Chassis design

[Mike Brewer]

Hi all .just watched a vid on you tube.Guy selling his Griffin for evo magazine.He went on to say the chassis was tested on a test rig by Gordon Murray.And has terrible structrale stiffness.What could be done to improve it ....Mike.The tasmins must be the same lol....

[Henry Harris]

When I had the body taken off my 450se, the chassis was just plainly badly welded and inherently not stiff. For example, where there was more than two chassis tubes met there was only a single weld. I have since had all the welds repaired and extra tubing in the main chassis, extra tubes inside the car alongside the sills and across the footwell. By the way I undestand that the pedal box was bolted to the glassfibre - not good.

Edited by Henry Harris on Saturday 18th February 13:21

[Mike Brewer]

Thanks for the reply Henry.Iwas going to ask about roll bars as in your picture.Some people like the idea some dont.From a saftey point of view.Your collective thoughts please....Mike 350is2

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Chaps..Funnily enough we were talking about roll bars earlier..(At a mini-wedge meet) and it was mentioned that they really stabilise the car..I pressume it gives some rigidity to the flexing of the body..By the way henry..I do like your interior, Very plush..Cheers..Ziga

[Henry Harris]

I had that there could be a minor problem in that the fuel pump may resonate through the rollbar. I had my fuel pump relocated with no subsequent issues.

[Wedg1e]

Doesn't take Barnes Wallis to realise that a spine frame with bits tacked on is going to twist... you really need a complete spaceframe to achieve 3D rigidity. Essentially the Wedge relies on the bodyshell to resist the chassis flexing, which is why it's so important for the outriggers to be in good order and all rubber packing to be solid.
The Esprit and similar-era Lotuses are fundamentally the same design but with different implementation (folded steel sheet rather than tubes). I think that the limiting factor of the day was probably tyres so other handling issues were masked.

[Mike Brewer]

i agree Ian .The lotus shell would be a lot stronger than the tvr.Because of its roof strength.The original frame for lotus was i think for a test bed for the elan by Ron Hickmam.wHEN Colin Chapman saw the cost the rest is history.Forgive me but i love lotus cars as much as tvr...........Both great British names .Quite scary the way the windscreen flexes when romoving roof lol....

[Henry Harris]

The main reason that I had all the work done is apart from packing the body evenly (it was tilted slightly), is the suspension was not working and handling was rubbish. Now everything is great and I can adjust the shock absorbers to suit as well as going round corners.

Edited by Henry Harris on Saturday 18th February 16:00