sparky_spit

I fitted Freelander studs all round on mine. There's no problem fitting them on the front, but on the back they are too long to be able to wiggle them into the rear hub flange as the backplate is in the way, as Ben says above. The easy fix was to drill a 1" diameter hole in the backplate using a 1" hole-saw, at about one o'clock, if I remember correctly. This was pretty easy and makes access for the stud to pass though and into the flange a doddle. When done, I used a 1" rubber blanking grommet to seal the hole. This was done years ago now, and there have been no problems.

Hi Mark - the driveshaft UJs are certainly the same as on a Mk3 Spitfire propshaft, so I would guess that they are all the same across the small chassis cars.

Plus three for the Falken SN823 tyres. I've had some on for the last 2 years and they are excellent all round tyres, especially in the wet.

And the bt.com derivative Talk21.com addresses such as xxxxx.T21@btinternet.com work too.

Hi Sam - with the +60 pistons fitted, did you get any interference issues between the piston crowns and the gasket fire-rings?

Thanks David. I've emailed a couple of pictures to you.  Cheers, Mike

I am the current custodian of the ex- Mike Bishop/Jon Ranwell/Chris Sherrington fastback Spitfire hardtop that ship’s engineer Phil very kindly delivered to me in Essex, from Scotland some time back.  I’m now just starting to look at restoring it. It’s an Ashley GRP moulding as shown in the picture below (not my car though) and is complete with all it’s parts, including a scrap of lurid green shagpile headlining. What is missing though is the nearside teardrop shaped glass window (see picture of the offside one which I have).  Does anybody have a nearside glass window available?  A long shot, I know, but I thought I’d ask. I have been in contact with MotoBuild who now own Ashley  currently produce hardtops for MG Midgets and Spitfires but with no luck. They can make me a Perspex one but I’d like to try and find a glass one if at all possible. Apologies for posting on multiple forums but I want to get as large a coverage as possible. Thanks.  

Hi Chris - yes your last thought on this is almost certainly correct. The single screw locates the rocker shaft in the correct position on the rearmost pedestal to keep the oil feed holes lined up and should have a shakeproof star washer under its head.  However, the screw can come loose over the years and fall out, and it can easily escape down a hole into the open end of a cam follower. The next time the owner takes the rocker cover off and notices the missing screw, a new one is put in its place with no thought to where the old one went.  Best bet is to Loctite the screw in place.

The slot in the stud is there on purpose and is like that from the factory.  Its job is to allow any trapped oil/liquid/air that may be lurking in the threaded holes in the block to escape upwards through the slot. If this is not allowed to escape it can create a very high pressure beneath the stud and cause damage to the block surface. If you want the best nuts with the best chance of attaining and holding the correct torque then the ones from an A Series Mini engine that have a built-in flange are brilliant, and many people (including me) have used and recommended them for quite a while now. Available from Mini-Spares for about a quid each.  http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Engine/Cylinder_heads/Studs_bolts_nuts/CAM4545.aspx?100409&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/head%20nuts.aspx|Back%20to%20search Looking at them and feeling them, you can tell that they are well engineered and well up to the job.  

Hi Chris - yes the correct way up is as shown in your bottom picture.

Don't use grease on a Payen head gasket.  These gaskets have a thin membrane layer of some silcone/plastic/slightly-sticky material on both sides which is there to bond the gasket to the head and block faces when torqued up the the correct figure.  Putting grease on would negate this and almost certainly cause the gasket to fail. The only place on the gasket where you might feel like putting some sealant is a very tiny amount around the small hole near the rear left-hand-side which is for the oil feed up to the rocker shaft (it's about 1/4" dia and will have a copper edging within the gasket) and can be a common area to leak oil. A thin smear of Hylomar or similar is probably best to use here if you decide to do this. It's worth stating that the head and block faces must be absolutely clean bare metal and free of any old gasket material, oil, or old sealant to allow the gasket to stick properly.

My 1296 engine does the same.  I'm lucky in that the car will not start from cold without choke, so I keep the engine turning over on the starter until the oil warning light goes out and then pull the choke out to start the car properly. It needs a decent battery to do this but seems to work okay to stop the engine "death rattle".

Another vote for Burlen. This is their core business and they are very good at it. There is a guy called Andy Headley (?) who re-bushes the carb spindle bearings in the carb body using rubber (or neoprene or similar) shielded ball races.  These are brilliant as they have no slop, are free turning, and are airtight as well. He did mine years ago and they are still perfect. Maybe someone knows if he is still about?  Mike C?

If it helps....  I have 1500 reclining seats in a MK3 which is fitted with a Safety Devices roll bar. I've modified the head rests so that they pull out quite easily. I can then move the seat forward on its runners so that the backrest can recline almost horizontally and then put the head rest back in so that the roll bar diagonal upright sits between the backrest and headrest. Perfect for long stints on the 10CR or sleeping in a layby. The only downside is if you wake suddenly and hit your head on the ironwork! Also, I have a build-it-yourself hood frame (Elise style) as the standard one won't fit with the roll bar fitted, and it's not the most elegant of things...  

