1976 Spitfire 1500

[bengaku]

Well im hoping someone on the forums can help out with this question. I bought a 1976 Spitfire 1500 this time last year been driving it about and all was well then had a problem with the head gasket so ordered a new gasket and seal set for the whole engine got it stripped and rebuilt in my work.so took it to a car show car seemed ok .then a week or two later head gasket is away again my mate put it down to a faulty gasket could happen so .ok order a new one get it replaced and again drove it home seems ok then car is struggling to pull away losing power.so i look at engine number on advise from a guy who has a spitfire and its not a 1500 engine but a mk 4 1300 ? There is no mention of this on the paperwork and guy i got it from knows nothing about this.so perhapd someone on here knows the reason for the engine  swap .the reg number is NNS528P was first registered on 1st of March 1976 engine number is FN61654HE 

Thanks for looking Paul

[Pete Lewis]

Spit  Mk Iv 1300 is prefix  FH

1500 spit  prefix is FM

There is no FN  prefix  used by triumph as far as I can see

if it is a  1500 then it has recessed bores tomsupport the head gasket fire rings and must have a rectangular small tab sticks out the back face of the gasket , otherwise the early gasket for a plain  block will fail almost imeadiatley

Double check your reading of the engine number   are you  sure its not a FM????

Do a drop test   with some wire  down a spark plug hole to evaluate the piston stroke, 

Pete

Pete

[68vitesse]

Bit blurry.

Regards

Paul

[bengaku]

Hi sorry typing error meant FH61654HE regards Paul 

[Pete Lewis]

Ok thats a 1300 mk IV which being after25001 has the larger inlet valves and a lower lift cam

Whats the log   V5   state  as this needs to be corrected if it shows as  a 1496cc 

This might also reduce your insurance a little 

You do need to check the  stroke as thays going to prove its capacity  just in case its had a second hand block used in a past rebuild

Is there a tab at the back of the head    this needs a little simple homework to define the result

 

Pete

[bengaku]

Well i dont have the car here its at the garage getting the proper payen head gasket fitting but hopefully get it back before Saturday. So whats

this tab look like what should it read ?

[dougbgt6]

Here's a gasket kit off ebay, the tab is on the black one and sticks out the RHD side towards the bulkhead. There is nothing written on it. The tab gasket is for a recessed block, the non recessed block gasket has no tab.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-1-3-SPITFIRE-MK4-8-71-1974-HEAD-GASKET-SET-CK260E/191687269931?hash=item2ca1739e2b:g:EtcAAOSw4SlV8X8x

Doug

[bengaku]

I gather that the torque settings would be different on a 1300 cylinder head as the manual i have is for a 1500

[Pete Lewis]

all are 45 lbft    the heads and studs are all very similar  any deformed washers must  be dumped , ans they are special nuts to get a 3/8 unf stud to take  the high torque

if the heads off get them to measure the stroke ,,,this is most important  to clear up any misguided ideas of engine capacity

Pete