Mjit

Hi, I had the steering wheel off my Mk IV Spitfire on the weekend to tick another item off the long-term tweak list and noticed the inner shaft isn't anything like central in the outer column on my car. There doesn't really seem to be any play and the top bush has been replaced using the 'use the new one to push the old one down the column' method, so there should be two in there centralizing things. Is there step in the column assemply or fitting that can skew things - would only take a fraction of a degree between bottom and top to get the top off centre. Thanks

It's swapping from U bolt clamps to the wrap-around type that's given me my leaks - probably where the U clamps have previously deformed the pipes.

Given even car experts have to ask, without confidence in their voices "Are those stainless?" I'd say it's just a way to make Harrington bumpers a lot more expensive.

Anyone got any recommendations for stopping exhaust leaks from the joints on a SS system - specifically something that WON'T make my life a living hell in 6 months time when the system has to come off to change the prop/diff/any other task that needs or is easier with the exhaust off?

Remember the £960 is probably JUST to re-chrome the bumpers. If they have any dents/dings it will be extra to repair them first, as will any holes found in the base metal after it's been dipped at the cleaning stage. A large part of the reason I went stainless in the end was knowning some areas of my originals were JUST chrome, with no steel left below it, and the pair I picked up on eBay to re-chrome weren't much better.

Got the same sort of eBay kit as Doug and Clive on my Spitfire. Rather than doing any drilling to the headlamp bowles I just cut the H4 plugs off the kit and added bullets to connect to the standard headlight wires where they join the car loom. To mount the relays I used the grill mounting bolts. Been there a few years now and not noticed any corrosion.

Actually I think I may have had to elongate one of the bolt holes in one of the rear wings to fit mine too. Wasn't far out, maybe 2mm, so a minor fettle. When you're buying you might want to check out James Paddock as well as Harrington for prices. I can't imagin JP are getting them from anyone other than Harrington, but they were selling them a few quid cheaper when I got mine.

1. Fix your heater - a Spitfire shoudn't be cold (once up to temperature). 2. As Gully said, just drive it. I use my Spitfire all year around. You DO need to keep washing it and giving it a good spray underneath to not give tin worm a chance to get its claws out. Washing the car in winter is about the only time you would need your thermals. 3. If you must park it up, in addition to what's already been said use a length of wood to hold the clutch pedal pressed down. Saves having to fight a stuck clutch come the spring.

I've got them fitted to my Mk IV Spitfire and overall very happy with them. The look great and it takes a knowing eye to tell them from all but the most freshly rechromed bumpers. Had my car valued at Duxford a couple of weeks back and valuer was very complientary about them. It's not all perfect though: While the bolt holes are in the correct place they are both a little too wide (~1cm each side) on my car, leading to little stacks of washers on each outer bolt. I have no fecking idea what random nuts they welded on as captives, but they aren't the standard ones! Overall if your car's there to be driven and enjoyed rather than polished and only taken out when it's wall to wall sunshine I'd say, like me, you'll be very happy with them.

As clive says usually a very snug fit in the diff. and usually the spring's an equally snug fit in the block. You also have to make sure you have enough vertical lift at the middle of the spring to get the spring locating peg clear of the locating hole in the spacer block. I can't remember if it's a 1/2" or 3/4" in my Spitfire but as a result of all the above I've always found it's a full strip-down so you can wang around on the spring enough to get things to separate from one-another.

Just going with the, admittedly more expensive, Dolly 1300 clutch is by far the easiest way - it's what I have on my Mk IV Spit. Gearbox mounts will be 'standard' (in this case standard Spitfire 1500 O/D mounting plate (TKC1407) and rubber (159656), as will the prop. (again in this case Spitfire 1500 O/D prop). In theory you also need to trim the prop. tunnel and fit the screw-on access piece (YKC1486). I seem to remember you can get away with just a little light trimming of the tunnel - and the access plate ends up in the wrong place and DOESN'T give you access to the prop. bolts from above anyway, so adds nothing. Then I think it was just a 90degree angle drive and Spitfire 1500 speedo cable. There's also another option that lets you use the 1500 clutch but I can't remember what car you needed the flywheel from. I DO remember it was a pain because the source car had a different ring gear so you had to put a Spitfire one on.

