Colin Lindsay

I've just spent the morning fitting Accuspark to one of the most... interesting... Spitfires that's graced my door in an age. I'm assuming from the butchery of the loom that it's been converted from ballast to non-ballast (see photo) but now I've to run out and confirm that the module the driver supplied is indeed non-ballast; he may have ordered it by supplying the car details rather than any knowledge of the actual situation. I've just been to the Accuspark website; the kit I have is marked 'Kit 5' on the box but the website says that's for 24v Landrovers... If it's 5J for the Spitfire 1500 then it's listed as 'ballast'. Now I don't know whether to leave it, as it's been fitted this morning, or revert to points until I'm sure it won't get fried. Any ideas?

Connecting the battery terminals back to front will fry one instantly.

Ahem Mr Doug!! I beg to differ... it may get squashed down but not initially and certainly not in the right place for driver comfort... I think these need reassembled and a bit more care taken.

I haven't checked that angle yet, mine are exempt but MOTd; however there doesn't seem to be a category for exemption - they're either MOTd on record, or not. I'd like to think any potential interested party would have the sense to realise they're historic and therefore exempt rather than unloved and untested.

Probably delayed due to Covid; there's no-one in the office at present and while on-line enquiries are being fielded out to workers at home the actual physical postal end of things may be different. Can you check the car details online and see if anything has been changed?

It's hard to tell from the exploded diagram but I think they're listed as 'extra door seal' on Canleys, part number 620656 and amazingly still available at £7.10 each. The reason for my confusion is they appear to show a similar part on another diagram, part number 706289 'A-post filler RH' £23.63 each and I've no idea what that is...

Same here; one supplier I phoned recently to ask for postage told me he'd waive it as it was a good order; not many do that! Conversely one of the more prolific and usually cheaper eBay suppliers sent me an order two weeks ago that was really only fit for the bin, so there are limits both ways.

I don't think the Spitfire fan uses bushes; the heavier GT6 version does. I wonder how the water pump in that listing is an 'upgrade'?

Those outer sill seals are original, but usually quite rare these days as many owners never replaced them either after bodywork or as they wore out. 612260 is listed in the Herald catalogue as door seal, glass top, convertible only. I haven't found a picture / diagram yet to see where it goes.

If the red paint is on the diff flange it may be to mark where it was torqued up to. I'd certainly agree that if you're going to the bother of removing and repairing the diff then do as much as you can to it while it's out, whether it needs it or not...! With regards to the diff flange, if you can get it perfectly flat again no problem but any slight wobble will make itself felt whilst driving, and become an annoying vibration. Second hand ones should be relatively easy to source. (Usually until you need one, then they mysteriously vanish.)

Maybe Wheeler Dealers will come back to the UK now it's becoming worth their while...

The third set have that magic phrase: 'free economy delivery'... I'm really starting to hate the term: 'collection only'.

So do the neighbours and everyone else that you drive past on the road...

Opinions differ. They do have a good catalogue, though, which is handy for identifying part numbers.

Interesting kit, it's fairly comprehensive but there's a lot there you may not need. If you leave out all of the mounts nuts and gaskets it's really only the two side bearings and oil seals, plus the front pinion seal - that does usually leak. How much are you intending to do to the diff, Alex? I've just checked Paddocks where the bearings are about £5 and the oil seals £1.50. The rest of that kit seems to be the nuts for splitting the case, replacing the gasket, and tightening up again, only really of use if yours is leaking from the case joint.The socket head screws rarely wear so you may need those or you may not, otherwise it's just the spring washers that need replacing on reassembly. If you're removing the front pinion nut mark both nut and shaft and count the number of turns to remove; then when you replace it you can at least go back to the same starting point. I don't think the GT6 ever had the collapsable spacer, unless the very late versions had?

I ran my 1200 on a single Stromberg using a carb adaptor; it actually went quite well on the original 6J needle. All I had to do was adapt the throttle linkage. I have one of these for the SU carb and am planning a bit of experimentation later on with the carb from a Morris Minor (or is it the Ford Anglia?) which has the float chamber at the correct angle for this style of adaptor. I have the carb, just can't remember what it came from... I have a drawerful of manifolds - Weber (two variations, plus carb), Twin SU, Alexander Twin Stromberg 125, but most of them will only really work with an uprated cam and other tweaks. For the Weber I have an original blank, never tapped, to fit a carb straight to the original cast manifold which with a bit of surgery you can adapt to use with a tubular exhaust manifold, plus I have the side-fitting version for the 1147 engine. Might get round to trying it someday...

The modern versions are sometimes a bit flimsy; I know the material is stronger than the original board but can be thin so allows heat and noise through much more easily. What I did a while ago was to take one of the original tunnel covers and reinforce it with fibreglass, which was surprisingly easy and worked very well, then coat the inside with sheets of Dodomat, £29 from eBay. The GT6 tunnel has very little heat transfer since, the carpets over the tunnel have gone from hot to barely warm, so I've done the same for the Herald tunnel.

I'm assuming you have the wide radiator; a big bonus especially if you get it recored, but as long as the system is clean and free-flowing it'll cope with a lot of use. Plastic fan... yuck. Not in the spirit of things! You can get alloy versions of the original fan, but I run (ran... not on road at present) my 1200 with a twin-blade fan, wide radiator and 80 degree thermostat and it runs fine even on long trips.

Attach a well-charged battery via heavy duty cables to the positive terminal then earth the other lead to the starter motor casing; that will spin it. Be prepared for a lot of sparks but you'll know then if it's poor cables that are the problem. I tested two earlier in the week, both off the car, but they jumped about the floor under the force of the spin, so seem to be okay.

A little Herald wouldn't kick that hard, surely?

I remember doing a search for "grease nipples" and it asked: "did you mean greasy nipples?" 😮

Obviously Triumph did or they wouldn't have included a priming lever on the pump... why would you need to prime fuel if it's always there? If you park a hot engine then the fuel will be warmed and will evaporate from the float chambers and even pipes, so call it evaporation or drain back through poor valves in the pump it still needs to be overcome before the carbs get fuel. In most of our cars the carb is higher than the tank so unless the fuel level is very full in the tank the both ends of the system will settle to a common level; usually prevented by pump valves but if they're weak then fuel does indeed drain back.

Is that the inner steel bowl you've ordered? I was just about to suggest that!

Interesting! I'm 6'4, the back is starting to give up and the last time I travelled any great length in the GT6 I fell out of it onto the tarmac... the back was sore! That's one of the reasons I'm debating selling it for one of the roomier cars either Herald or Vitesse - I thought the more upright position might help. How did you find the Vitesse?

That sort of thing always points me to a fuel pump that's allowing fuel to drain back. If there's a priming lever under the pump try that for a good few pumps before cranking the starter; dont forget the starter has to do this by itself when cranking the engine so if the battery is in any way weak, as Gav says, it's not getting the fuel up to the carbs. Charge the battery or try a new one. LOL John just beat me to it!