Spec Stage 3, Aluminum Flywheel mgw shifter installed

[50GTMach1]

Throw out bearing went out on the stock clutch, so installed the spec 3 clutch, aluminum flywheel and new mgw short shifter. picked up car last night from Excessive Motorsports in Virginia. They do great work.

First day of driving

pedal feel is lighter than stock and is very easy to work
clutch engages around middle of pedal height (i have stock cable assembly no adjustable quadrant)
I have aluminum driveshaft and 4.30 gears so car revs up fast and drops back to idle very fast.
clutch grabs very securely. i drove through morning rush hour and other than the initial take off from full stop into first gear there isnt much difference in driving from the stock clutch/flywheel. just give a little more gas into first and you are all good.

highway driving, car accelerates quicker in 2, 3,4 gear.
little chatter present when cruising in 5th but not enough to disturb a conversation. (hopefully even that will go away as break in period procedes)

MGW shifter is very smooth and shifts are precise.

car feels lighter on highway and almost zippy.

So far i feel its been an excellent upgrade.

more notes as the break in period procedes.

[Mach828]

Do you have a set of drag slicks or radials? I'd like to see how the aluminum flywheel holds up to some launches with 4.30s at 6k rpm. I'm in the market for a new clutch and flywheel and am curious, since I've heard stories that aluminum flywheels can't hold the power from a high rpm launch on sticky tires.

[50GTMach1]

I will pick up drag radials next summer and hit the track. If I do slicks i will upgrade the rear assembly first. I am fairly new to the 1/4 mile. only a few passes so far and best time on stock rims and street tires was 13.3 at 108 mph. had a bad 60ft and my shifting still needs work.

Also one correction to the first post: in everyday street driving I found that engaging the clutch below 1800 rpms from complete stop causes the rpms to drop significantly and the car "bogs" and will physically "shudder". engage above 1800 and the car begins to roll without any issues.

[Fenixfire]

Originally Posted by Mach828

Do you have a set of drag slicks or radials? I'd like to see how the aluminum flywheel holds up to some launches with 4.30s at 6k rpm. I'm in the market for a new clutch and flywheel and am curious, since I've heard stories that aluminum flywheels can't hold the power from a high rpm launch on sticky tires.

I can tell you from personal experience that aluminum flywheels SUCK to launch at high RPM at the track. I have the Spec stage 3 clutch and its awesome, but I would not have gotten the aluminum flywheel OP.....I have a billet steel flywheel and its much better!

After launching on drag radials at 6k rpm with a fidanza aluminum flywheel I will never go back to one. No matter what I did it would bog every time. I launched at 5k, 6k, 6.5k and tried a host of other things it would ALWAYS bog. Super frustrating to say the least. The aluminum flywheels are just too light to hold the energy. When I went back to the stock flywheel and launched at 6k on the very same drag radials the car didnt bog one bit and launched hard. Cannot say that for the aluminum.

[Mach828]

Anyone else have this same experience? Or is Fenix the only one with a hatred for AL flywheels?

Fenix, what other variables could have been associated with the test you described? Was it the same clutch both times? Was it installed properly the first time? I wonder if there is another factor associated with it, because I got a PM that someone cut nearly a tenth of their short time after their AL flywheel install.

Originally Posted by Fenixfire

I can tell you from personal experience that aluminum flywheels SUCK to launch at high RPM at the track. I have the Spec stage 3 clutch and its awesome, but I would not have gotten the aluminum flywheel OP.....I have a billet steel flywheel and its much better!

After launching on drag radials at 6k rpm with a fidanza aluminum flywheel I will never go back to one. No matter what I did it would bog every time. I launched at 5k, 6k, 6.5k and tried a host of other things it would ALWAYS bog. Super frustrating to say the least. The aluminum flywheels are just too light to hold the energy. When I went back to the stock flywheel and launched at 6k on the very same drag radials the car didnt bog one bit and launched hard. Cannot say that for the aluminum.

[Fenixfire]

Originally Posted by Mach828

Anyone else have this same experience? Or is Fenix the only one with a hatred for AL flywheels?

Fenix, what other variables could have been associated with the test you described? Was it the same clutch both times? Was it installed properly the first time? I wonder if there is another factor associated with it, because I got a PM that someone cut nearly a tenth of their short time after their AL flywheel install.

Same clutch, same everything. Only difference was the flywheel. And the guy that cut less than a tenth from his short time is doing it with 7000 rpm launches. Not something I would do on the stock valvetrain and oil pump. Consider the fact that he has to launch at 7k to keep it from completely bogging and even then he stated "it bogged alittle". I doubt the minor improvement in his short time solely resulted in the installation of an aluminum flywheel.