427 Ring Gear, OUT!

[Excaliber]

Likely not enough pressure, I need to run it up to 150 or higher I reckon...

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by patrickt

We've had a few threads on this recently. The considered opinion is to use it, without a doubt. There is some debate as between red and blue.

Ernie, we decided in another thread that the proper method is to mix red and blue 50/50 and that would yield purple, suited specifically for flywheels.

[Excaliber]

Red and Blue! What a concept.

As I tried to explain before, light vs heavy has it's place. For MY setup I do believe heavier wheel (40 pound Hays) is the right setup. I have a VERY tall first gear. Most of the time I start out, from a stop sign, with an rpm barely above my idle rpm. I rarely "slip" the clutch when doing so. I simply let it out and "putt" off into the sunset. My concern is that light wheel, under those conditions, would require more throttle and may result in some bucking of the engine.

Now, when I'm ready to "nail it" and burn some rubber or make a serious fast run at some ET, well THEN I wish I had both lower gears and a lighter flywheel. But I like my setup as it is for a daily driver, cruising around town, getting stuck in traffic, low speed with high gears. Plus a cam that is not all that happy with my rpm below 2000 all ready. All things considered, I think the heavy wheel is the ticket for the bulk of my driving style.

By the way, a close ratio with a 3:31 rear gear is not a recommended setup. Typically you would use a lower rear gear ratio with the CR Top Loader. Yeah, at times, it's a bit of a drag. BUT, I like it. I love the way those close ratio gears fall into place on the freeway for instance. I've dropped into 2nd gear at 65 mph on several occasions and it just feels great the way it pulls from there on up to over a 100. Fabulous!

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

My concern is that light wheel, under those conditions, would require more throttle and may result in some bucking of the engine.

I edited that part of my post when I saw that you had ordered just the ring. I think you are right about the heavy flywheel helping get out of the hole at low rpms. I had a Vette that would pull stumps out of first gear with no gas at all until I put the aluminum FW in it and then it wanted, as you say, to buck a bit.

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Isn't the only issue with the BT heads, the raised exhaust ports and thus a revision to the headers and exhaust?

Yes that's true but if I had Barry's motor I'd gladly change my head pipes and collector to work with them.

The Shelbys have an exhaust port floor raised .250" so that does not change pipe requirements. The raised floor really helps out the exhaust side.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Yes that's true but if I had Barry's motor I'd gladly change my head pipes and collector to work with them.

The Shelbys have an exhaust port floor raised .250" so that does not change pipe requirements. The raised floor really helps out the exhaust side.

What little I do know, I'm aware of the fact that raised exhaust ports do create more power, but I would have chosen the BT's over the E's, but for the fact that I didn't want to change my headers and exhaust.

With Chevy's you can have your cake and eat it too.

[Excaliber]

...never did care for fruit cake...

[Bobcat]

Ernie ... correct on the flywheel . I had a friend who was a serious squirt racer . They had a computer program that would figure the optimum flywheel weight when a whole bunch of parameters were fed in . But to summarize ... and be VERY general ... heavy car , heavy flywheel , light car , light(er) flywheel . You ought to see the flywheel on my Galaxie ( 4100 lbs ) .
A heavy FW helps you come off the line as the engine doesn`t bog down . In circle track racing , some of the big teams ran a Ram clutch setup ... it had little or no flywheel ... talk about instant acceleration and deceleration .
I machined all the counterweights off one of my cranks once and machined my flywheel to look like Swiss cheese ... boy did it rev quickly ... boy did it destroy main bearings !

Bob

[ERA Chas]

Ernie!

You only weigh 2600-not 4100!

Here's a good money saving compromise. When the RG comes, take wheel and gear to machinist and tell him to shave eight pounds out of the wheel. That can be done safely but not much more. Remember mine is 33 lbs. You can get down there and I'm sure you won't judder on off idle starts. And if you do, throttle it a little!

Might cost you $150 plus the gear installation.

You WILL really enjoy the throttle response improvement. I took 3
lbs off the front of the crank by changing dampers and noticed an improvement.

[Excaliber]

Oh I'm pretty sure that 4100 pound Galaxie was running more than a 40 pound flywheel.

