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 Post subject: Re: Metal Spinners?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:21 am 
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Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:52 pm
Posts: 281
Location: North Yorkshire
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Have you considered Hydroforming as a possible alternative? No personal expertise in the area but it may be a solution for the bowl under the fuel tank and this area.

Sean
I don't know that much about the process, but will look into it...I think it still requires a die, but if it only involves half of a press tool, it should be half the cost...but then maybe I'm an optimist...
That was the conclusion I came to also.
There are a few YouTube videos around explaining it. It also occured to me it's less punishing on the die so it may be possible to make an aluminium casting from an existing floor for a limited run.

Thanks

Sean

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1977 1850 HL manual O/D


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 Post subject: Re: Metal Spinners?
PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:18 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
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Can you make me a floor which is a couple of inches deeper please? So I can lower the Sprint sized spare.
You only need 5/8" for the floor board to fit flat!

Steve
Ideally, I need something similar for my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special", because the hardboard spare-wheel cover had never sat flush with the fuel-tank, having never had the original factory-standard 4 x 13 inch steel wheels (unknown offset!?!) & 155 SR13 tyres, but instead had 5.5 x 13 inch Cosmic alloy wheels (21 mm offset) with 175 SR13 tyres, later followed by 185/70 R13 tyres on the same wheels and then transferred onto 5.5 x 13 GKN Dolomite Sprint wheels (35 mm offset).

The latest incarnation will be 5.5 x 15 inch MG 2000 Maestro wheels with either 185/65 R15, 185/60 R15 or 185/55 R15 tyres. I have tried one of the 5.5 x 15 inch MG 2000 Maestro wheels (31 mm wheel-offset | of which I have a total of seven) with an existing Maxxis 185/55 R15 tyre in the boot, which seems to have a slightly larger section width than the Firestone S211 185/70 R13 tyres on the 5.5 x 13 GKN Dolomite Sprint wheels.

I wonder whether one could band the boot floor (similar to banding steel wheels to widen them) in a staggered configuration, to deepen the spare-wheel well!?! One of the things which would need to be considered, is the position of the fuel-tank outlet!

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


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 Post subject: Re: Metal Spinners?
PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:47 pm 
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TDC Shropshire Area Organiser

Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Posts: 7013
Location: Highley, Shropshire
Is it REALLY that much of a hardship that the boot board doesn't sit down properly?

ALL Sprints suffer this problem (if it IS one) and have from the factory, Triumph were much too tight to build a Sprint specific spare wheel well and nobody saw fit to complain at the time! It's just one (and a very minor one) of the quirks the Sprint inherited from using a body that was designed for a much smaller engine than it ended up with.

An anorak would also say that altering the boot floor is (technically) messing with the monocoque structure of the car and thus rendering one liable to a BIVA and all that entails, loss of identity, Q plate, endless MOTs and VED, blah blah. In reality, I doubt anyone would notice or care, but them's the rules!

The Carledo doesn't normally carry a spare wheel, so the boot board (now marine ply) covers the battery and fuel pump/filter and sits flush. If I think i'm likely to need a spare I just throw one in on top! For the Dolomega I've mounted the battery above the diff and the pump etc underneath the boot floor so it has a 14" MGF steel spare with a 185/60/14 tyre fitted to match what i'm using on my 14" fake minilites (normally 185/65/14 on the MG which is close on rolling radius to the 185/55/15 and 205/50/15s that the MGF uses on it's normal roadgoing alloys) This wheel still sits the board a tad high but it's barely noticeable. It sits on top of the clips at the front of the well rather than in them.

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 6:32 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
Quote:
Can you make me a floor which is a couple of inches deeper please? So I can lower the Sprint sized spare.
Quote:
You only need 5/8" for the floor board to fit flat!
Quote:
Is it REALLY that much of a hardship that the boot board doesn't sit down properly? ALL Sprints suffer this problem (if it IS one) and have from the factory, Triumph were much too tight to build a Sprint specific spare wheel well and nobody saw fit to complain at the time! It's just one (and a very minor one) of the quirks the Sprint inherited from using a body that was designed for a much smaller engine than it ended up with.

An anorak would also say that altering the boot floor is (technically) messing with the monocoque structure of the car and thus rendering one liable to a BIVA and all that entails, loss of identity, Q plate, endless MOTs and VED, blah blah. In reality, I doubt anyone would notice or care, but them's the rules!

The Carledo doesn't normally carry a spare wheel, so the boot board (now marine ply) covers the battery and fuel pump/filter and sits flush. If I think i'm likely to need a spare I just throw one in on top!

