gfiandy

Hi, I noticed I had different pistons in my HS2s I ordered a replacement from ebay of the right type, I had one from an MG. However I did not notice any significant difference in performance. Changing the spindles and ensuring there were no leaks in the inlet manifold gaskets as well as changing the needles to a richer one such that it could be leaner at idle and then still be rich enough when under load made much more difference. Regards, Andy

Hi phill, If you are fitting inertia reel, really you need to fit a mounting point at the bottom of the wheel arch for the inertia reel. The static belts fit to the sill plate but if you fit an inertia reel here it twists commin out of the reel and does not return properly. Its not an MOT failure but it does ware the belt quickly and mean the belt doesnt tension properly. Mine are fitted like this at the moment and they are really anoying. The MOT man recomended going back to statics or moving the mounting. I prefer inertia reel so plan to move the mounting but as my car is fully built moving it will require finding a way to fit the mounting plate without damaging the paint and trim. Regards, Andy

If the brushes are worn out you get this symptom. They only cost about £5 so it would be worth trying changing them. Regards, Andy

I bought a set of the standard ones but the quality was poor. They work but dont really control the movement of the car well. A year latter when I had funds I fitted Gaz adjustable height and rate shocks. Transformed the handling and comfort of the car. I lowered the front a bit but mostly its the improved damping that helped. Regards, Andy

Discharging a battery in 30 mins means  alot of current. Iwould guess if you have loose wires that one of them touched the body and caused a short circuit. Before reatching the battery check to see if any cables are touching the bodywork. I woukd recomend using insulation tape to cover any bare wires. Before reataching the battery switch everything off and if you have a multimeter measure the resistance between the battery connectins on the cat without the battery connected. Dont do this with a battery connected it wont work and might damage the meter. You should see a high resistance greater than 1k ohm, if its lower than this especially if its much lower then dont connect the battety search the loom till you find the short ciruit. Regards, Andrew

Final checks and tightened up a few joints that were seeping a little coolant. Replaced a pipe olive as a little petrol was seeping from one joint. Then bonnet back on and replaced bumper. (Thanks to my long suffering girlfriend for giving a hand with the bonnet) Took it for a short drive and it all seems to be running ok. I came back home and checked everything was ok, then went for a longer run. I kept it below 3000 rpm, very glad I have overdrive or I would have been holding the traffic up even on the back roads I was driving on. Its not quite smooth seems like no 3 is not as strong as the other cylinders, but I think it was like this before so presumably its something to do with the head. Its not missing its just not quite as strong as the others. Now I need to get through the 500 miles run in before I can see what its really got. No pinking so the compression doesn't seem to be too high. Starts easly even though its really cold at the moment. Seems to pull fairly well in the limited rev range. Its quite hard to keep a 4.11 diff car below 3000 when pulling away you have to get into second really fast. The new clutch seems to have really improved the way it pulls away much smoother and the changes also seem better. Part of this might be the new engine mounts as well. It used to shudder a bit as I pulled away all of that has gone. Its also easier to engage first which used to be a bit of a struggle some times. Andy

Hi Tony, If you mean the transparent bit, it is just a cover over the pipe to prevent so much heat being picked up in the fuel as it passes over the top of the block. The copper pipe continues inside it in a single piece. If you mean the black bits then they are fuel hose with hose clips on both ends and as far as I am aware how it was plumbed originally. Regards, Andrew

Video on photo bucket of first start up. Hopefully you can see it. Sorry I forgot to hold phone in landscape. http://vid1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb470/gfiandy/VID_20150117_201325778_zpsf9fzz9ou.mp4

New water pipe fitted as it was suggested the old one could have started rusting through. My old cam friendly fuel pump. New style fuel pump, these push too hard on the cam and have already caused some scoring to the pump lobe. New style pump with smoothed lever arm, hopefully this will reduce wear to the cam. I also created a 1.6mm spacer out of phenolic PCB material, any thicker and you can't get the nuts on the studs. It runs!

