RE: sway-bar

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

Ken Ross asks:

> Is a strut brace worth while for a Spider? 

No, because a Spider doesn't use struts.  The point with a strut brace
as used in MacPherson-equipped cars is that it reinforces the upper
suspension (srut) mounting points, either directly to one another or to
the firewall, and it can be done easily (usually) under the hood because
of the suspension design.  The Spider's suspension is completely
different.

Besides, tying the top suspension members on a Spider isn't really
what's needed, I believe -- a strut brace is designed to avoid camber
change due to flexing of the unibody, which I'm reasonably sure the
105/115 series' front crossmember and suspension design eliminates
pretty effectively.  (I'd be grateful for data to support or refute
that, I'm basing my suspicions on driving the car and looking at how
stout that front crossmember is, not on taking torsional rigidity
measurements under load.)  So you can't fit one, but it's probably not
what you need, either.

What *does* benefit the Spider is the chassis stiffener, AKA the "$400
bedframe," which handily describes both its approximate appearance and
its impact on your budget. :-)  This does more than a MacPherson-car's
strut brace because it not only ties the front suspension together, it
also ties the front of the car to the rear of the car.  It bolts to
existing suspension components (as do most strut bars), in this case to
the steering box and idler arm support up front and to the bolts that
hold on the trailing arms at the rear.  No cutting, welding, or
modifications required.

I don't have one on my '74 Spider yet, but I had back-to-back rides as
passenger in Digest member Alan Lambert's '74 *with* stiffener, followed
by a ride as passenger in my '74 *without* one, and it was all I could
do to keep from calling up one of the usual suspects and reading them my
credit card number on the spot.  (I keep reminding myself that this
year's project Alfa is red and has a roof, or as I refer to it, the
factory chassis stiffener...)

Don't get me wrong -- even with the stiffener, a Spider flexes more than
a modern, CAD-designed coupe or sedan with a nice integral roof (or even
an antique, Italian-designed coupe or sedan with a nice integral roof),
but it's a dramatic improvement.  If you've already noticed the Spider's
tendency for the steering wheel and dashboard to shudder or even move
side to side on a rough road, that's something the chassis stiffener
virtually eliminates.  (And if you haven't noticed it, you will. :-)  

Negatives, apart from the cost, would seem to be that it complicates
certain kinds of future repair work -- it crosses from left to right at
the steering box (meaning just in front of the transmission) and at the
trailing arm bolts (meaning just in front of the rear U-joint), so work
on transmission, driveshaft and exhaust will be more cumbersome after
mounting the stiffener.  It also reduces ground clearance slightly, but
it's probably *still* higher up than the sump guard.  Neither are
reasons not to install it, and as I say, I'm convinced I will purchase
one sooner or later.  I'll get the red GT running first, of course, and
then I'll get the gearbox in the Spider lightened, and then, and then...
and so it goes.  Never a dull moment or an empty to-do list with two
Alfas in the family!

 --Scott Fisher
   Sunnyvale, CA

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