JohnD

Spitfire crank pulley has an ENORMOUS nut on it, 1 13/16" or 42mm I believe. NOW is the time to invest in a spanner or socket that size, so that you can easily turn the crank! Both the oil pump and the dizzie are driven off a spur gear on the crankshaft that meshes with another in the block. Above and below there are 'dogs' like the blade of a screwdriver that engage in slots in the top of the pump drive shaft and the bottom of the dizzie shaft. If the rotor arm isn't then the fault is along this line. As said above, check that the valves are going up and down - that excludes any camshaft fault, which would be most unusual. Then remove the dizzy, and try to turn the gear you see down the shaft with a large screwdriver, CLOCKWISE. I expect you won't be able to, but if you can, then the gears have failed. Now look at the base of the dizzy. Is the 'blade' on the end of the shaft chewed up, or broken - that's the answer. When assembling the dizzie to the block there is a procedure to ensure that there is a very small clearance in the dog. If that is set too high, or if the dizzie is allowed to rise up on its shaft, the the drive will fail. Please refer to your workshop manual! John

If you plan to go by Chunnel, perhaps you need these: ADMIN - Embedded link deleted following complaints - ADMIN JOhn

Useful list of Triumph engine numbers here: http://www.triumphspitfire.com/enginenumbers.html The number you list just isn't in the usual format of two letters and then numbers, and "UU" isn't one of the two letters, so a rebuilder's number more like. But if the number is in the usual place, then they must have overstamped it. Can you see any trace of what it was before? Could that first letter be a 'G' from the Herald series? JOhn

Ooops, TWO litre! John

Ah! Sorry, Jezza, but threadlocker is not a bodging aid! It would be much better to do as you mention and change the asembly, especially for such a mission critical system as the steering. The bolt and nyloc on it will be perfectly good then. John

The Mirafiore engine in production form never got above 74bhp. I've run a Quaife LSD off a 2.5 with about 130bhp, and it has never failed, even in racing, even when the Woodruff key on one axle broke, and it drove the car through one wheel only. The LSD components bolt to the original crown wheel, and replace the planet/sun wheels. Maybe that;'s the way to go, but they are expensive. JOhn

There is a wide range of threadlocker types, as Leon says from making it a bit stiff to remove, to those that need the parts to be heated to red heat and then loosened while hot. See this guide from the Loctite makers: http://www.duncanracing.com/TechCenter/LocktiteThreadlocking_Guide.pdf What should they be used on? I'd say, anything that rotates or vibrates that isn't already done up so tight that it's an effort to undo, so flywheel and clutch cover bolts and as Roger said, differential parts. NOT wheel nuts! Where you can use a Nyloc nut or equivalent, that will do just as well. JOhn

If you really suspect the battery (and you have not told us about the starter yet) the you need to do a Heavy Discharge Test (AKA Capacity or Load test) This is the instrument, although more modern versions look more like a fancy multimeter. You place the 'pig-stickers' one on each battery terminal for a few seconds. A large current passes through thick steel strips inside the casing (Care! They get hot!) while the voltage across the terminals is measured. This simulates what happens when the starter runs, drawing as much as 200Amps from the battery. If the battery falls below 9.6V at this time, it lacks capacity and is either faulty or was not fully charged. I think you said above that you had, in effect, done this test, as the battery volts fell to less than 5V (?) while starting, so this would confirm your suspicion that the battery is toast. John

I hope you left it to drip for weeks inside your garage! Instead of polluting the roads. At least Waxoyl is waxy, and stops dripping quickly. When I last used it, I diluted it with white spirit, which enables 'sloshing' and doesn't prolong the drip stage very much, as it evaporates.. John

Which sort of starter is it?

Ah! The solenoid is shorting to earth, probably from the output side. Check the cable, solenoid to starter, for worn insulation. Else the solenoid is faulty. JOhn

Very nice, Roger! Two M/cycle lifts? I've wondered about that as a cheap way to get a car lift, with lots of space underneath. But are these for your bikes? John

Good lord, Roger - you have a lathe that can take a flywheel?!? Why am I advising you? You have a Workshop for the Gods! I would NOT lighten a flywheel that wasn't going racing. It has no relevance to top revs, just (very much 'just') on how quickly you can get there. I'm quite proud to have got my 2 L one down to 6.5kgs. If you want, Racetorations can sell you an alloy one at 3kgs, but you must be sitting down when they tell you how much. I now get my clutch friction plates recovered. Eventually I'll need a new clutch cover plate. I'm sure that clive's "simple calcs" will be valid, but IMHO there is no substitute for measuring the chamber volume to calculate the CR. Sump baffling, yes, if you plan 'spirited' driving. Triumph themselves fitted a surface plate to later six cylinder engines, and vertical baffles, with a 1/4" clearance from the sump walls further prevents starving the pump. This combination of horizontal and vertical baffles makes for a very strong system, if two vertical are used and braced together. See below (six-engine, but would translate to a 1500) John

