efp
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Everything posted by efp
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Hi Hazen Your multi-dented panels came to mind the other day when I came across this YouTube vid. https://youtu.be/Dod6merNvL0 Takes a while of blather before he gets to the good stuff, (actually most of his vids are rather good, if verbose) but struck me that that little stud welder could solve a lot of your problems. Ive just ordered one myself on the strength of it, and while obviously I can’t give first hand assessment yet, at less than £300 inc shipping here to the UK, think it’s worth a try. I assume they are available in the US too, and probably cheaper, most things seem to be.. regards j
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Phil As I understand it, Fitchetts bought all the original tooling from the Canley factory when it closed down, and make limited runs of panels from them as the market requires, and supplies them to most of the usual dealers . I’m unsure of the origin of the “steelcraft” and “heritage “ branded panels however. Perhaps someone can tell me who actually makes those Bear in mind however that much of this tooling has been in use for over 50 years and is frankly knackered so it’s hardly surprising that the fit may not always be perfect, if it ever was. With the surprising sole exception of my Spits boot floor, I’ve yet to find any aftermarket body panel, even supposedly NOS OEM ones, that didn’t require a certain amount of “fettling” to fit well, to some extent or another. We forget that in those pre robot production line days a large amount of human interaction with a large hammer went into body making. In short, I think almost all body panels on the market are made by Fitchet’s. But I could be wrong. I was once before.
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Absolutely yes to getting imperial AF sockets and wrenches. While a couple of size have exact metric equivalents, most don’t, and the slight difference is enough to round the corners of bolt heads in no time. And get spares of 7/16, 1/2 and 9/16 inch if you can. It’s incredible how these most used sizes slither away and hide when you need them.
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Love a happy ending :) Same to you Ian, and get well soon. J.
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Well, that wouldn’t be me then..
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I had to read this, just to find out what the heck Whige Pins are... :) My sympathies, not only on your injury, but also in empathy with yet another little job which should take minutes, becoming a nightmare. All too familiar.. A few thoughts, possibly unhelpful : Freezing the pin first might just give you that extra thou clearance you need. Heating the plates would probably be counterproductive in actually closing up the hole through expansion. I’m surprised the head has mushroomed. I am no metallurgical guru, but would have expected the pins to be made of a hardened steel in view of their function. Could we be looking at dodgy aftermarket parts yet again? When I did mine I drilled the holes out to fit the smooth shanks of some high tensile bolts used as pins, with some securing splines chiselled into the end. Redrilling the plates also overcomes any wear they may have. Lastly, if you have that one pin in 3/4 of the way, is it well into the bottom hole? If so, and it’s that tight, I’d be tempted to say, good enough, and just cut off the surplus protruding pin. You risk destroying the whole thing in getting the pin out again, and if it’s secure, and the empty part is at the bottom, who’s to know :) cheers
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I was in a similar position, though probably worse as my engine has been sitting in a crate for 30+years In my case some of the oil has deteriorated to the point of clagging up in places to a waxy consistency that took some removing, and fearful of blocked oilways I asked the same question. One suggestion was to make a first fill of 50-50 light oil and diesel, pump it throughout with the drill down the distributor hole, leave to soak, repeat, etc etc. Did this over a few days,, then obviously drained it thoroughly Seems to have worked. Might be overkill for you.
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Slightly surprised no one has responded to you before Matt, and seem to recall a discussion on this or something similar a while back, but probably like me, you can’t fight your way through this new site to find it. I believe the original sealant was Expandite Seelastic SR 51 or possibly M1 mastic, but I doubt that exists anymore. I’ve just used a generic black non-hardening windscreen sealant, also used for guttering, though I can’t recall the brand. I don’t think it’s crucial though, just something that stays flexible, doesn’t harden and isn’t silicone.
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It’s in our nature as (mostly) grumpy old men to complain and be wary of change, and here I fear we have grounds. But I’m sure the wonderfully talented and hardworking gurus behind the cogs and pistons of this new site are aware of its less than wholehearted reception and are working feverishly to improve it. We must be patient, and appreciative of the herculanian effort that has gone into the long overdue overhaul of it. When fixed I’m sure it will be a huge improvement on the old one.
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Colin, it looks and smells like regular oil, just darker and much thicker. Someone earlier mentioned these gold seal engines were bench run for a while after rebuilding so I’m guessing it was filled with regular oil then, rather than it being some preservative stuff. Probably explains why it came with plugs fitted too. Wish I’d kept the oil I drained out of it for testing now, but there may be a bit more drained into the sump now that I can play with re disolvability. Good call on the engine flush and/or diesel Clive, I’ll experiment with those. It’s the first few minutes of running I’m concerned about, especially on the cam, and while I could of course dismantle it down to assembly lube them first, I’d prefer not to unless you guys think it necessary.
