10 replies to this topic

[westlin]

Going to be stripping the clutch down to fit a centre oil pickup in the gearbox. One question I have is around the flywheel and if I either get it lightened or replace for a lightened flywheel or even leave ut well alone. The car is a 1275 cooper 91 (pre injector).

 

Can anyone tell me what the weight of the standard flywheel is, so I can then workout what approach to go down.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Stephen

[Artful Dodger]

do you need it lighter??  if its just because you are there  then id say thats a good enough reason.

 

 

the ultralight ones are good, if expensive. but for a road car id gut get a standard one lightened and balenced. if its the huge 1300 flywheel with balance weights on it, i can tell you how to lighten it as i have done myself

 

you need a lathe and mounting equipment, take the thick wall off the back, behind the ring gear. this was to make the engine run smoother but wasnt helpful for performance because it weighs so much!  the other place to take metal off is on the face of the flywheel. i took 100tho off, this was enough to shed weight and to make a good weight saving.  although i havnt weighed it :/ sorry!

[westlin]

_{Do you have any pics. I hav a lathe but I'm guessing it wont fit as it's only a myford. I've seen a couple of adverst saying that they can do the machining. Where are you based?}

[Tamworthbay]

_{Do you have any pics. I hav a lathe but I'm guessing it wont fit as it's only a myford. I've seen a couple of adverst saying that they can do the machining. Where are you based?}

Which Myford? I have done a couple on our work ML3, then it was replaced with a Chester (made in china and nowhere the quality of the Myford) and that JUST fits a mini flywheel on. I butchered an old crank to make a mount. Makes setting a doddle.

[westlin]

ML7 not sure the diameter of the flywheel so not sure if it will fit?

[Ethel]

I'd say the main reason for buying one is a better grade of material. There's only really an advantage accelerating off the line.

[Tamworthbay]

ML7 not sure the diameter of the flywheel so not sure if it will fit?

My memory of the ml7 is a bit vague, I think it has a cutout under the chuck doesn't it? (I.e. The bed doesn't go all the way), but I think the chuck sticks out enough to cover all of it. If you swap from a chuck to a simple backplate them you would gain a good bit of height but you would need to be very precise on centreing it.

[westlin]

My son and I want to do some sprinting so the main driver for accelaration, its just a case of understanding the monetry element against the performance and thats why I'm trying to understand the weight difference.

 

Re the lathe the ML super 7 is not a gap bed. Looking at pics of the ML3 it does look like it has a bigger capacity. The ML7 is 7''

[carbon]

Alternative approach is to leave the flywheel as is (unless this is the ultra-heavy 1300 'rimmed' version) and instead replace the standard cast-iron backplate with the lightweight steel backplate. The steel one is also a lot tougher.

 

This will save a substantial amount of weight, and does not involve any machining.

[Guess-Works.com]

As they have a 1991 cooper it'll be a verto clutch so there is no back plate to swap...

 

IMO, leave it as it or change the whole clutch setup for an ultralight diaphragm install, which will cost you between 300 and 400 once you've change the clutch arms etc...

 

if you do put something in a lathe to lighten it, make sure you get it balanced as just taking material off will upset the current balance of the unit.

[carbon]

Thanks for the correction Guessworks - I had not realised this was a Verto set-up.