I hear what your saying Chas. Here's a rule of thumb I like. Every pound of ROTATING weight is worth three pounds of static weight.

I'm all ready considering some major changes with my car, down the road. 5 speed for one thing, possible top end with different heads, single four intake, light weight flywheel, different cam, more of a road racing setup. AFTER I get moved and settled in, right now I'm in the middle of packing. This was the worst possible time for me to be playing with the car, I really shot myself in the foot this time.

I recently bought a second set of wheels (four) so I can mount some race tires and make it easy to quickly change from street to track. Can't wait to get on a track again (none on Oahu).

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

Oh I'm pretty sure that 4100 pound Galaxie was running more than a 40 pound flywheel.

Nope, it really was 40 lbs. Ernie, shoot a PM over to Rick Lake and ask him to recount his story of originally starting out with a 40 lb. flywheel, how the stored energy would bust the tires loose all the time, and then when he changed to an aluminum flywheel his acceleration times increased and he had less wheelspin. Personally, I love my aluminum flywheel.

[Excaliber]

By the way, what IS "fast"? With my current setup I can go 0-100 in 7.98 seconds, measured at the old race track. And thats with a 2 second hole shot to keep the wheel spin down! Come on man, it's "fast enough"!

Oh, single four with a center pivot float for better road race cornering, but I'm gonna miss the look of the dual fours.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

By the way, what IS "fast"? With my current setup I can go 0-100 in 7.98 seconds, measured at the old race track. And thats with a 2 second hole shot to keep the wheel spin down! Come on man, it's "fast enough"!

That's pretty fast. But an aluminum flywheel also lets you slow down faster as well.

[brobehr]

I for one greatly appreciate these mild deviations from original post. Hopefully it cuts my goofs by half

thanks all

[Argess]

When I installed my flywheel, I used Ford flywheel bolts. They are "place bolts" and apparenlty the strongest bolt available according to page 92 of Carroll Smith's "Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook". I'm not sure if it's still accurate, but he lists the P/N as B8AZ-6379A.

It's been a while, but I think mine came with some blue-thread-locker painted on the threads.

On Loc-tite, the red is for large bolts, blue is for small fasteners...such as 6-32 machine screws...i.e. very small, so if you want to use Loc-tite, use the Red. And by the way, I suspect the torque needed to overcome red loc-tite is insignificant compared to the 100 ft-lbs or so (sorry, can't remember the exact spec) needed to loosen flywheel bolts.

I do believe a properly torqued bolt doesn't need loc-tite. For example, I've never heard of anyone using it on connecting rod bolts.

But for piece of mind, I do use it....on the camshaft sprocket bolt and if my bolts didn't already have some sort of thread locker, the flywheel bolts. I did use it on the pressure plate bolts as well. Just an extra precaution, but probably overkill.

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by Argess

On Loc-tite, the red is for large bolts, blue is for small fasteners...such as 6-32 machine screws...i.e. very small, so if you want to use Loc-tite, use the Red.

Just for clarification for the newbies that might read this. In the beginning there was just blue and red. Blue was for aluminum/soft alloy and items that needed light fastening and red for steel/heavy locking. Now there are dozens of flavors and the lines between the colors are more blurred. Read the packaging and ask yourself, "Will I ever be faced with having to break this apart in the field with minimal tools?" Or "Will I have shop tools and heat available to break this apart?" That dictates which Loctite to use.

[Argess]

True enough....I was too lazy to look up the loc-tite P/Ns and there are a lot more now, some very similiar looking. Good point.

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by Argess

True enough....I was too lazy to look up the loc-tite P/Ns and there are a lot more now, some very similiar looking. Good point.

When I started on my Cobra I had the same old two red and blue containers I have had for 10 years. When I went to buy new stuff, I couldn't believe how many variations of Loctite there were. Of course, its niche marketing at its finest. Hell they even have food grade now.

[Excaliber]

Wait, there's more than the 10 year old Red and Blue in my tool box?

Old school rules...

[elmariachi]

Holy crap according to the website there are some 60 thread sealing and locking variants. I figured maybe a dozen.