PeteStupps

Yeah cold weather is a real problem - not just for the battery capacity but you need to use them to warm the car up! Not so much waste heat from an EV. Lithium batteries degrade much more quickly if they are charged or discharged at high rates, and at the extremes of the capacity (e.g. above 95% full or below 15%) - so thrashing along at full power degrades the battery more quickly than pottering about in town, and super-fast recharging also degrades the battery more quickly than slow charging. By 'degrade' I mean the chemistry is damaged, so you can't get as much power or energy out of the battery next time. If I owned an EV I'd charge it at the lowest power possible as often as I could!

Are you thinking of a full Triumph EV conversion Nick?? I keep examining options for a hybrid. Honda did an interesting thing with the flywheel being an electric motor, which also replaced the starter motor. That's quite neat, giving you a load of torque at low RPM and a little bit of regen. They only used small capacity batteries but no reason you couldn't fill the boot with batteries. Alternatively the other option would be one of the FWD models - keep the petrol driving the front wheels but stick an electric motor in the boot driving the rear end. 0-60 in 5 seconds would be a laugh.

That has been tried (see link in my post above) and it may well come back round again with more success. Obviously it's hard to get firms to standardise their batteries and access to them. Especially when the battery is spread over the floor of the whole vehicle like the Teslas. A workmate was telling me that Renault lease the battery when you buy a Zoe, so you own the car but the battery is rented and Renault will replace it if it's charge capacity drops too far. Not just when it's flat, though! A problem with the swappable battery concept (maybe only a problem in my head) is that most of the value and technology is in the battery - it's much more analogous to the engine in your Triumph than to the fuel tank. The electric motors are humdrum cheapo things in comparison. A battery's performance and lifespan depends very heavily on how it's been treated. If no-one owns them it's possible they'll all be thrashed and run down to zero all the time, so won't last as long as they should.

I liked Badger's Holt! At least I liked driving across Dartmoor in the sunshine. And I liked those steep descents getting off Dartmoor because I like to pontificate about all the modern cars riding their brakes all the way down the hills instead of using engine braking, like the self-satisfied git I am. That said, there were too many stops too close together on the Sunday morning/ early afternoon. A different route back to Knebworth would be nice but there will be traffic somewhere along the way.

This is what I thought! No rocker feed, so it seems most of it must be getting past the rings. I'm very suggestible: maybe I will hone in situ. Or stick some additive in it. Hmmm... It had new main & big end shells last spring - the main clearances were just outside spec so it needs a re-grind in the fullness of time, but oil pressure is fine for now. I did a DIY hone on my 1300FWD engine rebuild, and after 1800 miles that seems to have been very successful - haven't been able to detect any oil loss so far. Plenty of fuel and clutch problems but that's another story... You're evidently a faster worker than me! The FWD was my first car engine rebuild and what started as a valve job quickly snowballed (as Nick says) into a full engine rebuild that took a year of odd Saturdays and evenings. Hence I'm trying to stick to firm boundaries with the Spitfire, and will not be stripping the engine down before next winter. Or maybe the winter after. Nick funny you mention EV conversion - there's a bloke round the corner from me who does them commercially. I was chatting to him about hybrid ideas, to get a bit of extra poke. It's one of those things I'll never get round to doing but daydream about sometimes.

Hello all, My spit FD engine had been using a lot of oil (pint every 300 miles, sort of thing) so I've taken the head off, and am doing a few bits to it. The valve/guide clearance was definitely outside spec so am sure that contributed to its smoking vice. At the same time I wondered about new rings - a bloke on the CT forum ignored advice and honed his bores with the engine (and crankshaft) in situ, which set me off pondering the same approach. However I decided I don't want to do that. Honing was quite messy when I last did it and the grit & swarf would always play on my mind, no matter how thorough the clean-up afterwards. So I wondered whether there would be any merit in just renewing the oil control rings, but leaving the compression rings as they are? Could it make oil consumption worse if not done in conjunction with honing? Visually the bores look good - no scoring and the hone marks are still visible in places. There is a lip at the top of the bore though. Standard pistons 85k miles old. I know the proper job is to get the bock out and strip it down but I have so little time to spend on it, that would probably add another year onto my 'cheap and cheerful' project, which I want to complete for next year's RBRR. Thanks, Pete

On big end bearing clearance, my early Spitfire & Vitesse workshop manual (1967 I think, haven't got it to hand) gives a range of 0.0005 - 0.002, but the later manual (1969 - 1980) says 0.001 - 0.003 for small and large journal models.

Mmm I'm sceptical. The papers love an 'eccentric inventor in garden shed' story. If you pay much attention to electric vehicle news you will notice that there is a revolutionary battery breakthrough every couple of months - in a laboratory somewhere. Vanadium flow batteries used to crop up a lot. The story definitely implies that these will not be rechargeable so would have some interesting problems with deployment. Who knows, maybe that will turn out to be the best solution though - changing batteries rather than charging them. It's been tried before with lithium batteries but never took off (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place_(company)). The thing about the story I find easiest to believe is that a man with 8 children decides to spend his free time in the shed...

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1158769 I knew the Italia was a rare and desirable car but didn't realise they would command as much as £120k. I had to count the zeros twice to make sure!

