Re: Flywheel Issues (2nd Try)

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- "jason.glover" <jason.glover@domain.elided> wrote:
> 
> The question is do I need to have the thing balanced
> too? Does anyone have any feedback, or other options

> to consider?

Consider this:

1.  What's the cost of having the flywheel/ring gear
balanced while it's all out of the car?  Low
double-digit dollars, I'm guessing, at your friendly
machine shop.

2.  What's the cost (in time or money) of removing the
engine, taking the flywheel off, having it balanced,
reassembling it, and reinstalling the engine if you
find out it really NEEDED to be balanced?

This is what is termed a no-brainer.  Yeah, I know,
chances are that resurfacing your existing flywheel
won't change things THAT much, and chances are that
the new ring gear won't happen to get aligned in a
position that makes things really unbalanced.  But
what's the cost for balancing the flywheel/ring gear
as a unit after resurfacing and assembly -- $20?  $40?
 You can probably find half that under the mats of
your Spider, and the rest in the cushions of your
couch. :-)

Now, of course, the really detail-oriented among us
will tell you that the flywheel should optimally be
balanced along with all the rest of the rotating
components in the engine -- crank, rods, pistons, and
pulleys.  Yes, that's the optimum, but since I seem to
recall you're only doing the transmission at this
point, it's probably not cost-effective for you. 
Balancing the flywheel/ring gear assembly, however, is
probably a good thing, and should be cheap enough.  

(At least I recall thinking, when I mentally totted up
the figures the first time I had an engine balanced,
that all the individual balancing operations were
relatively cheap, it's just that when you add them all
up, it was like buying Happy Meals for the entire
combined kindergarten classes of four elementary
schools...)

Best,

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
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