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Adrian Cooper

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Posts posted by Adrian Cooper

  1. Goodness me! I think I've ridden that bike!

    We were recording at Youth's Butterfly studios in the late 90s and some special bass guitar strings were needed urgently for a particular track. As he knew that I used to own a BSA, I was the only person he trusted to make the dash to the nearest Brixton music shop on his treasured Sunbeam.

    However, I doubt my connection with it will influence its value.

    What a funny old world!

    Adrian

     

    • Like 1
  2. On 04/11/2022 at 16:58, peterthegreat said:

    hello everyone,

    For the past ccouple of years I have been struggling with my Spit mk3 breaks pulling to the left. When doing reasonable speeds 30 mph or so there is not much 'pull' resulting in only a few inches to the left when the breaks are locked up. At higher speeds then the pull becomes quite a lot and just not correct to an extent it would be unhealthy to take on something like the M25

    So here goes the list of things I have changed (not all for the break pulling!)

    1. Recon Chasis/top/bottom wishbones
    2. Stub axels/ trunion and ball joint
    3. EBC slotted disks and yellow stuff pads (they didnt have any green and said the yellow was even better, including normal day /lesure use)
    4. New recon calipers (14's) from TRGB
    5. New kuffner break pipes all round + new girling braded flexible hoses
    6. New seals etc in the master cylinder

    And it still pulls.

    So I have

    1. made sure the caliper pisons move in and out ok, seem to have similar resistance when I push them back with a couple of screwdrivers by hand - so they are not the normal stuck state
    2. tried moving the pads from near side to off side (its only done a few 100's of miles) - no change - assume its not the pads
    3. tried moving the whole front hub inc disk and pads to the other side- no change still pulls to the left - assume its not the disks or pads or items with the hub
    4. measured if the disk was in the centre of the calipers - result is 0.006" difference - seems negilbile
    5. Checked the 4 way pipe junction/spliter for dirt or something jamming one line - not the junction
    6. replaced the near side break pipe again, just for good luck (it seemed a bit long anyway)
    7. Checked the pipe from 4 way junction to off side  - no kinks I can find
    8. got my friendly MOT man to put in on his rolling road and it shows the left about 10-20% stronger than the right

    Only thing I haven't changed temporarily is the calipers,  as I they are handed. So even if they were refurbs 2 years ago perhaps something has happened to them?

    What do you think any other ideas before a fork out another £100?

    thanks

    Peter

    Peter, have you checked the tightness of the bolts that hold the wishbone brackets to the chassis? I had a similar problem with my Mk2 a long time ago and this was the cause of the problem. 

    Adrian

  3. Hi Neil,

    Can you post a picture to show what you mean by 'not neat at the front'? Is the reduced headroom a problem? I'm 6'4" and I don't have any problems once I've scrunched myself up to get me in. 

    It might be that your hood frame isn't sitting far enough down into the B post tubes?

    Adrian

     

  4. This morning I spotted an advert for an Aston Martin DB6 in a colour described as 'beautiful burnt almond'. In the picture you can see that it is a cunning renaming of a colour that is clearly poo brown.

    This reminded me of a paint shop in Lewes that gives creative names to their custom colours; my favourite is a muddy pink colour called 'prosthetic limb'

    Adrian 

     

    • Like 3
  5. Start by fitting the frame into the sockets on the b posts. Push down on the frame to compress the springs and lock it in the compressed state by rotating the stems in the sockets so that the pins engage in the cutouts. If you find that these are a bit stiff then lubricate them by rubbing a soft pencil up and down the stems to put some graphite into the sockets.

    Place the soft top over the frame and tuck the metal reinforced edge under the lip at the front of the windscreen frame capping. If your soft top has the poppers already fitted then pop these in place at the ends of the windscreen capping. if your new hood hasn't come with the poppers already fitted (they usually don't) then move on to pulling the rear edge of the hood backwards and fitting your new steel bar into the 2 chrome clips on the rear deck. 

    Now you can mark where the hood poppers need to be fitted on the front edge of the soft top (if they haven't been factory fitted) and the poppers where the hood attaches to the rear deck (should be 3 each side).

    Take the hood off again and fit the poppers. The soft top also attaches round the front frame bar with a flap and 3 or 4 further poppers.

    Repeat the above steps.

    Once the hood is clipped in place and the poppers attached, rotate the 2 frame stems to release the spring tension in the frame.

    Pull out the elastic tensioners at the front of the draught excluders and clip them to the hooks near the top of the windscreen frame, partly hidden under the rubber moulding and pull the rear ones back round the frame to the poppers fitted on the frame uprights.

    Easy.

    Adrian

  6. Hi RTB,

    I have 4.5 rims with 175/70 tyres. I would worry about the tyres rubbing on the front wheel arches with the 5.5 rims. Tubeless rims remove one of the worries but I'm not convinced that the danger is great. My local tyre fitters, Eastbourne Tyre Co (a real family firm in its fourth generation), say that fitting inner tubes into tubeless tyres has never been a problem in their experience. Common wisdom is to change the tyres and inner tubes at least every 7 years regardless of mileage and that goes for tubeless steel wheels too.

    Now that you have your car and you are getting it how you want it, can I ask how you plan to use it? Will you run it all year round or just the summer months?

    Adrian

    PS I've just spent a happy 2 hours cleaning my wires in preparation for a car show tomorrow. I'm envious of your whitewalls!

  7. 36 minutes ago, RichTeaBiscuit said:

    Do you think I'll do ok without the little hooks?

    It depends on how well the hood has been made (and some don't even come with the elastic tensioners fitted) but you should be Ok. I can't say that I often bother connecting up the tensioner straps on mine and the hood seems to be perfectly watertight anyway.

