Triumph Roadster

[batman3481]

I have a few questions about this vehicle. It has GT6 rear suspension with rotoflex drive and an older leaf spring.
1/ I have a leaf spring across the rear. The instructions tell me to fit it front forwards; where it is marked? and does it matter? It has 2 coats of paint, one white and one black, making it hard to see any ID marks.
2/ Working in the same area I have drive shafts fitted with rotoflex couplings. The shafts are hitting chassis when jacked up. Have tried fitting Vitesse shocks, which were half an inch shorter than those fitted, but still hitting. Does anyone know of a shock that would fit, no longer than 12" at bolt hole centres?
3/ Can somebody tell me the height of the stamped-in chassis number on engine side of firewall ali?
Thanks, Barry

[dcunn]

Re: Triumph Roadster

Ben is away at the moment so I'll guess at 1/4 or 3/8 inch lettering. Here's a couple of pics which may give you the style, scale, and location

Rgds DC

[b_caswell]

Re: Triumph Roadster

Q1 The word "front" is stamped into the top small spreader leaf however there is confusion as with the word at the front its facing backwards. So opinion is it don't make a lot of difference and it was marked to stop the question which way round ?"

Q2 The problem with the rotoflex set up is that on the vitesse Mk2 it originally used a swinging arm hydraulic shock absorber. A later after market conversion uses telescopic shocks(but not from the Mk1 Vitesse/Herald) these have a special modified mounting bracket. The droop restriction would depend on the bump return stop inside the shock its the fully extended measurement that would be critical.

Q3 It seems more than one stamp set was used varying between 2/10ths and a 1/4 inch. Punched in on a line between the fixings at the top of the bulkhead return as per DC's picture.

[batman3481]

Re: Triumph Roadster

Hi Guys, Thanks for your input: Very useful. Because I had bought 2 new Vitesse shock absorbers, to make them work (ie. stop the drive shafts hitting the chassis) I am going to cut and weld a channel across the top of the chassis. Ben, I will send you some photos when it's done. Cheers, Barry.

[b_caswell]

Re: Triumph Roadster

I would have thought if you have the right spec shock absorbers it would all
work OK.

Quite a few Mk1 cars have the rotoflex set up and as far as I recall no one
has raised this problem before.

[batman3481]

Re: Triumph Roadster

Hi Ben
Thanks for your input. The standard shock absorbers for a car with rotoflex drive and lower wishbone suspension are no longer available. So the ones I have obtained are the Vitesse rotoflex drive with link suspension, the only standard shocks available and much cheaper than gaz shocks (which may not fit because they seem to come with conversion brackets to fit the donor car, and probably not a Marlin). So the way I am going (ie. cutting the chassis for driveshaft clearance) will work without compromising the strength of the chassis. Thanks again. Barry