1948 Triumph Roadster Supercharged plus other stuff…

Thanks Nick, I didn’t know that stuff existed.
Of course it’s a real rabbit hole when you start looking for it!
I think this stuff might work. (Don’t know how to post a link.)




I think I read that it has a hardness of 75 kilotonnes or whatever, but sets too fast to use vacuum. Can be tinted (again - I think)
I'll ring them on Monday.


Or it might be worth ringing one of the suspension bush mfgers - they might sell me a litre. Or not. Most likely 'nah mate, we don’t do that'

Hi jimi, duro and shore appear to be the same thing, correct me if that’s wrong.
Superpro suspension has a vid on their site talking about hardness of their polyurethane bushes and they start at 70 duro then go to 80 and 90.
If duro and shore are the same, surely 75 wouldn’t be too hard for bump stops?
I forgot to get the name of the Wurth product I used , but I reckon it’s pretty much the same stuff as that Unibond you used.
I’ve yet to look at RS Components.
Thanks,
Garry

Slow progress on the Triumph over the last couple of days, I’ve been giving the workshop a much needed cleanup.
It makes such a difference, just a much nicer place to be.
I don’t know why I leave it so long, at my age you'd reckon I’d know better!

Anyway the rear axle is just about finished.
Had a bit of a faff working out how the pivot bearing for the handbrake went back together.
I’m confident it’s correct now, but it’s definitely not the way it was.
This brass bit is what I mean.





It was assembled with that recess against the backing plate. That didn’t make much sense, and the bolts used were too short.
So I trimmed the heads on a couple of longer bolts and that got the threads in contact with the nylon in the locknut.
One of the bolts had a split pin hole, so they may have had a thin nut and a split pin to prevent it coming off. Probably more likely than a nyloc in 1948?
Very difficult to find info on these cars for details like this.
Before and after.










The front end is also nearly done.
I need bushes for the shock links and dust-covers for the tie rod ball joints.
The tie rods etc are just loosely bolted up to keep the front wheels in line when I push it about.


Another before and after.










Thanks.

Thanks Tea.

I started looking for a 5 speed gearbox.
Found one which I thought might be just the ticket. Fifth gear ratio and price wise.





And found a spec sheet which included this drawing.





So I got all excited and pulled the gearbox off the engine. It was next on my to do list anyway.
I put it on the bench to take some measurements. That’s when the trouble started…

It’s not going to fit without major mods.
The yellow circle in this shot shows where the crossmember sits.





And the distance from the front of the box to the mount bolts.
The input shafts are almost the same distance from the bottom on both boxes.
Because the proposed box is pretty much flat on the bottom and the mounts are almost 200mm further towards the back, that crossmember either has to go down a bit over 100mm (not an option - it'd be too low due to its thickness) or it has to go back about 200mm.
Which would be ok body wise ( I’m pretty sure ) but a big job. And obvs it’s all just been painted. I knew I'd have to mod the gearbox mount, but I never considered moving the crossmember.

All the other boxes I’ve been able to find so far seen to have much the same profile. I suppose it’s down to packaging in a modern vehicle. That space is wasted underneath.
Mind you the new ones do seem huge for just one more gear.
So I’m not sure which way to go atm. Maybe I’m back to looking at the diff.
If anyone knows of a suitable box, let me know. I’ve never done anything like that sort of change and I admit I was looking forward to it.

Thanks.

I have seen Laycock type overdrive units mounted remotely, between the gearbox and the rear axle. I have no doubt that as a solution it would be expensive, and obviously requires enough space to fit it, but would certainly give the desired effect whilst also retaining the “much modified, but still original” ethos you began by boosting the original engine rather than just replacing it.

Good thinking Glen, I emailed a company in Britain and fully expect I should be seated when I read their reply!
But it is a very elegant solution, I agree. You definitely have the advantage on things like this. They are pretty much unknown here.
Not sure I’m up for what it will likely cost though.

I started looking into T5s, K. There seems to be potential with the shape, though I haven’t found a dimension drawing yet. And there seems to be a few about, so there’s a bit of hope. Thanks for pointing them out.

I'll start tidying up the engine tomorrow as I look further into the T5.

We might have an advantage when it comes to some things, but I still think your advantage of a climate that means you still have cars to bolt stuff to, rather than piles of festering rust, means that overall you antipodeans are the winners. 🤣

I think the reverse is equally true when some people over here see how good your stuff is !

Nice thread, thanks for the updates.
James

Cheers James.

Thanks Ken, it looks as though it will fit.
I can’t be 100% sure as the dimensions on both the above drawings are not complete. The length of the actual gearbox section for instance. And the height of the input shaft.
And I’m not finding that they’re that plentiful. Apparently popular with people converting autos in Commodores and Falcons.
But they are around.
And it might be possible to use the Triumph bellhousing with a plate between it and the box.

Started on the engine.
While I still had the flywheel on it, I gave it a compression test.



So that’s encouraging.

Stripped a few of the ancillaries of the motor and got it on the engine stand. Cleaning has commenced.





Just for interest, I marked a rear tyre and the yoke on the diff and rolled it one revolution of the tyre. The yoke turned 4.7 times!
A real stump puller.


Thanks.