1964 Spitfire 4

[thescrapman]

Are they the right wire wheel hub studs and nuts?

they look too big to me.

[Neil Clark]

I think so.  The PO had fitted a new set of MWS tubeless chrome wires (which I don't actually like but they came with the wrecked car) and I have looked at the hub kit carefully vs the on line catalogue.  It looked as if they sat OK on the car as it was when I picked it up (allow for the bent chassis canting the axles in the photo), and when we pushed it out onto the trailer and into my drive.  Might be simply the lens on my cheap phone distorting the depth of the photo I posted last night.

[Dick Twitchen]

It has been a while since I got rid of my wire wheels but vaguely recall that the angle of the chamfer on the nuts to attach the hub was different from a 'standard' wheel nut, so make sure they are seating fully.  If they are not the hub will start to work lose, and experience enroute to Classic Le Mans in 2008 and not to be repeated!  

[mark powell]

If you remove one of the wire wheels, check that the nuts have not left 'witness' marks on the inside near where the splines engage.  If they have, you will need to either grind down the nuts and stud ends, or source some specific wire wheel friendly nuts. Like these..  The wheel has to seat firmly on the taper cone.

[Neil Clark]

Thanks both.  I had one of the wheels thoroughly inspected by the supplier, MWS after collecting the damaged car and they said there were no issues, and I can't see any marks on the nuts nor were there any signs of anything nor looseness when I raised the car to start the disassembly.  But now that you've mentioned these points I will check again.  I haven't had a wheel come off anything since my soapbox racing days in the early 1960's - not an experience to repeat again on tarmac even inside a car!

[mark powell]

I once had a set of 15" 48 spoke wires on my Midge, used, from Beaulieu autojumble......   Hairline crack in one of the spinners resulted in a rear wheel starting to come off just outside Midhurst. I found the offending spinner about half a mile back...

How i got back to Brighton is another story.

[Clive]

1 hour ago, mark powell said:

 

How i got back to Brighton is another story.

mole grips?

[mark powell]

This would have been about 30 years ago, no mobile phone, no friend available to help, no breakdown recovery cover....  What to do?

 Semi abandoned on side of A272.  Walking back to car after another trip to payphone in pub half a a mile away, I was met by man in Triumph Herald. Turned out he lived a couple of miles away and had driven past twice whilst i was absent.  Small world, he was building a Midge himself and had all sorts of bits and pieces. He donated a Herald wheel, which driven very carefully (bearing in mind the difference in rolling radius, 15" one side, 13" the other), got me back to Brighton. 

 

[Clive]

Ah, a proper tale of Triumph ownership. I like that sort of stuff. 

Mole grips would have worked though. Maybe. At very slow speed...

[Neil Clark]

She started.  Not quite first time, the old fuel filter was blocked and a couple of electrical connections needed investigation.  I had dropped it onto its wheels then finished torquing up (v poor quality spring washers from Moss on the anti-roll bar link which just gave up and shattered) then though in for a penny.  After working through the filter and HT issues she just started!  Ran it for about 30 - 40 minutes to adjust the Revotec fan temperatures.  Idle speed too high at 1500rpm but I'll set that tomorrow.  Heater hoses didn't warm up no matter if the valve was open or closed so need to look into that.  V Pleased  

[Neil Clark]

 I like the sound that the Weber makes!  Tickover at 1500rpm needs adjusting.

[Neil Clark]

Here's the start up video!

 

[Neil Clark]

She drives!

[Neil Clark]

May to December - no progress until last week.  The "new" bonnet arrived, went to the bodyshop and they promptly had to shut down.   When they re-opened in the summer they had to deal with a  rush of accident repairs and the Spitfire bonnet was sidelined.  Then they had to shut down again.  It's now stripped, up on a stand and the few dents and several rusty bits (that weren't supposed to be there when I bought it on eBay unseen in the first lockdown) are nearly done.  A few new bits of metal have had to be fabricated for the corners beside the sidelights and on one side panel but it's progress.  Perhaps soon after Christmas the car and bonnet can be married up but I'm not promising myself anything!

