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My Triumph Spitfire 1500
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All coming together nicely:



Caliper on:

Pads in:

Then I took it for it's first drive!

And then I took the little thing to a mate's garage 'cos dad didn't believe I'd done it right:

They found it hilarious - "what size are the wheel nuts?" "Eleven Sixteenths" "Eleven six... I don't even know what that is... is that millimeters?"... "What torque do you want the wheel nuts to?" "48 pounds foot" "riiight..... *walks off*".

Thankfully the boss of the garage did his apprenticeship in an Austin Rover garage; so he knew what he was on about! It needs some welding to the floor and battery box and urgently new tyres at the front (and less urgently ones at the back). LHSR brake (as I suspected) is a bit suspect; needs a new flexi hose and a good going over - but, having said that on the rolling road each rear brake was holding (word?) 100kilos; which is (so I'm told) better than a Pugeout 206! Everything that can hold oil doesn't appear to want to hold it for long; and rather than leave the ramps what the Spitfire wants to do is have a quick burnout session; but Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy

On the way back it was raining; and the little car excelled itself; good wipers, good heater, and it only leaks in one place! (Though I am now taking a "Triumph Towel" with me on journeys!).
Piccies:



And then last night I went to the local TSSC meeting - look where the Spitfire took me too! A pub! Silly thing Rolling Eyes

And it met a MkI GT6; a TR6; a TR5 and a MkIII Spitfire.

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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

my Spark plugs:

Plug Two:

Plug Three:

And of course Plug Four:

And rockers:




Nothing obviously wrong with either... but it's used about 3 pints of oil in 133 miles...
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Rick
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good to see it out and about, don't forget to pump oil into the front trunnions (if you haven't done already that is).

RJ
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
Good to see it out and about, don't forget to pump oil into the front trunnions (if you haven't done already that is).

RJ


Filled them up when I fitted them Smile
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Engine currently in bits Smile
Work done this morning:




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Aar0sc



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hope you don't mind me cramming the last few months into one possibly confusing post? Nope? Good Laughing
Some random photos of the car. Sorting out my "engine issue" on Monday. Blasted thing; I'm getting cheesed off with the whole "It's not working thing". Plus mum insists that I sell it (which would of course be at a rather epic lose right now) and "buy another, better one; and treat this one as 'expirience'"... Not totally sure she gets cars - but then again she had five 2 door MkI Escorts in one year...



Lovely new gearbox mountings are on from Moss too - £9 including postage - local motor place wanted £20!


Aaaaaanyway; it runs; I can get all gears; everything that worked before this happened works now (bar the radio; but that's because it's not fitted Razz ).

So: Bonnet on

Then fill up the radiator and reconnect the headlamps (rather hard as the bloc had rusted pretty much solid Confused ).

Then the gearbox tunnel (easy) piece of carpet (piece of cake) then the radio holding bit (which holds up the dashboard (which has sagged because I drove it thirty feet Rolling Eyes )) which was REALLY HARD (OOOOHHHH MAAATTTRRROOONNNN!!!!!).

But seriously what a of a job. And it ripped the carpet. And only one of the four bolts is actually in at the bottom Rolling Eyes
So I moved onto the grill and underriders - which; inexplicably; is held on with two 7/16ths bolts and two 10mm bolts...

And fitted the numberplate - which is totally straight; and as level as my ride height Laughing


Also; whilst looking (with great anger) at the gearbox a frame thingy I shorted a wire with a spanner; in order to check if my "FASTEN BELT" light works - joy of joys it does! Very Happy

And fitted all the vinyl spongy bits and a seat; then went for a spin

And stopped at the local garage (which was, oddly, open and being run by a rather attractive blonde) to investigate the odd noise I kept getting when I let off the throttle Confused

At this point it also went from running ok above 800rpm to not idling at all; no matter what choke or throttle it was giving it just stutters and doesn't do anything below 1,500rpm; then suddenly picks up and shoots off; so you release the throttle in an attempt to bring it back down again and you're below 1,500rpm and it won't pick up again and tends to stall. Good thing I stole the Toyota's battery or I would have been very stuffed! Laughing
Bit more work done tonight; need to buy some more lights - the one I've got needs to go back to it's owner now he's back from holiday!
Anyway; mild lack of floor here; no flash and underlighting (thanks to light mentioned above) shows it rather well...

Hmm...

So I cunningly hid it with some carpet...

Checked the seats weren't leaking too much.... Laughing

And fitted a passenger seat Very Happy

Then I got some soapy water and some 1200 wet&dry, and set about my paintwork on the rear wings - far, far easier than I expected, a real difference took about five minutes and it feels so, so much better!

