I've been meaning to change to electronic ignition for ages. I was hoping to go straight to Megajolt but with the RBRR coming up fast I decided it was time to get something sorted! I've heard good things about the kits sold by 'SimonBBC' so I got one of eBay. BBC stands for 'Best British Classics' in case you're wondering and they have a website (http://www.simonbbc.com) as well as selling on eBay.

The kit contains a red module to put in the distributor, special rotor arm, a magnetic 'collar', grease, cable tie and various other bits. The fitting goes a little like this...

Firstly, you need to whip off the distributor cap to expose its innards. You no longer need the condenser or the points so they can both be removed by removing the two screws. You need to reuse the screws so keep them safe! There is also a braid connecting the baseplate to the distributor body. It doesn't say anything in the instructions about it but I removed it and it worked so I guess it either needs to be removed or makes no difference!

Once you've stripped the guts out you can install the ignition module. This needs to have the base coated in silicon grease before fitting. I think the reasoning behind this is to dissipate heat into the baseplate and prevent overheating. The module has a circle cut out of the bottom that matches up with a lump on the baseplate so the module 'locates' very easily. The instructions tell you to put the screws in loosely so you can adjust the proximity of the module to the collar on the distributor shaft. I actually found that with the locating bump and the two screws there wasn't really any potential for moving it and just did up the screws.

Now you need to fit the rotor arm and collar. The kit gives you a couple of different ways of doing this. Firstly, you can use the supplied rotor arm which comes with a collar built into the bottom to activate the ignition module or, secondly, you can fit a separate collar and use your own rotor arm. I'd just bought a new top quality 'red' rotor arm so I went with the latter option.

Then all you need to do it pass the wires out through the distributor body and connect the red one to the plus side of the coil and the black one to the negative. It's really important to leave enough free cable inside the distributor to allow the plate to advance and retard. I checked mine by sucking on the vacuum pipe! The cables in the kit were a little strange. One was too long and the other too short! I sorted this with a little spare cable and a few crimp connectors.

I then threw it all back together and reconnected the battery. It was time for a test drive! I turned the key and the engine span over but nothing happened. Something was wrong and it wouldn't fire. I suspected my connections at first but everything seemed to be in order when I tested them with my multimeter. There isn't much in this kit that can actually go wrong so my suspicions turned towards the stuff in the diff! I fitted the rotor arm with the built in collar just to see if that made any difference and it did! The engine fired up straight away. Comparing the position of the collar on the rotor arm with it built in and where I had it with my normal rotor arm revealed the problem. Basically, I'd just pushed the collar too far down the shaft for its motion to be picked up by the ignition module. All I did was refit the normal rotor arm and pull the collar up to the bottom of it. Job done!

I haven't driven the car since doing it but just at idle it sounds much smoother and I'm sure it's going to make a huge difference to how the engine feels. I'm really glad I did it and I can't believe I didn't do it sooner!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 01st September 2010 8:14pm gmt

Wiper Issues and Power Socket

As anyone who rebuilds cars will tell you - sometimes things go well and sometimes they don't! I've had a number of things that haven't worked out recently. Firstly, the baffled sump I nearly finished had to be abandoned because it had issues with the screen touching the crank. Then there were issues with the trim I bought for the bottom of the hardtop which I managed to cock up fitting. It looked like a horrific water trap too so I ended up ripping most of it off! To top it all off, I found a puddle of water in the passenger footwell!

It was pretty easy to find the source of the water leak. The passenger side windscreen wiper mount was loose and the rubber seal was missing, allowing the recent 'summer weather' to pour in! The wiper and nut came off pretty easily but the chromed pedestal needed a bit of leverage from a screwdriver. I made a new seal from a sheet of silicone.

The old seal on the drivers side was literally dust and no use as a pattern so I drew around one of the spindles to make a pattern.

The only hitch was refitting the passenger side nut. The reason the whole thing was loose in the first place was because someone had overtightened the nut and ruined the thread. Unfortunately the thread looked pretty unusual and, as I'd got no idea what it was, there was no option other than to buy a new wheelbox. Hopefully that'll arrive soon!

Over the weekend I also installed a power socket. It's fitted to a metal bracket on the passenger side of the dash. I originally built the bracket for an extinguisher pull handle but never got around to fitting a plumbed in fire extinguisher! With the help of a conical drill bit set from Machine Mart I enlarged the hole enough to take a VW power socket I bought from eBay. I originally finished the bracket by polishing it but this time I sprayed it using wrinkle finish paint. Wiring was simply a case of hooking it up to a purple wire in the 'always on' circuit that I picked up from the hazards relay and earthing the other terminal. Done!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 15th August 2010 7:43pm gmt

Progress Update!

Things have really started coming together over the last few weeks. I've got the back of the engine sorted and the gearbox back in. I chucked in a lightened flywheel I bought of Martin Holmes on the Sideways forum, ARP bolts and a new clutch from Canleys. Everything went quite smoothly apart from a few minor niggles. The first problem was that the holes in the clutch cover for the flywheel dowels were ever so slightly too small and needed drilling out by half a mm. The second problem I had was that the hole in the alloy bellhousing for the engine dowel was clogged up with POR15 and also needed drilling out.

I also took the time to replace the clumsy old exhaust clamps with Mikalor band clamps.

I decided to make a better effort at sealing the gear tunnel and renewed all the fixings, replaced the sealing foam and also made an aluminium cover for the slave cylinder inspection panel.

