[s-cars] EDL Vs. Manual Diff Lock

[Robert Pastore]

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Joe:

I've had very little seat time in the sedan since installing the torsen
(it's the wife's car FOR NOW).   In daily driving there is no noticeable
difference between the two.  I guess that is a good thing.

Driving the EDL sedan without snow tires previously was so scary that it
inspired me to (a) buy snow tires and (b) install a torsen.
What is unfortunate for the scientific community here is that in the
interim, I crashed the car, and it took 2 years to put it back together.
I lost interest in determining the individual effect of just the snows,
just the torsen etc.

The testing I have done is limited to 15 minutes of immaturity in the
local Target parking lot during a snow storm.   I was impressed that the
car just hooked up and went straight from drag race style starts.  It
also seemed to stay straighter under fairly heavy braking.   I did the
same with my diff lock avant the next day (also with snow tires), and it
also hooked up well but wiggled a bit more than the sedan on
acceleration.  Under braking the diff lock car (was unlocked ) and
definitely was more of a handful.

This is all far from conclusive, but I think it is a very good mod for
an EDL car, and a decent mod for a car with a locker.  Keith sent me a
SAE paper a while ago that tested the EDL and Torsen combination
together and it concluded there were significant synergies when both
systems were applied together.


Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Pizzimenti [mailto:pizzoman at yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 4:01 PM
To: Wayne Dohnal; S-car list; jhull at cs.autometric.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] EDL Vs. Manual Diff Lock


Would Uncle Bob like to chime in on how he likes the
Torsen Rear w/EDL vs. open rear w/EDL?  Us poor slobs
with pre 95.5's MAY be considering installing a torsen
rear...Enlighten us.

Joe
--- Wayne Dohnal <dohnal at hevanet.com> wrote:
> >Can anybody discuss the pros and cons of each?
> Trying to decide if it's
> >worth it to go for a 95.5 S6 Vs. a 95
> >Jeremy Hull
>
> Keith Maddock has discussed this at length in the
> past.  If you can find his
> posts in the archives that would be the best.  I'll
> try to hit the meat of
> what he said, but he works with this stuff and
> explains it the best.  The
> only Pro of EDL is that it automatically engages.
> So if you hit some
> slippery stuff unexpectedly, it's there to help you
> when you might not have
> engaged the diff lock.  It's also cheaper to
> manufacture, since all of the
> hardware is already there for ABS.  It's only 'a
> simple matter of
> programming' which, of course, is free (sorry,
> Keith, I couldn't resist).
>
> Once the diff lock is engaged it is superior.  If
> one wheel has zero
> traction, all of the torque on the axle will go to
> the other wheel, the
> ideal situation.  With EDL a maximum of 50% of the
> axle's torque will go to
> the wheel with traction, while you're heating up the
> brake pads on the
> slipping wheel with the other 50%.  But you will
> never achieve even 50% of
> the torque to the wheel with traction because the
> EDL must let the slipping
> wheel rotate some to test if it slipping or not,
> resulting in further
> inefficiency.
>
> I'm amazed how fast my S4 will accelerate on packed
> snow with the diff
> locked.  And it does it in a straight line, too.
> But I can't help feeling
> that most people would rather have the sport
> steering wheel than a locking
> rear.
>
> Wayne Dohnal
> 1994 S4
>
> _______________________________________________
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> S-CAR-List at audifans.com
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