Footloose Fabrication

 

Wow aren’t you all lucky to get another update so soon after the last one. This time I have moved onto the pedal box setup and associated fixings, I have made some modifications and deviated again away from the original and build manual. 

First task was the clutch master cylinder and fixing brackets. The clutch pedal and holding bracket fixes from underneath the bulkhead using the same fixings and clamp the horizontal section of the bulkhead between them. This setup is nye on identical to the original Spitfire setup so relatively easy to setup. Great time has been spent mocking and marking from the internal footwell as a want/need to give as much pedal room as possible for my size twelve feet to fit. I want to reduce the risk of hitting/catching the break when I either dip the clutch or try to accelerate. 

Whilst I had some vague markings on my bulkhead paper templates that Mick sent me months ago, I started with these as a base mark, however they have been adjusted slightly to give a good fit all round with acceptable pedal movement from inside. 

As you can see hear the clutch pedal now sits as far to the near side as possible without compromising the travel of the pedal and hopefully allowing full master cylinder movement and thus the longest travel possible on the slave and a good clutch bite as a result. I will possibly have to make some modifications to the fibreglass gearbox cover as a want to keep the clutch pedal so that it’s maximum travel is stopped from the pedal hitting the bulkhead, as opposed to clipping the gearbox cover. Whilst it doesn’t currently hit/graze the cover by the time the interior is trimmed it might rub a little. 

Next up was the same process for the brake pedal and master….. this is where I have made some changes and has been a frigging ball ache to get sorted, but I’m glad to say the hard work is done and just fettling left to do. The majority of spitfires run a single feed master cylinder, exactly the same as the clutch. The brake line is simply split through some fittings to give a feed to the front brakes  and a second feed back to the rear drums.

There is nothing really wrong with the single feed brake system, but my donor Spitfire was a late vehicle which had received some revisions and general technology improvements since the early cars, in the form of a twin feed brake master with PDWA valve (Pressure Differential Warning Actuator) 

I personally feel that a master cylinder giving me primary and secondary feeds is far superior to a single pressure system, so the majority of the braking of the primary’s is fed to the fronts and a second feed to the rears that don’t get such a hard life as such. The PDWA I will come to later but the first problem I had was the depth of the brake master itself. If a single line system was fitted I could fit a master just like my clutch (pictured here) and it would fit within the area no problems, however the duel master is considerably longer so I was going to need to start making some cuts and changes to give me the clearance I needed. 

Firstly I mocked and marked my position for the pedal, as this dictates the master bracket position above it. Same process as the clutch just taking time to make sure everything was aligned correctly giving maximum clearance without compromising safety with the pedal position. Then once the pedal and bracket was in situ I needed to start marking the rear of the firewall bulkhead to make an access area for the bigger master. The cut out needs to be big enough to take the back end of the master cylinder and the fluid reservoir, along with side room for the brake pipes and unions themselves. I simply used my set square agains the bracket and made my markings accordingly on the rear of the bulkhead. 

Once I was happy enough out came the grinder and some cutting was done allowing access for the master and reservoir, however the firewall as such is no longer a firewall as it has a bloody great hole in it. I needed to make a panel that now fits into this void and seals it all off again. I started by making a cardboard template which allowed me to trim and shape it accordingly for a good fit. I had to enlarge the bulkhead hole slightly as I was using the off cut of the bulkhead steel which was 1.5/2mm steel so it was pretty thick stuff. I took my time trimming and cutting the template and then when I was happy with the overall fit I transferred the template onto the steel and starting cutting again. 

I wanted to make the new panel out of a single piece of steel, however I will admit now that I am no sheet fabricator or a welder to be fair. After a a failed attempt making from one piece and bending accordingly I had to surrender and make/cut each side separately and then weld it all together to make one piece. I would like to say this was an easy process but it wasn’t. The sheer tedious cut, measure, cut, tack weld, grind weld etc… became monotonous very quickly but I persevered and after some time I managed to get a fairly good fitting panel that I was happy with. Granted I had to smooth out some roughness with some body filler  but overall it was fairly sound and would work ok. Another detail that I’m working on was the fixings used through the whole build. When fitting the bulkhead I used stainless steel alan head bolts and I want to continue a running theme through the build. It’s attention to details like this that really make some cars stand out from the others so I want to continue trying to achieve this throughout this project also. 