For the Dolomega I've mounted the battery above the diff and the pump etc underneath the boot floor so it has a 14" MGF steel spare with a 185/60/14 tyre fitted to match what i'm using on my 14" fake minilites (normally 185/65/14 on the MG which is close on rolling radius to the 185/55/15 and 205/50/15s that the MGF uses on it's normal roadgoing alloys) This wheel still sits the board a tad high but it's barely noticeable. It sits on top of the clips at the front of the well rather than in them.
Except when I travelled by public transport or used the 1973 VW “1600” Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan for weekend outings and touring holidays, the 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 “HL Special” has always been my short, medium & long distance transport within Great Britain since 1975; cruising contentedly at up to 55~60 mph (i.e. 88~96 km/h | close to New Zealand’s maximum speed limit of 100 km/h).

https://www.newzealand.com/in/driving-in-new-zealand/

https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resource ... w-zealand/

https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/str ... d-policing

https://www.police.govt.nz/faq/how-do-i ... rit-points

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/driver-licence ... it-points/

I would not contemplate driving it without carrying a spare wheel & tyre; especially these days when it would be difficult to obtain one at short notice far from home, for a 40+ year old classic car! These days, it is probably wise to have more than a single spare wheel in reserve for an old classic car, which is why I have a total of SEVEN matching MG 2000 Maestro 5½ x 15 inch alloy wheels!

Given that I have often travelled with a full boot, it is essential that I retain a dedicated spare-wheel well and not encroach on the existing luggage capacity! My battery is staying in the engine compartment where it is supposed to be; in neither the boot or passenger compartment!

Having a split-level load platform in the boot has been rather inconvenient on occasions in the past, especially when transporting certain items like delicate Brüel & Kjaer sound-test equipment, masonry building blocks, paving slabs or a Volkswagen air-cooled engine. It also prevents one from properly anchoring the black-fabric load-platform cover and making it susceptible to localised wear at the boundary between the two levels.

Only soft conformable items, would “comfortably” straddle the split-level boundary. Rigid items straddling the split-level boundary were less stable in transit, owing to significantly reduced contact area with the underlying load-platform surface and the tendency to rock from side to side!

Compared to a Dolomite with a high rear sill, it’s relatively easy to load the boot of a Toledo, which completely lacks any boot-sill, and enables one to simply slide in heavy, awkwardly shaped items; one of the reasons why my family chose a Toledo in preference to a Dolomite. It’s amazing how low the rear suspension sits when transporting just ten or twelve, two-feet-square concrete paving slabs, despite carrying no passengers! This is one of the reasons why a trailer would be useful!

Failure to design the Dolomite boot floor so that it would not properly accommodate the wider 5½ x 13 inch GKN Dolomite Sprint alloy wheels & 175/70 SR13 tyres, as well as the standard 4½ x 13 inch Dolomite steel wheels & 155 SR13 tyres, seems like a significant oversight to me. To compensate, they could have increased the capacity of the fuel tank, so that the top of the tank was level with the top of the spare wheel.

Whether it would be practical and structurally safe to lower the Toledo boot floor remains to be seen!?! Maybe I could have the Toledo fuel tank banded instead, to equalise the load-platform levels, whilst increasing the fuel-capacity & range at the same time! An extra 5/8 inch (i.e. 15•9 mm) fuel-tank depth would result in quite a significant increase in volume, of maybe as much as 5½ litres; increasing the capacity from circa 48 litres to 53½ litres!

At circa 39+ mpg, the existing range won’t be too bad, but a little extra range can be useful sometimes when travelling in remote areas; especially on a Sunday when rural petrol stations are more likely to be closed.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


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 Post subject: Re: Metal Spinners?
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 10:43 pm 
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TDC West Mids Area Organiser
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Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:13 pm
Posts: 13316
Location: Over here...can't you see me?
All you need is a bit of 3/4" ply cut to the shape of the fuel tank to be placed under the boot mat.


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 Post subject: Re: Metal Spinners?
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:35 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
Quote:
All you need is a bit of 3/4" ply cut to the shape of the fuel tank to be placed under the boot mat.
I had already thought of that and am still considering the option.

Sheets of 3/4 inch plywood are quite heavy, as I have discovered when salvaging various off-cuts and sometimes large boards from waste skips. :P A relatively thin sheet of extruded (i.e. not expanded | less easily compressed, as used for upside-roof insulation) foam polystyrene faced with thin plywood would be much lighter.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


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