4.0 question???

[off_road_junkie21]

ok i am rebuilding my 4.0 before i put it into my ranger. it is going to be ported and polished with hearders and cold air intake\snorkle. the only thing i cant find for it is a alumine flywheel??? can anybody help me??


(using a 91 4wd 5speed exploader for my swap)

side question-are the hays clutches any good a was planing on using there heavy duty one. i found it here at this web site. www.autopartwerehouse.com

 

[gotmudd]

this is what i came up with from google, here's the link. http://www.racepages.com/parts/flywheel/ford/ranger.html hope this is what you are looking for

 

[AllanD]

Uhhh... why do you THINK you want an aluminum flywheel?

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[off_road_junkie21]

lighter weight more power to the wheels.

 

[off_road_junkie21]

thank you now i just have to ask them how much lighter it is then the oem one.

 

[almostclueless]

An aluminum flywheel doesn't reduce HP loss.....it does allow a race engine to rev faster. I doubt it would help anything in a truck.

 

[off_road_junkie21]

i was told it does. i know they do on the stangs

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Assuming your building a 4x4 because of the snorkle.
Lighter flywheel is a bad idea. 4x4s need torque. Most of your "torque" is actually the weight/mass of the flywheel.
All the horsepower in the world is useless if you don't have the torque to get moving.
All your buddy's are gunna laugh at you while you constantly stall out your truck while trying crawl up a piece of gravel.
*Although you could just burn up the new clutch by riding the hell out of it to take off every time.

 

[Big Jim M]

What urnk said Times two!! A 200 pound flywheel would work fine in the rocks.. An aluminum flywheel would allow the engine to wrap quicker but 4X4's don't want quick they want steady and slow.
Big JIm

 

[AllanD]

lighter weight more power to the wheels.

Uhhh... No.

The same AMMOUNT of horsepower gets to the wheels regardless of flywheel weight. the flywheel could weigh 3# or 300#.

what changes is how quickly the engine will wind up.

However a heavier flywheel makes it harder to stall the engine and easier to get the truck moving.

An aluminum flywheel doesn't reduce HP loss.....it does allow a race engine to rev faster. I doubt it would help anything in a truck.

Correct.

i was told it does. i know they do on the stangs

You were misinformed.

Assuming your building a 4x4 because of the snorkle.
Lighter flywheel is a bad idea. 4x4s need torque. Most of your "torque" is actually the weight/mass of the flywheel.
All the horsepower in the world is useless if you don't have the torque to get moving.
All your buddy's are gunna laugh at you while you constantly stall out your truck while trying crawl up a piece of gravel.
*Although you could just burn up the new clutch by riding the hell out of it to take off every time.

Aluminum flywheels are great on road race cars.
They are even kinda stupid on most 1/4mile cars.

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[289-tiger-]

I like my aluminum flywheel (attached to a 289 HIPO), great on the street (more tractable) but would not use for a truck application.

Good luck

 

[AllanD]

I like my aluminum flywheel (attached to a 289 HIPO), great on the street (more tractable) but would not use for a truck application.

Good luck

I had a sintered bronze faced aluminum flywheel on a '69 340-4bbl engine in my Dart GTS.
I also had a race "no Marcel" (the wavy spring betweeh the two discs of friction material, it was great in a 2700lb set up for turning corners
It was nearly impossible to regulate traction from a standing start
in a 1/4mile run...

Basically it was a choice between bog and burn.

The car could only do the quarter mile at 13.21,
but those 1/4mile passes were consistantly
between 121 and 123mph.

With a steel flywheel and more modulatable clutch I should
have been running very low 12's or high 11's

I wouldn't try an aluminum flywheel on a 2.9 let alone on a 4.0.
anything the 2.9 is is GREATLY IMPROVED by swapping on the heavier
4.0 flywheel and bigger 4.0 clutch.

there were distinct reasons why Ford went from the
18lb flywheel on the 2.9 to a 23# flywheel when they designed the 4.0.

I'd also debate the purpose of porting and polishing the heads on a 4.0
the 4.0's strong suit over the 2.9 is low rpm torque, do much porting or swap in a bigger camshaft that'll increase power will tend to move the torque band higher where it's less useful.

Headers OTOH ALWAYS help.

I have Borla's on my 4.0.

 

[crbnunit]

Yup. What he says. You have to be very careful building a motor. Make sure what you want it to do before making a bunch of changes. Light flywheel, port polish, headers... All these mods favor a quick reving, high RPM motor flowing lots of air and fuel. While it would be OK as a race truck, it would be next to useless as a trail truck. You also need to have the correct cam profile for the engine you are planning. A stock cam with a high flow motor is probably not optimum.

 

[289-tiger-]

Hi guys,

I was mentioning the tractability of a vehicle in the lower rpms around town and not on the line. Sorry it works in my application.

Good Luck

 

[AllanD]

The thing is in a 4x4 truck offroad you are ALWAYS "off the line"
To the point where "off the line" behavior is ALL that matters.

Quarter mile guys talk ET's, trap speeds and to a lesser degree 60foot times

In a 4x4 truck offroad you look not at 60foot performance but 15feet and you expect to not only go from a standing start, but stop again in that distance and do it over and over. as you negotiate rocks, stumps and other obstacles.

It takes skill with a heavy flywheel, infact it takes so much skill that many serious offroaders use automatic transmissions, because you only have two feet and you really need three.

I prefer manuals because automatics are too much like
electronic equipment, there is too much "magic smoke"
inside and when that magic smoke leaks out they stop
working.... USUALLY at THE most inconvenient time.

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