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

[Pete Lewis]

scotch locks , rubber slivers , external oil feeds, pancake filters  . all should be BANNED 

Pete

[Josef]

2 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Thanks Pete, but I was thinking of something hat looked a bit more, well sort of, 'traditional', even though it will be under the parcel shelves. Don't know why, got rid of the modern looking radio too, mind you it ate my cassettes.

 

Can’t be that modern looking if it eats cassettes

[Badwolf]

Might just have found what I'm looking for...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172834182938

I'm sure that several listing for this unit are the same company under different names.

Also, just found this one...

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-BHA5138

Isn't life strange??!!

 

 

[Chris A]

They look as if they fit your criteria perfectly and very affordable as well

[Peter Truman]

Very MGBish but must admit their a nice job but a pain to replace the bulb.

if you were local I’d give you one

[Badwolf]

Pete T - Thanks for the kind offer but I think that it might prove a little expensive to collect but the thought is very much appreciated. As for the MGBish, it was only when I saw them on another site that I realised the connection, sorry everyone. Further investigation appears to show two different bulb fittings in these. A traditional festoon (or LED replacement) or a BA15S bayonet type.

[Badwolf]

Just spent a soul destroying afternoon. I decided, as a born again cheapskate to rewire the under dash courtesy lamps. After rounding up a rampaging herd of scotchloks, it became obvious that some other remedial action was needed so I took off the lamps for a look. The cheap and nasty copper connectors had been rewired with what looked like table lamp flex which had then been scotchloked into the loom. Disposed of the wire and attempted to crimp some decent thinwall cable onto the lamps along with proper bullet connectors.  All rewired but then the plastic cover wouldn't fit without turning the cable sharply against the bulb terminal which would get hot. The call to eat settled it. Two new lamps are on their way. All the old cable and scotchloks have been stripped out, loom cables extended with bullet connectors where they had been cut short or damaged, and all is now ready for the new lamps. Radio and speaker cables tomorrow. Hope that they are easier to sort out...and yes...another herd of scotchloks in the distance to round up. Oh well.

[Pete Lewis]

scotck loks  are related to Lemmings   or a bus   nothing shows up   then they  are everwhere 

 

pete

[Badwolf]

I have posted this on another thread but I will make the admission here as well. I fear that the scotchloks will remain for the foreseeable future. The good intent is there but not the practicality as I fear that in rooting around to remove them, untangle the spaghetti and remake the connections, I will cause more damage than the exercise is worth. It is all working so, apart from the odd dodgy looking connection, I am leaving well alone. Hopefully the extra protection of the new fuse box will help. I think that most of the 'loks' were fitted over 30 years ago while the dashboard was out and the radio, alarm, extra interior courtesy lights and numerous other 'must haves' were fitted then with no regard to wiring colour convention. As far as I know it is all safe (!!!), so when the new courtesy lights arrive, I will put it all back together along with the reinforced glove boxes and speakers then then....oh yes, drive the thing.

[Chris A]

9 minutes ago, Badwolf said:

I fear that the scotchloks will remain for the foreseeable future. The good intent is there but not the practicality as I fear that in rooting around to remove them, untangle the spaghetti and remake the connections, I will cause more damage than the exercise is worth.

If that is good enough for you them I shall follow your shining example and do the same.

[Badwolf]

43 minutes ago, Chris A said:

If that is good enough for you them I shall follow your shining example and do the same.

At which point have I become the one to offer a 'shining example' to anyone?

Now, while everything is still hanging loose, so to speak, must try to source a cheap 2" dashboard clock, if such an animal exists. Found one on Fleabay for £40 plus carriage... Hmmmm, still expensive for me, and they say 'Time is Tight' (with apologies to Booker T & the MGs)

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, Badwolf said:

At which point have I become the one to offer a 'shining example' to anyone?

'In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king'. In other words you are the least worse. 😉

[Badwolf]

Thank you Chris & Mathew. Not sure whether to be flattered or insulted??!!

[Colin Lindsay]

2 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Now, while everything is still hanging loose, so to speak, must try to source a cheap 2" dashboard clock, if such an animal exists. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185503646295?hash=item2b30e10257:g:hYYAAOSw7Xli09GF

Time is very definitely tight, £10 the pair with 22 minutes to go...

[Badwolf]

Damn, missed it!!! But thanks Colin. The thought was very much appreciated. I think my fleabay search was to precise rather than just ' car clock', I put in too much size, make, etc.

