1970 Spitfire resurrection

[Reg]

Nice one, well done to you Sir..

[mbellinger]

Great stuff H. Looking good now.

[jw67]

Looks fantastic =D>

[Howard81]

I haven't updated this for ages! The Spitfire has been behaving itself rather well, so has required nothing more than the regular fluids and levels checked. However, a clonk has been coming and going on power take off for a while, but I've never been able to pin-point it. It suddenly got a LOT worse a couple of weekends ago, so I haven't used it since then.

So today after work I decided to jack the car up and inspect how last year's suspension overhaul is holding up. The paint used on the drum and vertical bracket was Halford's engine enamel, the drive shaft was POR-15 and the tie bar was Plasti-Kote. The face of the drum was kept bare, hence the surface rust. The wheelarch was sprayed with that Hammerite undercoat in a can. It has all help up superbly!

Annoyingly, the powder-coated wheels have started to pickle with rust in a few spots - looks like the coating was a little thin, and as only two wheels on the same side are effected, it must be the grit trucks over the winter. It's not too bad though! I've no idea who did the powder-coating as they were an eBay bargain win, complete with new tyres.



Suspension all looks fine, poly bushes all in place and all the bolts are done up to spec. Result!







Brakes all good, barely need adjusting. I think they need bleeding though.



Half-shafts to diff bolts all nice and tight.

And then I found the source of the clonking - the rear propshaft joint has a massive amount of play.. I guess some of the little roller bearings have made a bid for freedom..



Annoyingly to remove the prop it looks like you have to remove the exhaust as well as the gearbox tunnel! So a right faff..

I think it's going to be easier to find a decent secondhand prop as due to the parking restriction notices that keep popping up I can't leave the car disabled for too long!!

The sump is also dripping oil onto the exhaust again.. not a lot I can do about that. The engine still needs sorting as the bearings are clonking more and more on cold startup!

No detailed pics of the other side as aside the brakes that's the only corner I haven't rebuilt yet!



I haven't had a chance to check the front end of the car yet. Stay tuned

[matienzo]

Howard,
Recon shafts are available from Jigsaw or GKN UJs are available from the TSSC club shop.
You shouldn't need to take the gearbox tunnel out to do this as each bolt is available if you turn the prop round 90degrees at a time.
Steve

[Jon Tilson]

I think its much easier to do the prop shaft bolts with the tunnel out. I think I have a spare spit prop for a non o/d car.
Does yours have o/d? Its not a bad job to do a hardy spicer though if you had a decent vice and sockest to use as drifts.

On the starting bearing knock, you need to spin it on the starter for a good few seconds to pick up oil pressure before pulling the choke to let it fire. Most of the oil filters thes days just dont have the anti drain valve, which was always iffy anyway.

Not too bad to reshell in situ though is a spit. Easier than a Dolly.


Jonners

[Howard81]

I've ordered a refurbished prop from James Paddock - for under £70 I think that's a pretty reasonable price!

[Howard81]

Well the prop arrived and it's the wrong one! It's an inch too short.. Checking my receipt I definately ordered the 38" prop (1300 o/d and 1500 non-o/d).. But have received the 37" 1500 o/d..

[Jon Tilson]

Does it have the sprint type CV joint at one end? That should give enough plunge to take up the inch. It may just feel a tad stiff if its all new.
When I converted a Spit to o/d the prop I had was if anything too long. I just loosened the engine mounts and moved it all forward enough.
An inch is well within tolerances on a Spit.... (well maybe not but they are far less accurately built than most cars).

Jonners

[Howard81]

I spoke to Paddocks who said that they were originally built as 37" 1500 O/D props but were too tight so didn't fit.. so were re-sold as 38" 1500 non-O/D and 1300 O/D props.. anyway, I've checked and the lengths of the joint as well within check.

Managed to get the old prop off on Saturday! Exhaust came off easily enough, but all the mounting rubbers I put on last year have perished beyond reuse and need replacing again

I didn't get around to refitting as I'd had enough of lying on the street under the car by then - the amount of wind was causing a load of dust to blow about which wasn't pleasant..

One question though.. which way round does the new prop go? One end is fixed, the other has the Hardy-Spicer and the sliding joint.

[JPB]

I'd put the end with the sliding splines at the same end as they were on the old shaft, that by default puts the pot joint at that end.

[Carledo]

1500 Spits that had the C/V'd shaft from new had the CV at the front end.

Steve

[Oli_88]

I don't know if you're going for an "as factory look", but you can get polyurethane exhaust hangers, might be of use?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170817873770? ... _562wt_698

[Howard81]

1500 Spits that had the C/V'd shaft from new had the CV at the front end.

Thanks for that!

It's a bit confusing as the two parts books I have show them at different ends..

I don't know if you're going for an "as factory look", but you can get polyurethane exhaust hangers, might be of use?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170817873770? ... _562wt_698

Ah! You would think so but the Spitfire ones look like this:



and



As far as I am aware, you can't get these in Poly..

[Oli_88]

How on earth does that first one even work?!

Fair enough though.