Think this flywheel can be cleaned up? Options

[Tdskip]

Started digging into the 2.0L spare that came from a Seattle car that Dylan parted out.

The clutch looks barely, if ever, used to me but it’s cleaky been in a damp environment.

[Tdskip]

[Tdskip]

Looks like just surface corrosion

[Tdskip]

Need a new seal here

[porschetub]

Looks to have done little work,minimal wear on the clutch plate fingers,plenty of meat on the clutch plate also.
This will all clean up well ,I would use it again,these parts are rather expensive in my country.
Good luck.

[Tdskip]

Looks to have done little work,minimal wear on the clutch plate fingers,plenty of meat on the clutch plate also.
This will all clean up well ,I would use it again,these parts are rather expensive in my country.
Good luck.

Greetings, happy Monday mate.

Just wire brush the flywheel to get the surface corrosion off? Anything to do to the clutch disk?

[bbrock]

My flywheel looked somewhat like yours when I pulled my partially rebuilt engine out of mothballs. I used 2" Scotch Brite conditioning pads on an air angle grinder and it polished right up. On thing I see that might be a concern on yours is the sealing surface on the flywheel hub. Hopefully that will polish up nice and smooth for a good seal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[IronHillRestorations]

Looks like the flywheel just needs cleaning. If the fingers on the pressure plate have pitting, it would make it suspect.

I'd clean the flywheel up with a green 3M bristle disc and/or scotchbrite disc. The bristle aren't as agressive

[rhodyguy]

Rust=Washington patina.

[UROpartsman]

Wouldn't touch the disc, it looks good and will clean itself up the first time you use it.

Could have the flywheel turned, wouldn't take much to clean the surface rust off the friction area. Any other rust removal is cosmetic, but if using Scotchbrite pads, use a VERY light touch where the pressure plate touches the flywheel, so the components remain flat and parallel. If you Scotchbrite the pressure plate where it contacts the disc, do it by hand (not rotary device) in long overlapping circular motions and try to keep the cleaning even, so you don't end up with high and low spots on the plate. Scotchbrite can remove more metal than people expect.

[Tdskip]

Thanks for all the responses and coaching.

Will follow that guidance and report back.

[bbrock]

Could have the flywheel turned, wouldn't take much to clean the surface rust off the friction area. Any other rust removal is cosmetic, but if using Scotchbrite pads, use a VERY light touch where the pressure plate touches the flywheel, so the components remain flat and parallel. If you Scotchbrite the pressure plate where it contacts the disc, do it by hand (not rotary device) in long overlapping circular motions and try to keep the cleaning even, so you don't end up with high and low spots on the plate. Scotchbrite can remove more metal than people expect.

Good point and a good reminder that I should clarify what I used because "Scotch Brite" is like saying "sandpaper" since there is a huge range in aggressiveness and purpose. I used a very mild disc more intended for buffing/polishing. It just knocked the loose rust off but the chance of taking any measurable amount of metal off with that disc was pretty much nil.

[UROpartsman]

^ Exactly. A lot of machinists would probably freak out if someone used a Scotchbrite pad on the table of their mill, lol.

Using fresh water as a lubricant also helps when using a Scotchbrite pad, as it reduces buildup of material in the pad and makes it easy to rinse away removed debris (with a garden hose, etc). But on the pressure plate, it might not be worth getting water into the mechanism unless you have a good way to thoroughly dry the assembly quickly.

[porschetub]

My flywheel looked somewhat like yours when I pulled my partially rebuilt engine out of mothballs. I used 2" Scotch Brite conditioning pads on an air angle grinder and it polished right up. On thing I see that might be a concern on yours is the sealing surface on the flywheel hub. Hopefully that will polish up nice and smooth for a good seal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Good point I never noticed that,really should go in a lathe to be polished...if the rust isn't too bad otherwise the RMS will leak.

[Tdskip]

Thanks for the discussion.

The area in yellow need to be polished? The surface in red is smooth still.

[UROpartsman]

Deleted, see below posts.

[Tdskip]

Just edited our post, there actually isn't any sealing surface on the flywheel. All the sealing at the rear main seal is between the case and the crankshaft, with the except of the flywheel o-ring that protects the pilot bearing.

Thanks, which means the area in yellow isn’t an issue then?

[bbrock]

Just edited our post, there actually isn't any sealing surface on the flywheel. All the sealing at the rear main seal is between the case and the crankshaft, with the except of the flywheel o-ring that protects the pilot bearing.

I don't think that's right. I'm pretty sure the crankshaft end fits inside the recess of the flywheel hub and seals with the o-ring. And the flywheel hub fits inside the RMS where the lip seals against the vertical shoulder above the yellow area circled. It's just that outer shoulder of the hub that is perpendicular to the area circled that needs to be polished. Hard to tell from the pic what condition it is in.

[UROpartsman]

(Edited after learning the RMS seals against the snout on the back of the flywheel.)

You could do the following:

Mask the following areas:
• Where the flywheel touches the crank (you can leave the pilot bearing because you'll replace it later)
• The snout on the back of the flywheel where the rear main seal rides
• Where the pressure plate mounts to the flywheel
• The pressure plate where it touches the disc

Media-blast the flywheel and pressure plate to remove the corrosion, then:
• Remove the old pilot bearing
• Have the flywheel turned (they will remove the same amount of material from where the pressure plate mounts as the friction surface, to maintain the spacing)
• Have the machine shop polish the OD of the snout where the rear main seal rides (or if pitted, turn and sleeve it)
• Carefully Scotchbrite the friction surface of the pressure plate

Then:
• Mask where the flywheel touches the crank and where the flywheel snout enters the rear main seal, and paint the back of the flywheel with a thin coat of black engine paint
• Mask the pressure plate as needed to keep paint out of the assembly, and paint the back of the pressure plate housing

Install a new pilot bearing, and your restored clutch and flywheel will be ready for installation.


Or, if there's money in the budget and there's any concern, just do the flywheel and buy a new clutch assembly. That old clutch would probably work fine though.

[UROpartsman]

I don't think that's right. I'm pretty sure the crankshaft end fits inside the recess of the flywheel hub and seals with the o-ring. And the flywheel hub fits inside the RMS where the lip seals against the vertical shoulder above the yellow area circled. It's just that outer shoulder of the hub that is perpendicular to the area circled that needs to be polished. Hard to tell from the pic what condition it is in.

Definitely worthy of finding out for sure, will do some more research.