I had ordered some matching imperial alan head fixings for the master cylinder brackets and also now for the new cut out panel fixed with matching head bolts. I gave the new panel a quick primer coat but don’t forget that all of this will be removed again for when the body comes off again, something which is becoming quite daunting with the amount of work going on since it’s initial fit…. Still all for the greater good. 

So now I could trial fit everything and see if this problem with the bigger brake master was sorted. Everything seemed to be ok although it will be a tad tight fitting the secondary brake line, however I should be able to make it work or possibly use a banjo fitting for piece of mind if I can’t get a tight enough bend on the brake pipe. 

Previously I mentioned the pressure differential warning actuator (PDWA) This is is a device fitted on duel brake circuit cars which splits the brake fluid feed between front and back wheels with a sliding valve and an electrical switch. This devise basically would notify you of a fault with a dash warning light if you were to loose brake fluid from either the front or the back cylinders. The valve would slide to isolate either the front or the back brakes depending where the fluid loss was coming from and the loss of pressure would activate the warning light switch. After much evening reading and researching I have decided to do away with this PDWA however I want retain the fluid level switch for safety reasons… it’s better to be notified of a fluid loss buy the float switch as opposed to pressing the brake and nothing happening. In all my years of driving I have never suffered instant and total loss of brake fluid, even in my early minis with drum brakes all round so I’m happy enough to just leave this PDWA out when I make my brake lines up. I found a brake level float switch from CarBuilderSolutions that fitted my brake reservoir perfectly so this will now act as my brake fluid warning light, if I develop a leak and start to loose fluid. This switch can also be wired into a hand break switch so duel purposes hand break and fluid level, this would also be IVA compliant as it is the same setup as on the Cobra when I built that.

Last up for this update was the accelerator pedal fitting. This was the hardest of them all simply because of its location, and I didn’t have the comfort of having a top bracket to guide its position. I located the accelerator as far to the offside as possible without restricting its travel on the chassis outrigger and allowing for cable access from above, then when I was happy enough I marked and drilled the two fixing bolt positions. This was difficult to get correct as it’s difficult to bend your spine in five different directions at once whilst holding the accelerator with one hand trying to centre punch the holes with your free other hand. All in all a tad tricky but I’m confident that the pedal positions are as good as I can get them considering the narrowness of the product itself. I treated the pedals also to some bling as such when I was down there…. It would have been rude not to, devils in the details. 

Fabrication Fun

 

So back with another update and this one has been a real pain in the arse to be fair. I have deviated slightly from the advised manual in regards to the rear bulkhead. I have replaced the rear bulkhead with a sheet of 2mm steel as opposed to the advised marine plywood. Plywood has no place in a car of this nature in my opinion, it’s not durable it will be prone to moister and structurally will not hold up well if the unfortunate happens. Because I’m deviating slightly from the manual, it creates further problems that need to be sorted, but I’ll get to that later on. The bulkhead panel was made in the same fashion as the front, with tedious amounts of trimming and trial fitting on a sheet of hardboard, before I could be confident with the cut of the steel. The steel I got was a tad too short, so I will have to make a couple of filler panels for the bottom outer corners. It has however left a nice little gap currently that will probably be utilised for the brake line runs along the outer chassis rail and the fuel line also, so not all bad. 

When I was happy with the shape/fit I then welded on the two plates (after measuring and marking) that take the rear radius arm brackets. These I welded to the bulkhead rear face however I had to make some spacers from off cut steel as the bracket mounts sit lower than the bottom of the bulkhead sheet steel and they need to sit flush with the lower face of the chassis outriggers.A bridging piece was needed so they will pull square on and I had plenty of bits of 2mm steel so these were quickly cut and welded on to the lower half of the plates. 

This whole process of constant fitting, removing, trimming and fitting again is a real pain in the arse. It’s vital for a good fit and all part of the process but it’s a frigging chew on and starting to piss me off a bit now, I’ll be glad when Im past this stage and onto more enjoyable tasks.

