Lance
You're quite right: the weight of the flywheel is there to smooth out the
power pulses of the engine. The snag is that in some cases the dampening has
been a bit overdone, even for road use. This results in an engine that is
slow to change its rpm, and especially if you have a crash box that makes
gear-changing more difficult.
The standard P-type engine feels to me quite ponderous in its response. The
flywheel and clutch assembly on this 847cc engine weighs quite a bit more
than those of a 1250 TC. Cars in the 30s had only limited rubber insulation
between engine and chassis and the heavy flywheel was an effort to reduce
perceived vibration. I think that the fuels available at the time also gave
less smooth running than we are accustomed to.
Of course if you reduce the flywheel/clutch mass too much the engine will be
unpleasantly rough at low revs. However I don't think that there's much
chance of reaching that stage with a P-type!
Regards
Dave Dwyer
J2, TA, TC
British Cars Web: http://www.team.net/sol
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