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I finally got the three bolts in place which will hold the lower edge of the heat shield. This job had to done before bonding, as afterwards, there would be no access to do it.
As a first time builder, I maybe have some odd ideas about certain things, let me elaborate:
When people talk about “bonding the body on” My inexperienced brain just thinks “glue”
When the car is complete, I may eventually bow to peer pressure and install a 2 litre turbo 250 BHP engine, which will give the car around 400 BHP per ton, and the thought of whanging
Round the Nurenbergring at 145 mph, with just GLUE holding the body on really Horrifies me.
But, I WILL use the stuff Chris recommends, but will augment this with good old fashioned stainless steel nuts and bolts.
On that subject I bough some today and nearly had a heart attack when I had to pay for them!!
Carrying on with the build, and as always, so far NOTHING has been simple or straight forward, everything seems complicated.
Today carries on in that theme………………….
Before I bond the nose, I have to line it up, and noticed that the bonnet opening was resting on the radiator frame.
That won’t do.
I am determined to get the nose as low down as it will go, (without putting it under stress.)
I also noticed that the rad cap was really high and may foul the bonnet, so, before I can move forward, I have to lower the radiator.
F**%”!g B%*”*+x
I took out the rad and the U frame it sits on.
I chopped off the two U frame mounts, and welded them back on a bit lower down, then chopped about an inch out of the U frame so the rad will sit lower in it.
I have rested it all back in, to check how much room I’ve gained, and it’s about two inches. That’s a good result, but it took best part of the day to do!!
And it’s not finished yet.
I’ve ordered an electric fan, so before I bolt the rad back in place, the shitty plastic fan will be removed, which should provide a small gain all round.
I can fully relate, everything goes wrong, snaps, shears, or is knackered when dealing with an old car, especially a triumph. Ive spent the best part of a year recomissioning a knackered dolomite.
Ive lost count the amount of times over the past 12 months ive been under a car screaming the word F&*! at it.
I have been asked why I re-sited the battery to the boot, I should have explained this before, it is simply a question of access.
As most people know, a Spitfire has a flip front, which makes the battery easy to get at and change if needed.
My body shell does not, and if the battery were left in place, it would be trapped forever!!
That is also the reason I had to move the fuse box.
It’s always fiddly to change a fuse, but when access is difficult and you can’t actually see it, it makes life hard.
Incidentally, I had to move the chassis commission plate from the nearside of the car to where it is now, otherwise it would have been trapped out of sight between the two body skins.
And as far as I know this plate is the only bit of info which can identify the car.
As a 1971 vehicle it came out before Vin numbers were dreamed up, and has only two letters and four figures! Those were the days.
You didn’t have to lock your doors in those days, there was no crime, policemen were nice blokes, females knew their place, etc. etc and all that old drivel…………….
.Oh well…..
You didn’t have to lock your doors in those days, there was no crime, policemen were nice blokes, females knew their place, etc. etc and all that old drivel…………….
.Oh well…..
ooh Scotty boy . I still don't lock my doors ( bin burgaled fifteen times but don't lock them! )
police men are nice people . just ask ask mr towed or tony the tiger
females do know there place. they are in charge
cars vmoving on in leeps and bounds mate. will be on the road before you now it. you planning trips to goodwood or anything next year?
If I finish it for the spring, I want to go to a Triumph day and tell them its a triumph, then go to a Jaguar day and tell them the same!!
Then watch their faces!!
I did a bit more today, while I was taking the fan off; I noticed a way to dump the rad down another half inch with little work.
I seem to be obsessed by lowering everything, but a lower centre of gravity is not a bad thing after all.
I cut two slots in the U frame, reinforced it and bolted it back in place. I still have to modify (shorten) the support brackets, but that’s an easy job..
When the electric fan arrives I’ll wire it in and start the engine to try it out.
[IMG][/IMG]
I grew up then. There was no crime, those happy-go-lucky Kray brothers saw to that.
Children could play safely in the streets, watched over by that nice Ian Brady and his lovely girlfriend, Myra Hindley and protected from the harmful rays of the sun by the shade cast by the Aberfan slag heap.