The rear bulkhead was fitted back into position (again) and this time I was now able to drill a couple of holes into the rear chassis outriggers and fix the bulkhead with some sturdy bolts, in preparation for the holes for the radius arm brackets. With all these fixings on the lower edge, and with the planned tubular support brackets that will be fitted to the boot side of the top bulkhead this will create a nice strong structure for the seat belt mounts also hopefully, further on in the build…. Stronger than plywood that’s for sure. The edges of the bulkhead will be bonded with some PU sealant which won’t be seen either as the interior trim will be covering it all and the boot trim from the other side also. 

Next I was then able to measure and fit the radius arm brackets, but because I’ve deviated from the build manual slightly I needed to be confident in my measurements and allow the angles of the radius arms to do their job. 

I used a ratchet strap fixed to the front end of the chassis and round the rear vertical link that allowed me to get the vertical link into a better position for alignment of the support arm and bracket position. The radius arms are a posh adjustable unit as fitted to higher performance spitfires and GT6 they will also allow a huge amount of adjustment for the tracking of the rear wheels when finally fitted without the need for shimming etc…

I then drilled the two holes and fitted the bracket and adjust the arm to somewhat how it needs to be. It needs to obviously have clearance for a full swing within the travel of the suspension and then it can be locked off with the two bolts to stop it adjusting itself under tension and movement. This was very satisfying to finally get some bits back to how they should be the same as when they left the original Spitfire many many months ago. 

Next on the list was to build the rear brake drums up. I had order all the parts a week or so back it was relatively straightforward fitting them and very enjoyable to see the handbrake bracket working effectively when the drum was fitted. It safe to say the handbrake efficiency will be far superior to the Cobra when I built that. I still need to make all the brake pipes and rear flexible pipes but I’ll save that for another update later on. The rear brake cylinders and lower adjusters are all new obviously, it would have been stupidity to reuse the original units but it was very straightforward fitting them all and reminded me very much of working on my first mini back in the day, very simple mechanics, relatively effective and simple to maintain… awesome!

I have noticed also that at least three of the rear wheel studs are a tad sketchy in regards to the thread condition. I’m intending to fit knock on wire wheels for the final wheel, and have seen how some people have changed the wheel studs to Land Rover units for a better thread diameter and all round stronger stud. I’ll have to do some research as to exactly what and how people are using this upgrade and if it will interfere with my hub adapters for the knock on wheels, so some homework for me there. And then I’ll have to take all these brake bits off again no doubt to fit the new studs. 

I have to still fit the rear handbrake cable. It fits to the upper fulcrum pin you can see pictured here, however I have some repair work to do first. The cable had a spring fitted that fixes to a little bracket just below his pivot arm, but mine have worn through and have no hole anymore for the spring to fit. I have made some replacement brackets that I have welded onto the backplate of the rear drum and these should be good enough to fit the spring too. The spring is needed to fully disengage the rear brake shoe from the drum when it’s taken off as you don’t want the brake shoe to drag on the drum as this will obviously create drag but also excessive wear on the pad itself. So with all these bits done it was on with the brake drum and jobs a goodun…. Until it all comes off again. Haha

The rear handbrake cable was made up again with all its fittings and clevis pins and was fitted back through its support guides. I need to purchase the main pivot compensator as I stupidly left mine on the old body tub when that went the distance. I will also need to find a scrap body to take a prop shaft tunnel cut from, as this is not going to be easy to fabric from scratch so I think I’ll opt for the easy route on this one. I did initially plan on having the handbrake external to the already tight cockpit area, but I think with the seat fitting position it will make any linkage setup nye on impossible to work…. We shall see mind. It would be pretty cool to have one external like on a vintage Bentley or Rolls Royce. 

 I have a fair bit of tinkering to do still with all these bits, but the bulk of the hard graft is pretty complete now. One step closer to final body fit I suppose… the thought of having to remove the body again now is not very exciting, however it’s a needs must in order to progress. I can start focusing on the front bulkhead again now and more so the pedal box setup and fitting. This is going to be interesting to say the least as the space is tight and narrow, but we’ll see what we can accomplish soon. 

Bulkhead Ballache!

I’ve been making some progress with the front bulkhead over the past week or so. Mick had sent me some scale templates for the steel bulkhead which needed to be cut to shape and fitted to the body tub. I was concerned about going just straight for the cutting without checking all measurements and fitting first. It’s not possible to tell from the paper template how good the fit will be, and each body tub will be slightly different in terms of resin thickness. So I opted to make a scale template out of hardboard first as this would be rigid enough to mock into position and relatively quick and easy to cut. 

