I had a Mazdaspeed flywheel installed just before driving up to the Tail of the Dragon earlier this month. I drove from New Orleans, Louisiana to Robbinsville, North Carolina, a trip of about 600 mi. each way.

I found that with the new flywheel, the car was quicker off the the line, and the car settled into a cruising speed that was about 5 ~ 10 mph higher than with the factory flywheel.

One unfortunate side effect of such an equipped vehicle is to regularly exceed the posted speed limits. This car does not wnat top settle down until you ar doing something over 90 mph. With that in mind, here are the milage results from my trip.

(I have excluded the runs on the Tail of the Dragon, as they were high-revving, *****-out driving, with no attempt made towards acheiving fuel econonmy).


Dist (Mi) <-----> Fuel (gal)<----->Milage (mpg)<----->Driving/Speed
245.4 <-----> 12.466 <-----> 19.69 <-----> Agressive (85 ~ 95 MPH)
252.0 <-----> 11.980 <-----> 21.04 <-----> Relaxed (70 ~ 80 MPH)
152.1 <-----> 08.971 <-----> 17.06 <-----> Hard (95 ~ 118 MPH)
219.6 <-----> 11.004 <-----> 19.96 <-----> Agressive (85 ~ 95 MPH)
233.0 <-----> 12.359 <-----> 18.85 <-----> Agressive (95 ~ 100 MPH)


DISCLAMER
These results are posted for informational and entertainment purposes only. The results posted here should not be considered typical, and may vary with driver, driving style, weather and road conditions.

These results are posted "as-is". The interpertation of this data is left up to the reader. The conclusions and inferrences drawn from these results by the reader shall be the sole responsiblity of the reader.

Caveat Emptor...

 

since mileage varies so widely from car to car, and driver to driver, what were your numbers before the flywheel install?

Also, what did you mean about the car not wanting to settle down under 90mph?

 

I only checked the milage once before the flywheel was installed, and as I recall, I was not real impressed with the milage. I think the number worked out to around 14mpg (city driving). As I said in my disclaimer, there are so many variables from driver, car, conditions, etc....

Bottom line is, if you are looking to increase milage by changing the flywheel, don't buy it. There is a noticiable increase in engine response, which (at least in my case) leads to a heavier foot and actually increases gas consumption (I think tendency to drive faster is a psychological reaction to the increased "pep" of the car).

As for the term "settling down" I have found that every car has a "cruising speed" at which all forces acting on the car seem to be in equilibrium, and the car "feels" like its driving itself. This speed is different in each gear (naturally), but I find that that speed is now just a bit higher than it used to be for a given gear.... Just a feeling, I have no real way to measure it.

 

sooo, you had an MS flywheel that whole time

AND YOU DIDNT TELL ME!?!?!!!!!

 

exactly! I hope I don't find out someone had a RB exhaust while we were there. At least I got to see raz's rx8 brake light decal! We should have spent an hour sometime checking out each other's mods!

 

guy has a borla

 

Shhhhh!!!! Its a secrect!!

 

Hey Epi, I also have a Mazdaspeed oil cap! It adds about 25 hp! Zoom Zoom

 

How was the hurricane trip ed?


I should have gotten the fly wheel when they had to rebuild my tranny

 

I feel like all I did was drive for a week, back and forth. No real damage, but we lost a lot of sand and stairs under the house. Here's a before and after pic of the front house (We have one behind it too).

I went with my brother and my son, we had to take a lot of back roads to get there. Along the way we witnessed the horrific destructive power of the storm near the Alabama/Florida state line. Miles and miles of trees ripped to shreds. Big trees, 36" 48" in diameter. Powerlines down everywhere. What a mess!


But once we got there we had power, water, cable tv and air conditioning, so we wer able to spend the night rather than try to drive back (traffic was horrible). After cleaning up a lot of debris (roof shingles, wind blown trash, etc.) we went to the store and bought steaks and beer and barbequed to celebrate our good fortune.

The weather was beautiful, and the night sky was clear and dark, we were able to view and idenfity many constellations (astronomy is a hobby of mine and this is where i usually bring my 12" schimdt-cassegrain scope). We ended up falling asleep outside, on recliners, under the canopy of stars, pondering the awesome forces of nature.

The phrase for the day was "Well, it could have been a lot worse!!"

 

So, when's the RX8club meet at your beach house?? :D

 

Actually, thats not a bad idea, once we get the beach restored. If you feel like driving up from Tampa or is it Tallahasse? and hangin' out for a weekend. There's not much in the way of interesting driving though.

We'd probably have to hang out drinking and checking out bikinis. Or may go deep sea fishing. I love to dangle my worm, hoping to catch some snapper :D