Now I'll just need to borrow a mop and some G3 shizzle Very Happy
a cool photo of the Spit smoking, just after it's been turned off:

Anyway, on with the current battle, the original dated as November 1977 rubber flexi hose (which sheds loads of rubber every time I bleed the brakes from that cylinder) I thought would be a quick, easy and sensible job to do. I was wrong. But never mind...
I started by removing the (scored against something) copper hose, and bending a nice shiny new one to the same shape (but kunifer this time Smile ). This went well, and the new one's really shiny ( Very Happy ), and screws on nicely to the new flexi hose:
Spot the difference?

However, at the top of the flexi hose it's connected to a bracket... to which the (original and steel!) metal pipe has rusted itself to both the flexi hose and the bracket... metal hose off (and that needs replacing as it twisted as I undid it... and is also stuck in that little three way union ( Rolling Eyes )), and the flexi hose was stuck on Evil or Very Mad
Cut off the remanents of the rusted on flexi hose flush with the bracket, as suggested by some Triumphers... yet it STILL WON'T BUDGE!!!!

So that's been cut flush on both sides (yey for junior hack saws!), and then drilled through a bit... till I realised you can't get straight into the hole (beaver?) with the shock on. And the shocks were an MoT offense, so I took opportunity to whip them off and replace them with new ones Smile
About my super-cheap shock-absorbers!

The old dampers are the original ones, even down to "Girling" being stamped into the semi-dead rubber bushes! So, out with the old, in with the new - £20 off ebay, including a new set of bushes! (And of course every says they're awful, but: they're really, really cheap, they can't be worse than what's on there, and it's £20 for two instead of £120 for one squeaky koni or whatever (and I know they squeak, at some point someone fitted bright yellow spax or konis to the jag, squeaks over bumps Sad ).

Which pretty much brings you up to now, one shock is on, the bracket needs drilling and the union needs to be removed so that the local classic car garage that opened earlier this year and is in cyclable distance (YEY!) can sort it out Very Happy
Sorry if any of these are sideways, the laptop's on it's way out and under no circumstances am I buying a new one, so it's going to last! STOP OVERHEATING! Thank you!
Anyway, whilst doing that inevitably bad repair to the honda, I whipped off the two rear shocks and popped one new one on Smile
Typical Spitfire pose, couldn't resist! Very Happy

Nice rear

Ready to go on; it's rather tight!

Other side, old one popped off after dad attacked it. Useful occasionally, dad Smile

Spot the difference?

And hooked on Razz

Anyway, nice bit of success today, got the brake union off, along with that little bit of pipe that needs replacing... and a slightly longer bit of pipe that also needs replacing!
Lovely union.... Confused

Cruddy little clip... need to get some more!

Might end up replacing this aswell Sad

New union's different! feck Sad

Drilled through the bracket, didn't thing it was going to work, then spotted a little wiggle in it - stop drilling, whipped out the hammer and out it came!

Then more good news came when the shock absorber slipped on and everything was good! Very Happy

Check it out! Look what £20 gets you Very Happy

Also saw a 1938 Bently whilst there Smile
All on; tightened and clipped up Very Happy

Slightly worried about how well the long brake line is held onto the chassis; it looks secure but I don't trust it!
Brakes all bled; no leaks, nice, clean fluid coming out, full of DOT 4. Firm pedal too Smile

Found a few (unused) clips fitted to the other chassis rail; I assume for the US market; so I popped them off and I'll fit them too for a bit of reassurance! Will also top up the waxoyl levels into the hole the clip came out of :p
I've been given a brand new set of carpets, so that's ready to fit (yey for the TSSC and it's lovely members! Very Happy ) at some stage, after a good clean (they've come out of a car he was scrapping; that had been fitted with £250 worth of carpets for no apparent reason!). Welding should happen wednesday/thursday; hardtop needs to go on too Smile
asher pump fitted up, big thanks for that! Very Happy

Just kind of casually fitted the Spit's ancient battery to the Toyota; hopefully this will work as it's used everyday? Laughing

So the correct speaker wires are plugged in now... and the random one next to it is removed Smile Everything looks original behind; so I shalln't touch it Laughing

And then I sorted out the carpet at the back; some previous owner had glued (badly) some new, non-moulded carpet behind the original, molded carpet (and presumably lost the bit of carpet that goes on the shelf too); so I carefully ripped that out; then put the (free and lovely) bit of carpet over the shelf; carfully tucking in my floor carpet; then I fitted the back panel (with the properly wired speakers) and screwed it all down Very Happy

And the spare wire for the third speaker; so now my radio is stereo instead of mono but with the wires for stereo :shrug: (Note also my working radio! Very Happy )

So the brakes on the passenger side were clunking; having checked the whole thing over (all fine and pretty new) I decided that it might be the ancient and crumbly flexi hose... which, as ever, took far longer than it should have Rolling Eyes Having finally undone it at the bottom; I decided this was definitely a good idea - loads of crumbly rubber came out Confused And the copper hose from the flexi to the slave cylinder has been worn against; so I'll replace that too. And, even better (lol Crying or Very sad ) the steel pipe from the three way joint to the flexi is not only really rusty but, worse than that; the whole pipe twisted one whole turn, instead of just the connection!

