MarkB
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Everything posted by MarkB
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I would fit the lightened flywheel, as long as it was balanced. In the early nineties I had a lightened flywheel fitted to my 1500 Spitfire race engine. I felt the difference on pick up. Problem was first rolling road two bolts came lose making a hell of a noise but the tuner kept his nerve and cut the power. No real damage, but I took it to a different engineering firm and had the lot re-balanced as well as fitting two dales to the back of the crank. Mark
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I have had a Hilka impact screwdriver for years with a half inch drive that has never failed to loosen anything I have come across. similar to thishttp://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_530655_langId_-1_categoryId_165469 Belt it with a 4lb club hammer and away you go. Ideally heat then the correct allen key socket type drive and a long extension. Lock tight may have been used previously. You usually get one good shot at things like this so make sure you use the exact size allen key, and keep tools square to the head of the bolt, because once things start rounding off or slipping you can have bigger problems. I can't see you damaging anything on the crank but you could always wedge a couple of pieces of wood between the flywheel and block to help protect the thrust bearings if you have a lot of end float. I would also lock the flywheel using the starter ring. Good luck. Mark
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Over the years I have bought door rubbers for a couple of Spitfires GT6 Hearld and Vitesse. All to thick making it very difficult to close the doors, a real pain in the A**. but the Usual suppliers probably just don't know the correct rubbers that should be fitted and all sell the same old shite. On the current Vitesse rebuild I contacted Bill at Rarebits and he supplied all the correct rubbers, boot, doors, hood frame etc etc. All fit perfect. So in my opinion he is your man. Mark
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I bought a comprehensive HS4 kit several years ago to convert them form waxstat and fit to my mk3. The kit came with everything including the bushes that the spindle turns in on the carb body. There was very little movement in the original spindle but as I had new bushes I thought I would fit them. Big mistake. Unless you are an engineer with all the relevant tooling, then I would avoid attempting to change them. The originals appear to be cast in place or fitted very soon after,I ruined one body attempting it. I got the kit from Jigsaws and it came with everything, butterflies, spindles, screws, jets, float valves etc. In the end I only replaced the jets and choke linkage. The original butterflies had valves fitted the new ones didn't, but I just removed the valves and soldered them up. I modded the original spindles so in the end used very little of the kit. If I did it again unless there was an obvious problem I would just replace all the gaskets, new jets and needles, and save a fair bit of money. Mark
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When rebuilding my Vitesse and aligning the front and rear tubs along with the doors I had the hood frame fitted as there are so many variables to get the window to fit the hood frame correctly. Door alignment and height is crucial as well as having the correct door rubber fitted. The first two sets I bought that most triumph places sell are to thick. Replacing the Quarter light channel felt helped to hold the window tight when fully raised. It's a lot of p-ss balling about but you can get a reasonable seal in the end, I wouldn't say water tight though. Mark
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I bought this from a auto jumble the other month intended for my Mk3 Spit but I think it looks a bit to modern for my car probably was designed with the mk4 in mind. I think its a Falcon looking on the moss web site and think it looks better than twin boxes out the back. I'll probably stick a single big bore one that I have instead on my Mk3.
