Triumph Spitfire Restoration
Below you'll find all my journal entries relating to the restoration of my 1971 Triumph Spitfire MkIV! Updates are fairly sporadic, and progress is a little slow, but hopefully she'll be back on the road before long...
Another Six Months Gone...
Sunday, March 18, 2007
...with no updates to the site! Not my biggest break from posting, but a sizeable one none the less! I've not even managed to gather much news to post in that time, but I've got a few new acquisitions I can mention - you'll see...
Last Sunday I went along with a friend to the filming of Top Gear of the Pops but I stupidly forgot my camera, so not much to report really! Enjoyed seeing and talking to the Top Gear presenters, but the music was a bit of a washout besides Supergrass (with Ade Edmondson on guitar!) so I'll be looking out for more stuff from them in future!
The Spitfire has more or less been ignored since the summer, time, enthusiasm, funds and decent weather have all been somewhat lacking! It was never planned for a quick turn around, but I've realised I need a project to get some enjoyment from in the present, not a few years down the line! I've got plans for something else to work on for the time being, but the Spitfire will be going nowhere, I'll have it finished one day!
Posted at 11:39 | Comments (0)
Could Have Been Expensive!
Saturday, October 7, 2006
I had a phone call this morning from my credit card company to query an attempted transaction - someone had tried to spend a few thousand pounds at computing store Dabs.com (not a company I'd ever use, going on past experiences!). Fortunately it would have gone over my credit limit, so the transaction was declined.
I'm tech savvy enough to keep my computer secure and not to go putting my details into phishing sites, but was obviously concerned that someone had my credit card details sitting about. Turns out that it was a genuine transaction, as the payment was later made correctly, so the buyer had managed to typo his own credit card details for my own - quite an achievement. Annoyingly though, it means the card has been barred and I need to wait for a new one to turn up... usually takes an age!
Just the one Spitfire picture today... forgot to charge the camera batteries! Nothing too dramatic from yesterday evening's session in the garage... Mainly tidying up/trimming back the A pillar and floor to weldable metal.
Unfortunately the top mounting for the front of the sill (the clean metal at the bottom of what's left of the A pillar in the below shot) is completely past it, so I'll probably snip a few cm off that and fabricate a bit of steel to run right the way round. I'll also need to fabricate a bit of the bulkhead (about the right hand third here) where past repairs have made a mess of the metal I need to weld to.
Held a few panels in place to get an idea for the fit - the floor and sill look to line up, but I'm struggling to fit the A pillar repair panels between them, so will need to take some measurements to work out what's out of line before I snip anything to fit! Just the floor sat in place on its own:
Posted at 20:41 | Comments (1)
The Metal Cutting Continues
Friday, October 6, 2006
Here we have the layers of metal from the inside of the A pillar, right behind the front of the sill which you saw cut off earlier. Not brilliantly clear, but that's five, where there should be one! Fun getting through that with the angle grinder in four different places to shift it all!
This is the foremost section of the rear wing... The red paint had a centimetre or so of filler underneath it, a fairly recent repair panel for that section of the wing, the original wing, and about two inches of filler where an interior panel should join it.
And this I suppose is the point of no return...
Posted at 16:39 | Comments (0)
The Metal Cutting Begins!
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Started some cutting on Sunday morning... I've not much room either side of the car, so the photos are all at silly angles! They don't seem to show up the rust brilliantly, but it's gory, to say the least!
Cutting the front end of the driver's side sill away, peeling back reveals some old repair panels that have definitely seen better days:
Cutting the rest of the sill away reveals a manky old patch panel running all the way along the length of the sill where the sill strengthener should be... maybe it's still underneath? It'd been made with three panels welded end to end, and you can see where it's been marked up with pencil - it's a piss poor fit. These panels cost a tenner, so god knows why they made their own.
Once I'd cut the sill along the top, the only thing holding it onto the car was the filler along the bottom, there was no welding. I pulled at it gently and away it came... considering these are bits that seem to have been replaced, I dread to think what else I'll come across!
Cutting away the repair panel reveals the old strengthener underneath... nice and solid as you can see!
It was at this point that I realised there was nothing attaching the floor to the sill, other than filler! A quick stamp with my size nines proves this quite effectively...
And this is where I left it before coming in to give my back a rest...
I'm starting to think I made a good decision buying so many replacement panels, but I can already see I haven't got nearly as many as I'll need. I really should have bought a nice rust free Californian bodyshell instead, shouldn't I? Oh, and if you're wondering... the passenger side is the worse of the two. Lots of fun to come, it seems!
