Projects OK..So anyone made their own flywheel

Exactly.

 

If everybody thought like Fred, nothing would ever get done. Not only that the human race would be telling each other "what the hell are you going to do with that thing! What did you call it again? A wheel ? " But for sure our hobby wouldn't exist.

Every day there are average guys graduating from flight school. These guys fly the aircraft built by average guys who bust their ass to pay bills and feed their families. Yep just average Joes who get your "just because you can doesn't mean you should" sorry ass from coast to coast in a few hours. By the way they told Orville and Wilbur not to try to make a flying machine.

Yes there are those average guys who really have no idea how to do things. My brilliant CPA cant do anyfucking thing but save you an irs Directed rectal exam. Remember the show " how it's made"? The producers thought it was a great investment to bring it to the average masses. Just because you don't know how to do something doesn't mean everyone doesn't.

It's average human behavior to assume everyone thinks in similar thought patters as yourself. Completely average behavior. Now by definition, average means that 1/2 "think more" and half "think less". Every thread gets tainted by the 1/2 that think less. Those guys should listen more.

 

So you feel much safer with a Summit flywheel machined in China or an OEM iron wheel from Mexico. You didn't see it made and so it must be good? If some guy thinks he can make a flywheel and has the tooling to do so. I say, do it.

 

Well said!

 

Yep Steve that be me !! Now days playing with Corvairs and making odd ball parts !

 

Great thread!

 

I see this often on here, just depends on who posts it, I guess. If a newbie has a new idea, hes often shredded, yet if an oldby (no offence TR ) posts an idea, its a go.

"I" simply said that "I" wouldnt do it/risk it, but then get berated. Thats cool, guess thats why Ryan put an ignore thing on here.

Simple, if you have the tooling and skills to run that tooling, do some research and do it. I have done many things I read posers/posters on here that say "it wont work" and think to myself "guess those countless cars Ive done it to, some on the road for 2 decades +, are instantly going to fall apart, burst into flames, etc."

I just wonder why all the guys mouthing off havent built their own since new ones are quite pricey

 

If you do this , buy a new piece of steel with paper work of what it is made of and get it normalized. Call a steel company like Ryerson Steel and talk to them. I don't see anything wrong with making a flywheel. I just want to know what the steel is and have it Xrayed.

 

No!.....atleast not until reading this post!.......Sounds like a bad idea for most guys. Not saying it can't be done and done well by some guys, But why would you want too? When I look at someones hot rod I do not think to myself, (I wonder if he made his own flywheel or not).....LOL. I mean Nobody gives a f**k about your homemade flywheel. Not trying to sound harsh but common man!!. I mean if you are going to build something build something cool, Like a quickchange, or a blower setup for an early engine, atleast something we can see. ......ever think of casting your own tires, or making your own hub bearings?....thats about as fun as making your own flywheel....LOL..just my 2 cents

 

I make a bit of side money nowadays making and modifying parts for local car and bike nuts. Having 2 Bridgeports and a 12" & 18" lathes helps a bit. There are very few job shop machine shops around now days that are willing to do small one offs without having a $100 minium charge. Recent odd jobs ,bore out a set oh handle bar clamps for larger OD set of bars for a bike; modify a Model A cam gear to use off set buttons for dialing in the cam; make a CrazyDaddio Chevy crank damper conversion for a Model A. Up coming odd jobs , a custom suspension link for the rear of a bike[ Roadstar] ;custom valve spring spacers for a hot Model A; modify a early Ford pinion gear for use in a quick change.

I do this for the mental excersize and it's fun to make things. Most of the $$ I make is spent on increasing my tool collection. Making odd ball things is a lot easier with the right tool.

 

Sometimes we HAVE to make something "un-interesrting " like a flywheel in order to be able to finish a project that IS interesting ! This hobby was started by guys that were not afraid to try or make something different,how about aluminum flywheels ??

 

Refacing my own Olds flywheel on a lathe, I learned something that I have never heard about:

Those random burned spots, sometimes blue, we all know that those are hard spots. When you send it out to be wet ground, the cut can be quite shallow, and the surface looks like new.....but it is not. I found out that the hard spots can go pretty deep, and had trouble getting a nice finish UNTIL I got under the spots and got them out.

If you run a wet ground wheel that still has the hard spots, it won't take anything more than normal clutch wear, to have those spots cause problems again.

