[ROVERNET - UK] 3500S Rear Ends

Vern Klukas vern at inkspotco.com
Sat Sep 11 05:03:27 BST 2004


I'll start by saying that this is a bad idea for anybody who has not 
designed and built suspensions before. The chances of ending up with 
a car having acceptable road handling would be slim.
In fact, I think its a bad idea anyway. The rear suspension of the P6 
is one of the better executed parts of the car's design. But if you 
went ahead and did it anyway:

To use SD1 components would mean:

Even if you could make use of the existing trailing and leading 
links, the current spring and damper position would be too far 
forward to allow adequate control of the added sprung weight of the 
live axle. Also, using the leading links would mean the axle will 
rotate as it moves, greatly complicating the watts linkage attachment 
to the axle.

New spring seats and shock mounts would have to go right under the fuel tank.

A deep extension would have to be added on one side of the P6 to 
accommodate the lower link of the Watts linkage.

The P6 does not use a torque tube, drive thrust is transferred to the 
car body through the trailing arms and to a lesser extent the leading 
links. The extension housing of the diff on a P6 is there first to 
give a long moment arm against the diff "winding" up or down, thus 
raising and lowering the extension nose, and second to act as a 
damper.

Side loads are carried through the halfshafts, into the diff case and 
then the diff mount plate and finally through the panhard bar into 
the body shell.

The up shot of that would be that to adapting a torque tube rear axle 
to a P6 would mean building a structure where the tube ends to carry 
the drive thrust into the body.

Finally, the brakes. Changing to drum rears would mean, at a minimum, 
a new master cylinder and probably the addition of a residual 
pressure valve.

Yours
Vern

>Hi Randy,
>I've considered this many times, but never gotten
>around to it.  Almost any rear end used would have to
>be narrowed (even the TR7/8, I measured), but using
>the existing leading and trailing links by cutting and
>welding the relevant portions of the bracketry onto
>the axle tube should locate a straight axle fore and
>aft.  Because the P6's use a torque tube already, I
>think I would narrow the SD1 axle and use torque tube
>and the Watts links, welding brackets to the base P6
>base unit where necessary.  Rover actually used a P6
>base unit to test the SD1 suspension, as I recall.  An
>added plus...you keep it all "Rover."
>
>Let me know if you pursue this as I am quite
>interested.
>
>Roveroversimplifiedly,
>Kent K.
>--- NOBLIOUS at aol.com wrote:
>
>>  With Hurricane Ivan looming and nothing better to
>>  do, I was wondering what would be the possibility of
>>  changing the 3500S rear end setup (primarily the
>>  differential, inboard discs, De dion tube)to
>>  something simpler and stronger.
>>
>>  Years ago they used to race 3500S in the UK (and
>>  Australia?), so I was wondering which rear end /
>>  differential was used. Was it the original one? Has
>>  anyone converted the OE rear end to a live rear
>>  axle?
>>
>>  Thanks for your input.
>>
>>  Randy - Miami, FL
>>
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-- 
Vern Klukas                             I'm a little . . .
Inkspot Type & Design
vern at inkspotco.com



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