"Monocoque"
Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:00 am
Monocoque = noun an aircraft or vehicle structure in which the chassis is integral with the body.
-ORIGIN French, from mono- "single" + coque "shell"
Taken from the Oxford compact English dictionary
The Lotus v. Spyder discussion continues & still provides great reading; I for one am continuing to enjoy it because new bits of information continue to surface both on the history & the engineering sides of the discussion.
Long may it live!
One point made within that discussion was the initial design of the Elan S1 body shell which has really interested me & rather than diversify the Frame/Chassis discussion I thought that a new thread about the development of the Body shell right from its conception would make an enlightening subject for history duffers like myself.
Mention was made of extremely strong S1 bodies that were supposed to be load bearing for all of the major components (suspension?) & that the sheet metal frame/chassis was added to overcome some shortcomings of that design.
I've not had any form of contact with any earlier Elans, my own experience being my one & only 1970 S4.
The S4 does not show any form of structural reinforcement that would provide any form of substantial component support.
The molded in bobbins used to attach it to the frame appear to be the only areas retaining any form of structural strength.
One of my once owned was an Elite Mk14 & that was one of the prototype cars so may have been quite different to those that later went in to production.
Nevertheless the body was what we would call a true monocoque design.
The whole thing was designed/built to carry all of the drive train & suspension components.
Depending on the loading the thickness of the fibreglass changed quite dramatically in order take those loads.
So, were those early Elan bodies really built to take such loads & subsequently altered after the "backbone" chassis had proved its worth?
Cheers
John
-ORIGIN French, from mono- "single" + coque "shell"
Taken from the Oxford compact English dictionary
The Lotus v. Spyder discussion continues & still provides great reading; I for one am continuing to enjoy it because new bits of information continue to surface both on the history & the engineering sides of the discussion.
Long may it live!
One point made within that discussion was the initial design of the Elan S1 body shell which has really interested me & rather than diversify the Frame/Chassis discussion I thought that a new thread about the development of the Body shell right from its conception would make an enlightening subject for history duffers like myself.
Mention was made of extremely strong S1 bodies that were supposed to be load bearing for all of the major components (suspension?) & that the sheet metal frame/chassis was added to overcome some shortcomings of that design.
I've not had any form of contact with any earlier Elans, my own experience being my one & only 1970 S4.
The S4 does not show any form of structural reinforcement that would provide any form of substantial component support.
The molded in bobbins used to attach it to the frame appear to be the only areas retaining any form of structural strength.
One of my once owned was an Elite Mk14 & that was one of the prototype cars so may have been quite different to those that later went in to production.
Nevertheless the body was what we would call a true monocoque design.
The whole thing was designed/built to carry all of the drive train & suspension components.
Depending on the loading the thickness of the fibreglass changed quite dramatically in order take those loads.
So, were those early Elan bodies really built to take such loads & subsequently altered after the "backbone" chassis had proved its worth?
Cheers
John