Black Cat

Thanks for confirming that, just need to acquire the two crush tubes now which are not cheap.

That sound if it could be right. Thanks Pete

Thanks Pete, Decided to bite the bullet and do the job properly. I've drilled out the welds to the bit that holds the nut, inserted new square nuts and closed receptacle which holds the nut in place but leaving a little slack so the nut can move around a little but not enough so it will spin round. The next job will be to plug weld the holes and hopefully that should do the job. Also think I may have got the position of the spacer wrong. I thought it went in the roof area where I had the problem with the nuts but as this is only a single skin that can't be right so I'm assuming They go in the top of the window frame. Would appreciate someone confirming this. Many thanks

Hi, I'm the process of getting the spitfire ready for a complete respray. When I brought the car it came with a hardtop which I have never fitted. After removing the roof lining on the hardtop, I noticed the fixings to the windscreen frame were not as they should be. At some time in the past, there must have been an issue with one of the fixings, as the only bolt which engages into the fixing on one side is metric. On closer inspection it seems the receptacle for holding the old imperial nut has been moved to one side and some other form of fixing has been installed, possible a rivnut, but not sure. The second fixing has lost the securing nut and there is no sleeve, I should be able to replace the nut, hopefully. My questions are: - Should I remove the rivnut fixing and re-secure the receptacle and insert the correct four sided imperial nuts, which is quite a difficult task as the space is very restrictive. Or do you think I should leave the first one as it is and insert a metric rivnut in the second one as there is no sleeve fitted, and is a rivnut suitable as a sleeve, and would it be suitable to secure the roof. Lastly, If I was to get the correct sleeves , I take it they are inserted from the other-side of the bolt fixing as I can't see anyway they can be inserted from below and if that is the case, how are they secured in position Many thanks

I did read somewhere in the past that it had to do with a tractor colour. As usual, Triumph used whatever they had available. But what was the colour?

Thanks Pete, I did see they had rocker paint in gold but was the colour not the reddish orange for a 1977 Spitfire?

Hi, I have a 1977 Triumph Spitfire 1500 and would like to repaint the rocker cover in the original colour. The colour it is a the moment is a reddish orange, which I believe was the correct colour. If that is the correct colour could somebody tell me what the colour code is and where can you get a heat resistant spray paint to paint the rocker cover.

Spoken to Chris at Poly Flex this morning and he has confirmed, with there poly bushes and the stainless steel inserts there is no need to install dust shields on the bushes, in other-words, insert the bushes into the trunnions with out any dust shields, insert the stainless steel spacer tube, well grease all part and then install the rear uprights as normal. As the spacer tube is stainless steel this will not rust and the concave face of the poly bushes when compressed will seal the end of the bush preventing ingress of moisture.

Thank you gentlemen, now have another question, brought a set of Supaflex rear trunnions bushes again from Moss Bros, they only come with bushes and sleeves, the bushes face seem to be slightly concave, I have put new inner plates on before inserting the bushes and these fit nicely over the edge of the bushes, the outer cover plate then goes over the edge of the bushes. The bushes completely fill the recess in the cover plates. My question is, should there be an additional ring seal and if so where can it be fitted or are these bushes so designed that they are not required ?

Is there a right and wrong way to install the large rear wheel bearing as the replacement ones I have, which were supplied by Moss Bros seem exactly the same on both sides.

As I couldn’t obtain the broken linkage fitting on top of the heater unit for my 1500 Spitfire I decided to make a replacement. I put a tread onto the top of the paddle wheel which sticks out the bottom of the unit, put a brass nut on, made a new linkage out of a bit of flat brass, placed another nut on the top and set a couple of solder-less nipple into the brass plate to take the control wire and hay presto, it works fine. Also, completely stripped the unit down, treated the rust, repainted and replaced the old foam packing inside and wrapped in bubble wrap for installation at a later date.

The other problem I now have is, when I removed the linkage unit it just fell apart into half a dozen pieces, so now i’m going to attempt to re-manufacture it, was thinking about using aluminium, or would this cause a reaction?

Hi, Removed my heater unit as it wasn’t working properly when the car was on the road to see what the issue is and also give it a good clean and a coat of paint. Apart from the hoses being split there was also a broken linkage fitting on the top of the unit, which will need to be replaced. I have looked on both Rimmer and Moss Bros and neither seem to supply these. Does anybody know where they can be acquired from or am I looking for something that is no longer available and should therefore be looking for a replacement heater unit, either from a Spitfire of perhaps a different car altogether?