I shampooed and rinsed the carpets. They're in dreadful condition really and they seem to have been made by someone that has never even seen a Spitfire before but they'll do for now!

I also repainted the gear pattern on the gearknob before I refitted it. It looks good! I'm just waiting on the leather seat covers now!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 17th July 2010 9:49pm gmt

Sat Nav

In October I'm taking part in Club Triumph's Round Britain Reliability Run. Obviously, this involves having a fully working car and I'm working on it! It also involves doing a lot of driving and navigating! On the Historic Counties Run, one of the most annoying aspects was the Sat Nav. We used a Garmin model with out of date maps and we couldn't plug it in because the car doesn't even have a lighter socket!

This got me thinking about possible navigation solutions. I work in IT and figured that there must be a PC based solution I could use. I've got a tiny Dell 'netbook' and I figured that I could use that with a GPS 'dongle'. I thought it might also allow me to track the car and overlay the track over Google Earth and also maybe allow me to attach a webcam and make a time lapse video. The netbook solution also has the advantage of being very cheap - I already have a netbook, GPS dongles are around £30 and you can download a fully featured time limited demo version of Microsoft Autoroute for free.

So far I've tried navigating using the netbook in my VW and it's been great. Not quite as easy out of the box as the Garmin but the tracking works well and the spoken instructions are better because Autoroute actually says the road names. It also seems to have better lane guidance. It is a bit quirky in some ways, though! It took me ages to convince it not to navigate me back to a missed waypoint. I must find some more time to get used to it!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 05th July 2010 10:17pm gmt

Sump Baffling

It's always surprised me that you can't buy a baffled sump off the peg. It's also surprisingly difficult to find info about the best way to baffle a Spitfire sump. A lot of the 'tuning know how' books tell you that you need one but all of them seem to fall down when it comes to providing specific details...

Luckily the Internet provided a few answers with threads on the Club Triumph and Sideways Technologies forums providing some good nuggets of information from those that have done this before.

For me, the first thing to do was to get a spare sump from EBay. When this arrived I was surprised to see it came with a mesh screen over the deep part of the sump. After asking around I discovered that the early models were fitted with mesh like this to stop bits of metal being ingested by the oil pump. Later models have an oil strainer attached directly to the pump.

I decided to keep this mesh screen - a lot of aftermarket windage trays use a similar arrangement. This meant modifying it to fit my fatter (later) oil pump. I drilled a series of holes and used a small chisel knock out the metal I didn't need. This worked surprisingly well and the finished result, after filing, is very neat.

Next it was time to make a cardboard template. I decided to go for a flat plate to control front / rear movement, with a vertical piece running from front to back to control sideways movement. When I was happy with the templates I transferred the design to aluminium.

With the flat plate made up in alloy I realised I was going to have a problem getting it past the windage tray! I solved this by cutting it in two and drilling both halves for rivets. I then made the vertical baffle from a piece of L shaped alloy and drilled it so I could attach it to the horizontal plate - using it to neatly combine the two halves!

I then started thinking about how I should attach it to the sump. I didn't like the idea of bolts through the side of the sump so I decided to make some C shaped brackets and attach it to the windage tray. I decided to use rivets at the bottom and cap head bolts at the top. With the baffle now able to be attached, I riveted it up so I could test the baffle with a sump full of water.

It seemed to be pretty effective so I'm pretty happy with the design. All I need to do now is add the holes in the baffle for the oil pump and the dipstick and I'm done!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 13th June 2010 10:03pm gmt

Helicoils How To... (And How Not To!)

I got home today to find my Helicoil kit waiting on the doorstep. I threaded the alloy rear oil seal housing at the weekend and decided it'd be a better idea to repair it rather than buy a new one and risk threading that too! It's cost efficient too, a new housing would've been £20 whereas the Helicoil kit was £15! I got my kit from Chronos Engineering because they sell kits that contain everything you need so you don't have to spend ages searching for obscure size drill bits.

The kits are specific to a certain bolt size and contain around 25 Helicoils, a drill bit, a tap, an allen key, an insertion tool and a small drift all in a nice blue case!

So here's the problem. Basically a classic case of Triumph using the wrong fastener in the wrong place. The alloy is really very soft and it would have been better if Triumph had used a UNC thread like they did on some other alloy parts such as the intake manifold. Instead they used a UNF thread on both this and on the engine front sealing block.

First thing to do was to drill the threads out. I checked the depth of the holes and wrapped a bit of tape round the drill bit from the kit so I didn't go too deep! The alloy was very soft and drilled nice and easily.

The next stage of the process is to thread the hole for the Helicoil insert. The kit comes with the tap but you'll need a tap wrench if you haven't already got one. I borrowed a tap holder from my Clarke Imperial tap and die kit and that worked a treat. With tapping it's always best to take it slow and keep the tap well oiled but when the metal is as soft as this, you can go pretty rapidly!

Once the hole is tapped to the bottom you can remove the tap and run it through a few times. I cleaned the swarf out with light oil from an aerosol to clear it.

Inserting the Helicoil is very straightforward. It's basically a spiral of metal that has a small 'tang' sticking into the middle at the bottom. To fit it you use an insertion tool that is basically a drift with a slot in the end which engages with the tang on the Helicoil. The one in my kit has a depth stop so you can sink the coil down to a set depth. This is secured using a grub screw and the allen key from the kit.

