Independent rear end

[TRfan]

Hello all,

I have a TR7 and have been wondering if anyone knows of a conversion from the live axle to an independent rear end.

I've heard of it being done but would like details.

Thanks for any tips or advice.

[tr8coupe]

my old Grinnall TR-12 had an independent rear end
sold that car to Austria to race

that transforms the car totally

[:D]

BMW Z1 ( sold)
Westfield sport carbon (sold)
Eurosport x1/9 turbo (sold)
TR8 coupe
TR7 v8 monster on 245 tyres all round (sold)
TVR VIXEN (sold)
Alfa GTV 3.0 CUP lol

[bottomtop]

Triumph Rover Spares in Adelaide (here in Australia) apparently have developed one for the wedge.

[nadg63]

<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 bottomtop</i>

Triumph Rover Spares in Adelaide (here in Australia) apparently have developed one for the wedge.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

They sure have, know of a couple of cars over here running it, (will be another one added to that list when the re-build is complete!)

Not cheap, but works well from the feedback I have received after chatting with the owners of the cars.

[John Clancy]

We had a demo by Triumph's high speed test engineer at last year's national classic motor show at the NEC whereby he showed us the flaw in the TR7/8 rear end... he solved it on a prototype with the simple addition of a Panhard Rod.

I know we discussed all this some time ago but I thought it could probably save someone a lot of money rather than investing in an IRS when the handling can be completely sorted for the cost of an iron bar!!!

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[bmcecosse]

When they put a Watts on the same axle in the SD1 - I don't understand why they didn't follow that on to at least the later TR7s!

[tipo158]

<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 bmcecosse</i>

When they put a Watts on the same axle in the SD1 - I don't understand why they didn't follow that on to at least the later TR7s!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Probably the same reason that they didn't finish developing the TR7 Sprint or most of the other improvements that never made it into the cars. It would have cost money.

alan

[Marko]

tr7 has a chassis , you can bolt on anything to it .

cheaper variant is to buy a rear half of any rwd car of the similar size (miata, e21, e30, w123.....) you get the diff, brakes and all....

more expensive solution is to fabricate your own . if you have the money and knowledge .it will be a far better solution.

but you cant look at the rear suspension as the only solution to better handling all four corners of the car are important.

[Beans]

If located properly, a live rear axle will corner very well indeed
(as loads of very fast Escorts have proved, and still do)

<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>

[Hasbeen]

In my experience, it is not all that hard to get a live rear axle
car to handle very well. I have seen many people have much more
trouble getting an independent rear end to handle as well.

Unless you have a lot of time, & money, & are very experienced, or
have access to a proprietary rear end, with proven competition
success, you are probably going to have more success with what you
have, upgraded by well known techniques, in my opinion.

Hasbeen

[Alec Pringle]

If you really want an IRS Triumph sports car, there is already a modest choice - Spitfire, GT6, TR4A, TR5, TR250, TR6 . . . .

Cheers,

Alec

[Underdog]

I found it most helpful to research what rear suspension modifications seem to work well on late model Ford Mustangs. Same triangulated 4 link layout as our cars. Lots of Mustangs here in the states and a popular car to hot rod. Google Mustang Rear Suspension and you will get a lot of reading.

I apologize that this has nothing much to do with the original question. If you really want an IRS, I never saw one offered over here in the states as any kind of kit. Our trick setup is a narrowed Ford straight axle with LSD and disc brakes. Of course that's more for the V-8 cars.







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

[bottomtop]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> If you really want an IRS Triumph sports car, there is already a modest choice - Spitfire, GT6, TR4A, TR5, TR250, TR6 . . . . <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Some of the Spitfires and GT6's came with rather "exciting" independent rear suspension IIRC.

[John Clancy]

The reason no changes were made to the TR7, despite the possibility of a Panhard Rod or Watts Linkage, was simply down to the cost it would add to production. Remember an average of 20,000 cars per year were being produced. Adding a better rear end to that many cars would have cost the factory at least £100k per annum.

The Herald had independent rear suspension which was a big selling point back then. A test was done with a live rear axle and it handled better than the IRS setup. Harry Webster (Triumph Chief Engineer) advised that everyone kept quiet otherwise he'd get the heave ho after all the expense invested in IRS. He was tongue-in-cheek of course but this is good evidence that the existing TR7 setup can probably be made to work almost as well as a properly engineered IRS. Stiffer bushes, springs and shocks is the way to go.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[nadg63]

<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 Alec Pringle</i>

If you really want an IRS Triumph sports car, there is already a modest choice - Spitfire, GT6, TR4A, TR5, TR250, TR6 . . . .

Cheers,

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

But then you'd have to buy an anorak to go with it! [:D]