Mjit
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Posts posted by Mjit
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17 hours ago, johny said:
orrrrr use Millers VSPe at 5p a litre of fuel to up 95 to 97ron so that normal running can be maintained while protecting your valve seats and so (hopefully) the jam jar will not be needed.....
At some point an engine rebuild, probably with head skim will be required so the content of that jam jar will be required regardless of leaded/unleaded, additive/no additive. Yes, maybe sooner running without additive than with but at some point regardless.
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I'd say pick Wynnes - but don't buy it. Instead work out how many fill-ups you could do per-bottle and every X fill-ups put the cost of a bottle of Wynnes in a jam jar. By the time you have any noticable valve seat regression you'll have enough in that jam jar to pay to have unleaded valve seats fitted in your head.
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No idea on cost but there are places that will 3D scan an original to generate the image.
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I'd say your best bet is to contact a local custom exhaust specalist, one of the ones that build bespoke systems. Pop along to them, chat about how you want the car to sound and they should be able to sort you out with something.
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Is the gearbox in the big saloons (so also some TRs/Stags) just a bit noisy and just like that - or is every one I've ever driven (OK that's only 2) a bit shagged?
I've had one for about 10 years/probably pushing 100,000 miles and that's always made a bit of noise - but the same noise at the same sort of level. I test drove another one yesterday and that made similar noises. On my car I'd always assumed either the release/another bearing was a bit tired (quite a soft/higher pitched rumble in neutral that goes when you press the clutch in) but the one I drove yesterday was much the same so beginning to wonder.
Clutch on the test drive car was also right on the floor which could just mean slave cylinder needs a little adjustment, though also reminds me I forgot to test crankshaft end float. Was raining so going back for a second look next weekend so skipped a few of the lay-on-the-ground-and-get-under-it tests.
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So you have the thread stripped on the both that goes through the vertical link and spring eye, but still have the nut on it?
If the bold will move at all back-and-forth I'd try to get it as far 'bolt head out' as you can and try to jam a screwdriver under the bolt head, the idea being to try and force the nut on to a non-stripped section of thread so you can wind it off. If there's no lateral movement generally force the two sides of the vertical link apart, above the spring. You don't want to go crazy and again you're just trying to force the nut on to some good thread so it grips (even if it grips in a cross-threaded way - you;r going to replace the nut and bolt anyway). I'd start with the shaft end of a hammer between the vertical link tips and pushed laterally by hand to try and spread them. With just hand pressure you shouldn't be at any risk of damaging the vertical link.
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I've got, and am very happy with the gas struts fitted to my steel bonnet car but think you'd need 'softer' struts with a fiberglass one. There's a massive difference in weight between a steel and fiberglass bonnet and the standard struts will be spec'ed for the weight of the much heavier steet unit.
I don't know if the club are able to sell just the brackets/strut details so you can source your own, lower rated ones?
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OK, so found the thread on one of my rear wheel studs was damaged on the weekend. I've ordered a couple of replacements but also have an old pair of rear shafts in the garage so tried to swap studs from those... Tried twice and in both cases just couldn't get the splines to line up so ended up jamming.
- CAN you re-use studs, or are they fit one and throw (unless re-used in same hole with same orientation.
- What can you do to clean up the splines in the rear hub - while fitted to the car?
- Any fitting tips?
Thanks
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Just a thought but would getting the standard Spitfire lenses scanned/3D printed in transparent plastic be possible/easier?
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I can recommend Elite Direct Tyres down in Rainham. Full, independent 4 wheel lazer alignment and had both my Spitfire and 2000 through there, including re-shimming the rear tie bars and the front lower wishbone shim shuffle on the Spit.
They don't do bookings, which means you can be hanging around a while on a Saturday - but the in-house cafe do a very good bacon roll.
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My Spitfire prefers premium unleaded but will run OK on 95 when that's all I've been able to get.
If you're considering addatives don't buy them, just put the price of a bottle in to a jar every 10 fill-ups. If (and it is only an if) you have issues with valve seat regression (basically always having to close the gap when adjusting the tappets) it will take a while to become a problem - at which point you'll have enough in the jar to pay for a recon. head with hardened (unleaded) valve seats.
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I'm not sure a boot rack was ever an official accessory, just a popular addition back in the day and something all the major parts suppliers certainly used to sell (e.g. https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID009527).
Only thing I would say with the removable, sucker types is make sure the boot (and suckers) are perfectly clean before fitting and take it off whenever you aren't actually using it. Don't do this and you always seem to end up with scratches and/or water marks that won't come off.
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I've always flat shifted in both my o/d equiped 2.5 saloon and Spitfire and never had any issues.
