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Looking for a spitfire


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1 minute ago, Pete Lewis said:

Use wallet to buy fuel...drive car

I really don't have much money to lavish on the car, but that's exactly why I'm asking this. I'm just concerned about the idea of the car rotting away from underneath with spray off the road and the top with the rain...

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2 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

Just what switch have you got

Mine has a switch in the centre of the dash off-sidelights-headlights and a stalk on the left of the steering column up for mains, down for dipped and towards driver to flash. Sometimes moving the stalk up turns the lights off entirely and sometimes it works...

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10 hours ago, chris.eg said:

Mine has a switch in the centre of the dash off-sidelights-headlights and a stalk on the left of the steering column up for mains, down for dipped and towards driver to flash.

That's the correct one for a MKIV or 1500 - the one Pete mentioned is the earlier type for the roundtail Spitfire/GT6 and Herald/Vitesse (also TR5?)

I think the late 1500s with the switches on the wrong sides (to match moderns) were a TR7-style binnacle with completely different switches.

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14 hours ago, chris.eg said:

I really don't have much money to lavish on the car, but that's exactly why I'm asking this. I'm just concerned about the idea of the car rotting away from underneath with spray off the road and the top with the rain...

They don't rot THAT fast. honest. (They're not Italian, only Italian styled!)

A fiver or so will buy you an aerosol of Waxoyl or Tetroseal, (It's runnier than Waxoyl), spray in behind the wheel arches, inside the door frames, boot floor corners / rear wing lowest points, seams, bonnet nose area and anywhere else that gets the full force of water or where water will gather, including the chassis outriggers etc. It'll kill existing rust and prevent moisture causing any more. It's cheap and it's effective. Just keep it off the brakes.

(Sits back and waits for the D word.)

 

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Which "D" word? Dinitrol?To be fair, I used waxoil type stuff. But when I tried 2 Dinitrol products, I was very impressed. The ML is a really thin wax that is almost like WD40 and creeps unlike waxoil. It soaks into any surface rust inside doors etc and gets in the seams. The other stuff I used was 4941 (I think) which is almost like underseal, except it is a wax, but really tough. 4 years on my spitfire and 15K, though as the car is having a bit of work over the winter I will be renewing it.

Saying that, I have also used toolstation wax protection, dirt cheap and very handy....but I still prefer the dinitrol (Sorry Colin. But I am a cheapskate and I still pay out for it!) Worth getting some spray grease to do the locks/hinges etc etc too. 

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Correct, Clive, but it was price I was thinking of! Dinitrol is excellent quality stuff but it's pricey and being a cheapskate myself I just reapply Waxoyl from an aerosol or pump every so often. Tetroseal flows more easily, and doesn't seem to clog the nozzle as quickly as Waxoyl. For a quick fix, until Chris gets the rest of the necessary jobs done and has free cash again, it'll do to keep further corrosion at bay. One of the first jobs I did on that TR I bought recently was to fill every crevice and corner with the stuff... stinks to high heaven for a time but keeps the rust away.

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50 minutes ago, Paul H said:

Check out Bilthamber. Their products are excellent

Paul

Got to agree with Paul. having used their Dynax S50 and Waxoyl, i cleaned the waxoyl out of the door panels because it had set hard and there was rust underneath :(  Re applied S50 and it seeped out of  tiny area's that Waxoyl had'nt..... so far no more rust, so am afraid Waxoyl is only used on places not really prone to rust.  Someone told me when it was made by Finnegans  it was ok. But now it is a different matter probably caused by the EU saying it will kill you if you drank it...... Price wise, yes Bilt hamber S50 is expensive, but  new panels and spraying are a huge amount more expensive. And they are big cans. 

Tony 

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5 hours ago, poppyman said:

EU saying it will kill you if you drank it......

Not sure I've ever been tempted to eat/drink anything from an aerosol can, but each to their own I guess... 😛

 

 iI understand rightly that those sorts of product can be applied to surface rust (as long as it's clean and dry) without making a "trap" where rust will spread?

I took the car for a drive tonight, once it started. Seems the battery was just flat as it was turning over really slowly but started immediately with a jump. Oddly enough, the main beam/dip stalk worked fine except for the first time I tried... Perhaps there was just a bit of moisture somewhere interfering with it before, or maybe very nearly failed....

 

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None of those anti-rust wax products will "fix" existing rust but they are intended to keep out the water that leads to more. However, to do so properly on a surface with more than trivial discolouration, they need to penetrate and stay waxy. That's where the Dinitrol and Bilthamber products score over Waxoyl.

