From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Answering seven questions about the characteristics and effects of body subframes.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 15\4\ Scan039 | |
Date | 21th June 1929 guessed | |
contd :- -3- it is very inaccessible. BODY SUBFRAMES. With reference to your note of 10th. June. Answering your questions in order :- (1) The subframe as a unit weighs 107 1/2 lbs. (2) We do not think the coachbuilder takes advantage of more than half the weight of the subframe when he [handwritten: makes] [strikethrough: places] his body. We should therefore say that it increases the weight of the coachwork by 50 lbs. (3) On our 10,000 miles tests we have had [handwritten: greatly] [strikethrough: radical] improved body life when using subframes. (4) The subframe appears to reduce the effect of engine roughness and noise to a certain extent, but does not work any miracles in this respect. (5) We have no evidence that the subframe as a unit tends to increase a cars' high speed wobbling proclivities. The tendency of a car to shimmy appears to be more affected by the type of body fitted. (6) The subframe does not increase the height of the floor of the car - the boards are as low as they possibly can be and frequently have to be cut away to avoid fouling the cross members. (7) The main difficulty with the subframe has been that quite a number of alterations were found necessary when the subframe was fitted on the chassis. We ourselves are going into the question of supplying coachbuilders with contd :- | ||