Hi
I needed a new clutch in my 93 wagon, I installed a lightened Excedy flywheel while I had it apart. The car pulls much harder now in 1st, and 2nd, and a bit into 3rd. It also seems much smoother, especially noticable at 4000 rpm and up. The replacement clutch I bought off of E-Bay, which was nothing special but had a 1/4 inch more friction material around the inside, the outside dia. was the same. No drivability issues, but I do not have any stop and go driving. This is a great mod for the 1.8 engine. I think that if this mod is equivalent to 7-8 HP that on this engine that this is a fairly large percentage of an increase, larger than on the bigger engines and therefore more noticable.
When I swapped this in I used the "pull the engine forward method" with a slight twist. When I jacked the engine I took two pieces of scrap deep channel iron and welded a small nut onto one end of each, the nut went through the engine mount hole and was loosly bolted down using a large washer to distrubute the stress, this kept that end from popping out. The other end I supported on concrete blocks and wood scraps. I let the engine down onto the channel iron, then supperted the transmission with a jack. The engine mount bolts rode in the slots in the channel iron as I slid the engine forward. Wish I could have taken pictures. I did this in my driveway by myself in about 6 hours without working to hard.
Great Mod for a 1.8.

Is that flywheel designed for the older tranny, or am I missing something here? (I was told that flywheels are not compatible for the older engines/trannys, and people have had issues with this during engine swaps)

Well the OEM flywheel part numbers are all the same, 1.8 to 2.5 , as you probably know. I called one of the Exedy venders who said their's would work. I ordered it and it does. I have a feeling all the various lightened flywheels would work. The ring gears have to be the same and nothing protrudes beyond that. Most of the weight comes off the back of the flywheels, especially one piece iron/steel types, actually increasing the space between engine and flywheel. There is nothing even close to this flywheel, engine or transmission sides on my car. I think most of the various flywheels where manufactured after the 1.8 was out of production, therefore the 1.8 is not listed as an application by the venders / manufacturers. When the manufacturers copied the 2.5 flywheel they may not have been aware that it is the same as the 1.8. If they where, they may not have tested it in a 1.8 thinking there would be a limited market.

Well when my clutch went out, my flywheel was mega-scored, so it was replaced too... The head mechanic showed me how the 1.8 flywheel was different from the newer models, and If what you say is true as opposed to what he said I would have just ordered aftermarket stuff instead... Not to mention how there were a few folks who were doing EJ25 swaps and ran into issues with clutch/flwheel compatibility and ended up keeping the 1.8 flywheel.

Im totally confused now...

Was it the pressure plate or flywheel that gave the problems with the 2.5 conversions? Also there is 2.5L pre 01 and after 01 that are different. Pre 01 should be the same. What did you see?

I think it was Homemade (or a name like that) who had the problem, he was trying to use a 2.5 flywheel with the 1.8 stock tranny (IE 1.8 pressure plate/clutch)

unwilling expert time here

appiles to AWD version FWD may be differnt yet

the differences between the two type of push clutch is the diamter of the friction disk/presure plate/bolt hoes on the flywheel ..

1.8 stock flywheel/clutch/pressure plate .. system uses a 8 1/2" friction disk

the 2.5 models use a 8 7/8 friction disk, however, it is not just the friction disk but the pressure plate and the bolt holes on the flywheel are differnt the two are not interchangable

sounds like john has a 8 7/8 friction disk with his 8 1/2 presure plate and flywheel... odd/intersting..

if any one is intersted i will soon have a 9.5 lb jun fly wheel that will fit a 93 (8 1/2 clutch)

-jared


afaik, all flywheels have the same outside diamter and tooth count