Webbo, If the battery has 12V it's not fully charged. A new, fully charged battery should read 13-14V. But that 12v is to be expected as you have been flogging a dead starting system. That the battery has 4-5v while you try to start is also normal - all the volts are "draining away" somewhere. "The solenoid is new and seems to be sending 12volts to the starter motor when the rubber button is pushed" That conflicts with the above. Which side of the solenoid did you read? And when? Try disconnecting the cable from the starter, then measuring the Volts at the end of the cable when you hit the starter button. You should see the same Volts as at the battery, unless some are "draining away" elsewhere (a short in the cabling) You say, "just a few clicks from the solenoid". Which one? If you have a Hi-torque starter it is a "pre-engaged" starter, with a solenoid built in that throws the starter pinion at the flywheel starter ring. If that does not make the pinion complete its journey, the circuit will not be completed to the motor itself, and it won't turn. If you have an "inertia" starter, as OE, then the pinion is moved in the Bendix drive by the starter motor itself. If you have full Volts at the starter terminal, and it's not turning, then remove the starter and bench test. Look for: A/ Pre-engaged. That the solenoid pushes the pinion right forward, and the starter turns. If not, it's not an easy process to explain or do the maintenance; may need reconditioned one. B/ Inertia. That the Bendix drive isn't dirty and the pinion jammed. Easy. Clean with thinners and lubricate with graphite powder, NOT oil or grease. Ok. Tell us how you get on. JOhn

Maybe electrics terrify me? Especially the 'power' side! John

A 12mm bolts is a hefty one. but as 8.8s are readily available, that's what I'd prefer. John

srd, "an alternator from Mrs F's old Rover 200 which I am sure I read somewhere is just a straight swap" You are joking, I hope? Positive earth, and a Voltage regulator box would need changing/removing. Possible but not trivial. What you do need is a multimeter, to start checking where the volts are going. My bet is the Regulator. They are complex and old, always a recipe for breaking down. John

Hello, I'm Clive and I'm a sponge cake addict. Hello, Clive, welcome to Spongeaholics Anonymous. What you say here, stays here. Share with us Clive, how did it start? Was it Victoria, Chocolate, Vanilla, Madeira, Lemon Drizzle? They're the gateway cakes.

The Vitesse 6 - 1600 - does not have a voltage regulator. It gets the nearest to 12V that the loom can manage direct fro the fuse box. To help understanding, the sender/gauge system works this way, in both this and later models: The gauge is fed with 12V (or an average of 10V in later models). From there the wire goes to the sender. The sender is a 'rheostat', a coil of resistance wire with a slider that moves with the float, so that the resistance of the coil varies as the tank fills and empties. The gauge has a bimetallic strip that the current heats, causing it to bend. This movement is transmitted to the needle by a mechanical linkage. It would be logical (Captain) to think that the full tank will cause the sender to have the least resistance and so pass the most current, so that the gauge is heated as much as possible and moves to the "Full" end. But it could be the other way around - an empty tank to pass max current and keep the needle at that end, but then the gauge would read "Full" with the ignition off, so I don't think they are made that way. How can a gauge wired in the first way read "Full" all the time? If there is a short to earth in the wire between the gauge and the sender. Max current will flow, whatever the position of the rheostat. Check the wire in the loom. You don't need to inspect the whole thing, do this with a multimeter. With ignition off, disconnect the wire on the gauge to the sender - Green with black trace, according to my Haynes. Measure the resistance. If there is none, you have a short. You could even gild the lily by adding some fuel to the tank and seeing the resistance change as the float moves! If there is a short at the sender. One terminal is connected to earth, the other is from the gauge. These represent the ends of the rheostat coil, one end of which will be earthed to the body of the sender. Because there is a gasket between sender and tank, the earth is ensured by an earth wire than goes to somewhere on the bodyshell. Reverse the wires and your gauge is shorted to earth. Again check this at the sender with a multimeter, by measuring resistance. If the wire from the gauge (green/black) shows none - earthed, then it is on the wrong terminal. Hope that helps. JOhn

I use an old chisel, 1" so that it doesn't dig the corners in. But a putty knife or paint scraper from a DiY would be fine. Just don't hold it at a high angle so it digs in. John

To ease my own wife's anguish at my using her kitchen scales, I bought my own - and was amazed at the choice on offer and the very low prices. Until I realised why they are so plentiful. What else weighs down to a gram and is widely on sale? Yup. You are buying into the cocaine trade. Ironic, isn't it? John

Well, doing the conrods is all hand work and time consuming, whereas the grind doesn't take that long, although it's highly skilled, on a rather expensive machine, but one that can do thousands of cranks before it needs major work itself. A compressor and die grinder helps the rod work. If you want to get them shot peened, I send mine away to the Metal Improvement Company http://www.metalimprovement.co.uk/controlled-shot-peening.html?gclid=CLOGxe_Is8cCFSLkwgodwaQGWA John

No, I'm NorthWest; surely someone here can tell you. How far do you want to take the balancing? The usual is the crank and flywheel with clutch housing. But if you want a high revver, and good practice anyway, the pistons and con rods too, not by putting them in the balancer, but by equalising their weight. And for the really retentive, balance the conrods, end for end, so that all the small ends weight the same, and ditto the big ends. And polishing then shot-peening the rods. Hang on, you have a 1500 - they don't rev, and more than a 2.5 can - stroke puts too much strain on the rods. Have you read Calum Douglas' work on Building a Reliable Spitfire Engine for High Performance ? See: http://www.totallytriumph.net/spitfire/engine_building.shtml John

If you can, use an old engine back plate between block and stand. Or, buy some 1/4" plate and drill it to take the bolts into the block - your exiting back plate will provide the pattern. Then drill to take the stand bolts, so that they can be as wide apart as possible, holding the engine more stably. And cut a big hole in the middle, so that you can fit the rear crank oil seal housing. Here's my old back plate, painted red, so I never use it by mistake for new engine build! John

Bottom right of the previous post, button labelled "Quote" Simples! John