So the car currently looks like this:

So, since I finally worked out where it was; I topped up the diff with EP90 - took about 500ml (might explain it's noise!) and painted the top up thing white to make it more obvious Laughing

Got some tax ( Very Happy ), tried to fit the hardtop, failed repeatedly, put the soft top back on, and went for a drive Smile

Sadly I think I've lost the trust I had in it, it's incredibly hesitant between 1000rpm and 2000rpm, to the point that, when I pulled out in front of a truck earlier (it was about 700 yards away) and put my foot down, I got absolutely nothing, for about four seconds, and had to slip the clutch, build up the revs and let it out again to go anywhere! (Which was scary!).

Back home, after some very sidewaysiness due to leaves/Spitfire's shear pooowwwwwaaaa, I set about giving it a damned good tune. First I set the timing with this Neon timing lamp.

Not very good, you can't actually see it, I turned off all the lights and then could see anything! Laughing
Next up with the Gunson ColourTune:

Started off looking too rich:

Ended up with all four like this:

Smile Sadly, whilst I was fine tuning the rear carb the revs suddenly jumped to 5000rpm! ARGH! turned it off pronto, looked at all the connections - nothing jammed, so I started up again - straight to 5000! ARGH! Air filters off, disconnected the throttle linkages, wound the jet screws right up to the stop, marked the flat that faced me, then wound them down two and a half turns (factory settings). Started it up, fine again... So I dunno what happened, and I don't know how I fixed it, but it was blooming scary - rang Mark for advice, he reckoned I'd dislodged some crap in the jet?

Balanced the carbs again with a piece of washer tubing, then came inside, as I didn't really feel I was getting anywhere.

Also this kept happening:

AH! Sad

So, I left the story with my oil lamp on, brightly, at 1,200rpm... This probably isn't good!

First off I swap the valve and switch: so on the left is the old engine's valve, and on the right is the current engine's valve. The current engine's has a twisted and stretched spring, the old doesn't - but the old one's plunger is dirty, and the shaft is scored by the spring. Is that a problem? Could I swap plungers and pop the old spring and plug with the new plunger in?


The switches:

Left is new engine, right is old engine. The new engine's one is clearly older - or at least more bashed about!
Right, I'll pop the oil pressure gauge in the glove box and fit it properly in the future Razz

How tight should I do that up?
Face of plunger is lovely, so that's all fitted now:


Well, that's my oil pressure back! Ignition on, oil lamp comes on. Crank it and it flickers, and as the engine catches it goes out. Pressure gauge showing a steady 20-30psi. (Picture below to prove this Smile ). Driving about it springs up to 50psi, above 2krpm it's 60, above 3.5krpm about 70. I believe it was, therefore, the pressure switch!

Still, however, no power from 1000rpm to 1,500rpm, foot to the floor and there's just nothing! (Better than the 1000rpm flat spot it had before though!).

Local garage had some lovely motors in, on the right is a MASSIVE Chevy Very Happy


Next was to fit my hard top:
Peeled it off:

And popped on the hard one!


Doesn't fit very well... so I shall bumble off (slowly) to my mate with a selection of tools and knowledge and sort it out (and replace a fuel line at the same time). Then it's all systems go for Brooklands! Very Happy (This is a pre '53 Spitfire, in case you were wondering Laughing ).
fitted the hard top to my car; went down to James' and spent about two hours trying various positions and bolts until we finally hit on the idea of slicing the heads off two bolts and using them as studs, loctited into the hard top first, then slid through the windscreen frame and bolted up underneath. Then found we couldn't fit it at the rear (James decided at this point that the hardtop had never really been on this car, and that the previous owner had been lying Razz ), so, with use of a screwdriver and some more random bolts we shackled it down!

Results: it's so much quieter, I thought the engine was off! (not really, I knew it was on, but it's still masses quieter). It doesn't leak. At all, which is pretty amazing. It looks pretty good, it demists quickly and has noticeably tautened the car. Downsides: not a massive amount of headroom, the headlining's ripped, I found what I though was a dead wasp, but turned out to be quite lively kipping on my B-pillar (Whoop! Never had one before! Laughing ).