With the Helicoil in place, all you need to do is knock the tang off. The tang is weakened and should knock off pretty easily using the drift from the kit.

This worked well for me on one of the holes but not on the other! On the one hole the drift didn't seem to knock the tang of very cleanly. The last thread ended up sticking out slightly and when I screwed in a bolt it seemed to push the thread down underneath the bolt. This meant that the bolt wouldn't screw fully home and left the Helicoil in a right mess! I had to get it out!

I thought this would be near impossible but it was actually fairly straightforward. You've just got to bend out the top thread until you can get a pair of pliers on it and then the whole thing will unscrew just as easily as it went in. Once the mangled Helicoil was out, I cleaned up the threads again and fitted a new Helicoil. This time I snapped the tang off by gently wiggling the insertion tool forwards and backwards. This worked a treat and after running the Helicoil through with a tap I was happy that the job was done!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 12th May 2010 7:30pm gmt

Clutch Stuff

I might as well rename my blog 'Will's POR15 blog'! I've been using huge amounts of the stuff over the last month! Firstly there was my alloy bellhousing which I painted inside and out, then there was the clutch release lever and then finally the gearbox casing which I painted up to match. The grey doesn't seem to go on quite as well as the black but the finish is very good all the same.

Once the bellhousing was painted I refitted the steel insert that the release bearing carrier slides on. After doing this I realised that something wasn't quite right. Canley Classics website describes the insert as 'Part 122566 - Bellhousing Centre Her/Spit (Scroll Type)' but when I took it off there wasn't any kind of oil seal on there! Fortunately the situation was easy to solve with a later type bellhousing centre that takes an oil seal.

While I was there I thought I'd renew the slave cylinder pushrod and the pin that holds it in the release arm. Incredibly, there was more than 2mm of wear in these two parts! The new pushrod was a bit fat and needed the attention of a bench grinder but was otherwise easy to fit. Once I'd done that I tried to fit the release lever into the bellhousing and ran into another problem!

Basically, the clutch release lever just wouldn't move smoothly over the bellhousing centre. This seemed to be due to the inside of the bellhousing being slightly cast wrongly. I have to say that the general quality of the alloy bellhousing is pretty poor and I suspected when I first saw it that it might need some 'altering'. In the end though, I decided to just grind a bit off the bottom of the release arm instead. This gave the necessary clearance and the throwout sleeve on the arm now slides smoothly like it should!

While I was in a painting frame of mind I painted the engine back plate and the drivers side floor in POR15. The drivers side floor is a mess and has a couple of plates welded on and a few tiny holes. I'm aiming to replace this in the near future but for the time being I just want to stop it getting worse so painting is the answer!

I did actually buy an alloy engine backplate but I don't think I'm going to use it. I've heard tales of the alloy ones cracking around the bottom bolt holes and I sure as hell can't be bothered to sort that out in the future so I'll be sticking with steel!

I've had one slight hitch with the engine this week. I was just fitting the renewed rear oil seal to the back of the sump when I stripped the threads in the alloy housing. This was a right pain because my brother came to visit this weekend and I had hoped to have the gearbox and engine ready to go back together. It'll have to wait now until I've helicoiled the threads. I've not done this before but it looks straightforward enough. I've ordered a kit from the eBay shop of Chronos Engineering. Hopefully that'll arrive in the week and I'll be back on track next weekend!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 09th May 2010 5:16pm gmt

Gearbox out!

This week has been a busy one! I started the week by fitting one of those 'Stant' lever radiator caps. This is straightforward enough but, if you're thinking of fitting one, you need to get a few things right. Firstly, the pressure rating has to be right (13lbs) and, secondly, it has to fit under the bonnet! I checked this very carefully before dropping the bonnet down for the first time!

The next job was a big one! The gearbox needed to come out so I could replace the engine's rear oil seal. I won't bore you to death with the details of how I got the gearbox out but it did involve a hell of a lot of brute force, wood and jacks. Believe it or not, I did it all on my own too!

The oil leak had made one hell of a mess. The inside of the bellhousing, bottom of the gearbox and the underside of the car were absolutely caked in oil and dirt!

The standard cast iron bellhousing weighs nearly as much as a chest freezer! I bought an alloy replacement from Moss last year and started preparing it to fit. It's not the best casting I've ever seen but I think it'll do. I've painted it inside and out and I've gone for grey POR15 this time to show up any oil leaks! It's a very similar colour to my workshop floor!

The seats are looking good. I've bought another seat foam set from Owen at Park Lane Classics. I haven't had time to do any more work on them though. I'm waiting till the gearbox is out of the way and my workshop is less dirty before I start work on them again!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 26th March 2010 10:05pm gmt

Progress In The Last 6 Days...

I've been working far too hard at work this year! I can't carry more that 5 days over to the next financial year so I've had to take four days off this week! It's been nice spending some time on the car and I've got a good number of the little jobs done.

On Saturday I had 'fun' with the water pump. I fitted this last week but I thought I'd better tighten up the nuts properly. You can't get a socket on these because of the pulley so I used one of my ratchet spanners. This was going well right up until I did up the last nut. I felt the nut tighten and then suddenly slip. I was gutted! My first thought was that I'd stripped the thread in the alloy water pump housing. Fortunately, I was lucky and it was just the stud! I couldn't get the stud off in situ so I had to remove the water pump.

