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** ON TO THE NEXT BIT ** Nose to Tail - 1972 Spitfire MkIV restoration upgrades!!


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there s all the little slide metal bars with the springs all  hidden from sight  the rods should clip into the white block and remain held in place

but how to explain that bungled mass of rods angles , levers , springs , plastic crap and things with no obvious meaning till you get it together and  find you left it out   is pure genius 

rubiks cube has less options 

pete

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Tell me about it.  I have spent 3 hours on this but have a better understanding of all the rods angles , levers , springs , plastic crap and things with no obvious meaning. Things were going badly until I finally worked out how to put things back together without cutting open my wrists and then broke the little metal retainer piece which holds the rod into the door handle. I do have others but they are in a box which is blocked in by the Spitfire. I have abandoned things until tomorrow. Will report back and hopefully offer a definitive way of repairing the bl**dy thing!!!

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After spending the morning in a contemplative state making 5 gallons of beer (see thread elsewhere) I set out to the relatively cool garage to take up arms with the Triumph design team having been beaten last night.

My view of repairing the door linkage that has driven (pun intended) me mad is now this:

Strip off the door card, window handle and other bits and pieces. Make no attempt to replace the rods in the little plastic jointing block in situ. Before you do anything, run insulating tape or something similar around the edges of the 3 main access points to the interior of the door to protect you wrists. Then unscrew the 3 bolts holding the door release handle, the screws holding the two plastic blocks which the rods run through and CAREFULLY unfasten the two rods from the door lock. Carefully because they are very easy to break (or loose bits of plastic washer) and are difficult/expensive to replace if you can find them. Then remove the whole assembly (fishing out anything you drop from the bottom of the door) to a safe working area (kitchen, lounge etc). If the rods are bent, apart from the single angle of about 30 degrees, straighten them. Reassemble the rods into the plastic block run insulation tape tightly around them (about 3 turns) and then pass a nylon zip tie around each rod and the block, near the ends of the block to stop it coming out again. One very wide zip tie would be better but I didn't have one. Then reassemble the whole thing in the door. It works. I have no idea how long it will last this time but at least it works for the moment.

One thing is the interior locking mechanism on both my doors doen't work. i took of the lock mechanism from the side of the door and fiddled with the sliding bits and bobs... which didn't slide very well, admitted defeat at the moment (wait for the next batch of beer) and put it back together. I don't lock the doors (see discussion elsewhere) as anyone wanting the steal the car or stuff in it, will slash the roof come what may so why cause extra expense?

So thanks Pete, not so much gaffer tape etc but you put me on the right track.. again, thanks for all the input from all of you.

On to the next bit, whatever it is.

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2 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

Ivs got some 12mm wide  1mtr long tyraps  you could fit one from the other side of the car  Ha!!

The cam slide bit which fails we trialed in the 3d printing exercise has failed so one from the usa site is on order in stainless

Pete

I did once trade in a Mini that had the driver's door held closed by rope tied to the opposite door....

Agnew Autoexchange in Ladas Drive Belfast gave me £600 for it as full deposit on a Rover. I climbed out, retied the door through the open window, and went indoors to hand over the keys. I drove off in my Rover very quickly indeed... leaving behind a full Paddy Hopkirk petrol can in the Mini boot that was probably worth more than the Mini.

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Has anyone taken apart the actual door locking mechanism - the bit that screws onto the back 'edge' of the door and connects with the latch. I dont want to 'service' mine only to find that it wont go back together. Especially after my experience with the remote mechanism.

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Doug, is that what BW asked? We're talking a Spitfire here - my understanding was the lock barrel is in the exterior release handle, not the actual locking mechanism (on the outside rear edge of the door), which I think is what BW is asking about.

I didn't even try to dismantle the locking assembly on mine, sorry.

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Yes, N/M. it is the locking assembly I'm interested in, not the door handle/lock unit. I think that the door lock barrels are ceased anyway. Will investigate them if I ever get around to the repaint job as they will have to come off then,

Doug, thanks for the heads up that they can be reset though. May look into that over the winter.

