Has anyone else noticed the amazing amount of flex in the body of their Rossa when the hard top is off? I realise the hard top will add a large amount of strength to the tub and most convertible cars flex a bit with the top off but my Rossa seems to be a bit extreme!

Going down any nice bit of road and it's a lovely drive , but as soon as I hit a bump the whole car shakes and it feels like it's going to fall apart . (I know it won't as I've been driving it daily for two years now.)

I recall reading a post a while ago where West mentioned all Rossa's have this flexing.

Has anyone done any strengthening to the tub to reduce/negate this?

Tristan

I know that talon were doing something with a K3 to try and sort this and other things out: http://www.talonsportscars.com/project-k3.php

I used to notice it on my old K3, as the pedals used to move around when going over pot holes. Well, it was either them or me.

Talon doing something!

Didn't they ever!

They cut out all the internal GRP. Dash, rear bulkhead boxing etc. Fitted a full cage, MGF rear subframe with VVC engine. Fuel tank in the front etc, etc.

Last time I was at Talon it was still there if any one is interested.

That is VERY cool!

I'd love to fit a full roll cage and my welding skills aren't too bad... but like they say in the article there'd be a lot of cutting involved and the dash assembly would get in the way. I reckon I got me a nice summer project though

It's not too clear from the piccies but would the front of the cage have to be attached to the windscreen pillars or just support it?

Tristan

Hi all
I have fitted the side rails and diagonals from the engine frame but was unsure how to go across the car.

Does the k3 have a tunnel originally or have they removed it?
(still fancy putting the driver in the centre of the car)

Has their been an update on this article or are Talon an approachable company

Thanks

Dudley is a great bloke and i'm sure would answer any questions you may have.

My K3 has no tunnel - I believe thats how they were designed

Thanks all
I will contact Talon on Monday and if all goes well I will visit them.

Does anyone know if the rossa flexes more or less than the K3?
The tunnel in my mk1 rossa is a major strength part of the floor pan.
Also the floor is strong enough to bolt the cage to without any more fibreglass.

Ill post any results i find
Thanks

My mk2 flexed by an incredible amount. Just for laughs, undo the roof, put one wheel up on a small kerb and see how far out the roof is now.

However once the roof is bolted on it makes a huge difference.

Hello

What a good start to the F1 season

Sorry Tristan for hijacking your post
I will keep you informed.

Thanks allan
With the weight of the roof i should be able to replace it with alot of bracing.

In the club magazine some years ago it was suggested that filling the hollow windscreen pillars with expanding foam was something that might reduce the infamous scuttle shake.
I had heard that one reason that the dash was made structural on the K3 was to reduce the scuttle shake found on the Rossa.
In terms of the whole body twisting maybe strength is needed elsewhere. I'm sure some of the engineers will have some thoughts.

One did a weekend car swap with a mate at work for an Escort Cabriolet -- it had all the problems you describe with the hood down but vastly improved with the hood up -- how wierd is that? God knows what they're like with a bit of tin worm in them.
Basic mods to the Escort were -- additional inner sill panel, reinforced lower cowl panel, a brace from the bottom of the B pillar to the top of the rear wheel house, brace behind the dash and some additional stuff under the floor. I think this is the basic upgrade package with Street KA and the Focus CC although they already had a cross car beam behind the dash.
Some of the above might help with a fibreglass car but I shouldn't have thought this was necessary for a car that was designed to be open top from the start. Also isn't the design permise with fibreglass to design for stiffness and locally thicken the stress points?
Dudley's K series looks good but its going to loose some of the open top feel.

Yes, the weight of the hard top is considerable and will go some way towards off setting the weight of a full cage - if you have a hood (not got one and rare as rocking horse Toffee).

Wonder if a lift off pannel like the Libra would be a good idea? One could then bond the rest of the hardtop in position.

Wonder if filling the sills with expanding foam would help a bit?

Regards,

Allen

hmm my new rossa has come with a complete 1.8 vvc engine in its mgf subframe with the loom driveshaft shockers everything wonder how similar the conversion would be in a rossa apposed to the k3?

One on ebay right now (mine actually)

I have bonded the whole hardtop to the tub as I just didn't use the soft top as much as I thought I would (and the wife has an MGF anyway now).



I filled the two rear most areas of the sills, near to where the fuel tank is and the lower subframe mountings are with a whole can of foam, (didn't do the sills themselves as the water hoses and electric's go down there and wanted to be able to get to them if there were any issues in the future), waited to see if anything helped before deciding to permanently fit the roof, well it didn't do much so the roof was glassed in, now I can jack the car up and the doors still open ok.