Mjit

If you can't find one from another member give Canley Classics a call. Killed the bottom of my engine a few years back and Canley had rebuild short engines for sale outright (though did turn up with a mixture of bearing sizes fitted, thankfully spotted and corrected during the build-up!

Apply a load that exceeds the materials elastic limit and you'll get a permanent deformation every time. The difference between steel and aluminium I was referring to would be more like having two pieces of wire and repeatidly hanging/removing a weight from each of them. Assuming the weight's below the material's elastic limit both will get a bit longer under the weight but return to the original length when unloaded (no permanent deformation). You can repeat that till the end of time with the piece of steel wire, but every cycle weakens the aluminium wide. Basically steel has a fixed elestric limit but aluminium doesn't, it comes down little by little every time you load it and eventually it will drop below the weight you're hanging on the wire. So no, this doesn't apply to tub spread. That's a deformation where the metal's been taken past its elastic limit. Take it past that limit again and it will permanently deform again. It does however mean you don't need to worry about your bonnet stay snapping at some point. It goes through a load/unload cycle every time you put the bonnet up and rest its weight through the stay. That weight is always below the steel's elastic limit though so safe. Maybe a better example is why you don't normally get aluminium springs. They are chuffing heavy so a perfect way to save weight, but also their whole purpose is to go through constant load/unload cycles. A nice bit of spring steel will sit there for years happily taking the same load each time you hit a bump. An aluminium spring would eventually pass it's fateague limit and snap though. Not a major issue for things like paper clips, a bit more serious on a speeding car... (That said aluminium spring HAVE been used, just generally in things like race cars where you're happy to bin the old ones and fit brand new ones between each session. Not sure anyone is still using them as you can now make them out of carbon composits that while also life limited are even lighter and if you can afford to throw away aluminium springs you can probably afford to throw away carbon ones too.)

Although thin and cracked it's not actually a load bearing part of the wheel or one exposed to the greatest forces (very close to centre so not moving as fast as say the rim). As such it's unlikely, as it stands, to cause the wheel to fail. It IS a risk though and if you decide to keep using them would need to be monitored. A specialist should be able to TIG weld the cracks and then refinish the wheel/centre bore though I'd have thought. ANY old aluminium wheel is a risk though, as our materials lecturer 'Dr Death' used to like to tell us. Steel has a fateague limit. Below that limit you can load/unload a piece of steel with the same weight and it just sits there doing what it's always done and staying as strong as it's always been. Aluminium doesn't have a fatigue limit so every time you load/unload it it gets a little bit weaker until eventually it no longer has the strengh to hold the weight it always has in the past and snaps. As a result at some point any and every aluminium wheel is just going to explode while you're driving along, causing a crash and killing you (he had an example involving death of serious injury for every material and mechanical property, hence why he was known as Dr Death). It's also the reason aircraft parts are 'lifed', to say 500 takeoff/landings or 3,000 flying hours - so they get replaced before they get near the risk of them failing.

Got a link you can share?

Was the blown plug a corroded mess? If not you might want to spare a thought for WHY it blew. Had one pop on my Spitfire head, which turned out to be down to a crack that had developed (but could thankfully be fixed). All that said core plugs aren't expensive, so probably worth starting with just replacement and giving it a good thrash (close to home) to see if it goes again or not.

Generally you're looking at endless loosening/jiggling/tightening/testing/swearing/repeating, until either you get it spot on or, more likely, you get it close-enough and have more fear that the next jiggle will make it worse rather than better.

Worth checking the needles are the same in both carbs. Somewhere, they will have a 2 or 3 letter code stamped on them and they should be the same letters on both needles. I think maybe right at the top so you need to remove the needle from the piston to read it. Standard needles for a Mk3 would be "BO".

This is quite common with 70's fuse boxes (I was going to say Spitfire/GT6 ones but had a similar thing in my 2000 the other day). Either: You get a bit of corrosion/gunk build up that's enough to insulate the fuse at one end or the other. This is probably what you had and 'fixed' by just taking them out and putting them back in. The fuse holder arms creep over 40 years and just don't 'pintch' tightly enough on the fuse to make contact. This is what I had on the 2000 and fixed but a little longnose plier pintching to close them up snug again. The fusebox has managed to melt and flow around one fuse end, insulating it. Had that in my Spitfire so fitted another new fusebox (but with hindsight should have fitted a modern fuse box - live and learn).

