tr7triumph.com

Hey Guys I would like to fab up an aluminum fuel tank for my Tr7. My company has CNC sheet metal equipment so material, and equipment availability is not an issue. What I need are drawings or any ideas on how to properly fab one up? Also any ideas on lightening the bumpers up on these cars? Thanks!

the biggest problem is price of raw material.

aluminum is 6 times more expensive than steel.

i wanted to make an aluminum copy of the fuel tank and gave up when i saw the raw stock.

you could save about 50% on the mass of fuel tank.

as for the bumpers, they could be done too.

if your company has cnc machinery than you probably have atleast one engieer employed it will be a cakewalk for him to do some number crunching on the thickness of the bumpers made of aluminum.

Isnt the bumper on the drophead wieghted to stop scuttle shake !!!!

[8 whole cylinders worth of punch to ram the world through the windshield and out the rear view mirror. Car & Driver]
1981 Grinnall TR7 v8
1981 Black FHC
1979 & 1980 Black Premium FHC(laid to rest) Sorry


John

My sheetmetal shop has a large amount of .125" aluminum offcut sheets kept for projects. One of the guys here used to work at a custom fab shop that produced aluminum fuel tanks for specialty oil rig trucks. I certainly have given the aluminum bumper idea a thought or two. I may go that route, definite weight savings! I would also like to get rid of those damn pop up headlight as well! They are like lead bricks and they never work when you need them! I have been thinking about mounting some sort of fixed headlight setup? Any ideas?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by john</i>

Isnt the bumper on the drophead wieghted to stop scuttle shake !!!!

[8 whole cylinders worth of punch to ram the world through the windshield and out the rear view mirror. Car & Driver]
1981 Grinnall TR7 v8
1981 Black FHC
1979 & 1980 Black Premium FHC(laid to rest) Sorry


John
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes they are. That's why I have a FHC bumper on mine. I cut some open areas in the face of it to further lighten. You can't tell once the cover is on and I'm not planing on runing into anything. I left the rear one stock since it's been rearended once already.[xx(]

Jim Underwood
72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by cook11</i>

One of the guys here used to work at a custom fab shop that produced aluminum fuel tanks for specialty oil rig trucks.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

oil rig trucks have square or cylindrical fuel tanks, not that difficult to fabricate, tr7 has a bit more complicated shape because its assimetrical ,and has that dent so the differential housing doesnt hit the fuel tank

You can buy Alloy tanks off the shelf from Triumph Rover Spares in South Australia.

Jolyon

You can leave off the bumper dampers if you have a DHC for a savings of 20 lbs. or so. I like the pop up headlights as they are so unique people give a second take. Never had a problem with them. (Keep your connections clean.) People have done fixed headlight treatments. Do a search on this forum using search tool. Lots of work though.

I would check and see if aluminum bumpers would adversely affect or even invalidate your insurance.

I've got a couple of brother-in-laws in your neck of the woods (Mill Woods).



TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

Cook if your getting an aluminum tank done see what it would cost to do one more, I'd be interested in one if the price was right.

Can't save them all but I am trying!!!

I would really like to see a TR7 with alloy bumpers, either polished or brushed. Imagine a dark car with polished aluminum bumpers!

I think an alloy tank would be a big project to save a few pounds. They aren't that heavy to start with. I do have to admit that if I had your facilities at hand I would be tempted though!
[:D]
Rich

1975 TR7 ACL764U

I personally would be interested in a larger capacity tank in my '8, be it steel or aluminium alloy...
I feel the oem one don't give the range I need/want
- since I need to fill up more than once a day when on a drive...

Anyone heard of such a beast, or done some thinking themselves?

<font color="red"><b>My two 1980 Wedges...</b></font id="red">

the only thing that worryes me with alu bumpers (at least front) is the crash safety in regular trafic, for racing too especialy rally( trees , lamp posts,...).

the alu bumper would have to be built to the same strength and stiffnes as the steel one.

Letter A
what worries me... the bumper connects the chassis legs so they dont split appart in an even of crash , if you check the original steel bumper you will see that the rear plate(the one with holes for mounting the bumper is thicker and profiled for stiffnes ( like an U section).

if the bumper fails in the crash the next thing stopping the "intruding object that you crashed into" would be subframe , and it is good 500mm behind the bumper. and that is if the object was mounted to the ground, SUV isnt mounted to the ground.



see what i mean,
green chassis legs, blue bumper, red subframe

there is a lot "empty space" behind the front bumper.

letter B
on the other hand on the rear the chassis legs are interconected with the boot floor and spare tire well, and its encased with the sides of the trunk( rear arches ). that part is solid enough by itself.


the properly made alu bumper would have to be designed to the same strength( not stiffnes) as the steel one.

With the exception of the ally tank which will be good because it will be less prone from rotting inside out, the weight saving all sounds like a lot of hassle for a road car... Why dont you just buy a Caterham instead lol? [:D]

<b>2.0 Litre DHC Grinnall
Red 4.0 Litre V8 DHC Grinnall (with huuuuuge arches...!)</b>

Cut the middle section from the front bumper and bolt that in place (lightened of course).
Or weld a tube (as used in roll cages) between the front end of the chassis legs.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car currently being restored)
In parts a 1980 TR7 PI DHC, 1981 TR7 DHC, 1981 TR7 FHC</font id="blue">
<font color="red">http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="red"></center>

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Beans</i>

Cut the middle section from the front bumper and bolt that in place (lightened of course).
Or weld a tube (as used in roll cages) between the front end of the chassis legs.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

bingo...

i wanted to suggest to use thicker aluminum between the chassis legs, and the rest of the bumper can be thin, if you realy have money to burn, aluminum honeycomb in the hollow section of the bumper so it absorbs the impact.