Specifically for an E36 non-M budget racecar. I've always been willing to spend a little extra on a name brand flywheel because if they fail it's gonna be expensive, but how much does it really matter? It's a hunk of steel, how bad could a cheap flywheel be?
How cheap we talking about? I'd be wary of the $100 clutch, flywheel, pressure plate kits at high rpm.
I went with a turned/recut flywheel over an eBay special on my cheapo racecar.
Metal at high rpm carries alot of energy.
</Fearmongering>
Might want to cheap the chump and lemons forums also to see who they've had good luck with.
"expensive". Think about what's inline with your flywheel. Probably bits of you. SFI flywheels aren't that expensive, and stock ones are free.
Chinese Neon Flywheel in my IT racer had cracks around the bolt circle after less than 20 hours of track time. Junkyard OE mopar flywheel lasted forever.
The easier something is to remove and replace, the more comfortable I am with going the cheapskate route. A flywheel is not high on my list of ease of removal
On cheap ones I take them to get Ballanced. My cheap Chinese one in the neon has 120k on it and has one small hairline crack.
I don't cheap out on anything that rotates at high speed. Too much opportunity for serious damage if failure occurs...
What is your right foot worth to you? If a flywheel comes apart, it's coming through bellhousing and floor like a hot knife through butter.
I guess if you wanted to cheap out, you could buy an SFI trans blanket to help contain it if it explodes.
But adding that probably won't save you much money.
My vote is an OE flywheel from the junkyard and get it machined. It will probably be about the same price as a cheapo Ebay part and a lot less likely to perform the world's fastest foot amputation. I know, the odds are slim and I'm sensationalizing it, but seriously though, a fixed up stock part would be a better part for the money.
Being that this is an e36 all oe junkyard flywheels are going to be dual mass. Not generally a good idea to try to resurface. Mainly because it is so hard to find a place to do it.
One thing you can do though is get a e30 m20b25 single mass flywheel. They are decently cheap (100$ish) and very lightweight. The downside is that they are smaller in diameter and require a m20 clutch kit and a 323i euro TOB and the m20 starter. Plus a wee bit of machining to get it to fit.
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