I started each faced section separately and simply held together with masking tape which allowed to fold for each section different angle. Then just systematically working my way through each bit, until I had a full template of exactly fitting bulkhead that could be used to mark the bent sheet steel and then cut with a little more confidence. This turned out to be a tad tedious however it was essential to get a good fit, and with hindsight was a really good idea. The paper templates were close, but I have made many many alterations to taylor fit my body. 

 Attention to detail was also needed here as to how the fitting was going to be finished. I opted for nice button headed socket caps which will be spaced equally around top section, with a panel bond on the side sections and bolted onto the lower chassis outriggers.

The bulkhead will really firm up the body flex when fitted and it will be on and off the chassis many more times before the final fit. Mick should inform people in the manual that this is a ballache of a task to complete, with many many trial fits and adjustment needed before I was anywhere near happy, and I’ll be honest it was not really a very enjoyable task….but I’ve broken its back now (and mine also) so it’s definitely all getting pushed along stage by stage. 

One problem I had potential envisaged was the ability to remove the gearbox at a later date and not being able to slide it back from the engine because of the bulkhead. So I opened the bell housing area of the bulkhead wide enough so that I can slide freely through the bulkhead which will allow access to the bell housing bolts etc… 

I spent a great deal of time cutting and trimming the steel and further time again with a flap wheel smoothing off the edges and tidying up all the cuts. I have decided that I will be painting the bulkhead for the final finish, but I still have many more cuts and holes to drill first for the clutch master cylinder, break master cylinder, pedal boxes, accelerator cable, steering column etc… etc…

Another little task to tick off was the front chassis body supports. These will also take the radiator bracket fittings which I’m hoping I will be able to weld on with access through the front nose hole. The two body brackets were manipulated into shape and trimmed accordingly then with the body removed (again) I welded them to the front chassis legs. I had some primer and texture 2k paint left over still from painting the chassis so I set about just lashing on a bit to stop it being exposed to the moisture. I also touched up a few bits of the chassis that have taken a bash during the corse of the build so far. 

Another job ticked off was to fold down the top flange of the offside chassis rail. This is to give a little more room for my feet to fit on the peddles when driving. I noticed this was done on Paul’s car when I saw it, and he said what a massive difference it makes. The build manual also suggests to fold it down to aid comfort when driving, so now was a good time to get it done, and I could also touch up the damage it made to the paint finish at the same time. 

Last task for this update was to drop the body back on the chassis, which I’m getting quite good at now on my own. I’m still miles off a final fit, but a good solid chunk of the front is now sorted. The rear bulkhead I’m using some 2mm sheet steel and I’m hoping with it not being bent, then it should be easier to fit than the front was. I’m opting for steel as I’m going to really try to beef up some solid mounting points for the seat belt harnesses. I want to get similar style harnesses as I used in the Cobra, because they are really comfortable in use and they look totally bad ass with the rotary release clip… I’m still miles of that point yet mind, but it’s all in the plan for the final product. 

The bulkhead looks great fitted with socket cap screw heads equidistant round the top sections. I haven’t secured the bottom lip yet or bonded the sides as the tub will be off and on again a good few times still. The bulkhead sits really close to the back of the engine which surprised me. It’s not a problem, but just not how I had envisaged how it was going to fit. Still plenty of room for movement under throttle if needed and now it’s fitted it opens the door for loads of other jobs I can be getting on with. 

Starting to look like a car now! Wahoo!

Together Again, A Match Made In Heaven

 

So there has been a fair old amount of detective work since the last update and plenty of research and learning. Last update I was basically giving the gearbox the once over checking everything would be ok for further use and since then I have made some further discoveries. The Spitfire 1500 or at least mine being one of the last 1981 had some revisions to the earlier gearbox models and mine is defo a mongrel. The early single rail gearboxes had a scroll seal on the gearbox input shaft. This is basically a reverse thread cut into the front cover seal to help retain any gearbox oil back away from the bell housing. You might be able to see the thread in this picture where I have removed the front cover seal. But again my car is one of the very last 1981 so why has it got a scroll seal as opposed to the revised rubber oil seal from around 1975 onward? It’s been changed or interfered with at some point in its life. The early scroll seals are a fairly good design and maintenance free, however they do have a tendency to allow a small quantity of oil past and dribble out the bell housing. This is accentuated massively if parked on a slight downhill slope and the gearbox full of oil. The oil level weeps its way past the seal and just makes a mess really, and the less contamination I have near the clutch the better really… so an upgrade or return to original is needed I think. 

