Neil Clark

Could well be rust as it has sat since the smash in 2018 and it only had water in it when I got it and first drained it. When I rebuilt the car and had the radiator restored I re-filled with water to test it for leaks in early 2020 then it got stuck in a body shop until a few weeks ago - I forgot to replace the water with proper coolant until a couple of months ago. Is it a threaded plug or just a pressure fit?

Thanks again. The engine number is the original from 1964 Dan. Will monitor anyway. I need to get the steering fixed and run it around a bit more in real world conditions.

Thanks for the pointers. Looking at it it's more watery with a bit of brown that might be oil or rust, than oily / greasy. And the engine outside surface is a bit oily anyway so it will have mixed with that. I'll keep a close eye on it. I suppose in the extreme heat under its cover last week when we cooked in the sun here the water might have expanded just as it would with freezing. Our drive is sandstone and very reflective of heat and our cars can get very hot indeed.

Yesterday I noticed an oily seepage, no more than that, around the 2" round dished plug at the back of the engine. It did its first drive two weeks ago (a few miles to the wheel aligners) and hasn't been used or started since. Is this unusual? I can't find any references in the forum search I've done. Thanks

All I can say on the positive side about the TSSC tunnel (which came in a Moss box), is that it is better than the piece of corruption that I removed. However, there is NO way it is suitable for a Mark 1 Spitfire 4 without butchery. Which butchery has been, actually, rather satisfying. And oh how I wish I had seen this thread before buying the fitting kit! What a waste, at least when trying to conform to the existing screw holes. The experts say that no two classic cars are the same. How right they are!

Very nice - looks very correct.

Pete - that would be amazing! Love tea. I was going to go to Canley Classics for it but to learn more about how it really fits together is fantastic. We're looking after the aged in-laws here for the next ten days so can I message you after that?

Steering being so vital I am probably going to bite the bullet and buy a properly restored exchange rack. I'm just too hamfisted and I don't want the car to repeat its recent crash experience due to my engineering incompetence!

Track rod ends are new Colin and were wound on to exactly the same thread position as the ones I inherited on the damaged car. As far as I could then see both TRE's were damaged in the crash. Original rack looked OK externally but after what it had been through I got an untested one from eBay, which this is. I'll have look Alan. Nothing to lose

I think it's going to have to be fix the steering rack first! But as soon as I can get to the rears I'll let you know.

That's perfect Josef, thank you.

Yes, that's secure Mathew.

Pete I wish I knew what that meant! The best I can describe is that when I turn the wheel, the coupling is firm to both the column and the splines on the rack itself, but when I turn the steering wheel it goes from say 3pm to 4.30pm with nothing happening at the road wheels.

The play is where the column enters the steering rack box 👎

It's refurbished, but that could just be re-painted. It was cheap. I'll investigate further.

Thanks Clive - I'll have to look out the invoice to check that.

Beautiful day, felt I had to do a longer run sometime so drove the car over to Merityre in Kingston on Thames. Engine good, gear change takes a bit of getting used to after the MG which is sharp. When I arrived there was another Spit getting aligned - a Spit 6 with GT6 rear suspension. Forgot to get a photo or his name. Tyre place assumed we had arranged to be there together - how often does this happen? Front track was way out. Amazingly they had the specs for the car. Their machine also checked the rears and they are both pointing slightly left - left 0 degrees 33 on the left wheel and left 0 degrees 16 on the right wheel. I realise that this will be a shimming job. Can anyone advise how much adjustment comes with each shim? Gearchange is a bit sloppy - is there a simple bush that could be worn? First sounds a bit noisy but the other gears are fine. After the tracking the steering feels very loose around the straight ahead, especially on left turns. I haven't rebuilt the front suspension out of fear of its complexity. It's a new rack, track rods etc and the chassis suspension bushes have been replaced but otherwise as it arrived. Since the chassis is new I'm sure the shimming is wrong - I just put back the same number of shims as on the old chassis. Clutch pedal became a bit "lazy" on the way home. I haven't paid any attention to it since re-fitting it into the car and re-filling it. Handbrake needs a minor tightening up.

It was very nice and a pleasant surprise to meet the lovely TSSC team at the MG Live show at Silverstone yesterday. And to get some great advice! Both my car interests covered at one show too. The key fob is already attached and I'll order the parts form the shop this morning.

Thank you!

Look at the Moss website for Spitfires, or better still order the free paper catalogue. Their drawings are really helpful indicating what goes where. Not all the chassis / tub bolts are the same but if you use the Moss part number then refer to the crib sheet in the back it tells you the specific length etc etc.

One useful thing I learned (eventually) was to not fully tighten any of the body to chassis bolts until certain that it is sitting visually correctly vis a vis both the rear wheels and the bonnet. Despite so many fixing points mine just looked wrong for a while but a well placed thigh pushed progressively against the rear quarter, even a tenth at a time, got me there eventually. Yours may well be easier - mine was going on a refurbished chassis from another source and it drove me crazy until sorted.

The tub replacement is a great opportunity for a street party!

That is beautiful Alan!

I hate to say it Alan, but I paid far far less than that!

PS - I went there on the back of personal recommendation from people I know well.