The Spitfire that just needed a tidy up...

[Josef]

Got the footwell carpets fitted this afternoon. The Newton Commercial diagram for the position of the poppers doesn’t bear much relation to where they were originally. I had the holes in the bulkhead still, and managed to find a photo online that confirmed what I thought he positions should be. The Newton diagram as a whole is a bit ‘back of fag packet’ to be honest…

Anyway, after that, I stripped off both rear axle assemblies. Strange switch you might think, but there is some logic there! I’d spotted the handbrake cable was damaged, and decided I’d best deal with that before the last of the carpet in case I needed to get the the handbrake adjusters that live under the carpet. While the axles are off they’re getting refurbished backplates, or getting swapped out completely depending on how easily the hubs split.

[daverclasper]

On 19/04/2022 at 16:58, NonMember said:

I'm not sure topping the gearbox really needs to be that regular a service thing.

Mine developed a leak about a year ago, mainly after a run, when the oil gets hot. Just a little puddle, about 1 inch diameter, on a plate I put under car.

Car used fairly regularly, though only about 1500 miles a year.

Never had to top up before this leak, and was surprised when it took about 2 and a half cups of oil to fill.

Maybe losing more when driving and oil hot and maybe some pressure?

Just a warning to maybe check more often, if you do have leak.

 

[Piglet]

10 hours ago, Josef said:

That’s the rear of the cockpit done. I couldn’t make the clips I had work on the quarter trims where they fix behind the central trim board, so resorted to a ginormous self tapper, washer and spire nut. The rear trim board was supplied with no clips or information as to how it fitted. Fortunately my car actually came with this part and had the four top clips still in place. The boards had a hole to take a door card type clip in a sensible looking place, but the old board clearly never had had a clip at this point and instead had several screw holes. I’ve used a pair of door card clips and it seems to be on fine. The rear carpet could’ve been better shaped, it’s a little too long, and not quite wide enough. But oh well…

That looks better than factory Josef.

[AlanT]

Hi Josef,

If you’ve not already done so, It’s worth changing the driveshaft UJs whilst off. Mine seemed fine when off but have rapidly failed when back on the car. Hassle of a job to strip back down again/bleed brakes etc.

Alan

[Josef]

On 02/05/2022 at 20:54, Piglet said:

That looks better than factory Josef.

Not sure I’d go that far  it’s come out OK though. The vinyl was far less forgiving that I thought it would be, you can see some of the welds and where the paint thicknesses change through it. But it’s only visible if you stick your head in the space behind the seats!

[Josef]

13 hours ago, AlanT said:

Hi Josef,

If you’ve not already done so, It’s worth changing the driveshaft UJs whilst off. Mine seemed fine when off but have rapidly failed when back on the car. Hassle of a job to strip back down again/bleed brakes etc.

Alan

Sensible yes, I do happen to know both mine are fairly new though. I did one while the car was still on the road cause I switched out the whole driveshaft, and the P/O had changed both of them recently in terms of mileage if maybe not in time. 

[Josef]

This afternoon’s job was giving the driveshaft assemblies a quick pressure was to get rid of the worst of the muck and grease. I’m debating whether to put in the pair I’ve stripped and rebuilt, or use the existing ones. The old ones were serviceable aside from the brake backplates being worn, so it feels like replacing stuff for no reason. 
 

Anyway, I also managed to get the new handbrake cable installed through the guides and compensator. Not the most fun of jobs, I could really do with getting a lower entry higher lift jack to give myself a bit more room when I have to work properly under the cars. 

[Josef]

I’ve been putting revisiting this particular job off for some time. Getting the windscreen in a position where it wouldn’t hit the door drop glass on the drivers side. However @Bfg’s post on adjusting his TR screen motivated me to give it another go! So I loosened everything off once more. My chosen highly complex adjusting tool was a bit of roof beam that had an angled end. This end, covered in an old t shirt to protect the windscreen trim, I wedged under the screen top and was then able to set the screen angle by gently tapping the base back and forth along the floorpan. Despite my I best efforts though I still couldn’t get a clearance I was happy with. Until that is I discovered I had left the window channel bolts loose from the last time I was fiddling here! Pulling the front channel as high as it would go finally got me to something acceptable. The window to screen surround gaps could really do with being wider on the drivers side, and narrower on the passenger side, but I have run out of adjustment. Still, it is definitely much better than it was before I replaced the sills and floors so can’t fuss too much.
 

 

[Piglet]

Looks fine to me...

[Josef]

Still blocked on some powered coating coming back so I’ve not done a great deal over the past week or so. But I did manage to fit some halogen headlights and get the door cards fitted. The door handle and window winder went on fairly easily on the passenger side, but on the drivers side I used new springs (the car came with two of these springs total, and I had to Dremel off the drivers side window winder as it had been jammed on a damaged spigot). It took me two half hour sessions to finally convince them both on, hopefully never to come off again!

