Author Topic: `79 Spitfire (Read 33303 times)

Fobroader · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2014, 12:19:39 am »

Nice man...that looks like a really sweet car.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

KD · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2014, 06:09:06 am »

Nice work!

Firm · « **Reply #22 on:** March 31, 2014, 09:03:09 am »

Long way to go still, but I enjoy the process. Ordered some parts last night; new dash pad to replace my heavily cracked one and a set of new rubber window sweeps.
There's a British Car Fleamarket coming up at the end of April not too far from here, so I am looking forward to going and getting a couple peices I still need...Namely a spare wheel and maybe a convertible top (if I can find something better than the $250 option on Ebay).
Otherwise I have most of the parts that I need...Just need more time.

Arthur Dent · « **Reply #23 on:** March 31, 2014, 09:27:50 am »

Quote from: Firm on March 30, 2014, 07:29:17 pm

Damn car doesn't even seem to leak oil!

Did you check to see if it has any oil in it?

Nice work!

Firm · « **Reply #24 on:** April 06, 2014, 10:36:58 pm »

Spent most of the day today tinking with the Spitfire. I need to make it mobile very soon because it's currently blocking access to one side of my garage.

I started by grinding all the rust and crap off the firewall area where the brake master cylinder mounts and then re-painting the area. While the paint dried I replaced a frayed battery cable, fixed up some broken wires and replaced the oil in the carb dashpot with the correct stuff.
Then I let the car run for a bit and tried to adjust the idle down a bit as it's currently a little high (around 1000rpm), couldn't really get it to com down so I suspect it's because I am currently running without an air cleaner so it's taking in more air than it should be at idle.
Then came the fun part, I broke out the buffer and rubbing compounds and went at the driver's door. Only spent about a 1/2 hour on it and it came out amazing! Pretty happy with the results and I am looking forward to doing the rest of the car. I also removed (from the door) the black pinstripe someone has put on it, whoever thought a black pinstripe looked good on a green car?
Finally mounted the master cylinder. Now I just need to bleed the system and I should be able to drive it!!

Pic of the driver's door...You can see how bad the paint was on that rear fender that I hadn't touched:

normancw · « **Reply #25 on:** April 06, 2014, 10:39:17 pm »

Quote from: Firm on April 06, 2014, 10:36:58 pm

Spent most of the day today tinking with the Spitfire. I need to make it mobile very soon because it's currently blocking access to one side of my garage.

I started by grinding all the rust and crap off the firewall area where the brake master cylinder mounts and then re-painting the area. While the paint dried I replaced a frayed battery cable, fixed up some broken wires and replaced the oil in the carb dashpot with the correct stuff.
Then I let the car run for a bit and tried to adjust the idle down a bit as it's currently a little high (around 1000rpm), couldn't really get it to com down so I suspect it's because I am currently running without an air cleaner so it's taking in more air than it should be at idle.
Then came the fun part, I broke out the buffer and rubbing compounds and went at the driver's door. Only spent about a 1/2 hour on it and it came out amazing! Pretty happy with the results and I am looking forward to doing the rest of the car. I also removed (from the door) the black pinstripe someone has put on it, whoever thought a black pinstripe looked good on a green car?
Finally mounted the master cylinder. Now I just need to bleed the system and I should be able to drive it!!

Pic of the driver's door...You can see how bad the paint was on that rear fender that I hadn't touched:

Looks great

Firm · « **Reply #26 on:** April 06, 2014, 10:50:59 pm »

Thanks. It's starting to look a little better.
I've ordered all new rubber seals for things like the windows, windshield, etc...so that'll clean it up a bit. I went to mount that mirror on the door, which I re-painted in the original semi-gloss black and realized that the little mount thing you can see in the picture is actually broken on the end. Doesn't look like the usual parts suppliers sell it separately, so I am gunna have to see if I can find something at the upcoming British Car Flea Market in a couple weeks.

5 Wheel Drive · « **Reply #27 on:** April 08, 2014, 02:57:31 pm »

Looking good, you did a great job on the door!

Arthur Dent · « **Reply #28 on:** April 11, 2014, 12:29:21 am »

Looks fantastic! Nice work.

Firm · « **Reply #29 on:** April 13, 2014, 10:48:01 pm »

Pulled the roof off today and installed the full length tonneau cover. Now I need to decided on which top to order so I can replace it. Looks much better with the ratty old top though!

I also re-routed some evap lines in the trunk and re-installed the cover panel.

