Wow! It's been a long time!

Finally got the Spitfire working again - As previously suspected the starter motor had jammed, causing the flywheel bolts to shear. No damage to the crank or flywheel thankfully, so it was a relatively simple job (albeit with some clutch issues on reassembly) and cheap too (with the exception of the brilliant high-torque starter motor!)

Took the car for it's MOT which it passed with no problems, however the battery is flat and refuses to take any charge, so that will need replacing...

When I went to collect the car from the MOT station the garage numpty connected the starter pack the wrong way round and blew up my coil - Nice one!

So the car is insured, taxed and tested, but not yet driveable...

Once I have it back I will put the hardtop on for the winter (not the Ashley, I did a swap with another club member for a shiny black fibreglass standard hardtop)

Jobs for this year include treatment of a few areas of rust (particularly in the boot floor where it has rusted through the area where the exhaust bracket is welded on underneath - this will need some welding) Amazing how even a fully restored car can start to show severe wear and tear in just a few years... in retrospect I wonder if I should have had the entire chassis and body galvanised before painting. Expensive, but probably worth it in the long run...

How long before the car has to undergo another retoration I wonder? 5 years? 10 years? Next time I will do all the work myself, and I'm seriously tempted to send it off for chemical stripping and electroplating for corrosion protection... i guess you have to expect it when you use a car properly and enthusiastically all year round and in all weathers...

It's been a while...

The Spitfire came out of winter storage, charged up the battery and gave it a quick check over. Engine started, all seemed fine. Then a spirited little jauny to show her off to someone at the March Pendle & Pennine Club Triumph meeting resulted in a nasty grinding noise from somewhere around the bellhousing. A quick straw-poll amongst the pub experts concluded it was probably the thrust bearing (why didn't I change it when I last had the gearbox out?)

The next day I drove the short distance to the guy who rebuilt the car and engine a few years ago to get an expert opinion, but by the time I got there the noise had stopped. He thought that it probably was indeed the thrust bearing, that had seized up a bit over the winter lay-up, and had now free'd off. The following day I took a longer trip out to Skipton, but on the way back the noise returned, then there was a nasty bang, the engine stalled, and I coasted to the side of the road. The car wouldn't start and turning it over sounded very nasty. AA recovered me back home...

After a few weeks of depression, thinking I'd need an expensive engine rebuild, I decided to check the end float, with the help of Martin "Raider" Randle. Absolutely no movement on the pulley at all. We put the car in 4th gear and rocked it backwards and forwards to have a listen, and there were still some nasty noises...

At this point it occured to me that the starter motor has been dodgy for a long time, engaging and disengaging poorly. It was a long shot but I wondered if that was the culprit. It's only 2x 9/16" bolts, so I set about removing it, this is what it looked like:

Now, rocking the car backwards and forwards in top gear makes no nasty noises, so HOPEFULLY I have found the problem. I've decided to treat myself to an upgraded hi-torque starter motor (not cheap at £190, but should help starting, which has never been easy!)

New starter will arrive today, so I'll soon find out!

Long Time No Blog!!!

OK, I think it's about time I revisited/revamped/revitalise/revive my Blog! Since the last post I had yet another gearbox issue, not sure why but my car basically ate my gearbox. Many, many thanks to Dave Pearson at Canley Classics who stripped it down while I waited to diagnose the problem, then rebuilt it with off-the-shelf parts at no cost to me. What a top bloke you are, Dave!

On to future projects for the Spitfire:
* Since the restoration was completed the tail edge of the bootlid has started to blister and bubble. The original bootlid was in pretty poor shape and repaired, but I think it really needs raplacing now. New steel bootlids are around £350, fibreglass ones a lot cheaper, but I don't like the idea of a fibreglass boot AND there is a strong possibility that the paint will fade differently to that on metal bodywork.
* The starter motor is starting to fail, it disengages and spins disengaged about 2 seconds after I start to turn the engine over. I'm planning on fitting a High-Torque replacement starter motor (approx £140)
* Whilst my trunnions have not failed (yet!), I like the idea of maintenance-free front suspension geometry and will probably fit the Caterham trunionless front uprights available from Canley Classics over the winter.

Hoping to do the Historic Counties Run next year, so these upgrades will be done by then.

I plan to take part in the 2012 Round Britain Reliability Run, so I'll be saving around £20 per month towards that to cover fuel, entry fees, spares, etc.

That's all for now, folks!

Nearly there...

