Spitfire 1500 rally project

[Maarten Louwe]

I have a Triumph spit 1500 and have been thinking up ideas of what I want to do with it, Electrical, Underside, brakes and suspension all need overhauling but engine runs smoothly.

I came to the point of what I would most like to use the car for and I got stuck onto the idea of road rallies with slight amount of rough road (gravel/hard dirt). I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or experience with building a Spit 1500 for this use case? I know that I will have a race fuel cell fitted for safety and engine work is not needed currently. advice on suspension setups? and what would need doing or is worth doing while overhauling anyways?

many thanks for advice to come

[Clive]

I used my old spitfire for road rallies. 

For suspension the front had harder springs. If you are looking at gravel etc I would avoid lowering the car at all. Rear suspension is decent. Use best quality parts, so Koni shocks and superflex bushes. Brakes are pretty good as standard, if you use the correct Mintex 1144 pads.  If you want bigger, you can use GT6 discs and princess 4 pot calipers, just about a straight swap

The standard Spitfire tank is very well protected already, so a fuel cell is not really needed. 

If doing night rallies (many are) I found a swap to "crystal" lenses and Nightbreaker bulbs gave a vast improvement, but LEDs are probably the best bet now. 

For safety, do consider a rollbar with a diagonal. You just never know....

[Maarten Louwe]

4 hours ago, Clive said:

I used my old spitfire for road rallies. 

For suspension the front had harder springs. If you are looking at gravel etc I would avoid lowering the car at all. Rear suspension is decent. Use best quality parts, so Koni shocks and superflex bushes. Brakes are pretty good as standard, if you use the correct Mintex 1144 pads.  If you want bigger, you can use GT6 discs and princess 4 pot calipers, just about a straight swap

The standard Spitfire tank is very well protected already, so a fuel cell is not really needed. 

If doing night rallies (many are) I found a swap to "crystal" lenses and Nightbreaker bulbs gave a vast improvement, but LEDs are probably the best bet now. 

For safety, do consider a rollbar with a diagonal. You just never know....

Thank you for this, fuel cell was more an idea of the current fuel system being completely shot, thank you for the brake suggestion I’ll look into the larger GT6 discs. Plan so far had been to update the suspension and not lower as slight clearance would be needed, skid plates will also probably be fitted to protect the front underside atleast. Yes the roll bar will be quite high on the list along with sorting some seating change as I’m a 6’3 lad and need some sort of protection. In essence a Jack of all trades spitfire which can survive gravel and be driven hard on road is the end goal and will definitely send updates to the forum once progress is made!

[Clive]

Seats are a "problem" because not much fits! And you being tall only adds to the woes, chuck in a rollbar and it is even trickier. 

The standard spitfire seats are the best fit. I tried MX5 seats in a spitfire, but despite doing all I could to reduce their height they were still too high. You experience may differ, but I strongly suggest finding a car with them fitted and getting in/sitting etc. But you need to allow for the roll bar, so make a note of where they sit. 

The other solution could be fibreglass seat shell from a kitcar, and you will require some foam padding. But there is no easy solution.