Kevin R

I have also seen this mentioned using the sheet metal from an empty coke can to pack the circlip.

When 18 in 1978 I got a 1968 Minivan that had the van floor removed and a folding bus bench seat put in the back making it a four seater. It looked quite smart with a white roof and dark green body even though it had been handpainted using paint from Woolworths. It was kindly written off for me in the Feb 1979 version of the Beast from the East by a lunatic in a 3 litre Capri. I was making good progress in a virtual white out and foot and a half of snow in a 30 zone. Mr Capri decided I wasn't going fast enough for him so he overtook me then realised he was heading into the path of an oncoming Volvo so he simply put his foot down, lost the back end and spun it 180 into the Volvo. I managed to stop somewhere near the edge of the road thinking I had escaped the carnage only to find that Mr Capri rebounded off the Volvo then mounted what was probably the pavement and hit me smashing the bonnet wing and radiator so an economic loss. Mr Capri tried to blame it all on his stupid automatic car - Mr Volvo was absolutely furious.

Do you mean Oor Wullie in Knickers ?

That's why mine vibrates - it was probably fitted in 1980.

Have you tried driving at 46mph Clive ? 😯😯😯 😂

I have a Spitfire 1500 that had TEX original door mirrors fitted when I bought it. The field of view is not brilliant compared with modern car standards and not much of an adjunct to the inherent good visibility mentioned by Tim and the Scrapman. At higher speeds of 45 mph plus they vibrate blurring the image making them virtually useless anyway. I have checked and tightened the fixings without any improvement but notice that the door panels flex when gentle force is applied to the wing mirror so surmise that the problem is due to the vibration of the door panel (which is fitted with the appropriate baffle). I have considered making a larger internal fitting plate but really CBA - would rather spend the time driving the car and looking over my shoulder when necessary.

Is this a Club Event ? Where is/was the entry notification and details ?

Completely agree - cheap rubber is what the manufacturers use with disastrous results further down the line for the unwary. My daughter had a 10 y old Citroen C1 a few years ago that began to take in large amounts of water. A look on the internet revealed it is a common problem that the rubber fails around all of the light clusters. It was a week long carpets out £250 job to put right for the sake of 20 quids worth of decent rubber. The main dealer did an excellent job putting it right and is still good today - it seems they had plenty of practice. Even worse is that this car is a collaboration between Citroen/Peugot and Toyota. Left unrectified the car would have been scrap 10 years earlier than was necessary. I was on holiday in Jersey a few months later and visited one of the many WW2 German Bunkers built during the Occupation. They have various internal compartments separated by Gas-tight doors with - guess what ? - rubber seals that were as pristine and pliable as the day they were fitted nearly 80 years ago despite constant use in coastal conditions. Looks like proven technology from decades ago was even available during a supply crisis.

I remember seeing recently by chance this being discussed and a solution to this problem on the Morris Minor Owners club forum which as you say also have a diaphragm base.

For a number of years Mountain Bike 'Bowden' type cables have used Teflon liners to reduce friction. They also have better seals as water ingress is more of a problem. I have the same heater valve / lever probs on my Spitfire 1500.

Bought mine in August and were available from a number of suppliers. Mine were for a Spitfire 1500 so may not be available in bigger sizes

Pleased to see this thread is still running. I fitted a set of the Falkens to my Spitfire 1500 following the Club recommendations just prior to doing the NC500 and have been really impressed in all conditions and terrain. I tried to upload footage (without success) of driving around a narrow 270 degree hairpin with them - no dramas. My previous set of tyres would refuse to turn in and go straight ahead if the approach speed was even slightly too quick - much scarier than oversteer. Despite some spirited driving they gave me no frights over the 1300 mile trip - good value and excellent. Thanks for all the recommendations.

Thanks for replies so far. A new propshaft supplied by Mick Papworth from a local company who makes them when he reconditioned and fitted overdrive to my gearbox replaced the old one that was unbalanced and installed approx 2500 miles ago. The halfshafts I would say are original so have done 52000 miles but not sure how long any of these components should last.

I have a 1980 Spitfire that has just started making a metallic ticking sound. It is most audible from 0 - 20 mph and sounds like a ticking clock but as the car and the ticking speeds up the sound becomes too fast to discern as a 'tick'. It can be heard whether in gear or freewheeling coming from the diff/driveshaft area ie middle of the car. Lubrication has been checked within the last 1500 miles. Does anyone have experience of this and/or know the cause or remedy. Thank you

I did the NC500 in August and filled up at the GLEANER garage in Thurso before driving down to Wick. Gleaner runs a small chain of independent garages on the east coast. It is easy to drive past them because they are smaller but they usually have super unleaded (when most of the usual bigger stations up there don't) and it is the same price or cheaper - I paid £1.48 / litre in the 2 I used which is unusual for small garages in remote areas. They are a welcome sight and worth looking out for.

I have just done the NC500 in my 1980 Spitfire 1500 with overdrive - 1300 miles door to door, 2 up with luggage. The roads included 750 miles of dual carriageway and 550 of mountainous roads of which approx 200 miles were winding single track. Average consumption was 36.4 mpg and used a pint of oil. Picture was taken on a detour to Skye.

I agree. I would imagine that these air pockets exist in all corners of our engines in the oil/fuel and cooling systems - it is just that we do not have a window as on a clear fuel filter to see them and/or worry about them.. An ideal system would have a steady gradient from the lowest inlet (without voids) up to the highest outlet that would naturally self bleed. Braking systems are narrow bore, better designed and have more bleeding points because air will destroy the operation of the system. However the circulation of a gas central heating system will still function if there is air in the radiators - it just becomes less efficient due to reduced heat output.