For the later style dash (so Mk IV/1500 Spitfire and I think Mk2/Mk3 GT6): Passenger side panel is held in by: - Nuts/captive bolts from the facia panel/through the dash frame. One or near the door end, the other about 1/3 up from the bottom/2" in from the middle. - The centre dash panel top mounting screw. - And on a GT6 the eyeball vent. The drivers side panel is held in by: - A nut/captive bolt at the top, about 3" from the door end. - The choke cable (you need to withdraw the inner) - The centre dash panel top mounting screw. - All the buttons and gauges. - And on a GT6 the eyeball vent. Not that I'm in the middle of reveneering them so have them stripped and sat about 2m away from my computer or anything...

On a power run most RR operators will stop once the power starts to drop off and it's clear it's not just a flat spot. If you think about it, if the power is dropping all continuing to increase RPM is doing is increasing the stresses on the engine...to get the same BHP you could get by backing off the throttle to lower RPM. I mean, why run the engine at 5800RPM to get the same power you could get running it at 4300RPM? Personally I'd be more interested why the track only starts at 2500RPM... Ideally you want to start from idle in 4th (1:1) gear and run all the way up to the red line/power peak, to help theRR with it's drivetrain loss estimation - though in a 1300 Spitfire that's usually asking a bit much and you need to get it going in 1st and 2nd before slipping in to 4th. Last time my car was on the RR to map the MegaJolt timing we were able to trace from 1500RPM (getting 60 at the road/estimated 75 at the flywheel). Peak power/RPM was limited because my car started running either rich or lean at higher RPM and the tuner didn't have suitable needles in stock but why change them. I mean I'll soon get on with the rest of the swap to EFi... Just looked and the RR chart's dated 2007 😶

Hand pressure, Nigel! Either you have REALLY strong tumbs or, umm, my nipples were a lot harder than yours. One other tip for Bordfunker - keep an eye on the alignment of the nipples and target tube holes as you fight the bush in. They are tricksy devils and will try to end up rotated out of alignment, and the further they go in the bigger a PITA they are to try and rotate back! (One of many t-shirts in my collection).

Having stripped the lugs off fitting rubber ones years ago I found jubilee clips (and lube) did the trick fitting uprated ones last year. That said I wasn't fitting the new ones because the old ones had worn or moved due to the missing nipples, but rather a kinked tube that started randomly tooting the horn with a new steering wheel fitted. The bushes were still fine and still perfectly positioned in the old steering colum, with the 'scars' of the missing nippels still perfectly aligned in the outer column holes - so if you DO lose the nipples again on fitting...just fit and forget.

EFi will give the same BHP as a race-tuned carb/dizzy engine but will normally give a slightly better figure than a road-tuned carb/dizzy engine. Not down to magic, just the fact that the carb/dizzy combo rarely give you the perfect amount of fuel and spark advance for any running condition while EFi can. In the race case it's all about full throttle running, so you can tune to be perfect under those conditions and just accept a 2000RPM tickover. Peak RPM isn't where you win with EFi though, it's the fact that rather than being spot on at 2 or 3 spots across the rev/load range and within 10% the rest of the time you're spot all the time, everywhere, so the torque line's a little higher across the graph and the power line's a little straighter, with fewer/smaller peaks and troughs. And that's the day to day power you can actually use on the road.

Pha, just do what my cousin and I did as teenagers when low on fuel in a mini with no fuel cap key - just have at it with a hammer and cold chisel...till it dawns on you that this might be a REALLY bad idea! 🤦

Looks like I've started something at my local Waitrose - parked up the 2000 and joind the entry queue...to watch a Herald come and park along side mine 😀

The prop. should normally come out OK. I can't remember if it just drops out or if unbolting from each end gives enough room to tilt/wiggle it so it can slide either back/forwards and down/out where the chassis rails spread further apart.

That doesn't sound too bad - though I'm now thinking about modifying things to remove the non-functional dizzy and replace it with a blanking plug and coil pack combo, moving the coil pack from the bulkhead to where the dizzy used to be, which would completely change the required lead lengths. Some Fords mounted the coil pack off the block so don't think there should be any heat issues... Why complete one job when you can start another!

