Being a "reformed" hot rodder, I would try a shortened american rear end. A
ford 9 inch comes to mind, or perhaps, being from a smaller car, a chevette
(yech) rear. I think you could probably do without the IRS and mount the
soild axle to the transverse spring "the way it is". probably would
compramice handleing a little but....who knows?
Brian H. Smith
1959 TR3
1972 Spitfire IV
1977 TR7
Lake Charles, LA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lindberg, Andrew (MN12) [SMTP:Andrew.Lindberg@Corp.Honeywell.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 10:45 AM
> To: brian_s@deq.state.la.us; DANMAS@aol.com; Spitfires@Autox.Team.Net
> Subject: Re: Your Spitfire!!!!
>
> In a message dated 98-11-17 13:22:28 EST, brian_s@deq.state.la.us writes:
>
> > How a boutthat...and me having a freind that just took possesion of two
> > rover V-8's. HMMMM, talk about great in a straight line but not worth
> a
> > sh*t in a corner.
>
> From: DANMAS@aol.com
> Nay, nay, my friend, it doesn't have to be so! A rover V8 weighs a LOT
> less
> than the 6 cylinder used in the GT6 (about 75 pounds), and how bad do they
> handle? Not bad at all, I would suspect. If done right, a Rover/Spit
> should
> handle quite well indeed!
>
> FWIW, Peter Cook did a little book on Spitfires and GT6s a few years back.
> In it, in the GT6 chapter, he devotes about one paragraph to a Rover-V8
> equipped GT6 that some of the Triumph engineers threw together. The V8
> was,
> as Dan says, lighter that the six and no suspension changes were required.
> It went like stink and didn't have any handling problems.
>
> I've always been intrigued by this conversion and talked to Don Schumacher
> about it last summer at the VTR convention. Don owns a fair number of the
> aluminum V8s and he said that the six to V8 conversion was relatively easy
> in a GT6. He then went on to say, however, that it'd tear up the
> differential in a few weeks. He recommended converting the diff to a
> Datsun
> 510 unit, along with associated supension pieces and subframe. This, of
> course, costs some real money. I believe he said that they had run such a
> car in some type of race and done quite well. Does anybody have any info
> on
> this? Thinking about it now, I can't imagine what it would be eligible
> for.
> Others said that an easier (but still not cheap) way to fix the diff
> inadequacy is with a Qaife (sp?) unit.
>
> Still on my list of things to do.
>
> -- Andy Lindberg (GT6 in Minnesota)
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