(4/6/01): Well, I hadn't planned on doing this for a while, but I got too good of a deal! I was checking out what "mods" were left to do on the engine, and there weren't many. I was talking to my 'parts man' John Connolly from www.aircooled.net (via e-mail) and he had a lightened flywheel (10.5 lbs), that had the 8 dowels drilled incorrectly (the original 4 were fine). Since I didn't have an 8 dowel crank, this would be perfect for me! Needless to say, John gave me a great deal, and I took him up on it! I did this mod the day BEFORE Phoenix Bug-O-Rama!
Here is the 10.5lb flywheel I received. You cant really tell, but whoever machined it, misaligned the extra 4 dowel holes, so this IS essentially a 4 dowel flywheel! I went ahead and bead-blasted the contact area (where the clutch disc touches) just to get off some slight surface rust. I also wiped the rest of it down in oil, to help keep it from rusting.
We had another project going, and it was out at the hangar... So since all the tools were at the hangar, I had to pull the engine their too. (car is wet, 'cause it was raining!). In the lower pic, the bug is up on ramps, and the rear baja bumper and the rear fiberglass piece is off. (the wiring is mostly disconnected as well)
Once the engine was out, I pulled the pressure plate, and clutch disc, and used an impact wrench on the gland nut. On the left in the pics below is the lightened flywheel, and on the right is the stock flywheel. You can see they removed the material from the outer edge of the flywheel (and a tad on the back surface).
Just a shot of the clutch disc... Its still good, so its going back on!
The pressure plate was still in good shape so I used it. Its a German (VW) unit, balanced and everything!
This is the front of the engine where it meets the tranny. I adjusted end-play while I was at this point, wiped it down a little, and installed a new flywheel seal.
Here it is all installed, and ready to be installed back in the car.
After
the engine was installed, I drove it around a bit... I noticed a good size
oil leak - it was coming from the flywheel seal. So the day AFTER Phoenix
bug-o-rama I pulled the engine again, and replaced the seal. Its fixed now
(no leak)! After a good long drive, I have decided I LOVE the lightened
flywheel, and will NEVER go back to a stock weight one EVER!!!! Rev's come
up really FAST. I was a little worried about bogging this light one down
with my big ol' 215-75/15's on the rear, but it didn't make a single bit of
difference! It works great!
