Restoration

[SpencerH]

I recently rebuilt the engine on my '76 spitfire 1500. It was more meant as a temporary rebuild to last a few summer until I am done school and have more dispoable income..

So now the time has come to go commence a serious resto. I have all the body work lined up with a buddy who owns a shop in town. But between now and then, i am unsure of the first steps to take in regards to the engine/tranny/drivetrain.

I have been doing some research in seeing what is required to do an engine swap with an american v8 (due to being lighter weight, easy to find, and apparently not too complex to install). But not being a mechanic, i am still unsure. Now i have been reading some blogs and other forums and see lots of mods people to do the original engines and seem to work fine. Being in Canada (meaning itll be driven 4 months a year) would it be worth doing an engine swap and making all the necessary mods to the body and frame, or would a guy just be better off to make a few mods to the current engine. OR is there a better engine altogether (a GT6 or sprint v8) or something along those lines?

I am in need of some guidance and idea's because i have never taken on a project like this.

[gfiandy]

I would keep the original engine and improve intake and exhaust.

However if you want significantly more power the easiest upgrade would be a GT6 engine, or for even more a TR6 PI 2.5 engine. Lots of people have done this so you should be able to get good advice from the forum.

A V8. is going to be much more difficult to fit. Perhaps you may be able to find people in Canada who have done V8s as I am sure they are more common there.

Andy

[Alex]

2674 wrote:

I would keep the original engine and improve intake and exhaust.

However if you want significantly more power the easiest upgrade would be a GT6 engine, or for even more a TR6 PI 2.5 engine.

I'd agree with Andy's first point however disagree with the second.....
There's other items that would need changing if you fitted a 6 cylinder engine, brakes and bonnet being the obvious.
The engine is very heavy(especially the 2.5!) so idealy needs moving back into the bulkhead and thats where your work really starts........

Alex

[molten]

Being a big fan of V8 engines, I was very tempted to do the mods in my own spitfire. However due to the ever-increasing fuel prices (and the way I drive  :P) I opted to stick with the original 1500 engine. All depends on what you want.
If I was only to drive for it only four months and fuel prices cheaper than uk, then I would personally do the mods and get four months of fun out of it. The sound of a nice V8 in one of these cars is great but this tiime the head won over the heart and I stayed with standard engine (will tune though of course).
V8 Engine mounting is first obsticle - how low & how far back. If plan is to use holly/offenhauser carb (likely on v8) then bonnet bulge is also an issue. Just calls for more and more money :(
Best Wishes
Scott