Neil Clark

I've just had my Spitfire resprayed by trjbodyworx in Kings Norton. It's a stunning job. I also had had a lot of welding done to fit the Mk1 hinges to the refurbished Mk3 chassis and there was a lot of prep needed for painting and then re-assembly so I'm not sure what the breakdown of cost would be just for spraying but I didn't feel overcharged. Gaz, the owner, will be most competitive if the car is delivered with trim and screen removed. There won't be any humming and hawing, I wasn't asked for any cash up front and no VAT surprises at the end. Owner is Gaz, 7 Ardath Road, Kings Norton, B38 9PN tel 07894 947487 or 0121 433 5504. They may be moving to a new unit nearby. Tell him that you know he did my Spitfire so he'll know what size of car he's dealing with.

A happy hour or so re-doing the Weber carburettor settings. I had forgotten how straightforward they are to set up once installed and once the engine warmed up, with the Weber tweaked gently per the instructions it settled down to a smooth 750 - 800rpm tickover. Great pick-up too. It's got an Accuspark ignition in the distributor, I imagine for cost reasons. Then, unpacking another case of dismantled parts to find the seatbelts I realised that it had only ever had lap belts, and those had been involved in the crash so I should have binned them. The bolts for the diagonal belt are in the rear but they have clearly never had anything attached to them! So a new set of lap and diagonals on order. I inspected the tyres for tracking signs after last nights run, when I could hear tyres squealing every time I changed direction slightly. And the fronts are badly scuffed on the outer edge though the rears are clean. So tracking is urgent. I'm not surprised because the front suspension needed so much work when re-installing it. I'll get it set as close as possible to the guidance on here and eventually get someone to do it and the camber properly. I also found the evidence I had been looking for of the date of the last restoration - 2017 which is later than I had thought. So it had only been on the road a short while before the accident.

Indeed. About the same time, after years of trying to get our US plants to build equipment for Europe in Metric and a disastrous cost crisis when they even ordered Metric steel specially from Europe, by air, when all we wanted was Metric nuts and bolts etc. But having got the change to metric nuts and bolts done all went quiet until Europe changed the safety criteria for production machinery. "No problem", said our heroes, "we can do that." Nine months later I fly over to see the first production batch, which met the EU spec. Just as a joke I said "Safety and Metric! Cool!". Long faces - "Do you mean you wanted us to stick with metric nuts and bolts again for Europe and Asia?" Inevitably it got a model suffix "ML" for Mars Lander.

On the road! I've put a video under the restoration forum.

Thanks to all the help on the Forum, the ease of changing from SORN to taxed on these old cars and having got to the "Legalish, decent, honest and truthful" stage about the work still to do I was finally able to run up and down the road this afternoon. Runs rough but that can be fixed, the exhaust pipe had filled with water in the rain so is blowing all the crud out but Oh Boy! 9d62a7ee-4d51-4bc1-879f-e1667658495a.mp4

Will do Dan thanks, and see where I stand with them. I'm going to spend a little time to settle it down mechanically once the temporary horn button works.

We tried it Dan. It's just different somehow. When I got the car the Triumph horn push it had looked quite different to yours. The TR6 one from Moss would fit if I filed off one part but for the money and risk I passed for today. The one it came with originally has disappeared somewhere along the road to restoration and since I can find everything else and account for what I junked it's probably hiding - but I've unpacked and repacked every crate of parts over the last few days. I've got the spring pencil but that's it.

Thanks Josef. Today I made major progress on all fronts until I discovered while at Moss that the MotaLita steering wheel and boss that I spent days restoring is so old that the horn push parts and contacts would have to be custom made unless I can find them. So I'm compromising and have ordered a "momentary" horn switch from Car Builder Solutions as a temporary solution to having a legal horn. And I've re-done the bullets and spiral wrapped the wiring to the headlights and re-affixed the dashboard now that the wiring behind it is as good as it can be for now. Tonight, joy of joys, I refitted the front number plate. Perhaps tomorrow or Wednesday I can take her off SORN and start taxiing trials on the local roads!

Hopefully we can exchange notes with the cars side by side one day!

I could use a horn switch instead on the dashboard - that would be possible. Thank you both for the notes and I'll keep posting as things move on. I think it's a professionally made loom and if I can through to Autospark on the phone I'll ask if they have a wiring colours diagram. During this forum discussion above I read that they will make the loom with mods for alternators etc etc so that may help. Re originality I had hoped to get there when I first bought it but now it's not realistic and I'm not a good enough engineer / restorer to get there at sensible money. It's the original radiator, engine, gearbox, dashboard, boot lid and rear lights but that's about all I can put my hand on my heart about really. If I can make it a decent car fairly representative of the early engineering, styling and design I'll feel satisfied. This Spitfire has so many replacement panels and of course a Mk3 chassis with the elephant in the room being these weird wiring extensions. In the rebuild I found that it's also got the much later rear suspension - and those bling chrome wires about which I am still unsure. I've got a 1966 MGB GT which I had professionally restored. It's very original and I keep it that way. In the MG world there are an enormous number of "early" cars that we have found are simply a V5 and under bonnet label on a totally unrelated car. One roadster sold last month via one of the reputable auction houses for a lot of money - but with an MGB GT V5 - it was just a bunch of bits, albeit good new bits and a totally new shell, but nothing to do with being an early MGB. We pointed it out to the auction house, they just shrugged.