Before I could order all the relevant parts to complete the gearbox for install I firstly had to identify what my box was, and to be fair I’m still not 100% how old my box is. It’s definitely a single rail box so it’s a later box….but it’s had an earlier scroll seal front cover? So maybe it’s just had the bell housing changed at some point? I have tried researching the gearbox number, but it’s missing two number stamped on the deck FR153**. FR is the prefix for a UK supplied box on the 1500 it would be FT if it was a box for the US market. So it’s definitely a UK box… but the missing two numbers would lean towards a very early if not one of the first single rail boxes…. However they were a thicker 10 spline input shaft, and mine is definitely the finer 20 spline and further more the early 20 splined shafts were 12.5cm length from the input seal as opposed to the later 13cm shaft length….. my brain is frazzled now really. 

I think to conclude this whole gearbox saga is that the internals and input shaft of the gearbox have been rebuilt and changed at some point in its life to a possible earlier gearbox casing and bell housing. This is not really any issues in my case as it’s only really when upgrading from the 10 spline input to the 20 spline input that you then have to start making changes to the clutch and flywheel etc… so I intend to rebuild to a later standard with the revised front cover seal and 1500 single rail spec etc. So rubber seal for the input shaft, replace the front cover seal in the bell housing and standard 1500 clutch. Off to order parts then… and hope they are right!

I took delivery of all the bits earlier in the week and I’ve been itching to get in the garage to make some progress and see if what I ordered and the changes I’m making will be ok. First up was the front cover seal as pictured here. These are easily fit into the bell housing similar to a bearing race but with the revision of a small scroll/locating pin to keep everything central, and I presume to make sure the tiny weep hole on the internal side is in the 6 o’clock position, so if any gearbox oil does get past the seal it will run down the bell housing as opposed to along the shaft and risk contaminating the clutch…. Logic! I fitted the front cover seal using my bearing drifts so I could be confident it’s was sitting home true in the bell housing. Aligning up the small pin was a tad fiddly but with the aid of a centre punch pushed through help it all line up nicely when it was being driven in. Then the rubber oil seal is fitted, in push back firm into the front cover seal plate. If this is not pushed back firmly into its position there is a risk that a circlip on the input shaft could void with the seal and mash it all up when it rotates, so attention here to the correct installation process. 

On to the other side of the bell housing and something fairy crucial to a smooth clutch operation. I replaced the two brass bushes on the clutch arm pivot point, along with a tolerance clip that sleeves the pivot pin internal on the arm. You can’t really see the bushes here but they just push in to the casting fairy easy without any need to start hitting them. The throw arm bearing has also been replaced which was simply pushed on using the bench vice and all the associated roll pins and bushes. The throw arm pin was in perfect condition and was in tolerance of a new factory pin so no need to replace. If the pin was worn (shorter) then the clutch slave would not travel as far and thus a gritty slipping clutch travel which would not be very practical. 

I fitted the new slave cylinder into its housing (pictured above) however I’m ashamed to say that the slave cylinder housing I have had to replace, as when I removed the old slave I have in error not removed the cylinder from its housing bracket and it’s all gone to the scrap…. Bugger. Not a massive issue but a £30 mistake I could have avoided. I had to grind a small amount of the replacement internal diameter as the new slave was no where near fitting nicely, or smoothly. So a small drum sander on the dremmal and it was soon sorted. The bell housing was now ready to be fitted back onto the gearbox. There is a gasket seated between the two faces and it’s simply bolted on from the internal of the bell housing with five bolts and lock washers. The lowest of the bolts is directly tapped into the gearbox casing which would allow the oil to drain, so a copper sealing washer is needed for this one. I belt and braces this one with a small amount of RVT silicon just to be safe… this is British Leyland manufacturing and pissing oil out is fairly mandatory…. But I’m trying my hardest to refine all these issues to reduce oil loss as much as possible. 

