8081 RT

I have said it before; I really like set 8081. It has so many possibilities for improvement. After talking a look at RM8‘s design, I thought I should do a street version of the 8081 to follow up on the 4×4 8081 I built a while back.

The full gallery can be found here, and free instructions can be found here.

I took the existing bodywork and frame of the 8081, and chopped out the rear suspension unit to revise the rear suspension design. I wanted an independent setup with a differential. As I have used a couple of times before, I used a floating differential design. The differential is attached to the driveline much like a live-axle set up, but is connected to two independently mounted wheel hubs. I have used this before, and I like the way it works. It allows for a driven axle with independent suspension in a very narrow setup. This way each wheel can move independently, but it does not require two universal joints on each side of the differential. Since the differential is not fixed to the chassis, it has to be braced to the driveshaft. While this set-up is not often used in real cars, it works well for LEGO designs. I used the new wheel hubs, and attached them via a short upper arm, and a long lower arm so the camber would change through the suspension travel.

Moving to the front, I kept the V-8 as in my 4×4 8081, and built the rest of the front around the motor. I used a suspension design similar to 8081, where there are two equal length arms holding the steering pivot. A single shock absorber is used for each side. All told, the car is about two studs lower, due to the new suspension, and the new tires.

It is not much of a redesign, but sometimes I need a project that is not a significant, and allows me to just build something simple.

Happy Building.