The MK3 Spit she breaths fire again! But it wasn't plain sailing. I fitted the starter motor,  radiator, and connected the sensors for heat temperature and oil pressure as well as the rev counter. i filled up with oil and put as much coolant in as it would take. The new fuel pumps I bought are all rubbish, see other thread. So I thought I would try with the old one which works but the valves don't seal well. After cranking over with the coil un wired to build up oil pressure, the oil light went out after about 30 seconds cranking, just long enough that I was getting worried. I tried cranking it with the coil attached. Nothing! it cranked but no life at all. I checked the plugs they were completely dry. I decided I would have to change to the new pump and decided I should grind the really rough pump arm smooth with a dremel (see photos below), easy to say but it took quite some time. I also created a spacer to reduce the pressure on the cam. I plumbed it in but could not get a seal with the old olives and pipes, so had to cut the ends off and replace the olives and nuts. This literally took hours and finally after much faffing it sealed. The new pump has a hand lever so I used this but it didn't seem to move much fuel. Because of the lack of fuel moved by the pump I was suspicious so I checked at the float chambers, no fuel in them at all. I removed the fuel pipe up at the carbs and there was fuel pressure. Eventually I noticed the valve in the float chamber was stuck shut. I had stored the carbs upside down with no fuel in them presumably this made them stick. I freed them off and plumbed it back in. The manual pump now enabled me to pump quite a lot of petrol so I was fairly confident the float chambers had filled but to make sure both of them were working I popped the top of the float chambers again. Both were now full. I will have to watch to see that the float chambers don't flood and that the valves are ok, but the check showed the level to be about right so they seem to be OK. I turned the engin, it caught and fired once almost imediately. The second time it came to life I didn't run it for long as the car is in a garage. I started it a second time to ensure it really works and it started again easily. Then I left it, my back was at its limit and its below freezing out there, I had been working on it without a brake for 8 hours. I had turned off the fan heater as soon as I started messing with petrol, too much of a fire risk so the garage was really cold as well. I am concerned that there is a air lock in the engine as I have not put nearly enough liquid in to fill it according to the manual. There would still have been fluid in the heater matrix but still it should have taken more than the 2 litres I put in. I will have to watch it when I warm it up fully tommorrow. I fitted a new water pump as the bearing was noisy on the old one I hope it's working OK and that all the water ways are clear. Given how easily it started in freezing conditions I am fairly confident that the cam timing must be right. There is still quite a lot to do to run in the engine and put the bonnet back on etc. but I am pleased that it started after such a big rebuild. The next job will be an engine full warm up run. Then hopefully put the last parts back on and take it for a run. Photos to follow.

I have purchase the right part it has the olives and nuts to fit copper pipes and I checked several times that I had the right part number. They are just really badly designed and incorrect tolerance. I do not want to change to a electric pump unless I absolutely have to the MK3 is mostly original and i would like to keep it that way as far as possible. Below is a link to what these pumps have done to the cam in only about 1000 miles. (I fitted the James Paddoc and SC spares ones one after another since the SC spares one was so much more expensive I hopes it was better but it wasnt) I haven't fitted the QH one as it doesn't seem to be any better. The engine was apart for other reasons which is how I spotted this although even when fitting them I thought they felt to stiff on the cam so was suspicious, hence buying the more expensive version. What I am looking for is one of the pumps that has the lever arm formed out of a piece of metal such that the surface touching the cam is smooth and beveled (this what the old one looked like) not roughly punched out of a flat piece of steel or a service kit for the older style pump as I still have it. 90

I have now tried three mechanical fuel pump suppliers, James Paddock, SC Supplies and QH from EBay. All of these suppliers sent the same pump which pushes far to hard on the cam and has ruined it. I have now spent the best part £100 £17, £45 and £25 respectively and still don't have a pump I am happy to fit to the car. The QH part is the closest to OK but it still has a really rough lever and is 5mm tighter on the cam than the original pump. Does anyone know where you can get a good mechanical fuel pump for a MK3 spitfire? Thanks, Andrew

Well the engine is in, its not hooked up yet I decided that as my back was getting sore I should stop and hook up the ancillaries later.

Hopefully the next time you see the engine it will be in the engine bay. All ancillaries and hoses now fitted, I treated it to a new hose set as the old ones were showing signs of cracking. The water pie that runs under the engine has been cleaned and repainted. The dynamo mounts new paint has dried and the dynamo and fan are no mounted. The advance and retard vacuume pipe is fitted. New engine mounts also fitted to the engine bay. I am now awaiting the engine hoist which I hope to borrow again from one of the Club members, I guess that will have to be next weekend now. The box of bits now just has the starter motor some nuts and bolts for mountingthe engine and a few pipes left in it.

Just refitted the distributor having worked out the very strange end float calculation method. I measured the gap from the pedestal to the block with the distributor fully pushed home but not bolted down as it seemed I could squash it down further however I suspect this is not the plan. Then I calculated this distance plus the end float and fitted gaskets till the pedestal was the combination of the two clear from the block. Once this was done I identified the compression stroke using the valves on cylinder 4 being on the turn and checking I had pressure in number 1 with my finger. Its quite hard to turn the engine with one hand even with no spark plugs. After much faffing I got the cog in the location identified in the Manual for a 1300 with the oil pump engaged fitted the distributor and checked the location against the photo in the manual and my photo pre rebuild. It looks like its in the right place. I will ave to hope it fires up as with the electronic ignition fitted I can't think of any way to static time it. If it does not work I will refit the old points and try it that way. I also  then fitted the park plugs and the oil filter. I started to fit the dynamo then realised I had not completed the cleaning and repainted of these parts. So I cleaned them up and put a coat of rustolium black on them they are now drying, which might take a while in this cold weather.