Neil Clark

I'll have another go in the morning. Fuses are both OK. With the sidelights OK I wondered about the dashboard pull switch. Hadn't thought about the column switch though.

Spitfire 4 Mk1. Last weekend I fitted the new headlamp looms and they worked immediately. Today I finished connecting the indicators and side lamps and they worked immediately. I then switched on the headlamps as well but now they didn't light up. So I switched on the ignition and heard a dull click - still no headlights. However the dipped beam lamp on the dash comes on when the headlamp switch is on but no headlamps. The fuses are both OK and the battery is healthy, the starter will engage willingly. As far as my voltmeter tells me there is now no voltage at the headlight circuit where the loom joins the two headlamp looms behind the grille. I had not fully insulated all the connections behind the grille so even though all the bullet connectors were firm, it's quite possible that something touched but what can have been blown or tripped please? I've now checked again that they are made good but still no power where the headlight looms connect. I can read the wiring diagram for colours etc but can't interpret all the symbols on the drawing. Could I have tripped something? What are the square black boxes etc on the wiring diagram between the headlights and the switch? Thanks

The new boots are just too tight and even with the lens just about in, no way could I get the chrome ring to go in. So I resurrected the damaged boots and with your method they are now in but I can't say it was easy!

I've had to buy new for the front, mine were just too damaged and perished. Since last doing this on an early Spitfire changing a bulb for a pal in about 1971 (! yikes) it seems to have got much harder to re-fit the glass and chrome outer ring. It's probably the new rubber. Was there a secret trick I've forgotten or should I just massage / soften the boots a lot first and use some washing up liquid?

Thanks

It's only on a few parts of the carpet such as where it rests up against the firewall, and it's also all over the underfelt where that wraps over sharp angles in the floor like the cross member. I had to peel it off to access the body / chassis bolts. It looks like it's one of the standard moulded carpet sets.

There is a lot of what looks like latex on the underside of the carpet and underlay removed from the Spitfire. Do I just re-coat it with fresh latex when I put it back?

That's lots of helpful stuff and ideas Pete, thanks.

I need to think about this. My garage is so narrow it's a squeeze to get down the side.

This job is looming after the rebuild onto the new chassis. I've done a string box on cars with solid rear axle but really not sure how to approach this on the Spitfire. Everything has been taken off, adjusted and hung back on and the front suspension needed new bushes etc. I've put back the shims I took off and set the steering rack /track rods to the same number of threads as on the old steering rack I took off but that's as far as I've got. I also need to do a "safety" tightening, which was an annual kit car habit, but I'm not starting from a known basis point and in a way the tracking needs to come first I suppose. I can't see my local trusted tyre fitters / aligners having the knowledge. If it isn't a one man job, anyone recommended in London / Surrey?

Thanks

Can anyone advise the size please for a socket spanner? I don't have the right one, the last one I bought was metric.

What a mission that was. Every bonnet hinge measurement is a few millimetres out after the welding so the round file came into play. I can't say that the nuts, spring washers, spacers and bolts are arranged anything like the ones in the manuals but it all fits and looks right, and the overriders are secure.

Thanks Colin. That's really useful advice. The re-welded hinges are a few mm offset so I've moved the bumper irons to help the position relative to the bumper holes. I had tightened the bumper. The distance from the hinge bolt hole to the hinge nut is now, I think longer than spec. The standard UNC bolt reaches but won't catch the thread. I've ordered a couple of longer UNC bolts. Canley sent me spacers with the specified nuts and bolts when I bought the replacement bumper so I think there must be a need for them. And I've lots of other spacers I can use. The steady progressive pressure / tightening makes a lot of sense

Yes Pete, the Spit 4. Thanks Dan. I'll have another fight with it later!

I'm really struggling to get the front overiders to fit. I know my hinges are probably out sideways by a bit after being welded on but I can file out the holes in the new bumpers sideways a bit to suit that. Is there a "sequence" to tightening up bumper irons / bumpers etc then getting the spacers onto the bolts that secure the overriders themselves. Does the metal lip inside the overrider have to hang on the hinge before the bolt goes in and it's bolted up and does it actually hang over the hinge metal? Thanks

Sorry I missed you Roger. Hope Will was able to get it through.

It's nice when you meet and speak to problem solvers. I could not get the overriders to fit on my Spitfire 4 Mk1 using the bolt specified in the (usually excellent) Moss parts book, and since the overriders I have had been badly distorted internally anyway was frustrated. I called at Moss who are near me to see Will Chilvers. I've known Will for a couple of years and he and his Dad (also based at Moss London) really do know their Triumphs, pretty much all models. So Will got out an overrider, compared it with my old one and immediately saw that the 1" bolt listed was completely wrong, far too short and not only that, the thread on the bolt was wrong for the overrider. Puzzling, and I had begun to think I had had the bonnet hinges welded incorrectly. But tucked away it turned out that they have a whole range of very early old parts books, so after a fairly long hunt through the pages he found the correct reference and though they don't sell the exact same bolt any more identified a substitute which they did have. I left reassured and Will was off to write up a correction for their parts book compliers.

Yesterday I spent an hour at Spitbitz near Woking - they have a shelf of old Spit / Herald / Vitesse looms from the various years. There must be commonalities and many of them looked serviceable. Might be worth a call. When I built an MX5 powered kit car I bought an old MX5 loom from a scrappy then laid it out on the drive and tested each section (lights / ignition / etc) and cut out the bits I didn't need (electric windows / additional lights etc). It gave me the lengths / colours I needed for the replacement segments it needed and costs a fraction of a new loom in both money and frustration! Might be worth a call www.spitbitz.co.uk

Water we on about here?

Just for interests sake, is the fibreglass bonnet very much lighter than the steel? And does it flex as much when lifting it from one side, as we must?

And that's exactly what had happened. Filler in the holes. The panel below the windscreen was repairable despite the back edge of the bonnet trying its best to crush it when it was pushed in and once straightened had to be finished.

Thanks Nigel

Duane I've just been over to SpitBitz near Woking. Sheds full exclusively of old stuff but they say Mk1 stuff (which I needed) is getting very rare. Try sending them an email or calling. It's WWW.spitbitz.co.uk

Welcome Julian!