So, the replacement gearbox is in, fully bolted up and ready to go. I've put new wiring in for the o/d switch, and refitted the speedo cable, o/d harness and clutch save cylinder. I then put the fibreglass tunnel back in and bolted it into place. Then I realised I hadn't yet filled the gearbox with oil! As this is a near impossible job without a hydraulic ramp with the tunnel in place, I then spent another 15 minutes removing the tunnel again, so that I can fill the gearbox oil! Seriously considering cutting an access hole in the side of the tunnel for future access to the filler plug. I would then need to make a cover plate and cut a flap in the carpet with some velcro to keep it in place... Probably worth the effort?

Hoping to have the car all back together in time for Drive it Day on Sunday, which should be easily possible if all goes smoothly...

Update on gearbox woes...

Having removed the gearbox and taken it to specialists K&N Transmissions in Longridge (thoroughly recommended btw!) I now know what the score is with the old gearbox: One knackered mainshaft and 2 knackered synbchro's (it also seems the egarbox had been cobbled together from 2 knackered old ones, as some of the parts were no correct - if you want to know which supplier to avoid send me a PM!)
Having investigated a few suppliers' prices for recon/rebuilt gearboxes (to varying degrees of rebuild, it seems!) I have today received a shint new 'box from Canley Classics (Mik Davies says the one on his racecar came from Canley's and has been thrashed to hell with no problems, so I'm fairly confident I've made the right choice). Dave even threw in a few old copies of Practical Classics, Classic Car, etc. as bed-time reading... thanks Dave!
I whizzed the new gearbox over to K&N to get the o/d and remote swapped over (OK, I could have probably done this myself, but he has the time and all my old bits...), so hopefully I'll have the old girl back on the road this weekend. I'm treating myself to a new Kenwood CD/radio with iPod input too, which I'll install at the same time as refitting the gearbox!

It's out!

After today I am going to add "Contortionist" to my CV. Undoing nuts and bolts around the bellhousing ideally requires long bendy arms like Mr Tickle, so that you can hold one spanner inside the cabin and another in the engine bay (or a spare grease monkey to hold one of the spanners!). After much fiddling I finally managed to remove them all, along with the clutch slave cylinder, gearbox mounting and starter motor. Then all I had to do was lift the gearbox, complete with overdrive and remote, out of the car. I called on the assistance of Martin "Raider" Randle, and after a bit of persuasion out it came (he had a 10 minute pass from Mrs Raider, but I think he was secretly glad to escape for a while as the inlaws were visiting!) Tomorrow I will nip over to the transmission specialist in Longridge to whom I have been recommended and see what gives...

Gearbox removal...

I still haven't sent my entry form in for the Club Triumph "Historic Counties Run", which this year is a coast-to-coast affair. The reason for this is that I've been too busy to get the gearbox problem sorted. i've found a place that can repair it locally, but I need to remove it first, so yesterday I took advantage of the lighter evenings and good weather to make a start on it. First jobs are to remove the "H" panel below the dash (and stereo), disconnect the battery, remove the footrest from the side of the tunnel, seats, seatbelt anchoring points, carpets and gearbox tunnel:


You can also see where the tunnel part of the floorpan has been modified to accept the overdrive unit - useful if anyone reading this is planning an overdrive conversion. I have a small curved plate that covers this and joins on to the back of the fibreglass tunnel, effectively giving access to the propshaft bolts.
Today I will disconnect all the electrics for the overdrive, unbolt the propshaft, mountings and bellhousing, then seek some assistance to lift out the gearbox and overdrive in one piece. Before starting I followed the advice in the Haynes manual, which allows the overdrive to be separated from the gearbox if necessary: jack up the back of the car so the rear wheels are in the air, get it up to 3rd with overdrive engaged, then disengage overdrive with the clutch fully depressed. Hopefully I'll be able to drop the gearbox off for repairs tomorrow...

Gearbox woes: update

After some investigation into the costs of reconditioned gearboxes, I've decided to see if I can get the gearbox looked at to see if it is repairable, expecially as it was rebuilt less than 4000 miles ago during the restoration. I've been recommended to try a chap in Longridge (near Preston, so not too far away), who's been rebuilding transmissions for over 30 years. I spoke to him and he says he'll take a look at it and give me a quote. He won't charge me a penny for taking the top off and dignosing the fault, so all sounds good! Just need to find time in my busy schedule to whip out the gearbox and get it over to him now!