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My Triumph Spitfire 1500
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been in various different places doing various different courses! Here's a smash-together of everything that's happened recently...

The car took my mate Aidan and I up to Silverstone for the Classic, one break down when a low-tension cable came off over some cobbles! Still very much in love with the car, although other people are now contesting for it! Anyway, let's start back in June....
Poor Spitfire got smacked by an escaped wheel trim earlier, I was coming back from applying for a job at Vintage Bentley, and it floated off a Vauxhall and smacked my spoiler and then got crushed by my wheel. Scratched it too Sad

Just glad it didn't flick up and get the screen though!


Then July, end of school, exams over... and the Spitfire was still being loud and obnoxious, annoying the teachers!
Spitfire's still just getting used and abused, it's hilariously dusty after sitting in the car park for a week! Still, it's been photogenic:


Whoops, how'd I leave it there...?

Whilst still very much at school and not buying alcohol...

And with Charlie's mini.

And then, since nothing broke down or needed mending, this brings up right up to now - or rather, last Sunday, when the Spitfire was at Goodwood for the Revival.
On Sunday night, after Goodwood, a female friend/accomplice slammed the passenger door of the Spitfire onto the seatbelt. I berated her for this as it almost always traps the door shut - this time though, I couldn't open it at all, so I went inside to push, so as not to put too much strain on the handle. It opened up, I moved the seatbelt out the way and shut it - then realised I couldn't open it from the outside any more! Bit of dissection of the door and we find the problem - she's snapped my rod!




There's a plastic rod that goes from the handle into the lock, and the end of it's snapped and hence doesn't pull out the way to open the lock or get out the way of the key to unlock it.


It has had the advantage of mending the window, it previously didn't go all the way down, now, inexplicably, it does!
Handle all fitted, swapped the barrels over so it works on me key. This was a largely pointless exercise, as it still works on a different key to the ignition and driver's door, but I've never done it before so I thought "why not?" Smile I then put it all back together, having cleaned all the crap off the locking mechanism, and tested it - lovely smooth action compared to before, there's also a lot more paint on this one! When I put all the trim back on though, the window went back to it's old ways... turns out the screw holding on the chrome surround to the remote control was about 1/4" too long, so I cut it down and sanded the burrs off. Works a treat! Now just need to get the blooming window winder on, which is held on by lots of springs Rolling Eyes




So yes, that's you updated again, not much to this update!

Tally ho!


Aaron
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Embarassed
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Overheating was sorted with a new thermostat. Possibly hurt the head gasket, not yet sure, he's been off the road since April :'(
So back in April I did this:

Leaving me with this:

Which is now like this:

I hadn't planned to take the old springs apart, but of course I hadn't counted on the fact that you need the little cap from the top of the old one to hold the new one in place!

Ah. The passenger side has been touched before, with all the careful work of a pissed Jeremy Clarkson trying to attach a wingmirror to a car belonging to Richard Hammond.... Random studs snapped short, no washers, lots of bolts pre-rounded. Already hacksawed through the anti-roll bar droplink:

New hacksaw that I found in the garage, took no time at all! (Or the metal's actually cheese, who knows?)
Had the usual can't-get-a-bolt-out problem, last time was with the water pump, where the bolt hit the radiator before it actually came out:

Grrr!

In better news, my local Volvo garage pressed out the old bush and pressed in the new free for me, so one of four done on the driver's side! And yes, Stephen, they're the ones with the 571bhp 850 Razz

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm polybush Wink
Got the off. Hacksawed off that bolt. Shopping list for bolts is increasing!
In good news I found I have already got another cap for the spring on the passenger side, so I needn't worry about the snapped stud on that side. I also have spare upper wishbones, but ones from a crash, as one is shaped correctly and one is... bendly!

The car would make a great crime scene investigation practice Razz
I got angry, and borrowed my mate James's angle grinder. I'd forgotten how much fun they are! (I also forgot ear defence for the first cut!)



Sliced off the wishbone, then sliced through the bolt holding it there... now need to ring Canley's with a rather large order!!!



So, I got back from Arduous training, spent a lot of time with my girlfriend (it was her birthday on Wednesday, and on Thursday we went to see The Phantom of the Opera), then working at an engineering company the rest of the time. But finally got some spare time, and discovered this:

Got angry, bought an angle grinder:

Caused this!

