What's the max number of times you can resurface your flywheel?
 

I'm changing my clutch and I know the flywheel has been resurfaced at least twice. Should I buy a new one? Thing is they're pretty expensive. I wonder if I junkyard would have one.

Opinions?

Don't know how many times but mine was resurfaced at least 3 times and not only was it out of tolerance on the thickness but it was warping when it got hot due to the times my old clutch was slipping. I couldn't get the bad chattering and vibration to go away when I was leaving from a stop due to the flywheel. They do make flywheel spacers to bring the flywheel back out so the clutch will mate with it properly but I finally bought a new flywheel at cost from the dealer and had no problems since. Don't foget your pressure plate needs to be re-surfaced also.

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1988 TA 300+hp 350 w/ TBI and Holley TB unit, Holley projection intake,
WC T-5, 3.42 gears w/ Auburn posi. MSD 6A, edelbrock TES headers, dynomax 3" cat and cat-back system, ACCEL coil, polyurethane bushings all around, aluminum driveshaft, Mr. Gasket open air cleaner.

1993 S-10 w/ 4.3L V6 TBI, slightly bigger cam, Mild polish job and 3 angle valve job on heads, Edlebrock TES headers, Dynomax cat back, MSD 6A, ADS chip

2000 Kawasaki KX 125

I wouldn't resurface a flywheel more than once. Speaking from past experience....buy a new one!



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David Tuschhoff
1991 RS Camaro M5
A SuperRammed, TPIS,
Ross, AFR, Scat, Crane,
CompCams induced 355!
My f-body page!

BadBird88: Yea, that's what mine was doing, vibrating like crazy from a stop. It went away though, I think because I learned to shift a little bit higher. I am going to pray that it works better now. A new one is just too expensive.

There should be a minimum thickness number cast into the flywheel somewhere, probably on the backside. They have these numbers on brake drums and rotors as well, so you know how far you can safely machine it. They usually remove about 10 thousandths when you get one resurfaced, more if it's scarred pretty bad. I would think if you've already had it resurfaced twice, you're probably already at the minimum thickness, or getting pretty close. It's not worth it to put too thin of a flywheel back in. They warp much easier when they get hot, and even worse, you run the risk of it coming apart quite violently when you're banging through the gears hard. I wouldn't pay what GM wants for a new substandard flywheel if you can find one from Hays or Ram that will work in your car. They're more performance oriented, and a lot of times, they're cheaper or near the same price as the original GM ones.

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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

Hey mike, mine was vibrating so bad even the guys who resurfaced my flywheel were amazed. The hotter the car got the worse it would get and the only way to get around it was bring it up to a higher rpm or ride the clutch a little when easing off in 1st gear. The reason why I bought the GM is b/c I got it at cost. The Hays is about the same price if not $10 more than dealer cost so either way you looking around $200 or more. You could try a junk yard on a f-body with low miles that possibly hasn't had the flywheel re-surfaced yet but you still run a risk of getting a bad one. Mine had hot spots in it from where the original clutch started slipping real bad after my 350 motor change....can't resurface them out.

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1988 TA 300+hp 350 w/ TBI and Holley TB unit, Holley projection intake,
WC T-5, 3.42 gears w/ Auburn posi. MSD 6A, edelbrock TES headers, dynomax 3" cat and cat-back system, ACCEL coil, polyurethane bushings all around, aluminum driveshaft, Mr. Gasket open air cleaner.

1993 S-10 w/ 4.3L V6 TBI, slightly bigger cam, Mild polish job and 3 angle valve job on heads, Edlebrock TES headers, Dynomax cat back, MSD 6A, ADS chip

2000 Kawasaki KX 125