1970 Spitfire resurrection

[Howard81]

Reported it to the police this morning, and sadly they said that this sort of thing is common. They did say that they would see if any CCTV footage came out as there are some traffic cameras further down the road, so fingers crossed!

I'm wondering if I would be able to get anything from the local council (Tower Hamlets). The items left over from the roadworks have been there for well over a year when they installed a million speed bumps and a cycle lane that goes the wrong way around the one-way system . I told them this 9 months ago, and the said it would be dealt with. Surely it's their duty of care to ensure that these things are cleared up? After all, if there wasn't any ammo, there wouldn't be any damage!

Failing that, I might just go and leave a big pile of bricks outside their new offices with big glass windows on a Friday night Oh fancy that, I happen to know where their road work team have left a pile too

[Howard81]

All done! I'll give it a couple of days to dry properly, then I can put the front carpets and radio surround in. Passenger-side carpets, seat and belts can be bolted back place again too. I haven't painted the rear driver's floor as that needs surgery, but I have just enough POR-15 left in the tin for that when the time comes

[JPB]

With POR 15, it's vital that you put a sheet of polythene under the lid before putting it back into the can if you intend to leave [the can] standing for more than an Hour or so before next using the stuff. I didn't follow that instruction, and had to cut the lid off when I next needed to use the paint, some four days later.

[Howard81]

With POR 15, it's vital that you put a sheet of polythene under the lid before putting it back into the can if you intend to leave [the can] standing for more than an Hour or so before next using the stuff. I didn't follow that instruction, and had to cut the lid off when I next needed to use the paint, some four days later.

It was fine for me.. if the lid gets stuck you could always nail some holes in the top and transfer to a jam-jar

You do have to sacrifice your paintbrush though.. no matter how well you clean it'll be useless by the next day

[JPB]

Now in that respect, I did manage to get out with some dignity left. Finnegans' thinner, as sold for use with Hammershite and Smoothrite, did the job. Though to be brutally honest; some interesting fumes were released when I dipped the brushes in the thinner. Come to think of it, those brushes may still be in the stuff, it's just that my memory's been rubbish since I used it.

[Howard81]

Fitted the front carpets today, which went rather well considering how bad and ill-fitting the carpet set was. It appears to be one of those cheap and nasty £70 eBay jobs that was thrown in the car when it was "restored" a few years ago. It's horrible! Probably had the patterns cut from a 5-second glance at a photograph. I cut about quite a few bits to get them to fit properly, but this set has a white backing that shows through when you cut it.. anyway, after a whole afternoon I managed to get a half decent fit. It makes me appreciate decent carpet sets, like the one Ken fitted to his 1300FWD!!!

You can identify a cheap (and crap) carpet set by the centre section being in three pieces. One for the tunnel, two for the seat/floorpan sections. Originally, this was one part. The decent non-moulded carpet sets have this in one piece. The original carpets were moulded so they fit perfectly - the same as Dolomite. Newton Commercial sell moulded sets made on the original tooling - for £250 and the carpet grain isn't as nice as the original. If I were to buy a new carpet set, I'd probably get one from the place that Ken got his.

Firstly I bolted the gearbox tunnel in. The side panels went on okay after trimming. Not so the centre tunnel, this flatly refused to fit properly. I resorted to cutting about 10cm off the back, and it fits properly (ish) now, although now has a gap at the bulkhead, which thankfully is not that noticeable. I also had to cut some slits for the footrest on the side of the tunnel to poke through. Holes for the radio surround lower bolts had to be cut, but I can't fit the surround yet as I don't have the right dome-headed bolts. The car came without one at all, but I got one off eBay! Should stiffen up the flexible dashboard a bit! Unfortunately, the tunnel carpet has been butchered by someone lazy so they could adjust the handbrake. My dilemma is that if I fit the MKIV handbrake gaiter as planned, the carpet will look naff. Or I could cover the damage with the later 1500 armrest that came in the car, but I think the armrest looks ugly. Not sure yet, but I need to fit new handbrake cables first, so that can wait for now. The sill and crossmember strips were glued in on the passenger side. Driver's side is staying off until the welding's done.

Most annoyingly, the last job was to clip the speedo cable into the back of the speedo. In doing this, I snapped off the plastic retaining clip.. so now I need to order another new cable, and remove the gearbox carpet and tunnel to fit it..

Also ordered a couple of cans of black vinyl upholstery paint for the seats, which should be arriving soon! All coming together nicely

[Purplebargeken]

Taking shape Howard. I was lucky with my choice of carpet I think.

