Alos

Hi guys I have a 1986 944 N/A and have to change my clutch. I was thinking of usin a Fidanza flywheel and wanted to know what you guys think about that? What experiences have you had from using this? Is it a good idea? Is it even worth it? Lastly what differences if any should I expect to get from using this?
I appreciate any help that can be given. Thanks!

Jakerx

it's nice to have. but you also have another option. spend money on lightening your current flywheel. it revs a little nicer with a lightened/aluminum flywheel. some people (not a lot) have run into the problem of the engine not keeping enough momentum after letting off the gas to idle and the engine shuts down before the isv can come into play. just a forewarning. JUST REMEMBER TO MARK TDC ON THE FLYWHEEL WHEN INSTALLING ON THE ENGINE!!! MAKES LIFE MUCH EASIER LATER!!

Geo

Low mass flywheels are great. I would never do a clutch job without at least lightening the stock flywheel. Even better would be an aluminum or other low mass flywheel. I've had two aluminum flywheels and a lightened stock flywheel on my Sentra SE-R and turbo G20.

As for driveability problems or idle problems...

Idle problems are independent of the flywheel. If you have idle problems, like anything else, fix them.

As for driveability, the turbo G20 was my wife's car. It has the lightened stock unit when it was NA and an aluminum flywheel when we installed the turbo engine. She is absolutely not an enthusiast, but she NEVER had a problem with driving it.

Alos

Hi Jake 944CS thanks for replying. I have thought about that, however I have had really bad experiences with having my flywheel woked on. About 2 years ago me and TabooII, ken, riff,(all from rennlist) and several others worked on changing my clutch and I sent the flywheel out to have it re-surfaced and the guy worped it. We didn't find this out until the job was complete. Ihad to end up paying the guys at European Motorspotrs to change my flywheel to one that we know worked. Well that lasted about 3 months and the clutch was really rough for most of that time. It is now not even shifting. Both the guy who did the work on the flywheel and the shop that worked on the clutch came highly recomended, and it still got messed up. So you can see my aprehention when thinking about that idea. I know of a guy that put a Fidanza, in his MR2 and he likes it, it dosn't require any resurfacing and is backed by a worantee and testing, that makes me feel a little safer. Although in the perfect world I would love to have mine lightened. One question does the problem that you mentioned, "some people (not a lot) have run into the problem of the engine not keeping enough momentum after letting off the gas to idle and the engine shuts down before the isv can come into play."(Jake 944CS ) , happen with all lightened flywheels or is this a Fidanza spacific issue? Once again thanks for the reply!

Alos

Cool thanks Geo

Mongo

sounds kinda dumb but how would you go about lightening the stock flywheel? Drilling? Wouldn't perforating it after miles of use compromise its stability?

WesM951

I have a Fidanza Flywheel on my 951. IIRC it weighs 8-9lbs compared to the stock 19lbs. I do not have any momentum issues, and the car does rev somewhat faster. It doesn't rev insainly fast, but faster than with the stock flywheel. I would suggest putting one on.

I'm big on when doing a big job such as a clutch to replace everything with new.

Andy, The grind it, removeing alot of metal. If you have seen the stock one it looks like the stacked 2 flywheels together!

Geo

You remove material from the back side. But it's something that shouldn't be done *****-nilly. Removing material will weaken it some, but if done correctly it's insignificant. Done poorly and it's a bomb waiting to go off.

WesM951

FWIW, LR lightens stock flywheels. $75 plus core. How much they remove I do not know. I looked into it, but IIRC it was cheaper to buy a new Fidanza that i'm sure is lighter.

IceShark

I think the Fidanza is something on the order of 6.5 or 7 pounds. You can take the stock flywheel down to about 8 pounds or something like that or anywhere in between. You lose one of the reference screws at 8 lbs but you don't need it for the engine to still run fine. I think the screw is for the diagnostic sensor. A lot cheaper than a new Fidanza.

I thought about shaving down my flywheel but just resurfaced it. Came in at 14.84 lbs. after the resurfacing.

theedge

I got one of LRs lightened stock ones. The KEP pressure plate im going to use is lighter than stock as well, so I was worried that a ~5 pound Fidanza was going to be TOO light. LRs plate is about 8.

special tool

Anyone who is wondering.... You can remove a total of 18 pounds with Fidanza,KEP and a 6-puc disk and the Motronic picks it up fine.

Alos

I would like to say thank you to all of you guys for the awsome replies!

WesM951

The stock flywheel actually has 3 screws. The important one is for the refrence sensor which the Fidanza has. Lay the Fidanza on top of the stock one, line up the "OT" mark and unscrew/screw the Fidanza one to match the stock one. I was extra careful and mic'd mine.

You can pick up a new Fidanza for $325 shipped from ebay. I went with a slightly used one from Sam Lin and payed less than $325 and much less than the inital cost of $375 it would take to get LR to lighten your stock one.

I didn't weigh my Fidanza, I remember someone telling me it weighed 8lbs, but the ebay auction does say these flywheels weigh 6lbs!

Either way, after 1500miles or so I have had NO issues with mine what so ever!