Clive

Yes, a common area to crack, though often undetected unless the wishbone mounts are removed. I have welded a couple, and made bigger repairs on one. The wiggly reinforcer means the failure is not obvious when driving.

The trouble is that the Club shop is competing with the main suppliers where you can buy everything, and ebay where quality is "variable" Some clubs have chosen to only sell parts that the main suppliers don't eg the TDC has some repair panels made, and has some parts reconditioned to a very high std. So providing a very useful service to members, with no real competition. The club does already tie into Fitchetts as a supplier, but at the same cost. And again limited selection. Hoods, again supplied via Don Hoods at the same price as buying direct. I bought a hood and dash top via the club, but if I had needed other stuff at the same time it would not have made sense. What I don't understand is how it seems to be so difficult to get a half decent shop up and running. There are plenty of off the shelf packages, and even this forum software has the ability to host a shop. Downside is the shop gets a notification for each individual purchase (ie if you buy 5 items, they get 5 notifications), which is a bit clunky. Otherwise it works brilliantly, and integrates seamlessly with Stripe payments. Not that I am involved with the tech side of it. Just the ideas...

That is the overflow. Likely the needle valve (operated by teh float) has a bit of dirt or whatever keeping it open. Carefully knock the hinge pin for the float out, then you can drop teh needle out. Check the tip, blow the seat out and it should be OK. If the needle has heavy ridges, it will be worth replacing (comes as a needle and seat, easy to do)

But the issue her is that teh carb bodies, maybe the whole carb, are from a later spitfire. So the tab number cannot be trusted.

Or use a pair of old brake discs and some m10/m12 studding.... Better still borrow some. Hook type spring compressors don't work reliably on them. I had one slip a few years ago, I was lucky and no damage to me. Just needed to pop the washing machine on a boil wash.

I broke the 3.27's with a heavy right foot and a 2.5 engine. In a 2 litre GT6 it won't be such an issue, much less so if you are not heavy footed. However, using an LSD will "fix" the wekness of the 3.27. Don't expct it to be cheap though.

I have managed to break 3 x 3.27 diffs, and I had bought a few which were missing teeth too. You may be better off tracking down an axle from a dolomite 1850 auto, and getting the internals swapped with yours. How I wish I had kept the 3 good 3.27s I sold about 8 years ago, people shied away at the spares day because I had teh rear case off to show the condition. But I did it for a reason.

But don't rely on the tag, easy to swap between carbs. The ones you have, as others have said, are from a later car, I presume you don't have the flying saucer PCV valve in teh manifold either? The main difference will be needles. Fixed on a mk3, but spring biased on the later carbs. BUT it is possible somebody has made a pair of bitsa carbs, using the late bodies but earlier pistons. You need to take the tops off the carbs, see if the needles are slightly sprung. None of that affects the filters you need.

AUD257F I reckon. But just buy for HS2 carbs if fitting aftermarket filters

Not with my wiring diagrams, and no wish to get this wrong.... However, the 2 large terminals on an ACR alternator are joined, and are the charge outputs. The brown/yellow is the main charge wire, so that fits on the big terminal. I think the brown/green is the old field wire, so connects to the small alternator terminal. But check White?? that is an ignition switched live if original. No idea where that has come from. Finally, as your new alternator probably kicks ouy more than the dynamo, it is a good ide to get a length of 30A wire (similar to the thick wire you already have) and fit to the 2nd large terminal, and attach direct to the battery positive or the solenoid terminal that the battery supplies. This will stop te original wire ever getting overloaded, and improves charging.

As always, no guarantees. On my last 1500 engine, I solved repeated gasket blowing by filing the mating surfaces flat and making sure they fitted together a well as I could manage. Amazing how poor the surfaces were, and explained why gaskets kept failng. I also went down the M10 route, but I suspect new studs and the extra long brass nuts would have sufficed.

It can be as simple as the old studs unscrewinging, and fitting the new ones (though making sure the flange surfaces are flat, and filing to make it so, highly recommended. ) However, the studs can/often break. Giving them a few medium weight taps with a hammer can help things, as can heat. If yo have a welder, make use of it and weld a nut to the stud near the flange, that will heat the stud nicely to red heat, and give you something to get a spanner on. If the studs do break, you will need to drill them out, which needs care. Or drill and retap 3/8UNC or even M10, and use cap head setscrews.... (this applies to spitfire/herald) Thats my 2p worth.

I think the only downside to stainless pistons is the cost. But an extra £25 outlay is minimal for the peace of mind.

