molten

Well progress is very slow at the moment (as usual) but finally removed all accesable rust - tedious repeated applications of phosphoric acid/wire brush. Finally managed to get some paint on underside: 1st coat bonda rust primer (to deal with any rust that i may have missed / cannot get to. Then PU sealed all weld joins, seams to sills- boot- vallance etc, Then installed blanking plugs and PU sealed then in. Then 2nd coat of primer. Now need to decide if i will stonechip or not??????????? :-/ Cheers

Just noticed in other pics that the front bulkhead is not secured. This should have the correct shims etc under it to raise the tub slightly. Of course your new mounting bracket is not yet welded in so not possible. With these cars its always best to do all structural metalwork whilst the tub is bolted to chassis with correct body mounting kit - in an ideal world!! If it was shimmed it will give you some etra room to weigh the floor pan down to a workable (checked) level and tac sill materials to.

3155 wrote:ok here an update on my 1500 , just one prob cant get drivers floor to get down enough to line up with sill and a post ? wish you could get hold of new bulkhead too Hi Simon If you look on page 5 of this thread you will see a photo of a similar problem. I noticed from you last photo that the floor pan is not there. Am I right?  I cannot tell properly but can see the chassis outrigger so presume to be right. If so you are best to set f/p in position 1st with support underneath. Then inner sill and so on. It may be that a previous f/p had been fitted but jacked up too high - now you will struggle to line anything up properly. I had to add extra curvature to the bottom of the outer sill so as not to open up the gap under the door when fitted. Bulkhead repair - been there done that. Can be tricky with the radius. If you can confirm that the floorpan is too high - you may have to weigh it down, but dont forget to use timber and jack under it to make dure it is well supported.

Stripped vatcan off undercarriage and paint to metal. Not pretty to look at but all metal is solid and all seam welded. Took scroll sander to it with pleasing results - the surface rust came off. Will need to continue removing as much as I can before treating with phosphoric acid. A few pics for you:

Correct on every count Mark. Surprising what lurks beneath even what appears to be a reasonably solid body. All problems common to GT6 & Spitfires i'm afraid. But will look closer on next model :)

Dont want to bore you too much so will get some 'after' pictures uploaded when clean bare metal undercarriage is ready. Why do we do this to ourdelves (and our pockets :'() Cheers

you get the picture!!! New metal goin' in:

and more....

more pics

As body work is so slow at the moment, I thought that i would post some pics of the bad parts of the car body before they were repaired. Boot:

Hi Redrooster That shell looks like a lot of prep work was involved. Nice finish cheers

3368 wrote:Now that's some serious nice work, Molten.  Well done.  Keep it going! Thanks Mark Progress really slow at present getting bodywork to paintable surface. However, managed to get the inside of the chassis rails waxoyled at weekend. May have bnoted on other thread that I have been working on undercarriage and have decided to strip it back to bare metal and treat any rust areas with phosphoric acid. So delayed the intended painting of undercarriage. Plan is to etch, stonechip (thinned for smoother finishes) a few layers, then colour etc so that I can get the tub back on the chassis to get more room back in garage and to be able to roll in and out. Not much tosee at present but will get some more pics when there is something to see. Cheers

1381 wrote:Where the hell would you start with this one? http://www.simoncars.co.uk/triumph/slides/u_Triumph%20Spitfire%20MkIV%201500%201977%20side.jpg Aside from this misaligned door, the car is practically concours. Observations include: front edge of door, gap too narrow at the top, too wide at the bottom rear edge of door, gap too wide at the top, too narrow at the bottom door kicks out at the bottom, would probably bang the bottom rear corner against the bodywork IF you were able to get it fitting flush it's almost like the sill is too narrow as almost the entire length of the door-bottom sticks out wider than the sill It'd seem such a shame to take the sill off and redo it considering there isn't a spec of rust on the car, however I guess its a blessing in one way as it gives an incentive to drive the bloody thing without caring about preserving the sills, as you can then eventually have an excuse to redo them. The sills aren't heritage as they don't appear to have that curved lip round the front. Also, the rear wing has a repair patch that is rectangular in section and is fitted at the bottom, ahead of the rear wheel. Its height is in line with the top of the sill, you can kind of make it out in the photo. I'm guessing the bulkhead has sagged due to inadequate bracing when the floor and sills were replaced. The a-post bottom corner patch is original, as is the entire door assembly and most of the rear wing. How would you guys tackle this? I'd be tempted to replace the entire outer rear wing panel with a heritage one as well as getting heritage sills, but then again changing the rear wing may bring more problems than it solves? That Sill looks like it could be a 'tad' too far to the rear - looking at the gap between sill radius and door. May be lack of bracing as you say. Difficult to say from that pic alone. Honestly I would live with it until I had to replace sill. But if I were picky - as I am at times, I would  probably look to see if I could remove enough metal (a cut) from the underside of the inner door panel enough to close the bottom of the door skin inward  closer to sill/rear wing. But that would open a load of problems if you changed the sill in future (the door would apear 'sunken' at the bottom). The front of the sill may be sticking out further than the bonnet/wings - indicating poor sill repair. As I say cant tell from one side-on photo. Looks like the door bottom has been worked and could be biggest factor. If you have bought this car and it still looks like that now - just drive it and enjoy it until you have to change the metalwork. Cheers

Hi Bob Paul's comment above is pretty accurate regarding the unusual one-off gap. Moving the door too far forward on some cars can bring the door into contact with the top of the sill when open. Check the other door gaps and see if you have any opposing measurements. Ie small gap on b-post of drivers door / bigger gap on b-post of passenger door. If both doors are at their max adjustment - just take a closer look at the bonnet pivot boxes and their dimensions in relation to chassis. Reason for checking these would indicate if the car has had a 'hit' at the front/quater and the chassis is slightly off centre at the pivot boxes - indicating a possible 'it' at the front at some point in its life. If you can confirm that this is not so then all's well. Has your bonnet & bulkhead got the seals present? As you say earlier - has the bonnet been correctly adjusted (height & front-to-back and level)? And the list goes on...

