Adrian Cooper

I agree Colin, top down motoring on any dry day is a joy with a good heater and heated seats. Now that I have it back on the road my Spitfire will be used all year round and once you have had heated seats you can't do without, which is why I have bought a set of heated seat pads too. Mine arrived 2 weeks ago and are still on the garage bench. Can I ask that you take pictures and keep us posted on your experience Paul? Adrian

Both our 'moderns' are Saabs and they do have a 'Night Panel' switch that turns all the dash lights off except for the 0 to 70 section of the speedometer. I'm told, by someone who has done it, that the rest of the speedo illuminates too if you go over 70. However, if the car thinks that there is anything else you should know about it will illuminate that gauge as well, low fuel for example. And yes, it really makes night driving more pleasant. All delightfully quirky, like our Triumphs. Adrian

Well I'm impressed with progress. I completely re-wired my spitfire last winter and it took the best part of 4 months to get it finished. I wish I had started from scratch like you because I was trying to adapt a standard loom to incorporate some superb wiring ideas form the equally superb John Bonnett. I think I have ended up with a sound, fully fused and relayed loom but it would have saved much head scratching if I had just worked from John's diagram with new colour coded wires; the thin wall stuff is great. Please keep us posted with progress. Adrian

Hi Oli, The mk1 GT6 bonnet is a straight swap but I think that the mk2 GT6 bonnet uses the same hinge mounts as the mk3 Spitfire and would need some surgery to the hinge brackets. Somebody better informed than me (plenty on here) may be able to tell us if the hinge tubes could be swapped from your mk2 Spitfire bonnet to the GT6 bonnet with less work. Adrian

Neil, it may be too far along the coast for you but I use The Eastbourne Tyre Company who have been doing an excellent job looking after my wire wheels for more than 30 years. They are a great mix of traditional know-how with modern facilities. I know many on here would advise getting rid of the wires but , like you, I feel anything else just looks wrong on a sports car. Adrian

I have a locking petrol cap on my Spitfire. The chrome filler is not standard but the method of fitting should be the same for the original filler. The locking cap is a typical after-market type that was for a mini I think. I'm sorry to be vague about this but I did this more than 30 years ago. The brass part you can see in the picture is a plumbing fitting of some sort that was roughly the right size to fit into the neck of the chrome cap. I filed out two notches that allowed the locking part of the cap to pass through and then glued the brass into the neck. I hope the pictures explain this better. The picture of the locking cap shows it partially unlocked so that you can see how the locking part moves to grip the brass ring. Let me know if you want any measurements. Adrian

John, This is probably a good time to thank you for the time you spent on recording and posting the story of your astonishing build. I can honestly say that your engagingly written and incredibly modest posts were the main inspiration for me to get out to the garage and to finally finish the15 year restoration of my Spitfire. My skills are not in the same league as yours but I hope you will be pleased to know that I followed your advice on wiring and that my Spitfire has fuses and relays in every conceivable location. I will miss hearing about the fine tuning of your beautiful Lightweight but I am enjoying the Ginetta story just as much. Thank you! Adrian

I'm happy to help too. Adrian

I have a vague memory of this problem when I replaced the gearbox on my Mk2 Spitfire with one from a scrapyard. The scrapyard gearbox must have been from an early Herald and release arm and bearing in the bellhousing were for the spring type clutch cover whereas my car had the later diaphragm cover. I remember having to swap the arm from the broken gearbox into the new one (and fit the new release bearing) It has a very nice aluminium bellhousing, does yours? I could be wrong about this though, it was a long time ago. Adrian

Louis says he could possibly work from good quality pictures plus measurements. The ideal would be to have pictures with a digital calliper showing dimensions such as the overall length, width and height plus the width and height of the bezel. He could work out the parabolas of the shape from these apparently. Can't tidy his bedroom though.

No, that's not the hole you want. The pivot pin fits in a vertical hole on the other side of the bellhousing

If you want a full width radiator then the MK2 one would be a direct swap for your MK3 Spitfire. If you use the MK1 radiator you would also need to use the MK1 Spitfire expansion tank too, a rather smart black painted brass tank that mounts above the carbs, as this radiator has another outlet pipe on the inside, just below the filler neck. I believe that this system was changed because it over-cooled the engine.