Happy Aaron now!
There's a bolt head left in that I can't get out though, it's flush with the bracket and refuses to be knocked out, and the bolts holding in the upper wishbones don't budge even with a lot of bashing from a reasonably large mallet...
I did buy two more new tyres though:

And this was my easter egg:

It's a Porche (2002ish, gooey eyes) at the front, MR2 at the back, but it's tasty!
Got the Driver's side lower wishbone in, had to lower the car down on the jack, with the arm on a piece of wood so it was forced in!! Driver's side all done:


And I'll tighten the wishbones to specified torque when she's back on the ground:


I think I will have to take off that lower bracket, in order to remove the bolt head, and knowing this car there won't be much stud left... Sad
Worried that the bracket would be made of rust, rust and rust, I delayed taking it off until I had no choice, and then discovered it was absolutely lovely!

My mate James (www.jamesewing.co.uk) has it and is going to remove the head of the bolt, which refused to come out even with serious persuasion! Should have it all back together by tomorrow afternoon, then I'll fill it with petrol and it should be good for Sunday!

That's lower than I expected...!

Spitfire all tucked away whilst I'm in the States, sorned and sans-MoT.
Having got back from the USA, Canada, Wales, Spain and Wales again, I have actually finished it now!
First off I fitted the correct length bolt to the front of the passenger side lower wish bone, as the one I'd put in to hold it didn't grip the nyloc. This of course, wasn't easy, much as it should have been. Due to the lack of ride height it now possesses, I had to raise the car on the scissor jack from another car, then onto my trolley jack. Then wheel off, and jimmy about with the blasted thing, because of course the wishbone wanted to drop out again! So, back with that exact same piece of wood, and bolt in, with copper grease. Start doing it up, realise it's the wrong one AGAIN. Punch self in face, take it out, get that same piece of wood, jiggle it about, compare the bolts to make sure you've got the right one, put some copper grease on it, in it goes, with a little difficulty, tighten it up, job done.
Except of course it wasn't, the anti roll bar wasn't connected to it's drop links. Now, to get these off, I just undid them. Of course, assuming that they'd just go back on again was a bad choice, long story short the whole anti roll bar had to come off in order to connect it to the drop links, and then the drop links to the wish bones, then the anti roll bar back onto the chassis. Fun. Wheels back on... again, tighten up stuff, and clear some space to get it outside!

My mate James came round to talk about welding the floor up, you know, the hole in the floor from last summer? Or the one before that?! Anyway, we reckoned it'd pass an MoT as it is, and when he's got some spare time I'll take out the seat, glove box, carpets, gearbox tunnel and remove the door ready for some new floor and a new battery box. He also convinced me to take off the hard top, as he reckoned doing the floor wouldn't cause it to flop. Or rather, shouldn't... So I whipped off the hard top, and put on the hood! After a few laps of the drive, I decided the brakes, clutch, and the gearbox (or at least 1st and reverse) all worked just as well as before, although the clutch has a slight "kick" to it.

And there we go! I'll torque up the few bolts I didn't tomorrow, as well as the wheels, and if I'm feeling particularly brave I'll bleed the clutch, but I may as well leave that until I have the tunnel off for welding (I'll also fit my JoshWard-ed radio then).

Still unsure about insurance :/

...

Insured, with Adrian Flux, for £596, 3000 miles, fully comp, EU Breakdown Cover, the full monty, wonderful customer service too!
Downside, he failed his MoT this morning, stupidly I went to a local garage, not my usual one, as there were busy until next week - things that passed last year failed this year in identical condition, only one I can really accept is the hole in the floor, which is within 30cm of a body mounting point, something neither I nor last year's MOT-er noticed!

I've ordered a new top ball joint, that should be with me either tomorrow or Monday, steering pinch bolt too, headlamp alignment I can do myself, seat belt, I'll have to have it re-webbed, and then James (who has been mysteriously uncontactable all day) will have to weld him up, if it'll fit in with him (was going to happen in a few weeks time).
Picking up two seatbelts next week (I was doing anyway, it just means two more weeks without my car!), having them re-webbed then I'll fit them. New top ball joint's here, and I've painted up a new wishbone to replace one I didn't like. Headlamps alignment, I have raised it, but I'm fairly sure it'll change after a bump or two!!
Welding, again, a week before James isn't busy, and the steering pinch bolt is a nothing job that shouldn't take long.

Flash photography makes my car look bad, ignore how bad it looks, it's flash photography, it makes it look bad.


The bolt holding the steering column onto the steering rack was a fail, because it is loose. However, I can't budge it either way...


Everything's out, the gearbox is topped up, I need to bleed the clutch, I cleaned up the rust patches and painted a bit of the floor back to red from bare metal (yep, there are some AMAZING (ly bad) patches in the floor), and when the welding's done I'll fit my Sugar Mountain'd radio.


New top ball joint and the left wish bone has been replaced too. Satin black, not gloss, because I'm lazy and didn't read the tin...
Gained two new seatbelts from a nice chap in Leeds while on the way back from a long weekend in the Lake District, where I happened to chance upon Frazzle of this here forum Smile

Going off tomorrow to a company to be re-webbed in red Very Happy

And that brings you up to date! Sorry for ignoring you so, but I've been really rather busy!

