Model A or B Aluminum Flywheel

[Marshall V. Daut]

I have a 16 pound Phil Andrews aluminum flywheel in one of my engines and I like it. The acceleration is much quicker than with the old original flywheel or even a cutdown one. If there is any disadvantage I have seen with an aluminum flywheel it is going around corners at speed. Whereas the heavy flywheel allows the torque to keep the car in third gear while going around corner, I often need to downshift to second gear in the same scenario. No big deal, though. A small price to pay for the dramatic quicker acceleration and faster revving. Although the Model A transmission is not synchromesh, you can learn to downshift to second at speed by timing the gear and engine revolutions to match and keeping a slight amount of acceleration while pushing in the clutch and shifting. I don't even think about it anymore. It's automatic. I wish I had an aluminum flywheel in all my Model A's, but the cost is prohibitive. My engines have higher compression heads, which I'm sure helps make the aluminum flywheel more streetable. 'Dunno how it would behave with a stock 4.2:1 head.
I am not advocating an aluminum flywheel for everyone's Model A! Like any major modification to our cars, some people will like, it, some won't.
Marshall

[updraught]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

I have a 16 pound Phil Andrews aluminum flywheel in one of my engines and I like it. ... some people will like, it, some won't.
Marshall

That's very interesting. I take it you are using a counterbalanced crank as 16 pounds is quite light?