iana

Well it isn’t perfect but the seat looks a lot better now thanks to the extra spacer and by using Pete’s logic I now have a seat which doesn’t catch the B post.

Well taking Colin’s advice the seat runners are now ‘level’ the lack of a spacer certainly didn’t help, just need to work out which fixing holes to use. The manuals are very vague!

Colin should there be a spacer on both sides? If so that’s the reason. Any chance you could measure the thickness of the on on the gearbox side.

The drivers seat in my car doesn’t sit square in the car as in the seat back is lower on the handbrake side than the door side, it’s bugging me and I was trying to work out what’s wrong, I’ve removed the rubber blocks and it’s worse, it’s as if the frame runner on the transmission side is too low or the cill side too high. Any ideas what I can check? Should there be any spacers under the runners or any other ideas what to check

I will check the earthing as suggested, I know the earthing on the car isn’t the best as a couple of the earth straps were in very poor condition. I have a new set of points, arm and condenser (tssc supply) so I could revert to original set up. I just need to find the excuse to use the car and try and find the fault.

I’ve checked and cleaned the spark plugs, no improvement so I replaced with plugs from the club, likewise the leads and the dizzy cap. It’s a real annoyance as i can use the car and it’s fine, then I use it and it mis fires. It’s usually only one miss so petes description of a hiccup probably is best, normally you can feel it more than hear it.

I haven’t touched the vitesse since lock down but it’s time to start again. The car has a very intermittent mid-fire, usually on a decent run when the car has been running at constant revs, or when going up an sharp incline. I’ve checked the tank, it’s clean, I’ve installed a fuel filter, cleaned the fuel pump, replaced the fuel line, cleared the crap out of the carbs. Ignition timing checked and it’s good, spark plug colour good. The car can take a little cranking over to start but I pump that down to a feeble battery. I keep thinking the electronic ignition (it’s the cheap nasty one) or coil. I keep thinking about treating myself to the Aldon one as that’s what I used on the spit and gt6. Any pointers what I should check or change next? It’s an annoyance and I’d like to fix it The one thing I know needs checking is the tappet settings (it’s set to a standard cam of 10thou) and in the box of receipts I was given by PO is a spec sheet for a different cam, it list 12 thou and 14 thou (inlet and exhaust) would this cause any issues?

I’ve reverted to the clothes peg option, I tried to locate a period looking choke cable for the vitesse as PO has fitted a spitfire type choke cable and it looks wrong and it is past its best, apparently the new round knob cable come without the logo and glazed cap so my search continues

I used alm for cable supplies when I rewired the indicators and headlights on the vitesse, I used their main site for the bulk of the stuff, it was cheaper than ebay, and then the bits I missed I orders via ebay. Customer service was helpful and responsive to queries

I ended up with a conversion kit when I had my seats repaired http://www.jamespaddock.co.uk/seat-back-foamstrap-kit-2-litre-for-broken-springs-3 other suppliers do the same kit.

Another vote for something like this. Its very easy to use, very impressed. Recently purchased one as I needed to fabricate some new pipes

When we first heard the noise we thought it was timing related, when driven slowly there was no noise but under acceleration it was bad, and couldn’t work out what it was - checked and reset most things, no oil in water etc and eventually did a compression test. On strip down we found (ignore the oil)

have you done a compression test, when i first got my vitesse I took my car down to a local club members house so he could run through the carbs / timing etc as a refresher for me, the timing and carbs were set and we out for a test drive and it ran ok for a short while and then a banging noise from low down (especially under load and accelerating once on an open road) and we couldnt work our what it was, took it back, reset and checked it gain and it was still bad, eventually we did a compression test, the head gasket had blown cylinder to cylinder,

Pete thanks for the suggestion, I removed the handbrake pins and reset the brakes, the brake pedal feels better, still getting some air out so room for improvement but feels better, I’ll refit the handbrake cable when the rain stops.

Thanks Pete, I will recheck the handbrake, I want to grease the channels that the cable runs in anyway. I’ve got a few days before I can rebleed the brakes anyway.

The shims are stainless steel. Pads were not replaced - they looked fairly new and I’m saving for mintex pads. Shoes were replaced as they were badly worn, but not bedded in yet. I haven’t checked the servo angle but I used the rear plate so I’m assuming that’s ok. Im tempted to put the wheels back on and drive the car up and down our street when it’s quiet and see how they feel in use.

It’s improving but still not happy with it, I did wonder if the servo maybe the problem, just ordered some more fluid so more bleeding later in the week and hopefully that’ll cure it. Then I’m hoping for a test drive next weekend. Local club run end of February so I have a deadline.

No Dot4.

The brake system is all back together, the servo is installed, I filled the system with fluid yesterday and have been bleeding the brakes since, Im struggling to get a decent feel to the brake pedal. I dont seem to be able to get all the air out of the system. Any ideas?

I’m not sure I could link the policies on my modern and the vitesse as the renewal dates are 5 months apart.

Just had my renewal notice from PJ and it had gone up (I’d expected a small decrease as it’s a renewal) so decided to get a quote from Classicline, the chap seemed knowledgeable and helpful, the quote is based of 5000 miles and the quote is nearly 30% cheaper than renewal. Looks like it will be a change. Are there any questions I would raise with CL before committing?

Charlie a couple of photos showing the rear wheel arch trims on a mkiv and a 1500 spitfire. Hope this assists.

the calipers are stamped 16P, but I had to check as the car was rebuilt in the 90s and Ive found a few things that arent right on a Mk1,

Doug thanks, I’ve had a quick look and at that cost I’ll try and find someone local to make the pipes up I need, the flaring tool does look a lot more robust than the one on the eBay link.

The car is virtually back together, I just need to replace a couple of brake pipes, is it worth buying something like this (or better to find a local supplier to make the replacement pipes up?) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IMPERIAL-PIPE-FLARING-KIT-BRAKE-FUEL-REPAIR-TOOL-SET-25FT-COPPER-BRAKE-PIPE/362535046640?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D40732%26meid%3D92b25e40c8574affb0d2c4625e8e37ff%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D254467414442%26itm%3D362535046640%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A6cb7ff79-34a4-11ea-920e-74dbd18046cb|parentrq%3A95f9422816f0aa48f85dd2fdff9df7f3|iid%3A1