1969Mk3Spitfire

Many thanks for the replies. I've removed the passenger side glove box and the switch. I have 12v and bypassing the switch doesn't fire-up the motor. A separate 12v supply into the 2 wires doesn't make it work, either. I've pushed the car out of the garage such that I can open the doors but it's raining so I'll test it again later using decent electrical contacts/patch leads, rather than poking bare wires into spade connectors. The two wires to the motor are open circuit so it's not looking good. Does the motor easily separate from the heater assembly?

Caught out in the rain yesterday, first time since I bought my Mk3 Spitfire. The heater blower has never worked and fixing hadn't made the jobs list. That changed when the front screen steamed-up 😒. Any helpful tips to go in search of the problem? Access to the rear of the switch and the motor doesn't look simple. How do you gain access? Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Thanks, Colin, I'll check the diff breather, thanks for the tip. Do you know if there's access to the speedo drive unit retaining screw from underneath the car? I've only recently done the bushes on the gear change so I really don't fancy removing the tunnel again in a hurry.

I have a gearbox oil leak on my Mk3 Spitfire which I suspect is coming from the region of the speedo cable attachment. I've been underneath the car today and this looks to be the wettest area, albeit I'm not 100% certain. After a drive, over the next couple of days it will deposit a large spoonful of oil into the drip tray. Is this a common leak path? Any suggestions for a fix? Using water pump pliers, I managed to tighten the cable nut a few degrees but I didn't want to over-tighten it. The car has another leak but very minor by comparison. This one seems to be coming from the differential nearside half shaft seal. I doubt that I'll do anything with this, maybe simply check bolt torques. Any advice much appreciated. Thanks.

Many thanks for all of the replies. The wooden strips at the bottom of the squab look to be in surprisingly good condition. I’m planning to rub them down and give them a couple of coats of varnish to add a bit of strength. I may also veneer them with some very thin modelling ply. Looking at YouTube videos, replacing looks fraught with difficulty and often ends in tears. Not yet decided between hog rings or cable ties and your inputs have been much appreciated. Don’t like the thought of piercing holes in the new fabric but this has to happen regardless of attachment. What width cable ties do you guys use? Presumably, just an awl to penetrate the fabric. Any tips, holes close to the frames, less likelihood of a tension tear? Thanks also for the tip to add a strip of poly bag around the squab to help slide the fabric over the frame.

I've just started the process of reupholstering the seats on my Mk3 Spitfire. I have new fabric and replacement foams for both seats and squabs. Passenger seat first 😂 When I removed the 20 or so C clips from around the base, I exposed a number of hog rings. Also, parts of the squab fabric are stapled to a piece of wood strip fixed to the back of the seat. Can anyone share common practice to secure the new fabric in place? If any tools are required, a link to a specific model would be much appreciated. Any recommended instructions or YouTube video to help? I'm about to paint the seat so I have a couple of days to locate and buy any additional tools etc. I'm planning to complete the passenger seat before I tear-down the drivers seat. Many thanks in advance.

Have you checked that the fuel line, from tank outlet to pump, is clear? I had to replace the tank on my Spitfire. I looked at ReNu but was quoted around £300 plus 2x delivery charges. A made in Taiwan steel replacement cost £250. I put an air line into the fuel line, it built a head of steam and went "pop" at the fuel pump end as it shot a ton of debris into a rag. I cleaned-out the fuel pump and float chambers and the car pulled-through the fuel and started after about 5 short turns of the key. Just a thought.

Are these any use?

I'd put it down to poltergeists. My horn will intermittently sound at around half a steering wheel turn. This can sometimes be amusing but sometimes embarrassing. Somehow, the live ring that sits inside the column is finding an earth as the wheel is rotated but so far it's eluding me. In your case, it sounds like the earth isn't completing the circuit until you apply pressure. Could just be a bad connection. Maybe try removing the ring and cleaning it with wet and dry. Also clean the contacts on the pencil and check its tension as described above. Clean the earth contact surface on the wheel where the button fits and check the function of the switch, maybe spray it with switch cleaner. All electrical problems are work of the devil.

