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I believe Henry's objective with the heavy flywheel as with about any other car or tractor of the time was to keep some inertia working when the car (etc.) slogged through a big mud hole or up a small hill. A lightweight flywheel would not be able to keep the car moving through a short period of heavy loading on the low powered engine.
Today's roads don't offer the same challenges as the roads of the time these cars were built. Lighten that sucker as much as you can without cracking. Your rods will be fine if you don't drive it like a teenager. There is a thread on here that deals with that and gives dimensions for cutting.