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Re: the role of shocks -- heavy vs. light cars

To: "Vink, Graham" <vinkg@fleishman.com>
Subject: Re: the role of shocks -- heavy vs. light cars
From: Terry Geiger <twgeiger@hiwaay.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 11:08:01 -0600 (CST)
According to this site the front/rear weight distribution is 50.5%/49.5%.  
http://thor.prohosting.com/~tr6/tr6.htm

I'm not sure where he gets the numbers.  Can anyone confirm these numbers?

These numbers do make sense if you study the car for the following reasons:
1) Most of the engine is behind the front road wheels. Notice all that empty 
space in front of your radiator.
2) The front road wheels are set very far foward (which will reduce the weight 
place on the front road wheels).
3) The rear road wheels are set very far foward (right behind the seats) which 
places a good portion of weight squarely on the rear road wheels.
4) Heavy items (such as fuel cell and battery) are strategically placed to 
balance the weight between the front and rear road wheels.

Think about weight distribution as how much weight is sitting on each road 
wheel, regardless of where the road wheel is placed in the chassis of the 
motor car.

Based on the curb weight of 2375 lbs here are some calculations I ran to 
determine the weight sitting on each road wheel when the car is at rest:
Front road wheel load: (2375 * 50.5%) / 2 = 599.6875 lbs
Rear road wheel load: (2375 * 49.5%) / 2 = 587.8125 lbs

Please correct me if you find any errors.  I am a lowly programmer, not a 
mechanical engineer.

Terry Geiger
Florence, Alabama USA
1974 TR6 Mimosa Yellow

Quoting "Vink, Graham" <vinkg@fleishman.com>:

> 
> ON the other hand, I also disagree with TRF's claim that the front end
> doesn't weight that much. I would assume that the front end weighs a
> lot
> more than the rear, especially in in a convertible TR6, because of the
> weight of the engine and tranny.
> 
> --Graham

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