1975 Spitfire 1500 Restoration

[Conor L]

Progress on the interior continues starting with the rear cockpit boards in particular the rear board. When I purchased the car it came fitted with a rather nice late 70s Sharp cassette player as covered in the previous update however along with that were a lovely pair of matching speakers and because they were in the car when I purchased it I wanted to retain them as part of its history. I'd really like to know more about this cars history as we've only really been able to piece some bits together I know it's a long shot but if anybody remembers the reg HWB 5N I'd be interested to know. Enough of Who do you think you are Triumph special back onto the speakers. 

1st off I located them roughly where they were and and drilled 4 small holes for the self tappers and 1 for the wiring,

I then inserted wiring through said hole (stop it)

Gave the old screws a fresh coat of paint 

And here's the finished item,

Looks rather nice I think. Now I know that when the roof is down they'll be covered and I won't be able to hear them but I'm trying to keep as many original features as I can which has been pretty tough on a car that's now mostly new. I should also note that I used some velcro tape to secure the rear panel and a couple of self tapping screws to secure the quarter panels. Following this I repainted and fitted the rear wing trim along with a new rear number plate,

Only 1 thing left to complete the interior, fit my freshly retrimmed seats but 1st I needed to make some holes in the carpet using my weapon on choice which was very effective,

Seats in (headrests aren't fully finished just yet hence some wrinkles)

I can confirm that the seats are pretty comfortable and feel so much better than before however I do think I need a smaller steering wheel,

And just to finish off with some random pictures and walkaround video,

Just need the rest of the panels back now.

Conor 

 

[Radiation Man]

That is looking really good.

[Peter Truman]

looks good & well done I'm interested in the rear wheel arch vinyl covers they appear to be in one piece ie no seams and they fit very well no creases what is/was the secret in achieving this. Is it the same vinyl or a special type?.

[NonMember]

Good question from Peter! I'm also interested, as the professional trimmer who did my Spitfire said it wasn't possible. (He did do a very neat job of the seams so I'm not complaining, I'm just impressed that a first time DIYer can do such a good job)

[Casper]

Quote

 I do think I need a smaller steering wheel,

I guess you are aware that the steering wheel position is adjustable.  Plenty of threads on the board.

C.

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, Peter Truman said:

looks good & well done I'm interested in the rear wheel arch vinyl covers they appear to be in one piece ie no seams and they fit very well no creases what is/was the secret in achieving this. Is it the same vinyl or a special type?.

My Herald versions are turning out a real dog's dinner... smooth them one direction and get a huge crease in the other.

Those speakers are nicely placed but the sad thing is that you'll hear them better if you point them upwards, which unfortunately means turning them upside down.

[Conor L]

The rear wheel arch covers are something I forgot to capture the progress of. Yes they were a pain to get the finish I have achieved. I purchased them with the kit I bought from Owen, I believe he makes his slightly larger to aid fitting which I guess did help to an extent. I initially mock fitted them using some magnets, made some marks and smoothed it over as if I was gluing it down. I placed them on the radiator for a while to allow some stretch, applied glue to the lower half of the arch and cover, lined up my marks on the flatter side and smoothed over, I then stretched the cover the rounded section while smoothing, bit of a fiddle but managed it. For the top section I pretty much did the same applied glue and then I stretched the cover up into the top corner and smoothed and managed a crease free finish well on the bits you can see haha but the creases I did get were in the excess which I just trimmed off. That's what I did hope this help @Peter Truman @NonMember @Colin Lindsay I do agree that the speakers would be more efficient if they were the other way up however I think the exhaust note will overpower them especially with the roof down. @Casper yes I did think the columns are hight adjustable I'll have a fiddle later steering wheel isn't staying anyway apart from being a nice ornament on my garage wall.

[Conor L]

It's been a little while since I updated this but that doesn't mean things have ground to a halt. The main thing that happened is the engine. For a fair few months now I've been battling with a very irritating noise, to cut a long story short I discovered a lack of oil pressure so out come the engine for a tear down and assessment,

Whipped the head off and all seemed pretty normal, removed the sump and number 1 big end cap revealed this 

That might explain my loss of oil pressure! Dropped it all of at the machine shop around 3 weeks ago. Chased it up this morning and the news isn't good! He's said I'd better off finding a replacement crank and the bores need an additional 20 thou taking off them too which is fine however nowhere seems to have stock of +40 pistons. So I'm in a bit of a pickle as you can imagine. I know Moss sell recon cranks however I'm thinking it'll be more cost effective to find a replacement engine and use all of my good bits on that instead. What's your opinion? 