Posted at 18:51 | Comments (0)
Shell Stripped, Door Gaps Braced
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Earlier in the week, I completely stripped the bulkhead, dash and steering column, which includes the entire wiring loom.
I'm planning to construct the replacement wiring from scratch, as things will differ so massively from the stock loom. I probably should have labelled things to make life easier when referencing the original, though!
Unfortunately rain stopped play - I set up camp inside the garage with a few beers, but ended up packing it in for the week! Got back out there today, and set to work on bracing the door gaps.
Finally decided how I was going to do it... Bolted a short piece of box section to two holes for the soft top fixings, and another to holes drilled in the inside of the A pillar, behind the door hinge mountings. Welded a length of box section between them.
Not super strong mounting locations, but they should be strong enough. Should give me room for cutting and welding, and let me fit the doors to check door gaps as I go too. Of course, I could have spent £100 on adjustable door braces a year ago and started cutting at the rust! I seem to put money into all the wrong places!
Didn't get as far as cutting any old metal away... my garage is 50 metres from the house (extension leads galore!) and joins on to someone else's house - they're selling up, so I offered to pack up to make things tidier/quieter whenever they have a viewing - unfortunately they're having one the same day I start making progress! Will hopefully start hacking at the sills tomorrow, weather permitting!
Posted at 19:05 | Comments (0)
Spitfire Progress Updates
Friday, June 2, 2006
Whoops, rather a while without any updates, but I've not been up to a great deal recently!
Here we have the rebuilt front suspension and brakes, all new fixings, stripped and painted over a few major bits, wishbones, anti roll bar, turrets etc. The rest is all shiny new. AVO height adjustable dampers, 330lb springs, polybush, rest is stock.
It took a couple of weeks (!) but I managed to tidy the garage up a bit...
...ready to start poking at the rot! Hours of fun!
Posted at 14:31 | Comments (0)
Started on the Chassis Painting
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Well, the front at any rate...
All it took was a day with the angle grinder's wire brush attachment, and generous splashings of POR-15 paint. I've been waiting for a handful of cheap bits from Canley's for over a month, and it doesn't look like they'll be appearing any time soon, so the suspension rebuild will have to wait for the time being.
It's hardly the same effect as shot blasting and powder coating, but it'll keep the rust and the MOT tester's crayon at bay.
Posted at 19:33 | Comments (0)
Got The Engine Out This Morning
Sunday, March 5, 2006
I hadn't originally planned to do any work while it was out, simpy aiming to make life easier for tiding up the chassis, rebuilding the suspension and taking the body off, although I thought I might change my mind if it turned out to be a headache. However, it was a lot quicker and easier than expected, so I'll probably stick it back in and wait until I have more time to get it rebuilt.
Let's hope I can remember how it all goes back together...!
Posted at 13:19 | Comments (0)
One of My Latest Toys
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
I got home from a trip to Chichester with work, only to find a very large parcel dumped on my doorstep. Went inside, put my things down, and went back outside to bring it in. Adopted the correct lifting position, got a good grip, tried to stand up, but didn't go anywhere. Oof. Rather a heavy one, it seems. Cue a rather bewildered look as I noticed the 150kg stamped on the side of the box. Probably my engine crane, then, though I wasn't expecting it to be quite that heavy! I then also noticed the large messy trail where the delivery driver had simply dragged the parcel through my neighbour's flower bed rather than up my path. He must have saved himself all of 3 metres...
Once I'd removed all the parts individually, put on a hat to protect me from the snow and armed with a cup of tea and a socket set, I set to work. Not an overly complicated construction, but the weight of the various parts makes it a little more awkward. I had to put it together down the side of my house, as I was worried it wouldn't fit through the garden gate, but once finished it actually folds up a lot smaller than I expected. If there wasn't a car in the way at the moment, I could probably store it at the back of the garage.
It's capable of lifting two tons, which is obviously overkill as my entire car is supposedly under 800kgs, but it should come in handy none the less. It's got a great range of extension, so I may even see if I can use it to lift the body off with it - probably not the most stable way of doing it, but it might work, we'll have to see. I'm hoping to get the engine and gearbox out in the next couple of weeks so I can finish rebuilding the front suspension and brakes and get the front of the chassis tidied up.
The snow wasn't settling very much, but it was cold none the less - a nice cup of tea only helps so much... particularly without biscuits.
The arm folds right into it's stand, and the legs from the central wheels to the furthest out wheels detach with the removal of four pins, so it's easy to store, and it will in fact fit through my garden gate sideways, so at least I can stick it by the back door with a tarpaulin over it!