[Badwolf]

It goes wrong again. The new courtesy lights have arrived for under the dash so I set to work with initial fitting. First thing I noticed was the three wires. Checked with a meter. One earth through the switch, one feed and the third appears to be a second earth bypassing the switch. Now the frightening bit. Do not attempt electrical work when you are tired. Two of the wires are brown, one dark brown, one has a trace colour, the other black. So I wired the light onto the battery to test it. In a moment of absolute stupidity I connected the battery to the black earth and the brown cable which is also an earth. You can imagine what happened. The metal tracking inside the fitting, across the switch, glowed violently and one of the plastic parts caught fire momentarily as I pulled off the wire and blew out the flame! Not a great deal of damage done but I will leave this 'til tomorrow when I am properly awake. Yes, fuses are important and hot wiring to test things needs more care on my part.

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, Badwolf said:

hot wiring to test things needs more care on my part.

When I do that I use a spare old battery I have in stock not on the car

[Badwolf]

My old battery might still have enough juice in it to test stuff. I had forgotten about it so thanks Chris. Will try bunging it on charge again tomorrow.

In the meanwhile I have a decision that I was not expecting. These lamps, as mentioned, have three wires. Apparently so that on the one hand they come on when the doors open. On the other, you can turn them on when then doors are closed. My plan was to wire them through the switches to the doors so that I could turn them off when working with the doors open. I didn't expect a choice...hmmm!!?? Oh dear!!

 

[Badwolf]

This is one for the LED specialists among you (especially those called Leslie Ernest Douglas!!).  I know that some of you have bought the expensive LEDs from either the club shop or Classic Car Led. Others have bought the cheap oriental fleabay versions, whichever. My question is this.. the festoon LED bulbs that I bought off fleabay about 3 years ago have a thumping great heat sink on the back, like this one which, well, as you might expect gets hot...

 

..compared with those supplied with the new light units...

which have no heat sink and are simply a circuit board holding six small LEDs with a bullet connector on each end. I haven't tested the latest version, but are these likely to get as hot or are they of a different design to the old ones and (the 64 thousand dollar question) are they likely to be better/worse for light output/power consumption/longevity etc, than the older version?

[Josef]

LED tech moves very fast as there’s a huge amount of money and research behind it. So highly likely that your younger versions are better on all counts. 

[Badwolf]

Thanks Josef. Not sure if the new type led is better or worse than the older one. I will experiment and report back. 

In the meanwhile things are slowly going back. After my excitement shorting out the new lamp unit, I am being ultra careful with the wiring but have found a purple wire which has a bare end and disappears behind the dash into the spaghetti of the speedo/rev counter. That needs careful investigation. Meter shows it to have a nominal 0.4 volts on it. No difference when turning on the ignition at any point. It being purple, it should be a permanent live so it is now insulated during the investigation, to prevent further fun!

While fitting the 'glove boxes/parcl shelves I have noticed holes in the pointed wing type bits at the tops which look like they should screw to the 'A' posts for neatness, but, no holes or spires clips/captive nuts. Do these normally just flap around in the breeze of should they be fastened. It is possible the the metalwork has been repaired in the past but I don't want to take a drill to the metal unnecessarily.

[Badwolf]

One other thing that I have come across while rummaging around and tidying up under the dash is that the white feed to the new fuse box is a little short and comes off the terminal a little to easily for my liking. Not difficult to extend it, but I assume that the cable is higher rated than the 16 amp that appears to be standard. Can someone advise what is the normal rating for this please.

[Josef]

On the Mk3 the pointed wings of the glove boxes you describe have a tab on the body that takes a spire clip to screw into. It’s located where the door shut goes from vertical to angled and sits in front of the windscreen retaining bracket (which the MkIV doesn’t have!)

[Badwolf]

Thanks Josef. Might just add a hole and a spire clip to mine.

As for the short white 12v feed wire to the fuse box. 'Stupid Boy' cries ring around the garage yet again. In the mix of wires out of the back of the new fuse box, I had failed to spot that both the brown and the white wires had come adrift when I pulled the fuse box to far forward. I had then connected the white to the brown's terminal which was farther away than the terminal for the white, and the brown was still hanging in the middle of the spaghetti. Hopefully all sorted now, without the aid of an extension. We will see, but all electrics now appear to be working without smoke.

[Badwolf]

So here we are and she's all back together again.  Tunnel cover restored, new battery, dashboard back in, new courtesy lights under the dash, wiring (a little bit) tidier, interior vacuumed!! All I have to do is take her out for a spin, when I can afford the petrol.  All this is just in time for this, the 5,000th post, even though I received my 5th 'ring' a while ago. For all of you who have been following this thread for all this time, thank you for your help and guidance and for keeping with me. For those that may have been helped in any small way with my ramblings, 'pleased to be of service'. For those that I have upset, well, sorry.  For those who follow this thread in the future...you are gluttons for punishment but thank you for sticking with me.  My best wishes and kind regards to you all, whoever you are.