Major milestone !

The body is back on the chassis !
I know, i know... it still doesn't look like much of a car but believe me this is a major step (i might have dreamt of it these past few months).

The underneath, the inside and the firewall have been painted Triumph royal blue, the original color of the car.

Thank you Tyler and Jussi for giving me a hand unloading from the trailer.

Spitfire body tub mounting points

Exciting, I prepared all the nuts and bolts for the tub coming back tomorrow.

This might come in handy, here are all the connecting points and what they look like in real life :

Spitfire overdrive retrofit, part 2 - The support plate

Telling the story as i make progress.

You will need a different support plate because the gearbox silent bloc is different on the overdrive.

Made one out of 1/8 steel or you could buy one from the usual suspects.

One thing that I did not think of is that the original plate is lowered on the rubber mounting point. Would not have thought of that but a trick i was suggested is to mount the plate underneath (thank you Thomas)

See the photo with the old plate sitting on the right for comparison.

Installing and greasing the spitfire universal joints

Not a job I especially like. I somehow always end up putting grease everywhere (everywhere i dont want it like tools, hands and bench).

Now i have had a few "deja vu" while doing this :

1. Struggling to remove and install the new ones and telling myself it would have been just impossible without a press and flanges in this condition.

2. Installing the new UJ, putting the lockring on one side and wondering if i have the wrong size it really looked like the lockring would never go on the other side. It does eventually go in after more fiddling and pressure....

3. Using the grease nipple and gun after install and wondering why i simply didnt put lots of fresh grease inside before installing since it was all dismantled. Would have been easier, faster and cleaner.

Anyway, a good thing done. As well you can see on the photo, not leaving the grease nipple on but using these little screw plug.

Oh and driveshaft has been balanced and received a special treatment, more in a different post...

Waterproofing

11 hours of banging, sanding, welding today !
Sprint to get the tub ready for tomorrow. Almost every piece of rusty metal has been replaced.

Put new caulk as well where panels join, an english car needs to be ready for the rain !

Getting close !

Big progress today although I did not do as much as I had hoped.
Check this, starting to look good ! Not super happy with the junction I made for my floor but it will have to do.

Need to hurry and complete all the other patches needed so I can drop it for paint in a week.

This is what my workbench looked like today after an afternoon of work. Time to tidy !

Replacing the ring gear on the triumph spitfire flywheel

Finally a job that did not take longer than expected !

My gears were in really bad shape as you can see on the photo. It is possible to buy just the ring part at an affordable price from the usual supplier.

Step 1 : Remove the old ring. I did a small hole followed by a bigger hole almost the same size as the ring. Once I was near completion of the bigger the ring cracked, relieving the pressure and I was able to remove easily.

Step 2 : Ring was resting on the end of an anvil, and heated it up with a torch. Not too hot but was checking size from time to time with a small rod you can actually see on the last photo. Not too hot is key, it did not get red and did not smoke.

Step 3 : Grabbed the ring with pliers and placed where it belong, went in not problem, no need to push or anything. Note that the bevelled size of the ring goes on the clutch side when you have the starter motor like me where the gear it outside and moves in when it rotates.

Voila !

Stitch welding

Second floor panel in in place.
Now that's what you call some stitch welding. Did an (offset) overlap, makes for much easier but better welds too.

Spitfire overdrive retrofit, part 1 - The buy

Oh yeah, did I mention i was using the opportunity to add an overdrive ?
It gives an extra gear in 3rd and 4th, makes the driving nicer and hopefully cruising on the highway easier.

First i bought an overdrive mount that you can see on the left and now i will test fit it to see where it lines up on the base plate i made out of 3/16.

Will update as i progress on this overdrive saga.

Could not find anything at a reasonable price on ebay or ksl. Bought it from a contact on the forum, shipping was decent but of course no guarantee on the condition.

Spot weld removal - The can opener technique

I have one of these spot weld cutter drill bit from harbor freight that mainly consists of cutting a circle around the spot weld then you grind what is left over. Over time i have aquired a decent technique, basically hold as flat as you can and get a very stable grip on your drill.

But it still takes a lot if time. Much faster technique i was able to use here was to cut around so that all is left is a strip of sheet metal, then pre drill each spot weld with a nice and sharp bit, then leverage with strong pliers. No kidding this whole side was done in 10 minutes. Feels good to relate a success story !

Seat attachment on floor boards or murphy's law

As i was getting the second floor board ready i had one of these feelings where maybe i should check that these bolts welded on align with the seat base. They don't !!!!

So i drilled new holes, removed muts from the old floor (seemed stronger) and started to spot weld in place, only to realize that these nuts have had it !

So i wasted my time and now i have to remove them again ! Argh only good thing is that i get to confirm how strong these spot welds really are... (Look strong sigh)