First time driving on the road

I got a few strange looks as I drove the car to the gas station !
SP98, only the best for little spitfire.

Was able to do this as it is now insured, they give me 4 months to show French paperwork. Yeeeaaah !

Spitfire windshield install

The windshield is in !
Huge milestone and big thanks to my friend Bruno who helped installing.

My 3 step process is different than what we normally see on Triumph forums so I'd like to share :

1. When the rubber has been stored in a loop for several years it is not that easy to install around the windshield and make it stay. So we installed it then kept it in place for a few weeks with the help of rope and bungee cord. Did the same with the "metal" strip.

2. No rope technique here. Apply plenty of soapy water and position slowly. Used a 90 degree bend screwdriver to slowly pull the lip on the inside of the frame. The outside lip is easy and can be done by hand. Slowly go round and it will pop in place.

3. Push in the "metal" strip now while everything is fresh.

Et Voila !

Triumph spitfire speedometer and tachometer repair

I have had the dash cluster ready for a while and after installing the right cable for speedo and tacho I decided it was best to give them a try and horror, the needles were moving left and right, they looked dead. My test system was an old cable and the electric drill. A quick internet search made me realize these are pricey.

I had to open them but in my opinion the toughest part was to remove the needle. It is forced or glued in there so I had to build the mini extractor you can see below whith 2 screws that push on the speedo screws underneath. 

It kind of looked like that. Prepare a clean workbench, clean fingers, photos and memory to remember where all these little screws go

Luckily I had 2 of each and scavenged the best parts form each one to make one. The tachometer is the easiest to fix and I recommend fixiing this one first. The speedo has little plastic wheels on the side that tend to break with age and will jam the main axle.

 I found that the main problem was the same on all of them. Over time, play develops and the magnet part ends up touching the disc that moves the needle. It is what creates this "jumping" effect on the needle. In the end it was a super easy fix pictured below, just need to make it tight again by pushing the magnet part against the ring, using the vice.

A lot more moving parts in the speedometer pictured below. Moved the mileage while I was at it, to reset it close to 0 from the restoration since everything that moves is new on that car and since I am not 100% sure what was the real mileage on the car.

Painted the outside case while I was at it and "voila" ! Tried the fuel and water temp and they seem fine. A new fancy cluster ready to hit the road !

Ignition key fun

I think the picture below is better than words. And this is why you don't buy cheap key barrel...

In the end i put the old one back in and will get a new key cut. At least it was a good opportunity to completely dismantle the switch and clean the contacts.

Spitfire manifold

I knew i had a crack in the manifold. My plan was to weld it using the bbq to heat up and cool down and pneumatic hamer on the weld technique.

Anyway... renoved it to realize it was broken in half. Luckily i had a spare one i had to adapt a little bit to fit.
That will do till i get a nice ss exhaust.

One step closer, yeeeaaaah !

Rebuilding the entire electric harness and fusebox for the spitfire

Looking at my old harness it was clearly too old as many wires were cracked, and some melted. I agreed as well that 3 fuse as on standard Triumph of this era is not much. It seemed a shame to have everything new inside and then risk an electric fire or the car be unreliable because of poor electrics.
As well there had been considerable hacking by previous owners.

So I decided to put all new wires and a modern fusebox unit. After some research I found that the 9+3 kit from Rebel wire would be a good compromise of price and quality.
Ordered mine from here in the UK, these guys were really nice.

It took me a while to understand how it works but once you understand the concept you're good to go.
It is nice because the kit comes with high quality wires that are heat resistant, much better quality than the originals and will for sure last my lifetime. Had to call tech support to understand how to adapt for Europe and support was really friendly and helpful.

See below a lot of the wire laid out ready to go to the engine bay and lights.

I wanted the fuses to be inside to keep an original look, so I mounted them on a hinged bracket that I made with a screw on lock (a bolt with a bar welded on).

It looks like this when you remove the screw lock, easily accessible.

Now, onto wiring and soldering !

Sorting through sealed beam units for the spitfire

Didn't know know these existed till i had this car. The glass and light bulb are one unit.

I had some spares and had to try them all to figures out which ones work and don't. Some had only high pr low beam. Success, out of 6, 3 work so no new purchase needed !
Note the wiring of the bulb from the photo.

I had to order indicators though as in France can't have lights and indicator be the same bulb.

Engine break in video

Finally it's running !

An attempt at fixing the spitfire heater valve

As I filled the radiator with coolant liquid, within a few days it was leaking everywhere : Hoses, block drain tap, water pump and heater valve.

I had spares for all of these which seem to work ok but my spare valves were leaking too.

Here is what it looked like, the water was coming out the bottom.

They are pretty easy to open, you have to drill the rivet out, then you can twist the top part. It's a shame it's all relying on one piece of rubber that eventually get hard and brittle and that they don't sell just this part as replacement.

It can be completely dismantled and cleaned which is what I did followed by clear coat. However I don't recommend dismantling the bottom part if it's moving freely because there is a spring in there and it can lead to swear words trying to hold hold it compressed while put the clip back on.

So what I did is I cut a piece of rubber out of an old bike inner tube to a slightly smaller diameter and placed it on top of the worn out rubber part. 

What it looks like now, shiny ! Ready for another 40 years ? We'll see... 

Getting the spitfire ready for first start

Last sprint to get everything ready for a first start !

- Gas : gravity fed by a bottle connected to the hood.
- Oil : Got a temporary oil pressure gage (you can see it on the right) and a light bulb connected to the low oil pressure switch.
- Ignition : got a manual temporary switch installed, manually set timing to fire a bit before TDC

All systems check, ready to go ! Next step : run it for 20 minutes to break in the all new engine and camshaft then drive round the block !