I got a new stud in and made myself a new gasket. If you've never made a gasket you should try it! It's really easy and it saves loads of time. You can use card from a cornflake packet if you're desperate but the pukka stuff, which I use, is 'Flexoid' paper. It's really cheap on eBay and it can really get you out of a jam! All you need to do is trace around an existing gasket or place the paper over the flange and rub it over with a dirty finger to highlight the edges and then cut it out. You can make the holes by hammering a bolt into the paper. Easy!

Anyway, once I'd smeared a bit of Loctite 5926 gasket sealant on the faces I started bolting the water pump back in. This was all going well right up to the point where something threaded again! I couldn't believe it! This time it was the nut! I got a replacement and gave that a go. This time the stud threaded!

Something was definitely going on here! Once I looked into it, it was obvious what the problem was - the studs were too short! There weren't enough threads of the stud in the nut to take the torque of tightening. Once I'd realised that (and made another new gasket and found some longer studs) I was back in business. Sorted!

On Sunday I went to Stoneleigh. It was a brief visit again for me this year but I saw a few familiar faces and met a few new ones. There was loads of stuff for sale and I saw quite a few bargains. I really, really, wanted the mint bonnet that was for sale at £180 but I just couldn't have got it home in the back of my Golf! Instead I settled for picking up a few useful nuts and bolts!

On Monday I got my Nippon Denso alternator fitted. I'm still figuring out how the hell I'm going to wire this up but at least it's physically fitted in the car. I used a Canleys fitting kit. It was good but I'm going to replace the adjusting plate with a couple of rod ends in the near future.

On Tuesday I spent the day fixing the brakes on my Golf. The pads had seriously worn down with all the miles I'd been doing for work. In one case the friction material was down to 1.38mm! I decided to replace both the discs and pads as the discs had a massive groove around the edge because they seemed to be slightly oversize. I ordered replacement parts from Euro Car Parts and set about doing the job. It was all going swimmingly until I realised that the drivers side caliper wasn't sliding properly. Unfortunately the metal sleeve that the caliper slides on was seized solid on the caliper bolt and I had to destroy it to separate the two. Amazingly, my local VW dealers had the part in stock and I managed to get it back together on Wednesday morning!

On Wednesday afternoon I decided to finish off my anti roll bar links. I made my own out of rod ends from McGills Motorsport. There was a bit of work needed to get them fitted. I needed to drill out a sleeve to make a spacer and source some longer bolts for the wishbone end. Drilling out the sleeves was easy thanks to an 11mm cobalt drill bit from Namrick! Sourcing the longer bolts was tricky though. I couldn't find any online and eventually I had to get out the Yellow Pages. This worked out nicely and I turned some up at Nutters Fastenings in Nechells, Birmingham, which is just a few miles from where I work.

This morning I got another nice new part in the post. This time it was an alloy pulley from Rimmers. I'd heard bad things about alloy pulleys in the past. Apparently they used to be all alloy, which resulted in the keyway wearing out because of the softer material. The Rimmers one has a steel sleeve in the middle bolted to an alloy outer. Another bonus is that the bolts look like they might be handy for mounting a timing wheel if I ever want to move to a Megajolt set up in the future!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 11th March 2010 7:32pm gmt

Engine Valances - Finished!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 14th February 2010 11:02pm gmt

Fun with POR15!

POR15 is a really tough finish paint that is a great way to finish off loads of underbonnet parts. It leaves a very glossy and durable finish but requires a bit of care to apply. This is my quick guide to using POR15 and getting the best results!

Firstly, if you're painting something really smooth (like these aluminium radiator valances), you're going to have to rough the surface up a bit. I used a fairly fine sanding block which just took the shine off the metal without leaving any deep scratches. Once that's done you need to degrease using POR15's own degreaser. This is called 'Marine Clean' and is a vaguely greenish liquid that you dilute with water and coat the part with. This normally comes in a screw top bottle but I have prediluted mine and decanted it into an old spray bottle. After leaving to soak for a while, wash off the part with plain water.

The next stage of the process requires the use of 'Metal Ready'. This is another POR15 product and is basically a blue liquid that seems to etch the metal slightly. I guess that this contains phosphoric acid but I don't know for sure! You need to keep the surface of the part wet for a minimum of 15 minutes. Again, I have decanted mine into a spray bottle to make this easier. After 15 minutes or so you need to wash the piece again to clean off any residue.

The etched surface is slightly grey and sometimes a bit 'powdery'. This is OK! You are now ready to move on to the next stage...

You now need to be quite organised to avoid making a mess. I'd advise you to use plenty of newspaper over your workbench as it's going to be near impossible to clean up if it all goes wrong when you're pouring it! Get your brushes ready and also have some cling film and a jam jar ready. It's also wise to wear gloves because this stuff is pretty difficult to get off!

So, what you need to do is to open the tin of POR15 very carefully and either pour it or use a coffee scoop to transfer it into the jam jar. It is VERY important that you cover the tin with the cling film before you put the lid back on. If you don't you'll have to use water pump pliers to rip the lid off - trust me on this! Now you're ready to paint.

I strongly recommend using a foam brush. The POR15 starter kit comes with one or you can buy a pack of 20 for £5 off eBay. This will help minimise brushstrokes and will look neater. It goes on pretty easily. Don't stress too much if it looks a bit 'brushstrokey' as it seems to level really nicely after about 15-20 minutes. If you have paint left over in the jam jar you can seal it with cling film and use it later. Stored like this it seems be usable for a few days before it drys out.