Did you have a t-piece in there before? Something like this http://www.jamespaddock.co.uk/oil-pressure-t-piece-2 I haven't got a rocker feed but use t-adaptor for oil pressure gauge plus warning-lamp sender.

Thanks very much for this comprehensive reply! I will be referring back to it fairly often I reckon. The machinist ummed and ahhed about my options but ended up recommending modifying the Mk3 head to take the larger valves, rather than buying another head or heavily skimming the 1500 head. I will also be replacing the rocker gear, it's all quite worn. Interesting that you suggest the external rocker oil feed - I've read mixed opinions about them! But maybe my worn rocker shaft is a clue.. Likewise port matching - I was only going to do something about alignment of the exhaust manifold, as it has slots rather than stud holes and there is a lot of free movement if just aligning to the studs. New timing chain and sprockets are on the shopping list too - am not certain whether to go duplex or not. Have heard the available simplex chains stretch quite quickly. Glad to hear your positive view on the Newman cam. I am leaning towards their 280-degree 30/70 profile. Thanks Nick as well for your experience, it seems encouraging so I'll take the plunge and get some valves / guides / etc ordered! Is it worth getting 3-angle cuts on inlet and exhaust seats? Will longevity of exhausts be an issue? Part of the reason for my hesitance over exactly what to do is that I did the Coast 2 Coast in a MkIV spit which had a Piper fast road (I think) cam, and really didn't like the gutless performance below 3k rpm. Top end was good but not worth the trade-off in my opinion, if you have to scream up the gentlest gradient in 2nd gear... But after last year's RBRR I had been thinking about getting a bit more performance (and reducing the oil consumption).

Hello all, I introduced myself a few months ago on the 'welcome' thread, but work / kids etc have distracted me all summer. Can you give me opinions on my plans please, I am indecisive and could spend another 6 months weighing up options. Apologies if this is long. I’ve got a mk3 Spitfire with standard FD engine and I’d like to squeeze a bit more power out of it, without going mad or bankrupt. I really want to avoid is losing all the mid-range power - I have to pootle through town for an hour any time I want to go anywhere. The head is off and my current plan is: Open the short-side radius up a little, using dremel & guidance from the DIY threads on here Have my local machinist re-cut the inlet seats to take the larger MkIV valves (including blend the throat a bit if necessary) Skim head to 9.5:1 (?) CR. Not sure how high to go with 25-65 cam and 98 octane. Maybe back-cut new inlet & ex valves, using a pillar drill as a lathe New unleaded exhaust seats, new guides, new standard single springs, re-use the old spring cups and collets. Properly align the exhaust manifold somehow or other. For induction it’s just got the standard HS2’s, plus radius stub stacks and K&N’s. When the head goes back on it’ll have a Phoenix 4-2-1 manifold which has been hanging on the garage wall for about 2 years. Donning my tin hat for criticism, I am still using points & condenser ignition. My main uncertainty is the valves. I’ve read that bigger valves will hurt the mid-range, because your gas velocity is lower. However I’ve also read those larger 1.44” inlets are best! Should I just stick with standard 1.31” valves and SSR mods? Should I use my spare 1500 head with its 1.38” inlets (will require a big skim)? Should I buy a big-valve head? My longer term plan (2021 probably) is to go for a slightly hotter cam, maybe Newman PH2 or TR5 profile. That will come with a full engine-out rebuild though, which I can’t stomach at the moment. Thanks for reading! Pete

I was considering a Huco pump, but want to see how she behaves now I've fitted a heatshield and fixed the blowing exhaust downpipe flange, which was raising the engine bay temperature a bit! Just need some warm weather for a test drive... I did look at re-routing the fuel line. Will go down that road as and when I ditch the mechanical pump. Hamish I had a filter dangling close to the exhaust, and realised that probably was absorbing a lot of heat to removed it. Presume your mods had a noticeable effect?

Thanks all, much obliged. Yes John, not sure how the FBHVC pulled that out of the bag but I'm not complaining. In a way I don't really want more people to use classics to get around the charge, as then TFL would remove the exemption! Thanks Nick, yes I ended up getting my early straight crank re-cut with a taper, as the keyway was mullered. Hopefully won't need to remove the pulley any time soon! It's running but giving me headaches with chronic fuel vaporisation (I think). Lovely interior though so it's a nice place to sit while the bonnet's up, waiting for it to cool down. Thanks very much for the spares offer; current block & crank are still standard sizes so shouldn't have any issues there, plus I've amassed a spare crank and rods. No doubt there will be plenty of surprises to come though.

Hello all, please may I come in. I only have enough energy to concentrate on one forum, and was using CT for a while. Recently got bored to death waiting for the pages to load so drifted away. I see a couple of familiar names here. I've spent a lot of time reading this forum and am well impressed with the level of technical knowledge and discussion. I'm definitely more of a novice myself; did a bit of thermo / fluid dynamics as part of an electrical engineering degree so understand some of the words at least. In the garage I've got a mk3 Spitfire which is bog standard but due an engine rebuild, and a 1300fwd which has just had the dubious honour of being my first car engine rebuild. Still running-in, with a few snags to sort out. I've got a few options with the Spit rebuild but am struggling to decide what to do. Will start a thread shortly to elaborate. Incidentally I'm based in London, close to Waterloo. Terrible place to drive but there are quite a few classics tucked away round here.