Triumph Spitfire Volumex .

[TS131Volumex]

Hello all ,
I said a while back that I would show a neat little conversion kit produced by a New Zealand company that I managed to get hold of a few months ago , perhaps luckily , as I heard a rumour the following day that this company had sadly suffered badly in the earthquake .
This kit allows a Subaru , or more accurately ' Fujji Heavy Industries ' diff to be directly fitted into a Triumph Spitfire/GT6 .
I mistakingly purchased a new r180 3.54:1 version of this LSD at a very low price £ 210.00 ( list price of Subaru LSD diffs being about £1500.00 ) which to my horror I found to be identical but a cm narrower and a cm lower than the r160 version I needed , its a painfull process ! However this week I managed to find a new , still boxed r160 LSD diff in a 4.11:1 version , which is the ratio Kevin the original builder had intended for this car , even this was a good price at £400.00 .
I have allready converted the car from its original Spitfire swing spring rear suspension set up to a coil over CV conversion with a Quaiffe LSD fitted to an alloy housed 3.6 Triumph diff .
However the car is still on Triumph GT6 hubs and drums and Triumph crown wheel and pinion so I have collected together these parts for a still improved rear end set up .
Despite the car being front engined and therefore more dependent on the front brakes ( currently four pot Willwoods ) it is
a). not as efficient as MGTF discs with Mintex 1144 pads .
b). The MGTF hubs and bearings are not as failure prone as the Triumph version .
c) The Triumph diff internals were designed for maximum of about 105 bhp and allthough the 3.6 version as fitted was the strongest version on offer I want a bullet proof replacement as back up .
The pictures show a reminder of the car in question followed by the NZ kit and then a picture of the Subaru/MGTF bits I have collected .
I am trying to keep everything genuine manufacturers parts and whherever possible all new , suprisingly uneasy with even the not so distant MGTF parts .
The two parts I will need to have altered/manufactured are ;
a) The hubs are similar but not identical so the MGTF versions will need ' moding ' .
b) I will have to have drive shafts made up to link the inner Subaru and outer MGTF CV's .
The only disadvantage of this set up is that I have alloy versions of the Triumph hub/uprights but these are not available in the MGTF's so a bit more weight .
This is turning into a very long build due to financial constraints to the point that I can see it being finaly on the road in the hands of my Grandson so I hope Guy is not only building engines but also working on a comparable ' ELIXIR OF LIFE '

[Guy Croft]

with all the non-Spitfire parts on that car I hope you are compiling a workshop manual for it that indicates the origin of all the bits should replacements be needed!!

G

[TS131Volumex]

Indeed . Of course , it is just the result of trying to provide your ' patient ' engine with the best quality playmates whilst leaving the car visibly ' all Triumph ' .

[TS131Volumex]

My converted MGF VL's and redesigned wishbones should be completed tomorow .

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I am NO engineer so the wishbone is some what OVER engineered to reduce paranoia .
Both the top and bottom of the MGF Vertical links were cut off and a new section created to mate with the Spitfire . I shall take some better pics tomorow and add further details .