And there we go! It should be touch dry in around an hour. Unfortunately one of the disadvantages of POR15 is that it's not UV resistant. Apparently it discolours and turns brown with prolonged exposure to sunlight but won't actually fail. In order to prevent discolouration you can use another POR15 product which is resistant to UV, such as 'Blackcote', which is what I have used here.

And that's it! You're done! One of the common misconceptions about POR15 is that you can't get it off anything. They actually do sell a thinner that you can use to clean brushes etc but it's quite pricey at around £20. That seems pretty expensive when you consider that the starter packs cost around £15 and contain 'Marine Clean'. 'Metal Ready', paint and two brushes! When I get it on my hands I find it comes off easily enough if I wash them straight away. If it dries then it takes a few days to wear off!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 09th February 2010 11:15pm gmt

Going back together...

I'm slowly getting the engine back together! Just before christmas I recieved an alloy water pump housing from Canley Classics. I was a little bit suprised to see it as I ordered it ages ago and it had been on back order for about a year! Initially I was annoyed that Canleys had just sent it (and billed me) without asking me if I still wanted it, but when I checked my email I found they'd emailed me about a week before and I'd totally missed it so I can't really complain!

As luck would have it I was just about to repaint the waterpump, housing, engine front plate and pulley with POR15. I was tempted to leave the new housing in bare alloy but in the end I thought it'd look better painted. Two coats of POR15 with a top coat of Blackcote and it looks the business! It gives a really deep gloss black. Just compare it to the 'normal' engine enamel on the black in the pics! I'm going to be using a lot more of this stuff in the future! The only thing that is annoying is that it sometimes leaves annoying brushstrokes so you're better off using foam brushes. Look on eBay if you need some - they're £5 for 20!

I had a great idea with the timing cover bolts and screws - I numbered them. This will come in handy the next time I need to take them off!

This is my 'refinished' thermostat cover. Normally there is a number cast into the top. I thought this spoilt the smooth lines so I sanded it off and polished it up. Looks much better!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 03rd February 2010 7:06pm gmt

Seat Straps

I carried on working on the seats this week. One of the first jobs has been to tackle the sagging rubbery seat straps that run across the seat back. These are basically a length of rubbery webbing that is folded over onto itself at each end to trap the seat clip and then stapled into itself with a couple of small plates to dissipate the load. I thought these would be pretty cheap so imagine my surprise when I found out a strap kit was nearly £40! That's for one side too, so £80 to do both seats!

Clearly that was ridiculous, so I set about trying to find a cheaper way. After a bit of research, it turns out that the rubber strapping stuff is called 'Pirelli webbing'. This is available by the metre from upholstery suppliers and is very cheap. I bought mine from a company called 'Skiddaw Upholstery' and it arrived pretty much next day. The stuff they sent was a bit thicker and looked better quality than the original Triumph issue. It was a different colour but then who really cares when it's inside a seat!

The staples and plates can easily be bent out and removed from the old straps and fitted to the new ones. It's really easy and quick and the results are very good. Just remember that the old straps will have stretched a bit, so make the replacements a bit shorter. And that's it - dead easy! About 5m should do both seats and will cost a much more reasonable £11.25 + postage!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 26th November 2009 10:47pm gmt

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

That's the question I was asking myself. The answer was a resounding 'no'! One of the things I learnt from the Historic Counties Run was that the passenger seat is infinitely more comfortable than the drivers seat! Hardly surprising really - Collapsed foam and ripped vinyl crudely 'retrimmed' in gaffer tape are not the last word in comfort!

I have entered the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run next year and I really wanted to get the seats sorted before then so I got started! My initial thought was to get another set of seats in better condition and swap the drivers side seat base with my knackered one. Taking a closer look at my seats quickly changed my mind. Even the passenger side was completely knackered. Just moving them produced copious amounts of foam breadcrumbs! Even the metal parts of the base were thin and seriously rusted.

I decided the best thing to do would be to get some more seats from eBay and use their guts! Fortunately eBay came up trumps with a set of seats (already partly dismantled!) in Derby. I set off after work on Thursday to pick them up. They guy selling them was building a Rover V8 powered Spitfire which looked like quite a piece of engineering. I had a look at the seats in it too. They were leather and very nice. I had a look at the seats he was selling and, whilst they weren't as nice as the ones he wasn't selling, they were much better condition than mine!

So now I had something to work with I set about stripping down the drivers side seat. The backrest had already been stripped down so all I had to do was strip down the seat base. I found it quite interesting how the seat is constructed. Basically there is a very basic steel seat frame. On top of this goes a steel 'basket' which is constructed in a similar way to a shopping trolley. At the bottom of the basket is a piece of 'millboard' to stop the foam sticking through the bottom of the basket. Attached to the millboard is the sensor for the seat belt warning light. This is then covered with two big lumps of foam. The vinyl then goes over the whole lot and attaches using 'hog rings' to the wire basket. To the uninitiated ' hog rings' are basically a C shaped bit of metal that pierces the vinyl and is then closed with a pair of pliers.

