Waterpump flywheel (??)

[Rogier]

Yesterday working on my car I ran into some sort of a waterpump pulley flywheel. Can anybody tell me what the function of this thing is? It can't be helping the engine keeping it's rev's because there's in my opinion no hard connection between that pulley and the crankshaft... only a belt.

 

[MBDiagMan]

There has been much written about this on the forum. If you will do a search I'm sure you will find lots of theories.

There are several things that it can do, but my guess is that it was put there by the Noise, Vibration and Harshness(NVH) guys to dampen out some sort of vibration.

I have seen it written that taking it off will free up a certain amount of HP but I don't believe that it would free up as much as one single HP. When I see a legitimate dyno test I will believe it.

Have a great day,

 

[Edmond]

Is this the thing that many refer to as the frisbie?

 

[89sleeper]

I think this is what he is talking about my roadster has one
You can see the frisbe just under the top radiator hose

 

[tyrel]

Most people just remove the thing. I removed mine some time ago with no ill effects.

 

[89sleeper]

Most people just remove the thing. I removed mine some time ago with no ill effects.

I am leaving it on for
originality I'm keeping every thing OEM

 

[Rogier]

Can it hurt when I remove it? I don't like meaningless stuff on my corvette.. It doesn't have to be original all the way. I think less is beautifull and therefore remove anything that's takin' up space and add's weight to my corvette.

O and by the way, I searched the different fora but didn't know how to call it. I will now look under frisbee.. Thanks anyway..

 

[MBDiagMan]

I'm with 89sleeper on this one. When someone can give me a good reason to remove it I will do so. There is very little that is not original about my car and there is NOTHING that is not original that cannot be EASILY changed back to original.

I do fully expect that the frisbee serves a purpose. If it served no purpose, you can BET that GM would have very happily saved the fifty cents that it cost to put it on the car to begin with. Fifty cents multiplied by the number of cars they build per year represents BIG BUCKS that they would just LOVE to keep for profit.

Have a great day,

 

[G Winter]

The one thing it does do... makes replacing the belt a pita. I think removing it might make that easier. It might take harmonics out of the waterpump saving the bearing .

Glenn

 

[tyrel]

You guys. The thing weighs ten pounds. It's impossible to check the w/p weep hole with it on. I have a hunch, like G Winter, that it accelerates w/p bearing failure, since it weighs three times as much as the pump. It makes the serp belt harder to change. It doesn't do much of anything, since there is no performance difference on or off; my a/c compressor cutting on and off doesn't cause the engine to fly out of the cradle with the frisbee removed. Leave it on if you want to, but its purpose seems largely decorative.

 

[MBDiagMan]

If it's purpose is purely decorative, I think GM could have gotten more decoration value elsewhere. Again, they would NOT have spent the extra money if there were no purpose. If someone can tell me the purpose, then I will evaluate whether or not to remove it.

How much of a PITA can it possibly be? It comes off and out of the way in about 20 seconds with an air ratchet.

Have a great day,

 

[G Winter]

I didn't state what I ment very well. What I ment to say is that the flywheel may absorb harmonics created by the water pump and belt that could damage the pump bearings. On the other side the weight could put wear and tear on the bearings. I am betting on the first.

Glenn

 

[Matt38]

GM eventually decided it was worthless and omitted it. Just removed it on my 89 and weighed it - 3.6#