Any questions, advice, offer of free Heralds etc, please fire away Smile

Aaron
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
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Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Reading this is like a flashback to 1987 for me Smile Thanks for the update and photos

R
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
Reading this is like a flashback to 1987 for me Smile Thanks for the update and photos

R


Reading your Spitfire memoirs on here when I was 15ish was part of the inspiration for getting one!! Just took me a long time to find the forum!

Aa
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Rick
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aar0sc wrote:
Rick wrote:
Reading this is like a flashback to 1987 for me Smile Thanks for the update and photos

R


Reading your Spitfire memoirs on here when I was 15ish was part of the inspiration for getting one!! Just took me a long time to find the forum!

Aa


Surprised it didn't put you off for life Wink

RJ
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D4B



Joined: 28 Dec 2010
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Location: Hampshire UK

PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great write up very enjoyable, now I want one Confused
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Aar0sc



Joined: 12 Apr 2011
Posts: 98
Location: Surrey

PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So yesterday, I took the Spitfire round to James's. There, we played with a Subaru 360 with one cylinder that only worked when reving. Once James had mended that and I'd successfully stood around being tall, we swapped the Subaru for the Spitaru. I left for the doctors, and when I returned (Somehow gaining the Aygo en route) this had happened:


I'd already drilled out some of the spot welds, James did the ones along the back and got the supports out. While we were looking at it, he confirmed my suspicion that it'd been in a crash on that side at some point; looking into the footwell from that angle made it pretty obvious it wasn't straight!!
This was the battery box:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

A bit of hammering got the edges of the battery tray orifice flat, then a few passes with the angle grinder got them clean for welding. It wasn't a perfect fit, probably due to the crash damage. We then discovered that the top of the bulkhead, into which we'd just welded the battery tray, wasn't really attached to the sides of the bulkhead. At all. So that got welded in:

At some point it had been brazed in, not sure if that would have been Triumph or someone else, either way it made welding difficult!

Next we moved onto the floor, or lack of.
James sliced out about 1/3 of the floor, deciding that the panel I'd bought didn't really fit, and the metal up to there was fine anyway. The removed slice:

The panel itself was quite crap really, it didn't allow for the kink there should be in the floor pan, where it gets narrower due to the door pillar, and would have required random talons of metal to be left behind to be welded on, like shark teeth... odd! Plus the grooves in it didn't line up with the ones already there, there were spaced out randomly, so if one lined up the others would be increasingly out. However, all fitted, it doesn't look bad.
Here it is, with some seam sealer above and below, and some up the side where some previous, rather clumsy welding has taken place:

Clumsy welding cut out of the floor:

And here's the battery box with seam sealer on:

James carefully welded a little stub of pipe onto it to act as a drain, like the original, which I connected to the rubber pipe that goes down and out of the floor (Or possibly into the chassis, that's what it looks like!!)
So with all that done, I returned the car home, after James had sorted the bolt on the steering rack that'd been an MOT failure, and I went off to the Haslemere Beer Festival, to serve plenty of beer. Old Rosie was for sale there, and sadly I couldn't resist... and tried all ten ciders, plus a fair few of the 42 beers!

Next morning, as in this morning, I got up early and went straight to the garage - in a random hopeful moment I'd booked an MOT for 11:30am!! Out came the seat, the old seatbelt, on went primer, red paint, and thick underseal underneath. In went the new carpet, the wiring loom was reconnected, the seatbelt reels went in, brand spanking new, with their lovely red webbing to boot! In went the seatbelt "clickers", the seats, the gearbox tunnel, the gearbox tunnel carpet, and the dashboard support, honestly the hardest thing to fit on this car! And this time I've lost all four bolts that hold it in, although the pressure on it is holding it steady at the moment. At 11 I left for Bordon, for the MoT. This normally takes about 20-15 minutes... I arrived at 12, after a ridiculous detour down the A3, a random metallic noise, which turned out to be the nut holding the alternator taught, which resulted in a very unhappy fan belt and a reasonably hot engine. Not much I could do bar pull on it a little and have the heater on max all the way. Anyway, got there, had a look at the gaffer's latest car (Jaguar XKRS), and left it in his hands to be tested. And it passed!

Advisories on oil leaks (hahahaha Sad ), and the beginnings of rust underneath. He also got some of the underseal on him, the minimal six hour drying time being about four hours away!!

Anyway, that's all, rest of the interior is in, I'm going to paint up the battery box in red later on today and apply for some tax, all ready for Goodwood next week!! Very Happy


Aaron
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