guy with an import and then everyone who believes it wont get one fro their corvette and they type this stuff everytime the topic comes up. Talk to guys with this mod and get it for street use with any cam and you will recommend it forever.

One word of caution: Cartek was one of the tuners against the mod due to some of the aluminum flywheels warping. It wasnt a universal issue but they found it wasnt a good way to go for high rpm clutch dumpers. Considering the absolut sickazz nature of my uncontrolable C5 the flywheel on that car took punishment I wouldnt do to a rental car. It worked flawlessly and with 700rwhp on a forged motor, tubbed with 13" wide rear wheels (weldcraft again), nitrous application.

I miss it

Powerlabs: This is one time you want to listen to me frm experience and this is one mod you will love. Thinking there is a massive drop in bog from an aluminum flywheel to a light billet steel model is like feeling the difference between 3.90's and 4.10's. Like 4.10's I never spoke to someone with the Al fly that regretted it.

One last note: Very few people ever make the switch to a fidanza with out swapping the clutch, so the newer clutch was invariably tougher to engage than the stocker and therefore can account for what some think is a more difficult engagement. I hope people out there dont make the same mistake. Grabbier clutches arent as easy to get going and the aluminum flywheel was always to blame. My Z06 clutch put that to rest. I definitely have no issues with the unit. As always anyone that wants to drive my car to see how it engages you are welcome to do it. Sorry, no WOT runs though. Anyone with a Z06 that drives my car will notice no difference in engagement. It certainly revs sick fast though. Craigster05 can comment on that.

SpinMonster

You cant slip a twin disc according to guys that posted on that topic.

Corellian Vette

Get the Fidanza Aluminum Flywheel for what ever racing you like. Revs quicker and the needing a steel for drag racing is a myth. Makes launches more consistant.

Vetteoholic

I bought my 12.5 Lb Fidanza aluminum flywheel for my Z06 when I had the supercharger installed a few years ago. I'm at over 550 RWHP and I've been to the track many times. To this day there hasn't been one single issue with this flywheel. I love it, & it works great with my Centerforce clutch which was installed the same day

SpinMonster

Are you SURE it isnt bogging? Just kidding, my real question is what you think of the centerforce clutch...would you get it again?

HorsePower Junkie

Is the 2008 LS3 C6 flywheel the same as the 1998-2002 LS1 Camaro flywheel?

I still have a new in the box aluminum flywheel from a few years ago for a LS1 Camaro that I never used...

runutzzzzz

Good info! I've always heard the myth.

Vetteoholic

Yeah in a heartbeat The clutch feels like stock (pressure wise) and it can obviously take a beating One of the 900 HP Corvette's in Vette magazine was using this clutch quite a few years back & I remember reading that he loved it so I figured I would give it a shot. I wen't with the 12" Clutch & so far so good

6Speeder

It's not a myth. You have to use the stored energy of the spinning engine to overcome the inertia of the car at rest, to get the car to accelerate up to a speed where the horsepower of the engine will keep it accelerating without a bog. With a light flywheel the stored energy is less, you have to raise the rpm of the launch higher to get the same stored energy as the car with a heavy flywheel.

I drag raced my C5 with the stock flywheel and with the Fidanza. On stock or semi-sticky tires (BFG KD's in 315/35-17 sizes) the light weight flywheel worked OK, you just had to raise the launch rpm to avoid the bog. But, when I went to MT ET Street drag radials I launched at 3500, dead hooked and bogged. I raised the rpm to 4000 and the same thing happened, no spin at all then a bog. When it did the same thing at 4500 I quit raising the launch rpm and just slipped the clutch to launch.
Could I have raised the launch rpm even higher and found a point where the inertia stored in the high rpm launch could overcome the inertia of the car? Maybe, but with a stock diff, stock half shafts I felt something was gonna break. I have no doubt that a fully prepared car can overcome that bog with enough rpm, but for a street car that occasionally drag races on sticky tires, the stock flywheel is better.

PowerLabs

I love modding my car and this is one mod I would like to do in the future, but we can't forget that there is a properly researched Engineering decision behind EVERY single component in our cars, and all we are doing by modifying them is trading off one thing for another. The trade off with a lighter flywheel is less stored energy making it require more RPMs for launching. All factory cars come with heavier flywheels because they are smoother and easier to drive that way.

6Speeder

Don't get me wrong, for the street, it's a great mod. I loved mine. Even at the drag strip, on street tires, it was great. Just not with really sticky tires and stock drivetrain components.
BTW: mine was no " torque-less" import, it was a heads/cam 425 rwhp car with 3.73 gears.

ZO6 Fan

Yes I heard that about "The warping issue"

ZO6 Fan

Stay away from the Centerforce Clutches! I had one in my 02 Camaro SS -It didn't last 6 Months! My car was a weekend Drag racer/ occassional daily driver w/ 385 RWHP. I've had the best experience w/ RAM Clutches-"600+ Powergrip" I used a steel billet flywheel on that car

HorsePower Junkie

Anyone happen to know?

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