I just got around to swapping out the tired Swing Spring in my 72 Spitfire,
and noticed that the replacement spring purchased a year ago at Triumphest
is slightly different than the old one I had just taken out (which by the
way is not the original). As you may or may not know, the Swing Spring is
composed of five leaves all but one are allowed to pivot or rock around a
central point contributing little if any to roll stiffness but contributing
to vertical stiffness, the main leaf being rigidly bolted to the diff
supplying the most of the roll stiffness in this arrangement. The new
replacement has all the leaves roughly the same thickness - no biggie -
except that the old spring has the top three quite a bit thicker than the
bottom two. Looking at the two together, the old springs bottom two are a
bit thinner than the new one, and the remaining three are a bit thicker.
Now you might say that there is no problem if the total spring rate remains
the same, but since the bottom spring is the only one bolted rigidly to the
diff, and is the only spring contributing to roll stiffness - then one
might assume that the new spring would have a slightly higher roll
stiffness than the one I am replacing. I am not really all that worried, I
was more curious as to when this change was made and why? Anyone else
notice a difference in the way it was made when you replaced your spring?
Barry Schwartz (San Diego)
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.5/67 - Release Date: 8/9/2005
|