I never would have known that if I did not try cutting one.

 

I understand and agree for the most part, But there are companys and guys out there that have already tooled up and spent the time and research and produce flywheels for just about any combonation engine and transmission setup out there. So there for it is not a have too thing. regardless, he ask, I answered. Doesn't matter much too me either way. He can make his own ball bearings for all I care. But if he does not have the proper tools and engineering skills. I sure hope that nobody is standing close when this bad idea comes flying apart at High RPM's.........Sometime people need to be saved from themselfs.....just saying

 

That is simply not true. There is no reason to think a mild steel flywheel is going to fly apart. You seem to be centered on shiny things that show. Many others are more into the insides that make it go. Several engines that I have worked on are not serviced by the after market. And Bonneville cars are required to have billet flywheels. Or forged. Where are you going to get one if your not in the main stream? The HAMB is about doing things. Not buying things. I have seem guys on here that made their own pistons. I have know a person how made his own crank. Jack Costella cut up two torque converters to make one so he could bolt a C4 to a Toyota in his streamliner. People who say you shouldn't do that mean they wouldn't do that or are afraid to try in case they failed. Not a good attitude I think.

 

Can I ask ? What are you doing ? What engine /tranny is this for?

 

I'm looking around the shop here and we have quite a few "home-made" hot rod parts. Intakes, rods, pistons, (for a freakin' Duesenberg none-the-less), heads, and even some flywheels. Somebody has to make this stuff, why not you... or me?

 

Well said,
I would rather try something and fail miserably than do nothing successfully.

 

And yet the guy building an "I" beam gets chastised. "just because you can doesn't mean you should"- that part of his post is what I got from Wolf in the "I" beam thread. So, it seems that some things are okay to do as long as a certain group likes it. Got it.

 

The guys who said that sound just like you. I don't know why you can't build your own beam axle. I would never make a flywheel for a SBC or some common engine. But if I had a Buick or Hudson and wanted an SFI legal 'wheel. What are you going to do? Maybe most wouldn't make home made main caps. But i needed them and it was a good learning experience. I am assuming the OP has the tools and common sense to make a safe flywheel. Maybe I'm way off.

 

Gee, I wonder how the first aftermarket flywheels were made? Bet it was some hotrodder that decided to make his own......

 

This man speaks the truth !!!

Some like to ignore the truth
Some would like to rewrite history
Some strive to produce a common reality based on their own.

 

I am thinking that a guy could just jigsaw out a disk of good old plywood and it should be good to about 7000 rpm, but you should have it x-ray inspected by a respected tech!

 

If you go back and read that thread, you will realize that I haven't chastised him. If I had a need for a I-beam axle, trust me, I would do it. Not because it is cheaper, but because if my life depended on it, I want to be the one with the welding stinger in my hand. No different than packing your own parachute.
BTW, I did cut apart and modify the front axle under the truck I'm building. It was a Dana 60 W3.54 gears. now it has a straight tube, no pumkin!

 

Sounds good to me...

I wonder about the first prototype flywheel whittled out by a homosapien thinking man
in the Ford factory, or any car factory. Did he have a drawing specifying SAE3140 for material and dimensioned to .0005 TIR. I doubt it.

People that say, things should not be done or can't be done are the ones that the old TV disclaimer "Dont try this at home" is aimed at.
They are neat people because they are the ones that keep us who can do anything in business.

 

Although I don't have the equipment to build my own flywheel, I don't doubt that if I did that I would try, if nothing else, just to say I did it. The great thing about this board is the great minds on here, the worst thing about this board is the naysayers, particularly the ones who don't have the required knowledge to back their claims up, guys who think installing a pair of shocks is a big deal, yet there are guys here who can build damn near anything with limited tools. Kudos to those who try and are willing to show the rest of us what we're capable of. More of the same, makes for great education.

 

Ok... So anyone made their own flywheel?

 

here is a steel flywheel made for a 472/501 caddy. It was cut out of a 1" plate and machined with the nescessary offsets and we installed a Pontiac ring gear.

 

Sounds like something that wouldn't be a real problem for a machinist, or someone with the right tools and who's willing to accept a few fails.

Cutting the teeth on it would be pretty tough without tools that most of us don't have in the garage though.

 

This thread just keeps on getting more interesting,like the thread about building a bellhousing.