Lightened Flywheel on a track/road car....
 

About to put in a 6 speed driveline in to my car. May as well do the clutch while I am there.

My question is, is a lightened flywheel worth the money for a track day / toy car (with a little DD use)....

Previous rotaries etc made driving a bit of a pain at lights and so on, stall easier, harder to get off the line....is it a similar deal with the MX5 and a turbo....

why are you putting is a 6 speed?

5 speed is a little whiney and as I increase boost want to have a strong gearbox.....should I not?

and the flywheel..? :)

Its not as bad as a rotary as far as stalling, etc. obviously the lighter you go, the more driveability issues come up. My miata has a super light billet alum. Flywheel and the only issue I have is when driving really slow in a parking lot, or bumper to bumper traffic, it bucks like a rodeo bull. I just give it gas and coast to prevent that. If you bought an act streetlight or other brand lightened steel flywheel you wouldn't have any issues.

I love my aluminum flywheel, swapped it in when I put in the 6 speed as well. Only issue is resonance gear noise.

I'm running a 13.5lb wheel. Lighter than stock, but heavy enough for any average driver / valet / girlfriend / parents to get in and drive your car if they need to without even noticing it. This is for a daily driver, no track duty, with maybe 3 autocross events / good year.

Learn to drive it and they are fantastic... not that comfy driving clutch and it'll annoy you at parking lot/bumper to bumper speeds.

I loved my 9lb ACT...

Yes it is worth it.

Kill yourself.


I have owned a stock, 9lb, and 949's twin disc flywheel.

Stock is sluggish as crap.

9lbs was a lot of fun in regular daily driving.

Twin disc. Not recommended for daily.

um what? you talking to me?

as for the 6 speed I don't know about them at all, however I've read some posts that claim they are not as reliable and or they have inferior "feel" versus the 5 speed. I've not done the research, Ive just seen posts when trying to find other info. another option could be to do a final drive ratio change but I don't know what you are really going for.

they are more reliable in the sense that they can handle a lot more power than the 5 speed.

They don't feel as good, and the gearing kinda sucks.

Reliability? 5 speeds are generally considered reliable up to 200-220hp. Not enough 6-speeds have actually failed to be able to determine their upper limits, and those 6-speeds which have failed have done so on the race track at extremely high temperatures. The best guesses are that the 6-speeds are reliable beyond 450hp.

Feel? It's not that big of a deal, but the 5-speeds do feel more precise. I sometimes fumble 6th or reverse, and I don't exactly use those gears competitively.

Gearing? There's a fix for that, it starts with a "3" and ends in a "636" - fortunately, both the "3" and the "636" were made by Mazda.

Thanks guys. Better start saving....

Fooger, you got me, what the hell are you talking about.... :) DIff ratio..?

I got the Flyin' Miata 10.3lb flywheel with their level 1 (318lb-ft) clutch for my 5 speed. Bought it to prepare for putting a turbo on hopefully later this year. Clutch pedal feel is very similar to stock. It is ever so slightly easier to stall if you're used to being stingy with the throttle from a standing start, but it's easy to adjust. It does make a noticeable difference in how freely the engine revs, and I'd swear it adds a couple ponies on the butt dyno in the lower gears on my stock engine. Overall I'm happy with it.

Okay fooger, a succesfull search reveals Cheers.

props

To add to what Track said about their superior strength, keep in mind they don't change your ratios either. Don't think of it as a 5spd plus another gear, it's more like 1,2,3,3.5,4,5. or something similar.

Urgh. 5 speed can break under stock power. I will break mine in my daily miata. Trust me. I am gonna treat my car real good.

My 6-speed is awful, Jeff's is great; the Mazadaspeed metal bushings help a lot. Sometimes mine won't go into 5th; like the shifter won't engage or slide the fork. My sister's is like this in reverse. Aisin can mouth my dirt-pipe. However, after a few months, it won't bother you anymore.

The 6-speed with the 3.63 is the way these cars should have come from the factory, everything is better aside from the shifter feel.

yea definitely, I think for reliability if i was at 200wtq, I wouldn't even complain one bit.

Its interesting you say they are hit or miss...is it a fluid or age thing or seemingly random?