right , after i had a conversation with a fellow member last night , i got drawing some sketches of monocoque tub .

I tried to upload them but pencil doesnt scan so well .

Anyway , my idea is to seperate the engine and interior parts of the chassis - basically the engine bay will be finished off with a flat 5mm plate welded across the frame to which the engine bolts , a 5 mm spacer on the crank to space flywheel back , and fit a small bellhousing for the clutch from a 360 , enabling a rear gearbox

The passenger compartment will be GRP/kevlar/carbon in certain places , the rough side inside so that a full roll cage can be bonded onto it . the centre tunnel bearing quite a bit of the strength

at the rear bulkhead , a renault 5 spd without nellhousing bolted to the bulkehead , with a bearing to support the input shaft - placement of such gearbox so that both input shafts front to rear are the same height . That brings into question ride height becuase of placement on output flanges relative to input shaft and crank distance from the sump bottom , altho a dry sump could cure it .

the gearbox will have a mini subfame which attatches to the topledge behind the bulhead and gives a place for wishbones to attach . front running gear would be as normal locost .

so , couple of questions does anybody have a sump that sticks down further than the floorpan ?

Anybody know the track of an R21,25 espace etc .

ill see if ican get some sketches up later

what do people think ?

[Edited on 8/12/04 by Volvorsport]

Do mean the R5 transaxle of the first Renault 5?
Why not use the 360 transaxle?
Your propshaft tunnel have to be strong enough for bending, stress and torsion issues that the engine caused.
I dont see any advantages of this setup

greets Richard

PS: try www.carfolio.com for dimensions of the renaults

quote:

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Originally posted by ettore bugatti
Do mean the R5 transaxle of the first Renault 5?
Why not use the 360 transaxle?
Your propshaft tunnel have to be strong enough for bending, stress and torsion issues that the engine caused.
I dont see any advantages of this setup

greets Richard

PS: try www.carfolio.com for dimensions of the renaults

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Ahah,
Now it becomes more clear.
Would be interesting to see the sketches

yeah , if i attatch a prop that makes up for alignment a little bit .

the reason for not using the 360 transaxle is that the gears are mounted before the diff . the renault box is stronger and has the diff first which means the gears wont be stuck in your hip and also , more weight over the rear wheels .

ill ask again - does anybodys sump protrude lower than the floor pan ?

I've never studied the undersides very closely, but on Locosts I thought they all did a bit?

if you go to the BEC part ther are some nice pictures of a sump sticking out the botom of the chasy and a discuion about how much is safe and sump cuting.

Blake

Virtualy every Pinto engined locost I've seen has had the sump sticking below the floorpan to some extent, even with chopped down sumps.

The Champion book says that the sump should not protrude more than one inch below the chassis.
The original Lotus 7 had 6 inches of ground clearance, but I think the figure is more like 4 to 5 inches for modern sevenesques.
KT

ill figure that into my calculations , so if the thing weighs 500 kgs - i give it 200 hp - thats 400 bhp/ton - what do the modern c*******s have - or to that matter what are all the LOCOSTS like .

i think 600 kgs for an all up build would be more reasonable , since it will have roll cage , and bodywork would be bigger . Me thinks ill have to get me drawing board out , mind you , most of its in me head .


without reading the blue book - if my roll hoop is 360 degrees do my rear stays have to go to the floor like on the race locosts ?

[Edited on 9/12/04 by Volvorsport]

well , the front tack of r21 is 1.54M so thats about right for a wide track locost .

Anybody have any firm knowledge on the power and torque that an r21 transaxle will break at , i have an idea , itll be ok for this app , but just for future upgrades

If this is the same gearbox discussed in this thread on GT40s.com, then quite a lot of power!

yeah , thats what i thought, but was unsure , its either that , or i go for a hewland £££ , now to get one , thast half the problem

quote:

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Originally posted by Volvorsport
ill figure that into my calculations , so if the thing weighs 500 kgs - i give it 200 hp - thats 400 bhp/ton - what do the modern c*******s have - or to that matter what are all the LOCOSTS like .

i think 600 kgs for an all up build would be more reasonable , since it will have roll cage , and bodywork would be bigger . Me thinks ill have to get me drawing board out , mind you , most of its in me head .


without reading the blue book - if my roll hoop is 360 degrees do my rear stays have to go to the floor like on the race locosts ?

[Edited on 9/12/04 by Volvorsport]

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its funny how they claim it to be the lightest combination available , then stick a pinto in it !

Thinking about it , i dont think i would use more than 25 kgs resin , at 2:1 ratio , that makes my chassis 37.5 kgs , obviously i dont expect it to be that !! , i dont think itll be far off that robin hood

the Clan Crusader (though not front engined) does not have a subframe as such for its steering/suspension.

There are steel plates as mentioned above bonded into the GRP tub. On the underside, there are pressed steel brackets (basically) that the suspension acutally bolts to. Will try to get a picture if you want to see what I mean.

Composite (not metallic) monocoques are extremely strong and are much more resilient that a metal equivalent as they basically dont have an 'elastic memory'

in fact a Clan pushed the b pillar of a sunbeam into the tunnel without suffering more than a slight danage to the front corner on the Circuito f Ireland in the early 80's...


will answer further in the next few days, been in the local for a wee shandy forwarn Mr Hoeseasons about the craic for this coming October and may even get to meet you???

ooh its quite possible !!! are you following me around

ill edit that and say , are you the chap from the motorsport forums ?

[Edited on 30/12/04 by Volvorsport]

Did anyone answer the sump question?

I've just measured mine and the sump is 23 mm below the chassis and the lowest point on my car is the bottom of the bellhousing of the gearbox at 26mm.

HTH

Cheers

Chris

Edit; The ground clearance on my(not very flat) garage floor is 98mm.

[Edited on 30/12/04 by chrisg]

thanks chris , your measurements have been duly noted .

oh and another thing , there was an FW400 brochure on ebay , i missed bidding on it - has anybody got said brochure - or pics they have . Im not copying- just want to see if theres anything ive missed .

[Edited on 1/1/05 by Volvorsport]