spitfires
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Re: Your Spitfire!!!!

To: Tom Strange <jantoms@vbe.com>, spitfires@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Re: Your Spitfire!!!!
From: Thomas Carney <gt6in@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 08:06:16 -0800 (PST)
  But aren't you just asking to get cooked?  My GT6 is fine during the
winter, but summer times in NJ yeild a quick sweat response.  I would
imagine the V8 would be like going from a regular oven to convection.
Well done.  I am curious to your solutions so maybe I could use them,
as long as it doesn't require a compressor and the sorts.....
Tom  



---Tom Strange <jantoms@vbe.com> wrote:
>
>   I am getting mentally prepared to launch my V8 spit project & so
far my
> differential thoughts have been the ford 9" ..... the alternate
being a mopar 8
> 3/4".  The mopar is not as strong, but should handle anything I
throw at it & a
> lot cheaper to build.
>   If you want to keep the IRS (I do) either differential will take
the mod to
> Jag axles.  I think Mercedes axels would also work just as well.
> 
>   BTW, I am hoping for about 350 hp from a ford 289 (I just like
those engines &
> I've built them before ..... I know the 302 would be a better
choice; it's
> nostalgia) & a T-5 tranny in a tube frame with a spit tub pinned on.
>   I figgure this will be about a 3 year project.  That gives me
about a 3 yr
> life expectance after the start of the project.  Anything beyond the
first lap
> at RA will be borrowed time.
> 
>  Comments from those more knowledgeable???????????? (sane????????)
Flame away,
> I'm open to any ideas, suggestions or financial
contributions..........
>   In the corner with my nomex on.........
> Tom Strange, Classic Autosports Ltd., Appleton, Wi.,  920-733-5013
> 
> Smith, Brian wrote:
> 
> > Being a "reformed" hot rodder, I would try a shortened american
rear end.  A
> > ford 9 inch comes to mind, or perhaps, being from a smaller car, a
chevette
> > (yech) rear.  I think you could probably do without the IRS and
mount the
> > soild axle to the transverse spring "the way it is". probably would
> > compramice handleing a little but....who knows?
> >
> > Brian H. Smith
> > 1959 TR3
> > 1972 Spitfire IV
> > 1977 TR7
> > Lake Charles, LA
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Lindberg, Andrew (MN12)
[SMTP:Andrew.Lindberg@Corp.Honeywell.com]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 10:45 AM
> > > To:   brian_s@deq.state.la.us; DANMAS@aol.com;
Spitfires@Autox.Team.Net
> > > Subject:      Re: Your Spitfire!!!!
> > >
> > > In a message dated 98-11-17 13:22:28 EST,
brian_s@deq.state.la.us writes:
> > >
> > > > How a boutthat...and me having a freind that just took
possesion of two
> > > >  rover V-8's.  HMMMM, talk about great in a straight line but
not worth
> > > a
> > > >  sh*t in a corner.
> > >
> > > From: DANMAS@aol.com
> > > Nay, nay, my friend, it doesn't have to be so!  A rover V8
weighs a LOT
> > > less
> > > than the 6 cylinder used in the GT6 (about 75 pounds), and how
bad do they
> > > handle?  Not bad at all, I would suspect.  If done right, a
Rover/Spit
> > > should
> > > handle quite well indeed!
> > >
> > > FWIW, Peter Cook did a little book on Spitfires and GT6s a few
years back.
> > > In it, in the GT6 chapter, he devotes about one paragraph to a
Rover-V8
> > > equipped GT6 that some of the Triumph engineers threw together. 
The V8
> > > was,
> > > as Dan says, lighter that the six and no suspension changes were
required.
> > > It went like stink and didn't have any handling problems.
> > >
> > > I've always been intrigued by this conversion and talked to Don
Schumacher
> > > about it last summer at the VTR convention.  Don owns a fair
number of the
> > > aluminum V8s and he said that the six to V8 conversion was
relatively easy
> > > in a GT6.  He then went on to say, however, that it'd tear up the
> > > differential in a few weeks.  He recommended converting the diff
to a
> > > Datsun
> > > 510 unit, along with associated supension pieces and subframe. 
This, of
> > > course, costs some real money.  I believe he said that they had
run such a
> > > car in some type of race and done quite well.  Does anybody have
any info
> > > on
> > > this?  Thinking about it now, I can't imagine what it would be
eligible
> > > for.
> > > Others said that an easier (but still not cheap) way to fix the
diff
> > > inadequacy is with a Qaife (sp?) unit.
> > >
> > > Still on my list of things to do.
> > >
> > >  -- Andy Lindberg (GT6 in Minnesota)
> 
> 
> 
> 



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