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Hi Scott Looking really good. I Don't understand the need to laquer over the top coat. As long as you have put enough paint on, the cellulose paint will polish up like glass. Keep up the good work. Mark
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2597 wrote: Hi Mark Can you remember when appling the paint on top of the bonda, was it within the times mentioned above or before 6 hours? Also, was the topcoat cellulose? You got me a little worried now :o Thanks scott Hi Scott Sorry for the late reply, I missed the thread somehow. I overpainted it with cellulose a good few weeks after the Bonda primer was applied. I have also used the Bonda on the Vitesse I am rebuilding at the moment. It adheres well to the bare metal and I can only think the reason the top coat has lifted in a couple of spots was because I didn't give the area enough of a key. What top coat have you used, cellulose or 2k? It's looking good. Mark
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Hi I sprayed cellulose finnish coat directly onto Bonda Zinc, and although I went over it with wet and dry to give what I thought was a good key, several years later the the top coat has started to crack and flake off in a couple of spots, but the Bonda primer is solid. This is where presumably I missed rubbing down. Like you say Bonda is hard and it definitely Helps stop the rust. Mark
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i fitted one to a 1500 Spit I owned, and fitted to the right of the steering wheel. There's a whole in the metal dash blanked off in the Spit by the wooden dash, probably because it is the same panel used on the GT6 which has a air blower in this position. Cheers Blue
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No, I never realised there was this problem with the wings first time i've fitted them to a Vitesse so used them as supplied and am sure there are flush with the top section. Thats going to be fun to try and rectify then :(. It really pees me off that these parts are sold fit for purpose by Fitchets who I have bought thousands of pounds of parts off over the years. If they just mentioned that there may be a problem I could have looked out for it and sorted it at the time. The rear wing they supplied was 10mm to short, and numerous Spit and GT6 parts I have had to play around with its a real minefield, one step forward and five back! Thanks for the info Bill I would have been scratching my head for weeks. Blue
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I replaced my wings a year of so ago, and just placed the bonnet on the car. I noticed when looking at the car front on I can see the hinges where they bolt on the ends of the door, so the overall width of the bonnet appears about an inch to narrow. I have put this down to the fact that the bar that runs across the centre of the bonnet to the inner arches not being bolted tight. I just followed the seams on the top section of the bonnet and only replaced the parts where the bonnet cones locate. You've got me worried now incase there misaligned due to to the wings being out. Blue
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Its sandwiched between the rear wing and boot floor. But you should be able to repair it with the new panels in place. It usually rots at this point where it joins to the boot floor. If this is solid then join it at this point. In reality the seam should be sealed with seam sealer so will cover any welds if done neatly. You would make yourself a lot of work if you have already welded the rear wing to the boot floor and then try to undo it to insert the new repair. Cheers Blue
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Hi Gaz No, my car is fitted with the standard lucas starter, so the lead I replaced runs from the solenoid on the bulk head to the starter. So in your case you could just run a jump lead to the solenoid on the starter up to your battery and see if it makes any difference. Cheers Blue
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I had ongoing problems with my GT6, with a sluggish turnover when cold or left for a while, once engine initially started, and was ran for a minute I could turn it off and it would trip over its self it span so fast and couldn't fail to start. All the terminals and leads to battery/solenoid/starter looked good. The starter had been replaced with a recon two to three years prior so thought it must be a battery which was replaced. It made a bit of difference, but if I didn't get it started after the first couple of times it would really struggle and I would have to put the battery on charge. I even thought the engine was binding up for some reason it was that bad. I finally had enough of this a couple of months back and sorted through a box of starter to solenoid leads I had. As I went through them there were two types which I had never noticed before one was half again as thick as the other, obviously a lot meatier. I removed the one from my GT6 which was of the skinnier type. I also noticed that where the terminals were joined on the ends the black plastic insulation was slightly fatter. I thought it was where the terminals were soldered to the copper wire. I cut back the plastic insulation and was surprised to see thick green corrosion about two inches down each end of the lead. Anyway replaced it with one of the thicker leads and it spins over really fast even after being left for a couple of weeks buried in snow. All the leads I have are original items taken off Vitesses Spits etc. So it would be worth considering before replacing your starter.
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I did it in a couple of mornings but was working on other things while the anti-rust was working and waiting for the paint to dry. I Wire brushed all the nuts and bolts and used plus gas. before attempting to undo, as mine were all crusty with rust and it would be easy to have snapped one. Can't remember if the Gt6 has the crimped metal clamps on the three bottom leaves as the Vitesse. These have to be levered open to get the leaves apart. The buttons are available from most of the suppliers, I chose to get mine from Canleys. It was a bit fiddly clamping it back together without the buttons falling out, but a blob of grease helps to suck them into their reassesses. Most importantly as previously stated mark the leaves as you would have a job getting them to fit flush if one or two is reversed.
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I recently rebuilt my Vitesse rear spring. I unbolted it all, bent back the clamps to separate all the leaves. I put each leaf in a vice and used a wire cup on an angle grinder. Very effective but you need to take care, mask and visor a must. Even doing this outside I looked like I had been down a mine. Took everything back to good metal. I then treated the leaves with anti rust and repainted each leaf. I Replaced all the nylon buttons on assembly and the spring eyes with new poly bushes. I coated it all with waxoyl as I reassembled everything. Very pleased I did it, and a very good result. If you decide to take the leaves apart make sure you mark everything, so it al goes back together the same way. I punched a mark on each leaf in the centre down one face to ensure this. Cheers