Aluminum Flywheel? 2003 Cobra nets 2 tenths, same for our 5.0's?
 

Just got my new issue of AUTOMOBILE magazine, and it states that FORD gained 2 tenths of a second in 0-60 and 1/4 mile times with the aluminum flywheel, the new supercharged cobra uses a iron block for added strength, do you think this "2 tenths" would apply to us? Or is it because we are dealing with a pressurized system?

Chris? any T.V. tips? LOL

Not sure.... but it's enough that I'm jam'n one in my FOX!


any weight savings along the drivetrain is going to help you. The engine has less restriction, which free's up robbed HP. It's common sense

it'd be nice
 

An aluminum flywheel would be great... the only problem is there a couple hundred $$$ and when your bank account reads $137.35 and the $88.00 loan payment is about to hit, and you don't have a job cuz your a broke engineering student, aluminum flywheels just don't seem that attainable.

We could probably figure it out..... Unit is the math man. Whats the weight difference on the 2?

Skyler

The stock flywheel is around 50 oz. I've seen a few 22oz flywheels for sale on ebay, but im sure they make different weighted flywheels for different applications.

This refers to the engine imbalance, not the overall weight of the flywheel.

'82 and later 5.0's use a 50oz imbalance, before that they used a 28oz. imbalance.

I dont have a stock flywheel to weigh, but my SPEC aluminum one weighs just over 11lbs.

andy

my mistake
 

sorry bout that then... I stand corrected

My aluminum fly is also just a tad north of 11 lbs. too. The stocker is close to 25 pounds, I believe.

When I switched, I noticed no gains in the 1/4, however I only got to race it once with a horrible 60' time of 2.2+ - so it's difficult to say with any degree of certainty.

Any loss of reciprocating weight is a good thing. The 'loss' of torque that some people talk about, well, I didn't notice anything significant.

With my 331 build-up, my crank is now 55 lbs, so the aluminum fly helps to bring down total reciprocating weight - we'll see.

E

No flames, Agent :)

I learn something here everyday!

Eric I was thinking the stocker was up around 35, but I cant remember for sure.

andy

The stock flywheel is approx 28 pounds and not good for performance. Aluminum is faster, by as much as a half second in extreme cases. It's the same in concept to bolting on a set of weld draglight rims or an aluminum driveshaft, less rotating weight, more acceleration. Aluminum flywheels are so effective at boosting acceleration that they are often banned from use in most road racing classes because they provide an unfair advantage over those people who can't afford them. As for the loss in torque, if your engine makes 330 ft-lbs of torque an aluminum flywheel is not going to take that away from you, if anything you will have more going to the rear wheels because it takes less to turn the flywheel. The only thing it does change is LAUNCH TORQUE. Lighter flywheel, less inertia, less of a hit at the tires. Depending on how drive the car off the starting line you could see an inprovement of two tenths on you 60 foot times.
And finally, due to the lighter weight, it will make your engine sound like it has a bigger cam in it than what it actually has.

If you fellas do a search, we posted this topic too weeks ago. You will all enjoy the reply that it got. I have one bugeted also.

LMAO... this thread is what, like 3 months old? hehee

Andy

For a car with street tires, you will see an improvement with the aluminum flywheel. If you have a high horsepower car on slicks, you will also see an improvement. You will not see an improvement on a near stock car running on slicks or sticky drag radials. The car will bog on the luanch.

As for regular driving, it will problably help you, although you will need to give it a bit of gas if you are going up and down hills.

Your revs will also drop quicker when you shift, which will reqiure more heel-toe downshifting and rev matched shifts for the guy concerened with every tenth around the road course.