[alfa] Re: alfa-digest V10 #306

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Unsprung weight simply means all the weight on the road side of the 
suspension: Wheels Tires, brakes, suspension parts, on some cars the 
differential, on other cars not. On an Alfa RWD transaxel car, for 
instance (Alfetta, GTV-6, Milano), the inboard rear brakes and the 
differential (being in unit with the transmission) are NOT unsprung 
weight, but the very light di-Dion triangle,  wheels and tires are.*

The Alfetta diDion rear suspension is one of the best (and most 
expensive) rear suspension systems ever. It combines all of the 
advantages of IRS  coupled with all of the best features of a solid 
rear axle design with few of the drawbacks of either. It's really quite 
well executed on these cars as well, better than most others. Ferrari 
tried it a number of times and it never worked as well on Ferraris as 
it did on Alfas.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0 'S'




On Aug 27, 2004, at 11:08 PM, alfa-digest wrote:

> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 12:26:29 -0700
> From: alfacybersite <acs@domain.elided>
> Subject: [alfa] Unsprung weight
>
> I've been using the term for ages, but have no idea what it really
> means. I always assumed it simply meant a combination of all the items
> on the suspension, wheel / tire, brakes, etc. But if that was the case,
> it would simply be called suspension weight or something such as that.
>
> What got me thinking about this was a 64 pound package which just
> arrived via the man in brown from IAP. Four red springs and four red
> shock absorbers. Even dividing by four, I'm thinking that is a lot of
> "unsprung" weight. Thinking further it occurs to me the spring is
> pushing upward. Does that add or subtract to the equation? Then there
> are the shock absorbers...
>
> Don't get too technical, I'm not a racer guy and this is merely a
> curiosity + I'm sort of laying low since the Sheriff's helicopter flew
> over while I was primering late last evening. Then later a small plane
> flew directly over my, unh, err, exterior spray booth, at a pretty low
> altitude. Big Brother or merely paranoia? Only time will tell.
>
> Biba
> Irwindale, CA USA
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