Neil Clark

Hopefully this weekend. The bracing bars are going in this morning, the engine crane arrives on Thursday and the muscle has been invited for Saturday. Yesterday I gave the replacement chassis a coat of Hammerite with Waxoyl externally and Dinitrol spray internally. I need to check that all the mounting hole threads on the new one are clear as well.

Thanks. Excellent.

I'm about ready to swap my Spitfire Mk1 body over to the replacement chassis, which is way outside my knowledge zone. The engine and gearbox will be out, the door gaps reinforced and pretty much everything removed except the dashboard instruments, the boot lid and the doors. Given decent availability of people to lift by the sills and with a length of wood through the rear arches would I need to remove the doors? I know it's fairly straightforward to do that if I mark the hinge locations but the panel gaps are really good just now. I'm just not sure how much they weigh, complete with glass.

Brilliant people. I've been doing some price comparisons with Moss and Rimmer. I have had great service from all the companies, especially Canley and to be fair to them Moss near me in London (where there are a pair of really nice Triumph fans on the front service desk). Needing a diff mount set comprising mounts, and new nuts, bolts etc I found that Canley were at least 20% less expensive for those items. Postage was the same and they arrived within 24 hours. I know the nuts and bolts are widely available cheaply but I'm still feeling unfamiliar with Triumphs and the sizes / threads for the car so find buying these specifics safer and very time saving from informed specialists. Bravo Canley!

Good progress. Got the rear end dismantled apart from removing the diff, and today removed most of the front suspension. Amazingly the wishbones etc seem undamaged. Not sure about the anti-roll bar n/s threaded end but I'll test fit it to the new chassis first before deciding. It's a lovely accessible car to work on compared to my MGB GT. The n/s engine mount photo shows how much the chassis twisted laterally in the crash, and the o/s front photo shows a crease that has trapped the bolt for the lower wishbone. From todays task list it was the the only part I couldn't remove and as it was going dark so I'll leave it till tomorrow.

Thanks Rob - makes sense now.

Yes I have the swing spring Dan with 4 bolts and I found that the rear is all in excellent condition. Do you use the 7/8 anti roll bar out of choice or as part of an upgrade from 11/16? My car has Konis fitted.

Got almost all the rear end dismantled today so ready to look at the front. Just the diff itself to remove. The anti roll bar fitted is 24.5mm, so closer to 1 inch than what I think is the standard 7/8 inch which I make 22.5mm. Is that correct for the standard one? I won't know if the existing one is damaged until I trial fit it on the new chassis and will save it if I can.

Have used them with great care ever since I clicked on shoe trees on eBay. And got a shoe tree. The left one.

Even better Pete

Tee Hee! I had a look, they only cost £82.00 brand new from Moss!

Thanks. Clive I'll check the thickness of mine.

Is that ratio different to the Mk1 diff ratio? I've just found through disassembly that my Mk1 has a MkIV diff and swing spring.

Yes it's getting there. There's going to be hiatus as I've a lot on in February / March but hopefully by Easter I'll be well on the way to reassembly. I will buy the headlamp ring if I may, but I'll leave the wings for now until I can trial fit to the straight chassis and know just how good or bad this bonnet really is! I've found the side lamp panels today elsewhere. The D rings are good - in fact underneath is a lot better than the top!

Ah got it thanks.

Dan that's amazing! I am very interested. I'm not yet familiar with the "D plate" reference or the "nos Stanpart". I'm definitely in need of what I think is the headlamp ring, 612873 headlamp bracket LH. And as you pointed out 907157RP and 907158RP (left and right hand) side lamp nose panels. My email is neilhclark@outlook.com or mobile 07785 304355. Possibly also the wings. My LH wing has some slight damage where it meets the headlamp ring and as you know I have no bonnet catch recesses in the current wings. I'm only in SW London so easy for me to collect from Maidenhead. Thanks Neil

Hah! Indeed. Thank you. One side (RH) may be salvageable from the wrecked bonnet but since they are available and I need a LH Headlamp ring pressing anyway for the "new" bonnet it's probably going to be cheaper to buy replacements.

The crushed radiator from my Mk1 Spitfire, 3 pipes type, has been repaired by Aaron Radiator and apart from some slight rippling in the base looks like new. Fantastic result and very quick service.

Thanks

Those two ideas would be a massive amount less hassle. Also I just spoke to SpitBitz and they say they can probably cut the panel out of an old bonnet if I want. Thank you for all the ideas and advice.

Thanks Clive. Agree your point 1 is unlikely to be easy. For 2 yes, I could do that, it's just the £250.00 odd for parts that I see on the internet I would like to avoid. On 3 the left hand catch aperture is badly distorted / split on my own bonnet so I think I would need at least one new wing anyway. On the top panel you are absolutely correct. I know enough welding theory to know my skills are not there yet and I need to delegate this or do as you suggest! I hadn't thought about glueing - what glue would you suggest? I don't mind the under bonnet part being visible.

I had begun to think just that!

I started stripping the old crud and underseal off the scrapyard bonnet for the Spitfire. I hadn't really looked before but the replacement panels that have been welded in don't have the opening for mounting the bonnet catches. Searching the usual vendors on the internet I couldn't detect replacement panels with those cut outs stamped in. Does anyone know a source or is there another way to do it please? I'm going to have to do some welding on it anyway - you can see the triangular vents that were cut at the back of the bonnet that need filling.

All well received, thank you. Colin I was trying to be lazy I suppose and it'll be sensible to remove the shocks and grease etc as well as checking it's all straight. I've got to dismantle and move the rears over anyway. Thanks for the alignment note Pete. I've run string boxes on cars before to set up alignment so I will give this a go. This is the first independent rear suspension build I've had, coming from kit cars and MG's. I might even get it right with the help of this note! Peter T, I will check and check again - everything from the old car is swapping over to an identical refurbed Mk1 Spitfire chassis so I hope it should be OK with like for like.

Thanks - I had hoped that this could be possible. I am hopeful that all is well with both sides but I'm going to check for any distortion from the accident. The offside is almost certainly OK but the left side assembly while looking OK does concern me since it was the left half of the front rail of the chassis that took the direct impact. My partial optimism arises because the left front wheel which must have really taken the blow as the chassis, bonnet and bumper bent backwards turned out to be perfect when i took it back to MWS for assessment last week (the wheels are almost new). They found that while the tyre itself had been very neatly sliced in half lengthwise around a quarter of its circumference when the metal bent backwards into it the wheel itself is untouched. Once reassembled the car's going to have to go to a specialist for final alignment and tracking after all this.