The dip switch, like the indicator switch, can suffer from intermittent poor connections due to accumulated muck and, to a lesser extent, contact arcing. On the indicators, this tends to persist, leaving a stalk you have to flick "just so" for them to work (my GT6 can be like that with indicating right). The headlamp dip switch carries a much higher current, so it's more prone to making a rapid transition from poor contact to completely melted and not working at all. It's worth fitting relays 😏

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Guys, guys, guys. I knew this was coming, hence my rib about the D word. :)

"I use Waxoyl"

"Well, I use Dinitrol"

"Well, I use Bilthamber but it's expensive."

"Well, I get mine dipped before spraying."

"Well, I get mine coated in stainless steel."

"Well, I get mine bombarded by titanium molecules by NASA."

Chris is on a budget after buying the Spitty and wanted a simple cheap solution.... have mercy or he'll wonder why he ever started.

BTW Rob doesn't Waxoyl claim to kill existing rust and prevent new? Or is that a porky pie?

 

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10 hours ago, chris.eg said:

Not sure I've ever been tempted to eat/drink anything from an aerosol can, but each to their own I guess... 😛

 

Good man, the person who invented UHT aerosol cream should be condemed to eat it for all eternity.

As to rust prevention, spoke to technical at the producers of Waxoyl many years ago their advice was do not paint unless you need to. The theory being that the paint stops the waxoyl protecting the steel and it can rust under the paint or other coating.

Have also mixed Waxoyl with paraffin to make it flow better. "NOT THAT I AM ADVICING ANYONE TO DO THAT"

Regards

Paul

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After many days of salt spray testing we found waxoyl to be the best all round winner for protection and was used on all van underframes 

For some years this was .....back in the 80s 90s 

Trials used whole underframes which we had to cut up , to examine the results , cant remember the other products but around 8 were tested to a severe simulated life span .

Its easy to apply , easy re apply and if needed cleans off with white spirit, and ecconomical

If you use clear the mot man ???  can almost see whats underneath  ,  too much black invites  closer prodding .

 

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2 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

BTW Rob doesn't Waxoyl claim to kill existing rust and prevent new? Or is that a porky pie?

Far be it from me to call in to question any marketing claims made by any company. Or, indeed, any testing of older versions of products that happened to carry the same name as what you can get now, conducted by anyone here. I would just say that I've never seen any first hand evidence of any wax type product fixing existing rust.

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2 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Guys, guys, guys. I knew this was coming, hence my rib about the D word. :)

"I use Waxoyl"

"Well, I use Dinitrol"

"Well, I use Bilthamber but it's expensive."

"Well, I get mine dipped before spraying."

"Well, I get mine coated in stainless steel."

"Well, I get mine bombarded by titanium molecules by NASA."

Chris is on a budget after buying the Spitty and wanted a simple cheap solution.... have mercy or he'll wonder why he ever started.

BTW Rob doesn't Waxoyl claim to kill existing rust and prevent new? Or is that a porky pie?

 

No wonder you have rust Colin, you should have galvanizied it as well the tip's above :) :) 

Tony.

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I seem to have caused a bit of a discussion about rust prevention...

What I need to do is work out a list of priorities so as not to cause any damage to the car before I can sort everything properly. One of the things I think needs to be on that list is a coolant change as the water is rust rather than antifreeze coloured at the moment. I will also do something about the rusty bits so they don't spread. About to take the car out to the shop and I'm anticipating a flat battery again but we'll see. Anyway, over the next couple of days I'll try and work that one out.

Regarding the headlight switch, how likely is it to fail such that the lights all go out (main and dip) and won't come back on by flicking back to dips? That would not be fun...

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Can't help with teh switch, but suspect if dipped works OK, and mains disappear, it is just the main contacts. No warranty with that though!

Re rust, a squirt of WD40 to get rid of moisture (if not bone dry) then an aerosol of wax, any wax, is better than nothing. I mentioned earlier the Toolstation stuff, £4 a can I think. It is OK and will help. I have also used (motor bike) chain lube for rust prevention. Just nowhere you are likely to touch by accident...

Battery... test the alternator if the car starts by watching headlights on a wall directly ahead. If the brighten up going from idle speed to (about) 2000rpm the alternator is working. The likely cause of woe is then a duff battery. About £40 will get a new one that will last for a good few years. 038 from Halfords (you need a tradecard or somebody with one to get it at a decent price) or this if you can wait 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/015-038-Battery-Sealed-Maintenance-Free-38Ah/252977334353?epid=1893174888&hash=item3ae69fc851:g:aRQAAOSwyApb9wJ1:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

Or get an 063 battery (but it needs to have the terminals towards the back of the battery box-good as it gets them away from the clamp! But the terminals are still the correct sides) Eurocarparts keep them in stock, buy online with their perennial discount code.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_sop=15&_nkw=battery 063&Vehicle%20Type=Car&_dcat=61504&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=1000&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

BTW light switches can be had new http://www.jamespaddock.co.uk/dip-beam-light-switch-mk1v1500fh100020-2 other suppliers available...(canleys, fitchetts etc etc)

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