MadaboutKitcars

Thanks Landmannnnnn!

Carried on with the slow process of trimming it out, and got both the quarter lights in, complete with lining rubber strips, and now all the rain channels. I am gradually getting nearer to what I am dreading, which is the bunch of spaghetti, that once all repaired, has to be tried, tested , and connected up to the dash.
I think I now have a mental block forming, which seems to get worse as I get closer.

Of course, I will do it, and it will all work in the end, but I can see problems!

The last thing to go on I guess will be the doors, as I need all the room I can for the wiring out.

The cockpit is going to be so very tight, once all trimmed out believe me.
I am 6 foot, and really need more room than there is, anyone bigger would simply not fit comfortably in it.

The main reason for this that it is 5 inches narrower than a real one, and the fore aft space is less too.
Perhaps some pics tomorrow. There were none today as it hasn't changed much with today' work.

Yes WCA you are right about the space, but the trimming I've been doing is the rain channels and quarter lights and windscreen fittings, which don't really affect the internal space much.
I know its not that difficult, but I still am not looking forward to it!

WCA and Ed, thanks for the input, you are right Ed it was a live wire that had touched the earth wire. I will not happen when all the connections are in the right places, but they are all hanging together at present!

And you too WCA, you are right also, when I had the short, it burn out all of the earth wires in the loom under the dash, melting other wires as it did so. I intend to re-do the earth connections, and make it so it could not happen again.

Another day on mainly the loom and wiring. The wipers used to work, but since the electrical short they don't.

In the end it was easier and quicker to cap off the cables that did not check out and just rewire it. The wipers work now, and so does the window wash jet. I have repaired more of the loom, and feel I am getting on top of it now.
Will do more like this tomorrow.

Oh, I almost forgot, I insured the (Spitfire) car today, and told them I intended to re-body it in the near future, and would let them know the details, they seemed happy enough with that info.
As soon as I get an Mot, and re-register it, I'll give them the good news.

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No pics I'm afraid, I'm still working on the damaged wiring, and I got my concealed stereo unit up and running again, the whole lot is hidden under the dash, including the speakers, and all works from a micro remote.

I can do everything from the remote, and even play music from a phone, tablet or laptop if I wanted too.

I'll probably never ever turn the thing on, as the exhaust note sounds so satisfying, and that will be music to my ears!

Friday

I have spent most of the day doing the electrics on the car.

Repairing the loom further, and wiring out all the switches on the dash and labeling them, so that when I finally come to connecting them all to the car,
it will be a straight forward job.

I have also been studying the Spitfire wiring diagram, and trying to figure out how I connect all the wires that went to the complicated switch-stalk arrangement on the steering column, to the simple 50's Jaguar switches that I intend to use.

I think I have it cracked, and have drawn several of my own wiring diagrams which will help me do it.

I also fitted the wiper-hiding bit of dash trim, and connected up the demist pipes to the heater.


Here are pics:

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Monday

Went to Stoneleigh yesterday, and enjoyed it.

Met up with Chris and Dan in the hall, also WCA, IanA, Mr Christmas, (Roger)

and several others.

Was impressed with Roger's A352, a very nice job.

Was not too impressed by the attendance figures at the show, and noticed that there were a lot less kit cars present than usual.

Also in one lane I noticed there are normally five to ten stalls selling things,
but yesterday there was only a single stall there.

I don't think the weather can be blamed, as in the past, I've been there when it rained all day, and the place was packed out with more kit cars than ever.

At the present rate of shrinkage, I even wondered whether there will be a "Stoneleigh 2016"

Mmmmm...........

Liked this car : ( but I would would'nt I?)

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That sounds pretty damning Mr T!

I MUST get the front inner wheel arches sorted out on my car!

And also not delay the roof building once the car is "finished".

IanA,
not being present on Monday, it's nice to hear there were more cars there that day, so perhaps the weather was instrumental after all, and I agree about the "barometer" of Cobra's and Westfields, I've noticed that my self over the years!

Well I have spent most of the day just wiring up the stuff in the boot area, and the stuff at the front of the car.

Why so long?

Okay, 18 months ago, when I stripped the loom away from the lights etc, I marked every wire, using masking tape, and writing the text on in biro.

After 18 months, the glue on the masking tape had gone dry, some of the labels had just dropped off, and most of those that were still attached were un-readable, as the biro had faded out.
To make matters worse, as the car is 45 years old, all the wires had turned a nasty brown colour, and all looked the same!

I resorted to using paint thinners to clean off every wire, which was very time consuming, and eventually the wiring took on its multi-coloured new look. I could then identify, and connect everything up.

Then on to the front of the car, which was a bit easier, although some of the wiring had different colours than the book said they should!

