Back into the rust after ten years off

[Scrat]

Hi all, by way of introduction... our Spitfire Mk3 is getting brought back to life after ten years in the garage all tucked up

Showed it to an interested 'mate of a mate' who decided it was more work than he wanted (probably after a driveable car with just some running tweaks)

However, this rather whetted my appetite to get the old boy recommissioned - he's been through lot of work over the years and has been with us since 1992 so deserves some TLC

Brakes binding, coolant hoses rotten, mostly just surface rust so hopefully not too much welding - although the bonnet is in worse shape than I recall so some new panels could be in order

 

[NonMember]

Congratulations on a fine decision! Welcome to the forum. Feel free to ask any questions as you go - you'll get good advice (and thread drift) here. And please post updates of your progress, with photos! We all love to see how the other nutters are doing 😉

[daverclasper]

Hi and welcome. Lot's of good stuff on here, wouldn't have been able to keep my car on the road without it.

Dave

[dougbgt6]

You say coolant hoses rotten? Then probably the rubber in the fuel line to! Go for quality spares, the club shop generally sell good stuff. You might consider silicone hoses, more expensive but longer lasting. Also get rubber fuel line that's resistant to the ethanol they put in modern fuel. Gates Barricade is the best at the moment, but again get it from a reputable supplier, there's a lot of fake stuff about.

Good luck with the project!

Doug

[poppyman]

Welcome to the forum Scrat even though you have been called a nutter already   We all seem to fit that criteria though.......

Tony.

[Scrat]

Thanks everyone, I've a lot of time on 90's Japanese sports bike resto's in the last few years... it's a bit of a rude awakening to be faced with so much steel and cast stuff...!   The positive is the cost of spares though :-)

[Colin Lindsay]

32 minutes ago, Scrat said:

The positive is the cost of spares though 🙂

Especially if you shop around and compare prices. They do vary enormously.

[Bordfunker]

Welcome aboard.

If I can guarantee anything, it will be that the rust is worse than expected, but you won’t care because it’s your car, and you just want it running again.

That has certainly been my experience.

Karl