I’ve deliberately not trimmed the door tops as I wanted a bit of the blue paint against the red trim in the interior. I’m also really pleased to know I’ve made repairs to complicated parts of the door tops that are now completely invisible and want to be able to see the metal

[Josef]

Aaaand shortly after posting I got a message saying my powder coating was ready. So I’ve nipped out and split one of the hubs (yes it went surprisingly easily) ready to receive a refurbished powder coated backplate. 

[Piglet]

That interior is lush. The red compliments the car so well.

Alex

[Josef]

Powder coating collected, along with obligatory ice cream for my family from the dairy just up the road from Willow Triumph. 

[Colin Lindsay]

It's sad that you need storage instructions on ice cream...

But: lovely job on that trim and carpets. If only my Herald wheelarch trims looked as good.

 

[Josef]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

It's sad that you need storage instructions on ice cream...

But: lovely job on that trim and carpets. If only my Herald wheelarch trims looked as good.

 

Thanks  There are wrinkles, but they don’t show up from a distance! Herald wheelarch trim threw me for a moment as I was thinking about the convertible rather than (presumably?) the estate. 

[Josef]

That’s the hood frame on, and a start made on putting the first driveshaft assembly back together. 

[Piglet]

Josef can I ask how you got the doors to fit so well? My passenger door seems to fit flush but needs an almighty slam to close it!

Alex

[Josef]

14 hours ago, Piglet said:

Josef can I ask how you got the doors to fit so well? My passenger door seems to fit flush but needs an almighty slam to close it!

Alex

Ok so if the door is positioned nicely in the aperture and currently closes flush then you probably just need to do some adjustment of the striker plate. First off I’d make sure the latch is clean and lubricated. Just the external part, no need to take the door card off. Then check how easily it functions when you operate it manually (use something like a screwdriver to push the catch mechanism ‘closed’, it should click twice and move easily). If that’s all OK then look to see if there’s any wear on the striker or latch to suggest they’re rubbing against one another. If they are then you may need to add or remove shims under the striker plate (use gasket material in a selection of thicknesses) to prevent that from happening. If that’s all OK then the last thing to do is adjust the position of the striker plate (if you loosen the screws you’ll feel it can be moved about) so that the door closes easily and sits flush when closed. All of this should be done with the door seals fitted.

Hope that helps!

[Josef]

Driveshaft number two has now been split and fitted with a refurbished backplate. My Herald’s handbrake was a constant headache and my main source of MoT failures till I realised that the little divot the handbrake lever sat in was actually wear on the backplate. So now both cars will have backplates with that wear welded up and the handbrake spring bracket reinforced. Couple that with all new levers etc so there’s no wear or play and the handbrake should end up working nicely!

[1969Mk3Spitfire]

That’s a fabulous looking interior, Josef, very impressive. What plans do you have for handbrake rubber gaiter? It’s my nemesis as I haven’t been able to anchor the base.

[Piglet]

Thanks Josef. Off to have a tinker now.

Alex

[Josef]

1 hour ago, 1969Mk3Spitfire said:

That’s a fabulous looking interior, Josef, very impressive. What plans do you have for handbrake rubber gaiter? It’s my nemesis as I haven’t been able to anchor the base.

Thanks! If you look a bit earlier in the thread there are some photos of what I’m trying to approximate the handbrake gaiter mill board. I screwed a bit of thin card to the holes where the mill board would mount and bent / masking taped that into approximately the right shape. Then I did papier-mâché in situ over the card. When that was holding the shape I took it off the car and continued building it up with fibreglass matting. If I was to do it again I think I would do the whole thing with papier-mâché as I feel the fibreglass ended up too thick. And it’s so tough I’ve had to drill holes and use self tappers to attach the handbrake gaiter! I tried a pretty sturdy staple gun, and they pretty much bounced off. I’ve yet to see how it looks under the carpet, but I think it should be OK.

[Josef]

This afternoon I’ve had a bit of a clean up, assembled the radiator cradle and loosely fitted it to the car. I decided in the end not to paint the horns. I’ve had them both apart as neither worked (one originally belonged to my Herald which had two low note horns when I got it, and the other came from eBay) and want to see how well my repairs hold up before bothering to clean and paint the awkward shapes. 
Just read on another thread that driveshaft UJs should be tight. Checked mine and they’re a little loose. So I’ll make up some shims before refitting to the car. For the shims however I will need an empty beer can so will be off to generate one of those shortly…

[Josef]

Got the axles fully assembled and back on the car, brakes bled, handbrake adjusted with the new cable and the wheels back on (which has taken most of the day!) Then I discovered that there was enough play in the handbrake handle and wear on the bracket that it was possible to pull it slightly to the right and the hook that holds the pawl to the floor bracket would come away… So I think I’m going to have to both turn up a spacer for the clevis pin, and cover up all the fresh interior in order to build up the bracket on the floorpan with weld

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, Josef said:

Then I discovered that there was enough play in the handbrake handle and wear on the bracket that it was possible to pull it slightly to the right and the hook that holds the pawl to the floor bracket would come away…

I had that problem on my GT6 - found by an MOT tester - and fixed it by welding a side-wall onto the bit of bent floorpan that it acts on.