Larger/Heavier Flywheel

[JanGeo]

Yeah that is true so it does add mass to the power train but not all is on the crankshaft smoothing out the power pulses and the fluid is a lot lighter than the steel of a flywheel although I have never seen or picked up a torque converter to know exactly how much they weigh.

[onegammyleg]

Hi JanGeo

The total weight of the torque convertor isnt often realized as they are often mostly empty of oil when you are working with them.

Dropping a 10 inch convertor onto your foot makes you say the worst words imaginable.

[rh77]

Originally Posted by theclencher

If I put a heavier flywheel on the Tempo I bet the two-cylinder mode would be successful.

Precisely! (edit: or harmonic balancers). But we still have to work around the O2 sensor with the blow-by of the pumped air. Next, cylinder hot/cold spots. But good work Tempo guy!

RH77

More: Matt, I like the idea of the weights -- like the tilt-a-whirl at the county fair. Intertia will cause things to go to the outer edge.

Someone here mentioned about the OLD FE book where the late 70's cars had a rotating device on the transmission, where on decel, there wouldn't be compression/engine-braking. Where would this fit in? It would be great to pick your foot off of the gas and let the car coast instead of slow-down in an automatic (without shifting to N).

[JanGeo]

Originally Posted by onegammyleg

Hi JanGeo

The total weight of the torque convertor isnt often realized as they are often mostly empty of oil when you are working with them.

Dropping a 10 inch convertor onto your foot makes you say the worst words imaginable.

Yeah actually the back plate in my BMW is pretty heavy for sure and that isn't the flywheel - just the other half of the clutch surface. I wanted to use the gears from an auto tranny to gear reduce the electric motors I have to do an in hub no suspension off road trail scooter.

[onegammyleg]

Hi rh77 - ?Someone here mentioned about the OLD FE book where the late 70's cars had a rotating device on the transmission, where on decel, there wouldn't be compression/engine-braking. Where would this fit in??

That would have been me that said that.

It was a mod done on a 70's V8 to improve FE.
From what I understood was that it was a freewheeling clutch placed between the gearboxes output shaft and the propshaft.
This made for coasting without the engine braking effect.
It didnt require any controll from the driver , just take your foot off the gas.
I guess it was done with parts from a 4X4 free weeling hub.(some machining tho)

This is the easiest way to set it up on a rear drive car , but placing a new hub on each drive wheel would be better as it even stop the axles from rotating.

In practice tho , one axle may continue to drag a little if the hubs rotating resistance is differnt to the one on the other side.
This could lead to greater wear in the diffs hemishpere.

Same applies to a front drive car.