I had the same problem. When my car was reassembled the earth strap was omitted and the horn didn't work. It's an easy fix but the UJ must take the prize as the most inaccessible nut and bolt on the car. The lower nut and bolt isn't too bad but access to the upper one is dreadful. I remember it being half a flat at a time and spending a lot of time continually moving the steering wheel a few degrees to give access. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance.

I’ve solved the problem. I just swore at it a lot and eventually the jet came free from the housing. A couple of minutes with metal polish wadding and it’s now silky smooth. hopefully. I’ll now be able to adjust the mixture.

Screwing the adjuster nut fully in or out does not move the position of the jet. The adjuster nut moves freely by hand, as shown in the pictures, but the jet doesn't budge. Is there a way to fix this or is the solution a new jet? Burlen seem to have a range of kits, anyone know which part number will fit my Mk3 Spitfire. They are also showing a lot of product as out of stock, are there alternative suppliers? Many thanks for any help

I now have a seal. After 2 minutes looking at the car I've decided that it's time to post another query.😊 Any tips / help to fit it. It looks a bit of a nightmare. Start from an end and slide, start from the middle, special tools, techniques, lubrication, pitfalls and so on. I think that a screwdriver blade is likely to cause a lot of damage 😢

Thanks to you both. I've attached a picture to show the layout, hope this helps. Took the car for a drive yesterday. It has done less than 50 miles since rebuild. It wasn't pulling smoothly. I reached the dizzy speed of 50 mph (fastest so far!) and after a short while the engine felt dreadful and I was sure that it was about to stop. Bizarrely, it seemed to recover and then accelerate quite smoothly in all gears. I ran out of road as I don't yet want to venture too far from home (for the first few miles, I had my wife follow me in another car). Max subsequent speed was about 40 mph and I did another 5 miles or so. Idle speed is inconsistent, too. I set it to around 900 rpm , the lowest, smooth running speed. Sometimes it will idle at 11-1200, other times its less than 1000. After the drive I removed No4 plug and it was still sooty but less than before. Likewise, the tail pipe had a layer of soot but not as bad as before. The gland nut was not tight on the front carb, hopefully the reason for petrol weeping. I checked this morning and there was a tiny, tiny amount of fuel around the bottom of the jet/float flexible pipe. I'll check again later. Any thoughts? All input gratefully received.

Many thanks, very helpful. There are indeed 4 wires from the switch assembly including a brown with no connection. There’s also a live purple without connection. Both have connectors fitted. I can now see that the wiring diagram shows brown to purple. The brown wire is a lot smaller diameter compared to the purple so didn’t “look right” but removing one of the bullet connectors and pushing the brown into the purple has solved the problem. The encyclopaedic knowledge on here is great 👍

As per title, the headlamp flash doesn't work. Side lights, main and dipped positions all work but nothing from the lever to flash the lights. Is this likely to be a switch issue? Any checks to confirm before going in search of a replacement? Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Pete, very helpful. This morning, off came the airfilters and on went the Carbalancer, last used in 1976. I put a Colourtune, also last used in 1976, in cyl 4 and it showed blue/orange combustion. I also used the lifting pin method to assess the mixture. I leaned the rear carb; the lifting pin still increases speed but seems better. The Colourtune in cyl 1 shows more orange than blue. I tried to lean the mixture of the front carb but it didn't seem to make a great deal of difference so I took the air pistons off. The rear carb jet to bridge measurement was 0.15 inch and the front, which would not tighten any more, was at 0.095 inch. The front carb seems to be giving a very rich mixture. The lifting pin caused an increase in engine speed. Not happy with the differences in the bridge gap between the two carbs, I've readjusted the front to the same measurement as the rear, even though that should make it more rich. Something doesn't seem right. The plugs were very sooty. I'd quite forgotten the joy of removing the plug from cyl 3. I've also noticed a very small amount of fuel weeping from the bottom/adjuster mechanism on the front car; there's a bit of staining on the chassis crossmember as you may be able to see in the pictures. I'll take the car for a drive later today. Any ideas as to why the front carb doesn't seem to be responding to mixture adjustment?

