Wednesday 27 February 2013

Computer work

Still rather quiet on the Triumph front, with still no physical work done to one of the cars. I had planned to change the DHC's gearbox, clutch and prop-shaft some two weeks ago. Even went as far as checking that the car was running, tyre pressures etc were OK, and even moved over all the tools and parts to the workshop the day before. But sadly a rather persistent flu has prevented that till date. So I have to find another time slot to carry out the swap ...
On the back-axle-strengthening-front also not much progress, as the guy who is coordinating the job has been out of his work for 2 months due to an injury. At least that gave us some time to make a wooden template using a full scale print out of my design. I have to admit that I was rather pleased by the fact that it was a near perfect fit, no adjustments to the dimensions are needed ...


Some of the holes around the differential didn't line up 100% but that was due to the fact that we used a rather crude drill to do the job. Most importantly the mounting holes for the clamps on the outside of the brace are centred nicely around the axle-tube.

Than a more worrying bit, I can't seem to make up my mind whether to modify the back axle to four parallel links + Watt's linkage or stick to the original layout. At the moment I think the best thing to do is use one of the spare body shells somewhere this spring and use that to make a mock-up for the pickup points for the axle, Watt's linkage and anti roll bar. That at least should give a decent indication of the work involved with the set-up I have in mind.

So to keep my mind occupied for the time being, I decided to see how the new AutoCad version which I installed recently works, and had a go at designing a 36-1 trigger wheel which I'll be needing when I convert the Sprint engine to EFI. Not yet sure if all the dimensions are 100% but I think this should do ..


And with the computer fired up I also had a go to work out the rough outlines for a sump guard, loosely based on the ones used on the works' rallye cars. Another one that will need one of the cars, this time to determine the mounting points ...


And of course, being Dutch and with the Pound loosing rapidly against the Euro, I have been ordering various parts for the engine and back axle