Posted at 16:10 | Comments (0)
Far Too Cold For Being Naked
Friday, January 20, 2006
But fortunately it's the car, not myself - whilst you'd be forgiven for thinking the bodywork had rusted away to nothing, I've actually removed the missing parts myself. It's quite amazing just how much weight you can lose from shifting a few bits, whilst the Police might not take too kindly, driving it in the state below is immense fun - if I had the cash, I'd go on a major weight loss campaign, fibreglass panels where appropriate, epoxy doors etc.
All the pictures and descriptions I've seen of bonnet removal on the Herald based cars suggest two people, but I was determined to remove it on my own. I'd estimate the weight at about 50kg with the various fittings in place, but I've not got any scales to check - the copious quantities of underseal don't help matters... It's far more the awkward size than the weight that makes the removal tricky - your arms need to be at full stretch across the bonnet whilst manoeuvring it out of the chassis hinge supports - I can see why it would be easier with a person on each side.
Posted at 12:17 | Comments (0)
Progress with the Spitfire
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Rather a misleading title, as there's not a huge deal of progress, but hopefully there will be before long. I took it off the road a while ago, which was a far more simple process than I'd expected - take the V5 into the Post Office, they scan the barcode on it, job's a good'un.
I've taken it off the road to undertake a full restoration - it doesn't really need it, in the sense that I could easily make it road worthy with a bit of minor welding, but I've been doing less and less miles in it, so I decided it was as good a time as any to do some major work on it. I bought it as a fun project, but never had any real problems that needed working on, so now it's going to fulfil that criteria, albeit perhaps not that much on the fun side - more the sort of project with copious quantities of skinned knuckles and Plus Gas soaked clothing.
With the chassis being separate from the body, the obvious path is to get the body off, but it's a fairly big job, and I've got rather limited space, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm also rather short of money and time, but other than that I'm good to go!
I've no definite plans for what I'm going to do with it as yet - suspension and brake overhauls are a bit of a given. If I take the body off, I'll get the chassis in as good a condition as I can. Bodywork will depend on how much I feel needs replacing as I strip it back. Whether I go for a respray or I'm unsure - I'll be replacing the sills regardless, but the majority of external body panels are in decent shape. I can't help being tempted by a Le Mans style bonnet though, which would need to be sprayed regardless.
I've no particular interest in keeping it in a Concours condition, so perhaps some minor modernisation, some decent wiring wouldn't go amiss, but I'm not going to go changing the nature of the car, it's a classic and it'll stay that way. Keep an eye out for some progress reports!
Posted at 09:34 | Comments (0)
Converting to electronic ignition
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
I had planned to spend the morning converting the Spitfire to electronic ignition, but it took about ten minutes, so I spent the morning driving round the countryside instead. Its not an especially exciting job, but I've not seen any pictures of the process, so I thought I'd post a mini article.
All Spitfires bar the 1500 use a Delco Remy mechanical contact breaker distributor, which isn't the most wonderful pieces of equipment. The 1500's used a Lucas contact breaker system, and the American 1500's an electronic version of the same distributor.
The kit I fit today is an Aldon/Pertronix Ignitor 1149C suitable for all of the Spitfire's Delco Remy distributors, and probably a few other 4 cylinder Triumphs as well. Those running with a positive ground would need to be converted to negative beforehand, but I imagine those that would consider installing electronic ignition would be quite happy to do this anyway if they hadn't already. Surely the concours guys and girls get bored without a decent radio? There's plenty of different kits available, but the Ignitor fits entirely within the distributor cap, making for a very tidy installation. Externally, there's only one wire extra giving away your electronic ignition.
Edit: If you're wondering why the last two posts appeared at once I managed to leave the backend outputting to a test file, got distracted and never realised... oops!
Read on (1002 words - 4 images)
Posted at 13:48 | Comments (0)
Perhaps I went a little crazy...
Monday, October 25, 2004
In a move that surprised even myself, I returned home today with a receipt for a 1971 Triumph Spitfire in tow. As impulse purchases go, I guess this is the worst I've made to date... particularly as it has the potential to eat up obscene amounts of my time and money!
For the time being, its a bit of a restoration project, but at least I can run it in the mean time. The interior and engine bay seem to have been rather bodged together, but the bodywork and chassis generally seems sound, which is what I was after - whilst I haven't really got the facilities or expertise to take on much in the way of bodywork, I can certainly give the rest of it a go.
Going with a classic insurance specialist will certainly save me a bit of money, but I can't really justify running the eurobox at the same time, so I'll have to sell that on and hope this will be nice and reliable - only time will tell.
Posted at 17:00 | Comments (0)
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