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Spitfire 1500 - Re-Living My Youth (RLMY)


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Drivers side floor mostly out now

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I’ve just bought a reciprocating saw to cut off the mounting bracket at the front and sort out the inner sill and sill strengthener at the back.

Hope it is easier than the other side - it doesn’t seem so rotten - but only time will tell 😆😆

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Good 4 hours work this weekend in between looking after Covid suffering wife and doing the shopping.

I nearly cut a corner and was going to patch the end plate which had a couple of rust holes but in the end I cut out all of the bottom part and fitted the bottom of the closing panel (the right way round this time).

I’ve prepared the inside of the outer sill for the new strengthener, bottom of the A-post, floor and inner sill….I have to patch in a couple of places where the outer sill lip was too thin for welding - I used my copper strip to back the weld so I could get good penetration without blowing a hole - I worked really well.

next weekend the floor etc will go in, marking the “end” of the major welding.

Im being much work careful with the surfaces I’m welding this time which is making much better welds - thanks for all the advice.

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32 minutes ago, daverclasper said:

Good work.

Anywhere to easily obtain a bit of copper block ( or does alloy do the same?).

Or would a bit of copper pipe, hammered flat, have enough heat sinkage?, or help?

I`ve seen good sized "lumps" come up for sale at Autojumbles/Steam Fairs where the S/H Tool Retailers set up?

Pete

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15 hours ago, daverclasper said:

Anywhere to easily obtain a bit of copper block

I got mine on Amazon - YFaith T2 Purple Copper, 3mm x... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09127FZJP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Cost me £9.99

but I have also heard that copper pipe hammered flat works.

I don’t this Alloy would work as the weld would “stick” to it, but it doesn’t stick to the copper

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Yeah definitely keep everything till you’ve finished welding. Even if you’re never planning on restoring another after that I wouldn’t bin those floors, stick them on eBay or something. There’s useful looking shapes there as Mathew says, so someone might be glad of them. 

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My car has a floor !

That sort of marks the end of the welding.

I have left the front of the floors free to give me some wiggle room when I fit it back to the chassis. Also waiting until then to fit the cross members so I can get the holes in the right place 👍

3rd bottle of hobby weld gas !

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1 hour ago, Pettifordo said:

3rd bottle of hobby weld gas !

Something of a shortage in my neck of the woods, been waiting near 3 weeks for my local supplier to get back to me with HIS new stock. Next nearest stockist is York, 40+Miles away.

Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well that was a frustrating day - I had forgotten how hard taking things apart can be.

Job number one today was to remove the bushes from the leaf spring and paint the spring - after much hack sawing the outer tube was showing no signs of moving - bought a new one from Rimmer Bros in frustration - probably not a bad idea anyway.

Moved on to job number 2 - painting the front suspension towers - covered in much under seal, decided in the end they will need to be blasted - so gave up.

Moved on to job number 3 - replacement of rear trunion bushes…to make access easier and because they need replacing anyway I started to remove the flexible brake hose - one side was ok - very stiff but it move….the other side was like pulling teeth….

Then I removed the nut on the trunion bolt and managed to turn the bolt after some effort…..but they nothing…..much hammering….but nothing.

Finally search for how to remove the bolt and hack saw / angle grinder on cut it out seem to be the answer…..hopefully I can do that without damaging the trunion.

 

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Man vs Trunnion update

Plan - cut bolt

First Method - Reciprocating Saw - Result : 3 blunt blades not much to show for it

Second Method - Angle Grinder - Result : Fail couldn’t reach the bolt with my 110mm grinder

Third Method - 12” hacksaw - Result : Sorted !

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Then I got over confident and started on the other side but my hacksaw blade was toasted so more on order will sort it another day.

I think I preferred my life before I knew the word TRUNNION !

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Starting to build her back up now - diff in (after fitting the rear bolt first and then realising that it wouldn’t swing up to the front mounts so had to take it off again - doh) and lead spring on top - suspension this weekend 👍C5262991-C6C5-4655-8E8E-91BCFD815590.thumb.jpeg.aa6d0e74c120fc06fb62c7715a5bba6c.jpeg537C7C0A-D591-4835-9C5E-06952C76148A.thumb.jpeg.a4717f88aaaad739c83b6fcff1df03c2.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Pettifordo said:

Starting to build her back up now - diff in (after fitting the rear bolt first and then realising that it wouldn’t swing up to the front mounts so had to take it off again - doh) 

I thought it was only me that did that... 

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Drive shafts, brakes and trunnions rebuilt today. It has been a long time since I did brake shoes so the first side took a while but managed not to trap my fingers 👍

The trunnions went back together well with copper grease so the next person who takes than apart shouldn’t have so much of a problems.

My new brake pipe bender was great and the new hoses look smart.

Hopefully I will have time to fit them to the car over the weekend 😬😬

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1 hour ago, Pettifordo said:

Drive shafts, brakes and trunnions rebuilt today. It has been a long time since I did brake shoes so the first side took a while but managed not to trap my fingers 👍

The trunnions went back together well with copper grease so the next person who takes than apart shouldn’t have so much of a problems.

My new brake pipe bender was great and the new hoses look smart.

Hopefully I will have time to fit them to the car over the weekend 😬😬

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I’ll likely be doing the same job at the weekend. You’ll have it much easier though with no inconvenient bodywork to get in the way :D

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Its not so much play (they really are shot in that case) but the coupling should be smooth to swivel completely in both directions. The quality of replacements can be highly doubtful and the price each can range from under a tenner to well over 30 pounds...

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1 hour ago, johny said:

the coupling should be smooth to swivel completely in both directions.

For the half-shaft ones, they should also be tight - not seized but stiff enough to hold the flange in position against gravity. Propshaft ones are looser.

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