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Shamelessly bumping my own thread, have now taken a look at this engine, given the issues I’m having with my 1147. Still in its factory crate, it had 30+ year old oil inside, which while having prevented any corrosion has congealed somewhat within all the bearings I’ve checked so far, to a slightly grease-like consistency while remaining liquid in the sump. I’ve drained this, dropped the sump and cleaned up the big ends followed with a good slather of assembly lube, put some oil down the bores and now it turns, albeit stiffly. Not forcing anything, just good to know nothing is corroded seized. I can continue cleaning up the cam, rockers etc but suspect the “grease” will be lingering in the oilways etc. Short of total dismantling and tanking can anyone suggest anything.? Toying with the idea of filling with a light oil, pumping it through periodically by driving the oil pump with a drill, over a few weeks, (or months..) and hoping it will dissolve into it. Any better ideas?
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Touché Paul
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See, told you he was fussy. 🙂 Apologies for my poor phrasing: the Spax did indeed come from elsewhere.
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Hi Paul No offence, but does your keyboard possess a full-stop key? 🙂 I ran out of breath reading that... Others here much wiser on suspension, but to me sounds like your springs are way too long or strong. I can only speak for what has worked for me, which is slightly uprated springs from Dave at Canley Classics who is very fussy about what he sells, coupled with adjustable seat shocks (Spax in my case, though I know others don't care for them) so I was easily able to get the dimensions I cited above. Have yet to give it a brutal workout, but she sits nicely and alignment is spot on, so Im pretty confident.. There seems to have been a spate of certain aftermarket sellers (mentioning no names) selling shocks and springs that just aren't to spec just because they vaguely fit into our cars, but like brakes and tyres, safe handling is just too crucial to skimp on.
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Re the spring length, I’ve used Paul Giethner’s advice in his excellent pages as a benchmark. “A good compromise static front suspension geometry for a stiffened Spitfire at rest on level ground is when the lower A-arms are parallel to the ground. This is a reasonable compromise that lowers both the c.g. and the roll center without increasing the roll moment too much. This geometry occurs when the total distance between the center of the bolt attaching the damper to the lower A-arm and the upper spring seat is 10.25 inches. Because the distance from the lower A-arm to damper (shock absorber) connection and the bottom spring seat is nominally 3.25 inches, this also corresponds to a compressed length of the front coil springs installed of 7 inches.” As I understand it, whatever your spring rate, those measurements are ideal but of course depend on having shocks with adjustable seats to achieve it. But I stand to be corrected by those here with better knowledge of suspension than me.
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Leaving aside the height differences which I guess is maker specific and would need to be matched , I have seen it suggested that a combination of one solid and one rubber mounted gives an ideal compromise between tightness and compliance. Haven’t tried it myself. Is it a silly idea?
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Love it. You must have been a wiz with Meccano in your youth
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No, belt fitting was mandatory on makers by then, and consensus seems to be they would have been Britax’s. You may find some vintage Britax buckles, but as JohnD emphatically and rightly pointed out when I raised this question, safe life for webbing is only about 10 years and your life may depend on them, so you’d definitely need new straps. I’d no more rely on 50 yr old webbing for the sake of originality than I would fit 50 yr old cross ply tyres. I’d suggest that any competent rewebber would be able to give you a judgement as to wether or not the old buckles were safe. My bow to originality is to stay with statics, though I know others have strong preferences otherwise, and get the closest modern style to the Britax’s
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In my experience, repro mounts there and repro floor pans are a very bad fit, not sure which is the culprit, but be prepared for some surgery. It’s important tho to get the location exactly right. As I understand it the two bolts securing the tub to the chassis on the outrigger here are the only ones without any float and are key datum point to body alignment. All other mounting points have some adjustability built in, these don’t. Which is a bugger as those front outriggers and the footwell floor are particularly liable to tin-worm. Just my understanding
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Went into this a few weeks back re my 1966-built Spit 2, and the answers weren’t clear. As. I understand it there was no requirement for makers to install belts until 68 and then I believe 3 point Brirax belts were fitted, as Tim says. So it kind of depends on your year. I have seen Stanpart badged Britaxes but don’t know what cars and years they were used. Prior to that belts were a dealer fitted option and they used whatever they stocked. Mine originally came with Kangol Magnets which I rather like but unfortunately I only have one survivor. If I could only find another I’d get them refurbished and rewebbed but seems they are like hens teeth now, at least in the solid alloy style I have. Quickfit’s Classic style are a very similar to the Britax ones, and obviously much safer than an old belt. I bought a pair and found the guys there very helpful. They can make them up in any colour and style of webbing you want, even different stitching patterns.
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Lovely job on the tunnel Hazen, but remind me, why so large the top hole? And just recalling the old mechanics saying, that 90% of carb problems are electrical... Best J
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I’m having a little trouble understanding this. Surely the backplate is bolted tight to the (flat) block end all around the circumference of the clutch? And the bell housing flange bolts will be pulling it flat the other way? I can’t see how, short of dropping the combined engine and box from a height the main part of the plate can be bent? If the starter motor part is a bit bent off that plane I can see it giving ring/ starter engagement problems but don’t see how it can affect the clutch. Am I missing something?
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Well I was sold on it the moment I saw it had a Flirt processor. My analog technique hasn’t worked well for some time.
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Ok, Lafite might be overstating it a bit, I was drinking a rather mediocre plonk when I wrote that, as you might tell.. But still, there’s plenty of life in my current engine, no rush to replace it with something little if anything better, and there can’t be too many examples of a “new” engine like that existing, so not in a rush to open the bottle as it were.