Started bleeding the brake system. Discovered the the rear wheel cylinders were non-functional (of course...I really need to just start assuming these things are bad before hand!) so I had to pull all the rear brakes and I'll have to rebuilt them fast.
I am getting good hydraulic pressure (and bleeding) up at the front calipers, so that's good.
The strange part is that I am not getting any fluid flow to the rear 1/2 of the brake system, I'd assumed that the Spitfire doesn't have a pressure differential switch because it's not on the master cylinder. BUT some quick googling suggests that there is one somewhere and it's probably been tripped thus cutting off fluid to the back.
So I'll need to find it and reset and/or bypass it somehow - Arthur, any thoughts?

Arthur Dent · « **Reply #30 on:** April 14, 2014, 12:26:10 am »

I'm no expert on the brakes but I believe there is a seal that if broken will allow the fluid back up into the brake cylinder when you press the brake pedal. Maybe open the rear wheel cylinders and just let it sit over night. If the fluid level hasn't changed then obviously a blockage. You'll probably have to just trace the lines after that.

Firm · « **Reply #31 on:** April 16, 2014, 10:11:42 pm »

I've developed a plan of attack for the next time I get to play with the car. I'm going to disconnect the lines right at the master and have someone slowly pump the pedal while I hold a rag over the ports where the lines connect, if I get fluid spraying out, then the master is primed and pumping. Then I'll move onto the pressure differential switch, which is built into the distribution block...disconnect the output lines and check for fluid pressure with someone pumping. I'll just keep working my way like that towards the back of the car until I isolate the blockage. My money is on that damn switch though.

Since I now have all the rear brakes off, thanks to the issues above, I spent this evening cleaning all the hardware with the wirebrush on my bench grinder. I'll pickup kits to rebuild the rear wheel cylinders on the weekend and then install it all when I get time. I was originally annoyed that I had to get into the rear brakes too, but now I am glad I did, they were definitely due.

Firm · « **Reply #32 on:** April 19, 2014, 11:52:09 pm »

What a day. I only had a couple hours to fool with the Spitfire, but I've got my brake hydraulic issue sorted.

I tried messing around with the pressure differential switch with no luck...Rear 1/2 of the system was still bone dry. So I disconnected the rear feed line directly at the m/c and had the wifey pump the pedal while I held my finger over the port. No fluid flow at all from the m/c out of the port to the rear of the car

I had rebuilt the m/c myself and I am always incredibly meticulous about making sure it all goes back together correctly. Fortunately, i still had the detailed pictures I took of the disassembly. So I took the whole thing out of the car once again, opened it up and triple checked that all the internals had been assembled correctly, everything checked out 100%.

I reassembled it and loaded the tandem internal pistons (which are spring loaded) and proceeded to bench test it....seemed to be working so I re-installed in the car. Almost immediately I began to get fluid flow to all corners of the car. Thank God because I was just about starting to lose my mind.

I am still not sure what the issue was, but I suspect it had something to do with the spring loading of the tandem pistons inside the m/c housing...I must have not loaded them correctly the first time I assembled it causing one of the pistons to bind up or something.

Now that there's fluid freely flowing to all corners it should be a piece of cake to bleed the system once I finish re-building the rear wheel cylinders.

Arthur Dent · « **Reply #33 on:** April 20, 2014, 11:29:45 am »

Whew - glad to hear you got it sorted. Could have been a rather annoying and expensive mystery

Triple Bob · « **Reply #34 on:** April 20, 2014, 10:35:05 pm »

Awesome sauce!

When/where is the flea market?

Firm · « **Reply #35 on:** April 20, 2014, 10:49:58 pm »

Thanks guys

The Flea market was in Ancaster this morning. Wasn't as many parts vendors as I remember in previous years, and those that were that were probably 70% MG stuff and 15% Mini stuff...so not a whole ton of Triumph stuff. But I did get a new corner marker that I needed, an air cleaner assembly and the rear wheel cylinder rebuild kits that I had ordered from one of the local suppliers.

When I got home tonight after Easter dinner with the in-laws I rebuilt one of the rear wheel cylinders, took about 20 minutes including cleaning everything. I'll do the other one some night this week and with any luck should have some stopping power next weekend!

Firm · « **Reply #36 on:** April 27, 2014, 12:04:38 am »

Reinstalled the rear brakes and bled the system - bled like a dream this time.
Took the car out for it's first drive, awesome feeling, the car definitely needs a lot more sorting but I am just happy to have it mobile.

Triple Bob · « **Reply #37 on:** April 27, 2014, 08:12:38 am »

Nice! Soooo jealous, I'd love something like that to work on.

Arthur Dent · « **Reply #38 on:** April 28, 2014, 12:26:01 am »

Nice! First drive of the season!

Firm · « **Reply #39 on:** May 05, 2014, 11:17:46 pm »

Spitfire has been on the backburner since I got it running and driving. But yesterday I took a break from the yard and buffed out the paint on the trunk lid and rear deck area. Turned out really good, I had to remove the luggage rack, so i polished that too.