Pictures:

All this rain, and none got in the car (except for when I opened the door and rain rained in Razz )! ("arty" shot...)

In Haslemere, showing up all the other cars in the tattyness stakes whilst I got a key cut and a battery for my film camera Smile
Here's the window gap for the passenger... Weird, because the soft top seals best with this door!

Fitting the hardtop confusingly made the suspension 4x4 style Laughing (settled down later).

In Grayshott Smile


Then it was time to sort out my squeaky brakes:

Left up first, pads out, pushed the pistons back in, sanded the pad surface, ripped off the useless anti squeal stickers (don't recommend them, they came with these pads, but they'd become all wrinkled and useless Sad ), cleaned the caliper and disk, gave the metal anti-squeal shims a clean, and coated them and the backs of the pads with copper slip, and slid everything back in and clipped it up. Wheel on, car down, torque it up, onto the other side!


And with that done I went off to buy four pints of T.E.A. Smile

No squeaking, fab break pedal too, firm and responsive Smile (Although of course it took three pumps at first, with the pads miles away from the disk as I'd pushed the pistons in!).

Car behaved perfectly on the way up to and back from Brooklands, I've done 150 miles in the past week, 80 at the weekend, with about 70 of those on the A3 at 70ishmph. Biggest problem was my radio breaking! After all my playing with it's wires to get it to work it's face has fallen off and won't go back on! Stupid thing Sad
If anyone has or spots a reasonably cheap and old looking one that'll fit I'd love it, the current one was SO 2004 anyway Laughing
Well; the piano's been a bit off sounding recently, so, utilising my 3/8ths ratchet and a smallish socket, I set about... wait, I mean:

The Spitfire's been running pretty dreadfully recently, mainly because the carbs are HS4s, not the HS2s a 1300 normally has, and they're set up for a 1500, not a 1300. So, utilising MintyLamb (http://www.mintylamb.co.uk/?page=sutune.htm) I set about it. This required me to warm the car up, so I pootled up the lane, then back down, pulled into the garage and did all the stuff with the linkages, the idle rates, pieces of rubber tubing etc. Then, after checking it all again, I went up the lane to see if I'd made a difference - much improved. However, as I came back down the lane, a balding bloke was standing at the side of the road, staring and pointing at the front of my car - I stopped, and asked "Has something fallen off?"
Him: "This is a private road you know"
"yes, I know..."
"Do you live here?"
"Yes"
"Well then you'll know that there are walkers and dogs here"
"Yes...?"
"Well you can't use it as a race track! Use the A3!"
"I'm hardly racing, I've not done more than 20mph - I've just finished tuning it (engine cut out at this point, as if to emphasis it Razz ) and I wanted to check it'd worked"
"Don't try it with me sonny. I've got an Aston Martin, I know what speed's like"
"Then you'll know that this car isn't exactly speedy?"
Bitter look from the bloke.

Me: "Sorry then", started up and drove off...


Hmph. Lovely people down my lane. Same bloke asked similar questions to dad - the Toyota clearly isn't the kind of car for this area? Laughing




On a different note, here are some photos of it being very waterproof (I'm being serious, it's more waterproof than the two local GT6s!) in a rainy windy Haslemere Smile


Aaron Very Happy
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Last edited by Aar0sc on Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Rick
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cracking update Smile Smile reading that brings it all back I tell yee!

I agree about the improvement with fitting a hardtop, it transformed my Spits (as did the folding rollover bar I had in the red one) and, on the Mk3 at least, I thought it looked at its best with the tin lid in place (but I missed going open-top so it rarely stayed on for long).

RJ
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
Cracking update Smile Smile reading that brings it all back I tell yee!

I agree about the improvement with fitting a hardtop, it transformed my Spits (as did the folding rollover bar I had in the red one) and, on the Mk3 at least, I thought it looked at its best with the tin lid in place (but I missed going open-top so it rarely stayed on for long).

RJ


It's rather short don't you think? Just given the TSSC an even longer one Laughing

It's staying a tin top until the end of February I think Smile
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Plugged in a dwell meter, jumped to 52 degrees - perfect! Smile
Haven't needed to do much tinkering with it since then, I've been driving it round without much issue. It feels like it's beginning to bed-in; I'm pretty sure every time I drive it it's got a bit more power! Welding is booked for this Saturday with my mate Chris, whether the panels I've ordered will have actually arrived by then is another matter...
Alternator began failing on the way back from Brooklands, did a few trips with it gone (no charging below 2,500rpm), topping up the battery when it was in the garage, then took the jump and bought a new one for £38.

