Amy Wade

Hi Danny, I should (hopefully) be receiving a 1980 spitfire tomorrow which will be broken up. If you don't have any luck send me a message & I'll see what I can do. P.S. I've not tested the switches yet, if they're no good I'll let you know.

I had done the swing spring conversion last year & it transformed it.

Thanks for all the replies, at the moment I'm negotiating purchase of a complete 1500 car to strip for parts. It has an overdrive gearbox & was expecting to have to use the propshaft, I wasn't sure about things like the flywheel/clutch. It looks like I'll need to look at either swapping differentials or doing mods to suit. As for the car I plan to strip for bits, the tub is made of Swiss cheese, mice have used it as a home & the engine is rusted up solid. Anything salvageable that I don't need or have use for will be offered through the forum to hopefully keep some better examples on the road.

Hi peeps, Does anyone know if a gearbox from a late 1500 will be a an easy fit into my Mk3? Will I need to use a 1500 flywheel & clutch etc?

Good luck for whatever you decide.

I was thinking brand new, they're still being made, one was fitted to a R5 Gordini on salvage hunters classic cars a few weeks ago. It's surely going to be easier (and probably cheaper) than finding all the bits to convert a saloon into a soft top.

Have you considered a Webasto roof? It's probably the best option for getting wind in your hair/sunburnt head.

That's not too far, maybe we could meet in a few weeks time.

Where are you based? Perhaps I could have a little drive on a nice weekend. I'm not in a hurry, it hardly gets used & the hood frame has already eaten holes in the seats, I'd just like to get it sorted out before doing anything with the seats.

Hi peeps, Is there anyone that could help sort out the hood frame on my Mk3 Spitfire, at the moment it's chewing through the seat when it's down. It would be nice if the someone is in the Oxfordshire area. Thanks in advance, Amy

You'll have to keep us up to date on your progress - both getting it over here and the restoration. I'm sure you will find plenty of help here.

There's a Herald advertised on Facebook that might be of interest to you, there's a link to it on the Club Triumph Facebook page.

The judges clearly don't have taste, you need to attend a better class of show 😊

You beat me to it.

If the little bit of floorpan visible in the photos is indicative of the condition of the tub you've gut a solid starting point. It will be good for a Mk1 to be saved from the crusher.

Hi Chris, Your best course of action will be to contact HMRC cars team, their email address is ecsm.nchcars@hmrc.gov.uk I'm not sure what duty/VAT will be charged but they will base it on the condition/value of the car when imported.

You could, but you'll still need to remove the exhaust manifold to replace the gasket as it is one gasket for both inlet and exhaust.

You'll find you're going to clock up quite a few miles looking for the right car. My search for a spitfire took me from Oxford to Nottingham, Portsmouth, Reigate, Bedford, London and finally bought my car from Portishead. The Heralds are all 50+ years old & as with most cars of the time, they weren't exactly rustproofed, there will be quite a lot of basket cases out there. As there aren't very many up for sale at any given time you will need to be prepared to travel. The one I shared in my previous reply sounds like it's had a fair amount of money thrown at it. It's probably worth contacting the seller and asking if they would be willing to meet somewhere halfway (It's worth noting their ad was posted over a month ago, if they're keen to sell they might be obliging).

This appears to tick a lot of your boxes... https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1452049 I'm not sure who owns it but looks like they're a club member.

I would also say it's unlikely to be the fuel, I always use super in my Spitfire, there are 2 reasons for using super they are; 1) Less ethanol (at least until the government decides otherwise) 2) The car was originally designed to run on 5 star petrol, super is as close as you're going to get without buying petrol from a racetrack. I would go for opening up the float chambers, the old fuel would have deposited a layer of lacquer as it evaporated. You may also find degradation of fuel line components between the filter & carbs has left deposits in the carbs causing blockages.

Quinten Hazell & Valeo are both reputable brands that have been around for donkeys years, I wouldn't have a problem with either.

I'm interested in injection on my Spitfire, I'd love to find out more. Perhaps you could start a new thread.

All replaced now, there's no way I was going to trust them.

Very nice car. I don't know why you changed the tyres, 18 years old is practically brand new, my spitfire had 24 year old tyres on it when I bought it.