Good evening. Doing a clutch job on my '74 and the flywheel is looking pretty rough. Not sure if it has been resurfaced before and it looks like new ones are pretty pricey. Any recommendations for a replacement? Thanks!

If you can post a pic that would help with guidance....here's how (http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=13637)
There's a diagram showing the measurements for acceptable flywheel thickness--I can't find it, someone will likely post the link shortly. If it's just got surface rust and it measures ok then it's ok to simply hit it with 80 grit sandpaper on an orbital sander to give a bit of crosshatch, bolt it up and go....al least that's my CSOB approach and should be fine for a street car...

Yep... the sanding process was my plan... but it has a pretty big groove in it. So thinking replacement may be best thing.

I'm always on the hunt for a good deal, need to be. So I would put a wanted good used flywheel in the want ads. There are some great sources for used and restored parts here. On the right coast mepstein comes to mind, I've had nothing but good from him. But there are others. PM him and watch the ads

I bought one of these to have in stock:
http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Type-4-Flywhe...p/008-215fw.htm

There are other suppliers that may be less expensive.

I would only replace the flywheel as a last resort. Reason? The flywheel and crank are balanced at the factory before engine assembly. They only way to do this with a replacement is to split the case remove the crank and balance with the new flywheel. If you run your fingernail across the the grooves on your flywheel and it doesn't
catch or grab your nail, you can just rough up the surface with emory cloth and re-assemble. The new clutch disk will "seat in" the grooves during break-in. I did this with my clutch job and the results were perfect. Another thing to consider is the quality of the new flywheel, both in the type of steel used and the quality of the machining. While I have no proof that the flywheel replacement part is inferior, my experience with other parts is the originals are usually better quality than the aftermarket replacement.

Dave

When I was young and penniless, I used to re-use some pretty gnarley parts, flywheels included. Seemed to work ok!

I don't think the factory ever did an assembled balance on a T4, they just balanced components separately, I've swapped OE flywheels without issue. When I have balanced OE assemblies the material removal was minimal, maybe a few grams, likely they were within stock spec. Rods are 6 gram tolerance, no end for end balance spec, etc.

That said this year I'm trying out the AA 914 flywheels and have fully balanced 4 stock 2.0 assemblies and one 80mm crank and all of these flys required a fair bit of weight taken off. About double or more than if I used a OE fly.
I also balanced two new german replacement flys the year before, one was off and the other dead nuts on.

but certainly if your doing a rebuild it makes sense to have your complete reciprocating assembly balanced together.
In fact if I was going to that level Id be looking at one of their lightened NEW FW's.

I've had our flywheel resurfaced twice over many years. If you go this route be sure and space the throw out bearing pivot out with washers to make up for the change in geometry. Otherwise you may find the throw out bearing arm hits the transaxle case when you push the clutch in keeping it from releasing all the way. You'll need to put sealer on the pivot where it screws in to avoid trans fluid leaking out.

Purchased a new stock weight unit from AA Performance for a customer build and found it to be ok and certainly priced right ($150) ,the salesman told me it was balanced unit and the service from them was good.

Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be buying the aircooled.net flywheel that davep recommended. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

The AA and aircooled.net flywheel is the same manufacturer.