so the newtome 86 Gt may neeed a new flywheel. The car only has 82k miles, the disk was gone and there are heat spots on the flywheel. The outside measures around 79 (battery was dead in my horriblefreight caliper).

The question is, should i burnish this and buy a shim, or buy a new flywheel? And who has new flywheels for early cars?

Before buying a new flywheel, I would see if the old one could be turned. Depending on how deep damage is, you should be able to get to hearty, undamaged metal with only a very reasonable amount of out of pocket expense. First though, I would want to see if the heat spots were damage, or just discoloration. It is pretty normal for a flywheel to have heat spots anyway. Clutch to flywheel use creates them even in normal everyday use. If there is warping however....

[This message has been edited by bjm362 (edited 10-18-2018).]

If you have an orbital pad sander and keep it moving, you can polish the flywheel to determine if it's only discolored as bjm362 describes. I have done that on one and reinstalled it without issues.

It certainly is discolored, no physical damage. I own 3.5 brake lathes but was thinking of hitting it with the same disks I use to clean gasket material off of blovks. Should I order a shim, or use as is?

I personally think that shims are highly over-rated. In a healthy clutch system, the clutch piston / pushrod has more than enough travel to accommodate.

Other opinions may differ.

Take this advice for exactly what it cost you.

quote Originally posted by Raydar: I personally think that shims are highly over-rated. In a healthy clutch system, the clutch piston / pushrod has more than enough travel to accommodate. Other opinions may differ. Take this advice for exactly what it cost you.

Possibly, but in the 13+ years I've been away, I've been spoiled with miata clutchs.. so I have high expectations. Also, if the flywheel was damaged,nit would need to be replaced and there do not seem to be any replacement options on the market.