[Tom Vaught]

Many early aluminum flywheels inserts were rivited on the steel to the aluminum wheel. NOT BOLTED.

The Chinese crap today may be different but the Weber flywheel and the Mcload flywheel I owned years ago and still have were not bolted.

Basically The flywheel typically does two things. It gives a lever arm for the ring gear to start the motor and stores energy for putting the vehicle in motion. Once the clutch is fully engaged, the flywheel could be gone because from that point on it is a inertia drag on the engine. When you step on the throttle it takes energy as it is restoring what it gave you to put the car in motion. Nothing is free. The reason you use a steel wheel in drag racing is typically because of slicks. You need more stored energy to launch with slicks. In the fifties and sixties aluminum flywheels were popular but many times "home made" because the vehicles had no tires. Late Sixties flywheels got heavy because we started have better tires. Some ran 40 pound wheels. I ran one for a while in my GTO. In the seventies flywheels began to lighten as the Doug Nash five speed appeared with a 3.25:1 low gear and we could lighten the flywheels again. I have a equal energy split Doug Nash 5 speed trans. Many vehicles had close ratio 2.20 first gears in the Muncie trans. Today it depends on what you are doing and how you want to drive. 5 speeds and 6 speeds being very popular. Sprint cars have no flywheels. They couple DIRECT as they push to start the car and have no clutch so no need for an hp robbing flywheel.

Today I would not buy a Chinese made flywheel of any material.

Tom V.