Spitfire2500

Yes Lloyd. Full set for Mk 2 please i.e. 2 x front and 2 x rear.

4526 wrote:And when i connect it up .. is it just connect it up and it workes or..  ?  :) Yup. Just connect it up and it should work straightaway. Well, you'll need crank the engine of course  :P  :) Just FWIW I used a copper pipe for the connection to my oil pressure gauge - but I suppose this might not be an option for you depending on the type of connector your gauge has?

sparky_spit wrote:but it's reasonable to assume that they are and that swingspring cars came from the factory with blanking plugs in the centre holes. They don't! Late swing spring diff casings only have four holes drilled. As compared to six hole casings:

We've also got Mk1 MX-5 seats in our Spit - I didn't do the installation. One of my main complaints is that they don't go back far enough. Been out and had a look at ours and I think you must mean the side trims for the seat recliner mechanism? If so then you've managed to get your seats much further back than ours. Any pics - might help to visualise what's going on? The back of our seats sit about three to three-and-half inches in front of the heelboard and the side trim for the recliner mechanism sits in the door aperture and doesn't get in the way of the seat belts - but I can see that it probably would if the seats were further back. Doesn't seem to be any easy fix -- moving the seats forward a bit would solve the problem but then you'd end up sitting too far forward.

Got a response from Facet: Quote:Thank you for your email and interest in Facet fuel pumps. I have never seen anyone mount the fuel pump in this way but I don't believe it will harm the pump or cause it to function improperly. Will leave it alone for the time being and get on with using the car  :)

hughes448 wrote:Your pipe connection are pointing down .  If they pointed upwards then I think all would be we'll That's an interesting point and I can see where you're coming from. I'm going to fire off a query to Facet Tech Support to see what they say. New pump is on as per the old one for the time being but it would be a fairly trivial exercise to make up a couple of brackets to flip the pump the right way up if necessary. No long journeys planned for the Spitfire until the Auto Ecosse so I'll leave off using it too much until I've got an answer either way.

Got time to work on the car this afternoon. Confirmed that the pump was dead. Now up and running again with new Red Top  :)

4576 wrote:if you can hear the pump, have you got a fuel supply problem? Have only had time to have a cursory look at it so far, but what I do know for certain is that the fuel supply to the pump is OK. Don't ask me how I know...  :B  ;D  ;D Regarding the pump what it sounds like it's doing when it's switched on (in old mechanical pump terms) is that it's completing one stroke and then jamming. It goes "dunk" and then there's nothing...until it's switched off then there's another "dunk". There's no pumping in between  :( As you can tell my understanding of the workings of electric fuel pumps is somewehat less than authoritative  ;D Quote:Have you taken the pump off and tried it across a battery with 2 lengths of pipe fitted, see if it pumps then. Not yet. That's one of things I'll be testing when I get stuck into it properly.

uksnatcher wrote:i would look at the electrics IE volts, amps etc... I will be looking at that in some detail when I get round to putting the new pump in - hopefully this weekend. Pretty sure the electrics are OK in this instance - 12V is getting as far as the internal connector that the pump's connected to and I think I can hear a thump from the pump when it's switched on (but that's all it appears to be doing). I have had wiring related issues with the installation in the past so it will be getting checked thoroughly. Wiring failed on me one time just after I started home from Birmingham :( but with the help of a forum member who went above and beyond the call of duty we managed to jury rig it by splicing a temporary wrire into the ignition switched 12V which got me home :)

4058 wrote:300tdi? No electric pump on them, just the lift pump and injection pump!  :) Oops. Got a bit carried away there  ;D   ;D  ;D

Glenn/Shaun, Thanks. It's mounted horizontally, below the tank, tucked up beside the chassis right at the front of the rear N/S wheel arch. See pic - BTW that's not a leak, it's spillage left over from when I had the filter out. Curious that the labelling on that old one is quite different from the new Red Top. Its internal filter's as clean as a whistle. What I expected - there's a pre-filter fitted between tank outlet and pump. When starting after it's been sitting for a while it does rattle quite hard for ten to fifteen seconds until the fuel's up to pressure. But don't have anything to directly compare it against so difficult to say if this is unusual to any great extent. I think I might look into fabricating a small bracket so that the new one will sit with the outlet raised slightly. Considering our Volvo V40's nearly at 80k and our Defender 300TDi's nearly at 150k both on their original electric pumps something doesn't seem right.

4526 wrote:Is 'park lane classics' no good? Or doesn't he have the right ones?  :-/ No, Owen doesn't do any stuff for GT6 Mk 1 and 2 seats at the moment.

I didn't do the original installation and I reckon I might need to do a bit of research into this. The pump is mounted horizontally whereas the references I have found so far seem to indicate that vertical mounting is preferred or that at if mounted horizontally the inlet should be lower than the outlet. The first one became unreliable quite early on but kept going for a while thereafter. The second one's been better and worked fine right up to the point when it died on Friday. They both lasted almost exectly the same mileage.

What sort of longevity should I reasonably expect from a Facet Red Top? I'm now on my third one in the space of 22k miles or thereabouts. It's starting to feel a bit excessive  :-/ (and expensive  ??) )

Owners Handbook lists mostly 20W/50 for UK climate but includes one 10W/50 (Mobileoil Super). 10W/50 and 10W/30 listed for cold climate and 5W/20 listed for very cold climate.

