Clive Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 Simpe solution. Fit a GT6 master cylinder, 0.70 bore and all the long pedal issues are taken care of. Pedal should never go spongy unless there is air, or faulty hose, in the system. Long pedal maybe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted January 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 On 21/01/2019 at 21:30, clive said: Simpe solution. Fit a GT6 master cylinder, 0.70 bore and all the long pedal issues are taken care of. Pedal should never go spongy unless there is air, or faulty hose, in the system. Long pedal maybe... I've done a bit of research into this and it looks like my car already has a GT6 master fitted which is a bonus so I'm definitely feeling some brake improvements now! Thanks for all the info Clive, its much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted February 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2019 Hello everyone, hope you all had a good start to 2019. More progress has been made to the Spitfire. For some reason instead of starting work on the offside, the restorer has made a start at the back so that's what we are going to roll with. The old boot floor and lower valance were in a very poor state and beyond repair. I already had a replacement lower valance so I took full advantage of the Rimmer Bros January sale and I ordered a nice new boot floor. I was quite impressed with the press quality with very little creases. Anyway time for some pictures, The old rusted floor and valance were chopped out now that's what I call a foorless job! My jokes don't get much better im afraid. I couple of repairs had to be made to the saddle and inner wheel arch, Then the new boot floor was trimmed and tacked into place, On closer inspection, the old lower valance has been filled, I swear this car was held together by filler! We had a look and fond that the light panel has a dent in it by the rear light unit on the offside which leads us to believe that its been involved in a rear end shunt at some point in its life. That's all ive got for now, should have another update in a few weeks as getting over to see the car is being a bit difficult at the moment due to work and constantly on the phone with insurance following a shunt I was involved in a few weeks ago. im also going to Stoneleigh Park next Sunday for the spares day. if the club has a stand there I might be brave enough to actually pop over and say hello which I have strangely avoided before at the NEC. Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted April 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2019 Wow nearly 3 months without an update! Where has the time gone? Well unfortunately very little progress has been made to the tub was is really frustrating me and I'm losing motivation fast. Since the last update the back end has been welded up and the offside rear wing has been cut off and that's literally it. I've told the restorer that I want the chassis back in my garage by the end of May so I can rebuild it as I'm placing a huge order next week for the rest of the components to be able to do so. As I've said this is very frustrating and I'm losing motivation fast so I guess we'll see what happens within the next month or so. Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2019 In the words of former Top Gear presenter James May, GOOD NEWS! No its not a Dacia but something even better (which doesn't take much really) progress has finally been made on the tub and we're now on the final straight of the weldathon. The drivers side has threw up some hidden nasty's but we'll get on to that later. For now lets rewind back to where we left off. On the last update the new boot floor had just been welded into place and soon after the rear wing was removed to gain access to the lower section of the inner wing which was in need of replacement. After that the new lower valance was welded into place after a bit of fettling. With the back end of the tub complete it was time to move on to the drivers side and with the rear wing already removed it revealed that the inner arch was bugered and requires replacement (brilliant). With the arch removed it made access easier to tackle the lower areas of the wheel tub, A new lower B post section was welded in too and the box section behind was also repaired, After this the restorer swallowed a brave pill and chopped all of the sill construction off expecting to find the worst. We were expecting to find what we found on the nearside but to our surprise this side had been repaired properly in the past which was a shock considering the state of the nearside. What we discovered was that the edge and rear section of the floor pan needed repair as well as around the seat mounts and drain hole which we knew about anyway. A new inner sill was fitted and the restorer made up a repair section for the lower a post which was the only part that was doubled up or so we thought. With this done the restorer started to cut away the old sill end place and nothing could've prepared us for what happens next. Like every ITV soap, I'm going to be leaving this on a slight cliff hanger to keep you lot on the edge of your seat. Thank you for being patient with the slow updates however motivated is resumed and fantastic progress being made, we're hopefully taking the tub off of the chassis this weekend coming! Many thanks again, Conor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 brilliant progress on raising the Titanic keep taking the pills ,, one day you will have Re borne a wreck to get a nice car back on the road and ....Smile Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 That is one hell of a restoration Conor, top marks to you.......... Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 Definitely impressive! I need to learn to weld... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 10 hours ago, Pete Lewis said: brilliant progress on raising the Titanic keep taking the pills ,, one day you will have Re borne a wreck to get a nice car back on the road and ....Smile Pete Haha thanks Pete all of the supermarkets have been raided for them pills. I also think that raising the titanic would be easier however I have an image in my head on how I want this car to look and I intend to turn the dream into reality. 4 hours ago, poppyman said: That is one hell of a restoration Conor, top marks to you.......... Tony. Thanks Tony much appreciated! 