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Vitesse Body Tidying


Nick Jones

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It's been 27 years since I did the bodywork on my Vitesse and, in places, patina is turning more to mange.

As it's due to make a public appearance in June, I thought I ought to deal with some of the uglier ones.  The lower edges of the bonnet under the catches were looking especially rough and when I poked at them I found holes.....  sad.png
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I could have made repair sections out of thin material and folded the edge as original - but that fold is why it's got holes in now - so I dug some 20 x 4mm strip out of my scraps bin and made a more solid repair section.
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tacked on the outside

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and welded inside

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Just one side done so far and not yet finished off, but the other is just as bad.  Also a small patch od crusty grot in the lower front corner of the N/S rear wheel arch means that my previously un-welded rear tub is in need of the hot metal glue gun.

 

Truth is that the old girl needs a freshen-up all over and under - but that'll have to wait 'till a certain Spitfire is out of the way.

Nick

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This car is surprisingly un-rusty.  Rear tub is completely un-welded before now, though not for longer.  Bonnet is pretty crap though.  I have another, which is a much better starting point for a really nice bonnet, but needs more that a quick tart-up.

 

In fact the weight added (small as it is) probably does not bring these wings, 13/60 replacements from 1986 and pressed from stupidly thin steel, up to the weight of the originals.  It was tempting to replace the whole damn corner with 1.5mm to stop it distorting when the bonnet catches are done up.  The catch pocket is a difficult shape though.

 

Finished it off today except for final flatting and topcoat and moved on to the other side.  This looked better, but in fact still had two holes along the bottom and another higher up which meant a patch as well as the strip.

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So chop it all out and paint with zinc rich primer

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Form repair section

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Tack into place

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Weld behind - you can work off the thick onto the thin that way and avoid blowing holes (well, mostly)

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Then the front, though it barely needed it

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Grind back

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Fill (which is awkward because of the distortion from the catch)

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And primer.  

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Tomorrow is not forecast to be painiting weather so I guess I'll be chopping the grot out of the rear arch corner and welding my previously unwelded tub.

 

Nick

 

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Good work Nick,

               If I had your welding/fab skills I would probably have kept my spitfire tub metal. However I don't and my time and patients on these tasks isn't good. However this does make it a pleasure to watch you work you magic.

 

Chris.

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Thanks Chris.  I'm not that good at it unfortunately.  My son is better, certainly at shaping steel and making panel sections, though he has yet to learn the fine art of filling and shaping.......  He will be getting to that very soon though!

 

Bonnet now done.  I'm pretty happy with it as was only intended to be a quick tart-up.

 

Left

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Left inside (hairy Spitfire owner in background)

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Right

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Beautiful again..... (bit less scruffy anyway, picture flatters it!)

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Nick

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MoT next week....... will need the usual fiddling about with the handbrake and horn but hopefully not too much more.

 

Need to get a set of injectors cleaned and flow matched.  The existing ones came from two different scrappers in 2004...... pretty sure that there are issues with them now (hardly surprising!).

 

There's still a small hole in the front bottom corner of the LH rear arch that needs digging out and welding.

 

Tidy up the wheels, going white and flakey under the laquer.

 

Fit an oil temperature gauge (which may lead to other things)

 

Rebuild, paint and fit the other bonnet (biggish job).

 

Vented discs with new wide M16 calipers.  Might look at doing rear discs as well - most of my recent braking issues seem to come from the rear - down to crappy parts I think.

 

Needs paint all over......

 

Throttle bodies....... to wring the best from the cam.

 

BMW diff? (liking Gareths project!)

 

Nick

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Pre-MoT checks today revealed

- a horn that sounded continuously when reconnected. I knew there was a reason I disconnected it, but remembered it as a random activation, usually on roundabouts.  Must have got worse.  Fixed by fitting an insulating washer between the back of the steering wheel and the slip ring.  Made it from a marge-pot lid.

 

- Split ball joint gaiter on N/S wishbone ball joint. Joint was new last year and fine apart from this.  Fitted a good used one (OEM standard) from my collection.

 

- Removed rear brake drums and emptying out the drifts of dust before adjusting.  These shoes, fitted just before the 10CR produce dust like no others I've encountered.  Caused us trouble on the 10CR by dusting up to the extend that it causing pulsing from the back which was hydraulically transmitted to the front and felt like a badly warped disc.

