Triumph Sports Cars

Looking at Alan's beautiful build I see that he welded most of the transmission cover to the floor. The stock car just screws a fiberglass/cardboard cover to the floor. Nice for quick tranny removals but it doesn't seem so safe.

I've never liked how the TR4/5/6 basically has no firewall. If you only close the top part of a door, is it really closed? Now that my 302 is in it seems a little too "intimate". What are your opinions on welding the cover in and making it part of the body?


George

Don't get hold of the wrong end of the stick here - I didn't do it.
It's all being done for me.
My welding could be chartiably described as "functional".
This is artistic...

Alan,

I know you have your secret builder tied up in his shop where none of us can get to him - LOL - I was trying to be polite.

My welds use to be weak and ugly. With lots of practice they are now mostly ugly, and occasionally OK. The trick was listening to all the people who say how important it is for the surfaces to be clean. I grind all surfaces now and that seems to have done the trick.

i've been struggling with the same question in my gt6. I was going to make a fiberglass cover to bolt in but it would still be a pain to get in and out so i would probably end up bolting it in one time and never removing it. At that point would it be any easier, better to go with steel? A property designed and fabricated tunnel could improve rigidity a bit, and more importantly could provide a bit more protection should your trans decide to "let go." A few well placed access doors would be just as good in my application as a removable cover. I might take a better look at things tonight and try and make up my mind, I was adding up the cost of making a fiberglass cover and it was adding up quick, I think I could get by a bit cheaper with steel.
Other thoughts?

Jon and George, why not do as the MGA did and make up a steel trans tunnel and bolt it in the car? You get the best of both worlds then, more chassis strength as well as ease of construction, and you still can remove it for maintenance on the clutch or transmission if necessary. If you're using a HTOB it's a real convinence to be able to remove the trans without pulling the engine.
You can use pan head or button head screws and they are almost unnoticable under the carpet for the mounting screws or for access plate attachment.

true, not a bad idea, i've been looking for a way to stiffen up the chassis a bit more as well, maybe i'll do a bolt in crossmember of sorts(over the transmission) and a tunnel to cover it. I'll do some looking tonight.

George,
Here's a story of what I ended up with. In hindsight, I probably should have gone the route Calvin did on his build and fabricate the transmission cover from aluminum but I didn't and still don't own a Tig welder so steel was about my only choice. What with the flat bar, sheet steel and Dynomat, it's a heavy unit. But on the plus side, it bolts in there tight and may even act as a bit of a "backbone" stiffener.

1/8" flat bar was welded to the edge of the cut out floor to mount transmission cover to.

A frame work of flat bar then sheet metal was assembled to keep the cover as close to the transmission as possible.The outside has Dynomat while on the inside I glued sheets of thin aluminum for heat reflection.

This photo is of the rework I had to do in the area of the reverse lock out solenoid on the T56 to gain clearance for the seats when they're in the far forward position. This small cover and the whole transmission cover itself is mounted with about zillion 10/32 button head allen screws. It is removable but it would not be an easy job.

Ken,

That really helps. And thanks to Jon and Bill too.

I guess I'll just bolt it in. Unless I tap or weld in nuts I think it may be easier to attach this to the finished body and then drop everything onto the frame.

Nice work Ken, that looks great. I did some looking on my Gt6, I think i'm going to end up welding mine in, everything is tighter than I remembered, and i had to cut some of my firewall out so I'll be welding some pieces back in there. Also, there's almost no way to get to anything on the trans with it in the car anyway, so I'll be piecing it together soon, and adding some access hatches for fluid changes, etc,
Good luck with yours, George and post some pics when it's done. I'll post some pictures of mine if it looks presentable enough :)