I've searched through several pages of results but can't find a guide to setting and balancing twin SU HS2 carbs, I'd hence appreciate advice from the forum. My new-to-me car is running fairly well but the mixture is probably rich. It doesn't like foot-to-floor acceleration in the lower gears, this gives a bit of misfire/rough running above, say, 3000 rpm. (I haven't taken the engine over 4000 rpm as yet). In fourth gear, using the throttle pedal more gently, it does seem to pull quite smoothly. The exhaust tail pipe has a layer of soot, as does No4 spark plug. So I'm thinking that the first thing to do is to lean the carbs a bit. It's been many years since I last tuned a pair of these carbs. I understand that, with the engine at temp, I first need to sync idle air flows (with air filter removed). I plan to use a Carb Balancer for this. Then, a combination of a Colourtune and listening to the engine speed/tone after using the lifting pin to set the mixture. My question should I put the Colourtune in cyl 1 and adjust the front carb, then in cyl 4 for the rear? Or is there sufficient mixing in the manifold to leave the Colourtune in one cylinder? Car is Mk3 Spitfire. Appreciate any help, thanks.

Another project on my list..................... The car has had a full body off, bare metal restoration but final reassembly was done in haste (for good reason). The door shut lines aren't pretty. I've attached a picture of the A post hinges. It looks like the door locks and striker plates are all equally accessible so I'm hoping that someone has written an "adjusting door shut lines for dummies" guide? Is it a DIY job or best given to an old-school body shop for a day? Many thanks in advance.

I'm working my way through a snagging list on my new-to-me Mk3 Spitfire and I'd appreciate any help and wisdom from members. There's an approx 3mm air gap along the length of the joint between the soft top and the top of the windscreen. Hopefully this will be obvious in the attached picture. I've also attached a picture of the roof showing a channel riveted to the frame. Should this have a seal running alongside it? The two small sections for the clamping device seem fairly snug with no obvious gap. Many thanks in advance.

Many thanks for the replies, much appreciated. It wasn’t a job that I was looking forward to but it was actually quite straightforward. NonMember, you were right, I only needed to remove the spline coupling nearest to the rack where access is just a little better I currently have the gearbox tunnel removed as I’ve just re-bushed the remote gear change so access to the steering column inside the car was ok, too.

The indicator self-cancelling mechanism on my car doesn't work. I've started to investigate and it appears that the mechanics who reassembled it (before I bought it) have put the steering column in the wrong orientation. The cancelling feature on the shaft is at 12 o'clock but I believe that it should be at 3 o'clock. Is that right, or am I missing something? Separately, they missed the earth strap from the bottom joint to the rack. They must be the most inaccessible bolts on the car so I'm not overly keen to have to remove them again (I didn't know about the cancelling issue when I was chasing down the earth strap issue). Hence my question, can I release the top half of the steering shaft from inside the car and rotate it by 90 degrees?

To close this thread, I've had PM correspondence with Richard in addition to keeping an eye on his "GT6 second gear" thread. Full of very helpful information. I bought a bush kit from Canley Classics and had no issues with quality of the components. I've done the job today and it was quite straightforward. The main problem was the middle joint, the rear shaft to the selector shaft. The plastic/rubber part of the bush was completely missing! There wasn't a lot of wear on the gearchange lever nylon sphere but I changed it, the two springs and cover plates anyway. The difference is incredible. Attached picture of the remains of the bush 😊

Many thanks to you all, much appreciated. The lower steering column bolt must be the most inaccessible on the whole vehicle. I've added an earth strap between the rack and the column and now the horn works 😊

I’ve already removed and cleaned all contact surfaces on the first one but I’m not aware of the second so thanks for the pointer. I don’t recall seeing the second one, can you be a bit more specific to help me locate it? How close to the rack? How is it attached and where is it earthed? Thanks to you, too, mark. Your method is Plan b 😀