Lightened Flywheel - Pros/Cons

sophos9

Next week the car is in Courtenays for the clutch to be sorted - whilst the box is off the car I'm having new clutch, slave and anything else that looks dodgy changed. On of the things on the list is a lightened flywheel - can someone who has had this done on their Vectra B help please

Basically I'm after your experience of it, what works well post upgrade and what you dont like? I've heard some things around decreased engine breaking being a pain, stalling, better torque and more punchy revving however I'm after some facts also

Thanks in advance

sophos9

Anyone (johnny??) :lol:

JohnnyN

I've had no problems with mine other than what you've already heard about stalling but that's just down to you having to adapt your clutch control. The engine does rev more freely due to the new flywheel being almost half the weight of a stock item. I like it and would recommend it. As for increased torque, from my own experience only, I can't say that I noticed 'major' gains. The dyno graphs of before and after were negligable but the car has been run on several different dyno's so its difficult to pin it down unless the run is a before and after on the same dyno.

sophos9

Ah great, thanks for sharing some facts about torque claims. I've got no problems adjusting driving style to suit

If you had to summarise the top 3 best things about the lightened flywheel what would they be mate?

JohnnyN

As I said above, I can only speak from my own experience, I didn't get 'major' torque gains but that's not to say there weren't any. The mere fact that the engine can now spin up more freely will help acceleration. This is one of those mods that works well in conjunction with other mods such as improving your exhaust system and improving inlet flow, cams etc.

sophos9

Thanks again mate, that will work for me then as over time, I'm going to have additional work done 🙂

ATOM_X

JohnnyN said:
As I said above, I can only speak from my own experience, I didn't get 'major' torque gains but that's not to say there weren't any. The mere fact that the engine can now spin up more freely will help acceleration. This is one of those mods that works well in conjunction with other mods such as improving your exhaust system and improving inlet flow, cams etc.

Agreed

Reducing rotating mass will NOT increase torque
But
Will improve bhp characteristics

example
F1 engines have low torque but spin up quickly to high revs thus high bhp
Motorcycle engines have low torque but spin up quickly to high revs thus high bhp

sophos9

Great thanks for the info!! Can make an informed decision now 🙂

vocky

the only downside is the price :lol:

makes the engine respond better and is a 'must do' if changing the clutch :thumbup:

alanoo

ATOM X said:

JohnnyN said:
As I said above, I can only speak from my own experience, I didn't get 'major' torque gains but that's not to say there weren't any. The mere fact that the engine can now spin up more freely will help acceleration. This is one of those mods that works well in conjunction with other mods such as improving your exhaust system and improving inlet flow, cams etc.

Agreed

Reducing rotating mass will NOT increase torque
But
Will improve bhp characteristics
**
example
F1 engines have low torque but spin up quickly to high revs thus high bhp
Motorcycle engines have low torque but spin up quickly to high revs thus high bhp**

That's not true, not written like that.
The low inertia on those engine is a consequence of their architecture, not a design choice and not even the think that make them rev high.

All of that are just a consequence of a single fact : these are low stroke engines.
These characteristics are only a consequence of this single design choice, nothing else :thumbup: