UKH 188W

Update

2011-06-03T09:01:00.000+01:00

So the car went through the MOT. I have now covered nearly 1800 miles including making round trips from Southampton to Wales, Norwich and Hertfordshire. Particularly coming back from Hertfordshire I unfortunately got stuck in M25 traffic with no cool air, stand still and the weather was 28C - The car didn't go past 1/2 way on the temp gauge!

Had an issue with the new alternator, unfortunately it had a dud voltage regulator but it's fine. Today I am going to clean the grounds on the car up as my indicators have become intermitant again and have found that they start working if I apply pressure on the chassis ground. I also have arriving a brand new set of alloys (Dunlop D1's).

MOT Time

2011-04-06T10:12:00.000+01:00

So I need an MOT by Friday 9th as I have a ferry booked to the Isle of Wight. Car was dropped at TopTechs Ltd in Milbrook Southampton who i have used once before and was happy with. Dropped it down this time last week and had a list of bits I wanted them to complete:
- get hazards working
- mount wing mirror
- set valve clearances
- tune carbs & advance curve
- align suspension

A few problems arose including front wheels catching on the new track rod ends whilst on full lock, illegal number plates (black and white), missing a fog light. Managed to adjust the front suspension so that it didn't catch and got some new plates and a fog light. Waiting to hear back from the MOT today.

MOT week

2011-03-26T18:18:00.000Z

Finished the suspension on friday, enjoyed making the most of my new torque wrench. Here's a few before and after shots of the stance / suspension:

Before:

After:

This was the next morning after it had settled:

And here's some photos of the suspension before:

After:

Today has been spent undersealing the car, which looks great with all the new floors. Replaced the rear light assembly connections and resecured all the grounds. Discovered an issue with the indicators, getting power constantly - where as it should be timed (on, off, on off etc), will check the hazard switch (which apparently acts as a relay for the indicator circuit (Club triumph forums)). Have a new flasher unit and hazard unit if necessary anyway.

struts and springs

2011-03-11T08:13:00.000Z

Bushes in.

New absorbers, mount plates and 330lb springs:

More wishbones and bushes

2011-03-08T19:02:00.000Z

The wishbones have now had 4 coats of hammerite on to clean metal and I've managed to fit the bushes, unfortunately one of the struts is almost completely seized so I need to order two new struts over the next few days. Once thats done it'll be onto cleaning the vertical links, calipers and trunnions.

Front suspension rebuild

2011-03-06T16:54:00.000Z

Really glad I decided to do this as the track rod ends and anti roll bar links were in aweful condition, the wishbone rubbers were fine infact but I figured i might as well do this lot whilst I do what I had originally set out to do - replace the springs.

- New steering rack + bushes
- Anti roll bar rubbers + strip and paint
- Track rod ends
- Anti roll bar links
- 330lb 1" lower springs
- strip wishbones & renew bushes & bolts

Tonight i'm going to strip the old springs off and try give them a clean up, as of tomorrow I'll update in the next few weeks, busy period at Uni coming up.

Before:

Abit of electrolysis to remove the rust (worked a treat):

After running it under the tap:

Suspension off:

Wishbones stripped, painted:

Twin electric fan and wide radiator install with thermostatic sensor

2011-02-10T13:59:00.002Z

Got back from work feeling abit rubbish - note to self don't eat prawns that are out of date! Car all running, and boy had I forgotten quite how loud the exhaust is on it! We reset the carbs according to the haynes manual and leaned her out as it was so rich it was making my eyes sting standing anywhere near the back of the car!

Richard calculated the input required for each fan (about 7amps!) and we drew a diagram planning on how to wire it all in. The system will use a 15Amp & 5Amp fuse via a relay that connects the thermostatic inline switch. The premade circuits that you can buy for twin electric fans cost about £50, mine cost me £12.

We stripped back the old electric fan wiring which was very messy (PO) and chucked the additional wiring that the PO had installed for the horns. These will be replaced with new horns and suitable wiring in the next week or so.

Photo of inline thermostatic switch (prior to crimping and wiring):

Photo of wiring diagram for

Overall (delivered) I paid:
- £35 for thermostatic switch & inline housing
- £42 for 2x 10" 1800+ CFM electric fans
- £12 for 6m 17amp wire, all spade and bullet connectors, one 35amp relay, two fuse housings & a 15 and 5amp fuse

So thats £89 for a TWIN electric fan, thermostatically operated system compared to a SINGLE Kenlowe electric fan setup, thermostatically operated for £186!! Just short of £100 saving!

Things not going to plan

2011-02-08T22:30:00.000Z

So I didn't get any of the bits I wanted to get done on my previous post completed, the weather turned freezing and I just played Xbox most of the day.. which wasn't helped by the fact that the MX5 seat in my living room is a realllly good gaming chair haha.. I should really grow up. meh who am I kidding!

I did however try and fire the engine up but with little success, I have spark, compression and fuel (atleast to the carbs), thought the timing was out. When putting the distributor back in I had just dropped the dist drive gear in and assumed it would be fine, however this likely meant the timing was 180 out, however after reading up on setting it properly I still couldn't get it to fire. Got fed up and left it.

However.. I now have 2x 10" Electric fans AND a shiney thermostatic electric inline switch! AND to top it off, a very good friend of mine Richard is kindly coming all the way from Norfolk to get the engine started and tuned properly! Now THAT is friendship! What a nice chap!

Fingers crossed :)

Last few bits

2011-02-04T00:25:00.000Z

I've got a few things I want to finish before I go for the MOT:
- Fit 330lb 1" lower springs at the front (on GT6's atm and they are too high)
- renew bushes and clean wishbones up
- replace rear brake shoes & front pads / discs
- 2x Revotec 10" electric fans & inline thermostatic switch
- Secure seats back in

Tomorrow I have the day off so intend on doing the seats, i'm putting heavy duty nuts/bolts in + a set of 50mm 1"x2" zinc plates on the underside of each seat mounting bolts to try spread any impact over a larger surface area and provide more security - I wasn't happy with the previous setup. Brakes will go on and if the springs turn up I will do them as well as clean the wishbones up. Then I just have to wait on the fans, they were expensive BUT I figure having a thermostatic controlled set of fans on a wide radiator will keep the engine in healthier condition than me manually turning on or off as it was before, insufficient cooling was no doubt one major cause of the rebuild & HGF.

Before & After

2011-02-03T20:26:00.000Z

Right, made some head way 2 weeks back: Mounted and fitted the new 22" full width radiator with stainless steel supports hmmm shiney! Carbs are back on, renewed all the fuel pipes, fuel lines, radiator hoses and hose/pipe clips. Distributor back in, points set etc etc

Before:

After:

Will post more upto date photos as I realise this image is missing a few bits. (looks good though doesn't it!)

Tried starting, starter motor has a new pinion and bush and is now not spinning, car wouldn't start so after scratching my head for abit the Triumph Owners Forum pointed me in the direction of the distributor drive gear (which must be dropped in when cylinder 1 is @ TDC. WOOPS!

The Kenlowe fan for the original smaller radiator doesn't fit and whilst I didn't really want to spend more money on the engine I decided it was best to get a proper cooling setup so have two Revotec 10" electric fans and thermostatic inline switch on order. Atleast this way the fans will automate themselves between 80-90C.

Must remember to work on Spitfire

2011-01-10T10:39:00.000Z

Spit has been sat covered for most of the winter, I had planned on fitting the 205 Radiator with a header tank however this was delayed because of the winter and the need to create a custom radiator mount for it since I got the wrong year 205 for a straight install.

Luckily for christmas I was given some Rimmbros vouchers, these were going to go to a new suspension setup but I decided against it for the mean time, so the vouchers have gone towards a brand new cooling setup, including a 22" full width radiator which will be reinstalled with the original kenlowe fan.

This should be arriving today. Dissertation is due in this friday so unless I get distracted (easily done!) I will hopefully install this Sunday.

Updates soon hopefully.

engine reassembled and fitted

2010-11-01T19:37:00.000Z

Very pleased, engine all fully reassembled, all gaskets on, everything torqued properly, valve clearences set, manifold and exhaust system reattached, inlet manifold fitted, oil change, fresh oil and new head cylinder fitted!

Was hoping to finish about midday but cleaning exterior of the sump and drilling out the sheered crankshaft nut took alittle longer than we anticipated, we also ended up cleaning the top of the block up quite abit - which was slow and painful so we finished about 6pm. Now to crack on with near a weeks worth of Uni that I should have been focussing on this weekend!

Engine out, stripped, cleaned and painted

2010-10-31T13:39:00.000Z

Canley Classics helped me out massively, late order friday saw these arriving at 8am the next day - complete engine gasket/seal set.

My good friend richard very kindly came down from Norfolk (near 280 miles) to come help me remove and strip the engine - he knows what he's doing! Engine came out within an hour of starting but the crankshaft pulley nut was properly seized on. We locked the flywheel and even used a scaffold pole on the end of a large plumbers wrench and we shattered the wrench in three places. We were running out of time so we made a call and literally wheeled the engine down the road (getting alot of odd looks) on a cut up ikea trolley to the local tyre garage Tajs Tyres - big thank you to them. Their impact wrench did the trick very quickly!

Bottom end is in good condition.

The fun bit of degreasing and stripping the paint of the block - ALOT of work!

First coat of Ford V8 Green on the engine block, second coat tomorrow morning and then reassemble sunday evening and back in monday afternoon.

water pump housing

2010-10-26T20:59:00.000+01:00

Another pain staking task consisting of degreasing and stripping the water pump housing, now painted and water pump refitted with new gasket:

Painting is ever so therapeutic

2010-10-25T22:02:00.000+01:00

The standard rebuilt 1500 engine I've now almost finished the block. Whole engine was POR-15 treated, zinc phosphate coated and then painted in Ford V8 green, paint sourced from Frosts. Just need to finish up the head and sump.

Alot of degrease, elbow grease, wet and dry and some silver high temp paint from Frosts goes on the inlet manifold.. lovvellly :D

Got the cylinder head back off the 1500 Ivor Searle engine, was under the impression that the engine was unleaded, it wasn't which I now suspect of being the cause of the headgasket & compression issues i've been having, as after 18,000 miles of unleaded fuel with no additives I almost certainly caused some sort of valve seat recession. The engineering firm that did the work commented that the head was in extremely good condition but it was not unleaded and the valve seats were not sealing properly.

Anyway, the head has been converted to unleaded, skimmed 0.035, had new chrome valve inserts, new exhaust valves, recut inlet valves and a deep clean. Compression should be near 9.5:1. This will go nicely with the current Ivor Searle bottom end which I recently discovered was running a 40 thou overbore so the engine is infact running just in the range of 1500-1600cc.

Going to finish up the current replacement engine, get that project out the way then start removing the current engine, fit new duplex timing chain, clean the sump, fit new sump seal, headgasket and timing chain cover seal. Degrease, protect and paint the engine block and fit the new head, refit and start prepping for MOT.

more bits..

2010-10-21T10:51:00.000+01:00

Pug 205 gti radiator + new steering rack (2.5 short turn from moss as opposed to the standard 3.5 turn rack)

All apart of my plan to rehaul the entire engine bay, although I'll need to get a header tank fitted to suit. Just need to get hold of some polly bushes and adjustable suspension.

Headgasket

2010-10-19T16:39:00.000+01:00

So after spending alot of money uming and arghing about the tuning of the Spitfire I got it running very nicely, took it on the M3 and proceeded to overheat and conk out. Headgasket was the first word everyone said to me so.. I got hold of my additional standard rebuilt 1500 engine from back home, have been stripping that for painting and recently removed the head cylinder from the current Ivor Searle engine (it was indeed the headgasket all along).

Anyway, we all like photos so here's some photos:

Head cylinder off (rest of the block is in extremely good condition) - also discovered it has +0.030 overbore! And the water is just because I forgot to drain the cylinder head.

Head off:

Con Rods kept in order:

Rocker arm:

Evidence of the blown head gasket:

The temporary replacement engine (fully rebuilt bottom and top end to standard specifications) - horrible colour scheme. - Note my engine mount (thanks to the students next door and Ikea)

New clutch:

Engine will be stripped, POR15 metal readied (zinc phosphate coated) and painted Ford V8 green to suit car colour. Cylinder head from the Ivor Searle engine is being dropped off at Cylinder Head Engineering in Fareham who stripping, cleaning and skimming the head - I may also look at having it ported and gas flowed - should have it back this friday.

Hmm

2010-06-10T16:20:00.001+01:00

Figured it was time I did a summarised update of the blog. Took the car down to Southampton, started finding flat spots in the higher RPM range, after an overheat on the motorway I pulled the radiator flushing the entire system and block. Fitted a new thermostat, gasket, timed the engine with a gun, car still running oddly, fitted a new distributor, points and cap etc, normal service, oil, plugs etc, checked fuel pump and gave up for exams.

Finished exams, found ABT needles Anglian triumph put in too weak, took carbs off, dashpot, piston, dampener, replaced ABT needles for AAU needles, cleaned and polished carbs, dashport and piston assembly. Charged battery and started her up, idles (despite lumpy cam) at 550rpm very happily, noticed front carbs piston was stuck so removed, cleaned, checked and swapped to find that I had bent one of the AAU needles accidentlly, ordered another single needle from burlen.

Awaiting new bit, but should be all sorted :)

MOT soon, need to lower headlights but other than that should go straight through.

Decision on the wheels..

2010-01-14T11:10:00.000Z

After much deliberation, I decided to save some cash and redo the Dolomite wheels again instead of having them sent off. I must at this point note that all the floorpan and sill work done over Christmas was not done by me but by a professional mechanic, luckily also a great friend who has massively helped me out. He currentl owns around 9 cars I believe? (not including his daily) which he is each at some stage of a complete rebuild, including an Fiat X9.

With his help I managed to get a fantastic finish on the wheels and just left them silver as I think they suit the car.

So I failed...

2010-01-14T10:51:00.000Z

So I failed rather miserably at keeping this upto date, the car was collected from the NTS bodyshop around early mid october and has since been sat in the warmness of the garage untouched letting the paint go as hard as possible and also keeping out of the winter elements.

Keep saying i'm going to pick up the new StayFast hood I purchased from Anglian Triumph about 6 months ago.. i'll get round to it soon! - One major thing that has gone on over Christmas was that I found a few pin sized holes in the floor, after closer inspection it turned out to be slightly more worrying. The underseal i'd applied had basically hidden some smaller issues and damp no doubt.. causing rust to spread to the inner left sill. Took the decision to replace both floors and inner sill - seems sensible considering the rest of the work that has been carried out.

So the car now has a new inner left sill with strengthener, new floor pans on both floors and the MX5 Seats have had their own mount points fabricated into the floor giving more leg room than before.

Paint is an Aston Martin 'Derwent Green' (Metallic with very fine gold flakes) and is water based.

Possibly my two favourite photos of her! (above & below)

Bling! (below)

Original bumpers put back on, glad I did this as after a really long 3 hours of polishing each, they are still far from "new" bumpers but give the car the look that it is actually used as a car and not something just to stare at.

Many purists will go ape that i've gone to all this trouble and not gone original, but the car is intended to be used and enjoyed as much as possible, this is why all the arches, boot, underside bonnet and bulk head have been stone chipped.

Almost there!

2009-08-21T09:29:00.001+01:00

Spent two days working on my own car for the garage who are doing the rebuild. Learnt alot of interesting stuff, especially how to weld.

All welding and bodywork done (not by me!), primer just been put on. Doors are not currently aligned but are hanging on the car and even without being aligned at all they look a much better fit than they previously did. Welding was needed on the front right chassis rail, bonnet support bar which had snapped due to a rusty joint on the RHS, boot lid had minor welding. Filled in a few factory holes that were not needed on the boot / upper bulkhead.

This car for me is here to be driven and look good so i've made some practical choices such as stone chipping the bulkhead and the inner wheel arches. The Dolomite Sprint wheels will be sent away for refurbing to original specification after I get the car back.

More photos..

2009-06-20T11:07:00.001+01:00

Before:

After:

Rebuild progress

2009-06-20T10:48:00.000+01:00

Doors off and prepped, both sides of the windscreen have a serious amount of rot, the company taking on the rebuild (NTS) had a specialist welder in to replace all the metal around the windscreen as they wanted it perfect. All sills have been taken back to metal and previous

Cars gone :(

2009-06-01T21:49:00.000+01:00

Yet again i've been aweful with updates, but it's because nothing has been very eventful except one thing. Car is now in Norwich back with family being professionally rebuilt over the next 9 weeks.

Dad had convinced me to leave the car in Norwich until the summer so he could get all the electrics resorted for free by a friend of his, turns out he had to let the secret slip, he's actually having the car completely rebuilt from the ground up for me.

He's chosen a completely different colour.. but I won't let it slip what it is (one of the finest and heaviest micron weighted paints used in the industry) i'll give you a clue.. only 007 has a car this colour ;)

All I know is full tub strip, all new replacement metal where needed, chassis is being realigned, new doors + skins all to go along with my new carbs, ss sports exhaust system, K&Ns, MX5 Seats and all the bits i've put together for it.

Setting aside money over the next 9 weeks for new moulded carpet, interior, dash, clocks, wooden steering wheel and wheels.

vroom vroom

2009-04-30T09:31:00.001+01:00

Last thursday/friday the car had:

Phoenix 2" stainless steel 4-2-1 tubular manifold w/new gasket
K&N Sports Air Filters

This has all been fitted to the Phoenix 2" straight through stainless steel large bore exhaust, now that the manifold is suited to the exhaust system instead of being smaller as per the original the sound is beautiful, a gorgeous rumble / slight backfire when coming quickly off heavy acceleration, really makes the car sound like a classic sports car, certainly turns alot more heads.

However, drove to brighton with a friend and spent the weekend with the roof down in gorgeous weather, on a very steep hill start with two adults in the car I found that the car struggled to pull away and was met with the smell of a burnt clutch. Something I am familiar with from my brothers MKIV.

Car has driven fine and hasn't had any issues with the clutch since, no matter how hard I drive her but it's something i'm going to have to get sorted over the next few weeks or so. No rush.

2009-04-23T10:41:00.001+01:00

Tubular 4-2-1 2" Stainless steal manifold, K&N Air Filters, having the front brakes replaced and the tappet clearences checked and realigned. I will be ordering a set of new left and right wings for the bonnet as the seams are showing signs of light surface rust & a new rear lower boot panel to replace a poor seam that is quite badly rusted.

I think i'm going to go for 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Silver :D

Back on the road..

2009-04-20T13:07:00.001+01:00

Battery was dead, fully charged now. Started her up, exhaust somewhat louder than usual, got underneith and found that the manifolds' previous few pin hole leaks had now turned into quite significant exhaust leaks. Idle was quite rough subsequently. Ordered a 4-2-1 stainless steal sports manifold, new gasket and also a set of K&N Air Filters.

Taxed for the next 6 months, should just see me through the good weather, car is having the front discs & pads replaced in two days, along with the valve clearences being checked. Was going to take the car back to Anglian Triumph and see the family this weekend but have had to cancel. Looking forward to the K&N Air Filters, might need to change the needles in the carbs though.

Will also be ordering lots of new panels as i've got the opportunity this summer to have the car professionally rebuilt from the ground up, will be changing the colour most likely, talk more about this later.

Update

2009-02-22T14:54:00.001Z

Just a quick update, not a huge amount to update on. The spit is garaged and declared SORNED at the moment due to the weather and the fact I've spent far to much money on beer and am incredibly poor.

I popped back home the other weekend and picked up my new windscreen wiper stalk for the steering column, took all the trim off and removed the old one only to find that the new one has a female connection on and requires a male connection so I used the old stalks male connection and wired it to the new stalk. I now have fully working variable speed wipers.

Literally as I was leaving to drive down to Uni my little sister took some photos which i've recieved:

I've had three interviews for jobs in the last week so hopefully i'll start getting some cash together to put her back on the road in the next month or so and get a few bits I want/need (new mohair hood mainly).

Vertical link broken

2008-12-31T17:39:00.000Z

Went to pick my brother up, had a few issues with the car trying to stall but think this is because i'm used to pulling the clutch first and accelerating second like a diesel (got used to the incredibly rich carbs)..

Anyway came into my road and my vertical link snapped on the front RHS wheel leaving the car like this:

The worst part about this was that when the recovery man came to put it on the flat bed he hit the same damaged arch with apart of his truck and has chipped/scratched a small are of paint on the front rhs valance and the arch on the bonnet luckily I had a police witness who was directing traffic away from my car on the main road.

It's been dropped off at Anglian Triumph again who will be sorting it for Saturday (I hope), which will give me enough time to get down to Soton in it, and sort the broken paint work myself or have my insurers sort it.

undecided

2008-12-31T11:36:00.000Z

Picked the car up from Anglian Triumph yesterday, in total they:
- Swapped 3 tyres off the steels onto the sprint alloys (2 on the rear & 1 as spare)
- 2 new 175/70's on the front (only needed one but prefer to have the same tread)
- 12 x 5/16" sprint nuts with 4 locking wheel nuts to suit
- New radiator cap & coolant
- Waxstat conversion (now using jet's)
- New carb needles
- New fuel lines (they were leaking apparently)
- Rivetted the quarter lights back in to the hardtop

Car had been running very rich, so rich infact that when they measured it was off the scale, it no longer over runs, has slightly less torque above 70mph but no real noticeable difference. Just under £227 (bit more than I wanted to spend but glad it was all dealt with).

Hardtop as it stands:

I wasn't so sure of it to start off with but it's warming to me, either way i'm not respraying it now and it's better than nothing although it doesn't quite sit correctly in the top right hand corner where it meets the cowling on the window screen. Wheels I DO like however they are very different and will not be to everyone's taste, post photos of them soon.

Getting the alloys fitted

2008-12-29T15:13:00.000Z

Visited Anglian Triumph today to have my tyres put on the Sprint alloys, just before I arrived my temperature gauge went straight to Hot, lifted the bonnet to find my radiator cap had come off (god knows how), had this replaced along with a leaky hose. Queried them about the car over idling, checked the points which were seriously worn, put new points in, still running abit rough on idle so they checked the carbs, which apparently are waxstat's and in really poor condition, luckily they had a wax stat conversion lying around so i'm gonna take the car in first thing tomorrow morning and have my sprint alloys put on along with the waxstat conversion and carb balancing.

Looking forward to this as the fuel economy should improve greatly.

Completion of the hardtop

2008-12-28T11:01:00.003Z

So I decided in the end to go with my Dad's suggestion white with (Rover)Pageant Blue through the middle stripe I think it's turned out well, the hardtop was quite severely rotten along both channels and whilst i've cleaned & treated the rust so it shouldn't be a problem it's not as smooth as i'd like but it's as best as i'm going to get due to filler etc.

Anyway here's the final product:
Just need to stick the seals back in (rear window should be easy enough) then get the quarter lights rivetted back in place. I was going to replace the seals but they are in good condition so I've cleaned them up and replaced painted them with black rubber paint.

Hardtop

2008-12-21T19:11:00.000Z

So I made a start on the hardtop, I figured I need to get it done before I leave for Soton in early January otherwise it'll won't get done till Easter.

Started to strip it down:Found a few places of rot, mainly down the left hand channel, will pull it out and put new metal in, I was going to spray it the same Pageant Blue as the body but on browsing ebay saw a spit the same colour as mine; white hardtop with a union jack sticker decal on - so far i'm convinced this is the route I will take.

Dolomite Sprint Alloys - Colour Invert

2008-12-12T12:41:00.001Z

Right so all five have had 2 seperate coats of clear lacquer, I used Leveller (a spray on paint softner) to prep the paint for a good lacquer finish.

Really pleased:

more wheels..

2008-12-11T13:36:00.000Z

So the alloys have had 3 good coats of the BMW Black Metallic, seems to have come out well, looking abit dull at the moment but I have yet to clear coat them. To do the triangular center pieces properly I am having to mask off the whole wheel except one triangle and spray them one at a time with the Mitsubishi Silver Metallic, let them dry and then do the next one.

However on completeing one on each wheel I have realised that there are 8 on each wheel multiplied by 5 wheels that's 40 individual maskings & paintings, each which ideally 2 coats.

This is gonna take me slightly longer than I expected!

Progress photo:
Once this has been completed i'll put a clear coat on.

progress on wheels

2008-12-10T23:11:00.000Z

Made some more progress on the Sprint wheels, all five alloys have been completely stripped, filler primed, primed with grey primer and gloss blacked on the centers, i'm leaving them over night to properly dry out (plus it's late). Finished at 10pm.

Where as print alloys are mainly silver with black triangular center pieces I'm going to do the opposite and paint them in BMW Black Sapphire (Metallic) with Mitshubishi Silver Sapphire (Metallic) center pieces and then lacquer them.

Shiney Shiney!

2008-12-09T15:28:00.000Z

Picked the car up from the bodyshop on Saturday, overwhelmed really at how different she looks:

Up close and personal you can still see that the paint job is not concourse, but nonetheless it looks incredible! Exhaust has been completely resealed and is 100% airtight now (feels like it's got quite alot more grunt in the acceleration).

Since I picked her up i've started to get on with the Dolomite Sprint alloys I picked up from some Club Triumph members in the Isle of White:

Before:

During:

I plan to do this to the other two wheels I have and then i'm going to invert the colour scheme on the face of the wheel so it's mainly matt black + lacquer finish and the small triangular areas are matt silver, hopefully it'll work out if not i'll have to do it all over again! After i've done these it'll be on with my brothers hardtop which is quite tatty (but solid by the looks of things).

Overdue Update

2008-12-01T16:23:00.000Z

Blimey been awhile since I updated this..

I've moved Universities from UEA to Southampton - a last minute decision. The Spitfire was left back in Norwich with the parents garaged, the paint has held up very well.

After spraying the car in cellulose myself I did not cut the paint back and so during the cold weather the paint became badly oxidised due to having no protection chemical protection on her, I spoke to Glare-UK who quoted me £390 for their basic paint renovation service + the cost of a machine polish to rid the car of any swirl marks, oxidation etc, at the last minute I phoned T&G Bodyshop in Wymondham close to where I used to work. They quoted me £320 including picking the car up.

The car despite being sprayed in Cellulose is being machine polished to rid the car of any oxidation or defects, then having a chemical bonding agent to soften up the paint, having a 2Pak lacquer coated and then a hardner applied. The car will be stored prior to painting in their oven @ 25C for 4 days to ensure it is as dry as possible before painting.

Realistically I know that she will not look perfect anyway, she doesn't at the moment.. I sprayed her myself! (DIY) but she will no doubt look better than the toy car matt colour she looks like now.

Plus if she was perfect I think i'd be worried about driving her!

Holiday

2008-08-05T08:00:00.001+01:00

On holiday in the Isle of Wight, drove the Spitfire the whole way down, drove like a dream and managed to average out about 40mpg over 230 miles using a full tank.

Put the spit in the garage as the weather is a tad miserable here atm, thought i'd take the opportunity to get some body work done on the spitfire, finally got round to paint the RHS sill, the rear RHS wing has been sorted. Ontop of that the panel to the rear of the hood has finally been done, I stripped the lot and used Welding Zinc Primer (a form of acid etch primer).

Before I left I brought 6x 500ml cans of Holt Professional colour matched spray paint (paint code JMA or JNA (Pageant Blue) for triumphs is exactly the same as Rover Mid Blue and can be easily sourced from Halfords.

See photos:

Productive Weekend

2008-07-28T00:02:00.001+01:00

Right, so MOT came and went, car went straight through, although I had a few warnings:
- Headlights needed aligning properly (mainly as one pilot light was out)
- Drivers side seat had some play in it (this is due to one of the bolts has come out - my own fault for running out of decent bolts and bodging one in)
- Rear reverse lights not working

The next day I sorted the seat, took the car down to the garage again where I had the horns and reverse lights sorted (bad earth).

I then had a phone call from the Boat Chandlers saying my Hood was ready, picked it up, been completely redone the whole hood, all new heavy weather yachting windows with a stronger stitch pattern, all new poppets and fastners.

Fitted the Halogens, fit directly into the old bowls no issue, no rewiring necerssary:
Hmmm power! Anyway, whilst I was at it I completely stripped the cowling and repainted, along with giving the boot lid another better coat of paint with my new spray gun - much better results.

My new horns, which I am very please with as they are incredibly loud, now I can use my horn with pride! (removed air horns, kept the original mounting and mounted the horns slightly higher).

Oh, ordered some 55mm wide K&N Air Filters today (early bday present).

MOT Tomorrow

2008-07-24T08:51:00.000+01:00

MOT has been booked in tomorrow morning @ 8.15, the man beam stalk on the LHS has gone and the wipers stay on all the time, i've ordered a replacement part direct to the MOT garage for delivery tomorrow. Brakes need doing I suspect but other than that fingers crossed I should be ok.

New Halogen headlights arrived with bright white bulbs & side lights, need to get my horns fitted in as well. Too much on at work to do it all myself.

To Do

2008-07-20T12:29:00.001+01:00

For my own reference really in the next week I need to:
- Book the spit in for an MOT week beginning 28th July
- Prep & Paint Rear RHS wing
- Prep & Paint RHS Sill
- Prep & Paint top boot panel
- Sort horns & one reverse light not showing
- Fit Halogen Lights

Fingers crossed, however if it fails i'm hoping it's only going to be on emmissions & rear brakes. *prays*

Update

2008-07-20T11:51:00.000+01:00

Boot lid has had a final coat this morning and is hanging in the garage drying, found some tetrosyl rubbing compound for new paint works and boy does that stuff work wonders! Tested on a small are and got it a near mirror finish within a few minutes. Problem is it takes too much paint off so will just wait until I get the doors realigned with new hinges and spray them. Once that's done i'll pay someone to proffessionally machine polish the car.

New boot lock put in place, new grommets and washes all in rear boot, removed the MKIV's hood to temporarily use on my 1500 whilst my own hood is being repaired, MKIV will have hard top put on for mean time.

Bonnet On

2008-07-19T18:27:00.001+01:00

Bonnets on, all the correct bolts, washers etc been put on, all the old one's removed for new, a tight fit but it went on. Boot lid has had two coats of paint, probably needs another coat to finish it off, run out of paint though so will have to see if I can get some tomorrow.

Boat chandler phoned me and said that he's going to restitch the whole hood, not going to get my hood back until the end of this week most likely.

Going to stick brothers MK4 in the garage once my boot is finished and dry and remove his hood and use that until mine arrives later this week.

Stripped Boot Lid

2008-07-19T15:08:00.000+01:00

Got up early, took my hood down to a sailing & yachting shop in town, had heard through family that their computer was on the brink so I took down a spare unit & flat screen I had gave it to them on the basis that I didn't use it and it would save me having to buy a new hood.

They are replacing the hood windows with yacht quality plastic windows, a tougher stitch pattern and will repair one minor tear in the left hand side gutter channel.

Mean while.. I stripped the boot lid down to bare metal and painted a few coats of high quality primer.
Typically whilst the car is on the drive minus a hood & boot lid it starts to practically monsoon.. !
I removed the FRHS wheel, sitting on stands I went to have alook at the brakes, disks and pads are in almost new condition anyway, which is good but a waste of me buying a complete new set.

Rear shoes no doubt need doing, left the front brakes as are fine, got my rear bumper out and polished that up, have a full fixing kit from rimmerbros which will be going on it.

Got my new horns however both high and low notes have two connections, my old one's only have one and I cannot seem to get them to work.. to be continued..

More bits

2008-07-17T13:28:00.000+01:00

Just ordered:
- Rear Bumper Fitting Kit (finally going to put it back on)
- Halogen Conversion kit + Xenon MegaWhite bulbs
- New high & low tone horns
- Few grommets for boot

Should arrive tomorrow. Fixed the reverse light not showing after replacement bulbs, one of the fuses had gone, need to get some more paint stripper, saturday morning I want to strip my boot lid down completely and have it prepped for painting by sunday. I'd also like to fit my new discs & pads to the front. Then we'll look at putting it through the mot.. which I suspect will need new rear shoes on the rear brakes.

Both Cars..

2008-07-14T14:28:00.000+01:00

Photos 3..

2008-07-14T14:21:00.000+01:00

Rear RHS light has been cracked for some time, took the time this weekend to

- Heightened & resecured the exhaust
- Added a thick phoam lining where the hood connects to the cowling as to stop completely cut out any possibility of leaks in heavy rain driving - sorted!
- Removed the boot lid and completely stripped the boot to bare metal, found one pin size hole, cut it out and welded a clean piece of metal in.
- Realised in doing so that there were quite a few gaps between the panel joins of the rear wings & the boot panels, so I stripped these down (interior & exterior) and removed the gaps by resealing and moving the panels.

Boot was primed with Acid Etcher and painted over with hammerite, i'll get round to spraying it this next weekend.

- Also made & fitted new boot carpet

I had wanted to remove the boot lid and strip it down but by the time i'd finished all this it was sunday afternoon @ 3PM and figured I didn't want to rush it so would leave it for another day.

Photos 2

2008-07-14T14:09:00.001+01:00

My little brother recently sold his Mk3 Polo and brought himself a maroon/red 1974 MKIV Spitfire 1293cc.

Drove the car back, clutch was slipping very badly, put it in at our local garage for an MOT, failed on Wiper motors running to slow & rear binding brakes. We suspected the crankcase had leaked oil onto the clutch plate, causing the slip. However after removing the gearbox, it turned out that the clutch infact was indeed brand new. After further inspection it turned out that the thrust washer bearings had at some point needed replacing so the previous owner had removed the gearbox, engine & crankcase and instead of replacing the worn bearings with new one's he spot welded them.

Ontop of this he must have realised that this had not fixed the problem and so decided to try to extend the crankcase arm by welding an extra length of metal on the end to try limit the slip. - Needless to say this did not work.

The crank needed to be reground, however the likely hood is that it had probably done some lasting damage to the bottom end, the cylinder head was good so the garage sourced a very good condition second hand engine and installed that + a full service for £500 including parts & labour! Bargain!

Here's some photos:

He's currently away in India at the moment, realistically the car needs:
- Floor pans and chassis undersealing
- Some rot on the bonnet dealing with
- It's had some pretty poor repairs done to the paint work so these will need attending to at some point.
- Have already dealth with the rot on the bonnet and cleaned up the bulkhead ready for protecting & paint

I also donated my previous twin phoenix exhaust system to him for his car, but he decided to sell it to help with covering the garage costs - got nearly £200 for it! Also have found a Blaupunkt Stereo for him & have some speakers on the way.

Photos 1

2008-07-14T14:00:00.000+01:00

Few weeks back I went to work stripping the LHS sill down as there were some minor bubbles I suspected to be rust - turns out just paint bubbling, very clean, must have been replaced in the last decade.

I stripped both sills down and primed them with Acid Etch Primer, then Zinc 182 Primer, then painted them both.

MOT Time

2008-07-12T10:58:00.000+01:00

MOT is due by the 31st this month, have a full brake service that's going to go on the spit, my roof has taken some beating the last few months and is now missing both rear quarter windows, however a favour to a friend who owns a local sailing/boat shop means that all the windows will be replaced with yacht quality windows and stitching.

New exhaust needs heightening, recieved the new rubbers earlier this week, also have a feeling that it's blowing where it connects to the manifold so i'll have alook at that at the same time.

My little brothers new purchase a '74 spitfire has just got back from the MOT station, with a complete new bottom end replacement and engine service, he's currently away in india building houses and being charitable. This weekend, depending on weather i'd like to underseal the bottom of the car and clean the floor pans up and try to get some form of carpet down as it's missing quite abit. Photos soon.

Words can't explain..

2008-06-27T20:03:00.000+01:00

How stupid I feel.

Got back from work by 7, oil change had been delayed as I needed to get a 8mm hex key to remove the sump plug, got one yesterday, went outside removed the sump plug, drained the oil into the pan. Removed the old oil filter, went to put a new one in, started filling her back up with expensive Castrol GTX High Mileage 15w40 with 450ml of STP Oil additive, poured all 4.45 litres in and watches it pour straight back into the pan mixing with the old oil.

Forgot to put the sump plug in. Proves not to do things whilst your tired. Idiot.

Day off

2008-06-26T10:58:00.001+01:00

I've taken the day off work and have fitted my S/S Single Large Bore sports exhaust, which sounds exactly the same as the previous twin system but it's better fitted isn't as low (but isn't as high as i'd like it!).

I'm just about to do an oil change, with Castrol GTX High Mileage 15W40 + a can of STP Oil Treatment to give it a bit more viscosity.

Whilst i'm at it i'd quite like to redo the gearbox oil (just for piece of mind). Also found that the manifold has a few pin sized holes at the very bottom where it joins the exhaust, going to sort this today as well.

Long time no see

2008-06-26T10:39:00.000+01:00

So I havn't updated this in 5 months..

After doing the paintwork last year for the first time ever, I realise that my first attempt was actually very good and had I actually known about 1PAK Lacquer it would still look great now (bar the bootlid).

The cars paintwork survived almost daily use during the winter with no adverse effects so all the prep and time I took clearly paid off, however the boot lid is flaking like mad. Why? because instead of using a high quality primer I used some "halfords" brand. - I know i'm just as angry at myself as you are upset with me!

Anyway.. I've got my MOT coming up on the 31st of July and quite a few bits have happened since I last updated this blog including:

- high winds picked up neighbours bin and slammed it into the rear RHS wing panel, causing a rather nasty dent and breaking the paint work.
- my cheap vinyl hood; it desperately needs new poppers, both right & LHS windows have deseamed themselves (it's not in the greatest of shape).

Apart from that I've just started a fantastic new job about 2 months back and am giving "lucy" the treatment she deserves:

- I've stripped & cleaned the complete underside of the body & undersealed with Hammerite Waxoyl
- Gone from a Twin Phoenix Sports Exhaust to a Stainless Steal single Large Bore system
- Installed black MX5 eunos seats - very comfortable! + have installed uprated speakers in the headrests, new kenwood cd player & rear kenwood 5" speakers.
- replaced all engine hoses + replaced carb springs

I have a big box in the garage of new sparkly bits that are going on after I prep & respray the boot:
- Oil Cooler
- Complete front & back brake setup (discs, pads, drums, shoes, brake cylinders & braided hoses)
- 150W SPLX 2 channel amp for rear speakers.
- Complete new trim for rear (RHS, LHS, top & bottom boot lid + horse shoes)
- new rear brake lights
- halogen headlamps for front
- classic digital speedo

Yet to get on my list of things are:
- Mohair softop
- Interior door cards
- LHS window winder
- Interior carpet (properly fitted)

The pressures on..

2008-01-04T11:17:00.000Z

Yet more obstacles, the only real issue i had with paint was the boot lid as explained in the last post, however in doing that yesterday (prepping for painting today) I figured i might as well scan the body for imperfections and went round with some fine filler. I'm literally waiting for this to dry now and will wet & dry it down, mask the areas off and put some primer on.

In the mean time whilst the primer is drying (gonna put her in the garage and turn the heater on), i'll put the rear bumper on, connect all the lights back up and put the passenger seat in.

Oh this reminds me of another arse ache.. the bolts for the harnesses! bloody hell I cannnot find the correct size bolts anywhere, the M10 bolt is the nearest I can find but the threads still arn't wide enough. So i've done something terrible and put some adhesive in the bolt and screwed them in and left them to dry : / ! Should do the trick (they'll be replaced in 2-3 weeks anyway).

Doubt i'm gonna get time to try figure out my radio, suspect i'll just pay a professional to do it, anyway pressures on as the girlfriend is back after being away for xmas and I wanna have the spitfire finished for sundays "Norfolk New Years Club Triumph Run".

The end is neigh!

2008-01-03T17:33:00.000Z

Almost finished now, the end is neigh!

Decals
Put the decals on the bonnet and boot lid, the bonnet was fine, boot lid caused some issues with the paint work pealing off due to a poor layer of primer. (Re did this today).
Seats
Started to put the original houndstooth seats back in as the new Cobra seats will fit but a friend is fabricating me some custom mounts for them. Put one seat in, need to put the passenger in tomorrow.

Stereo
Still needs wiring in, gonna do this tomorrow hopefully (had to replace a few fuses) so should be easy enough.

Other than that I need to get the bumper and battery back in, then in the next few weeks a tune :)

Clean, Wax & Polish

2007-12-30T19:50:00.001Z

Well today I cleaned the car up after the respray. Came up very nicely, wet & dried using P1500-P2000 with fairy liquid, then washed it all off with water and whilst the surface was nice and wet/damp I used some G3 compound, then buffed it all of. I then used Meguiars Paint Cleaner and Polish, just got to use the carnauba wax tomorrow.

Noticed the battery tray was rather dirty so I used a wire brush to clean it out which revealed a hole, I galvanized the area with kurust and then removed the hole and put a new piece of metal in. I then hammerited it. After that was done I used some P38 Fibreglass filler to mould & build an extra layer in & around the tray that would an added layer of protection (being careful not to block the drain hole) I then hammerited this as well.

Also put new black Tex Mex wing mirrors on, nice and secure, required abit of modification on one of the drivers sides though as the original holes were not the correct size for the mounting plates (cut & bodge!)

Things i've got to do:
- Put new seats in
- Sort seals out on rhs bulkhead as they are perished and leaking slightly
- pump tyres up

Things I want to do:
- Order some NGK Iridium IX Spark Plugs
- Order a Pertronix Ignitor II & Ignitor II Coil
- Order Magnecor KV85 HT Leads
- Remove Rocker Cover & Paint

Photos tomorrow (lots I promise)

Latest

2007-12-27T17:33:00.000Z

So today, my friend james came round to try to motivate my ill self to get on with the car as it was a nice clear day.. it worked.

I removed all the carpet and took a wire brush & drill to the floorpans, then cleaned them with some KuRust, then painted the area with some smooth black hammerite.

The handbrake tunnel and other blue areas you can see are abit dirty but i'm going to clean them up tomorrow with a fresh lick of paint. My other plans for today were to possibly get the new seats in, or at the least get my new stereo and speakers wired up.

Got the speakers in:
Nice & neat, gave the vinyl abit of a clean as well. As for the stereo well, I wired it in and it didn't work, found out that I had wired in it correctly but one of the fuse's had gone. Before I realised this I figured I may as well get a multimeter.. (useful nonetheless).

Seats didn't get put in (I think this was abit optimistic) but james had to shoot off as his MG was giving him clutch problems.. Another update tomorrow. Hopefully stereo, carpets, new coat of paint in some interior areas.

*Wonders when seats will ever get done*.

Goodies muahhaha

2007-12-24T12:37:00.001Z

I work most saturday nights at a club in newmarket, live in Norwich and I really didn't want to drive back and sleep in a layby (I was very tired). So I kipped round a work mates and the next day one of his flat mates took us onto the airbase (xmas shopping), so i figured why not..

Oh my lord, it's so CHEAP! I walked around the "bx" as it's known for a whole hour probably with my mouth open..

Anyway despite it being two days before xmas, I picked up a set of really nice Kenwood Speakers and a Kenwood DAB CD Player with ipod function, mp3 etc etc (same model would cost upwards of £200) I got them BOTH for $154!! (At the current exchange rate that's: £77.70!).

(For the triumph and my ongoing effort to make it more comfortable / ashetically pretty :P)

2007-12-22T17:05:00.000Z

Removed the seats today, I knew that the seats would either go in or I'd have to remove the rollbar and so the Alley Roll Bar was removed..

Doubt i'll be using this again as the seats are my priority.

Carpet could do with a good wet & dry clean, perhaps even a new carpet set at some point in the future (not to soon!).

The current harnesses should fit the new seats, the new seats may have to be put in as fixed seats as well, but i'm going to try and make some mount plates to connect the runners to the chassis.

Bits to do..

2007-12-21T16:15:00.001Z

This is merely so I don't forget I need to:

Let the paint dry (I will restrain myself from driving)
Whilst it's drying put the new seats in (this will no doubt take a few days planning and putting them in)
Clean & Look after the hardtop with some proper autoglym "hood" treater
Once dried properly, clean the paintwork.
Paint the steelie wheels
Tyre Paint
Order Pertronix Ignition Set & Magnecor 85KVM Leads
Reseal cowling & pedal rubbers
Put battery back in & drive.

Just off the top of my head..

Spraying Finished

2007-12-21T16:00:00.000Z

Well after all the fuss my second attempt at spraying has finished, I did three thick coats with antibloom thinners and did two coats with the high gloss thinners (75% thinners 25% paint).

I didn't suffer any runs at all, the one thing I will say is that I ordered 2litres of high gloss thinners and it only just lasted me the two final coats.

Also my new seats arrived :) Cobra Clubman Classics with subframes & runners, a bargain at £85 including delivery!

The seats came (unknowingly with runners) they had originally been used in a mini, it looks as though the runners have had a front and back modification that merely was bolted onto the runners. The seats as they stand will sit too high to use them, but the previous setup helps me in that I will be able to remove these "additions" and bolt the runners straight to the car as per the original houndstooth seats do. (or this is the plan). Obvioulsy i've measured out the dimensions and they will fit, either without or with slight modification and perhaps removal of the Alley Roll Bar.

Here we go again!

2007-12-20T13:37:00.001Z

Right, tried to clear as much space as I could in the garage, not too bad, i've got access to one whole side of the car and the bonnet, after i've done that i'll have to move it out, put it back in and do the other side.

*Update - ran some thinners through the gun, it looked clean.. tested on a decorating sheet, spitting horrible shit all over the place, took the gun apart and cleaned it properly. Big difference, beautiful spray now.

Just completed the front bonnet, window supports and right hand side with the first coat (using jawel anti bloom thinners 50/50). The antibloom thinners seem to lay down a thicker coat than the rubbish i was using before. Apparently it takes slightly longer to dry, got a heater keeping a constant 22C in the garage atm. Will leave for a few hours and go back for the second coat. Then i'll do a 2 coats of high gloss thinners and we'll hopefully be done.

In the mean time i'm going to reprep the boot lid as i'm not happy with it.

Brrrrrrr....

2007-12-19T10:36:00.000Z

It's bloody freezing, which is making me very lazy to do anything on the car, yesterday I decided to block down the front bonnet and the rear boot lid.

Problem is that our garage is now getting filled with wood for the fire and it gives me very limited room for doing anything with the car, I suspect when I come round to spraying it I will do as many panels as I can individually.

My speedo has gone, after replacing the speedo cable it has been incredible in accurate jumping all over the shop, i've been told that this is due to worn bushes inside the speedo, so either replacement gauge is needed or I could put an aftermarket digital speedo in.. hmm

Woops

2007-12-14T14:06:00.001Z

So i've been really bad and not updated this in ages.. here goes:

After respraying the car and letting her dry for 2 weeks in the garage, I decided it was time to bring the shine out. To cut a long story short, she wouldn't shine up, not properly anyway.

Whilst researching how to bring cellulose up I realised that I should have used anti-bloom thinners and then used high gloss thinners for the final coats. Now I am really ashamed (now I've researched thinners) to admit that I made the sin of all stupidities.. and I used Halfords Thinners.

.. You can pick up your jaw now.. I know.

Anyway moving on, a few other things have happend, something broke on one or several of the catches during high winds on my hard top, It came flying off and smashed buckling all over the road. Fun times.. I chucked it.

With that and the fact it had started to get extremely cold and I have the use of another car I figured i'd put her away until I could get everything ready to redo her again.

I've stripped her back down, she's in the garage on high stands, so far i've got together:

Jawel High Gloss Thinners (2Litres)
Jawel Anti-Bloom Thinners (5Litres)
Cleaned and prepped my gun & compressor
2 1/2 Litres more paint
50 Sheets of P2000 Grit Wet & Dry
G3 Compound
Mequiars Gold 3 Step Plan
Delonghi Garage Heater with programmable Climate Control
New wing mirrors
Wipac chrome driving lamps + brackets

I'm still waiting for a few things to arrive / be ordered:

Pertronix Ignition II & Flamerthrower coil (xmas prezzy hopefully ;) )
Ordered new seats (2x Cobra Clubman Classics)
Need to order subframes for them & seat dye

My current seats look in great condition but the phoams are abit warn and being so tall makes driving the spitfire not the most comfortable thing ever.

I intend on modifying the seats and subframes so that I can get some extra space out of them, if necerssary I may get rid of the roll bar. The houndstooth seats will go on ebay soon.

Other than the paint I don't really need any thing else, but they are items/mods that will make my life alot more comfortable in the car :)

Preperation Finished

2007-10-22T11:30:00.000+01:00

Right, preperation is now finished, it's not perfect but it's as close as I could get, i've spent almost 3 weeks gradually prepping the car, learning as I went along and redoing panels I was not happy with.

A friend of the family has given me an air compressor to use, it's a big thing, 40 litres, not quite sure if it's powerful enough but by the size of it, it should be.

I've just spent the last hour and a half masking off the back of the car, it is overcast with low clouds, no wind and an ever so slight drizzle every half hour, not the type of weather I can spray in. However I do intend on hopefully prepping the hardtop in the garage today and maybe having ago at getting a base coat down.

Rather nervous at the thought of putting paint on now, but it's got to be done!

Arghh!

2007-10-19T17:12:00.000+01:00

OK so I applied a couple of thick coats of primer today and blocked it all down again just to be certain, I am now officially fed up to the back teeth of having primer permenantely stuck to my fingers / hands, i've been trying to use disposable rubber gloves but they just rip all the time!

Went over the numberplate area again, boot lid, both doors and window supports.

Abit slow atm as I work night shifts at the weekend and organise rugby + world cup final tomorrow night.. (also got guests up this weekend, so having to move the spitfire into the garage and pull the marquee down).

waiting for some good weather, monday and tuesday are not meant to be too bad, see what the winds like, if its not great i'll use those two days to service the car and put all the new bits ive got on her.

Bits & Pieces..

2007-10-17T22:48:00.001+01:00

Whilst prepping the car I've often found myself wondering off thinking about modifications I could make to the car, whether that be performance or asthetic. So far I will be making these changes & for these reasons:

- Black & Silver Embossed Metallic Number Plates, with a screwless fixing (this is because I wanted new plates as the old ones were cracked and very dirty & I thought they looked alot better i realise the legal implications of this).

- The front number plate when put on will no longer be positioned infront of the grill but further below on the bottom chassis, easier access to cleaner air to cool engine, looks better, easier to see.

- Halogen Chrome Fog Lamps & Halogen Conversion Kit (an obvious benefit)

I am tempted by these basic performance/economical changes:
- Twin SU HS4 K&N Chrome Sports Filters to replace standard filters
- Pertronix Ignitor I(or II) + Ignitor I(or II) Coil for electronic ignition
- Uprated HT Leads & Plugs

However these I think can wait awhile as I want to get the car running on "the button" after the respray with a good service.

Changes already made to the car have been: phoenix twin exhaust, 4-2-1 manifold, dash start/stop Kenlo electric fan, uprated radiator, Hella Air Horns (dixie - not my choice but makes the kids smile), it has a performance plus Ivor Searle replacement 1500 engine with 65K, chrome tex wing mirrors, racing harnesses & rollcage.

Hip Hip Hooray

2007-10-17T18:14:00.001+01:00

The sun has got his hat on! Was quite lazy today but I managed to remove; lights & bumpers, two good coats of primer on the RHS door & some blocking inbetween & after. LHS window support was rubbed down, primed, blocked and primed again. (although i've had to use a different colour primer (same make / model) white instead of grey which is a pain as they won't have any in for another 2 weeks and no where else sells it within 40 miles.

Went over the rest of the car with 800 & 1200 grit wet & dry, much much smoother now.

The area on the rear numberplate that was rusted is now down to a clean metal finish, I have also filled the original screw holes as I will not be needing them with the new plates I have & it will only let moisture in.
Removed the softop completely to allow me some more room to work with, have ordered two new seals & rubber blocks that are missing on the hardtop, filled one tiny area, rubbed down and is ready to prime tomorrow. I also ordered a new speedo cable as mine has snapped (a good job to do along side the Clutch Slave Cylinder).

Starting to take shape now, thinking I may move the front numberplate elsewhere instead of the original location infront of the grill.

Tuesday 16th October

2007-10-16T18:01:00.000+01:00

OK so being realistic this is taking me slightly longer than expected because:

- The weather is shity and so I am limited to what I can do (no priming or painting)
- Even on wet weather days I am seriously bored and want to get on with the car so have been making more work for myself by being really really overly fussy with the car and going over them again. (although the panels I have redone are looking extremely better and will over all give a much better finish)

Luckily at one point this afternoon I had 2 hours without rain and so took a photo of the car as she stands.

For my first time ever doing any bodywork or spraying to a car I'm very happy with the progress so far:
What will tomorrow hold?
- Bumper Removal (front and back)
- Light Removal (back, front already done)
- Priming RHS door as today I got it back to a perfect bare metal finish and sorted a few inadequecies
- Prep rear number plate / light area - removal of rust and apply some rust protector.

The weather is meant to be beautiful tomorrow so i'd hope to get this done and maybe more. But if theres one thing i've learnt so far in doing this, it's not to skip a job or rush it as I just end up redoing it and wasting more money on stripper and primer!

Sunday

2007-10-13T12:48:00.000+01:00

Well it's Saturday 13th October and i'd loved to have done more to the spitfire but the weather has been god aweful, today is a perfect day to get on however i've got to go organise/play rugby & i'm working till the early morning tonight so Sunday will be my day of work and Monday my day of rest!

Decided i'm going to do the whole car, this morning I went to Express Radiators who do professional automotive mixing, brought another litre of cellulose @ £29, picking it up monday. Also went down to Wilcos and brought some KuRust, Body Filler, Paint Stripper and another litre of primer.

Tomorrow I intend on: Applying paint stripper to the doors and front screen supports, whilst thats going for 20 minutes or so i'm going to over the front bonnet with Body Filler (it's fibreglass and I accidentally hit some of the body filler that was already on there at an angle and chipped it out). Once thats drying i'll clear the paint stripper, clean it all down and apply some Kurust to the bottom of the drivers door as there is slight surface rust. Go back to the filler on the bonnet and sand/smooth down. Clear Kurust, sand & apply primer to doors, bonnet and supports. Then give a second coat of primer.

Once this is all done I will go back over the car looking for any niggly little bits, and come monday I will perfect & finalise the preperation of the body. Then I'll pick the extra paint up, mix a 50/50 first coat over the car of cellulose & thinner, then gradually heavier when applying extra coats.

Once this is all done and dried any extra paint I will apply extra coats, then take a orbital polisher and some G3 compound to the paint work, TCut it once or twice and then apply the correct protective shampoos, polishes and waxes.

Then extra details like replace clutch slave cylinder, bleed fluid & renew with castrol, add pre-'72 metal embossed black&silver plates, installing a small amp inbetween headunit and speakers (cannot hear with roof down atm) and give the wheels a good clean up / coat of alloy paint.

I'm along way off but I see no reason (except money) why it shouldn't be finished in 3 weeks to this standard.

Wish me luck!

Gun & Paint

2007-10-11T15:30:00.000+01:00

My gun arrived today, most professionals use Iawa, Sata or Devilbiss. I certainly can't afford £200-£500 for a spray gun. Even second hand bottom range guns from these manufacturers go for £90-£150 from what i've seen on ebay.

Anyway I found my gun for £38.95 including delivery, it wasn't an unbranded £15 model but a Sealey S701G Deluxe Gravity Feed Gun. They sell for about £90-150 new so are kind of mid range guns but got this cheap as its old stock.

Here's a piccy:
I've got abit of a dilema with regards to paint, the original plan was to use the 2litres of paint I was given by the previous owner, however after watching an automotive body repair and spray video (very helpful) I decided that whilst I was there I might as well do as much as possible - hell if you're gonna do a job.. do it properly. I ended up prepping pretty much the whole of the exterior of the car down except the driver and passenger doors (which will be done tomorrow).