It wasn't without difficulties...

That's my fault, as I fitted the old alternator to the engine before I fitted the radiator/bonnet etc, and didn't think it through!
Also, whilst going from this:

to this:

The lumpy fan thing slipped off the woodruff key. Couldn't really see a way of preventing that, so I held the pulley tight with an old fan belt and did it up that way!

I also scanned this for you chaps:

Second mag I've been in (third article for the TSSC has just gone off to print and will be out in March Smile ).

Also took a certain girl in my car for the first time, apparently it's cute...


Hmph!

Cute?

Bah, it's a scary sportscar... Laughing
Spitfire Vs Snow!

Definitely meant to park there. Didn't slide back towards a teacher's car...

Made a bit of progress with the battery tray, not too much, couldn't get the drill bit in enough. Will continue next week!

Helpfully tried to jump start that Land Rover. Gave up when I saw it's battery and just lent my jump leads!

Photos of cars in snow please!

These were taken at about 4am this morning, I'd been on a night exercise that got cancelled for safety reasons... Rolling Eyes

And this morning Smile
I cleared all the snow off the car, none got in and it was completely dry inside - result! Very Happy



Sequence above shows how to clear snow from your screen...
Wipers became stuck!

Cleared all the remaining snow off Smile
Woke up this morning to both a smashing headache and this:


(Alright, fine, it looks cute Razz ).

Once again, cleared all the snow off it, had a lovely lunch (isn't nice when you have a whole school with hardly anyone at it!) then set off home in it. Big slide out of it's parked spot. In fact, the whole journey was mainly large slides and loud noise!

Filled Charlie's mini with fuel... which I then had to pay for, as he hadn't brought any money!

Jaunty angle, party because I got there from a large slide, partly because Charlie hit the side of my car! Evil or Very Mad

Bad Spitfire!
It did this:

Naughty thing... Laughing

Done a bit more mileage in it, it's loosened it's fan belt, so that'll need tightening. Currently sorting out getting my floor pan, it's up in High Wycombe... Dick and I made up a list of what needs to be done but isn't too urgent, and at some point I'll order some parts so I can sort out the rear wheel bearing that was an MoT thing last year, and the rear tie rods. The steering column is (slightly worryingly) not clamped into the rack, it's just sitting there, which is why my steering wheel moves in and out! Dick gave me a bolt to sort that out. We decided that the shoddy welding and crumpled bulkhead all stem from the same crash, which was repaired quite well on the bonnet... :shrug: Other things we spotted were that the lead from starter motor to solenoid is coming apart quite badly, so we made a new one up, and that the positive battery lead is too short and is beginning to fray. So I'll get a new one of those. He's currently replacing the drop links on his anti-roll bar - and decided that his old ones were miles better than my original ones, so I've got those to fit as well!
Slight rust seeping through on the passenger side rear wheel arch, the paint's chipped off along most of it and it's coming though. I think I might just smear it with vaseline and leave it until we repaint the rear!
I think I've mastered the art of double-de-clutching, I do it for every change now, it's much quicker than waiting for the synchro to catch up!
I got lots of thumbs up as I burbled through Emsworth, it has a silly one way system and I had to use the Spitfire's famously small turning circle several times, much to the delight of onlookers! Razz Emsworth also has lots of built up brick buildings, close together.... This exhaust has quite a lovely rasp! (Plus the backfires have returned slightly, if you let off at 5,000 there's a nice crack! Razz ).
Bonnet stay on the right way round... means it doesn't shut...

However, I did fit a new lead:

And smeared my rear wheel arch in vaseline Smile
Also tested my spare coils, both work ( Smile ), so I'm going to mount one above the other, so I can do quick changes if one breaks Smile



Downsides are this:

Fitted less than a month ago, and no reply from the company Sad
Anyway, to keep you updated, the Spitfire got to the Goodwood Breakfast Club two weeks ago. However, it then suddenly gained a nasty missfire, high in the rev range (3000rpm + ). Having changed the coil, checked the plugs, changed the fuel pump and tinkered with the carbs it now starts missing at 3750rpm... although earlier if one's heading uphill... Any ideas?
Being given stuff now:


Very Happy

Spitfire is suffering from a nasty missfire above 3000rpm, goes away if I pull the choke out so I think it's fuel related. Indicated 150miles in the past three days, although it's now in the garage and will be for a week or so as I'm not going to need it (Naawww poor thing!). Happened after it got soaked at Goodwood though, so I'm not certain.

Exhaust suggests it's running rich:

But that could be use of the choke.

