So does a lightened flywheel really reduce drivetrain loss and get more power to the wheels?

 

i thought if anything, it allowed your engine to hit redline faster.

 

well thats a good one, id like to see a dyno. I was wonder if its a weight for a reason.

 

Revving faster is one thing but honestly, is it worth the $300 to kiss redline a little quicker? If it actually reduced drivetrain loss, I'd be all over it...but I have yet to see proof of this.

 

Buy it.....Install it....Dyno......Be a pioneer

 

I do not have a dyno sheet of my car with a Fidanza on it, but my SE-R has "gained" 9WHP from installing a JUN ultra light flywheel and another 5HP from Unorthodox pulleys (crank and water pump only). I seen a dyno chart of a 3.5L Altima with a JWT flywheel and it put out 20WHP accross the powerband on average. If the engine can rev up faster it means it can produce more power, if that wasn't the case manufacturers wouldn't go crazy bout light weight engine internals.

 

It will definately help. However, I wouldn't spend the money again. It just isn't worth it in my opinion.

 

So are there any negatives to buying a lighter aftermarket flywheel?

 

The difference b/t a stock flywheel vs. my Fidanza is incredible. The motor gets into its powerband so much more quickly and screams for the redline. But the VE makes its power up top and VQ30DE doesn't really have any top end so maybe the difference wouldn't be as noticeable to you. But if you swapped in a VI...

 

I have a 00VI. Maybe the next time the trans comes off...

 

I didn't notice anything with mine

 

i noticed a huge difference is responce. power seems to have shifted alot. with my few mods, shes no longer a torque monster that she was, now shes deff more of a high rpm lover. and i did actually feel when i got my udp put on, i figure that was part to do with the huge difference of weight i took off when combining the two.

i was affraid of all the launch issues i was hearing about when i was shoppin. in normal driving i dont think my fidanza with my act is any harder to fdrivet han stock. altho it doesn seem a lil trickier to launch when im tryin to get off the line fast, i havent mastered it yet. but i ahve abunch of new mods going on soon, so im gonna have to relearn again anyways.

either way lightweight flywheels offically rock in my book!

 

The VE just makes too much powah to notice a difference

 

Well for those that don't want to put out the money, you can always have your stock flywheel lightened for $50 or so. In addition, the only reason I wouldn't want to purchase is because they warp over time. Not saying its happended for everyone but it has happened for most of my friends.

 

I put my Fidanza in at 64K miles, I currently have 155K miles- never been resurfaced, its holding a 2nd clutch so far and its not warped. My ACT pressure plate failed for 2nd time at exacly 30K miles and I've been using Exedy Racing Stage 1 for the last 60K miles with no issues what so ever.

I say warping is directly related to peoples driving habits.

 

I have no experience with lightened flywheels on maximas but my integra has a 7.5 lb flywheel. The stock one is about 20lbs im told. I have had it in place for about 5 years now, maybe 40,000 miles. Have had NO problems, in fact i just had to replace the stage 3 clutchmaster and a jacked up throw out bearing but the flywheel was fine. With a modified b16 engine that revs to 9000rpm it was a huge difference. It was already tricky to launch so that didnt change. And the thing climbs revs so quick that it sounds like a bike. Obviously it makes all its power up top, like 6k and up, so the power curve is more like a spike. The pull through the upper rpms is much quicker particularly in the first couple gears. It seemed to make extremely high rpm shifting actually smoother too.
I would be very interested to see what happens on a VQ35 with its smooth power and torque and low fuel cut. Anyone out there with a 5.5 six speed and light flywheel? driving impressions? In stock trim I dont like how it holds its rpms so much at a high rpm shift. I definitely dont want to lose that smooth torquey feel however. Also, if anyone has some dyno charts post em up.

 

I Entirely agree, it cost me about $120 for my machine shop to drop 4.5lb's off my stock flywheel, but honestly i think it made a huge difference in the driveabilty of the car. i did not want to be as light as the fidanza, and i heard of problems with their quality control. My curent setup seems to almost directly trade the low end grunt for faster revs, and harder pull after about 4 grand. it also seemed to help with my wheel hop problems on the track. all said and done it also seemed to work out to about a .2 sec. improvement in my 1/4 mile slips.

 

IMO..anytime you drop rotating mass, with UDP/lighter wheels/slicks vrs radials/flywheel/ etc...you are making it easier for the HP you have to spin up to its sweet spot. You are not always gonna feel it, but it should be easily seen on a before and after dyno graph.

 

well IMO the the stupid long gearing our 4thg en trannys have especially 2nd gear...it would help

 

Anyone wanna go into a dissertation about inertia and momentum... and perhaps the subsequent the effect of gearing?

 

Sigh. I have several times in the past. It gets old after a few times...

 

Been there, done that. Many times over. Why don't you do it again and fill everyone else in? I'll check your report for inaccuracies and publicly berate you when I find anything mispelled or incorrect.