    When you come to fit your new poppers you might find that the self tapping screws have made the holes in the body too big for the pop rivets to get a grip. To sort this on mine I used bigger pop rivets and filed the heads down so that they still fitted within the male stud. There was a discussion on here about this recently and someone, Colin I think, said that they had found bigger rivets with smaller heads from some supplier. No doubt he will be along soon to clarify or refute.

    Adrian

  8. 2 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

    would a Mk2 would have the flash facility on the stalk ????

    just the up down side dip main   no flash   maybe 

    Pete

    I'm sure you're right Pete, mine doesn't flash.

    RTB It will just be loose screws giving the fore and aft movement. Just undo the two screws on the top and bottom of the black metal cowls (might be plastic on the later cars) and you will see that the light stalks are attached with two screws, one on top and one underneath. These often work loose.

    Adrian

  9. If you don't get the bar with the new hood (I haven't with any of the hoods I've bought) this is what you need to find. There is a bend in the middle rather than it being a continuous curve and so it shouldn't be too difficult to copy. The original is 3.5mm thick and 19mm wide by about 72cm long although these dimensions are not critical. Just as long as it will fit in the jaws on the rear deck and span the gap between them.

    IMG_20220805_093200831_HDR.jpg

    • Like 1
  10. I'm with Dan and Rob on the engine mounts. I fitted a pair 2 years ago and they introduced a really unpleasant engine vibration. I retrieved the old ones from the bin, glued the rubber back onto the metal on the broken one and refitted them. They have been fine ever since.

    If you do choose to get a set of wire wheels then do buy new, especially as they are now tubeless (I didn't know that, thank you Neil) and the splined adaptors are stronger. I made the mistake of buying a second hand set and then had to replaced every part of it within 2 years.  25 years and well over 100k miles later they are still going strong. 

    Adrian

    BeachyHeadSpring.jpeg

  11. 7 minutes ago, RichTeaBiscuit said:

    anyone have an opinion on wire wheels?

    I love them! Many folk will tell you that they are a pain to keep clean, need constant maintenance, spoil the handling by being too flexible and unsafe because they need inner tubes fitted into modern tubeless tyres. Plug your ears, the Mk2 looks fabulous with wires and, apart from being time consuming to clean, I don't agree with any of the negative views.

    I do agree about the twin exhausts though, far too loud.

    Adrian

  12. The handbrake!

    The early cars have a 'fly off' handbrake lever which foxes everybody. To release it,  you lift the lever without touching the button. To apply the brake you lift the lever and lock it in place by pressing the button. I keep a card with these instructions in the car so that I can leave it for MOT testers and tyre fitters. 

  13. Really don't worry, driving your Spitfire will become second nature in no time.

    The gear change is just like any modern car except that it probably doesn't have synchromesh on first gear. That means if you try to shift down to first gear while the car is moving it may crunch and refuse to engage.  To change down into first smoothly you will need to 'double declutch' To do this you press the clutch down, move the gear lever to neutral, release the clutch, rev the engine to the revs it would be doing if it were in first gear, quickly dip the clutch and put the gear lever into first and release the clutch. It sounds complicated but if you practise, you will soon be playing tunes on the gearbox.

    I always use 99Ron e5 petrol, it does make a difference. The little 1147 engine is an absolute jewel, it's free revving, willing and with a surprisingly amount of torque, much more than modern small engines.

    The choke allows you to give the engine a richer fuel mixture to help start it from cold. You should only need full choke on a really cold day and you should push the knob in as soon as the engine will run happily. All engines are different and you will learn yours very quickly.

    Overdrive is like a fifth gear, and it is  achieved by having a small 2 speed gearbox attached to the back of the main gearbox. 

    I have just noticed that 'Uncle' Pete has replied too. His post will be gospel.

    Enjoy it when it arrives!

    Adrian 

  14. Well done, that looks like a very smart, honest little car.

    As Rob points out, the soft top is stowed behind the rear cover, behind the seats. I have heard stories of at least 2 owners of hard top equipped cars who didn't know this and discovered them much later. One of these claimed that the hood was still in its original factory wrapping. It's unlikely, but you never know, you might already have a hood. The cover is removed by turning the 2 silver Dzus fasteners with a coin, originally an old penny but a 10p is best now.

    People make fun of the crude 'do it yourself' nature of the hood on the Mk1s and 2s but I find that they are perfectly watertight in use, and reasonably quick to put up with a bit of practice, especially if it is raining.

    Adrian

    • Thanks 1
  15. When you order a hood it might be a good idea to check that it comes with the 3 metal strips that reinforce the front edge of the hood, where it tucks under the front lip of the windscreen frame capping. Let me know if that doesn't make any sense and I'll take some photographs of mine to illustrate. The rear of the frame also needs a metal reinforcing bar and this certainly does not come with the new hood (at least, it hasn't come with any of the ones I have bought over the years) but it is very easy to make one that works. 

    The big question is have you got the 2 little chrome 'jaws' on the rear deck that the rear of the hood hooks into? I really hope that you do as these are unobtainable and vital.

    Adrian

    • Thanks 1
  16. Lots of differences in interior trim but the only changes in the body are in the door handles/catches and door skins which came during the Mk2 production run. This made the b posts and mountings for the door catches different too. The stainless steel trims on the rear wings are longer on the earliest Mk1s and the flange between the rear wings and the rear deck are longer too. These were changed to allow easier access to the hood poppers and this happened very early in the production run. As far as I know, all the other body panels are the same.

    Adrian

    • Thanks 1
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