I stripped the seats down and started cleaning up the metal parts. I've recently invested in a new Black and Decker angle grinder (to replace my ancient Clarke model) so I set about the frame and 'basket' with the knotted wire cup brush. Once I'd cleaned them up I set about painting them with POR15. Before painting you need to go over all the parts with 'Marine Clean' to degrease them. I did this in the garden to save getting the workshop too wet! The metal then needs to be coated in 'Metal Ready'. This seems to etch the metal and leaves it covered in zinc and makes it ready for paint. I then painted it with the POR15. This is nasty stuff and I always use gloves and very cheap B&Q brushes because you can't clean this stuff off!

The seat frame just needs another painting session and it's good to go. Unfortunately the 'basket' from the donor seat has come unwelded at one of the joins so this needs to be corrected before I can paint it. My plans for the future involve new straps, new foam and LEATHER! Watch this space!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 22nd November 2009 8:01pm gmt

Oil Seals and Engine Valances

I've been pretty busy at work recently and haven't actually had much time to do anything with the Spitfire. It's spent most of the year stuck in the garage waiting for me to sort out the oil seal problem that became apparent during the HCR!

I finally got around to draining the coolant and getting the timing cover off to see what the problem was last weekend. There wasn't anything too obviously wrong which was a bit annoying but the spring on the seal was a bit mangled and the timing cover was slightly bent. I flattened the cover and sanded it flat. I also stripped the paint of it and gave it a coat of VHT wrinkle paint. I fitted a new seal but I haven't got around to filling it back onto the car yet. With a bit of luck I should have a car that doesn't leak at much oil as a sinking supertanker.

I've also finally got around to finalising my engine valances. I put a lot of effort into making sure these fit perfectly and all that remains is to finish the edges, drill them for brackets and get them powdercoated. I'll try and get that done later in the week!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 20th September 2009 2:10pm gmt

HCR '09

We did it! My brother and I actually completed the Historic Counties Run! As might have been obvious from my last post's lack of words, things got a bit hectic heading towards the weekend. There was a seemingly endless list of small jobs to be done. This list included replacing a leaky caliper seal, replacing the brake light switch, an oil change, replacing the entire clutch hydraulic system, replacing the throttle cable, adjusting the timing, removing the old starter solenoid, fitting the Nippon Denso starter, fitting 12v sports coil, replacing ballast wire, balancing carbs and refitting the parcel shelf!

I set out from Walsall on the Saturday, planning to meet my brother in Cambridge on the way. I put the hood down and got to Cambridge station about an hour and a half later! With my brother, Henry, on board we headed down to Southwold. It was at this point that that Henry pointed out that he'd never actually driven my car before, so we swapped seats and he got his first experience of classic motoring! We got to Southwold a couple of hours before the 'off' and had a fish and chips on the pier.

The first half of the run was relatively straightforward for us. The only minor hitches were our failure to brim the tanks and pump up the tyres so we had to stop off and do that. We also had a bit of scare when the temperature gauge went off the scale. The engine didn't look or feel hot and the 'tell tales' on the cylinder head and radiator were normal. When I noticed the fuel gauge was also a bit dodgy and the speedo illumination had failed I stopped worrying about it which was just as well because it fixed itself a few hours later!

The second half was more intense. Henry did the graveyard shift while I navigated. Thanks to a sat nav cock up we ended up wasting about half an hour in Hampshire and thanks to a cock up on my part we nearly ended up missing out Shropshire! For me, the Welsh roads were the best part of the whole event. We had a great time keeping up with Phil in the magenta GT6. Annoyingly though we'd developed an leak from the front oil seal which was dripping Duckhams finest all over the front pulley. Unfortunately the pulley was flicking it all over the drivers side brakes. I can now categorically confirm that oiled brakes don't work very well! Fortunately the were still just about good enough to finish the event on and we made it to Newport only a couple of hours late!

The trip back would've been a bit much with the dodgy brakes, so I had to call the AA in the end and we made the journey back on a flatbed. In all honesty I wasn't even sure it'd make the start line so I was absolutely chuffed that we finished the event. We had a great time, drove on some great roads, met some cool people and ended up completely knackered. Next time I'm going to book some time of work afterwards!

More pics on my facebook album here!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 28th April 2009 6:24pm gmt

Last Weeks Progress...

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 29th March 2009 10:22pm gmt

Stoneleigh etc!

I had a busy weekend last week! I still managed to fit in the spares day at Stoneleigh though. It was literally a drive there, quick look around, go home event for me this year. My grandma was taken into hospital on the Friday so I had to be back to visit her along with various other things. It was still quite a successful trip though. I picked up a new set of carburettors from Andrew Turner and bought various nuts and bolts. The carbs are awesome and a huge improvement over my last set - Andy had a look at those and pronounced them knackered! The new ones are not only better (fitted with seals around the throttle spindles) but shinier too! I'll post some pics of them at a later date.

I also got on with the heater box this week. Painting it was my first experience with POR15 and I've got to say I'm pretty impressed. It's not the easiest to use because you have to clean the part in various solutions first and then you've got to transfer some of the paint to another container and seal the can with cling film. You also need to wear gloves or everyone at work will be asking you why your hands are black! The results were pretty variable. The first parts I painted ended up covered in brushstrokes whilst some of the later parts look similar to powdercoat. It's certainly interesting stuff!

I also got around to sorting out the hose that runs from the inlet manifold to the heater valve. This is usually a shaped piece of rubber hose but I wanted to replace it with silicone to match my other hoses. Having a custom hose made would've cost a fortune so I decided to use two 90 degree bends and a piece of alloy tube that I bent to shape. This looks good and gets the job done on time and under budget!