After stripping the loom back a few connections, I found the colours I was looking for, and realised that somewhere in its life, the very front part of the loom had been re-wired in different colours.
Once I had this info, it was straight forward, and I made the connections, but as I said this little exercise took a whole bloody day.

I am moving forward to completion, but at times feel that the beast is fighting me all the way!

No pics I'm afraid, but if anyone knows of a better system of marking the loom for future jobs, please share your info with me!

IanA, BSM and Danny, thanks for the input, which sadly has come too late to help me this time!

Danny, your solution sounds like the cheapest workable one, and I will resort to that in the future, as I do not need to buy anything extra, 'cos I have all the ingredients already!

I have not posted for a while, and the reason is, I do not really have anything positive to post about.

I was hoping to have the car Mot'd by now, but I am having problems with the electrics.

I have had to re-wire the side lights and have those working, but the indicators, and headlights are proving difficult to get going.

Also the brake lights, I checked the brake light switch, and have ordered a new one as it was faulty.
Also both the fuel and temp gauge, which worked before the build are refusing to work now. So its all time consuming checking and messing about trying to get to the bottom of so many failures, and it is very depressing, especially at this stage when I expected plain sailing.

Once again, I don't really have any pictures, as electrical failures don't photograph well!

Its just a case of plodding on and trying to get each circuit sorted out and working.

Wednesday

Well off we go again.

Ed you made me smile with your comments! You are usually spot on, and didn't disappoint this time either!

Froggyman thanks for the support! Must remember not to let the readers down, especially since Paul is off the scene for a while!
Also, we must not let him have too much time off!


Thanks for that tip Mick, when I get round to that circuit, I will check it out.

Okay, yesterday, when I felt I had had enough of the wiring, I turned my attention to other jobs that needed doing anyway.

This is what I usually do, I don't so much take a break, but just do a fresh job.

Its therapy that seems to work for me.

So I did a job which has been outstanding since I got the car.

The air filters in the after market induction system that came with the car, were loose, rattling and dirty, and I was going to replace them with a new system.
I stripped them off the car and was surprised to find out that they were good quality K and N ones.

So I gave the filters a really good clean out, and further stripped the holders, so I could shorten the spacer bolts to make the two plates grip the filters tightly.

Of course sods law stepped in and one bolt on each filter base sheared off,

so it was shorten, red-rill and tap a new thread and rebuild. Like all else, very time consuming.

But now, the car runs better, as it is not so rich, and the filters operate as they should, and also don't rattle.

When I drained off the petrol I had used to clean the filters, the black residue that was left was a huge amount.
I actually got a tea spoon and counted three spoonfulls of black gritty muck that had been stuck to the filters.
No wonder the car runs better.

I have taken one pic of the filters now.

Also yesterday I used one of my right angle drilling machines as a mopping machine, (because it has variable speeds), and mopped the living daylights out of the passengers front wing. The results amazed me!

So much so that my new found skill/pleasure in life is mopping.
Today, I ordered a professional mopping machine, as I now know how to get the finish we are all after!

rest of today has been spent on the wiring.

I ordered a brake light switch, which should arrive soon, then concentrated on the headlight circuit.

As it was the earthing system that caused all the trouble to start with, I dis-connected the headlights earth from the loom, and made a fresh earth for all the electrics at the front of the car, the same as I had done for the rear in the boot.

This strategy paid off, and I now have a working set of headlights, which work on the original Spitfire light switch.

It will be very simple to split them up as my dash has a side and headlight switch working independently of each other.

The wiring is a bit of a nightmare, but one step at a time, and it will get done
eventually.

before I get into trouble about where I have fitted the front number plate, be aware that as I have lowered my car an extra 75mm, the number plate is actually flat against the front cross member, so taking the plate off will not change the airflow one bit.
I do not foresee any overheating problems, but if I do have any, I will add some ducting to aid airflow if need be.
With the giant fan I have fitted, I will have to be careful around local schools, as I may hoover up small children when the fan kicks in.

(with thanks to Mr Towed for that idea)

pics:

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Scimjim, I posted before I saw your offering!
At least my wires are different colours!

Wow scimjim! That offer sounds too good to be true! I'll keep it in mind and use only if I get desperate. Thanks a lot.

I use a hand operated water sprayer thing which I wet the sponge with regularly, and wont dare go near an edge!!

Will get some of the fuel line you specify and replace asp.

Rene, the city that I live in sells basic things like food and drink, but technical things that apply to motor vehicles have to be ordered in from the bigger cities where they tend to use things like cars and trucks, and I don't have any K n N oil, so it will have to be ordered!

Afraid I have to agree with you all on most of the points covered!

I've always been a Jag-man, and had lots of them, including a series two drop head E Type.

The one thing they all had in common was they ate money and drank petrol, and cost a lot to run. They were big and heavy, and difficult to park, so many down-sides.

