Flywheel or pulleys?

Alright, I won a bet for $150 and I'm torn between some AEM tru-power pulleys for about 150, or a lightweight flywheel (7 lbs.) clutch combo for about 300, so I'd have to spend an extra 150. My current clutch is starting to get mushy. What, in your opinion, is a better option. I'm talking performance for money. -Matt

clutch.

A light flywheel will free up a lot more power than pulleys. 7lbs is too light for street use, stay around 12lbs.

7lbs is too light for street use, stay around 12lbs.

My friend has a 8lb on his teg and he just said the shifting takes some getting used to but its not bad. Will it really make daily driving that uncomfortable? How much of a notcible difference will the pulleys/7lb/12lb make?

There will be noticeable difference with just installing pulleys.

With too light of flywheel shifting will become harsh for street conditions, more likely to tear up parts.

Just a light flywheel alone wont make a noticeable difference either, but more than pulleys. It's all about the package. 1 modification alone isn't enough to notice a difference unless it a power adder like Nitrous, Turbo, or Supercharger.

11psi with stock flywheel was fine. now im at 11psi with an 8 lbs flywheel. bumper to bumper traffic sucks. im going to put the stock flywheel back in when i swap out my short block.

Alright, I think I'm just gonna go with pulleys for now cause I don't really have the extra cash to drop right now and I need a little bump in power. And when I do replace the clutch I'll be getting a 12 pound flywheel. Thanks for all the info.

I had a question if someone could explain it for me. How is a lighter flywheel more likely to tear up parts in daily street use? I have a 9lb flywheel with ACT street/strip clutch and extreme pressure plate on my 91 civic hatch. I agree, it sucks major @$$ in traffic and it took a long time before I was comfortable driving it everywhere but I have experienced no problems mechanically on my car. Over time, I've learned manipulate the clutch and shift smoothly so that passengers don't get thrown around when I shift. The only thing that resulted is that my left calf muscle is bigger than my right because pressing the clutch is that much of a work out. Can someone explain how that would effect other components (in detail) please?

PS-My vote is for clutch and flywheel.

Stop and go traffic will burn up a racing clutch and warp a flywheel. Any harsh shifting over a period of time puts major stress on the tranny's internals, also the engine takes some abuse. You got to remember these are Civic's, not some high performance car with beefed up parts.

How would stop and go traffic warp a lightweight flywheel more than a stock one and burn up a racing clutch faster than a stock one? And isn't harsh shifting up to the driver? Any kind of abuse is going to ruin something overtime whether it's been modified or not. Can you (or anyone else)describe the mechanics behind why having these two items would cause damage?

PS-I'm not trying to start anything, these are legitimate questions and I would like to understand why =)

In a race car your not dragging the clutch in first from a stop a lot or creeping in traffic. That all heats up a thin flywheel to the point it warps.

The harder a clutch grabs, the faster it wears.

In a race car where "race" parts are needed, the car is usually taken apart to check things, where a street car is only taken apart when something is broke.

search www.google.com I'm sure you can come up with many reason why race parts are for race cars only.

In a race car your not dragging the clutch in first from a stop a lot or creeping in traffic. That all heats up a thin flywheel to the point it warps.




I think that's what I wanted hear. That makes sense. Aside from being thinner, is it also because of a different material for the flywheel (say aluminum vs steel)?

Sorry for asking, it just sounded worse than I had originally thought about parts wearing. I thought it was more involved than that. Thanks for enlightning me :bigthumb: