I have had an Aasco lightweight flywheel for 40K+ miles now

I have a 2001 'S'. It's time to replace the clutch/pressureplate/flywheel and( I'll do the IMS/RMS at the same time). I have looked online and there are a lot of chooses. What clutch/flywheel/pressureplate would you recommend for a spirited daily driver? Thanks Jack.

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Thanks for the replies. So you stayed with the dual mass flywheel? is anyone using a Light weight flywheel out there that can share results? Jack.

made as light as it can be but no lighter. In the case of a lightweight flywheel on these cars I think the thing is too light. Too light in that it doesn't have the dual mass feature which also acts as a vibration dampener. These engines no longer have that as part of the front crank drive pulley the function is provided by the flywheel.

IIRC Jake Raby on his web site writes that these engines are not well suited for light flywheels due to the missing vibration dampener feature.

Here's a snippet from his web site:

So- adding the light weight flywheel was a double negative, not only did it create imbalance, it also eliminated the harmonic dampening of the dual mass arrangement.

Due to this I feel that adding a lightweight flywheel to any existing engine is not a wise decision, and that they should only be added when the entire rotating mass can be balanced and indexed to accomodate the lightweight unit. This means engine disassembly, so I'd only add one of these when doing one of our performance upgrades so the entire assembly can be precisely balanced.

Again thanks for the replys. I will probably go with a 'spec' Dual Mass setup.

Have not found any negative results as of yet. Decrease in rotational mass, quicker to rev (I have a 2.5L so anything I can get, short of swapping in a 3.4L, I did). It chatters a bit if you are parked with no gear engaged and the clutch out, but thats a non issue for me. I know Raby harps on the lack of the dampener qualities, but I have heard other say that you have less weight hanging off the end of the motor = less strain and wear on that end of the motor. I believe the Aasco unit is only 13.75 lbs, half of the OEM units weight. Clutch-wise, I would suggest looking into a Spec clutch kit, it is what I will be going with next time around. Cheaper than a factory kit, and they have a very good reputation for quality. You can go with a "higher stage" clutch for less money than a factory kit, but it depends on the use for your car, mine has turned into a complete toy, not tracked, but I wanted racecar like experience to just have fun. If I could have done straight cut gears and a dog-box for reasonable price for my toy I would have, just for the fun of it!

Steve
Guards Red 1999
I'm not a race car driver, but I play one in 2nd and 3rd gear