 

- Empty washer bottle.  Filled it.  It's way too small.....

 

Hopefully that's it......

 

Nick

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Fit an oil temperature gauge (which may lead to other things)

 

 

Yep your heading for a world of pain, you will never treat your engine the same afterwards  :yes:  Mind you one of the best things fitted on this rebuild! 

 

 

 

- Split ball joint gaiter on N/S wishbone ball joint. Joint was new last year and fine apart from this.  Fitted a good used one (OEM standard) from my collection.

 

 

 

Had an interesting discussion about a track rod gaiters on the vitesse for this MOT, they are two years old lets say 500-1000 miles, one carefull owner and by last year they were cracking and noted at MOT although not a failure (this cheap Indian Rubber really is the pits). This year I forgot about them, well it doesn't go out much and I only got the engine back in a week or two before the MOT was due. So day before MOT I remembered and looking at the advisory description it says cracked but not enough to allow the ingress of dirt or water. This year they should have failed!   So I took some rubber self amalgaming tape (not sure about that spelling) and wrapped it tightly around the existing rubbers, and pointed it out to the tester (OK I do know him)  He said, fine they are sealed against the ingress of dirt and water at this time! and thought it would probably last longer than new cheap gaiters anyway.

 

Make note to self order some nice Silicon ones before next year.

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I liberate gaiters from old joints if in good condition.  I've a reasonable collection of R100 ones.  Can't resist a ball joint dangling in the breeze at a scrapyard either.  The OEM ones are very tough and last for ages.  I don't know who it is that thinks it's ok to use this dog-poo based rubbish for classic car parts - but may the fleas of a thousand camels infest his armpits.......

 

Nick

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Fitting oil temp guaging need not be a nightmare.

For the VW world, VDO make a dipstick with a temperarture sensor in the tip.  They are available alone (use an old water temp gauge, with a resistance to balance the input (What I do.  Cheapskate).

Or buy a stick/sensor and matching gauge, from:

 

http://www.justkampers.com/vdo-oil-temperature-gauge-kit-with-dipstick-sender-1200-1600cc-models-to-1979.html

 

And, I have a pair of trackrod ends that have a grease nipple port in the tope, and sliding whashers to contain the ball and grease.  No rubber gaiter to perish. They were Standard Vanguard parts and just bolt on.

 

John

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Fitting oil temp guaging need not be a nightmare.

 

 

Hi John

 

No I meant that once you realise what your oil temperature actually is at different times, you view what your asking the engine to do differently.

 

I bought one of these new on ebay for £12 and with an adaptor it goes straight in to the plug just above the PRV.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-2-52mm-12V-Red-LED-DIGITAL-OIL-TEMP-TEMPERATURE-GAUGE-FOR-CAR-MOTOR-/390984529854?hash=item5b087e77be

 

Alan

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I've bought something very similar.  Just need to sort the adapter now......

 

MoT pass today.  No advisories.  He commented that he looks forward to doing this car - which is nice!  He also commented that it had done some miles since he last saw it a year ago (just under 6k) and I explained that it had been to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy and various other places.  An eyebrow was raised......

 

Nick

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  • 2 years later...

Hello Nick

Just found this site - Iam in Exeter with a 1971 mk2 vitesse convertible stuck on bonnet alignment cannot obtain 5 to 8 mm gap to screen as per the manuals , with all the queries as to which way should the links 121254 be fitted slot to the top or or to the bottom fixing .

Just read you changed /fitted yours - did you get the gap correct , if so slot to top or bottom ?

Iam a member of Club T too old now to be  competitor any more.

regards

Gerald

 

 

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Hi Gerald

No need to apologise about being in Exeter :biggrin:

The slots should go to the bottom.

NB when given a brand new factory bonnet (many decades ago) I had a similar problem getting decent alignment (and still isn't perfect today with either of my bonnets) I found I had to extend the slots to get it close (in fact I made a new set of stainless ones so had oodles of adjustment) now I find I can remove and refit or even swap between the bonnets and it drops back just about right (provided I line up the pop marks I made when I had it as I wanted it).

Alan

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Can't remember which way up mine are offhand. Will shuffle out and have a look later.

I do know I had to make some longer ones to get the bonnet to sit right. There are many possible reasons for that though given the, err, varied, provenance and condition of the parts used in the build.

Nick

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  • 1 month later...

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