And this looks like a leak?

New gasket fitted to the float chamber, checked the valve and that all good Smile
Tighted up the pipe from the float to the carb, as that was leaking. Leak's gone, backfire's still there Sad

New coil:

Old filter:

New filter:


Well, having met Land Rover Man's air gun, the new alternator has lost it's pulley, which is now on the old one, which is back on the car. Much, much tighter fit, and I did it up nice and tight. For the first mile or two the ignition light was off... by the time I was home again (about 10 miles) it was only off above 3,000rpm. Something odd there... But this old one will have to do for now!
Now the new alternator's arrived, Landy Man helped switch the pulleys again and I now have a fully functioning alternator once more! Very Happy (Fitted at the side of the road at about 6:30 two weeks ago Laughing ). Fitted an extra washer (thick one) so that it was on very tight Very Happy

The Spitfire having definitely NOT been silly in an echoy multi-storey car park... :B

And there's a rather dissembled 1500 engine from Tim. Smile

Wondering where the spare wheel's gone?
It's here!



And the engine didn't weigh me down at all...

I put mine up on ramps for the first time:

Bled the brakes, as I thought there were bubbles in the front right caliper (bleed screw was weeping, new copper washer should've sorted it). Brakes are fantastic, locked up at 70 without trouble - don't know why people fit servos?! (Although I drove a girl's Kia Rio last week... and did a full on emergency stop by accident because the brakes were so assisted!).

I think it looks rather cool like that Smile

Dappled sunlight Smile

Organised my engine collection... and now have a sore back Sad

Sits dammed low this thing, I'm amazed I've never caught it on a speed bump!

And of course I now have two cylinder heads Smile

And that should keep you going for a while! Very Happy
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alan 869



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 388
Location: Linköping Sweden

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2012 6:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great thread Very Happy Wish my sons were as enthusiastic as you Wink

Couple of tips for the future. Never use a ratchet on a bolt that is on solid. Ratchets aren´t really built for that. Get a decent arm and put the socket on the end. Solid and good leverage. 50/50% mix with diesel and motor oil will shift most things leave it for a day. When it starts to move, do it up and undo it back and forth (cleaning the thread) often the thread can be salvaged. Lots of WD40 or the like to -wash- all the rust away from the thread.

I always fancied a Spit. Never had the money so it was a MkII Cortina or a 1600 Vitesse with oil rings that could duplicate the smoke screen that HMS Hood was able to produce Very Happy Now got a Stag (but not 17, in my dotage....lifes cruel Wink )
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2012 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alan 869 wrote:
Great thread Very Happy Wish my sons were as enthusiastic as you Wink

Couple of tips for the future. Never use a ratchet on a bolt that is on solid. Ratchets aren´t really built for that. Get a decent arm and put the socket on the end. Solid and good leverage. 50/50% mix with diesel and motor oil will shift most things leave it for a day. When it starts to move, do it up and undo it back and forth (cleaning the thread) often the thread can be salvaged. Lots of WD40 or the like to -wash- all the rust away from the thread.

I always fancied a Spit. Never had the money so it was a MkII Cortina or a 1600 Vitesse with oil rings that could duplicate the smoke screen that HMS Hood was able to produce Very Happy Now got a Stag (but not 17, in my dotage....lifes cruel Wink )


Hahaha get them into old cars! It's great! Very Happy

I've now got an arm thing so I won't have to knacker a ratchet again Smile

I'm 18 now, so Razz

Fancy an update anyone? Not much to say mechanically, the car's been fantastic most of the time Smile
Well on Monday I'm heading to Andover for the Wyke Down car show and Autojumble, so I'm on the hunt for two HS4s Very Happy
I attempted to get to Wheels Day yesterday... However, I'd barely left Haslemere when the temperature was rocketing upwards and the heater was blowing cold... pulled over, couldn't see anything obvious, and drove, very gingerly, home. Rang a Triumpher and decided it was the waterpump... this was confirmed when I started it up and saw water pouring out of it! (It has been tinkling for a few months now, but no obvious problems till now). So I swapped for my spare.
Here's my car at home this morning:

Rad out, then water pump off etc, as it was pouring out water and caused me to overheat for the first time this morning. Swapped it for my spare that Tim gave me. Found this a tad odd:

SOLID crud?!?

Didn't work though, drove 3 miles to my mates house, praying as I went up their road for the gauge to recede and as I got onto their drive something blew and sprayed steam and water everywhere Sad


Eventually snuck back after a few hours at James's, full of water and with everything nipped up, heater on full and I coasted half a mile with the engine off (down his road), and it got to 1/2 way up the gauge...

