Hi Guys,
Can someone give me some rough dimension if they have them please.
I am building a locost chassis with a Stuart Taylor Fireblade engine cradle and want to make sure it fits right.
Does anyone know the rough dimension between the chassis and the back of the cradle.
And are the "triangles" on the Stuart Taylor chassis welded to the top of the side chassis rails or the inside side of them?
Cheers,
Pat...
Rescued attachment 1.jpg

Also, has anyone got the dimension from the outside of the chassis to the tunnel?
And and idea to mount the large engine bay diagonal close to the engine so the "triangles" on the cradle sit on top of the bar instead of on the side of it.
Cheers,
Pat...
Rescued attachment 2.jpg

Hi Pat

Seeing as its my old cradle I guess Im the best one to answer this

The cradle brackets I welded on were welded on the inside vertical faces of the chassis rails, although you could equally do them on top if you can keep the mating surface with the cradle flat with no weld interfering. As to welding them on top, as we discussed there are benefits to it although I would say the main concern when mounting it all is checking your sump clearance height is right, dont just rely on that chassis rail height to judge the engine position.

Ive measured from the brackets (which are still in the same place) to the footwell rail rather than the gap you've shown. I measured from the bolt hole nearest the footwell, and the centre of that bolt is 30mm away from the front face of the chassis rail. You could get this closer still if you wanted to, best way to do it is to bolt the engine in and position it so there's about 5-10mm max clearance between the engine alternator casing, and the passenger footwell (mine had about 20-30mm ISTR)


xfer

The diagonal meets the chassis about 310mm inboard, this is measured from the outside edge of the chassis, to the edge of the diagonal closest to the engine (ie outside to outside)


Description

HTH

Chris

Hi Chris,
Thanks very much - that's almost everything I need to know - except on the second pic, was more after the position of the front tunnel upright (drivers side) as I don't want it too near the middle of the car and in line with the prop.
Cheers,
Pat...

Its almost directly under that chassis diagonal, so should be pretty much the same measurement give or take 5mm. I'll run the tape measure over it tomorrow though to check.

Actually, ignore that last bit, its probably about a tube's width further inboard.
If you look at this picture of the triangular gear selector rocker, the bracket that this pivots from is welded to the front face of that chassis tunnel tube, so the diagonal must be slightly further over towards the drivers side.

Image deleted by owner

I'll measure it up for you tomorrow still tho

[Edited on 7/4/05 by ChrisGamlin]

So looking at the car from the front, the right hand edge of the diagonal lines up with the left hand edge of that vertical tunnel upright?
Cheers,
Pat...

Pretty much yep, though I'll measure it to be sure.

All these measurements assume my chassis is totally book, which I thought it was up until this evening when I offered up the new wishbones, it seems my pickups are about 10-15mm wider apart on the chassis (both top and bottom) compared to book
I seem to have MK wishbones though, so were they slightly different to book too, or are mine just a copy?

The main thing is not welding the tunnel upright too close to the prop.
May have to get a prop just to make sure before the chassis get fully welded up. But that means getting the rear end finished and axle fitted - oh, it's all good fun!
Pat...

You should be fine with book dimensions, If you put the engine in the cradle you'll probaby find that the output shaft is about 2" inside that chassis rail, my prop didnt run that close.
Rather than do all that other work you mentioned thogh, just get a bit of 2" drainpipe or something to simulate the prop position, I think you'll find its not a mega tight fit

Just looking at the "book", from the measurements it would seem that vertical inside face is 329mm inboard from the outside edge of the chassis at that point, which about tallies up with my other measurement (310mm + a tube width)

[Edited on 7/4/05 by ChrisGamlin]