Having recently had my 4-2-1-2 system apart to replace the prop. and taken the opportunity to replace the shackle type exhaust clamps with band type ones I think a 47-51mm clamp with JUST fit on the main pipe joints. Certainly it's a 43-47mm for the rear box/rear 'Y' joints and guessing the 40-43mm clamps were for the manifold down pipe/front 'Y' joints - which seem to have been welded up on Richard's unit.

Could be a Moss/TriumphTune one too - https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-model/triumph/spitfire/exhaust/exhaust-manifolds/moss-triumphtune-sports-extractor-manifolds.html

Yep, that high I'd agree it's a 1" block - which I have to say i found to be too much of a drop. You (or at least I) can get a 3/4" block under the standard cover if you trim off the excess stud after bolting everything down. You do need to buy a couple of half height plain nuts to lock together if (when) yo need to remove the spring/diff though.

Wish I had a space that big to work on my cars in!

Make sure you have the "top hat" spacers for the front attachment too.

The bolt that goes down through the black mounting on the hard top and in to the top of the chrome tie bar is the same as the ones in to the rear deck. The bolts that attach the bottom of the tie bar to the car body depend if you're fitting the hard top with or without the soft top in place. Based on the Moss parts catalogue WITH soft top requires a 5/16" spring washer while WITHOUT requires a 1/4" one, so I'd say you're looking at a 5/16" screw with/1/4" without - though I can't help with lengths.

Subject to it being modified in its past that should be a Spitfire 1500, so somewhere between 1974 and 1980. If you open the bonnet you sould find a commission plate just in front of the LH door. Post the details from that and peopel will be able to give you a more accurate answer.

I was taught that this design of ball joint splitter was meant to be used with a hammer. The BJS tool isn't actually meant to split the joint, just let you apply tension around the taper, spread more consistently (and from just one side) than with a fork type BJS or two hammers. Once under tension a quick tap with the hammer then breaks the friction between joint and carrier.

One of the best types of ball joint splitter, though it can sometimes take a bit of wiggling to get it in place between all the other suspension components. Beware eBay prices though - down to £14.37 from £43.26 might sound like a good deal...till you realise you can buy the Clark branded version of the same thing from Machine Mart for £11.98 https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cht222-ball-joint-remover/ Less shiny and a little rougher, yes but then your going to be twatting it with a hammer rather than putting it on show.

The equal lift on overlap method's much easier than the stick-a-paper-disk-on-the-crank-pulley method. You need at least 1 dial gauge for the lift on overlap method and if the head's off it's worth using it to get an accurate TDC measure. The timing mark May be correct. May be...

Re: The number of shims - you're both correct. Adding/removing the number of shims equally from both lower wishbone mountings will generally* change the camber. Adding/removing shims from the individual lower wishbone mountings will generally* change the caster. * Of couse make a single-shim change to adjust the caster will also change the camber so means some dual-shim changing to reset the camber...which will change the caster. Buy a wedge of shims and find a quality wheel alignment centre who actually know what their doing (95% don't in my experience) and had over car+shims.

I'd second Clive's recommendation - swap to a solid state flasher relay. Quick and simple to fit and suddenly your indicators just flash at a constant speed every time you flick the switch.

That's a Mk IV/early 1500 rear light, rather than the much cheaper late 1500 'dot' lights. The early unit is more than big-enough to cover the later holes, so you just need to drill a few additional holes (2x large bulb holes and 2x small mounting screw holes from memory).

My experience of wishbone bushes is they've always popped out fine using a good vice and a pair of sockets - probably due to the years of oil soaking that necessitated their replacement. The only one I can think of that didn't want to play ball was in the trailing arm on my 2000 but hitting the bush crush tube with a big drill took care of them, either by ripping the tube away from the rubber (followed by pushing it out then hacking the rubber out) or by breaking the seal between wishbone and bush and getting the whole bush spinning (at which point it popped out with the two sockets).