How to lighten the flywheel with your own hands: features, benefits and reviews

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

Today there are many ways to increase the power of a car engine. Fans of speed and drive often decide to lighten the flywheel. Let's see what advantages can be obtained from such a replacement, what features this process has and whether it is possible to do the process of relief with your own hands in the garage.

About regular item

No matter how motorists swear among themselves on the forum, the flywheel is an accurate and perfectly adjusted part. During development, engineers carefully calculated the load, torsional resistance and scrapping. The weight of a regular flywheel on most cars (with the exception of buses and trucks, as well as special equipment) is in the range of seven to nine kilograms. The exact weight depends on the specific model of the car and its class.

After starting the engine, a conventional flywheel begins to gain kinetic energy due to the work of the pistons, the injection and exhaust systems, as well as from the rotation of the crankshaft. During the operation of the power unit, part of the energy is wastedto unwind and rotate a heavy flywheel. The greater the mass of this metal disk, the more energy it will take to spin it. These costs are especially noticeable at high speeds (from 4500 rpm).

From all this it turns out that the flywheel prevents the engine from working, taking away part of the power. But not everything is so clear-cut here. Due to its mass, the flywheel takes unnecessary energy, which is generated due to detonation or other side processes. So, these processes do not go to the body in the form of vibrations, but are absorbed by the flywheel.

Lightweight element

The principle of it is quite simple. Folk ICE tuning specialists, and some tuning studios, tritely remove part of its weight. For example, up to 3.5 kilograms can be removed from a standard flywheel installed on most VAZ cars. The weight of the standard element is 7.5. And the lightweight flywheel installed on the VAZ will carry 4 kilograms, which is quite significant. It should be noted that today on sale there are many varieties of flywheels. You can lighten the part from 1.5 to 3.5 kilograms. Various experts explain this in their own way, but the essence here is the same - an increase in dynamic performance.

A fair question would be: "Why can't a flywheel be lightened, say, up to 1 kg, or even made like that in the factory?". It's simple - a part that is too light will be unstable and simply break. Various forces act on the element. And with too little weight, it will not withstand work onhigh loads.

This element must have a certain tensile strength, allowing it to work in standard modes.

Benefits of lightening

Let's see what a lightweight flywheel can give, installed on the VAZ-2107. After the lightening process, the part loses weight, which means that the engine will have to spend less energy on the spin-up process.

In this way, mechanical losses can be reduced. It takes less energy to spin the flywheel, respectively, the return of the power unit will increase. A lighter flywheel has less inertia. The motor will gain high and maximum speed faster. And in general, work at high speeds will be better.

All this is true, if you carefully calculate the forces of inertia, as well as the impact of centrifugal force. After comparing with the values on a standard flywheel, it becomes clear that for a lightweight part, it is indeed much less expensive. But it is at high speeds that the regular flywheel experiences excessive loads from the effects of centrifugal force and inertia.

Flaws

First thing to say, lightening the flywheel alone won't be enough. It is also necessary to correctly configure the rest of the engine parts. You will also need to lighten the crankshaft, correctly adjust the centering of the clutch basket.

Among the minuses, one can single out a decrease in structural strength, the absence of any visible effect at low engine speeds. It is also necessary to additionally perform balancing with crankshaftshaft and alternator belt pulley. A flywheel that has lost weight will conduct heat less efficiently - in winter, the transmission will take more time to warm up at idle. And finally, the cost of the flywheel is much higher, especially considering that this is a factory-made lightweight flywheel for the Priora from a well-known manufacturer, and not made in a garage by a handicraft method.

If the car is purchased for standard city driving up to 3000 rpm, then the effect of relief will be almost imperceptible. If the car is operated more extreme (at more than 4500 rpm), then the advantages of a lightweight flywheel will be noticeable.

Is it possible to make it easier with your own hands?

Standard flywheels are used as a basis, which are then lightened by cutting off the excess. Often, parts on the outer radius of the part are removed. By cutting grooves, you can remove from one and a half to two kilograms of weight. In this case, the strength characteristics of neither the flywheel itself nor its crown are violated. You can lighten the flywheel and more by removing three or more kilograms. But this option will already lose in strength.

Sometimes there are elements where the crown is welded by welding to what was left of the flywheel after lightening. But you can’t do this - strength is noticeably reduced.

How to reduce the weight of the flywheel with your own hands?

It is necessary to find a turner, but first print out the drawing of Singurindi. Weight loss using this technology is the safest. This is confirmed by experience - such technologyused by many.

For example, the standard weight of a classic VAZ flywheel is about 7 kilograms. With the help of Singurindi technology, it is possible to reduce the weight of the part to 4.8 kilograms, but the wall on which the mounting holes are located must have a thickness of 10 millimeters. You can take more. Then the wall thickness will be 8 millimeters. The weight will be about 4.5 kilograms. It's not worth making any more lighter.

For the mounting bolt that is used to install the clutch basket, with a diameter of 8 millimeters, you need a body with the same diameter. If the flywheel wall is thinner, this can cause it to break at high speeds. It is better not to risk it and immediately purchase a ready-made lightweight flywheel. Its price depends on the model of the car. So, flywheels on a VAZ cost from 2.5 thousand rubles. They are already balanced.

Thus, you can lighten absolutely any element. But it is important to take into account the strength characteristics and features. If you need to add strength, then at your own risk, the crown is welded by welding.

At the end of the procedure, be sure to balance the new flywheel along with the clutch basket. There is no need to install disks. Balancing can even be done statically. Next, perform balancing with the crankshaft. This is necessary to ensure the stability of the engine.

It is desirable to carry out dynamic balancing. But this requires specializedequipment that is not available at every car service and even a machine-building enterprise.

How to perform static balancing?

The process is simple, but its accuracy is low. However, this is better than installing the part without any balancing. This operation is performed by installing a lightweight VAZ-2110 flywheel on two stands. Corners with smooth edges are quite suitable as coasters. They are placed strictly horizontally and the position is carefully verified.

A flat shaft is installed in the center of the flywheel, which is best ordered from a turner. Next, the structure is placed on the exposed corners. The flywheel is rotated and notice what part of it is at the bottom. If this is the same place, then on the opposite side a weight is attached to the flywheel.

Conclusion

This way you can improve the dynamic performance of the car. The engine will rev better. But this operation must be carried out in conjunction with other engine tuning.