Dave - pop back on here and let us know the outcome; it will be interesting to know if the V5C says Historic Vehicle or not when it comes back from DVLA.  Good luck.  Mike

I might be wrong, but I think that your car will not become an Historic Vehicle until April 2021 and therefore will still need an MOT and paid road tax until that date.  Does your V5C currently show your car as an Historic Vehicle? See the second sentence in this forum post, copied from the DLVA website  "The rolling system updates occur each April. For example, April 2016 sees all vehicles built prior to 1 January, 1976 eligible for Historic Vehicle car tax. This means all 1975-produced cars can be reclassified. April 2017 will see this change to all pre-1977 vehicles, and so on."

Not Rolduc I hope?

Hi Alan - welcome to the CT forum. If you are pretty sure that the 2ltr engine has been in there for 30-odd years and has been used during that period with good old leaded fuel, then there will be a good "lead memory" effect contained in the cylinder head's valve seats.  This will mean that you can use modern E5 petrol with relative safety and not have to worry overly about valve seat recession. It may be that the previous owner had hardened valve seat inserts fitted, in which case you don't need to worry at all. You can really only tell if inserts have been fitted by taking the head off and having a look, but it's not worth doing that just for that reason.  If you want to be 100% sure of avoiding possible valve seat recession then you could use a fuel lead substitute.  Most owners i know don't bother.  My Spitfire engine has done tens of thousands of miles without an additive and the valve seats are fine. One thing you might consider is to use the highest octane rating petrol you can find, such as Tesco 99, or Shell V-Power, and the like. This will give your engine the best chance of running well at near to manufacturer's ignition advance settings. Again, choose the fuel with least ethanol content. Don't worry too much about it; use the fuels as mentioned above and enjoy driving your new (old) Triumph. If you know the history of the car and it has been used frequently and recently, then just fill up with 99 octane petrol and use it.  If you are uncertain of how long the petrol has been in there, or it has been standing idle for a long period, then it would be best to drain it off and fill with fresh stuff. Modern petrol absorbs the water content from ethanol (or something like that) over time and you can end up with water in the tank, which is obviously not what you want. If the car has been used regularly before you bought it then it should be fine.  

I've fitted a heater fan motor from a Smart Car (in this case it was a Smart Fortwo) and it fitted my Mk 3 Spitfire with a few modifications. The motor's mounting flange needs trimming so that it fits in place on the heater box and your original fan is reused with the motor spindle hole drilled out to suit the new motor's shaft. Also, the motor needs spacing out an inch or thereabouts from the heater case; I used longer bolts and short lengths of metal tubing. It's easy to do and the motor is really powerful; much more so than the original fan's Gnat's fart power. I also fitted an eBay sourced Chinese 12volt variable power controller, which cost me about £2.50 including shipping. This made it a really worthwhile modification and it all works very well; demisting now takes seconds rather than minutes.

I think it was Bruce who had the issues with core shift and had a skimmed 6 pot head break through to the water passage?  Maynards and Gareth T were involved with trying to fix it for him if I remember correctly?

Hi Jason - good to see you are still about, alive and kicking. As Clifty says elsewhere, a real blast from the past! It was a bloke called Roy who restored his amazing Wedgwood Mk3 Spitfire. I saw it when it was finished at one of the Goodwood breakfast meetings and had to do a double take... its registration number is one digit different to my Wedgwood Mk3 Spitfire. No chance of mistaking it really though; his is perfect and mine very much less so. John Bonnet completed his alloy GT6 bodied car and did quite a few events with it I believe. I think he sold it and then built a really nice Ginetta???? Judo Chris did indeed finish his Zetec powered GRP Le Mans replica type car and very quick it was too. The last I saw it was up for sale so he probably is no longer the owner. Good plan to get your Dad to own the car so you can have use of it and/or own it in the future. I like your style :-) All the best - Mike  

If it were me I'd replace the whole halfshaft rather than worry about whether the bearings and shaft surface are okay or not, in such a safety critical item. Having a failure here, especially at speed, is not something you want to risk in my opinion. When a failure occurs it almost always happens where the shaft sits inside the hub close to the flange; the wheel comes off and either flies off or jams up inside the wheel arch. You also lose your brakes as the flexihose gets ripped out. Not good for the heart rate. For about £75 you can get new/remanufactured ones from the likes of Canley Classics, and other suppliers.

Yes - most smaller shops are doing this and people are pretty good at keeping to the rules. However, our local shop only have taped lines at 2m in front of the counter but are not using the 1 out/1 in system, so the isles get clogged with people trying to pass each other. 

It's not surprising I suppose....  I normally walk over to our local village-sell-everything type shop to get a newspaper every morning, but have stopped now as the shop is very small and cramped and cannot possibly accommodate proper social distancing. I actually felt quite exposed standing in a cramped queue to get served. So now I read the paper online.  Not good for the shop or the community spirit but our household's health has to come first.