Triumph Sports Cars

I am installing a buick 215 into an 80 triumph spitfire ... and everything I read/see says that there should be an angle of around 3 degrees to help with driveline alignment . Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with this? has anyone found that the front angle of the engine is critical ?
I am asking because .. I am looking at My 215 in the spitfire frame .. it is sitting level. I can see raising the front of the engine a degree or so .. however 3 degrees will put the front of My engine WAY up high. So .... if anyone can give some advice/help/suggestions .. I would TRULY .. appreciate it !!

I have a gt6 and would like to know if you had to cut your frame to fit the engine in the car?

The Rover V8 does have an angle to its installation. Below is a picture the intake manifold (s) for a Rover V8 and Buick/Olds that have an angle for the carb to bolt down and be level.

Any one else have any input?

An angle is not necessary but the pinion should match.

Jim

dtindell Wrote:
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> I have a gt6 and would like to know if you had to
> cut your frame to fit the engine in the car?


No .. I have not had to do any cutting at all dropped right in so far lol

BlownMGB-V8 Wrote:
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> An angle is not necessary but the pinion should
> match.
>
> Jim


Morning jim!
Thanks for answering ... I am not sure exactly what you mean by .... the pinion should match ... could you possibly elaborate please ? Thank you in advance !!!
Randy

Good morning Randy.

By matching, we mean the angle of the rear axle pinion shaft should match the angle of the engine crankshaft (or transmission tailshaft). The two should be parallel with each other, although not necessarily concentric, which would tend to cause fretting in the u-joint needle bearings. There needs to be some movement in the u-joint bearings during normal operation to keep the needles lubricated by moving the grease around. Some recommend a difference in angle of 1/2 degree for this purpose.

The reason for all this is because the common u-joint is not a constant velocity coupling and the driveshaft itself will speed up and slow down as it goes through each rotation, and do so more dramatically as the angle through the u-joint increases. Because of this, pairs of u-joints are rotated 90 degrees from each other so that they will cancel each other out and the output motion will be identical to the input motion. Any deviation from parallel at the input and the output will result in these acceleration/deceleration forces being carried into the rest of the drivetrain, setting up vibrations.

Far from being the simple tube it appears to be, the driveshaft is a sophisticated and well developed piece of hardware, capable of transmitting enormous power for it's size and weight, incredibly compact and tough, yet made of the most common of materials and components. Thought of in that way, it's operating requirements are pretty minimal, and modifications are amazingly easy. I have shortened driveshafts and had vibration free operation using nothing but hand tools and a stick welder. But it's usually best to have it done by a shop.

Jim

Here is some information on different setups along with suspension for driveshaft angles.

Randy, the Triumph guys can help you more on this than I can, but I think a good approach might be to put the engine in where it's happiest and then shim the axle to match the angles. (Doesn't this car have IRS? if so then you just need to set the pinion angle.)

Jim

The Rover V8 in my Spitfire sits at a slight angle (higher at the front) mainly so that the sump clears the steering rack by 7mm or so. I took the engine out of a TR8 and it was already fitted with an offenhauser manifold which in turn was fitted with a wedge to allow the carb to sit horizontal. In the set up I have the carb top is horizontal with the wedge fitted, and I have a modified TR8 propshaft fitted. You will also find that you are limited as to how far you can drop the rear of the gearbox because the sides of it will start to foul the inner sides of the chassis members (certainly with a LT77 box anyway). Mine runs OK but only time will tell if the UJ wears out quickly I suppose.

The two photo's below should give some idea of the angle of the engine.

Good luck!

Graham

I'm really getting hungry to see that How It Was Done article, Graham.