Escadrille Ecosse Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 1 minute ago, hardhatharry said: Colour matched to the original Spax colour by my local paint shop Obsessive? Never Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 30 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said: Obsessive? Never got some repro stickers coming even though they are hidden under the black plastic shrouds, obsessive?? me??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 really am made up how well they came out, like new ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 After watching Wigan Athletic loose to Gillingham I thought I would cheer myself up by doing some shed work. Converted a very rusty wiper motor to something presentable. and attempted to repair the rather floppy transmission tunnel er....cardboard. I will see in the morning if I am successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 Fibre glassing the transmission tunnel worked, its now nice and solid, just needs tidying up  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 Managed to get a few hours in today. Greased up the wiper motor and fitted. Found the new coil bracket and bolted that in. Searched round for the holes for the starter solenoid fitment and eventually found that I had welded up one of them so drilled out the hole and struggled to fit the solenoid bracket as I was on my own. Next fit missing jubilee clips, brake pipe clips and sort out the wiring.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 1 hour ago, hardhatharry said: Searched round for the holes for the starter solenoid fitment and eventually found that I had welded up one of them  it’s not just me then! 1 hour ago, hardhatharry said: struggled to fit the solenoid bracket as I was on my own. Arms too short? Need orangutan arms mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Quite unusual having a brake servo on a Spitfire isn't it Harry. Do you find it a useful upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 Never drove with one but a standard 1500 spitfire can be a bit of a bugger to stop. My engine is going to be a bit more fruity than standard so every little helps. The master cylinder also has a larger than standard bore to move more fluid, I have braided hoses and high iron content drilled and grooved front disks to fit also. I have always found braking to be a afterthought on British cars and everyone I have owned I have upgraded the stopping power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 If you have a bigger M/C bore then you'll need the servo to get the pedal effort back down again. Biggest improvement is the use of decent pads. That excludes anything sold by the usual suspects and anything with "Green" in the manufacturers name...... I like Mintex M1144. Iran Spitfire brakes on my my Herald for quite a while. They were fine until I had a tweaked 1500 in it.... then pad fade became a feature. I fitted Vitesse brakes and that sorted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 Ahh I remember asking a year ago about brake pads and it was between EBC Green Stuff and the Mintex ones. I plumbed for the EBC's as the Mintex were described as "race" pads but afterwards I was assured that they weren't and better than the EBCs. I will be trying the EBC's first but if they aint up to it I will buy and fit the Mintex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radioactive Man Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 Mintex is way better than Green Stuff from my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 5 minutes ago, Radioactive Man said: Mintex is way better than Green Stuff from my experience. Mine too. Performance of the EBC stuff is underwhelming to say the least. The Mintex are thoroughly reassuring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamish Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 I’d use Mintex 1144 on my 3a if I could find an affordable set. They seem to be £140 ish for mine currently using NOS. Ferrodo which are brill from cold so ideal for my sprints. But can’t find more of them.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 Little bit of work done on the dash, removing the veneer and making some extra holes. Also the new veneer was delivered today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John I Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 15 minutes ago, hardhatharry said: Also the new veneer was delivered today   Ooooh, that looks nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 Any recommendations on the varnish to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 Very nice indeed. 2 pack polyurethane is often recommended and was used on the later cars I believe. But I have heard that it can crack relatively easily. When I did one many years ago I used standard polyurethane. Start with sealer coat and then keep adding coats with fine sanding in between until you get the depth of finish you like. Lasted many years  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John I Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 17 minutes ago, hardhatharry said: Any recommendations on the varnish to use? I would use a marine varnish like internationals compass, these have uv filters which help protect the varnish from sun damage. Good quality one pack, easy to use and produces a good shiny finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 On 12/21/2020 at 9:55 AM, sparky_spit said: If you can find a 218142 head, which is "big valve" and from a Toledo I think, you will get 9.6:1 on a 1500. I have that head on my 1500 engine and have measured the CR so I know it is correct. See the chart attached. Where abouts is the 218*** number stamped on the head?, I have 3 x 3122 heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 1 hour ago, hardhatharry said: Where abouts is the 218*** number stamped on the head?, I have 3 x 3122 heads. Found it under the grime, result 2 of the engines have 218142 heads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 Decided to start to put the overdrive back together for testing, I dug out my build jig for long pointy objects commonly known as a crate and got to cleaning of the gaskets. I got the gearbox and adaptor plates nicely cleaned off and opened the gasket kit to find it didn't include that gasket, doh! Ordered with some other bits I found were missing (nothing serious) and wait, photo is prior to cleaning the gaskets). So I found something else to do. I grabbed the box marked shocks and dug out the doo-hickory I bought off the internet to compress them and got to work. The doo-hickory works well. And the completed shocks look like the new ones in the brochure which is nice. I didnt get chance to fit them so thats for another day. Time to push the car out of the garage and do more bodywork and some electrics......   Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 So this is a strange one, I think I have 2 starter solenoids and I dumbly didnt take a picture of the solenoids when I took them apart. I have the standard Lucas solenoid like so..... but there are some strange wiring going on and not wired like the manual. And I have this..... Which is connected to the starter motor. The one in the first picture is a replacement for the one I got in the car as that was generally falling apart. The previous owner has extended the white with red tracer wire and yellow with white tracer wire down to what I assume is another solenoid. Yellow with white tracer and pink with white tracer is on the positive side of the coil. White with black tracer is on the negative side of the coil. All the big brown wires are on one side of the of the Lucas solenoid withe the battery connection the other side has a thick black wire going down to the other solenoid. There is a white with slate tracer floating round that I dont have an idea what that connects to. Any idea what I need to connect to get this working?  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhatharry Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 Sorry another question when fitting the overdrive adaptor plate to the gearbox should this pin be pointing towards the centre of the gearbox or away from the gearbox (opposite direction). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zetecspit Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 9 hours ago, hardhatharry said: So this is a strange one, I think I have 2 starter solenoids and I dumbly didnt take a picture of the solenoids when I took them apart. I have the standard Lucas solenoid like so..... but there are some strange wiring going on and not wired like the manual. And I have this..... Which is connected to the starter motor. The one in the first picture is a replacement for the one I got in the car as that was generally falling apart. The previous owner has extended the white with red tracer wire and yellow with white tracer wire down to what I assume is another solenoid. Yellow with white tracer and pink with white tracer is on the positive side of the coil. White with black tracer is on the negative side of the coil. All the big brown wires are on one side of the of the Lucas solenoid withe the battery connection the other side has a thick black wire going down to the other solenoid. There is a white with slate tracer floating round that I dont have an idea what that connects to. Any idea what I need to connect to get this working?  My guess is that you have a dolomite 1500 flywheel and starter. Or possibly just starter, which is pre-engaged as shown. A normal spitfire starter is an inertia type. (i think the pre-engaged flywheel has the bevel on the ring gear different to spitfire, an inertia starter won't work well with dolly flywheel) So a PO has just added wiring to "sort" the problem. You could lose the original solenoid altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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