IANS

Ive done the engine change in a Spitfire from a 1500 to a fiat twin cam  and tbh I felt the car lost a lot of character ! As Dave says a 100hp @ the flywheel  Spitfire shouldnt be that difficult or expensive ! Look at Miks Davis old race 1500 Spitfire very reliable andnot that expensive ian

It looks like they have Bypassed the Cooler by returning the outlet straight back to the inlet . Strange thing to do as it looks like its fitted with a Cooler stat ! odd Ian

willows40 wrote:I think i know that car and previous owner, It did the HCR a couple of years ago but not RBRR, Should be sending my entry in soon, Then will have a reason to get my mk1 estate on the road, Only needs complete rebuild and painting, but other peoples cars keep getting in the way. If all else fails will use the mk2 pi which did it in 2008 Cheers Andy It was the HCR she competed there is a picture on page 56 in the latest Club Torque that she is in . My mistake I need to listen  :)

Hi Tim As dodgy as this sounds I never met the previous owner when I bought her I collected her from the garage that looked after her , Cunningham Motors in Thetford. It was whilst there he  mentioned she had done the RBRR but its quite possible I misheard.  :) Ian

We are currently team 102 here is what we shall be using she is going to get a spruce up in the the Spring and hopefully by the time RBRR comes round she will be wearing her Dunlop 5.5 Lp923 and have a 2.5 in there. I believe the last owner did the RBRR in her in 2012

Ive raced and driven on the road a Spitfire  which is fitted with a Salisbury type diff ! when on the road apart from the push feeling when trying to park and the occasional rattle when the plates get a bit worn the LSD is not that noticable ! On the track again the only noticable thing about the Salisbury Lsd is the initail understeer on turn in as the the plates lock up this can be adjusted depending on how tight you have the diff set Ive raced and driven a Spitfire fitted with a Quaife atb and its a lot more civilised it offers the same amount of extra control as the Salisbury but with none of the drawbacks of the initail understeer and squeeling tyres when trying to turn tightly the only drawback with the Quaife being if one of the driven wheels leave the ground it acts like a normal open diff there is lots on the net that explains why Plus the Quaife is maintenance free requires no special oils and has a lifetime guarantee conversley the Salisbury will require special oils periodic maintenance and the ramp angle will always be a compromise

michael wrote:gripper plate type for comp use.  quaife for road use  regards michael My apologies for this Michael but I dont agree with that statement ! Im at work so I cant go into to much detail but if you can keep both rear wheels on the floor the Quaife Atb is far superior to a plate type. look at what the racers use in the CSCC Swinging Sixties the Top Triumphs are on Quaife Atb diffs in histiric appendix k racing they use plate type because thats all they are allowed to use my own race car puts 350hp through a Quaife and I've managed to get the suspension balanced enough that both wheels stop on the floor through the corners and its a fantastic bit of kit

Just my opinion but if your looking at a limited slip differential and you own a car fitted with swing axle then you must replace halfshafts with something better be it a cv conversion , rotoflex or uprated swing axles as swing axles will break sooner or later !

4058 wrote:Have been doing some research, found the various different types, some hard to get than others. Some needing extensive modifications to fit! Then i came accross the JE forged pistons, made in various sizes for the triumphs, so rather than trying to fit others (I.e. cooper s or vw polo) and having to modify them, I think going for the correct forged ones will be the best, as this motor won't be standard.  ;) Good decision they are very good and the choice of quite a few professional engine builders ian

Richard_B wrote:Whats the benefit of fitting low compression 1500 pistons, other than a supply of 1300 heads? Does the dished US 1500 piston give better torque, power, revs? I cant see any benefit really but im happy to be corrected ! Everybody I have spoken to whom has built the 4 cylinder up as a performance engine has used the flat top piston And has measured the combustion chamber volume to give the desired compression ratio ! There Is other determining factors to calculating compression ratio and some very good ones online

Our entry form in the post tomorrow for the reserves ! Ian

timbancroft61 wrote:Did'nt there used to be a school of thought that Mini Cooper S pistons were of the right sizes and because of the limitless amount of A serie s tuning parts, there are some fairly exotic pistons to be used? Am I dreaming this? Was back in the late 80s? I think from memory the Cooper S rod fitted as well as a Upgrade and they used to transplant the rod and piston into the small crank engine ! I don't think it was a straightforward mod and required the Crank to be ground in different manner. I also remember that some of the guys in the old TSSC Championship ran on Fiesta 1400 CVH Pistons and some kind of VW Polo Pistons as well JP Pistons from AUS are meant to be good and strong but a Little heavy Back in the day (2007) I got my JE Pistons Direct from JE the exchange rate was almost 2 to 1 and I got a full set for £350 Ian

When I raced my mk3 1300c Small Crank Spitfire I ran on Countys at first and I did experience a few issues 1. Don't go wild on Compression Ratio I ran them in my 12:1 Comp Ratio Engine and they lasted 3 laps before the ring lands collapsed on the other hand I run them in an Engine with 10:5 comp ratio and they were fine, 2. Don't go wild on Sustained high revs once again the counties were fine for racing up to 7000 RPM use beyond that (running up to 7500 Rpm and beyond) they will crack the skirts. When Jigsaw Built me my last full race engine we used JE forged Pistons as they were just an extra bit of insurance for a race engine. Put counties in and stick to a sensible cam like a TH7 (peaks at about 7000 RPM)  and you wont have a problem Ian

962 wrote: Ha my memory ain't too bad after all  ;D It must have scarred the mind  :)

I did mine last week I swapped out a standard Vitesse spring for a swing spring. I had to take the studs out of mine on the one side as the straps holding the spring together are to wide and will not pass through the gap between the studs.Also if you are replacing a fixed spring with a Swing spring don't forget to blank the two middle holes on the diff !