With the bell housing and gearbox back in a steady relationship again it was time to move onto the engine side of things and get the engine end plate fitted, along with the flywheel, clutch, clutch housing etc… this is all very exciting for me really and it’s very enjoyable to be fitting all this back together. The engine crane was dragged from the back of the garage and the engine was quickly lifted up off its temporary home of the engine stand. The engine back plate is simply bolted on to the engine casting using a locating dowel and seven bolts and lock washers. I was amazed at what a low (in my opinion) torque setting was required for these so I did a bit of double checking online prior to covering them all with the flywheel. 

Next up, flywheel and clutch. Having fun reading all this? I can assure you it has been very much needed progression for the build and just happy in the garage with the radio on all day… I definitely enjoy the building considerably more than the driving of all these projects I complete. The flywheel was fitted on its location dowel and the four bolts fitted and torqued down. I use a small amount of blue lock tight on these as despite them being new re-engineered bolts to a much higher tolerance than the original they still have no lock plate or any form of physical stop to stop them from working loose at 5000 RPM…. Three inches from you kneecaps basically…. But let’s not think about that! Let’s put faith in physics and trust it will work. 

The clutch was fitted next with the clutch cover bolting it all down onto the fly. You need to use a splined centralising tool in order to align the clutch plate correctly. If when you have torqued everything down, you can not remove this tool easily just by sliding it out then the clutch plate is not central and will void on the gearbox input shaft splines or vibrate terribly when engaged with the engine drive. Once all that was sorted the gearbox could rekindle its relationship with the engine. It only took me a couple of attempts to lift the box back on and it slid nicely on and was bolted together accordingly. So now it was time to lift the whole lot onto the chassis and get it fixed down. 

My previous test fit months ago when defining the engine mount positions was all a great success and the engine and gearbox were together again on the chassis. All the new engine mounts aligned perfectly and I have replaced the gearbox bush mounts also because for an extra £5 it’s stupid not too. I have temporarily fitted the prop shaft also. This will be getting a refurb and tart up along with replacing the universal joints etc.. but it was encouraging to roll the chassis out of gear and see everything working. It was even more encouraging to put the gearbox into 4th gear and then get engine rotation also when pushing the chassis… all in all a very productive and enjoyable day spent in the garage. And now the engine and gearbox are in it opens the window for loads of other jobs to get sorted as the build continues. I’m still awaiting delivery of the adjustable rear radius arms which will allow me to get the reinforcement plates welded on and fitted the we can start looking about getting the body into place, along with front bulkhead, rear bulkhead, pedal box etc… and altogether pushing the build on. 

Smash It Into Gear!

 

Been a while since the last update, sorry. Life has been a tad busy over the past few weeks and it hasn’t really helped with the disposal income side of things and thus things have had to slow down a tad. Still here we are with a couple of further ticks off the list. 

 First with the front anti roll bar. This has had a full refurb replacing all components with exception of the bar itself, which was primed and painted back with chassis a good few months back. The bushes are updated poly units which will help firm everything up and hopefully tighten the whole feel of the car, and should easily out live any original rubber units that were once on the car. I have also replaced the fixing brackets and U bolts, along with the drop links and studs on the outside edge. Once dry fitted I offered it up to the chassis and loosely fitted all the bits. I really need to get some weight in the chassis before things start to get torqued up fully. So a loose fit will have to do for now, but it was fairly straightforward and no serious issues when aligning everything.

Another job on my list was to take a really good look at the gearbox and make some decisions whether to fully overhaul, or just a light strip and clean. I had already removed the top plate a while back and I was surprised how well everything looked, good fresh clean oil and no missing teeth….. hold that thought. 

So today I started to fully drain the box and go to town on everything making sure it was going to be good for car when finished. In all fairness the access to pull the gearbox at a later date, when the car is finished, is not actually that bad. The prop will simply drop from output flange and remove the transmission cover giving full access to the box, bell housing, clutch slave etc…

Still I’d rather not have to rip the box out again later down the line  so will get everything right now. I spent ages with an inspector lamp just slowing turning the input shaft and visual giving everything a check over. The oil has been replaced relatively recently, in regards to its lifespan, but keep in mind the clutch was gone when I took delivery and it’s been sat for donkeys in my garage, so I popped of the drain plug and emptied it all out.