I'm also in the same boat and the generic set of over-long leads from Trigger Wheels annoy me every time I open the Spitfire bonnet (though generally forgotten as soon as I close it). Do you happen to remember how much the custom set cost vs a standard Magnecor set at the time? Are they actually reasonably priced or do they empty your wallet?

I though it was down to the fact the output of a dynamo was related to RPM so drivers needed to be more aware of their electrical load, so needed to see the current being drawn via an ammeter. An alternator can respond to changes in eletrical load independent of RPM so drivers are more concerned about the battery being charged or drained, whc=ich a volt meter will show you. Though I would also accept they are cheaper/lower risk to fit and the above is just the marketing BS used by the motor industry to sell the switch to the public.

I seem to remember reading that it's an ammeter for a car with a dynamo but a volt meter for one with an alternator.

Not too big a job to check the oil feed. Remove the rocker cover. Place upside down somewhere clean and that you won't kick it. Remove the rocker shaft assembly, working the nuts off a turn or two at a time, rather than wanging one nut all the way off, then the next, etc. Put the rocker assembly inside the rocker cover. Give the top of the head a good wipe down with blue towel to remove the collected oil. Move cats, children's fingers, etc from the engine bay and then the coil LT lead (so there's no spark). Spin the engine over on the starter to get the oil pressure up and you SHOULD get oil starting to trickle (NOT gush 3ft in the air, just trickle) out the hole where the rear-most rocker shaft pedistal would sit. If you have oil: Refit the rocker shaft. Regap the rockers. Refit the rocker cover. If you DON'T have oil but are lazy: Refit the rocker shaft. Regap the rockers. Refit the rocker cover. Refit the external oil feed. If you DON'T have oil and AREN'T lazy: Drain the cooling system. Remove the head. Find/remove the internal oil feed blocker from the top of the block/underside of the head. Refit, etc.

Remember too that you're dealing with carbs/mechanical distributor/40 years of bodging and wear and tare so 'close' or 'good-enough' migth be as good as it gets. You MAY have the carbs set correctly at idle, but modifications/wear/someone fitting random needles and springs in the past means you don't have the correct mixture at higher RPM. If you're just trying to check the Colortune mixture is correct check your carbs for lifting pins. If fitted use these to lift the piston a little bit and listen to the engine note. Up + stays up = rich. Down + stays down = lean. Up but drops back = correct. The amount you're meant to lift is ~1/4" and the first time you do this it's best done with the air filters off, so you can see there's some free movement of the pin before it starts lifting the piston/how much push is required to lift it 1/4". After that it's best done with the air filters on, as they do restrict airflow slightly and so affect mixture. If you're still not happy you have things right you need someone with a CO2 meter and to get measurements at a few points. For a road car I'd say one at idle, one around 2,500RPM, and one around 3,500/4,000RPM, as that's the sort of range most of us actually do our driving in. If you're someone who regularly goes nearer the red line than that then add a fourth measure at higher RPM. One tip here is that if you have a twin exhause make sure you block one while taking the measurements. Doesn't need to be air tight, just enough to stop one pipe robbing from the other - on my car we found a huge difference between the two exits (of a 4-2-1-2 system) down at idle, fixed by someone putting their size 9 boot over the end of one pipe. From that you'll be able to see where across the RPM range you're lean/correct/rich and start playing with different needles to get it correct across the board.

Also while white light is a mix of all the different colours of light, that doesn't mean all white light is 33% red/33% green/33% blue, so shining the white light from two different sources through a green lens doesn't mean you're getting 33% of the light going in coming out for every different type of white light bulb. Green is one of the 'better' colours, with similar levels of green in the light from an incandecent bulb to a 'cool white' LED and actually daylight levels for 'warm white' LEDs. It's a different story if you use one for say a brake light LED, where incandecent bulbs are strong but both 'cool' and 'warm' white LEDs very weak.

Powder coating is about the best way to apply paint to protect metal...IF it's done correctly. More often than not it isn't.

Think you can tighten all the diff->car and spring->diff bolts and the damper nuts with the car up in the air. The others you can shove the bolts through and run the nuts up till they're starting to clamp, then drop the car on to its wheels and rock it back and forth a bit while pushing down on the boot to settle the crazy initial camber. That done squeeze under and tighten the nuts. If you love your torque wrench as much as me it's then back up in the air for the final torquing.