A man could enjoy a few beers, say twenty, and feel confident that he could drive home from the pub without fear of being persecuted by the Police because they were busy dealing with real crime, like homosexual men enjoying each other's company in private or a printer publishing a disgusting book about some posh bint having it away with her lower class gardner.
And as a child I slept safe in my bed knowing that if I was cheeky to a copper I'd get a sound thrashing from said bobby before being dragged home by my ear'ole to face another sound thrashing from fatha for bringing the law to his door.
Ahh, those were the days.
But you tell the young folks that today and they won't believe you. No they won't.
I did some indoor work today, as I am sick of working out in the cold.
I intend to use Jaguar dials in my dashboard.
The repro ones that companies sell for replica XKSS cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds, and that’s exchange too.
Not for me, besides, the repro dials look like repro, and do not have the quality look that genuine Jag ones have.
So, I took my Spit rev counter apart and took my Jag one apart, and after a bit of cutting, drilling, filing, swearing, f*****g things up a few times , I finally ended up with the Spitfire rev counter guts bolted into the Jaguar case, complete with the Jag dial back in place.
Does it work? Well, it worked when it came out of the Spit, and I’ve only changed the dial and pointer, so it should, but I can’t check it in the car, as the radiator’s not in place
‘cos the fan’s not arrived yet, etc etc.
It will I am sure, make the needle go around the dial, and that’s all I want.
Today I had high hopes, the electric fan arrived, I wanted to remove the two tubular stays for the U rad bracket, cut and shut them, fit the fan, fit the rad,
Refill the system with antifreeze and fire up the engine to test the rev counter.
It did not work out that way.
The nearside bracket came off okay and was modded painted and re- fitted.
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
The off side one did not want to come off at all. We argued for a long time,
We fought for even longer, I bear the scars:
[IMG][/IMG]
In the end, I lost it, and returned to the workplace with the dreaded
CUTTING DISC.
I attacked the stubborn, rusty, rounded, obstinate M.F of a nut with
Maximum violence! That always works! (Ask any terrorist or despot)
Unfortunately I used too much violence and started to cut through the chassis tower which supports the spring. Poosticks!!
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
Eventually I had it back together, and the unplanned cut welded, but this all took so long, I never got the rad in or the fan on, but here’s a pic of it anyway:
Determined to refit the rad, I cut some bits of alloy, drilled and shaped them and
riveted them on to the sides of the radiator. Then fitted the fan.
I bolted the whole lot back in the car, then noticed that while I had been doing all this work, the top and bottom hoses had mysteriously shrunk by a couple of inches.
Surely lowering the radiator could not have caused that? 
Then it hit me that it was Saturday, and as we all know, car shops close at mid-day.
Better rush………… having gone to several factor places and being met with blank looks by the minimum wage Saturday morning kids, I headed for the scrapyard………….
I managed to get two hoses that will do for now, and fitted them, re-filled the system with antifreeze.
Now to start the engine and test the rev counter, click click click click!!!!! Oh no!
Flat battery, For F***s sake!
I shall have to charge the battery,
I’ve a good mind to charge it with “conduct likely to cause a breach of my aorta”
But I didn’t, I plugged it in normally, and went out for a beer……….
Sometime later with a full battery I started the engine, not the best idea health wise in an enclosed build tent, but there we go.
First check for water leaks……..yep, no problems there.
It now became a race to connect the rev counter and check it worked, before I passed out from carbon monoxide poisoning. Rev rev rev rev look at gauge, is it working?
No it is’nt! Bollo! Doom, gloom, failure, slit wrists, sell as unfinished kit on e-bay
hang on a minute its not earthed dickhead!! YES!!
It works a treat, just the same as it did before, but with a lot more STYLE now! It has a Jaguar smile on its face!
Two or three hours of nano-surgery paid off!
Don’t we just love it when a plan comes together? That’s made my day!
I could have placed it either side of the radiator Paul, as the makers say it will blow or suck,depending on the polarity you choose, however logic dictated that it go on the front,in order to act as some sort of protection
to stop any unwanted bodies from damaging the rad.( Although I may well use mesh also)
Of course it must be wired so the airflow is the same as when the car moves forward!
The rev counter was a success, but the speedo will be more of a problem I suspect!
I will sort some thing out though.
op2: 
