Adding lightness to ‘t Kreng

With the DHC away to get it’s paint sorted at last, I have been able to pick up the thread, for ‘t Kreng, were I left it more than a year ago. As you have probably understood by now ‘t Kreng will be turned into a rally replica. Well sort of! The main jobs that need to be done for that are;

• Adding lightness wherever possible;
• Change rear wheel geometry to get the roll centre down;
• Stiffen the body with a welded in roll cage and ditch the sunroof;
• Try to make the engine a little bit more powerful (max. 200 BHP), tractable and civilized by using a modern injection and ignition system;
• Some more tricks with the engine in order to keep it from self-destructing within 5 miles;
• And a new paint scheme of course.

Over the past year or so I have started collecting some stuff to add lightness, like plastic side and rear windows ...

A larger capacity baffled alloy fuel tank, ready for injection ...

And to add some more bling, a nice shining alloy fuel filler cap that fits neatly in the original fuel filler recess of a later TR7 ...

At the moment I am working on the setup for the rear suspension. Plan is to ditch the current 4 link setup for a parallel four link setup with a Watts linkage. For the parallel links I will be using slightly adapted rear upper links ...

Also still toying with the location of the rear ARB bar. Will remove the current one soon to see how she behaves without and work from there. Probably a standard motorsport item which will be fitted to the rear bulk head and tied to the rear axle with drop links. Clearance between exhaust and upper links might prove an issue here.

But the biggest challenge will be the location of the watts linkage. I am looking at two possibilities;

• Central pivot point on the rear of the axle (using an alloy Rover SD1 cover);
• Or the central pivot point on the car’s body.

Probably enough to keep me of the road for the next year or so. But first I’ll turn my attention to ‘t Kreng as she stands now and prepare her for next week’s start of the driving season, “De Nacht van het Oosten”. After that it’s about time to finish the gearbox for the DHC . . .