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1976 Triumph Spitfire Build thread


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On 3/6/2021 at 10:50 AM, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Exciting stuff. All making me very keen to get on with mine now the current domestic projects are reaching the end. 

What cam/head combo did you finally decide on?

The Cam is a TH5 dunno about the head yet, still thinking.........

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back to the oily bits!! I always wanted an o/d gearbox but I had dismissed the idea because....well they were always too expensive. Its always been in my ebay save list and suddenly there was a glut of cheap o/d j type gearboxes and I managed to bag one.....unfortunately its in bits, well as the saying goes beggars cant be choosers. Original seller said low mileage but failed 4th gear while o/d not engaged, there was no elaboration on what "failed" means. Turning the gearbox it seems very smooth and I cannot see any damage. Is there a common failure to look for?   IMG_20210318_171519.thumb.jpg.cd045dce0eebb09e555531a3ced7a1cc.jpg

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I popped to the shed to investigate a little more, spun the gears and no obvious damage, engaged 4th again no obvious damage but there is quite a bit of play in the selector I dont know if that is normal.

Spinning gears

Spinning gears with 4th engaged

 

Selector play

Any thoughts....good or bad?

I'm thinking this is ok and agree with the general conscientious, its the o/d unit

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2 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

It's a long time since I've used or worked on a single rail gearbox but the linkage always had a  reputation of being about as precise as stirring porridge. 

I remember a particularly unpleasant Marina. Mind you in comparison to the Austin Allegro and Maxi gear changes it was a model of perfection 

That make me chuckle :D

 

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10 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

but the linkage always had a  reputation of being about as precise as stirring porridge

Never really under stood that.  I had a single rail OD in my Herald (a couple in fact because I broke the first one) and the change was fine.  In fact the second one, which I also rebuilt before fitting, had about the best change of any Triumph box I've owned.  Gear lever was cut shortish (rubber bit removed) but no other mods.

Also a couple of 1850 boxes  (or maybe three, that 1850 ate a few), all single rail, all decent change.  Again, I cut down the gear leaver to loose the rubber bit.

I am inclined to agree with Colin about the problem actually being in the OD.  J-types of a certain age had known problems with their one-way sprag clutches being defective and slipping under load. IIRC this happens when the OD is NOT engaged and is ok when it is.  I would expect it to happen in all gears though and actually be worse in the lower gears.  How much movement is there in the tip of the input shaft? starnge things can happen to 4th engagement if the mainshaft tip bearing is shot - but the single rail 1500 boxes are usually ok there.....

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3 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Never really under stood that.  I had a single rail OD in my Herald (a couple in fact because I broke the first one) and the change was fine.  In fact the second one, which I also rebuilt before fitting, had about the best change of any Triumph box I've owned.  Gear lever was cut shortish (rubber bit removed) but no other mods.

Also a couple of 1850 boxes  (or maybe three, that 1850 ate a few), all single rail, all decent change.  Again, I cut down the gear leaver to loose the rubber bit.

Nick, you're not the only person I've heard say that and contradict the more widespread (and quite possibly lazy) reputation.

My experience of driving them is very limited and not uplifting.

But I'll go with your view on that and assume I got a crap one. In a crap car! 

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Hello All

              My single rail gearbox seems ok to me I did rebuild that link last time but did not notice much if any difference.

But they all seem poor compared to moderns!

I think it is proably o/d problem

Harry when you rebuild the gearbox it may be worth fitting the longer needle bearing in the 1st motion shaft like I did(there is a thresd on here somewhere?)

Roger

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Very nice Harry. Sorry if you covered it further up the thread but are those drip trays from the Aussie bloke on ebay, or did you make your own?

I was idly looking at them yesterday - someone on the TSSC facebook page is bringing a load of them back from Australia. Thought I might have a go at bashing some up myself. 

 

Edit: I just checked the previous page and see they are indeed from the Australian chap. He's doing a decent amount of business by the look of it!

Edited by PeteStupps
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