 

Hope its not a super dumb question.. but

Will this work for Automatics? They both have flywheels I just don't know how the torque converter connects and how much surface area it needs etc.

 

no. automatic has a 'flex plate', not a flywheel. same function, different part.

 

The biggest improvement I noticed when I put the lightened flywheel on my Maxima was throttle response. The throttle response was just awesome with the lightened flywheel.

The VG revs faster than the 1.8 in my MR2.

 

To add to what matt said, they are also very very thin. Maybe an 1/8 of an inch at best. Kinda cool how they can stand up to 300K miles and no one ever thinks of replacing them. My old VG had one that was lightly cracking. But it also had a stripped TC. But in the end Id sooner beef up a flex plate then lighten it.

~Alex

 

I love it. Especially while in the car.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the VQ35 6spd's out there have dual-mass flywheels, an extremely chunky flywheel. Lighten that flywheel too much and you're going to lose driveability and it's definitely going to rev like a bike. I'm keeping the stock 4th gen flywheel on my VQ35 swap until I find hard evidence that a fidanza/stillen/etc flywheel will make a >5WHP difference from stock on it...or I'll just wait till I get some money to burn so I can buy one and dyno before and after for you fools.

SR20DEN has a thread in the All Motor forum about his experience with an extremely lightweight flywheel on his 6spd VQ35. He was not happy with his experience.

 

Lightened flywheels aren't like other mods where the gains are equal in each gear. The gains from a lightened flywheel are prominent in first gear, slightly less in 2nd, less in 3rd, and perhaps even indistinguishable from stock in 4th and 5th. Odds are it won't show up on the dyno for this reason.

He still has it on his car. He must like something about it. But that product isn't a good example since not only is the flywheel lightweight, but so is the pressure plate. Also, the diameter is a bit smaller to lessen inertia as well.

 

^^^^^ Nismology couldn't have put it better.

 

I have the stillen one...no complaints so far except for the fact that I should have replaced my clutch while I was in there but already sold my exedy stage one to someone on here which was a regret...oh well...noticed the reduction in rev time to be about as much of a difference as when you put in a lightweight crank pulley...no side effects except that it feels as if your clutch is less grippy although it's not, it just feels that way as the feedback and the fact that you need to rev a little more to get moving off a redlight makes you feel that way...overall a worthwhile mod as I road race and autocross, so I need the revs to get out of the low end quicker to I can get into the "meat" up top sooner...but overall just a slight difference...

 

Lightened flywheel will help your performance. I have been boosted and it definitely helps. Helps you rev up faster into some boost

 

Jay how much would you charge to put a Y-Pipe on for me? The stock one is bouncing and clanking around anyway.

 

Please use the PMs if you're going to get OT

 

Please use the PMs if you're going to get OT about getting OT.

 

Nismology is correct, no one ever dyno's in 1st gear, but if you did you'd first of all see a loss compared to normal 3rd or 4th gear dynos. Then if you went back after a LW flywheel install you'd see less loss in 1st gear. I had one a long time ago on a modded neon, it felt great revving like a motorcycle and pulling harder in 1st gear, but actual performance gain in terms of drag racing times were negligible. If you are a hardcore drag racer with consisten times on slicks, then you might benefit in a measurable way from a LW flywheel, for everyone else they are just cool and create a little more wheelspin on the street.

 

One more thing, it also improved my gas mileage. Not just on my Maxima but also on the Honda civic Hatchback.

 

actually for the most part, you lose time by dropping too low on flywheel weight at the dragstrip. the lower inertia of the engine makes it much harder to get off the line and your 60' time suffers. you gain some of it back once you're rolling, but you lose a lot at the line.

look at most V8 drag racers.. they run the stock flywheel or in many cases will go even heavier. a 60lb flywheel on a big block chevy is very common. allows them to dump the clutch at redline and pull off without bogging the engine. with a lighter flywheel, the engine would bog down on the start.

but for road course use, that initial start doesn't matter at all. The lighter, the better. In fact, many of the racers I know will use an automatic tranny's flexplate and mount a tiny twin or triple disc tilton clutch on it. total weight, about 8lb. revs like a bike.

In auto X it's still important to get a good start, but you have much more time accelerating and decelerating than you do getting off the line.

 

ive been thinking about doin a clutch and flywheel

 

Yeah. To go along with that. Many people miss the entire point of the draintrain being lightened. It's not outright power. Outright power as normally an expression of RPM x power curves is not the entire power output story.
Just as important is the power curves VS elapsed time.
You go looking at a normal dyno of most stock 20lb'ish flywheels VS a 6-10lb flywheel. You are going to be whole heartidly unimpressed.

Now once you realize that the power curve VS the elapsed time may be a full second, or more differance in a bad case... Now all of a sudden only see a 5-6-7bhp increase in power on an RPM dyno looks a hell of alot more impressive.