Damon, thanks for the clarification. Mind giving a few examples? I thought a lightened flywheel falls under unsprung weight, but that doesn't move w/ your suspension...rather, w/ your drivetrain, no?

Tanjo, thanks for the head's up. I have no idea how the FB shift **** is fastened... I'll have to search for that on the forum or go and play around w/ it in the car. But I THINK it actually has a set screw?

Mahjik, I'll let ya know when I get an actual weight on the ****...just for curiosity's sake.

 

Hey Ramy, the simple description to unsprung weight is anything that isn't supported by the suspension springs. This includes, but is not limited to, the wheels, tires, hub, steering knuckles, parts of the suspension, etc. Unsprung weight is bad as that it is essentially 'dead' weight - cannot compensate for it via suspension tuning. It has an effect on the vehicles ride, vehicle dynamics.

I completely forgot about the WRX ****. I'll go try the WRX **** on the FD. Post back here in a second.

 

Ehh, negative on the WRX **** for the FD. The WRX uses a larger diameter shaft - it just slipped onto the FD shift lever, did not catch any threads or anything. Oh well, worth a try.

 

dclin already replied. Basically there are two types of weight: sprung and unsprung.

Sprung weight is any weight which the springs support, so basically anything that is the chassis or solidly connected to the chassis is sprung weight.

Unsprung weight is weight which the springs do not support. Basically anything that is a moving part of the suspension or it connected to moving parts of the suspension is unsprung.

Unsprung weight effects handling. The heavier the suspension arm, wheel, spindle, wheel bearing or whatever the harder it is for the spring and shock to maintain control of the tire on the road, especially on bumpy surfaces. We want our suspension to be able to react as quickly as possible. The lighter it is the easier it can do that.

 

Wow...thanks guys. I'm learning a lot (as usual). So larger wheels = greater unsprung weight. Good stuff. And now that you've explained it, the name makes sense

What are the stock control arms made out of? And are lighter ones available/worthwhile? (ditto w/ other suspension components)

 

Cast aluminum.

Not worth the time or expense, even if the FD were being made into a real racecar. Mazda did it right when they made the stock pieces.

 

Ramy,

If you put vertical doors on your car, you may as well not worry about lighter suspension components.

 

I figured as much, esp. since I don't ever recall seeing a post about having lighter pieces made.

Wow Mahjik...you're just all over me in this thread huh? lol. But like I said...it's all good. I'm just gonna add more power to compensate

 

Hey Ramy, I went ahead and ordered a Voodoo **** and received it today. It is nice. It weighed in lighter than my OEM s2000 ****. It also shortened the throw a lot due to it being counter-sunk. The quality seems top-notch and I got it in polished black. Not sure if any of this helps at all.

 

Hey Jeff

I got my Voodoo **** yesterday...it's VERY nice. Very high quality. The brushed aluminum looks great. But it's definitely pretty light. Heavier than the Momo (which is a featherweight haha), but still on the light side. I'll put it on and see how it is.

~Ramy

PS: Copycat! (S2K's have the same size/pitch thread shifter?

 

Ramy,

I have been eyeing those voodoo ***** for a while (black textured), but like you I prefer the 'feel' of a heavier ****. If you do end up adding weight to it, I'd be interested in how it went. Keep us updated.

 

Not too sure if they are the same. I ordered mine from a site that primarily deals with s2000 products.


The polished black looks sweet with my all black interior. And it's very "non-blingish".

 

http://www.carmate.co.jp/razo/lineup_knob.html

Razo has many different round shift ***** with different finishes, and weights.

 

Will do. Despite Mahjik wanting to shoot me LOL...I'm really gonna see if it can have a bit of weight added to it. Mitch Piper's an incredible fabricator. I'm sure he can do this w/ his eyes closed. I'll see what he says (it'll prob cost as much as the ****, but I don't care...I'm like that when it comes to getting things just right).

Oh and I forgot to say, the Magnum is AWESOME. PERFECT size. Much bigger than the tiny ones I've seen in other cars, like the Greddy silver ball, etc.

 

ohh dear~

 

My latest messing around attempt. Any clue what threadpitch you need? This is on my protege (I'm not cool enough to be rotary yet)

What's goingon here is a bi-metal setup. I hollowedout a chunk of aluminum to about .003" smaller than a 1-1/8"stainless steel rod. Then torched the aluminum for awhile until it expanded which allowed me to press in the stainless.

At any rate, it's close to a 2" ballish shape ontop. I wasn't quite pleased with any sort of filing results, so I couldn't do totally round all that well (aluminum is WAAAY softer than stainless so it was strange to cut) wound up just makign a series of angled cuts. Notsure I like it, but end result is a 17oz decent **** that doesn't have the HORRIBLE thermal retention of straight stainless. and has a bit of flavor.

 

FD is 10 X 1.25mm

 

ah same for me then.. is there any clearance depth? (proteges have a larger diameter shift lever for about 3/4" before the shiftboot starts)

 

Yes, there is but I don't know the length of it. Above is a picture of an aftermarket and stock shift lever that I took a few years back. It's hard to see, but you might be able to make out some marks on the tape measure to get an idea (glad I put that tape measure in that picture when I did it!).