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The Spitfire that just needed a tidy up...


Josef

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1 hour ago, Badwolf said:

Josef - Looks great. Did you cover the metalwork with any sort of foam or padding before adding the vinyl, and which adhesive did you find to be the best?

I just glued straight over the metal. With the aluminium being new and flat it’s come out nicely. When I did my rear wheel arches I should’ve done something to smooth off the surface as the vinyl was not very forgiving. You can see some of my welds if you look closely, with your head down in the space behind the seat :D The adhesive I used was a spray glue from Newton Commercial. I’ve just tended to buy whatever trim glue cans I happened to find when I needed more rather than sticking to any particular make. 

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Josef - Ok thanks. I am very tentatively (in view of all the other jobs that I'm not getting done) thinking of getting some leather hide off fleabay to fit out my interior. I would love to get it from Owen at Park Lane but cannot justify the cost. Therefore looking at the best adhesives and whether I need to have a sort of foam 'underlay'. Will transfer the thoughts to my restoration thread in due course. Probably more pipe dreams, but if you can't dream....???!

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3 minutes ago, Badwolf said:

Josef - Ok thanks. I am very tentatively (in view of all the other jobs that I'm not getting done) thinking of getting some leather hide off fleabay to fit out my interior. I would love to get it from Owen at Park Lane but cannot justify the cost. Therefore looking at the best adhesives and whether I need to have a sort of foam 'underlay'. Will transfer the thoughts to my restoration thread in due course. Probably more pipe dreams, but if you can't dream....???!

The door cards / trim panels have a thin foam layer under the vinyl. I’m pretty sure they were only stapled together originally though as when I rebuilt my Herald ones I cut new shapes out of thin marine ply and then refitted the old vinyl and foam. I don’t remember scraping off old glue. 

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Looking back at your interior pics Josef...how did you get the vinyl on the rear arches to stretch? I tried doing one and it looks awful. Thankfully at a fiver a pop I'm not that upset. However I am going to invest in a roll of vinyl just in case I mess it up again.

Alex

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On 28/06/2022 at 20:54, Piglet said:

Looking back at your interior pics Josef...how did you get the vinyl on the rear arches to stretch? I tried doing one and it looks awful. Thankfully at a fiver a pop I'm not that upset. However I am going to invest in a roll of vinyl just in case I mess it up again.

Alex

If you give it a gentle warming with a hairdryer, or very carefully with a heat gun I suppose but I figured a hairdryer was much safer, it will quickly feel more pliable. I don’t think I did the best job on the arches, so there may be a better method. I glued down the flat, vertical inboard section first and then tried to smooth is round the curves with some heat.

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Exactly what I tried! I used a heat gun and nothing worked. However I have just ordered a 1m roll of the stuff for the same price as the 2 offcuts from Don, and this stuff is apparently pliable and stretchy. We shall see!

Alex

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Well, that’s the glove boxes in, and the interior finished (except finding some smarter fixings for the h-frame to floor bolts). The glove boxes were much more of a struggle than I remember, though that could be in part due to the old ones being fairly distorted and torn in places. I’m pleased with how well concealed the speakers have ended up too. 

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Now I’ve packed away the Herald’s pending new gearbox I’ve got enough clean bench space to get on with the last bit of Spitfire trim. A hardboard off cut, a bit of vinyl and some glue put the cost at £4-5 ish vs £42 for the badly painted commercial one!

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Aaaand here it is installed. I’m thinking about contriving some method of strapping the tool roll to the wheelarch, but that’s probably overkill so this is the boot finished! Still no sign of the hood though :(

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Push the tool roll into the void under the spare wheel, the point where the flat boot floor drops down in a right angle to the curvy bit. I have a roll pushed into either side. Make sure that you can pull it out without having to take out the spare. Some have even turned the spare upside down to use the spare as a sort of dish for stuff.

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Oh yeah something like that will probably work. I shall have a play around. Turning the spare wheel over is definitely out though! I’m not wielding a grinder near this car and covering all the nice cleanness with metal dust :D

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Well I’ve got no clearance in the bottom of the valance or behind the spare wheel in which to stuff the tool roll. Either it’s too bulky (likely), there’s a bit more room behind a MkIV valance, or a bit of both. 

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Josef - Sorry, forgot yours is a Mk3. If you want, I will get a couple of pictures tomorrow to give you an idea of how my stuff is packed. Shall I include the two folding chairs, the box of 'essentials', fire extinguisher (yes, I know, not big enough for an engine fire) the rail of sockets and, oh yes, the tool rolls? I need to clear out and cut down. Costing me a least 5 miles per gallon.

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38 minutes ago, Badwolf said:

Josef - Sorry, forgot yours is a Mk3. If you want, I will get a couple of pictures tomorrow to give you an idea of how my stuff is packed. Shall I include the two folding chairs, the box of 'essentials', fire extinguisher (yes, I know, not big enough for an engine fire) the rail of sockets and, oh yes, the tool rolls? I need to clear out and cut down. Costing me a least 5 miles per gallon.

I was thinking as I was writing the last post. The last time I had to make roadside repairs to the Herald (side of a busy A road, the accelerator linkage had come loose :S ) all I used was a cable tie, and there’s none of those in this roll for the Spitfire! Otherwise I’ve mostly lugged stuff around and never used it. So probably going to keep the Spitfire light on emergency contents at the moment. Would be interested in seeing your packing for nosiness reasons though!

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32 minutes ago, Piglet said:

Very neat Josef. I shall be doing the same, just need to go to the local DIY place for an offcut.

Alex

If you’ve not got one to use as a template and need some scaled photos or something for the shape / dimensions just give me a shout. 

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1 hour ago, Badwolf said:

I think there might be differences in the size of the backboard but not sure.

I don't know whether the back board changed but the fuel tank definitely did. The Mk3 has the outlet pipe at the bottom in the middle, just where the spare wheel slips in. The Mk4 moved it to the top, out of harm's way.

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Well the boot floor is the same over the Spitfire range, but the top deck changed to be flatter, so I’d guess the petrol tank cover top profile changed accordingly. Plus the addition of the boot courtesy light. 

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