I'm sure there are people reading this that are going to be thinking that I should have used a flexible hose because of the movement of the engine. I have checked this out and it all seems fine. My engine is fitted with new mounts and doesn't vibrate around all over the place! There is also a load of flexibility in the silicone parts so I don't think it's going to be a problem!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 15th March 2009 10:27pm gmt

Heater Box Issues

A while back I mentioned that I was looking for a heater box to replace the rusty one with a broken linkage that came off my car. I did eventually manage to track one down on Ebay nut when it arrived I realised it wasn't going to be as simple as just chucking it in the car!

It was advertised as a 'Mk4 and 1500' heater box so, naturally, I thought it'd be the same as the one I had. It was, however, slightly different internally, with a different resistor and motor wiring! After carefully studying the two designs I decided the best course of action would be to drill out the rivets holding the internals in the original box and remount them in the new one. In order to do this I had to cut out the different brackets in the Ebay box. This then left a couple of small holes close to each other.

Obviously it's not great having holes in a heater box, so I decided the best thing to do would be to drill them out into one big hole and fit a grommet. This seems to be working out okay so far and I'm just waiting for some POR15 to arrive so I can paint it.

I've finally got around to cutting out the passenger side engine valance. These are coming on slowly and just need a bit more fettling to fit. Then I can make some brackets for them and maybe finally get them powdercoated!

I really want some parts to arrive this week. The HCR is getting nearer and I'm still waiting on a list of parts as long as my arm. Moss said my alloy bellhousing would take two weeks and that was just over two weeks ago so hopefully that'll be arriving soon. I'm also still waiting on my alloy water pump housing. I was told at the end of Jan that it'd take a week and it's still not here!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 01st March 2009 11:01pm gmt

Heater Valve Fun!

I haven't actually managed to achieve much this week because I've been off on a holiday with my other half in the lake district, but I have made some steady progress on a number of fronts!

One of my biggest achievements this week has been removing part of the heater valve. I bought a new heater valve a few weeks back and when it arrived I found out that they don't come with the brass part where the heater hose attaches. Fortunately this was still attached to my old one. Unfortunately it was solidly attached by a bolt with a snapped off head and mangled threads and, even worse, a scan of the parts catalogues revealed it was NLA!

I attempted the usual methods of removing it. Firstly I tried mole grips but they didn't work. Then I tried hacksawing a groove in the top and using an offset screwdriver. That didn't work either so more drastic measures were called for! I set about drilling the valve out around the thread and eventually I managed to get it turning with the mole grips. With that done I dropped the part in some white vinegar and wire brushed it a few hours later. Good as new!

When I was drilling the old heater valve out to free the threads something very strange happened. The top hose pulled away from the top of the valve body taking the top part of the valve with it. This revealed a strange powdery but also jelly like substance that was completely blocking the pipe. It was a bit green and coppery but also a little like the jelly in pork pies in places! I tried to get some pictures but it didn't show up too well. Weird stuff!

I had a package waiting for me when I got back from my holiday - a nice Nippon Denso starter motor that I bought off ebay. I is supposed to be for a Toyota Supra but I'm planning to use it on my triumph with the kit from Canleys. Watch this space!

I've also finally got some small parts storage. This is going to speed things up in the garage a lot! No more fumbling through numerous boxes for me!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 22nd February 2009 11:00pm gmt

Degrease and Deoil!

I've got a few little jobs done this weekend. Firstly I cleaned up the bulkhead. Parts of this were covered in decades of grease, dirt and dist. I used a mountain bike degreaser called 'Muc Off'. They do a whole range specifically for cars now but I've always used the mountain bike stuff on my car and it works really well. With the crud removed there was plenty of light surface rust revealed and even a little paint in places. The battery box is basically sound though, which is very good news!

The other job I got through this weekend was draining the oil from the diff. This was the first time I'd ever done this job on the triumph and I'm pleased to say it went okay! The main problem is that triumph were too penny pinching to fit a drain plug so you have to use a small tube through the filler plug to empty the old oil out. I used a small siphon style hand pump. I just stuck the pipe in the diff, pumped the oil through to get it going and then waited for it to slowly siphon out. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that nearly as much oil came out as should have been in there!

Now I just need to pump some new oil back in. Can anyone out there recommend a good oil for a hard working diff?

In other news this week - The Spitfire Graveyard got back to me saying they'd got a decent heater. Haven't had time to call them back yet, though! Also, I got onto Moss Europe about my alloy bellhousing and found out its going to be with me in a few weeks. That's something to look forward to! Then I can get on with getting the engine out and replacing the clutch.

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 15th February 2009 10:51pm gmt

Slow Progress

I can't understand what's going on with people selling car parts these days! We're heading towards the mother of all recessions and it seems like some people can't even be bothered to return an email to make a sale! My search for a heater box has been fruitless so far because of this kind of apathy. I've emailed 3 ebay sellers and one second hand parts company to make enquiries and only got one reply (from an ebayer) and that wasn't good news! I've just sent an email off to the Spitfire Graveyard so hopefully they'll be able to help me out.

I'm also still waiting on orders from Canley's and Moss. I suspect that the snow hasn't helped things this week but I'd really like some parts to arrive soon. There's a lot to do before the HCR and I'd like to get the big jobs out of the way as soon as possible!

