Clive

Though a sizeable crowbar can be handy for levering stuff about.....

Have you checked the camber and toe settings? And if so, presumably (hopefully!) with the seats loaded up correctly. Most places ignore this. Checks easy enough to do at home with 2 bricks, 2 bits of straight wood/metal and a tape measure. Extra pair of hands required. Oh, spirit level for camber...

Or 175 65 14. handling probably better on a higher profile and narrower tyre (the camber change at the rear needs high and not too wide)

I am sure there is a figure out there on the web somewhere that tells you how much the cr rises for each mm or whatever of skim. Will take some digging about I expect. (i did find it, but that was a few years ago and my memory isn't that good)

All the best people are Clives!

No idea really! I just use google and find what other have done and it worked! Have a dig through some of the other triumph forums. I know a certain (flawed) genius reckoned a Toledo 1300 low compression head worked brilliantly with a 1500 and TR5 spec cam. I think that CR would head towards 9.8:1 or 10:1 All gets a bit of guesswork as the "tuning" experts who sell stuff often do not really know what they are up to. Peter Burgess is a lesser known (in triumph circles, unless you are into proper mods) but true expert on heads etc. Not sure if he is willing to offer advice though.

And make sure you have the bitumen pads on the doorskins! they will be horrible without.

Don't worry about the weight too much. And balance that with the fact it is a spitfire, not a saloon car. So it will never be exactly quiet. The quietest spitfire I have driven was a very low mileage, totally unmolested one. That had nothing fancy except it had factory (or probably dealer applied) underseal and justb the old type felt carpet underlay. I have greatly improved the sound issues in cars by making sure all holes are sealed with grommits or just sealed up. It is amazing how many unused holes there seem to be, either original or added over the years. Then making sure the tunnel is well fitted and sealed. Then I added the bitumen type pads to the bulkhead (behind pedals and same pass side) then used rubber waffle domestic carpet underlay. The heavy one. Sadly light stuff just does not work anywhere near as well. If I was prepared to spend some proper money, dynamat or similar would be my choice, applied to the main floor sections etc, and also the rear cockpit panel. Don't get too worried about it, the law of diminishing returns applies heavily here.

He may get lucky. Prices have gone up, but not by that much!

Sounds like teh CR is too low. Especially with a warmer cam fitted as they lower the dynamic CR. A mk3 spit would run a 9.1 (poss higher, working from memory here) and I would be looking for even higher than that (probably 9.75, but again that is off the top of my head). I ran 10:1 on my 1500 with no side effects, and that was with a dizzy. With megajolt you will be able to tweek the timing and have an easier time of it. Another thought. Have you double checked that the MK sensor is correct set up? and what it thinks is TDC is actually TDC?? sure you have, but worth a thought.

Back to OP question, it will make no difference where you buy the wing....and like all panels will require some fettling. Thinking back I had to play with the rear corner of the wing a little, but worth noting my car would not have won any prizes. Well, it was quick, and used every day for many many years. But not a show car..... Worth noting that even then, the other wing which I repaired a small hole, was in way better condition after 13 years use. The new one was frilly around the arch. Both were painted from bare metal and treated exactly the same. But this is common to all the panels I have ever fitted, the metal is not as good as the original stuff. But we have absolutely no choice....(unless you get lucky at an autojumble, but most of that stuff was production line rejects)

proper vitesse wings have not been available for many many years. Even back in the mid 90's the supplied wings were 13/60 with a welded modification. I presume the same thing applies. Fit was OK at the time, I think they all come from the same press (they did back then, so probably still do)

On a vitesse.......No. Unless you fit aftermarket extensions for the shocks, sold by the club and others. And requires a special shock absorber.... The vitesse uses lever arm shocks to avoid entanglement, the rotoflex GT6's use a shock mount welded to the inner wheel arch (with a special shock, not same as spit etc)

Adam Chignell used to do a bit of the mobile mechanic thing. Very good too. Not sure if he still does. I would suggest going to some local Triumph meetings where you are more likely to find somebody suitable or good suggestions.

From memory it is only 2 bolts under the dash that hold it all in. Unless my memory is worse than I thought.... You will need to remove hoses etc whatever you do, and getting it out of the car will make life so much easier.

2 types of bellhousing. Some scroll, some have a seal. You need the one with a seal fitted. The Rimmers catalogue has its uses, but also its limitations!

I don't see fitting a temp sensor as difficult. There are plenty of adapters so one can be put in a hose run, or as suggested, the engine block drain. Indeed, there is a fiesta thermostat housing that is tapped for a sensor, or you could easily drill/tap your existing housing. If you make compromises the whole exercise will become pointless as the precision aspect disappears into the sunset.

gearbox oil, it is behind the bellhousing.

Likewise found the facet to be rather "ticky" and that was again correctly mounted. However, oil coolers are almost essential on a 1500 engine. That is from hard earned experience (after the oil over heated, thinned and cost me a crank)

Probably be fine if not huge.

EFI is inherently better than a carb. What has failed here is the design of the system. I actually started my spitfire last weekend, with a properly designed EFi setup and it was pre-mapped. Flicked the key, and a pretty steady idle after 6 years of sitting in an unfinished car. no drama, no over-rich exhaust. The only thing is I think it needs a tweek to the TB balance as I couldn't leave my tea for long on the cam cover before it moved to an edge, but that is only a minor tweek. Nobody should just expect a setup to work because it looks like it should fit....

Nope (at least not from the factory AFAIK) But all the bits could be swapped from a vitesse/gt6 or suitable spitfire. Only the gearbox remote/switches needed.

What about all season tyres? Vredestrain and uniroyal are just 2. But in general, a GOOD tyre will perform well in the vast majority of conditions, snow and ice being the exceptions. I am thinking of goodyear efficientgrip performance, the new dunlops or uniroyals for my car at the moment.

Not so sure, I have seen reverse light switches like that many times, poss vitesse? earlier GT6? or mkIV spit or earlier?? The rod for the remote is longer than a normal herald one. I reckon somebody has swapped the remote from another box. The rest of the box looks correct for a herald/early spit, as in 3 synchro with the square output flange.

I have found that the only wipers that do a decent job are the old Trico ones that have multiple hinge points along them, all others are just too flat. And stiff. And the Trico ones haven't been made for many many years. Worth buying if you see them at autojumbles etc, along with the replacement rubbers (again they are far more flexible) club stuff generally at the better end of the market....