Upon doing this (sorry forgot to picture) the drain plug which is magnetic was covered in swarf…. Not good at all. And when I removed it all and cleaned it off it was all very very fine with only one chunk as such…. On with the investigation then. I spent further time on a close inspection on all the gears and synchromesh’s along with shaft bearings and casing damage, but couldn’t find anything to explain the amount of swarf I had on the plug. It was far too much to be just general wear and tear, so something somewhere has been damaged at some point but what?

I then started to check the reverse gear which is right at the bottom of the box casing….bingo! A trip to the dentist is required as at least three teeth are chipped and have some light damage. This has probably been done when someone was trying to engage reverse gear and couldn’t find it. Reverse on this box is located by lifting the gear stick in neutral and then top right to engage the gear. I can only assume the someone previously has not lifted the gearstick fully/properly and when trying to sync the gear it has took a few chips off the teeth. This would explain the swarf on the plug, but the concern now is that this has been sloshing around in the box getting all mushed up and causing horrific wear on pretty much all components of the box. 

I have decided now just to flush and clean the box as I already have a replacement box in the garage that I will do a full rebuild on as it’s replacement should I need it. Neither of the boxes have an overdrive unit, so again this could be a good retrofit upgrade if this box does start to die when it’s in. It will certainly mange a good few hundred miles first allowing me time to decide whether on not an overdrive is really required when driving the finished machine. 

After all of that I have just spent many laborious hours with a wire wheel and petrol cleaning everything and removing decades of gunk and debris. Everything else seems in good nick really and has cleaned up nicely. I will order all the replacement gaskets next week along with the pivot arm bushings and possibly even a clutch and flywheel bolts etc… this will allow me to fit the box to the engine and drop it all onto the chassis and get some much needed weight onto the front springs. I will need to get a new throw arm bearing also, as this current one is not particularly smooth and its history is unknown. 

So I’ll try not to leave it so long before i update again, it might only be a little update next with the gearbox seals and gaskets, but progress is progress. 

A Ride Out And A Rack.

 

 I ended my last update with the intention to sort the steering rack out and I quote “…should be straightforward”…. I should just keep my big mouth shut. On first inspection one of the inner tie rods was a tad squiffy. It could be straightened out a little easy enough and would save roughly £30-£40 on a replacement component however the inspection was going to get worse before it got better. With the main body of the rack in the bench vice I clamped on a set of grips to the splined shaft and “tried” to put the rack through a full sweep left to right….. my rack has/must have had a knock at some point because it had a terrible tight spot on one end, and on further inspection when the boots were removed you can just see a slight bend on the main rack when the straight edge was put up against it. So a bent tie rod end and a bent main rack puts it in the bin basically as it is just not worth stripping it any further. Off to the depths of eBay then on the search for a replacement. Not as common a part used as you would have expected really, new units are available for around £230 but I’m really trying to tighten the budget on this build a little now, and make savings where possible without compromising quality or details. 

I eventually found a good used rack for £50 and promptly put the order through and awaited delivery. I also ordered the basic rebuild parts for a steering rack from another supplier consisting of the rubber boots, outer tie rods and mounting rubber bushes with clamps. The latter part of this all turned up in a timely fashion, yet despite the rack itself getting dispatched the couriers decided to loose it during its trip to me and subsequently left me claiming for my money back. So further search for another replacement rack got me in contact with a company called Spitbitz and after a quick phone call and conversation I had another replacement rack in the post two weeks after my initial purchase…. And it was £20 cheaper, bonus.

So first job get it clamped down in the vice and check for any issues turning from lock to lock… all was good. Second was to check the inner tie rods for bends or stripped threads… again they were both good. So a refurb of this rack can now continue… this “should” be straightforward. Out came the wire wheel and attention was spent on the many years of grime and crud sticking to the main body. This cleaned up nicely so I moved on to removing the rubber boots and cleaning off all the old grease and any grit (next to none) from the main rack itself. I didn’t go as far as removing the circlip and checking the shims for the main splined spindle, the rack was nice and tight in its movement with next to no slop in lock to lock, so just a clean and re grease after the cosmetics were taken care off.