[Neil Clark]

The body shop I was using is struggling in every way due to the pandemic and I feel for them.  They can't finish it and it's still too much for me.  Finally found that a guy in the midlands who I've known of for some years can fit the bonnet in, he says in a month or so.  I'll trailer the car and bonnet up there once he's ready.  It's a year since we swapped the body onto the new chassis and since getting it started again the car has just sat under its cover on the drive - acting as a trampoline at night for the local fox cubs judging by the paw prints.

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, Neil Clark said:

The body shop I was using is struggling in every way due to the pandemic and I feel for them.  They can't finish it and it's still too much for me. 

I know that exactly! My restorer, who fitted the GT6 boot floor, has now started the long pauses and intakes of breath on the phone when he continually puts off the Herald work... he'll call over 'some Saturday'. It's just too much work for me as a novice welder and inexperienced bodyworker. Hopefully both of us will get there in the end.

[Neil Clark]

Phone call today from the body shop - after real problems with the front chassis rail the bonnet is on and opens / shuts correctly, gaps correct.  BUT after looking at the paint on the rear deck it seems that previous restorer had left the old cellulose paint on and put 2 pack over the top so its creased.  After all this effort and time I want it right so it's getting a full repaint.  But it's so close, after 2 years hiatus!  They tell me w/c 21st I'll be able to pick it up!  But I won't be free    I wonder if I can get my mother in law to delay her 90th birthday on 22nd which is going to take up a lot of our time that week?   

[Neil Clark]

Slower than I had hoped ..........  but serious thanks due to TJR Bodyworx near Birmingham who picked up the baton from the previous non-doing restorers and are nearly finishing the re-spray.

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Neil Clark
Mistake in text

[Colin Lindsay]

Sounds like good news! What's their deadline now? Hopefully before long it'll be back with you and ready to be finished. Keep us posted.

[PeteH]

This is the thing I dread, been asking about locally, and the few who show interest, are making noises about "maybe next spring (2023)". So much I am seriously contemplating have a crack myself. I have done one before, Vitesse 1980`s, that time I had 3 weeks in an empty garage as we waited between house moves. This time no such. Kitting mine out as a Spray booth will be a nightmare, Errecting a party tent in a Barn belonging to a friends son, is a possible option. It`s a 1/2hr trip each way each time though, but his compressor is massive compared to mine, and old!. Then I have all the "tricks of the trade" to re-learn after some 30 years. The upside I suppose being that much of the cost can be used for upgrading kit quality, and I will be in control of the logistics?. The down, my experience is limited to spraying Cellulose (on cars). And never done 2pack, nor any of the modern paint systems, except in rattle cans. Add to that the colour I quite fancy is a Metallic!.

Pete

[Neil Clark]

It keeps slipping every phone call but I hope this month and the photos prove progress!

[Neil Clark]

At last!

[Neil Clark]

When I trailered the car up to the body shop in Birmingham bonnetless a year ago the rain was biblical and everything in the engine area got soaked and it has stood in the dry ever since.  I assumed the distributor would have got wet and rusty inside.  Yesterday I charged the battery and checked the distributor - everything looked OK inside, to my surprise.  So I ran some oil through the engine, put some petrol in the tank, turned the key and it started.  Ran it for twenty minutes till hot and all seems OK.  It's a bit lumpy and dies away at tickover unless hot but I'll wash out bodyshop dust from the K&N filter next and check the tickover settings on the Weber that had been fitted.  Next job to refit the windscreen wiper wheel boxes then move the later model accelerator pedal a little away from the brake pedal as suggested on the forum.

[Neil Clark]

Thanks to all the help on the Forum, the ease of changing from SORN to taxed on these old cars and having got to the "Legalish, decent, honest and truthful" stage about the work still to do I was finally able to run up and down the road this afternoon.  Runs rough but that can be fixed, the exhaust pipe had filled with water in the rain so is blowing all the crud out but Oh Boy!

 

 

[mark powell]

First time driving my Midge after rebuild was, "Have I forgotten anything? Are there any strange noises? No?"  Then relax and smile!