The dilema you see is that I do not have enough paint to cover all the exterior car, not for the type of finish I want i'd need another 2 litres. Here I think.. I COULD change the colour of the car .. i'd probably appreciate it more in a colour of my own choice.. OR what my father suggested was to use the paint I had on the top half of the car and on the bottom half spray it with a cream/white colour to gain a classic two tone effect?

At the moment my thoughts are narrowed down to:

Pageant Blue (baby blue) Top Half / Cream Bottom half (slight gradient, deep at rear, shallow at front end)
Metallic Black all over
Pageant Blue all over

What to do what to do..

Photos

2007-10-11T11:33:00.001+01:00

So I masked off the car as you can see in the photos and really tried my best (I have a tendency to rush things and forget easily).

Anyway here are some photos finished and half way through..
The two rear wing panels came out beautifully, I really was very pleased and suprised by the turn out, the bonnet came out fine but nowhere near as good as the rear wings, but i prepped the rear wings alot longer so i'll do the same on the bonnet when I re do it tomorrow.

Over all I was quite pleased with the result, my first ever go at this type of thing and so far i'm very encouraged.

So Far..

2007-10-10T09:16:00.000+01:00

So far I have rubbed the necerssary areas down (I know people will critise but I'm not going to do a complete panel rub down) with 120-1200 grit wet & dry using an electric sander & alittle bit of hand checking. In my preperation I also brought a marquee off ebay for £20 with 4 walls and a floor which will be used as my mini spray booth (it's better than nothing and certainly better than my garage as its very dusty).

I also made a trip to halfords late last night, only because Wilcos wasn't open and ended up buying Cellulose Thinners, Kurust (if there is any), Good quality primer, I already have all the paint, masking tape and white spirit.

After I post this i'm heading back to clean the car and the surfaces with fairy liquid as its quite acidic, then dry it, then check all the areas i will be spraying, more than likely go over with some more fine grit, clean with white spirit, tape the surrounding areas and get the primer down.

Will update with photos later

3 Months Later..

2007-10-09T18:39:00.000+01:00

I drove the Spitfire from Peteborough back home, no problems (except getting caught in the rain with the roof down!).

It also had a reasonable cd player, two panasonic speakers behind the seats, a dixie horn, manual electric start fan and some other bits I can't remember.

About 2 weeks after having her and about 250 miles I let my younger brother take her down to the bottom of my parents drive.. she smelt oddly of fuel. Popped the bonnet and found she was leaking fuel off the vent tube from one off the 2nd SU fuel float.

Ran into alot of bills at the start of my second year, so the Spitfire sat on my parents drive way for a few weeks, I figured i'd save the money and get everything sorted all at once. I might as well get the necerssary panels sprayed and sorted along with it.

So this week I intend to:

Rub Down the necerssary panels properly
Buy a decent spray gun
Borrow a friends air compressor
Buy some good quality primer, cellulose thinners and KuRust
Buy A Gazebo! (A Cheap Spray Booth to you and I!

Update soon with photos..

Buying The Triumph

2007-10-09T18:24:00.000+01:00

The last two cars i've owned were more asthetically pleasing than they were mechanically, so this time I did alot of research on Spitfires and figured out what I wanted and how much I wanted to spend.

I'd love to own a MK2 or MK3 but they are either in scrap condition or they are in mint condition, either way they require alot of work & alot of money or just alot of money. So a MKIV or 1500 was my aim. I set myself 1200 as my budget just for the purchase of the car. I wanted something running with tax and mot, solid body work, structure and as much service history / paperwork as possible.

I watched alot of MKIV & 1500 on ebay, noting the differences and the prices they went for, typically it seemed Spitfires with mechanical problems and a shiny paintjob went for alot more than Spitfires with solid bodywork, history and mechanics with a shity paintjob. Most of the best advice receieved was from the Triumph Owners Club and their members.

I found a 1980 Triumph Spitfire 1500, Blue, the photos showed poor exterior paint work, several new replacement panels, it listed it had mot and tax but did not say how much, no real details.

It was 90 miles away & was on £350 on ebay with 6 days left. I organised to go see the car, I arrived in peteborough and saw the car, she was garaged didn't have FSH but it had alot considering the age, it also had alot of receipts for the last 8 years, of which one showed a new Ivey Searle 1500 Unleaded converted engine (now with 32K on). It also had 11 months mot and 8 months tax, new SU carbs. No oil leaks, the interior was tidy, with a roll cage, racing harnesses, triumph seat covers, the original seats (fantastic condition), proof it had been practically rebuilt 8 years ago, with recent new front suspension and service. It also came with an original steel hard top (had been rubbed down for spraying).

The chap didn't know much about ebay, he said he wanted £800 for it, went to the bank, and it was sold! I also got about 3 litres of cellulose professionally matched paint for the panels that needed doing.

About Me

2007-10-09T16:38:00.000+01:00

I'm twenty one years old, I'm at university in the east of england studying Computer Sciences (yes boring.. I know), I was a late learner driving and have only had a licence for just under two years.

My first car was a 1979 Volkswagen Polo "L" 895cc in bright yellow, full service history 22,400 Miles, the paint was faded and at first I hated it, I had been given it for free by my elderly (although well off) neighbour. I learnt to love it, especially after I realised that with some G3 Compound, TCut & Polishing she up like new. The only maintenance I ever had to do to this car was new brake pads.

I sold her to my best friend who still has her to this day (39K on clock now) and still going strong, I then brought a 1984 MK2 Polo 1043cc "Breadvan" in Mars Red for £160 with 12 months mot and 6 months tax. It was a bargain, it had blatently been round the clock as it had only 39K on and significant engine wear for a 39K car! Very poor electrics allround, I think the only thing I ever did was drive it like a riot van & paint the teledial alloys that came with it black & red hammerite. It looked evil!

I quickly got shot of this, I then lived without a car for all of 2 months and went to the car auctions "do not buy at your first auction" my dad said.. I ended up buying a 1983 MK1 Golf GTI, fully debadged, smoothed, sprayed porsche green, the lot.. (GORGEOUS CAR to drive!)
The only problem with this car was I spent FAR too much money on it, insurance although I got a fantastic deal was too expensive (espeically since i'd just started at Uni!). Went like sh*t for shovel but drank alot of fuel and required a full exhaust system, new wheels, brakes & tune.

I took the strut brace off to get to the manifold and after a long job I was tired and forgot to put it back on (along with the suspension bolts). The next day I bent the suspension in a pot hole, not terribly, just enough the tracking was fucked and it needed replacing.

It had to go, so i swapped it for a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle 1200 in Rover TwoTone Purple/Blue, 8"x15" Deep Dish Chrome Alloys, Lowered, Recarro Leather Interior, Custom Exhaust & Carbs, had a 1303 Engine in.

This car I absolutely loved, my girlfriend loved, it was another gorgeous car and great fun, it certainly got alot more attention the all my other cars. Unfortunately I didn't realise that I sprung a tiny oil leak, however on a long journey, i lost enough oil and the oil light was apparently faulty did not come on and the engine seized. (well I say it seized I managed to drive it the whole way back home knowing that the crankshaft was smashing against the side of the engine.. it only finally died after another 600 miles! BEAST!)

I was going to put a 1600TP in her but someone offered me more than the golf had cost me (which i'd swapped for the beetle) so I took the cash, paid a significant amount of my student overdraft off and then started looking at "sensible" cars as my mother put it.

I ended up doing alot of research, got awefully bored and started looking at fun cars again, I knew in the back of my mind what i've always always dreamt of having.. a Triumph Spitfire.

My god father setup a savings account for me that I couldn't open until I was 21 that was for my "first car", he always sent me birthday cards with Triumph Spitfires, TR4s, Stags etc on with "your birthday present is growing for your twenty first" written inside.

Unfortunately when I was 17 I needed some money and had the ingenius idea of trying to blag I was 21 to get some cash out and ended up spending it quite quickly on useless unecerssary rubbish over the following year. Hind sight is a wonderful thing!