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Spitfire Service


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Hello All

             I decided today to move the Vitesse off the lift and put the Spitfire on there as I want to do a major service and check everything before the spring as we hope to go to Spain in June for 3 weeks and I will be going to Spa 6 hours later in the year I hope

I thought I would start with the usual oil change and looking at the 2 x 5lts ones on the shelf one only has 3.5lts in it so that means Spitty has used 1.5lts in 5,000 miles

So that is 3 pints in 5,000 miles so about 1 pint every 1600 miles so I suppose that is not bad for our type of cars?

I still thing the sump baffle I made may have somthing to do with it!

I thought I would change the fuel filter as well as it has done 20,000 miles probably still clean but a nos was only £5 so to me a no brainer!

I am going to put synthetic oil in the gearbox as I read  on here or TSSC site it is good?.

I am going to check wheel bearings and u/j's and bushes etc plus pads and brake shoes (nice NOS thank's to Nick)

As I said to the Memsahib there is bugger all I can do about engine, gearbox or diff fails but all the rest I can check!

I carry all the sensors and coil pack I need for the EFI and the pump is old Range Rover type so could be sourced easily

As I say to people I do not have to fit them all the nice breakdown people would as it would be cheaper than shipping us home!

Roger

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i tried synthetic engine oil and lost oil pressure, why change something that you know works ?

i'd love to do a foreign race trip, but i may have scuppered that with my new engine and carbs ! !

i know they did the D type as one, but a short nosed E type is less attractive

h

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 Hello Hamish

                       I already use synthetic engine oil but the good stuff and expensive (mobil 1 10w60 race formula which has enough of the stuff that stops cam followers wearing)

It holds oil pressure well and is not supposed to degrade as quick if it gets over headed so I read!

I built this engine with cam bearings fitted to get closer clearances and blue printed the pump and opened up the oil ways as shown in the Triumph tuning manual.

Plus full circle bronze thrust washers and all conrods cleaned up polished and balanced and shot peened and the whole lot balanced.

The block is decked with 0.005" pop up I gas flowed the head to the best of my ability and made gauges to measure port sizes to get all the same and chambers cleaned up and balance to within 1cc

NOS unleaded head and bronze guides with oil seals on inlets and solid spacers on the rocker shaft to help keep the oil in!

I have a Newman PH2 fast road cam and the good followers.

I skimmed the flywheel to make it fully machined and plugged the Triumph balance hole and it now only has a small dimple for balancing it it!

I altered the oil pick up for better pick up and baffled the sump plus duplex chain.

Plus it runs ITB's EFI

So not quite as Triumph built it

The Diff uses Red Line oil (expensive but good!)

So I thought why not try synthetic of the right grade in the gearbox and overdrive I have read a lot of good reports about it!

Roger

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Absolutely right Roger - 'time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted'. Or 'if you are going touring, give the car a comprehensive service and overhaul beforehand'!

However, I am with Hamish on synthetic oil. Tried that a couple of years go in my 3A. An already leaky engine positively wept the stuff and the rest evaporated! Replaced it with stodgy old Halfords Classic stuff and normal usage resumed. Must be something about these old Triumph engines. But if you don't try, you won't know.

Hope you get away though as I always enjoy your tour reports. 

Miles

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Preparation generally pays off.  A little luck also helps but as in most things, the harder you work the luckier you are.

Never used synthetic oil in Triumph engines (yes in gearboxes and diffs).  Semi-synthetic in the A6, changed every 6 - 10k, seems to give good results though.

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On 1/19/2022 at 11:41 AM, Hamish said:

i'd love to do a foreign race trip, but i may have scuppered that with my new engine and carbs ! !

Hello Hamish

                     More of what you are missing(I am Cruel!)

Plus the crowded train we came back on!!

Roger

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Hello All

              As part of the servicing and preperation for the Spanish trip I thought a new spare fan belt would a good idea!

So a quick hunt on Fleabay and I found this supplier so I bought one for Spitty and one for the Vitesse.(different lenghts)

I think I may throw all the old ones away! I keep toooo much old stuff which I never use again!!

I know they are not the same Dunlop same as Lucas!

Plus at that price they are a service item?

SPZ1087-DUN | Wedge Belts | eBay

Roger

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