My Spitfire's got a bits'a drive train, with 1300 engine/1500 gearbox/god knows diff. and find o/d 3rd very useful as it's not quite the same as 4th. Around town the car's much happier with the extra RPM of o/d3rd vs 4th - though as a 1300cc it also has less torque than a 1500cc, and when waiting for an A road overtaking gap being able to drop o/d3rd to 3rd with just the flick of a switch helps you make progress.
I don't think anybody's covered how an O/D works. On a 1500 Spitfire it should be a J-type, which means a little in/out button on the top gearstick (and if you keep getting electric shocks, with the insulation rubbed through on the wires that run down inside the gear stick). Stuck on the back of the engine you have the same 4 speed gearbox as every other 1500 Spitfire but stuck on the back of that, rather than just a lump of metal that covers the output shaft up to the point it bolts to the prop. shaft you have the O/D unit. This is basically a separate, 2 gear gearbox but rather than being operated by a second gear stick (like the similar high/low ratio selector (2 speed gearbox) on an old Land Rover) it contains a little hydraulic pump and a valve controlled by an electrical circuit...which brings us back to the switch at the top of the gear stick.
Flick the switch "in" and you complete the circuit to the valve. The valve opens and feeds pressurised oil in to the 'in' side of the O/D. The oil foces the gears in to the 'in' position and the output shaft of the O/D now turns faster than the output shaft of the main gearbox.
Flick the switch 'out', the circuit closes, the valve closes, the oil stops being pumped to the 'in' side of the O/D, and the gears fall back to the 'out' position, at which point the output shaft of the O/D turns at the same speed as the output shaft of the main gearbox.
Slightly over-simplified but hopefully gives you an idea of what's going.
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Having driven Spitfires with both door and wing mirrors I'd say door mirrors all the way.
Sure, if your only concern is the astetics wing mirrors, especially bullet ones probably have the edge. If you actually want to see what's behind you when moving though then, in my experience they are next to useless as a tiny patch of mirror dances around with the vibrations going through the bonnet.
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Yep, Bilbrook 'ford' is great fun. A real WTF? moment the first time you hit it as it does feel like you follow the road and turn left in to a stream
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People used to drive up and down the Porlock/Lynmouth/Lynton combo in our cars all the time back in the day - just expect to spend most of your time in first going up most of the hills and I'd certainly go for third to come down, tempted by second.
If you are worried you can wimp out of Porlock hill and take the private toll road.
Remember taking the bus up across from Porlock to Lynmouth back in probably the 80s and they were still using some 60s bus - as they couldn't find anyone selling a replacement with a super-low ratio box. Remember you had to stop at the top and bottom of each hill while the driver worked it up/down through the box to get to the lowest gears.
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Not sure I buy either of those life estimates. How can the fluid only last a month or so in the bottle opened/2 years in the bottle unopened when the recommended life in a car is 2 years...
Exactly how does a car's plastic fluid reservoir (with breather hole) keep the fluid 20 time longer than an opened but re-capped (eithout breather hole) bottle and just as well as a capped bottle with a secondary air-tight seal over the opening?
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Not carried a spare, just a can and foot pump in my Spitfire for over 10 years - though more for reasons of boot space than weight as I take my Spitfire to Le Mans every year.
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Never gone in for New Year's Day runs - I believe it to be an afront to nature if you're in any condition to drive on New Year's Day.
I also don't believe in locking my car up for half the year. Did London to Bristol on Saturday (with the rear window zipped out - very wrong for December), up to folks near Stroud yesterday, and already done a slightly foggy cross-country run to the supermarket in Stroud and back before work this morning.
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Can't say I see the point in brake fluid moisture testers. If you can't remember the last time you change the fluid, it's time to change it.
With a bottle of DOT4 under £5 that should see you through 3 changes for less than the cost of the tester, and at a full change every 3 years that's 9 years of ownership - at which point the tester will either have broken/been lost/you'll have forgotten you bought one
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Thouse multi-skin pics remind me of the footwells in my Spitfire. Think there were 4 or 5 layers of metal where different bodgers had over-plated to repair rust.
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12 hours ago, clive said:
Don't set the shocks hard. 3-5 clicks from softest is a good place to start and experiment. Too hard, and the car really suffers.
And sometimes in the most unexpected ways.
Had real issues with my 2.5PI tramlining in the motorway left hand lane lorry tracks when i first fitted adjustable rear dampers. Softend them off a few clicks and the problem went away.
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22 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:
I guess now I need a box of female spade or crimpable bullet connectors, so I can crimp away and get the radio connections finished and the lower dash panel back on agai
* And a good quality, ratchet crimp tool so you only need to crimp them once.
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Sound proofing
in Bodywork & Fittings
Posted
The big saloons should have quite a lot of sound deadening already fitted from the factory and (I think from the fun time I had stripping out and cleaning my car after a soil pipe in the ceiling of my underground car park broke and filled it with 'water') applied before the shell was painted. Of course if floorpans have been replaced there's a good chance the sound deadening won't have been.