Certain failures of one or more of the rectifier diodes in the alternator can result in current getting drawn from the battery -- resulting in the battery going flat when left after a few days. Voltage readings with engine on will seem OK. If I remember correctly the current drawn out of the battery when this happened on our Land Rover a few years back was in the order of 200mA -- so possibly what you might be seeing.

smithy wrote:Had a pair of rally giants on mine back in the day - I still think they're a good cheap spot (although mine were the top-end 12" jobs, big money when you're on �50 a week). Completely illegal wiring too, which allowed me to use them and main beams together. Not illegal at all -- actually, it's how it's meant to be done. Driving and spot lights should be wired to come on together with the main beam. Some of best driving fun I ever had was driving the Spit through the night behind a pair of Super Oscar spots :) For some reason or other everyone coming the other always remembered to dip...  ;D  ;D

4526 wrote:i've seen these before on ebay , any good ?  :) http://www.benl.ebay.be/itm/Classic-Mini-Fog-Lights-Driving-Lamps-Wipac-S6078-New-Pair-Covers-/321028326142?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4abec782fe What is it you're wanting -- fog lights or driving lights (or even spot lights  :))? That eBay listing appears to be a bit confused. Title says "Fog Lights Driving Lights" -- they can't be both. Description says fog lights (which is is what I reckon they are) - so not what you want if it's driving lights or spot lights you're after. Quote:Fog - A fog light enhances visibility in fog, rain, snow and dust. Fog lights are intended to be used conjunction with standard headlamp systems. PIAA's Ion Crystal series of lighting are an excellent choice for bad driving conditions. Fog lights are intended to be used in conjunction with standard headlamp low beams. Drive - A drive light is intended to supplement the high beam of a standard headlamp system to enhance the illumination for increased visibility all round. Spot - Sometimes referred to as a Pencil Beam. A narrow beam of light that has an extremely long range with minimal side to side illumination.

I had pair of Super Oscars on the Spit back in the 80s when I was doing lot of night driving. Bloody brilliant things and I'm not convinced there's anything better, even twenty years on. It was like driving with a pair of World War 2 anti-aircraft searchlights on the front of the car  ;D Had them positioned similar to sparky-spit. The higher up you can get driving /spot lamps the better -- the positioning in the pic in the OP's first post is useless for driving/spot lamps. Super Oscars look pretty ugly on a Spit so I fab'd a mounting that made them easily removable. I think I made them a bit too removeable though - they were nicked one time when I wasn't looking  ??)  ;D  ;D Currently run 100W main beam bulbs (via relays etc) in the headlamps. Find this OK and haven't felt I need for extra lighting so far - but the Spit isn't out that much in the dark nowadays. Would reasses if ever doing the likes of the RBRR or 10CR etc in Spit.

FWIW I checked a couple of old (1980s) parts lists I have and I couldn't tie up these two part numbers with any Triumph models. The info I have is hardly exhaustive though  :B

1526 wrote:Could be a very early Triumphtune one before they simplified things and made them square. Yup. They were shipping them out like that in the 80s. Not that uncommon back in the day. Were did they all go?   :-/

When did they start producing the style of cover that Marcus has? It does look really shoddy  :( albeit that Marcus has done a great job with his dremel  :) Back in the day - yes, I really am that old  ??) - when TT were still an independent entity run by Terry Hurrell the alloy rocker covers they did were the laurel leaf style as per the one in Davemate's Herald (below). I checked the three TT catalogues I still have -- yes, I really am that sad ;D -- the last of which dates from just after the acquisition by Moss and it's still showing the laurel leaf style. My memory is that the laurel leaf ones were decent quality (I had two or three go through my hands in the late 80s early 90s) -- if I was after one (which I'm not) it would be a laurel leaf one that I'd want. Are these non-laurel leaf ones ones that Moss still sell another example of recently manufactured tat?  :( 1344 wrote:

ferny wrote:Instead I much prefer knotted wire wheels. I find them far quicker and much more precise. That's interesting. I hadn't considered using them on panels -- I thought they might be too rough. Sounds they're worth trying out as well  :)

piman wrote:in my experience cup wire brushes, even the knotted more aggressive ones do not remove rust properly, and flap discs tend to clog up if used on paint for any length of time. Flap discs are excellent on bare metal however. That is what is so good about the strip and clean discs, they do not clog when used on paint. They do not last very long so are expensive but the time saved and the excellent result make them worth while. To be honest Alec I haven't tried the strip and clean discs yet but it sounds like I need to give them a go -- I've got a lot to do  ??) When I started cleaning the front end of the Saloon up I just played about with what I had lying about in the garage. It works but needs at least two passes -- cup brush to get most of the paint and rust off (they don't clog), then flap discs to get the last of the paint and rust off. Sounds like the strip and clean discs could save me a lot of time.  

jcarruthers wrote: Get the rust off quickly and properly and it'll be worth it. Otherwise it'll be looking shabby again in 6 months when it all comes through. FWIW agree with James and piman. Get it back to bare metal, get rid of the rust before priming and painting. If you just flat it and paint over it the rust will be breaking through again in no time. I suspect your rust spots will be a mixture of chips and also areas where the paint has aged to the extent that it's allowing moisture through to the metal. I'm doing exactly the same with bits of my Saloon where wholesale panel replacement isn't required. Takes no time at all to get back to bare metal using angle grinder with wire cups and flap discs. See this (none of which were stone chips) http://bigsixaddiction.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/cleaning-up-well.html -- now that I've sort of got the hang of what I'm doing going from the first pic to the second pic should only take a couple of hours. Flap discs not necessarily that expensive: I'm using these -- http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=143476 -- and these -- http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power%20Tool%20Accessories/Power%20Sanding/Flap%20Discs/d80/sd1790/p87752 -- in 40 or 60 grit to remove paint and rust -- and these (which are expensive but last for ages if only used for finishing after removal of paint and rust) --http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=132512 -- for finishing prior to degreasing and priming. Other options are of course available  :X After priming I'll be overcoating with Triumph White celly from a can to seal off the primer and when I'm be done I'll get a paint shop to respray the whole thing and finish it off properly.