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Triumph TR6 - What does half inch mean!

Now we are talking family viewing here so no smut! We are talking removing half an inch of metal from flywheel and going from 24LBS to 14LBS. Need to get started on the final assy. so we can go to the beach Christmass day!
Clive P

It sounds like it means that you are removing a little more than 33 cubic inches of material from that steel boat anchor, er, I mean flywheel!
SteveP

Ted Schumacher in Ohio sells an aluminium flywheel : -

http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com/ - then click on "TR6 Performance Products" to see one.

I have also seen others advertised with cut-outs so that the flywheel looks more like a spider's web with those areas milled out. These all weigh about 12 to 14 lbs each.

Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A, Montreal
Don Elliott

Clive,

I assume that you are talking about lightening a stock flywheel here. PLEASE be careful with this. That heavy mass of cast iron is made like that to help hold itself together. Casting is an imperfect art and many times there are subsurface voids that are not detectable until it is too late. Removing too much material or taking it from the wrong places can be a disaster.

I can recall two separate instances back in 1969 when I was doing the 1/4 mile thing where a lightened flywheel came apart. Both times the drivers legs (and lives) were saved by the explosion blanket that NHRA required us to use.

I would think long and hard about "customizing" the stock wheel when there are replacements made for the job. Your legs are just a bit too close to the flywheel to take the chance.

But, as we always say, just my opinion. . . .

Don
Yellowdog

Don Thanks for the concern but I am happy with it and have done this mod a few times in the past with no problems, The flywheel is an early one and does not have the recess in the back It was 30mm thick standard 24LBS and is now 17mm and 14LBS It is very good material and machined well so I am confident all will be well, Thanks all the same though. Clive
Clive P

clive- Just limit those 1/4 mile drag starts
dk
DON KELLY

Don Why would anyone want to drag race a TR6?
Clive Parker

Don Elliott Thanks for the link, It looks a great peice of kit, I am happy with Flywheel and hope to to have the motor ready for instalation by next weekend, John came by today and took some pics It will be a sweet motor.
Clive P

Clive,
I'm confused, why are you measuring in metric and weighing in Imperial or US customary units? Remember the Mars orbiter that crashed because of mixed units when figuring mass and velocity? "One example of the importance of agreed units is the failure of the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter, which crashed on the planet Mars in September 1999 instead of entering orbit, due to miscommunications about the value of forces: different computer programs used different units of measurement (newton versus pound force). Enormous amounts of effort, time and money were wasted."

We wouldn't want someones TR-6 to end up where it's not supposed to be.
Joe
Joe justice

Don, TRF sells lightened flywheels that are supposed to be in close to this weight range, so I hope its okay.

I especially hope it will be okay, because its my legs you're talking about! If I'm not drag racing the car, would there be any possibility of danger? I do rather like my legs and hope to keep them.

The flywheel is still quite heavy and appears to be very, very solid.

John
JL Bryan

Clive, I did not mean to suggest that you (or anyone) would want to use a TR6 as a dragster. I merely mentioned the activity as a basis for my concerns since I had experienced the negative side of the equation on a couple of occassions. Although, a 'glass body, a little nitrous, some slicks, a bit of help from some Detroit iron and a month in Mickey Thompson's warehouse and you could have one heck of a funny car. . . . .

John, I believe that TRF's lightened flywheels are an alloy, not cast iron? The problems we encountered were more related to very high rpm's rather than simply the activity of drag racing. Although I am sure that the sudden impact loads did not do anything to help the situation. We had lightened the web of the flywheel to the point where it could not hold itself together at high engine speeds. This was on the track NHRA stuff, as such we tended to put a bit more faith in our engine folks that was sometimes justified.

Don
Yellowdog

Don, I think the TRF ones are machined, just like this one was. We ordered one that had supposedly been lightened, and it had not been. It was the same cast iron. They do sell an aluminum one also.

I rather think, or maybe hope, that 17 mm and 14 pounds is still enough material that it shouldn't be a problem. And Clive has done an awful lot of this type of thing, so it should be okay.

John
JL Bryan

This thread was discussed between 26/11/2005 and 28/11/2005

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