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TR6 TR6 clutch continued and another question

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A few weeks back a posted a thread concering clutch choices, opinions, and experiences with the TR6. Thanks to all who contributed to that discussion. I finally bought a clutch kit. I came very close to going with the tried and true Borg and Beck, but at the last minute I ran across a pretty highly rated seller on ebay who was offering a new LUK kit for far below what Moss and TRF wanted. I had read that LUK basically bought the Laycock brand, and that Laycock had been an OEM supplier of clutches to Triumph. I talked to one guy in my club that used the LUK kit and he said he was pretty satisfied with it, so I thought I'd roll the dice and give it a try. Just for info, Moss and TRF wanted roughly $230 for this kit, I was able to get it from this guy on Ebay for $162, brand new in the box with shipping included.

Here's my question. I was going to have the flywheel cleaned up and have the balance checked by a local shop while it was out. I was thinking of having it lightened a bit also. Originally I had considered a lightweight flywheel, but a friend told me that I'd hate it for street driving, and that it would probably be better to just have a few pounds shaved from the stock flywheel, making the throttle response just a little snappier. So OK, that sounds reasonable, but my question is, how much weight should I have removed? I know there are probably limits as to how much can safely be removed without compromising the integrity of the flywheel, but I also don't want to remove so much as to make it behave like a lightened racing flywheel. This car is my weekend fun car for the street and will hardly, if ever, see a track, so I want to keep it's driving characteristics relatively docile. Yet I would still like to improve performance where ever possible.

You guys get my drift, any ideas?
 
The people who claim that an aluminum flywheel will cause the car to be dificult to drive on the street are truly uninformed. I have a Fidanza 13lb (with the ring gear) aluminum flywheel in the car for two years & was concerned from other threads I had read that the car would be difficult from standing starts & annoying in traffic. This fear is so far off it's mark that it should be clarified. It is simply not true. There are no bad effects, only positives. A lightened flywheel greatly reduces stress on the crank, free's up HP & will make up shifts & downshifts easier. The only change I would recomend would be if you were using it on the track. If that is the application, additional mounting holes should be machined into the crank & flywheel to insure the thing stays in place. This is not required for a street car unless you like to shift above 6,000 rpm alot.
My thoughts on lightening the stock 32lb flywheel (later TR6's 74 & up I think) is that there is a minimum to gain. David Vizard explains the benifits & where to remove material safely in an article on the web. If you need it let me know & I'll post it. My uneasyness with this is I am not comfortable remachining 30 year old metalury. I like my legs. I don't think removeing 8 lbs from the flywheel will be perceptable to performance but I do like any weight reduction on the crank.
Replacing a flywheel is a simple bolt on replacement that will increase performance, reduce rotating mass & relieve stress on a critical part of the engine.
 
I agree. Why mess with old metal. I have an aluminum flywheel in my TR6 and the only noticeable difference I have found is a slight variation in RPM's at idle. I have driven the car in traffic without any problems. I think you will like the performance gains you will achieve by A: dropping weight/rotating mass and B: allowing the engine to wind up much quicker. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif
 
I had never thought about the possibility of the old flywheel being compromised so much by machining it. I've read some of the articles mentioned here by you guys, and found a few more through a little research online, and the majority of the opinions seem to go against any machining of the old parts. To tell the truth, I'm a little paranoid of the thing letting go, the idea of riding around in a wheel chair for the rest of my life instead of the TR6 is a little scary. This may seem over reactive but it seems that the small performance gains that could be had by dropping a few pounds from the stock unit aren't worth the risk. Better to just go with a whole new, light weight assembly, which leads me to my next problem, my budget. Boy, those lightweight flywheels are expensive, didn't really realize how much till I started digging around. The money I've got left in my spring car budget would allow me to either get the flywheel or finish my seats, and right now my seats are a little more important since they are the last thing needed to finish off my interior. Looks like I'll just have the stock flywheel balanced and resurfaced and put it back in as is, no big deal. At some point in the next few years the motor will get yanked for a complete rebuild, so the flywheel may be an option then.

Thanks all for the info and opinions.
 
Scott,
I wouldn't worry about doing this now if other induvudual parts of the rebuild are in line. You can do this as you stated in a future rebuild or clutch replacement. I didn' mean to scare anyone with the ominus prediction of a shattering flywheel but in my opinion there isn't enough to be gained & too much to loose if a freak occurance happend. You could never be sure of of the machinest, no matter how well recomended, much of this is done from expieriance & an individuals understanding of it intended use. There's no doubt that the TR's flywheel is much heavier than it needs to be, I don't know what they where thinking unless it was strictly a cost thing. Maybe someone who has more knowledge on this can chime in. It's standard practice to use much lighter flywheels on production cars today.
NFI, but I think TSI has a good price on his aluminum flywheel & I would give Wishbone Classics a call as well.
 
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