Just looking for a concensus...what are some of your running and why?

Aluminum or steel? Fidanza, Spec, Ram, Yella Terra, etc.

 

changing from runflats will save more than the wheels.

I went from stock to 1" taller rims and 1" wider tires all around and I think it was something like 7-8lbs per wheel/tire together each.
That's allot

 

Ummm, "Flywheels" not "wheels"...but thanks for stopping by.

 

Don't go light weight. They typically don't have the mass to move the car off the line without playing with the throttle and they are a pain in the **** to tune due the lessened load they put on the engine. I put one on when I changed my clutch and hated it so much I pulled it all back a part and put a heavier one back in.

 

Light weight fly-wheels are for race cars, not street driven cars IMO.

 

Would anyone recommend using the LS7 flywheel (which is heavier than stock) instead of aluminum?

 

I knew I shouldn't have mixed that last drink

Flywheel weight has a lot to do with what you are going to do with the car. drag racing you need the weight to launch the car, road racing you want it lighter.

 

Lightweight flywheels can help and hurt...depends on what you are going for.

In the Corvette world, the generally do more good than harm. Because it is a flywheel, that means it stores engergy and a heavier object tends to stay moving more so than stopping so yes you generally have to give it more gas to get the car moving from a stop because it is much easier to stall a lighter weight moving part.

If we were talking about a 3500 lb car with 200 hp it would react much better with a heavier flywheel, but a 3100 lb car with a 400 hp engine can take advantage of not having so much weight to turn once the car is moving. You will have to learn how to drive the car again to some degree...depending on your particular setup.

In some cases with a big cam, tall gears, and a light clutch they can be a real pain to drive in stop and go traffic. Cars making a lot of torque down low typically do not have nearly as bad of an impact.

Generally speaking, removing 5-8lbs by just doing a lighter than stock flywheel but keeping the remaining parts of the clutch near stock you should not see this impact drivablity so much as what removing 20 lbs would do.

Changing material of the clutch disk itself can sometimes impact how the clutch behaves much more so than how much weight the clutch has.

Cars like the new ZR1, because of the torque it makes, you can remove a lot of clutch weight and the car doesn't care. I pulled almost 47lbs off of the clutch weight on Lou's ZR1 and it doesn't drive that much different than stock because of the amount of torque that it makes.

 

Thanks Anthony. That's along the lines of what I was wondering...if losing a few pounds of rotating mass would affect streetability.

 

i have a chromemoly in mine from monster. My Z is a DD and i like it.

 

I got nothing but thumbs up for lightweight aluminum flywheels. When I used to have a built up LS1, I upgraded to a SPEC 2 clutch, aluminum flywheel, and 3.90 gears. I loved it, and it felt like I gained 30 to 40 HP, but of course, it just felt that way because it was so much quicker to go through the gears. I had ~410 RWHP and 390 RWTQ on that engine and never had any problems with drivability or stop and go traffic as mentioned above. BTW, there are a lot of C6s with 500+ RWHP that are running lightweight flywheels and love them . . . just go to the C6 forum and you will see what I mean. Lastly, I cannot speak for having a lightweight flywheel with taller gears as I have 3.90s, as Anthony mentioned that will make a difference, you will lose the momentum force of the heavier flywheel. My suggestion is that you go to your local tuner and see if you can ride in the two different setups . . . that way you know what to expect. Hope this helps.
Mike C sends

 

I replaced mine with a Luk Gold clutch,it came with an alum. flywheel. Been driving it for last three years with no problems. In fact my 15 year old learned to drive a manual trans., in the vette, for first time last weekend, he managed just fine and impressed me.

 

My brother has a Fidanza aluminum flywheel on his '01 Z28 with cam, heads, and other goodies and has no problems launching the car. I've driven the car a couple of times and love the way it feels. It's street friendly and fun to drive.

 

I have a Y2K with bolt ons..headers...etc and I installed Fidanza aluminum flywheel five years ago. Zero problems to date. You have to give it a little more gas off the line but nothing major. You will notice the difference right away. I started the car, it reved so quickly. It will jump up to 6K rpm in the blink of a eye. It is really awesome on a road car. Going up and down the gears is money. It wiil put a smile on your face, do it.

TJ

 

Hey guys has any body made a pass down the 1/4 w/stock flywheel then alum.to see what advantage one may have over the other..my guessestimate would beonce tou get starting line technique down the alum should be faster...anybody???

 

If you're a frequent drag racer, then you won't want any LS7 clutch setup due to glazing and pedal sticking. (Look up Ranger's posts about the LS7 clutch in the c6z section.) The LS7 flywheel is a lot heavier, so you'll have more drivetrain loss, which will equate to less rear wheel HP.

Only SDPC sells a Ram 2552 aluminum flywheel for the LS7 clutch. It has a steel plate rivited to it so that the pressure plate makes contact there, and also the teeth are steel. I've read that the LS7 clutch rotating assembly with the Ram 2552 is right at our C5 clutch's stock weight. This is the setup I bought and will go in my car soon. It should drive like a dream on the street (no chatter!), no drivetrain loss compared to stock, and will be sufficient for occasional track use. Oh, and most importantly, the price was right

Good luck

 

It takes way more skill. It is one way or the other. You don't get it enough or too light throttle of the line.

 

Also between shifts the RPMs drop more.

 

Glad you like it, our billet flywheel is a happy median @18 lbs (between the steel @25lbs and aluminum @13lbs)...just becareful of warping the inserts of some aluminum flywheels, as I have done in the past

 

I have driven aluminum and found it about the same as driving my billet steel. The difference was the disk. As earlier stated, that will have a larger effect because some clutches want more RPM for a smooth start. Mine seems to like 1,100 RPM. Next time, I plan to go dual to get out some more of the inertia.