In other news I've stripped the boot lid and doors back to bare metal ready for paint, also I'm having the bonnet acid dipped after all of the local blasting companies refused the work I'm expecting that back next week so we shall see what I'm left with! And finally we have some sad news. If you've been following this thread you may remember a good mate of mine helped with starting the engine and also fitting the windscreen, unfortunately he passed away after a very short fight with cancer 3 weeks ago so RIP John Slater 22/5/21

[Colin Lindsay]

15 minutes ago, Conor L said:

unfortunately he passed away after a very short fight with cancer 3 weeks ago so RIP John Slater 22/5/21

You'll miss him. I lost a great friend in 2003, totally unexpectedly, but he was a real mine of info on Triumph things and would detour miles from his job to help me in the garage. (He used to deliver and collect industrial-sized generators and machinery and always seemed to be stuck in traffic when passing my house, sometimes for hours). I know that without him I learned a lot of things myself, rather than just watching him do it all for me, but I still miss the chat and the crack in the garage. Working on a car on your own isn't as much fun, but I know he'll always be in your thoughts.

[Conor L]

Well it's been a little while since I updated this (around 9 months) and a lot has happened both car and personal. After reading my own thread to jog my memory here we go.

After the engine was stripped I took the block & crank to my local machine shop for an inspection, after around 3 weeks they got in touch with a verdict. Bores needed another 20 thou taken off and the crank could be saved in the end (phew) so we are now running a +40 overbore, +50 big ends and +20 mains. I collected the block & crank after the work was carried out and reassembled the engine with a mk3 profile cam from canleys added in too, here's some pics of the rebuild.

It was around this point that certain life events started taking place (around mid July 21 & unfortunately not in a good way) without saying too much I was signed off work for a few weeks to refocus which allowed me time to shoehorn the engine back into the car.

Started building up the ancillaries including rebuilt carbs and a full stainless steel Bell exhaust system from the club shop as I wasn't happy with how the old system fitted.

Radiator repainted and fitted, filled with coolant and oil, oil pump primed, distributor refitted and set and we were ready for start. But 1 small job needed completing before I could turn the key and this was to install a duel gauge to the dash so I can monitor the oil pressure.

With this job ticked it was time to cross everything and see if that shiny engine would roar of be a nice ornament.

Get in! Certainly the boost I needed. After a quick tune up the engine sounds sweet and makes a fantastic noise doing so thanks to the new exhaust. More updates to come so watch this space

Thanks for reading 

[Conor L]

With the success of the engine back in and running again after around 4 months I decided to crack on with some of the smaller jobs needed to make it a little more road worthy. First off was the hazard switch. Originally my car came with a wooden dash from factory however I have fitted a black plastic item from an earlier mk4 as I prefer it. This left me with a bit of a problem as the earlier mk4s didn't come with a hazard switch. Before fitting the dash I had drilled the hole using the old dash as a template but seeing as the wooden dashboards are thicker I needed to make up some sort of spacers so the switch would sit in the right place. Had a mini tear down and decided to tiger seal some wooden spacers behind the dash which would allow the switch to sit right but also allow me to screw the switch in for future removal if necessary.

All back together and it's nice and secure. Next on the list was seatbelts, pretty easy job just had to remove the seats and make some holes in the carpet for the bolts, didn't take many pictures (sorry) but that's another little job done which pretty much finishes off the interior.

The last little thing that needed doing was to find a way of securing the wiring to the front part of the chassis as all of the original metal tabs had broken off during the rebuild. Found some reusable cable tie clips on ebay that I thought would do the job, similar things are used on modern euro boxes. Drilled a 6mm hole, touched some paint up on the bare metal bits and clipped them in,

Looks pretty tidy and not likely to snap off if I ever need to pull the wiring. Got a little bored 1 evening so I decided to take some low light shots.

Thanks for reading

[alan.gilbert_6384]

looking really good, don't forget to strap that fuel jumper pipe up before you go for a run in it

[Conor L]

19 hours ago, alan.gilbert_6384 said:

looking really good, don't forget to strap that fuel jumper pipe up before you go for a run in it

Spoiler alert, it's all sorted now 🤫