4 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: Definitely impressive! I need to learn to weld... Thanks Colin! Wish I could weld too could've had done this without the restorer though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Pleased to report that in this update we have managed hit a major milestone in the restoration of HWB 5N but first lets lift off from where we left. So in the last update good progress had been made to the drivers side with the removal of all the old rusted metal and with most of the necessary repairs completed which is the good part. Now comes the not so good part. Now with those repairs done, the restorer started to cut away what was left of the old sill end plate, we originally thought that we were going to get away with not having to repair any previous bodges because luckily even though the drivers side had previous work carried out it was no where near as bad as the other side or so we thought. On closer inspection of the bulkhead area our fears had been confirmed, it was f*cked! As you'd agree that quite a large portion has been cut out yet again to rectify a poorly done previous repair. This is the front face of the bulkhead piece, Looks pretty normal until we have a look form a different angle, Yet again we found that the bulkhead was doubled up and it had been plastered with fiberglass, filler and underseal, brilliant. Never mind the restorer carried on regardless and be for we knew it a new piece had been cut, fettle, tacked into place followed by a seamless repair, A new outrigger was also fitted, With this obstacle complete we moved on to welding in the new middle sill, fitted the door, mocked up the outer sill and rear wing, check and adjusted so we had a nice even door gap and plug welded them into place With this done in pleased to say that the tub is now finally solid and rust free now it actually feels like we're getting somewhere with this project now we have covered this milestone in the restoration. Hopefully next weekend we will be removing the body tub away from the chassis, carrying out some small repairs on the front cross member and with a bit of look have the chassis back in my garage within the next couple of weeks. Thanks for the continued support it really does help with motivation! Conor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 Just read through and well done on keeping going, its always good when you get the main part of the welding complete. Look forward to it being painted, are you keeping it inca ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 On 17/06/2019 at 12:56, Mathew said: Just read through and well done on keeping going, its always good when you get the main part of the welding complete. Look forward to it being painted, are you keeping it inca ? Thanks for your kind words. Sometimes it was really hard to keep motivated and I thought about getting rid of it but I'm happy I didn't because i want to achieve my dream. It wont be staying yellow as I'm personally not a fan, ha I always said that I want going to buy a yellow 1. Itll be going Audi brilliant red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Twitchen Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Conor, Worry not as we have all been through the 'motivation droop', and then suddenly a piece of work/component comes together and progress resumes apace. One trick is to pick a piece to restore/repair that is easily containable in the resources available, crack that, paint it, put it away neatly and smile before moving on! Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Strange I want an inca yellow one, but I have a modified carmine red one and a standard blue one so that will have to wait. When do you think your be painting, once thats done you get to the best bit of restoring, assembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 On 19/06/2019 at 12:07, Dick Twitchen said: Conor, Worry not as we have all been through the 'motivation droop', and then suddenly a piece of work/component comes together and progress resumes apace. One trick is to pick a piece to restore/repair that is easily containable in the resources available, crack that, paint it, put it away neatly and smile before moving on! Dick thanks for the tip Dick! I have got a few things to refurbish like the master cylinders and heater box but its just been too cold recently but hopefully now the weathers warming up these tasks shall be completed. On 19/06/2019 at 13:36, Mathew said: Strange I want an inca yellow one, but I have a modified carmine red one and a standard blue one so that will have to wait. When do you think your be painting, once thats done you get to the best bit of restoring, assembly. just read up about your puma spitfire and im really interested in the build! hopefully it'll be painted towards the end of summer. the tub is supposed to be coming off this weekend which will allow me to rebuild the chassis at home and see if the engine will run. after that itll be paint! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 Not much to report however I've made a start on cleaning up the inside with the wire brush ready for rust treatment and a layer of Zinc primer which will hopefully give it protection for years to come. some pinholes were discovered during this process which have been filled with weld and ground back. I also have a couple of questions that hopefully can be answered on here. Being a 1500 it originally had the lower plastic spoiler which I'm personally not a fan of as I think it clutters up the front end. Ive bought a lower valance panel from a MK4 to tidy things up and so I mount the registration plate on there too. My question is, how do you mount it onto the chassis and what fixings do I need to use? I can see 2 very small holes on either side of the cross member but I'm unsure if that's the fixing point. My second question is I'm thinking about upgrading the fuse box to a more modern and safer blade style box with there being a fuse on each individual circuit like a modern car. May seem a little crazy thinking about the electrics at this stage however will I need to modify the area of the bulkhead where the fuse box lives? Obviously I'd like to achieve the necessary modifications before paint. Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 My plate is mounted on two angle brackets rivetted onto the lower valance so it does not impede the air flow over the radiator. As fot a new fuse box, just done that, do a search on 'fuse box'. Aidan's thread is excellent. https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/2452-fuse-box-replacement/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 12 hours ago, Badwolf said: My plate is mounted on two angle brackets rivetted onto the lower valance so it does not impede the air flow over the radiator. As fot a new fuse box, just done that, do a search on 'fuse box'. Aidan's thread is excellent. https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/2452-fuse-box-replacement/ So i'd need to make a couple of brackets to mount the reg onto the valance but do you know how the valance bolts on to the chassis? that's the bit that's got me confused. Thanks for the link to Aidan's thread ive also just read yours about this and it looks like tidy install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 It's about 30 years since mine was last fitted and sadly don't remember. Someone will know. I will find out later in the year when I strip down the quarter valances etc for the repaint (if you can wait that long). Should be covered in the workshop nanual/haynes somwhere. Will try to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 14 hours ago, Conor L said: So i'd need to make a couple of brackets to mount the reg onto the valance but do you know how the valance bolts on to the chassis? If you're talking about the lower strip that runs between both front valences, and replaces the lower front spoiler, there should be two brackets on the rear each with a slotted hole. If you offer it up to the chassis you'll see exactly where it goes - you can't get it wrong. The outer holes that the spoiler would have used - just under each indicator - are then covered with black plastic inserts, which can be hard to find these days. The front number plate is usually hung from the front bumper but if you want to lower it there'd be no problem finding alternative mounting points along the front of the valence to which to attach brackets. I'll post a few pics of the last Spitfire I restored, about 2010 or so, to give you an idea of the (almost) completed front end , plus a photo of an unattached valence I've just found on the Net which has four holes drilled for a number plate - just fabricate triangular brackets to hold it horizontal. Even with the plate hung from the bumper there are still enough gaps around the plate to allow good air flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted June 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 11 hours ago, Badwolf said: It's about 30 years since mine was last fitted and sadly don't remember. Someone will know. I will find out later in the year when I strip down the quarter valances etc for the repaint (if you can wait that long). Should be covered in the workshop nanual/haynes somwhere. Will try to find out. No problem bud. I have had a quick look in the Haynes manual with not much luck unfortunately. 8 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: If you're talking about the lower strip that runs between both front valences, and replaces the lower front spoiler, there should be two brackets on the rear each with a slotted hole. If you offer it up to the chassis you'll see exactly where it goes - you can't get it wrong. The outer holes that the spoiler would have used - just under each indicator - are then covered with black plastic inserts, which can be hard to find these days. The front number plate is usually hung from the front bumper but if you want to lower it there'd be no problem finding alternative mounting points along the front of the valence to which to attach brackets. I'll post a few pics of the last Spitfire I restored, about 2010 or so, to give you an idea of the (almost) completed front end , plus a photo of an unattached valence I've just found on the Net which has four holes drilled for a number plate - just fabricate triangular brackets to hold it horizontal. Even with the plate hung from the bumper there are still enough gaps around the plate to allow good air flow. Thanks Colin for the photos seems pretty straightforward. when I bought the replacement valance piece I only quickly offered it up to see what it looked like. the next time I'm with the car i'll take a closer look. Thankfully the replacement quarter valances came with the little plastic pieces in them which was good i'd never even seen them before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted July 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 So this happened the other day, Finally we have removed the tub and I'm pleased the report the chassis is in good condition which is a massive relief! Expecting the chassis back in my garage in 2 weeks time ready for the strip down and rebuild. Exciting times ahead and it really feels like progress is being made. Bit of a side note. Just over a week ago I went over to The British Motor Museum for the BMC & BL day. Had a great time and saw some amazing cars, never seen so many TR7/8s before quite amazed really. Here's a few of my favourites, Looking forward to the big weekend next month at Stratford Racecourse even though I'll be in the Clio. Any love for clios on here or is just me? Thanks for reading, Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted July 17, 2019 Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 10 hours ago, Conor L said: Any love for clios on here or is just me? Thanks for reading, Conor They kept my mate in business for years; many nights I helped him pull them out of hedges and ditches. For a long time they were the vehicular equivalent of Darwinian Natural Selection and weeded out the idiot drivers. It was like a mandatory 'to-do' list: buy a Clio, lower the suspension, add a huge exhaust and a massive sound system, then stove it into a hedge or tree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor L Posted July 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 5 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: They kept my mate in business for years; many nights I helped him pull them out of hedges and ditches. For a long time they were the vehicular equivalent of Darwinian Natural Selection and weeded out the idiot drivers. It was like a mandatory 'to-do' list: buy a Clio, lower the suspension, add a huge exhaust and a massive sound system, then stove it into a hedge or tree. Haha that's brilliant. mine has had a few bits done to it but nothing that ruins the way it drives. Can your mate pull them out of the backs of Mercs? would've needed him in January but that's another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 17, 2019 Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 over the years there's been an RSi and a 172, Clio's both very good and a sprinkling of 18's 21's and 25's Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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