After the 15% discount which I should qualify for, it would be about $150 before shipping and taxes.

I'm pretty sure my current flywheel cannot be turned down anymore.

I bought more than a year ago, installed on my 1.8. its just fine, happy with quality no problem fitting. Car is used most weeks and recntly did 425 trip with no issues.

And for the money it's a deal

Thanks!

Keep in mind the there are cheap type IV flywheels which are cast, the 914 requires a forged flywheel.

Forging is a much more expensive process. I can understand why factory would use it from a product liability standpoint (also may use same forging for higher HP applications?).
Depending on the alloy and impurities in the metal I could see how a cast part could become a grenade if quality was poor. However, if a hardening process was used on a high quality casting, at least for a low HP application it may be appropriate? Because if it's aftermarket, I'd bet it's not forged due to the cost (and what you paid).

What are your thoughts?

AA claims their flywheels are forged. I wouldn't be shocked if that was true; they likely could use the same forging for all of their VW flywheels and just do some additional machining; that's likely much cheaper than multiple forging dies.

Does anyone sell a cast flywheel? I would think the forging process would be less expensive than x-raying each flywheel. The liability seems too great for even an aftermarket vendor to not either do serious QC or forge. It's not like you're going to stop a broken flywheel from coming through the bellhousing. Kind of like a disc in a turbine engine, but not quite as dangerous due to the 10x reduction in rotation speed.

They say forged, on the plus side if flywheel did explode on a 914 I'm pretty sure my feet and legs are protected, hahaha

Yeah, really. A 914 is about as low personal risk as you can get.

My thoughts are this:

High quality castings....centrifrical or other methods are very expensive nowdays and a tyoe iv flywheel...in my mind wouldn.t be justified

They used investment castings in the old days prior to the advent of larger billet steel sizes and cnc equipment.

I highly doubt that the part is cast....it is either machined billet steel or forged. Most likely forged.

Not saying it can't be. I just don't think the numbers and the part for what it is and does would justify it.

I wouldn't expect the flywheel to be "finish" forged to shape like a crankshaft or connecting rod.

I would expect it to be a disc of steel turned into a dinner plate then finish machined. If this is what is occurring, the dies would be very simple and probably used for other parts automotive or not.

I found a video of them making their flywheels:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0bbTZrcYMc

[quote name='Mueller' date='Nov 2 2017, 07:05 PM' post='2544923']
I found a video of them making their flywheels:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0bbTZrcYMc

[/quote

Wow! That is some serious teamwork involved. Good thing it wasn't a rainy day, but maybe that would have kept the dust down.

Technically this is forging. But think about this. You start with a pure steel alloy (best case). Did you notice that the amount of material used was lets just say 1/8 of the ingot. So the 1st one you do is pure. After you roll it around in the soil, you now throw it back into the forge to make the next ingot. So how much of god knows what is introduced into the metal?

I'm sure all the impurities burned off.

That's called alloying. It even has propriety and local-specific dopants. Probably why some import metals work so nicely.

Wow! Good video.

Is that how Fuchs made their famous wheels for Porsche?

If your old flywheel didnt chatter or have any blue spots or didn't slip under load, just reinstall it. It's going to be better than anything aftermarket that youll install

Pelican had German flywheels, they were good quality.
Last one I used had no balance drilling, I took it to the balance shop and they said it was right on the money.

QC performed with a tape measure, "close enough, looks good!".

Watching that video, I can't imagine how many industrial accidents have happened over there and the gruesome type of injuries.
Holy cow...you'd never see that in America.
It would all be automated, robot, computer controlled.

Forklifts. I worked in a foundry. Those laborers have plenty of burn scars.