Hi Simon The conditions seen in your photos will have been seem by almost all forum members at some point (or they will yet see). All typical spitfire rust-prone areas. If I can be of any help, just ask. Thanks

New kunifer pipes now fitted. Rear brake cables installed so wheeled outside for first time so I could turn body tub round. Some pics for you cheers

Hello I have noticed some swelling between the seams of the tunnel that sits over the diff and the rear boot floor, and also on the underside of rear valance/boot floor. I have decided to carefully open up the seams between spotwelds (done with small flat screwdriver - Still got strong spot welds.). I know this is probably unconventional but hear me out... My intention is: Get some rust converter (vatcan) into the open seams. When cured, use silicone gun to squirt some PU sealant into seam and close back seam & clamp whilst PU cures. Put some more PU over the now closed (clamped) seam joint external. PU seal the inside joint of the seam(in the boot). Apply vatcan rust converter to slight rust areas on underside of boot floor etc Brush apply undiluted bonda zinc primer. I read in another thread that a preference would be to prime first then seal the seam. Would that work any better than my proposed approach here? Thanks gents

junkuser wrote:Not pretty but it may work quite well still if the tubes are clear. Only way to tell is to try it. Simple to change if is no good so what's to lose? Yeah, I was thinking about trying to save a little monel initially by refurbing and refitting. I do intend to install a full width rad but my money may be better spent elsewhere at the moment so may try to refurb for now. Cheers Scott

Hello Even though I would prefer a full width radiator - which I will likely end up with, i decided to take a closer look at the rusted up original. It seems that there is some damage to the fins on the front and the fins seem very soft around these areas as my pointy finger found out. This rad does look as if it is useless but not leaking nor blocked so what do you think - is it work spending any time refurbing or is it 'dead'? Cheers Scott

OK, Been away for a while waiting on parts etc. Anywhoo, thanks to some advice fron technical chit-chat, I have managed to clear up a missunderstandind I had over rear brakes so back to rear end chassis build-up. Rebuilts rear spring with new thrust buttons (wish I had gone for teflon really but will see how i go) and new polybush spring bushes. Also fitted new polybushes to rear shocks. New polybushes to front and rear diff. Both rear halfshaft bearings & seals replaced. New UJ's installed (after buying a 3rd UJ coz I busted one on installing- doeh). New fasteners all round. I think I have stripped on the of the front diff nuts under torque so will need to look at this tomorrow - new nut and some threadloc may do. Just need to torque up shaft to diff bolts but no room for my socket to get in. Rear shoes and full kunifer brakes pipes next. Any way, a few pics of todays work;

339 wrote:PICS, PICS, PICS, PICS, PICS PLEASE! 8) Agreed, but in another thread :) :) Many Thanks

573 wrote:i see in pic 6201 you have a sign sitting on top of the frame  of a wee man running with an arrow pointing down.that is the spot i need measured,from there down to the bottom of the frame under front suspension. Hi Gary. I can only tel you what this dimension is on this particular chassis as there will naturally be some variation from one chassis to another. On my chassis; from the underside of the frame rail where the rail is horizontal - to the top face of the front cross member measures 10.25" (260mm) I hope this helps. My original chassis needed a complete new front end and so as to avoid the troubles you are now having, I opted to get another complete chassis. So glad I did as to repair is quite possible but time consuming due to a lot of alignment and checking / double checking, weld tacking, check again etc. All points you will no doubt have to endure with your own chassis. Anyway I hope you manage it all. Cheers Scott

Hello I have experienced problems with the front gap mentioned above. Also if the gap here is the same all round as we would see on modern cars there is a risk here that the door will catch the sill where the line in the door skin gets very close to the top edge of the sill upon opening so perhaps this could be the reason for the slightly larger gap in this area on some of our beloved cars. My own tub had an older bullkead repair that brought the sill forward and out of position. Think I could live with the gap on that car above though  8) cheers

A credit to the guy that has prepared the metal/bodywork finish. A good example of the correct methods and 'shed-loads' of patience. Green has never been a colour that apealed to me but I have to admit, your green does look great. Be interesting to know what paints/number of coats he put on the bare metal up to finish coat? as the finish looks a nice deep colour. Cheers

Hello JensH makes a very good point here. One that I (and no doubt many others) also encountered. This problem also has a big part to play the gap under the door/sill. The curvature of the sill pressings themselves can vary a lot making this problem worse when you try to meet the panels together. Ie if the curvature is not enough upto a 1 inch gap can be present between outer sill flange and floor flange. Any attempts to clamp these 2 panels together here serves only to open the gap under the door quite dramatically. I had to work the sills to put in more curvature on the last 40mm of the sill before flange. Several 'door on, re-align, - door off' attemps to get the positioning right (best uniform gap) on the outer sills for final weld... But managed to get there in the end The joys of British car manufacturing...