In the meantime, I've been messing about with various other things. Inspired by Chris Marsh (http://ukcjmspitfire.blogspot.com/) I have drilled out my heater controls. It's always good to lighten things up where you can and this is a really thick piece of metal which is perfect for this type of 'swiss cheesing'! Saved 20 grams on the stock weight.

I've also taken the heater valve bracket off. I was going to bid for a stainless one on ebay to replace it but I missed the end of the auction so I figured I'd bend the old one back into shape and lighten it. I didn't touch it around the top, where it's pretty flimsy but the base, side and front got a drilling. It's lighter by 15 grams and it looks pretty good! It just needs deburring and powdercoating to be perfect!

Tune in again next time for some much bigger and much more expensive weight savings!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 08th February 2009 2:26pm gmt

Heaters and Carbs!

I've had quite a busy weekend. I removed a whole stack of stuff from my car. The carbs came off first. I took them off complete with the manifold so that they can be posted off to Andrew Turner later on in the week. I spoke to him on the phone earlier on in the week and we had a good chat. He's going to take a look at them for me and get back to me to let me know what needs doing!

I also got going on fixing the heater. The controls for the temperature were completely seized so I started tracking down the problem. The heater lever assembly and the cable were okay (but a bit stiff and grubby) so the problem had to be the water valve. It was beyond repair so I ordered another. Then I started looking at the 'heat distribution' lever. This is supposed to direct the heat either to the footwell or onto the windscreen. This was seized solid as well but I couldn't see exactly what the problem was without getting the heater box out of the car.

Getting the heater box out wasn't as hard as I was expecting. All you need to do it to get the passenger glove box out, disconnect the heater, undo the bolts and then slip it out. I immediately noticed why the lever wasn't working. The linkage at the bottom of the heater had snapped off where the cable attaches. It could do with a new heater box as it's gone a bit rusty around where the pipes enter but at least the heater matrix looks to be in pretty decent condition. The heater motor is in tip top condition too which is a relief!

While I was mulling over what to do with the heater I removed the fuel pressure regulator. Hopefully this won't be needed when I get a new fuel pump that delivers the right pressure! I also spent some time ordering parts this week. A new heater valve showed up from Rimmer Bros on Thursday along with a thermostat, rear oil seal, gaskets and a kit that reduces gear lever 'rattle'. I also ordered an alloy water pump housing from Canley Classics that should be with me by the end of next week. I've decided not to go with an electric water pump on the grounds that I want to keep things simple so alloy will be the way forward for me!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 01st February 2009 8:49pm gmt

Looks Like I'm Going To Be Busy...

I've decided to enter the Club Triumph 'Historic Counties Run'. This year it's a coast to coast event that starts by the sea in Surrey and finishes, 14 hours later, on the Welsh coast. Apparently this will be a minimum of 400 miles. Combined with the journey down from the Midlands and the journey back it's probably going to be a minimum of 700 miles.

In order to cope with that kind of distance my car's going to need to be a bit more reliable! I've got no doubt that my car's in good enough condition to make it but I would like to fix the niggling little problems that've been really bugging me over the last few months. Unfortunatly the list of problems is not a small one!

Firstly there's the fueling. The carbs are worn which is leading to a very high idle. This is not exactly good for fuel consumption and neither is the repro fuel pump which is overpowering the valves in the carbs, letting fuel spray out under the bonnet. Obviously economy and safety are pretty important to me so it's vital to get this sorted before the run. The carbs need to see an expert and they will be going to Andrew Turner to be rebushed. The fuel pump is likely to be replaced with a pump from a TR7. Apparently these fit and don't produce too much pressure like the standard repro Spitfire pumps - the only difference is the position of the inlet and outlet. If replacing the pump dosen't work, I'll go electric and get an SU fuel pump mounted in the boot.

Secondly there's the heating. Not having a working heater or temperature gauge has been pretty annoying over winter! I started on this today. The heater valve was seized solid and no amount of penetrating oil was going to free it off! That was taken off and a replacement ordered from Rimmer Bros. A pressure washer was taken to the cooling system and I soon had the silt cleared out of the heater matrix. There was plently of it! The other problem was the temperature guage not showing the right temperature. I tested the guage by earthing the wire to the temperature sender against the block. This caused the guage to move upwards, revealing the sender to be at fault, so ordered a new one.

The third problem is the clutch. This is one I've been putting off for ages. The engine needs to come out so I can replace a weeping rear oil seal so I might as well replace the clutch while I'm there. The hydraulics are also leaking so I'll do that whilst I'm at it. I'm a bit annoyed with the hydraulics, in all honesty. The hose, slave and master cylinder are all new and it looks like the leaking has been caused by swarf from one of them damaging the master cylinder seals.

Then there's all the little problems. I need to drain and replace the diff oil, give the car a service and I need to Rain-X the windows and fit better wipers. Another thing I need to do is to adjust the headlamps properly and make sure they're able to stay on full beam for a prolonged period of time. Last time I used full beam in anger it overheated a contact and left me with no headlights on a dark country lane. Not something I want to do again!

If I've still got time I'm going to fit some AVO's and a lowering block to the rear.

One things for sure. I've got my work cut out for the next few months...

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 25th January 2009 8:18pm gmt

Engine Valances - Part Three

This is turning into one of those projects that I wish I'd never started! Today I made my final design templates and started translating them into aluminium. There is finally light at the end of the tunnel!

posted by William Columbinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187558391596397366noreply@blogger.com 18th January 2009 10:49pm gmt

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