Nick B. Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Hi all I am back from a few years of silence when it comes to the spitfire. To recap the story of my spit, it underwent a nut and bolt resto between 2003-2008. The result were quite nice, went well and handled nicely, Longer halfshafts Swing springlowered rear ½ inchLowered front 380 springsAVO shocks Flowed headBalanced engine Overdrive (now working..)HS4 carbs I drove the car fairly much until 2012 where some bubbles started forming under the paint at the rearlights. Nothing serious. I removed the paint and found small rustblisters. It appeared that water had somehow managed to get under the paint - the paintknowing guys said it was proplerly down to bad prepping. The car were in 2013 sent of to a painter who would correct the small areas with rust. Nothing big, should be fairly easy. Then troubled started The painter unfortunately suffered from some kind of mental breakdown and couldn't remember where he had put the car. I found the spitfire in a forrest - half sandblasted and quite rusty. Unfortunately he had attempted sandblasting without removing interior, so everything were in a sorry state. This kind of left me shocked with very little trust in the human race. I know the is a picture of the car as it were found - but it isn't something that I have held onto - perhaps The Mad Welder has a copy of said picture? After recovering from this I dismantled the car completely. The Mad Welder kindly repaired damages to the car, and then the tub were sent to a professional blaster and metalized. Next step were sending it to a proper painter (who actually painted the car nicely - a first for everything....) For the last year I have slowly been putting the car together, and hopefully it will be ready for 10CR, which have been the motivation for getting the car back together. I can understand we have a few others on here who are attending 10CR As of yesterday the car looked like this The electrics has been sorted and are working properly, and the engine does not seem to have suffered from the harsh treatment. After cleaning up the carbs it started and was able to produce a satisfying oilpressure. So I more or less just need to refit interior trim and then I will be ready for 10CR. Cross your fingers Cheers Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Welcome back Nick - car's looking pretty good already. Look forward to seeing it on the 10 CR! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Good to see you again Nick, glad to hear you have managed to come through the troubles and have light at the other end of the tunnel now!! Car is looking very good considering what it has gone through! Phil (Another part time contributor these days, though hopefully be back a bit more often as soon as I start the bare metal/nut and bolt resto of my Mk1 2000!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 And Phil's back too! Long time, no hear - hope all is good with you? Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triumphlux Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 What a story But you still have the car ! AND you just need to fit a seat and you can drive it JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B. Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 Thanks for the kind words A few more days with the car has been a bit of a struggle. The car seems to fight back all the time - nothing goes in easy! For example - rear brake cylinders. First the bleed screw snapped of, and I had to replace the cylinder. The new cylinder appeared to be leaking through the piston? So another new cylinder in. Of course it was the left hand rear cylinder, so a loft of brakefluid had to med moved. Fortunately the third time was lucky, and now the cylinder is working. Then the the fueltank. It has been filled for two months with no problems. Then saturday I arrive to the garage to find the boot swimming with fuel dripping from the connection in the bottom of the tank. Odd - why now? And of course the fuel removed the fresh paint and sealer in the boot. Still - I managed to install H-support, radio, carpets and seatbelts (though seatbelts not in picture) My wife - the 10CR co-driver took the battle with door weatherstrips, and after a lot of swearing she managed to get it together I took a go on the sidewindow - but had troubles getting the window in alignment with the front windscreen. The distance between window and front is to wide.I am not really motivated to spend to much time on this - after 10CR I will be fitting GT6 sidewindows to the car. I tried to fit the buttons for the soft-top, but realised I did not have the right rivets. This I realised after putting a decent scratch in the fresh paint when the rivet-gun slipped while fitting a to big rivet for the button. No pics of that one. I just decided that this was plenty for one day. Did I mention I could not get the horn working? Well - upwards and onwards! Cheers Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattius Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Sounding very familiar nick, im currently struggling to get mine to MOT stage, can i get a bloody washer jet to work??? can i f..... I think the car likes the nice cosy garage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Yeah - they can forget what they are for I think. That bloody PI I had was like that...... Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B. Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 Hi all Car keeps fighting back. I purchased rivets today which where small enough to fit inside the buttons for the soft-top (the male buttons which are attached to the car. It worked quite well for 6 out of 8, but I came to a stop with the B-post cappings. I am having troubles with the ones on the B-post which are going through the B-post cappings. My problem is that the hole in the B-post appears to be to large for the rivet, and if I take a beefier rivet, I cannot press the buttons together. How do you work around this? Any attempt leaves me with a button and a rivet - but unfortunately not attached to the car. I managed to remove the wheels, which are getting new tyres tomorrow. Cheers Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Someone drilled the last rivets out with too big a drill....... Quite common unfortunately. If you can get at the back side, put a washer on the rivet for it to pull against. Otherwise you need to reduce the head size of the beefier rivet. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattius Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Yeap, i used a washer if the mk3 is the same as the 1500 you should be able to get an arm up there from the interior, i've also seen self tappers used but i've never found small enough headed ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtuckunder Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 On Vitesse rear poppers are held on with screw and nut, should work fine for the spit D post Screw 509688 hood retaining strip rear lower Nut 519989 use with 509688 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpitmkIIICPH Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Looking good Nick!! Nice to see your car together and looking forward to 10CR 2017 reports!! Oh and I also need the mad welders welding expertise (bashing together the sheddy saloon) some time next year so please hurry up and free him from his current work.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMH Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Just get someone to buy the blue mk 3 I have for sale, get Nick to finish off his car, and the workshop will have space for another Triumph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B. Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 On Vitesse rear poppers are held on with screw and nut, should work fine for the spit D post Screw 509688 hood retaining strip rear lower Nut 519989 use with 509688 Excellent - Screws and nuts has been ordered :-) Cheers Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B. Posted August 7, 2017 Author Share Posted August 7, 2017 OK - we are getting close now. Managed to get the soft-top back on, and 'repair' the clear plastic with some duct-tape. Within the last few days I have managed to get the car almost back together again. The door weather-trim is in place (lot of swearing), and there are only three things left on the list : Fix leaking fuel tank. Adjust door window-winder mechanism in both sides, and figure out why horn does not work. I trust the Mad Welder will assist me in the horn trouble shooting, as he is the mastermind behind the electrics in the car. When these things has been taken car of, I can give the car a small test drive, and then of to the MOT-station :-) OK - we are getting close now. Managed to get the soft-top back on, and 'repair' the clear plastic with some duct-tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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