Damned car, it's normally very good at becoming repaired!
New pump in:

New gasket being made:

And finished off:


Tested it by heading for the hills and nailing it, no signs of overheating and no leaks! Success! Very Happy
This is what £34 gets you!

Two fronts are now a matching pair, I asked whether I should get the rears too, but they said they'd easily do another year - unlike the fronts, which at a minimum of 20 years old (second hand in '92) had slightly had it. Definitely worth the money, there's so much more grip - first few roundabouts back I pushed - and then pushed a little more, at speeds where before I'd get grumbly understeer, it just grips! Push a little harder and the back murmurs, but the front stays rock solid! Great in the rain too, whereas before they were even slidier!
Balanced, new valves etc, so I can heartily recommend, WG Tyres in Billingshurst Very Happy

And the nasty, cracking, gripless old ones:

At MoT station:


Advisories were that:
Oil leak,
Diff oil leak,
Anti-roll bar drop links worn (I've got new ones to go on),
Underside is beginning to corrode (Tell me about it!)
TRE (the one that I replaced not very long ago Sad ) has play in.
Both front wheel bearings have play in (one does, one doesn't...).
So tomorrow is the TSSC New Forest Run, which I've never done before but sounds like a laugh. Seeing as it's been lovely weather the past few days (except for when it's been raining/hailing) I decided it was time to go topless... So here goes!
Step one: remove the four bolts that hold the hardtop to the car, and lift it off.


Then put the soft top frame on and bolt it loosely onto the car, so that it can be wiggled about to get the fit right.

Raise the frame, putting the vinyl over the top, so you can check all the joints.

Then pull the vinyl back over the frame, line up the seams, then release the front of the roof, lift it slightly, and bolt down the back of the roof. Shake it so it's centred, then do up everything tight.

Do the poppers up, check it fits. Then lower it, and fold it (properly, Alex Backhouse!), and put the cover on it:

And finally, wonder why Triumph gave you useful elastic straps to hold the hood back, but never fitted any poppers in the car for them to hold on to...


And after that, your car should look like this!


(Or possibly slightly shinier if your car isn't quite as tatty as mine!)
Remember my oil pressure gauge that rolls about in my glovebox? Well I've decided to sort that out:

Took off my knobs, removed my central dash and then got the side bit off:

Having got the middle off I got a marker pen and drew round the back on the wood, showing where there was a circle in the metal for a dial already, then back to James to borrow a circle cutting majig (which will do 56mm and 48, I think I really want 52?). Hardest bit was getting my (non-functional) cigarette lighter off! Any tips for not ruining the finish on the front of the dash?




Onto my gauge fitting; I popped round to a local Triumpher who has a rather usefully fitted out workshop. He got a centre-finder (Piece of perspex with a hole in the middle circles going out from that), and stamped the centre. Then I drilled a small pilot hole through that. Next up, we measured the diameter of the dial, and set a cutter to half that, popped it in the drill, and tried it on the rear. Measured it again, it was correct, so we switched to the front and got going:

Went halfway on both sides, and it popped out Smile

Paul then got out a Dremel-style tool, which he mounted onto a little jig he'd built. He set that so it would cut 2.5mm off the edge, so that the dial was countersunk (as the standard Spitfire ones are). Having done that, I refitted all the gubbins that hold the dash wood to the dash itself, and fitted the dial:

Looks pretty good eh? Very Happy
Hooked the gauge up, did a bit of soldering (and removed two of my fingerprints in doing so by fantastically stupidly picking it up from the hot bit!), and it now lights up with all the others! Annoying it's dimmer than they are and isn't green, but nevermind.


And you can see it from the driver's seat!


And I took it for a test drive, so here, at idle, temp bang on, 3/4s of a tank, 50psi oil pressure. Oh, and it was tipping it down, the new tyres on the front make a massive difference! Very Happy


My drive it day started at about 4pm, pootled out, heading for school. Saw very little, so dumped all my stuff at school and headed for my mate's house, so we went for a drive, for about an hour (didn't appear to use any fuel though...!), round Midhurst, up to Goodwood, along the lavant straight (great video of me beaning along there! Very Happy ), then back via all the back roads to his house again. Fab fun, the Spitfire really howls when you go for it, and I even diced about with a Porsche Carrera (who gave me a big thumbs up and flash of the hazards as he overtook me!). Aidan discovered that I've somehow mended my cigarette lighter, so I bought (for £4) a fag lighter to USB thing, which I tested this afternoon with great success. I was just parking the Spitfire up in my mate's mum's garage (oo eer if you must), and I put the roof up, then the windows (She'd very kindly offered to store it since it was raining and she has a bit of a thing for Triumphs!). I wound the driver's window up... it slipped down, so I tried to support it as I wound it up... and lifted it clear of the door! ARgh! That's not meant to happen! Tried to get it back in, but it's clearly missing something, it won't wind up any more than half and sticks out at a funny angle!