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No problems as yet with the door remote catch so onward looking for more trouble. Spent the day clearing the shed to bring out my steel bonnet. Dreadful mess, will post photos later. I know this has probably been done to death, but what are the best rust treatments (prior to painting on the exterior) that you have used and can recommend.

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So, as mentioned earlier, the next bit. Not exactly a barn find, more of a badly stored shed find (over 20/25 years).  The hardtop has never been on the car. It was originally purchased from a scrappy and made good ready for painting black.. didn't happen did it?!  The bonnet was taken off 25 years ago as the repaint job started to flake and was replaced by a fiberglass one 'temporarily'. 

Now they have both been unearthed. The plan is to rub them back to bare metal convert the rusty areas, prime and spray top-coat.

I know there are many rust solving preparations... Jenolite, Evaporust, Corroseal, Permatex, Bilt Hamber, Dinitrol and many more. Can you, the experienced restorers through to the 'just touch up this bit forumites give me the benefit of your experience so that mistakes that were made the first time arn't repeated. This is the last go!!!  I will then need something like an acid etch primed (Upol Acid Etch appears popular) a top coat , possibly one of the Frost range, and all the other bits like thinners, gun cleaner etc.  Please give me the benefit of your experience. I won't be able to repay you, but it will save another car for the future.

Thanks you all in advance.

Here is the bad news....

Spitfire Bonnet 01.jpg

Spitfire Bonnet 02.jpg

Spitfire Bonnet 03.jpg

Spitfire Bonnet 04.jpg

Spitfire Hardtop 01.jpg

Spitfire Hardtop 02.jpg

Spitfire Hardtop 03.jpg

Spitfire Hardtop 04.jpg

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I would use mechanical means to remove most of the rust first. Scotchbrite disc on an electric drill (or angle grinder) will do a good job.

The Bilt Hamber and Dinitrol have good reputations, as do the phosphoric acid ones.

Etch prime on bare metal, then give it two or three coats of a good semi-high-build or zinc primer. Do you have proper spray equipment or will you be on rattle cans? The former gives a much better thickness of paint, the latter you'll need extra coats. Finally, lightly flat the primer to remove orange peel before applying the colour coats.

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I have an Apollo spraymate for top coating which was recommended by other forum members, but was thinking of getting some cans of upol 8 acid etch primer so that I can work a section at a time and prime as I go along, without having to keep cleaning out the gun. Do you have any favourites for high bui!d primer, anti bloom thinners, guncleaning thinners etc etc. I have angle grinders with flap whee!s for initial stripping prior to rust trestment, deng filling egc.

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I have an Apollo, too, although it's old and the bearings have failed. Since I also have a SIP compressor and a couple of suitable spray guns, and a small airbrush with compressor for the little jobs, I've not bothered to replace the Apollo ;) However, I did respray a Spitfire many years back using the Apollo and it can produce very nice results with a bit of practice.

I fully support your idea of using rattle can etch primer for the "bit at a time" approach to fixing issues. However, once you have a fully repaired, etch-primed bonnet or roof, I would give it an all-over sand back and one coat of etch from the Apollo before the main primer. As to what primer to use, it's tended to be a question of what I could find locally, or order on-line. The Tetrosyl is probably goos, the U-Pol Zinc 182 seems good, though not especially high build, but their P88 is probably good for high build.

These days I buy most of my paint from AutoPaints mail order.

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The reason I ask is that, as you can see from the photos of the bonnet (the hardtop was never seriously painted), it looks like my brother in law at the time, didn't key the top coats to the primer and these have just come away leaving the zinc primer behind. I don't want to make the same mistakes he did.

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Did he do a bare-metal, or a re-spray over the existing paint? Either way, the important thing is to make sure the various paints you use are all compatible. I know that if I spray Eastwood Chassis Black (a generally very good paint) over etch primer (again, a good basis) then it will just peel off at the slightest disturbance. A coat of other primer between them and it's usually fine.

The flatting of the primer before applying colour coat also helps to key it in.

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