“DELTA” – THE TOP OF COMPACTIBILITY

Readers of our magazine are probably familiar with the abbreviation TX-200. This was the name of the autotricycle of the original design, created by the most famous Kharkiv resident in the circles of automakers V. Taranukha in collaboration with Candidate of Technical Sciences Ya. Khainovsky. The creative union of theory and practice turned out to be very, very fruitful. Today we introduce readers to one of the most interesting developments of this magnificent design duo – a car-type car, created with the widest use of available and relatively inexpensive units.

The compact minivan “Delta” is an inexpensive, easy-to-use and fairly economical universal-purpose vehicle that can equally well perform the functions of both a city and a tourist vehicle. According to the scheme, the car has a rear engine, while the rear and drive wheels are on the Delta.

The car body is a combined, load-bearing one. Its lower part – from the threshold to the door – has a truss structure: it is welded from steel pipes, so its rigidity and strength are such that it is quite possible to build a body of any design on top of it – closed or open, with a “soft” top or a removable hard roof , metal or even wood.

The lining of the lower part of the body is made of sheet steel 0.6 mm thick. Body panels, as well as doors, are modified or significantly redesigned elements of the bodies of Zhiguli and Zaporozhets cars. Other standard products are also used in the design of the Delta: windshield and rear windows from Zaporozhets, Zhiguli side windows, engine, gearbox and rear suspension from the 965 Zaporozhets, as well as dozens of all sorts of auto little things that are not at all you have to invent it yourself…

To increase passive safety, the spare wheel is located outside, in the front of the car. This also made it possible to slightly increase the volume of the not very capacious trunk. By the way, access to it is not from the outside, like most cars, but from the inside, from inside the car.

As already mentioned, the engine, gearbox with differential and rear suspension were borrowed from the ZAZ-965. The rear wheel discs are from the S3D motorized stroller: they are connected to the “Zaporozhye” brake drums through a spacer – a flat disc 6 mm thick. To do this, six holes are drilled in it for bolts securing the brake drum to the hub, and five holes for attaching split wheel disks; Three grooves were also cut for the heads of the bolts connecting the disks to each other.

The front axle of our car is from an S3D motorized stroller with torsion bar suspension; it is attached to the truss front part of the Delta with four bolts. It should be noted that the track of the motorized stroller is somewhat smaller than that of the Zaporozhets, so the front axle had to be slightly modified – expanded, cutting two sets of transverse pipes of the front axle and connecting them using bushings. Accordingly, to manufacture the torsion bars for the front suspension, four torsion bars from the S3D motorized stroller were required, each of which is cut and fixed in its intended place with a bolt and nut.

In accordance with the widened track, the steering rods had to be lengthened. In addition, the front axle had to be somewhat strengthened using a pair of springs installed so that the standard shock absorbers of the stroller were located inside each of the springs. There is, however, another, no less effective method of strengthening the suspension – using another pair of shock absorbers from a motorcycle or scooter installed parallel to the standard shock absorbers.

The steering mechanism is of the rack and pinion type, also from the S3D motorized stroller. The steering wheel—its shape and location relative to the driver—was chosen for ease of entry and minimal fatigue while traveling, that is, as dictated by ergonomics. To ensure all this, it was necessary to create a broken steering shaft – with a cardan joint in the middle.

The battery is located in the front trunk. The fuel tank is directly behind the rear seat. Next to the tank is a small additional trunk that houses a jack and a set of tools. If necessary, you can also place small luggage in it.

The Delta car is equipped with a full set of instruments and warning lights necessary for safe and precise control of the vehicle. In particular, the instrument panel contains a speedometer, oil pressure and temperature indicators, an ammeter, a fuel level indicator in the tank, as well as high beam and direction indicator lamps.

The front seats are made folding – like on two-door production cars VAZ-2108, Tavria or Zaporozhets, which provides quite convenient access to the rear passenger seat. The interior equipment of the car is standard, including sun visors and a rearview mirror.

V. TARANUKHA, Y. KHAINOVSKY, Kharkiv (Ukraine)