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I don't know about removing the body, as mine was already fitted when I bought the kit part done, but my engine looks as if you probably could shoehorn it out if you took bits off it.
I did see a pic of one that someone had put a flip front on the front of the car presumably to allow for easier access - if you Google some pics you may find it ( from what I remember it was with a group of them at a kit car show)
Hope this helps
Thanks for that, it looks like quite a simple modification.
Cheers, Paul
I also bought my donor car today, a Spitfire 1500. The seller is going to remove the bodyshell and cut off the front of the chassis in front of the anti-roll bar mountings so a big part of the dismantling will be done for me! My friend Duncan has volunteered the use of his trailer and his son's Landrover to tow it. Only drawback is that the trailer currently has about 2 tons of stone on it so I have to help unload it. Not sure how long that will take as my friend doesn't use a watch, just the sun and darkness!
I read the article on the Fiorano website about this car, it's based on a Jowett Jupiter and was built by someone called Geoff McAuley. From the article, it sounds like he may be based up here in Scotland (I'm probably wrong, just hopeful), does anyone know of him, is he a forum member?
I'm a happy bunny - Great bit of progress today - we finally sorted out the carburetor problems - it all stemmed from a split jet on one of the carbs - I tried to replace it with one that looked similar (had no way of knowing what ref or part number the other one was) and thought it was ok - then couldn't get the car running right at all.
It turns out that the jet was totally wrong and so the needle in it was stopping any fuel getting through on the left hand carb - making the car run very roughly. - so we changed both jets and needles and WOW - what a difference - I can't believe these tiny parts can make such a difference to the running of the car!!
So after that I actually had my first ever drive of the car today up and down the driveway (about 20ft) not much, but it felt pretty cool.
So now that's out of the way there's a few small bits to sort before it can go to be MOT'd and then it's just body prep and paint.
Also, I spoke to a guy this week who has a nearby body shop who reckons he can do the paint job pretty cheaply - so now I'm getting very excited indeed!!!
Great news about the carburation problem being solved. Have you decided on the colour yet? Jaguar Regency Red from a 1968 Jaguar 420 is a darker colour which might suit the body shape.
Great news about the carburation problem being solved. Have you decided on the colour yet? Jaguar Regency Red from a 1968 Jaguar 420 is a darker colour which might suit the body shape.
I actually love the colour of the car on that video above - not sure what that would be called though.
I'll check out that Jag colour, thanks
Still trying to get a decent quote for the shipping of the kit from Mick at Fiorano. Plus, of course, my garage is currently occupied by two motorbikes.
Still trying to get a decent quote for the shipping of the kit from Mick at Fiorano. Plus, of course, my garage is currently occupied by two motorbikes.
I quite like that. The front end is more like the original Ferrari T166 as it is more upright. Not so sure about those mudguards though!!
How are you getting on with your build? I collect the Spitfire donor on Wednesday next week, I have to clean off and degrease the chassis and remove the engine and gearbox and then it will be ready for the welding/chassis extending. Some progress at last.
Cool glad to hear you're getting started - mines progressed a bit this week - we fixed and oil leak from the crank cover, and I've done a bit of filling and sanding,
I may be putting up my grille and aeroscreens for sale as I think I'm going to use different ones on the car, so if you wanted them I can let you have them at half the price they are from fiorano - just let me know if you're interested.
I picked up my donor car (less body) today. Yippee!!!! A good look at the chassis and it looks as if there is NO RUST on it other than a little surface rust at the front part which gets cut off - bonus. Down side is that all of the body mounting bolts have disappeared and all of the brake pipes and handbrake cable have gone too but that's a small price to pay for the saving of labour involved in stripping the body off and then disposing of it. It would have been good to see how they were routed but hey ho. I'm sure that will be the least of my problems! The manifold is already tapped for a brake servo, the propshaft and steering shaft are off as is the radiator. I'm off on holiday next week but will be ordering the kit from Mick when I get back. This will put a bit of pressure on to get the chassis degreased in short order so I can take it and the chassis parts to the welder for him to work his magic. I'm not quite sure of the final look of the finished car, but I really do like the look of this:
Yeah that looks great, glad to hear you're off the starting block, the good thing is you can run all the pipes and wires exactly where you want.
I've been having an issue with the body and the full lock of the front wheels hitting it, I've ended up cutting holes in the body behind the wheels to allow for turning but at the moment it looks a bit ugly - gotta think of some way of covering them up
You should have spoken to Mick at Fiorano. The "official " cure is to put spacers in the steering rack to limit the lock. It's the same as they do in the Lotus cars apparently and is supposed to be quite easy to do. Get the fibreglass bits back out of the bin!
Thanks. 
Great news about the carburation problem being solved. Have you decided on the colour yet? Jaguar Regency Red from a 1968 Jaguar 420 is a darker colour which might suit the body shape. 
Down side is that all of the body mounting bolts have disappeared and all of the brake pipes and handbrake cable have gone too but that's a small price to pay for the saving of labour involved in stripping the body off and then disposing of it. It would have been good to see how they were routed but hey ho. I'm sure that will be the least of my problems! The manifold is already tapped for a brake servo, the propshaft and steering shaft are off as is the radiator. I'm off on holiday next week but will be ordering the kit from Mick when I get back. This will put a bit of pressure on to get the chassis degreased in short order so I can take it and the chassis parts to the welder for him to work his magic. I'm not quite sure of the final look of the finished car, but I really do like the look of this: 
