I just got the car back 30 minutes ago. The clutch pedal requires at least 3 times the force than stock, and I'm assuming as the clutch breaks in that will lessen a bit. Also, clutch engagement is practically off the floor, exact opposite of the stock clutch's high engagement.

Right now, the engagement path seems to be only about 25% of pedal travel, much like stock. Basically, it's either grabbing, or it's not. There's very little room for feathering. My friend's SRT4, on the other hand, has an engagement area of maybe 50% of total pedal travel(if that makes sense).

This thing is supposed to be broken in over a 500 mile normal traffic period, so I'm sure most of these attributes will change later.

Now to the flywheel. I didn't want a lightweight flywheel. I've read so many posts about how lightweight flywheels hurt one's launch. And about how noisy they are. I figured all these things would be a hindrance when it came time to trade the car. Knowing all that, I wasn't going to pay $1300 for an OEM flywheel, so I went with the JWT.

The shop manager told me that there would be more "engine feel" through the clutch and that it would be noiser, due to the loss of the "dual-mass" dampening properties of the oem piece. I was focused on both these behaviors while driving it back to the office. One, I can't hear anything different. Not at idle, not underload, anywhere in the rpm range. That's with the windows down and a/c off, and also with them up and on. Also, I noticed no increased feel in the clutch.

I didn't receive a magical "noise-free" flywheel, and my clutch isn't impervious to increased vibrations. I guess that I'm already used to all of the vibrations from the exhaust that I couldn't notice it, and that the loud, "droning" stillen hid the noise of the flywheel as well.

When I got back to the office, I got my friend to drive it around the parking lot to get his impression. Outside the car, I could indeed hear the typical flywheel noise. It turns out that before the swap, my throw-out bearing noise was such a racket that the flywheel noise is quiet in comparison. The other thing I noticed outside the car was when he engaged first and attempted to pull off, I could hear a graunchy noise; something close to a teeth-mashing gear grind. It wasn't a gear grind. I'm assuming this was the flywheel as well. I never heard it(or felt it) inside the car.

Every one likes to talk about the free-revving benefits of the lightweight flywheel. After reading about this mod for damned near a year, I was expecting a drastic difference. Just like all of the other mods, people have tended to exaggerate. Sure, it revs faster. If you don't release the accelarator at the exact right moment, revs will go up and the clutch will "grab" it back into place. Not very fluid. The inverse is also true; if you shift too lazily, the revs will drop and the clutch will snap it back into place. For a comparison, the revs dropped more quickly on the stock unit with the a/c on, than on the jwt unit without the a/c.

The one area that I really do like however is that downshifts require a smaller blip of the throttle. Several times I overrevved because I was used to using more throttle than what is now needed.

But I would like to stress - the difference is fairly minor. It's not night and day.

So, for those that have discounted this flywheel due to concerns about noise, or that it was *too* lightweight, don't worry about it.

 

mr. trey... you by far have the best write ups. I appreciate the honesty and the detailed information from purchase to install to the drive to the accessories being on/off haha very detailed. considering the flywheel and considering it even more thanks to you!

 

Thanks man. But you don't have to call me Mr.

 

thanks for the write up.... but if you don't like exagerations, just to let you know, if you fi your car, it does feel like night and day.......
oh, if you had to do it all over again, would you get the flywheel or clutch?

 

Well, err, I kind of *had* to get a clutch. My clutch started slipping the last time I was at the drag strip. 1 year of ownership, 25k miles, daily beatings, 20+ dyno pulls, 3 autocrosses, and a 120+ passes down the drag strip will do that. It was still drivable, and wouldn't slip in normal driving. But if I quick shifted, it would slip.

So I had to get a clutch. That meant I could either go with my stock flywheel, or get another one. There's no legit reason that I can think of to keep the stock flywheel; after all, if the clutch was toast, I'm sure the flywheel was as well.

 

Update -
The trip from the dealer to the office was about 10 miles or so. The commute from work to the house was about 25 miles. I can definitely hear the noise. With the windows up, it's not a big deal. But with the windows down, I can definitely hear it. Pulling into the driveway, it was quite loud. It's annoying, but... that's that.

Now, I'm a bit concerned. The clutch is acting just fine. I mentioned that the engagement point is at the bottom of the clutch. But sometimes the pedal would just stick half-way up. The clutch was already fully engaged. The clutch fully grabbed; I didn't see any weird action going on on the tach. But I would sometimes have to pop up the pedal with my toe.

The other thing I noticed was a reluctance to go into first gear. I could have the pedal to the floor, and it just wouldn't go in. I'd clutch out and in a few times, and it would go in like butter.

What's up with that?

Thoughts?

 

hum, had my clutch stuck halfway after it fully engaged.......popped it back up with toe too.......but this is with oem clutch (48k miles) on a very hot
100+ day......never happened again, weird........

 

i dont have the same clutch as you but mine had a VERY low engagement point at first also. i think yours might move back up as it gets broken in.

i agree with you on the light weight flywheel thing. gears 1-3 feel a bit better, but i think people overestimate the difference. its more of a "feel" thing.

my flywheel was quiet at first but then over time it got louder and louder : (

your clutch getting stuck/hard getting into first cant be a good thing. maybe it needs to be calibrated? my clutch got stuck once and it was hot as hell outside. not sure what it means though.

 

a clutch pedal getting stuck could mean that your clutch line is TOAST or the fluid is BUNK.

Recently, i changed out my Clutch line for a Stainless Steel Braided line with Kevlar/thermal insullation.
Also swapped out the fluid to RBF600.

I currently have an Unorthodox Flywheel with JWT Clutch.
Over time the pedal has gotten spongy and stiff.
After doing the above, it feels like a CHAMP.

For anyone of you that haven't swapped out your clutch fluid, bleeding it out may be the solution to some of the problems you have.
(including spongy, squeeky, clutch)
The braided stainless steel line might be a little overboard for some tho.
Tracking the car and gunning the car as hard as i do, (along with the headers that increase engine bay temps), i felt it was a must.

To each their own...

Try it and good luck everyone.
-DRUness

 

This happened to me when I adjusted the clutch too far down--I had to often pop the clutch up with my toe.

I backed off the adjustment just a bit and it was fine again.

Did they adjust your pedal travel when they did the install?

 

Update. The clutch/fly have been on the car for a week, and about 700 mile. The noise level of the flywheel has increased, but not dramatically so. It's quite loud outside the car, after it's warmed up. But inside the car, you can't hear it with the stereo on even at a moderate level. Cars with stock exhausts will here more noise.

I've decided that I need to bleed the slave cylinder line. If I drive it a lot in hot conditions(like my commute home), the pedal gradually gets more and more "mushy", to the point where it will not return completely to the top. This is *not* the same as the infamous clutch pedal sticking issue; the characteristics are similar, but the clutch in this case is fully engaged. The pedal just doesn't return all the way.

On the plus side, my excessive shifter vibration is gone. I've mentioned in other threads that when engine braking from a high rpm(say above 4k), the shifter wouldn't just vibrate, it would visibly shake in place. That behavior has stopped. I thought it might return over the first few days, but so far, it hasn't.

If I get a chance, I'll try to get some video of the car idling so people can actually get an idea of the sound.

 

So why does a lightweight flywheel create more noise than a dual-mass flywheel? Maybe the more accurate question would be what does a dual-mass flywheel to keep things quiet?

 

what he says below me.....

 

that's a good suggestion. i never even would have thought of that. i would assume that it's the same procedure as changing out your brake lines? did you buy a specific length of steel braided line, or did you make it yourself?

 

what i want to know is if the flywheel makes so much noise why is such a good mod?