Hi Frank,
You are very correct in your assessment of the Spit/GT6 rear end engineering. That was most definitely there fatal flaw which was bad for them and good for me :-)
While I do think in the future I will move to a custom chassis design right now starting out I think the Spit/GT6 chassis offers some great benefits with some highly needed modifications.
First the pros of the Triumph platform
The backbone chassis is strong and light at only 105lbs. The ability to create a custom body and bolt it up to the backbone chassis was a huge plus and opportunity to create a modern aerodynamic body kit. The front double wishbone suspension is solid. The steering is solid which many weekend racers often use in there custom builds. There are a lot of performance parts available for the Triumph cars as well as stock replacements. The majority of the steering, brake, and suspension bits are cheap and even the uprated stuff is not that bad. This enables me to keep costs down yet increase performance levels on a low budget. Another plus is the FR layout with a smaller engine such as the TDI allows me to convert it into an FMR layout for better weight distribution and handling characteristics extremely easy.
Now for the cons
The 4 speed transmission could not handle much torque and the gear ratios were not all that great even with the overdrive unit installed. The rear differential and axles suffered the same fate as the transmissions. They were weak and limited. Probably the single worst aspect of these cars was the rear suspension. Even though the suspension is light it is of poor design and causes jacking which is not fun. Also the rear end parts are harder to come by than the front end bits and they tend to be more costly. The differentials can be build up a little bit but the U joints are still weak and would never handle the torque of a mid level 1.9 Liter TDI. The wheels were heavy and do not offer many cost effective options for its stock bolt pattern.
So all of these cons allows me to get the cars for cheap and experiment with them. You pointed out they aren't common or readily available. I would agree with this when it comes to the GT6 cars but the Spitfires can be found pretty easily and often in poor condition and cheap. I just did a quick search of just my local area and 19 vehicles popped up of which 5 would be good candidates for TIGON builds. What I consider good candidates are anything I can get in descent condition for around $1,000 or less and older than 1975.
So how am I overcoming the Triumph negative points well the transmission is an easy one really. The T56 and T5 are both solid and readily available. While the T56 6 speed is very tempting since it can handle huge torque upwards of 500ft-lb it is heavy and costly! You can't find them easily for less than $2,000. Now the T5 on the other hand is only 75lbs super cheap can often find them under $1,000 rebuilt and under $500 from local options. There are tons of gearing possibilities they can easily be rebuilt by the owner and can handle upwards of 350 ft-lbs of torque and built to withstand even more. So the more I think about it the T5 makes almost more sense than even bothering with the T56 6 speed to be honest.
The tires are not that difficult to remedy just have some custom hub centric wheel adapters designed out of light weight alloy and use whatever rims you like. You can all ready find the popular 4 X 100 bolt pattern on EBAY now for around $200 for the Triumph bolt pattern.
The rear differential and suspension is the main hurdle and will be the biggest custom cost for the project. I am at this point pretty much set on the Ford 8.8" rear differential with a custom IRS design. The cost of the ford 8.8" is cheap and readily available the custom IRS will be the bank killer! However once I have a solid IRS design that is fully contained and solid I can then take that later on and adapt it to my own custom in house chassis design with ease.
When I am finished with this car it will out handle most all modern cars on the road today without a doubt. Not only that with the TDI engine tuned to lets say a modest 140hp and 240ft-lbs which can be achieved with a simple chip tune and injector upgrade it will out accelerate the vast majority of cars. Even without completely modernizing the rear suspension design the car has the ability to be tuned to pull .93g on the skid pad which puts it into the same category as a Honda S2000, Mazda Miata, Ford Mustang GT, Chevy Camaro SS, Pontiac Solstice, BMW 335i, and BMW Z4 3.0i. So that is not to bad of company in my opinion. But I definitely think there is a lot of room for improvement further when it comes to beefing up the parts to make them far more reliable and trust worthy.
I think Frank the majority of people would also abandon such a monumental task of taking on a project of this magnitude especially when it comes to trying to fix the Triumph flaws. For me I find joy in taking something with flaws and improving it. That is what I have always done and is what I am good at. I also think taking an old car destined to be turned into the scrap heap and giving it a new lease on life is something to not be ignored either. Finding ways to recycle our resources is important and one that I wanted to incorporate from the very beginning.
Is TIGON going to be perfect or for everyone?
No but I think with 3 options it makes it practical for a broader spectrum and when you consider all 3 will get better than 100mpg and be priced less than any hybrid currently being sold in North America well it will be hard to ignore that in my opinion!
The reality is that not everyone likes diesels and not everyone likes hybrids. But everyone likes a car that costs less and saves them money at the pump and over the course of ownership. TIGON will do all of these and more.
All these hybrids will need new battery packs soon yet TIGON owners will not need to worry about this ever as its battery pack is designed to maximize kinetic energy rather than store specific energy! The diesel stores the specific energy and does it much better than electricity will ever be able to in my life time most likely. Larger specific energy means much more money in batteries! I utilize a hybrid battery-capacitor bank that focuses on in town stop and go driving this helps to cut down on battery voltage as well as total battery weight thus keeping it inexpensive and easily replaceable after a 12 year period! Who wants to drop thousands on new battery packs the second you purchase a used hybrid? Not me or anyone else I do believe. I am designing the TIGON in such a way that it will hold its value from day one and become more and more valuable as fuel prices increase. I want people to enjoy it and not get board of it which is why I think the TDI powered GT4 model makes a lot of sense from a marketing perspective.
If we look at the Mazda Miata they were extremely popular and sold huge numbers. How did they do so well? It was well built, priced right, got descent fuel economy yet was fun and sporty to drive. It also presented the ability for modifications easily which was great for the majority who like to put there personal touch on things!
TIGON will also offer all of this while costing less and polluting less and being able to do it on far less fuel per gallon
I tell you what Frank once I am done with the GT4 model you can test it out
We can make a day of it in fact. Besides I love road trips and I will be itching to take it some where new
Talk to you later Frank have a nice evening my friend,
GH
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