The reply to this topic ties in neatly with my requests for advice on the forum a few weeks ago regarding Spitfire 1500 replacement tyres. I duly opted for the Falkens but in the process of fitting, my normally tried and trusted tyrefitters managed to strip the offside rear studs and were unable to refit my minilite alloy. Luckily my spare is a steel wheel so managed to refit this to get me home. Despite their kind offer to replace the studs FOC I decided I would rather attempt this myself! This led to my second forum request on replacing the standard with longer 47 mm studs and after good advice from you Ben, Glang and Sparky Spit and using a combination of the advice given I have the new studs fitted and can offer a few additional tips on fitting. The G clamp I had to press them off would not fit but a few doses of penetrating oil followed by tapping the stud gently sideways with a nylon hammer got them moving and they tapped out easily with hub and splines intact. As noted the XL stud will not fit with the hub on so I placed the stud as far as it would go into the hub then moved the stud to scribe a mark on the backplate using this as a guide to drill a small pilot hole. I then used an 11mm drill at an angle to scallop out just enough space in the backplate for the stud to be fitted. This small hole and depression was easily refilled with metal epoxy putty. I had trouble fitting the new studs as the splines were 0.2 mm oversize and 3mm from the base of the stud compared to the std ones which meant that they had to be pulled in further to fully seat. I rectified this by polishing off the japanned finish on the spline and rounded off the leading edge and seated them using a column of large washers as spacers with wheel nut and brace. During the 4 years of ownership I have never needed to remove a wheel myself - no punctures and the garage services/checks brakes etc so was quite shocked to see how marginal the available thread is with std studs and 'Spitfire' supplied Minilite alloys. Being philosophical, the tyrefitters may have done me a favour as they had clearly worn through time and the wheel may have fallen off. For the record I was present and they were not using an air tool. This is clearly not an issue with the std steel wheels but with wider alloys and std studs you will only have a fraction of a gram of metal at best holding the wheel on, worse if worn so certainly worth checking and watching closely as it may become a safety issue. I have not had a chance to road test the Falkens yet but will report back as promised - thanks again for the help.

I would like to replace the rear wheel studs with the longer 47mm version. The current ones are probably original and I would prefer to remove them with the hub left on. Any hints or experience would be appreciated - can they just be hammered out or is penetrating oil, heat etc required? Thanks in advance for any advice

Thank you all for your observations and advice - I will definitely try the Falkens which are less for a set of 4 than the cost of one Michelin XAS. I had Falkens on one of my Moderns some years ago and was happy with that set. I have had the Spitfire for 4 years now and the current set of Pirellis are virtually unworn, however I have just located the date stamp and find that they were made in 2002 so need replacing ! There has been quite a lot of publicity recently about date checking your tyres and it is a good idea if like me they are the ones that came with the car. It might also be worth checking the manufacture date of a new set since our cars a less likely to wear out before they need replacing. A set that has been on the shelf a year or two may lose you an a year or two further down the line before they are worn out. There are some signs of cracking on mine but the ride is not very compliant and the grip is not brilliant although that could well be the ageing of the compound. It will be interesting to compare the Falkens so I will most certainly report back. Thanks again

I need to replace all 4 tyres on my Spitfire 1500 which has Minilite alloys. I currently have Pirelli P3000 155/80 R13 78T tyres and have not been particularly impressed with them in general use and handling on twisty B roads. Classic tyre suppliers recommend the Michelin 155 HR13 XAS as they were designed specifically for older cars but they are very expensive compared to the more mainstream options. Does anyone have experience of using these tyres and are they worth the premium ? Thank you in advance for any advice

I am a club member and have a Spitfire 1500, registered Aug 1981 and built April 1980, VIN TFADW1AT006780 and engine No FM13499SHF. I need to replace the water pump which is just starting to leak and wondered if you could advise if I need the viscous or non viscous type ?. I also need to replace the timing cover and will check the timing chain and sprockets with a view to replacing them if required. If these are replaced and the car is kept immobile and in gear, is it safe to assume that the timing will be unaltered and will not need to be reset ? Also, which antifreeze do you recommend (UK - winter stored in garage) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Ian, I bought a 1980 Spitfire 1500 3 years ago in very good condition but it always ran marginally hot with a tendency to overheat. Then I got a hole in the original radiator so looked into replacing it with a full width 22 " version. From my research it seemed that the std version was always a bit compromised and suffered easily from poor airflow and made worse by number plates, driving lights, badges etc. You can upgrade your std rad with an electric fan but adds cost, can be fiddly to fit and adds a weak link to the system if they fail as they also block airflow. My 22" rad was German, not cheap at @ c£250 but looks nice, very well made and is black and looks like the std rad. Coolant when removed was clean and a precautionary flush out convinced me that there had not been a blockage. It was easy to fit - this was just as well as after 150 miles a pinhole leak developed in the weld where the top hose piping attaches. It was removed, returned and replaced without quibble. The engine runs more smoothly and has worked faultlessly for the past 2000 miles and has cured the hot running problem and should extend the life of the engine.

I also did some googling and found the reference to it being a TR7 colour which makes sense as my car is a late model. I have got some spray cans of Leyland white that I obtained from a supplier. I ordered Porcelain White but was sent Leyland white which as we have now confirmed should be the same colour.  I tried a very well mixed test spray on a piece of scrap but when it dried it was way too light -more like the colour of A4 printer paper rather than the pale creamy white on my car which is a warmer colour and does not look as stark. I don't know if whites tend to darken with age or whether it was a poor batch of paint but my test spray did not match any part of the bodywork, internal or external.  The car seems very original so I am not sure that it has been resprayed with a different shade. It would be interesting to park bit next to another car in Ermine or Leyland White.

Thanks The commission plate code is NCG