And my dash:


Oo, nearly forgot, on the way home today I went through what turned out to be a massive and very deep puddle, completely covered the road, so I gingerly approached, and went though.... MUCH deeper than I expected! Got a wave about twice the height of the car off the front right wheel, the engine started spluttered, so I slipped the clutch a tad to keep the revs up. As I left the puddle the alternator light was flashing on and off, and the engine died... Pulled over, bonnet up - soaked through! Water was pooled in the cut outs in the inlet manifold! Looks like I need those splash guards then! Dried out the distributor, tightened up the alternator, and tried to fire up - got going after a bit of cranking, and after a few miles it was back to normal Smile

Aaron
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alan 869



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 388
Location: Linköping Sweden

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2012 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fantastic stuff. You should write for Practical Classics Very Happy All these small mishaps are actually really good as you get to know the car inside and out. The chain has probably come off the bottom of the window or something else has loosened. Strip the door down and renovate the inside. Do the same on the other door while it´s still fresh in your memory and before it comes apart when you are off the beaten track in the pouring rain. I did a similar -running war- with the one I had in the 70s. It was a Vitesse 1600 though. I won most of the battles but in the end it won the war Laughing

Get the underneath done pronto. Undereal then a mixture of linseed oil and engine oil sprayed into all corners etc (keeps everything -moist- as it were Wink
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2012 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alan 869 wrote:
Fantastic stuff. You should write for Practical Classics Very Happy All these small mishaps are actually really good as you get to know the car inside and out. The chain has probably come off the bottom of the window or something else has loosened. Strip the door down and renovate the inside. Do the same on the other door while it´s still fresh in your memory and before it comes apart when you are off the beaten track in the pouring rain. I did a similar -running war- with the one I had in the 70s. It was a Vitesse 1600 though. I won most of the battles but in the end it won the war Laughing

Get the underneath done pronto. Undereal then a mixture of linseed oil and engine oil sprayed into all corners etc (keeps everything -moist- as it were Wink


Haha cheers! Very Happy
And I did e-mail Danny Hopkins last year and offer to, but, whilst I got a nice reply from him, it basically said wait until you have a degree in journalism... Not planning on getting one (Although I do have an A* in English at GCSE Razz ).
I agree about getting to know the car, there's not much I haven't done on it now! Already becoming the person-to-ask at school if someone's motor breaks down! I'm planning on sorting both windows, the passenger side one doesn't wind all the way down and it looks silly when the hood's down! Last year I undersealed most of it, in the summer (and before any of the long trips I've got planned for it) I'll do it all again Smile
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2012 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alan 869 wrote:
Fantastic stuff. You should write for Practical Classics Very Happy All these small mishaps are actually really good as you get to know the car inside and out. The chain has probably come off the bottom of the window or something else has loosened. Strip the door down and renovate the inside. Do the same on the other door while it´s still fresh in your memory and before it comes apart when you are off the beaten track in the pouring rain. I did a similar -running war- with the one I had in the 70s. It was a Vitesse 1600 though. I won most of the battles but in the end it won the war Laughing

Get the underneath done pronto. Undereal then a mixture of linseed oil and engine oil sprayed into all corners etc (keeps everything -moist- as it were Wink


Haha cheers! Very Happy
And I did e-mail Danny Hopkins last year and offer to, but, whilst I got a nice reply from him, it basically said wait until you have a degree in journalism... Not planning on getting one (Although I do have an A* in English at GCSE Razz ).
I agree about getting to know the car, there's not much I haven't done on it now! Already becoming the person-to-ask at school if someone's motor breaks down! I'm planning on sorting both windows, the passenger side one doesn't wind all the way down and it looks silly when the hood's down! Last year I undersealed most of it, in the summer (and before any of the long trips I've got planned for it) I'll do it all again Smile
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alan 869



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 388
Location: Linköping Sweden

PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know my Volvo PV from 1956 inside out (because I´ve had it inside out Rolling Eyes Laughing ) Nice to know that what ever happens you can usually fix it quite easily yourself. Can´t do that on a modern car. I think that of the cars I have, the Volvo 144 is the most -do it yourself- friendly. Bog standard B18 four pot with 75 hp. Very simple 12 volt (the PV is 6). Everything very simple and it´s only done 50 thou. If I were you I would keep the Spit till they stop selling petrol (and then get it converted Wink )
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