Steve's Triumph Spitfire 1600
The ongoing saaaaaaga
Turret Modification:
then on each side, added a side piece,
The right-side Turret is just in the way of the alternator but it lends itself pretty well to modification. We trimmed a bit and reinforced the rest.
The Turret is stamped steel with some good angles for strength, welded together and very strong so we ensured we kept its integrity with angled steel to form similar-to-stock ridges.
For strength, trimming it in a straight line was preferred to a concave cut that would provide a weak point on which it could fold over on itself under force. Didn't need to take much off, but removing the Turret from the Frame certainly made the job easier....just needed to remember how the Shims were located so as not to affect alignment.
Of course on left-drive cars we didn't have the concern of the Steering Column going through that Turret like it does elsewhere in the world, but I'm sure it could be made to work.
Klaus did this part while I was busy with other stuff. Of course we talked about all the issues as they came up, especially to do with strength.
He did it in a few steps…
added a flat piece to bridge the gap,
then added a small piece of 90 deg steel for bracing strength.
If we had a decent metal break, it may have been nicer to make a sharp cornered “U” shape instead of the first flat and then the angles. But we’re really happy with the strength we have.
Another consideration that we had was the stiffness of the Turrets relative to the Frame. Of course the original Spitfire set-up used the engine as a brace between sides. We were concerned that proceeding with nothing between them would be a point of weakness and could make for some sloppy handling, or worse. A Brace between Turrets would be easy enough to fabricate. (it was tackled much later in the build - see Turret Brace for details – Page will follow in time)