Spitfire Total Rebuild!

delboythedub

Best of luck with your project and well may you drive

Bigus

I saw it up close at terenure today , you got a great smooth as glass finish on the paintwork amongst other great work , well done all round . Sorry I didn't get to,say hello.
However An air filter would be a good idea to protect your cylinder bores, mushroom k&n might do .
Great job.

Sleepy

Got a look at the mutant up at Terrenure yesterday but you didn't seem to be around to congratulate. Well done, she's looking fantastic in the metal!

SpitfireIV

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

It's a truly great achievement no matter what way you look at it, but it looks a lot cleaner without the front plate!

Thanks, yes it does indeed look a lot cleaner, happy with the result, now, I'll see how long I can get away with no front plate

sogood wrote: »

Don't want to say " I told you so" but I suggested something similar quite a while ago. A smaller plate, offset to one side of the centre line of the bonnet. But it's still a stunner!!

Ah, I'm stubborn as hell, hah, but yeah, I do remember you recommending it. Cheers

delboythedub wrote: »

Best of luck with your project and well may you drive

Thanks very much

Bigus wrote: »

I saw it up close at terenure today , you got a great smooth as glass finish on the paintwork amongst other great work , well done all round . Sorry I didn't get to,say hello.
However An air filter would be a good idea to protect your cylinder bores, mushroom k&n might do .
Great job.

Ah, pity I missed you, I hated having to leave the car but there was soooo many pretty cars to look at Thanks for the thumbs up on the paintwork, took a while to get it to that stage; a few mishaps and a few things that I'm not happy with, but, I'm pleased with it

Regarding the air filter, I do use a make shift homemade foam filter, but its a bit rough and ready so I took it off for the show. I'm toying with the idea of chopping the inlet manifold and swapping it round so the air intake is to the front. Might get me through until I get my bike carbs sorted.

SpitfireIV

Sleepy wrote: »

Got a look at the mutant up at Terrenure yesterday but you didn't seem to be around to congratulate. Well done, she's looking fantastic in the metal!

Ah, cheers! Yeah, I couldnt resist a wander around, Was a massive show!

Bigus

When wandering and gone home for lunch , I put a note on my machine , to say that I would return to it at set times for interested lookers.

I sold it today to a fella who came up from the country to meet a fella that knew a young fella that took a picture of it at the terenure show.

SeamusG97

SpitfireIV wrote: »

Nowt much to report really, took it easy on my days off and to be honest there's little that needs doing now and I'm feeling at a bit of a loss to be honest (that doesnt mean I'll be taking on a new project any time soon, not a chance of it!!! :P).

Guess I'll just have to drive and enjoy her....

Just a little idea of how things were looking this time last year:


Compared to the same day this year ....

Great Video - I bet you played the soundtrack music as well as everything else...:D:D
Your mastery of a wide range of skills is very impressive.

Lovely car and thanks for sharing the experience over the past couple of years. It's been fascinating following it and almost sorry to see it coming to an end.

SpitfireIV

SeamusG97 wrote: »

Great Video - I bet you played the soundtrack music as well as everything else...:D:D
Your mastery of a wide range of skills is very impressive.

Lovely car and thanks for sharing the experience over the past couple of years. It's been fascinating following it and almost sorry to see it coming to an end.

Cheers I've been getting her out and about a fair bit over the summer months, so much so that I've neglected this thread but as the project itself is essentially at an end there hasnt been all that much to show, so, I'll compile a number of images from the past few months




Couple of pics from July, out for a spin and pulled up at this really old filling station.


Popped on new decals on the steering column cowl; its the little things! hah.




Getting her out a day or two a week for the 40min drive to work.



Made a trip then to Ballinasloe to meet up with some fellow enthusiasts. It was a long ol' spin (including the detour, oops) all in all about 3 hours over there and about the same back in truely awful weather but she went well, kept out the elements and then we headed off as a squadron to attend the Mountbellew Classic Car Show. Unfortunately with the amount of rain that fell the show field was flooded so we had to park in amoung the visitors cars in the long grass, but still.










More to follow....

SpitfireIV

.....continued.


So before the Ballinasloe run I took a look at the cooling. The temp gauge did tend to creep a bit high, but then in older cars without an ecu the temp gauge goes direct to the engine, not via an ecu which regulates it movement and tends to keep it pretty steady. There was a big gap below the rad which I imagine a lot of the air that was hitting the rad was going down through and being directed below the car, so, I set about making a panel to fit the void...









With the lower panel in place now the air is forced through the rad. It hasnt made a significant different to temp readings but certainly a noticeable one.



Time for the Carlow Classic & Vintage show then on August 13th! Happy days, was hoping to make this show last year but it wasnt to be. Time for a wash, polish and waxing. Made a little info stand to plonk beside the car also....






Got in beside a nice 2000PI...

SpitfireIV

Brought her to work then the next day, Monday the 14th the day in which the skies opened and torrents of rain came down. It was at this point that I discovered my soft top is horribly leaky while stationary Took in a considerable amount of water on the passenger side. Thus, I had to make a temporary fix to hold off further ingress....



Thankfully on both the following Tuesday and Wednesday the weather was good enough to start the drying out process! I had to remove the seat, seat runner and carpet to dry out! I decided then that some kind of fitted car cap wouldnt be a bad idea! Something small, neat and waterproof! So I set about making up a template from brown paper....






I made up a trail cover from some old material to see how the fit was before committing to chopping up decent material.






I was happy enough with the fit so set about chopping up some old army poncho's which are made from a waxed cotton type material.....stuff. They're lightweight and easily foldable. Might not be the prettiest material but eventually I'll make one from some leatherette or such. Still working on the fastening, securing and final stitching/edging of this cover and I've yet to seal the seams up but it fits well when stretched.

sogood

Did you discover the cause of the actual leak in the soft top? Is it leaking at the seams or just soaking through the vinyl itself? Pity about that, hope you get it sorted.

SpitfireIV

sogood wrote: »

Did you discover the cause of the actual leak in the soft top? Is it leaking at the seams or just soaking through the vinyl itself? Pity about that, hope you get it sorted.

The hood is a poor fit around the passenger window, its a pretty basic after market hood that I got as part of a swap, I'm hoping soon to get the original hood cleaned up and new windows stitched in as its a far superior one to the one currently fitted.


Gave her a quick wash and shine on Friday so took a few random pics, enjoy...