Lighter flywheel

[jtanguay]

anyone know of any good places to get flywheels lightened in the GTA???  I want to get mine lightened to around 14-16 lbs but withing a few grams... gotta keep the vibrations to a minimum  :wink:

just seems like a great idea.  i want a zippy car so this sounds like what i need!

thanks guys!

[Pat Dolan]

i was told that back when the bugs were being developed they had bad harmonics that were breaking cranks due to stresses of being horizontally opposed, and the fix was better balancing and having a forged crank instead of cast, reason why all vw's and audis have forged cranks now. if anyone knows different than please correct me!

-Jack-

Well, when the bug was being developed, most of the real engineering efforts were in making clandestine war machines.

Horizontally opposed engines have extremely low levels of design-peculiar stress, since they are inherently very well balanced.  No production VW air cooled engine of which I am aware ever had (or needed) a forged crank or rods.  They didn't even have counterweights (again, not necessary due to being horizontally opposed and relatively low revving).  You will also note that they also never had (or needed) any form of vibration damper - due to the relatively short, and thus very stiff crankshaft.

Also, unfortunately, not all VWAG cranks today are forged either (though some are - such as TDIs).

[hillfolk'r]

How are the VW diesels balanced...internally or via balancer

almost all german cars have each component balanced seperatly, and normally only engines that have a long crank (inline 6, v8 or bigger) have a balancer to lessen the harmonics that are produced.

i was told that back when the bugs were being developed they had bad harmonics that were breaking cranks due to stresses of being horizontally opposed, and the fix was better balancing and having a forged crank instead of cast, reason why all vw's and audis have forged cranks now. if anyone knows different than please correct me!

-Jack-

ive logged like 80k on my old td,with a 7 pound 210mm fw
now the setup is on my tdi-m,and no problems so far
heck i turned the weight off in a lathe,and didnt even balance it
my bearings looked fine on recent teardown
yea harmonics are different on a flat engine
 

heres one,,i dont know  of a supplier in the uk,,but they should be avalable somewhere there

http://store.blackforestindustries.com/21lifl.html


thats not a bad deal,actually
since i need to get my 4 puck relined(oildown),instead of surfacing my fw again,i think ill get one of those :wink:

[boosted_diesel_84]

 No production VW air cooled engine of which I am aware ever had (or needed) a forged crank or rods.  They didn't even have counterweights (again, not necessary due to being horizontally opposed and relatively low revving).  You will also note that they also never had (or needed) any form of vibration damper - due to the relatively short, and thus very stiff crankshaft.

Also, unfortunately, not all VWAG cranks today are forged either (though some are - such as TDIs).

i have never seen a vw/audi crank and/or rod that was not forged from the factory, gas or diesel, except a very very few 1.7 gassers had a cast crank,every bug has forged crank and rods, every idi ive seen has forged crank and rods, all 16v and 1.8 8v have forged, 1.8t's i know are forged, vr6 are forged, and the new 2.0t is also forged, and every audi motor from the old 5 cyl, to the new 4.2 v8 has forged crank/rods. i work at a machine shop that specializes in Audi/VW, and ive seen lots of motors

[stewardc]

I drove in a Mk 2 Jetta with an AAZ and a lightened flywheel. the only thing I didn't like was the noticeable increase in vibration at low revs and idle. Definitely less dampening. I'll stick to the stock flywheel, thanks.