RE: Chassis Stiffening for Alfa Spiders ???

["Ian Lomax" <sfalfisto@xxxxxxxxx>]

> A) Has anyone bothered to measure the torsional stiffness 
> and/or torsional
> resonant frequency with and without this bolt-on gizmo or is 
> this all just
> seat-of-the-pants?

I haven't, but I remember one of the car mags doing a test on something
years ago.  I seem to remember it involved raising one corner of the car
a measured amount, and measuring the deflection somehow.  The somehow is
the hard part.

> B) Why a bolt on? Would anybody be interested in a better-engineered
> weld-on structure?

Bolt on is removable, and installable at home.  Welding makes all kinds
of stuff harder if not impossible to reach.
 
> C) Anybody interested in an R&D project?

Always, just haven't figured out how to measure it.  And don't have
access to the big-3's toolbox anymore! :-)

> Don't know if I've ever mentioned it, I've done a fair amount 
> of finite
> element analysis of the modal behavior of mechanical structures....

Cool, so all we need to do is figure out how to collect some data.
Thoughts?  I have a flexy spider and a stiffener.

Ian
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