The engine did move back a little on its mounts as they distorted - the gearbox mount rubbers sheared too but their bolts held and the restraining wire appeared to have done its stuff taking out the energy of the deceleration. Dan, the starter motor seems to be of a different type to yours although there is no label anywhere on it. Just below the red HT lead you can see a wrapped wire connecting to a terminal on top of the starter motor. This is a red / white wire and it terminates at the ignition key. Disconnecting it the car wouldn't start but it did not affect the red ignition light on the dash. There is definitely no fuse in this red / white wire circuit and there is definitely only the one line fuse anywhere in the car, the one in the horn circuit. I've got the correct but modern horn relay now with 4 pins and a wiring drawing for it. Once the steering wheel horn contact components arrive I can test it. I've still no success with the instrument lighting. Apart from that I've mounted the flasher unit in the correct position on the bulkhead and repaired the rear lights which weren't working but that was just minor issues with bullet connectors and their earth. Even got so far as refitting the battery restraining bar.

I'll let you know what I find!

I've been confusing us and apologies. The car as it arrived look like this with the chassis buckled back to the radiator and the major impact on the nearside. Fan bent but astonishingly no engine components damaged. I took off the tub, got a fully refurbished Mk3 chassis, found a Mk2 bonnet and hinges (Mk1 bonnets = hens teeth) replaced the engine mounts, gearbox mounts, original radiator restored, new antiroll bar, re-bushed it, steering rack, new bolts and nylons throughout etc etc etc. I have a long long list somewhere. I was able to drive it two years ago before I found the bonnet and now, it's as I delve into the weird electrics that I am stumped so often! My neighbours are extremely tolerant and it became a bit of a street party as they walked past, got roped in for heavy bits and were fed tea and burgers.

I'll have to check tomorrow. This is what I have - taken when I collected the crashed car but all I've changed is the fuel pipe.

Dan, on a simple circuit the horns that were in the smash work even though they are a bit buckled. But there is no fuse in the circuit. Logic says that I should copy your wiring layout and get the same fuse and correct relay, although I don't have the starter button. Is there a way for me to test the horn push circuit before I fit the slip ring etc etc?

True, perhaps I'm just in a bad mood with it!

Thanks Dan!

I'm getting frustrated to the point of ordering a new loom, even on 12 - 16 weeks. I bought second hand looms for kit cars but don't want all that hassle again. I can live with the dash lights and flasher inconveniences short term, I'll see if I can get the horn working so that I can use it on the local roads in order to run it in / adjust tracking / etc etc. The front near side suspension took a hammering, and the offside suspension arms, both of which I've re-built but who knows until everything can be checked. And it's summer!

Dan, the column lever is working correctly now on up for side / middle for dipped / down for main. The wire colours are confusing me but that function I am sure of! The flash feed and the dash lights seem to be more complicated. I'll leave the brown from the column loose for now and insulate it temporarily. That wire does look burnt but it's adhesive, they had wrapped tape around everything and I've stripped that off to try to see the wires.

No, they don't come on. I had them on the only other available spade before so there's nowhere else to go. I'll leave the dip as a lost cause for now.

The brown from the steering column switch was plugged into the same connector as the blue/white from the column - this connector plugs into the blue from the main loom as in the photos. I pulled the brown out of this connector and the lights still worked from the column side / dipped / main as you mention, so it seems the brown was in the wrong slot. However I then connected this brown to the live wire from the in-line fuse (which showed at least 12V) but still no headlight flash. Also all the gauges do have the red white wire to their bulbs and I've tightened up their earths but still no illumination. I'm very tempted to have a break from this! Refit the horns and do some other stuff.

The drawing is a work in progress - not yet definitive for the whole car.

This is all good news! The switch terminal numbers now make sense and I can add them with the new colours codes to suit my car on the drawing I have, which is from the Haynes manual and is attached. For the normal headlight function the column switch is doing the right things now, as is the blue light. I'll try to sort out the flash wires next. The rear side lights and indicators are working fine. I haven't re-tried the brake lights yet though they were working before the re-spray.. I can't yet see an existing loose wire that would be for terminal 8 anywhere but I can find the exit from the steering column switch.Scan 2022-6-4 09.10.10.pdf.

On my headlight column switch now with the dashboard switch to "headlights on", dip is the mid position and main is the down position. Up seems to do nothing. I don't have a transfer / label on the housing next to the lever so I'm not sure. I can see on the wiring diagram that there should be a connection to operate the "flash". I have no evidence that the PO ever had this function working / connected to the headlights due to the crash damage to the lights themselves. However before I got the lights to work yesterday the blue mainbeam telltale lamp illuminated if the column lever was in the mid and bottom position. With the confusing mix of wiring colours in the car I seem to have 5 wires to the column switch. The photo of the new Moss dashboard switch is taken from the bottom - Moss have no wiring diagram for this switch. The paired Red / Green (looks black) has two spades available. Any thoughts on the one I'm using?

Thanks -I'm clear now on alternator / dynamo / control box. And the instruments (fuel / temp) are accurate as far as I can tell after running the car for 20 minutes. I'll work on the dashboard lights and flash functions next, probably tomorrow now. The in line fuse wire only goes to the horn relay so need to look at that.