Looking good, you are a few weeks ahead of mine, just refitting the suspension and steering.

I hope some of you knowledgeable people can help me with an issue with my front suspension on my Spitfire. I brought a pair of front Spax struts for my Triumph Spitfire 1500. Unfortunately, at the time, Moss Bros didn’t have any springs in stock and advised me to go elsewhere for these, which I dully did. I brought a pair of uprated springs from Abingdon MG Parts Ltd who are based in Wolverhampton. This weekend I was proposing to install them into my Spitfire but having placed the springs onto the shocks I find the springs are not quite long enough for the shocks. In other words they fit on without being compressed and are loose on the shocks. I was wondering if spring spaces could be a possible answer, Moss Bros have three sizes listed. TT4401, (0.375”) TT4405 (0.875”) and TT406 (1.25”) would any of these be suitable to get me out of trouble or would it be better if I just got new springs to suit the Spax shocks? The springs I have are, according to Abingdon MG Parts Ltd, TT4301, are described as uprated front springs for Spitfire 1500, uncompressed they are 242mm long, which equates to 9 1/2”. If the spring spaces are a viable option, which length would be the ones I require? If new springs are the best option, what part number should I be purchasing and from where? Thanks in advance.

I have a selection from when I built a kit car but the ones I have are a bit loose on the nut, may have to use a dab ofsilicon

I was looking for a selection to cover the suspension bolts etc. 7/16, 3/8, 1/2, 9/16,. The ones you have found are for the wheel nuts but I will message them to see if they supply any other sizes. Thanks for your input.

Hi, Can anybody tell me where I can get some imperial dome head plastic nut covers from? I’ve looked on eBay and Amazon and also tried Car Builders Solutions all with no luck. thanks in advance.

Thanks gents and yes I have new polybushes to fit.

Got cracking with the rebuild, started off with refitting the engine suspension turrets, little bit tricky getting all the fixings to line up but eventually got those all bolted up. Next I fitted the bushes in the lower and upper wishbones, fitted the upper ball joints and connected them to the turrets using my new Christmas present from the wife, a torque wrench. How she knew I needed one of those I’ll never know. Before I finished up for the day decided to fit the differential, thought this was going to be a straightforward job. The first thing I needed to do was to remove the old rubber bushes from the rear mounting, tried a pulley first but could hardly move the dame things, then tried a bolt with a socket again with no luck, finally drilled the rubber out of one of the bushes but this has left me with rubber welded onto the side of the hole where the new bushes are supposed to go. My question is, did the old bushes have metal sleeves on the outside as well as a bolt sleeve on the inside as that is what it looks like I have and if so how are you supposed to get them out?

Many thanks Pete, I was hopping you would reply.

Hi, I’m in the process of now rebuilding my Triumph Spitfire 1500, the chassis has been blasted and painted and I’m about to fit the differential now it has been refurbished and painted. I have looked everywhere but can’t find the torque setting for the long bolt which holds the diff. at the rear, ‘B’ on the attached photo. Can anybody enlighten me on this please? Secondly, the book says the two front bolts which hold the differential that the nuts should be torqued up to 26 to 34lbf and it should be possible to rotate the lower rubbers with the finger. I would be grateful for confirmation of this. Also, what is the function of the item I have marked ‘A’ on the attached photo. The reason I ask is I have painted over it and the nipple part seems to be flexible and I’m not sure what function this does and maybe I need to clean the paint from it.

Thanks Clive for confirmed the 330Ibs would be suitable for my needs.

Well, I didn't expect such an in depth response. Just to clarify, I already have a new rear leaf spring for the spitfire from Moss Bros. (Part no. 159640Z) I have the Spax adjustable shocks for both front and rear, its just the springs that I don't have as Moss Bros didn't have them in stock. Moss Bros advised 330Ibs springs. I was just looking for a general opinion as to whether these would be suitable for a fast road car with a reasonable comfortable ride and if so is there a specific size length of spring I should be looking for?

Yes, should have said, it's a 1977 spitfire 1500, had it a few months and only done a couple of hundred miles before striping it down. Just got the chassis back from the sand blaster, and ready to start the rebuild. Got most of the parts from Moss Bros but they don't do the springs anymore, well not at the moment. Your right about the wife, she is due to go into hospital next month for a back operation and I would like to take it on long runs when it's back on the road so might be best if they weren't too firm. If I did go for 330lbs on the front, what would be best for the rear?