Water Injection Thread

[Gary Derian]

I think we agree about flywheel effects.  My point is that a heavy flywheel
will smooth out engine torque variation when the clutch is engaged but can
increase shock loads when starting out, a two edged sword.  My preference is
to have as light a flywheel as I can stand for driveability.

Gary Derian <gderian at cybergate.net>

>
>All true, in theory, but what I said about using a light flywheel and crank
>stands, especially if you are using sticky tires, and especially for
>racing. Most tranny failures are caused by impact loading, which happens
>when flywheel inertia hits the gears against good traction on the other end
>of things if the driver is the least bit careless with the clutch.
>
>A soft clutch can keep you from finishing--and would therefore be a poor
>choice, at least in my estimation. Plus, a lightweight flywheel  and crank
>means a MUCH quicker car, which is what racing is all about!
>
>If you doubt the bit about inertia loading being the thing which will break
>a driveline, try driving a semi with a lowboy trailer with a piece of heavy
>equipment on board sometime--with a GCVW in the 100K range.
>A Cummins 855, and even more emphatically a KT-6 or a Cat 3406 could never
>be accused of being low rotating inertia engines, there are obvious gobs of
>traction available in this sort of a case, and it is as easy as sneezing to
>shuck teeth off of ring gears or shear a driveline on this kind of a rig!
>
>To the point that most competent drivers of such rigs only touch the clutch
>when starting out from rest, and never touch the throttle when touching the
>clutch! It is just way too easy to get real expensive repair bills any
>other way!!
>
>Regards, Greg
>