I would suggest the opposite. Stainless pistons are a good idea on a rarely used car, as they are less likely to stick. On a regularly used car, constant use will mean a std piston should be OK. Ultimately though, the quality of the std type would be a worry, so I would probably choose stainless for what is a relatively small extra outlay in the scheme of things. my calipers were from my vitesse. And I bought them (used) 27 years ago, came from a late GT6. They are still on the original pistons, having done 70k plus in my ownership, 3 sets of piston seals so far (I change them whenever a bit of a rebuild happens) but no failures/leaks in my ownership.

really simple. On the control box: 1. Ditch the earth 2. Connect F and WL 3. Connect the rest of the cables together. This is a chance to add fuses if you so wish.

Alan, the single most important thing for heat control is sealing. Any gaps/holes, however small, let a huge amount of heat into the cabin. Time spent with a bright light in the engine bay and head down in the footwells is uncomfortable, but worthwhile to find holes/gaps. I sealed about 20 or so unused screwholes and some that I have no idea what they are for. As to the tunnel, temporarily use gaffa tape to seal edges/damage, see how that works out. The original card tunnels are still my favorite, and would use in preference to fibreglass any day of the week, but I have yet to try a plastic version. The card ones are repairable with fibreglass matting and are thermally good, even the original insulation is ok if in good condition, although newer insulation will be better giving better coverage. Inside the cabin even the old traditional underfelt will act as a good insulator, but again, the latest stuff may have the edge. But until all air leaks are sealed, it is all just tinkering at the edges.

Yep, plug colour is pretty reliable, but is dependant on correct temp plugs etc etc. Nothing is easy! BUT if the needles are correct for the engine, they should be "correct" at all rpm if set at idle.

No, but fitting electronic ignition will almost certainly affect the timing, so it will need resetting. If no pinking, you are not too advanced (but may not be using enough advance)

My explanation should cover it. But yes, setting timing at idle is fine if that is all the car runs at, but that assumes (ie no chance) that the mechanical advance is mapped to the engine. When new they were reasonable, but after 50 years, they will be way off. And new ones are very variable in terms of the advance curve (distributor doc and other specialists will be fine, but the sub £100 new ones? forget it) Using the (edge of pinking" method, you are setting the timing for the engine when being driven. As a comparison, think of carb needles. You can get a decent idle with any needle, but once off idle it will be wrong.

Not ideal. With my mappable ignition, best idle is at 28 degrees, but needs to retard to 15 ish for acceleration at lower rpm. A distributor can't do that hence setting idle by the pinking check. At a guess, "all in" timing (no vac) for 95 octane on a spit would be about 30 degrees. How it gets there depends on the baseplate and springs, all can be played with to get improvements, as can the vac advance capsule.

Call me pernickety, but it is ethanol, not methanol, that is being added. But that is irrelevent, as ethanol has no effect on octane (well, the actual answer is complex, but e10 95 is the same octane as e0 95) As for the drop in octane from the old stuff when the car was new, that may require a change. But then again, your distributor probably has wear and slightly stretched springs, you compression may not be as oroginal and so on. So he "best" answer is to keep advancing ignition until you get a little pinking under load, then back off a tiny amount.

To be fair the original plastic ones are pretty good. The new "lucas" tat in plastic is about as long lived as a packet of hob nobs in our house. My worry about many of the metal bodied ones is the source. If lucas (likely) it is always a concern. However, I would hope even they could make one that lasts. After all, the switch is incredibly simple. I found an OEM switch from a VAG car that was perfect substitute. Cost about a tenner, but most recent vehicles seem to use bespoke switches that are unsuitable for our cars.

Don't be confused. I believe all the latest valvemaster offers some form of ethanol stabaliser, if you have cncerns on that front. There are no claims it protects hoses etc, just helps stop the fuel degrading. Not that I have had issues with my rarely used spitfire. Next, octane and timing. The original timing is only a very rough guide. The best way to set timing is to keep advancing the timing until you get a little pinking under load, then back off a smidge. As to valve protection, it is very rare to get valve seat recession, I have heard of about 5 examples in the last 20 years. I have never used any additives, and even my hard driven cars have never suffered. Even after 30k plus miles.

I retapped the hole to m10. If using a helicoil, 5/16UNF is what would be best, or M8 is the metric equavelent. An M10 helicoil will need a 11-12mm hole drilling, and tapped with the supplied tap (helicoil kits come with a suitable sized drill, a tap and some helicoils)

Try using cheap baby wipes. They seem to clean sealants better than anything else, I think it is the weave rather than the detergent? or whatever it is that makes them "moist". But I have found them invaluable since I discovered they got silicone and even polyurethane sealants (eg tigerseal) off your hands and any surface.