Latest weight-saving idea for the Triumph

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 02/07/2014 at 20:34 • Filed to: Good idea or not?

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Fibreglass bumpers. I've done a good deal of weighing of various parts going in and coming out of the Triumph and it's creeping up towards 800kg in weight (sitting at 784kg at the latest reckoning). That's close to the 750kg target, but not quite good enough. So, fibreglass bumpers painted satin black, along with the rest of the chrome bits. Good idea or no?

Scary__goongala! > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 02/07/2014 at 20:36

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simplify and add lightness.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 02/07/2014 at 20:36

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Fiberglass wrapped with real carbon fiber

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Scary__goongala! 02/07/2014 at 20:42

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So far I've been complicating and adding lightness unfortunately. 6-cylinder + alloy bits instead of a 4-cylinder. Multi-link rear from a rotoflex car instead of swing axle, but with alloy parts to ease the weight penalty.

There's not that much more I can take off without throwing out the balance. Once that car's together I can weigh it and see whether I can afford to get a fibreglass boot.

The other big thing would be fibreglass doors, but they're very tricky to get even halfway decent panelgaps.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 02/07/2014 at 20:45

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I've seen that done on a Renault Dauphine of all cars, but it's a bit against the style of this resto. I'm looking for something that after-hours engineers back in the early 70s could have produced.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 02/07/2014 at 20:48

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Paint it silver then.

That was big back in the day to try to make the fiberglass look like metal at a glance.

Bad Idea Hat > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 02/07/2014 at 20:53

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How much are you willing to screw around with the windshield/windows/etc? Probably can get some very modest weight savings there.

Scary__goongala! > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 02/07/2014 at 20:58

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well there is nothing wrong with a straight 6. that's DIR. the rest of your changes are a little foreign to me lol

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Scary__goongala! 02/07/2014 at 21:37

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Yeah, a little bit Triumph-centric. The Spits and some GT6s used swing axles. Just google those to see the negative side-effects. On the plus side they're very light.

There are plenty of tricks racers employ to get them to handle well, and they do handle well, but it comes at a big cost to ride comfort.

However, the Mk2 GT6s came with a rotoflex rear suspension. That had it's issues as well, mainly a rubber doughnut that you need to replace periodically and lots of unsprung weight.

I'm planning to replace a lot of that unsprung weight with lightweight alloy bits and proper UJ-ed driveshafts.

Cake and eat it :)