Which is why I'm building the little gem I'm working on now!
A Spitfire does 40 mpg on a run and 30 mpg around town, and my present car is much lighter, so should better that. Small and light, easy to park, cheap to run / insure / get spares etc etc....

Anyway, moving on......

Today was no different to other days in the respect of two steps forward one step back.

The brake lights I fixed yesterday refused to work today, and the shitty little cheap-arsed brake light switch that I had fitted worked only intermittently, just what one does not need for an Mot.

I had just bought the first one I saw on line, and having bought it, I then read scimjim's advice on the good quality Land Rover one all in solid brass, and regretted not seeing it sooner, and now, regretting it even more, realizing how right he was, and also that I now need the brass one!!!!!

I still cannot find / trace the indicator unit on my build, so have bought another one so I can carry on towards the Mot.

All four flasher bulbs now are connected and light up when fed.
I shall fit the new unit another day, then that should sort out the flashers.
As my car is pre 1986, it does not need hazard lights, but I think they are a good idea, and have figured out a way to make all four work with a double-pole switch arrangement, which I will post on here at a later date.
8 valve Ed may be interested in this one!

I also tidied up the loom at the nose of the car, and cable-tied the new rewired bits I had added.

It seems to me that the only bloody electrics that work properly on the car are the ones I've rewired with new relays and circuits etc, namely the fan, the horn, headlights sidelights and one or two others!

one pic:

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Sunday

Paul, thanks for the diagrams, they did help, and you are right about the Spitfire 1500, and so is 8 valve Ed.

However.............. Although my donar Spit came with a 1500 engine, that engine was retro-fitted by the last owner, and my Spitfire is actually a Mark 1V.

Just for interest, the car would have been fitted with a 1300 engine originally,
which is a better unit than the 1500, but there we go.....

Being a Mk 1V, some of the wiring is different to that on a true 1500.

The car I have does not have a hazard flasher unit fitted, and it is not present in the wiring diagram either.

Having said all that, I have found my car's indicator flasher unit, and it does work when given a live feed. I jury rigged it and got the flashers all going, so I will fit a double pole switch, and get it to hazard flash, ex-ignition circuit like Ed suggested.

Ed, glad to hear you have sorted your flashers out!

You will have read the above bit to Paul, which will explain where I am at now.

What a palaver, but slowly it is coming together.

Today I got the fuel gauge and water gauge working, and decided to change both (Spitfire) of them in my new dash for proper Jaguar ones.

The jag ones were rusty and mucky, so I gave them a brush up, and fitted them in my dash, and they are an improvement on the Spitfire ones.

I also tried to fit the chrome headlight rings that I had bought at Stoneleigh,
only to find that they would not fit behind the headlights, as there was just not enough room. The cowl-space was too narrow to allow the rings in at the back.

Not to be outdone, and determined to fit them, I chopped them down a bit thinner by slicing them almost in half, and that did the trick and now they fit a treat, and the butchery cannot be seen behind the scenes!
I also painted them to stop the rust.

All in all a good productive day.

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THursday

Although I have not posted for a couple of days, I have been putting lots of time in on the car. It is amazing how I keep finding more and more things that need sorting out. It seems to go on forever.

I think I have cracked the wiring, and appear to have got most things up and working. A lot of the circuits, I have had to re-wire.

Unbelievably, whilst actually working on the wiring, I had another short and burnt my hand trying to get my crocodile clip off the offending wire.

Fortunately, the circuit that was damaged was the door courtesy light and seat belt light one, which I am not going to use anyhow, so I just disconnected them.

Thank goodness for my cut-off switch which I used to avoid any further damage! (Or injury)


My new toy finally arrived and this evening, and I used it for the first time.

The paint has at last cured on the doors, and has sunk only a few microns, but enough to show the edges of some of the "patches", which infuriated me.

I wondered if I could get rid of the marks without spraying the doors again, so I had a go at it.

I flatted the marks very very carefully with a small wood block and 600 grit,
which I used "dry". (Shock horror) However it worked, and I flatted out all the imperfections.

Then I fired up my new toy, and set to work with some G3 and water.
It only took about 5 minutes and the results were (to me at least) totally spectacular! I just could not believe how smooth and deep the shine was.
I think even a professional body-shop man would have been pleased with the results.

And I still have not used any polish yet, that may come later.

The "selfy" picture is taken using the door as a mirror.

I am definitely a huge fan of mopping now!!

Pics:

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WCA its the lens on the camera honestly!!

As soon as I am confident that all the electrics are 100% Mick,,
I will connect my dash up and then hopefully Mot time!

Looks like you will beat me onto the road!

I worked on the loom yet again today and could not get the Installed hazard system to work, so just got rid of it and made a simple mod using a double-pole switch, and now have a good system which does work well.

I have no pictures , but if anyone is interested in how to make an easy cheap workable hazard system, on a vehicle, here is how I did mine.

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