I masked off the parts that need to stay paint free and after a good degrease and wipe down I gave the body a good heaven primer coat follow a day later with 2/3 coats of just a generic black topcoat. Once left overnight to fully cure I could start the rebuild with new grease and boots etc… 

Another job to do is to calculate and mark the centre of the rack sweep and mark the splined shaft accordingly. This is so that when the rack is installed in the car you know that you have the same number of turns from straight line to full left or full right lock. If not done correctly you could find for example you have two full left turns of the steering wheel to left lock agains one full right turn for right lock…. That would be unbalanced and potentially dangerous. 

You can calculate the center points a few different ways but because I still haven’t fitted my rubber boots it was easy just to measure the full extent of the protruding rack on the near side and divide the measurements by two.

You can see pictured here the total extension measurement at 171mm, so reducing this dimension to 85.5mm will give me the central point to which I will get full travel from left to right. You can’t really check this measurement on the other side of the rack as the inner tie rod bottoms out inside the larger diameter of the larger casting for the bigger rubber boot. So the way to check your measurements are correct is to then fully extend the rack one direction and make a mark on the splined spigot that aligns with a mark on the main body. Then with the clamps on the splines rotate the rack to the opposite side, counting the rotations you have made against the splines and main body casting. 

The spitfire rack is roughly just over 3 rotations from full lock to full lock. So now when bottomed out on the other lock, make another mark aligned to the marked splined shaft but on the main casting again. You can see pictured the marks made, one at around 6 o’clock and one at about 10 o’clock. Now to confirm the centre you should rotate from a full lock 1.5 rotations then watching the mark on the spline continue it past the closest casting mark to halfway between the two previous casting marks…. This is your center point, make a third mark on the body casting and you can be confident that your track rod ends will be equal when setting the front tow correctly. 

So to put practice into maths and confirm it’s correct I mentioned a full lock measurement was 171mm. So with the splined spigot mark lined up with our central mark on the rack casting we “should” have a measurement from the same points of reference at 85.5mm

And as you can see here…. Bang on 85.5 

I don’t really think the .5mm will make any difference whatsoever in the grand scale of things, but it’s nice to be accurate when it’s comes to tolerances. 

So now I can fit the rubber mounts and fixing brackets which have already had a clean up and treat to the same paint finish, along with the track rod ends and make it all look pretty and ready for fixing to the chassis.

Another little (often overlooked) job was to clean up and sort out the earth wire that is fitted to the main casting and earthed to the chassis. Without this it’s unlikely your center horn push will operate correctly as the rack is technically isolated from the negative earthed chassis from its rubber mounts. I will have to scrap away some of the chassis texture paint under the bracket where this will be fitted and that should see my horn operating correctly when I get to that. 

During the past few weeks I have also spent a little time down in the midlands visiting family. So when i was in the vicinity I cheekily asked Paul (a fellow Spyder owner) if I could come and have a look at his car. Luckily he said yes and so on a Sat morning I actually managed to get a proper look, touch and feel at a finished car. Wow is all I can say, I was so genuinely overwhelmed and excited to see a finished car and it just looked so right and sounded tremendous. 

I spent an extremely enjoyable few hours with Paul and he let me have a real good climb all over his car, which has helped me massively with my build and how I can progress things. So many little niggles that I have been thinking about that have been clarified just by looking at his. I was even allowed to sit in and get a feel for the driving position and pedal box. I was more than surprised how I could fit as I’m just over 6ft myself and I could achieve full clutch pedal without any issues of thighs rubbing the steering wheel… so that is really encouraging for a comfortable driving position. After much more banter and talking cars Paul offered me a quick ride out round the local area…. And it would have been rude to say no. 

Even though it was only just a quick blat around the backroads, it was more than enough to convince me that this was going to be awesome fun to kick about in. No way near a speed daemon, but fun from start to finish. Paul’s car sounded lovely and whilst we didn’t really hit anything higher than 40mph it was great to have the wind rushing in your face and the exposure of the elements around you. Granted you will be getting friendlier with your passengers as you sit very close together, but not much difference from the original spitfire really I suppose…. These are little cars, not monster SUV’s