aluminum flywheel on an 8BA

cuzncletus

cuzncletus

Senior Member
I bought an aluminum flywheel to use on my street rod flathead in my 39 tudor. The manufacturer's marks says "Albro". Unlike other alumminum flywheels I've seen this one does not have a steel insert for the clutch face. I've had it resurfaced and it looks fine, but I'm worried that one or two excess slips will warp the face and make it chatter. I later found out it was used in a flathead powered rail that an aquaintance had owned tho I had no idea he was interested in these kinds of things as he much younger....in his mid 40's now and he must have owned this dragster at least 20 years ago. Anyone had any experience with an aluminum faced flywheel on the street?
 
yeah i am deffinatly not an expert on this front but i was told that i should have a flywheel with the steel insert.....but i am puting mine in a rail, so we are exact opp of what you are doing
tk
 
If I had it I'd use in a street car. The steel insert is better no doubt. Is it for a 59A or an 8BA? I built an 59AB engine for a gye in Mass for a 32 roadster. He had an aluminum wheel he put on after getting the engine home. When he first started the engine aluminum shavings came out from somewhere, the wheel was scrubbing on the back of the block. He bought a new alum wheel for his engine and it was fine. What I don't under stand is, if you bye a new wheel from say Speedway it says 32-53. Decisions decisions. Walt
 
Had one on a 40 ford p/u in52, worked just fine for about a year,than begun to chatter,so took it out.
 
cuzncletus said:
I bought an aluminum flywheel to use on my street rod flathead in my 39 tudor. The manufacturer's marks says "Albro". Unlike other alumminum flywheels I've seen this one does not have a steel insert for the clutch face. I've had it resurfaced and it looks fine, but I'm worried that one or two excess slips will warp the face and make it chatter. I later found out it was used in a flathead powered rail that an aquaintance had owned tho I had no idea he was interested in these kinds of things as he much younger....in his mid 40's now and he must have owned this dragster at least 20 years ago. Anyone had any experience with an aluminum faced flywheel on the street?
Click to expand...

Albro was made by Paul and Carl Shiefer of Schiefer Manufacturing, A father and son team. Aluminum Bronze. It is named for the combination of a forged Aluminum flywheel with a Bronze insert that was bonded.The bronze was a very thin layer that was chemically bonded to the flywheel. In many cases the bronze was worn away or was machined off and you are left with an all aluminum flywheel. Either way, I would run it with an organic compound clutch to prevent too much heat.

Interesting read:

http://www2.sema.org/main/semaorghome.aspx?id=52602
 
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I had one on an 8BA. I don't care for aluminum for the street but ran one in a stock car. It's important to have the flywheel setting correctly on the crank flange and use a dail indicator to measure the run-out. I think .005 would be the limit. You may have to turn it on the flange to get it close. Not so big a deal with steel....Years ago we didn't have organic compound clutch lining but I'm sure that that would run cooler.
 
If I use a flywheel on a flathead, I use used SBC ones I get off ebay.
About half price of a flathead Ford one. They are easy to re-machine to fit.
I use SBC gear drive starters with them.
An aluminum flywheel with no insert or the facing worn/machined off will not last very long on the street.
If you have ever seen the aftermath of an exploded clutch/flywheel, you would never even think of using a chopped stock flywheel.
It really gets your attention when you are in the car when it happens.
 
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