> From triumphs-owner@autox.team.net Mon Sep 23 10:48:27 1996
> To: Triumphs List <triumphs@autox.team.net>
> Subject: FW: Spit w/ V8 Motor
> Encoding: 53 TEXT
>
>
> On Sunday, Dennis Riggin wrote: I gave my son my parts Spit so he could do
> a frame off resto and much to my surprise, he wants to put a small block V-8
> under
> the bonnet. I told him I didn't think it would work well due to weight and
> space. I
> told him I thought handling would sufer and clearance for the tranny
> was also a problem. Does anyone out there have any experience =
> with such a conversion? Any advice to pass along to him would be greatly
> =
> appreciated.
>
The following assumes this is your sons first car.
As a former Sportscar racer and longtime sufferer of testoserone poisoning I
have
one word of advice on this project....NO!
My wife is an E.R. doc and the Cal Highway Patrol handed out her favorite
poster.
Worded thusly..."Give your son a motorcycle for his LAST birthday."
Back in the late 60s/early70s I worked in a shop that specialised in Cobras,
panteras
and the odd Tiger or two that wandered in. The test rides were always a thrill,
we
never lost a car. Whew!!
I saw one of these beasties at the Palo Alto Brit Meet a couple weeks ago. Nice
job,
Corvette drive train complete as I saw it. My predictions for driveability
are... it
would be a real handful, but in the hands of a skilled practitioner of the
guidance
arts this thing would be MOST impressive. In the hands of someone without the
skills
of an SCCA National Competition License holder it would most likely be a death
trap.
The shortness of the wheelbase will make this thing define the term "twitchy".
Dynamically unstable is the engineering term.
Now I'll speak to the design engineering issues.
1) Frame...Needs a complete rework. The only thing keeping the frame from
twisting in
half under hard torque load is the complete lack of traction. See driveability
above.
2) suspension...throw it away. (Along with the frame.)
3) Cooling...Solvable, new everything.
4) Body...Extensive modification to fit appropriate wheels/tires, suspension,
engine,
transmission, differential. (You could include the differential in the
suspension
category to shorten the listing, but it won't shorten the work.)
5) Safety issues. :-)))))
If I were to build or purpose such a car it would be built as an art project.
It would
look very cool. Hormone poisoned teenagers would flock to it and talk about it
at
length. Of course they wouldn't have a clue as of what they were speaking. As a
driver,
about 180 hp is about all that is manageable by the reasonably skilled in such a
configuration.
It would require the dedication of an artist to finish it. This is a nontrivial
project
requireing lots of planning, design, and fabrication. Experience is not needed
if one
can apply lots of brute force time and effort. Plan to redo about half of it as
you
will probably not like the first try of many of the things that will be done.
Did I mention $. That could vary quite a bit in that brute force can in many
cases be
substituted. There will be a minimum requirement of course. About 8-15K$ by the
time
tires smoke the pavement.
It makes my plan to use a 429 Ford engine with a C6 in a 36 Phaeton pale in
comparison.
Good luck,
Ken Boetzer
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