[Howard81]

Taking shape Howard. I was lucky with my choice of carpet I think.

I think so, yours was so much easier to fit!

Today's progress - seat belts. I want to change the frayed and rusty static belts for a set of spare Dolomite inertia reel belts I have spare. The Spitfire belts aren't the originals and they're a pain in the backside to use. Passengers can never fathom them out

Most concerning was that the seat belts had been fitted with the central buckle bolted through the floor with a regular bolt - no spreader plate or anything! In an accident it would have just ripped through the floor. What makes it even worse, is that there are proper mounting points on the centre tunnel! The bolts and everything are in place, just covered with a load of sealant. Muppets.

I bolted up a Dolomite stalk to these mounts, and it fits perfectly. I'll probably just tuck the wires under the carpet. I do need to drill a hole in the rear lower rear wheelarch to fit the inertia reel units. I have the spreader plates, just no way to get electricity to the car for my drill

[Howard81]

Oh and I've ordered one of these:



Although obviously for the other side to the one in the photo.

It's from the Radford Panel Company. Seem pretty good, and the only place I could find that had the rear half. All other suppliers only sold full pan halves for £130! This was £50, which I thought was reasonable.

[Howard81]

Today I've almost finished the interior! The new speedo cable and radio frame bolts arrived from everybody's favourite Lincolnshire based Triumph specialist. Annoyingly the special chrome-headed bolts that hold the radio surround to the chassis don't fit... they're just slightly too short. I can just get them to slightly grip if I remove the carpet. Ahh well, I know the sizes, there's usually a stand at Stoneleigh that has things like that. On the plus side, I ordered the parts at 2am on Thursday morning, but realised I set the postal address to Poole. Phoned them up at 9am and they changed it. When I came back home at 9pm, the parcel had already arrived Can't complain about that

Gearbox tunnel came back out, speedo cable replaced. Remembered to look for the gearbox number this time - it's DN17337. That's a late Toledo / Dolly 1300 'box, isn't it? Single rail.

Carpets back in, radio frame fitted. The bolts holding the top in place pass through the radio surround, radio frame, dashboard and a steering column support. What a PITA to line up, whilst upside-down in the footwell, it was a truly horrible job in which I lost a couple of knuckles, but in the end lots and lots of swearing managed to get everything lined up Knee pads also fitted.

It's amazing how much the radio frame stiffens up the car! Before, the dashboard used to creak and rattle when going around corners, now it's dead quiet. Used to flex when the choke was pulled out. Much better

Lastly, just to neaten things up in the back of the car, I fitted the 1500 armrest/handbrake gaiter, rear deck carpet and fuel tank cover board. Wheel-arches are all bare, but I have the rollbar holes to fill in, then vinyl them. Hoping to get the vinyl offcuts from that stand at Stoneleigh! Motorola radio fitted, but not wired up yet, other than the aerial. Not sure what to do about speakers, originally Triumph dealers fitted one in the glovebox.

[ianf99]

, Well done on your progress! It's looking good!!!

Have you (or anyone) used Radford panel's before? I'm thinking on ordering some for my TR7 and was wondering how well the fit is?

[Howard81]

I've never used Radford Panels before. The reason I went with them is becuase they sell the rear floor section, whereas other suppliers only sell the complete floor half. I'll let you know how well it fits when it arrives!

Progress on the seats, being painted with vinyl paint. I put it on in three coats, it went on well at first, but the nozzle on the can lost it's fan pattern so didn't cover so well on the final coat. The seats are a bit blotchy, but at least they are the correct colour now. I'll see how well this settles down over the last few days, but probably would look better after using some seat cleaning spray on them.

[JPB]

Those look pretty good to me! I'd guess that a little plasticiser would, when sprayed on and polished off with a duster, see those looking perfect.

Wilko does an own brand silicon spray that should do the job, as would any proprietary plasticiser such as those sold for making plastic dashboards on modern cars look shiny and new again.

The paint's very impressive though. What brand did you use and where did you find it?

[Howard81]

The best one I've found is Autoglym tyre and rubber spray, I sprayed some on my door panels last summer and they're still lovely! I'll wait another couple of days for the paint to fully harden first, but so far I'm impressed!

It was "VHT satin black vinyl and carpet penetrating dye" which I bought on eBay. It's about a tenner a can, and I bought two. Still got a can left but one seat still to do..

[ianf99]

Fingers crossed it fits! Please do let me know. I love your radio surround it looks fantastic!!