Taylor bright

This is soooo much faster and easier to use than the old site good work!

hi Clive i am taking into account the angle, however like i said it was just quick calculations based on assumptions such as the weight and measuring the front geometry by ratio on my monitor ill measure my spitfires motion ratio at work during the week and can give more accurate numbers if you would be interested in that :)

side note 250lb spring would be a good balance for a road car as by rough calculation(not measuring the car and just taking the gross weight and distribution of a standard 1500) should have a wheel frequency of about 1.5 hertz which makes for a solid road car 440 or 480lb spring would push you up to around 2 and 2.08 hertz which for a road car is about as high as you'd ever think of really wanting to go unless you had some serious extra weight to control, just my 2 cents as it were 

Quoted from JB257-

Thought I better add a further update as I finally rebuilt the front end and got it running again after some brake issues that took longer than expected.

I ended up with 250lb springs but think I need to replace them already after barely getting them run in. I never specified the length on the order just the rate as they did ask for the car model etc and they sent me some 8 inch ones which barely leave any thread left on the adjustable shocks. All seems fine but these leave little room to adjust and suspect they might be bottoming out a bit.

I could do with sorting the rear shocks so may order some new longer springs; at least 10" if not slightly more so then these will sit roughly half way up the shock adjustable range. Might be worth going for a higher spring rate as well if you guys are running much higher with decent drive too!

if the springs are too short then you can just make a spacer(if you have access to a lathe) to put onto the spring seat so that you can gain back the ride height

I've got nankang ns2r semis in 185/60 r13s only driven them once and they were grippy probably a bit dicey in the rain but I'm sure I'll find out this year I am running different wheels though, got John brown wheels d1's on it 

There was many mx5 seat varieties can hi show us which ones you have if it's the same as mine I'll send a photo of my slightly bodgy mounting if not someone else will probably be able to enlighten you

Sounds like we need to investigate, how much power we can shove through one.. For science reasons of course 

In terms of things I've personally done to mine, seats I've changed for mx5 seats just simply more comfortable and easy to get hold of. 

The first engine was a near standard 1500 engine and was alright if in good condition then leave it. Efi will be the thing for my new engine but that's a rather different animal.

If you're looking for a replacement to a rubber Bush you'll be looking at polyurethanes of which youll have different hardness compounds available, if going full blown race then you could change bushes for spherical bearings instead but unless only racing it's pretty unnecessary.

I've heard of using a bigger battery and alternator and converting to ebay aluminium radiators if the current rad is old (ebay aluminium ones are often cheaper than rimmers or moss) electric fans are an option I have one from rimmers but I've heard from someone that an escort cosworth system fits very well 

Also the other question is how technical you want to go because you could run a nice dual spring set up and remove the anti roll bar if you wanted to go a bit over the top

If you have the corner weight and motion ratio i can work the perfect spring rate for you based on what you're going for 

Buy a bucket useful and cheap 

hey if those seats are still available and your a reasonably close difference i am more than happy to swap and i will even offer something towards you repairing the triumph seats

Hi Colin, yes that was the conrod eating it's way through the oil pump, no damage on the conrod or bolt though which is odd, the sump had all the bearing material in it however, and Clive that is very interesting do you happen to know how much I can mill off the top of the head 

Oops, that and the bottom of the sump was full of bearing material and swarf

I have some seats I'd be happy to swap for mx5 seats they are tan and need some love but if you're interested message me

I have some seats I'd be happy to swap for mx5 seats they are tan and need some love but if you're interested message me

So I'm taking the 1500 engine out of the car Saturday so I can begin the process of putting the 1300 in (need it's clutch and flywheel) I intend on doing a fast rebuild on it before hand what's the best things to do to give it as much poke as the 1500 had, just balance it so it revs smoother and a hotter cam would that bring the performance inline with the old 1500

And is there anything I can do to make it less gutless without too much hassle 

Would using the 1300 flywheel and clutch be better because I'm happy to pick one up if its much better 

Well my spitfire 1500 engine has started to knock at anything over 2000rpm (only about 10hrs of use after its rebuild last year won't be letting them touch an engine of mine again after all the hassle) and I have a spare small crank engine from a herald in good nick my question is can I just dump the engine in and use all the ancillaries from the 1500 like the intake, exhaust, distributor alternator and the such and will it mate to 1500s gearbox clutch and flywheel 

Well if it's for sunny days and you like giving the car a bit of the beans why not a tyre like a nankang ns2r

Well after spending some time measuring and staring at the old and the new head doing a few measurements, I have concluded that although it is possible to get them to mate, it is far beyond economically viable first big problem is that there are studs in the block right where cooling passages need to be, the block would have to be sleeved to move cylinder two and three together a couple of mm together, more cooling passages have to be put into the block new studs have to be drilled and tapped the list continues 

It might also make sense from a driveability and fuel economy sense, that head flows so much better and with the cams it has it might be even more fuel efficient yet have a bit more power, not to mention it should be more drivable than a highly tuned engine that idles higher and the such 

Well the idea behind the Honda lump is that the bores are so close to lining up and some of the coolant passages line up as well, so why not see if it's reasonably do able and if it is then I can start toying with it to see what I can get out of the bottom end and at what point I have to look at the bottom end.

Remember a d16 head also gives immediate use to cheap turbo kits (around £500)as well as a fuel injection manifold designed for it so it could make life easier when coming to fuel inject it as no manifold has to be made 

I did infact message him and very little came from it here is the contents of the reply I received from him

"As I explained, the bore spacing is probably the biggest challenge. 

Second is altering the Spitfire block to accommodate the D16 head studs/bolts.

The holes not only have to match the pattern, they also must be strong enough to carry the clamping loads without excessive distortion. 

Then there is the issue of cooling passages, which must match up between head and block. 

And finally the cam drive. 

Since the D16 rotates in the opposite direction to Spitfire, either a different custom ground cam is required, 

or a rotation reversing drive must be employed. 

This could be done by using a longer chain, with a pair of idler pulleys that route the chain around the bottom half of the sprocket 

rather than the top, which gives reverse rotation. 

Or a reversing gearset could be employed that operates from the front of the Spitfire cam or crankshaft sprocket. 

The Spitfire oil pump and dizzy is driven from the center of the camshaft, and so a 'dummy' cam is still required. 

Hope this helps."

However in the post where he mentioned many other things it did make me think about the d13c cylinder head which has a 73.7mm bore which is suspiciously close to the spitfire bore