MadaboutKitcars

saga

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.
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Very amusing Mr T!!
All very true though.

Rev counter

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.

Here are some pics:

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Thanks for the positive comments Seanick, how's your build going?

As long as the needle moves, and it did before, I don't really mind!

Today

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.
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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:

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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!!
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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:

Another day, another dollar……….


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Saturday

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……….

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Yes

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Testing times

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.

Well you've surely got enough time to decide!
red sounds good to me, look forward to seeing it painted.
Hopefully mine will be finished then, and it HAS to be BRG. :-)

Nose bolted on



Well I finally got the nose into as good and low a position as I could and using a 3 inch spacer, bolted it onto the chassis.

Three holes, three bolts, one spacer plus 5 hours of effing labour!
Unbelievable awkward and time consuming to do.
However, it’s done now.

I have posted two pictures to illustrate how it looks and mainly how low it is.
There are always the “can you lower it a bit more” brigade, (to which I belong
But I don’t pass comments on other kits, I keep it to myself)

To this brigade I would say:

Study the pics, if it’s too high when its finished there’s not much else I can do about it!

By default, as the body sits on top of the Spitfire body, the car will always be a little higher than it should, but at the stage I am at, I think I’ve got the shell as low as it can be.

If I ever built another one (no ‘king way Hosay) I would have cut the the Spitfire
Scuttle top off and drop the fuel tank at the rear. Which would lower by 2 inches or so.

But I didn’t. and I won’t go back down that road now!

What I have is what I have. Its lower than some I have seen, and I’ll live with it.

Because the shell is so low now, the sides hang down about an inch lower than the Spitfire sills, so the next job will be to trim them off and bolt/bond them on as well.
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How about all you fella's that have used Spitfires for your builds?
What kind of under body / chassis clearances do you have?
I would be really interested in feedback, as I may already have overcooked it!

Slightly less than zero?? Now there's a thing, WCA!!

Fan


Having fitted an electric fan to my Spitfire donar, I came across this gem on a Spitfire tuning website, and felt quite pleased that according to the article, I may have gained about 4 BHP!
On such a light car 4 BHP will be a good gain.

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Thanks for the encouragement Oxford!
The 4 hp figure was not my guess, but came from a website, I tend to agree with you on the optimism bit, but any gain however small is worth having!

Fans and things

Mr T, thanks for the reply, I must admit when I put it in position, I wondered about that effect, but most (as you said) people fit them that way and so far, apart from Canley, there has not been any negative effect that I am away of.

Canley do seem to express their opinions in rather bullish way at times, I've spoken to them on the phone, and they tend to have quite strong views on a lot of things.

I will leave it that way until I find it overheats! Then I'll swap it round, not a big job but irritating to do. That won't be for a while yet though.

On the subject of higher temperatures, did the rear rad cure your heat problem in the end?

Canleys and fans

Having read the Canley article on fans fully now, there are a couple of things I would like to add.

In their missive, Canley were talking about overheating, and that fitting electric fans and oil coolers were not always a good idea.

They may well be right, but what they definitely were trying to do, was sell you a larger radiator!

Perhaps I should have made it clear that I did not have an overheating problem at all to start with, and the fixed fan that was in place worked well and did its job.

I am fairly sure that the system I have in place at present will work as well as, and possibly better than the original setup.

If eventually it does run warmer than it did, the fan will go on the inside of the rad.

I will keep you posted, but as I said, that will not be for a few more months yet!

I agree with you about the tie wraps! mine went staight in the bin.

I fabricated solid brackets for mine.

Only time will tell on whether it works out okay, I will surely post updates.

Sods law



The plan today was to start the car, drive it out of the tent and put it on the ramps where
I could trim the fibreglass sills and get them bonded on.
(Before it rained later)

It started and I drove it out, I was keen to see the “stance” as it had not been moved since all the major suspension lowering etc. So I wanted to see how it looked after it had “settled”.


I took some pictures, and was pleased with the ride height and more importantly,
(To me at least) was the distance between the top of the wheel arches and the wheels.

Sods law, we all know how this works don’t we? Well today sod was totally determined this would be HIS day not mine, as I started to drive up the ramp the throttle cable snapped, of course I was mildly irritated at this setback.

Sod was having fun! Then it started to rain, mild irritation it was not.

On checking, the stop had come off the throttle end of the cable, I whacked on an electrical connector to sort this out, it was still raining

Jumped into a soggy car and turned the key to find the starter motor had jammed!

Sod was beside himself now, and I was not amused.

Can it get any worse I wondered……..

Chucked a sheet over the now sodden car, and put a spanner on the end of the motor only to find it was rounded off!

Starter motor off time in the pi**ing rain, what fun!

Long story short, oiled up the bendix, put the motor back on, took the sheet off the car
(Still in pouring rain) turned the key, flat battery again…………

I think sod was taking the piss.

Eventually I got the car back in the tent having achieved virtually f**k all, except the knowledge that I need a new starter motor, and will order one today.

To end on a positive note, I was pleased with the result of my lowering efforts, as I think the car is progressing well in the stance department.

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Thank you SO much for that!!
All The hours of thought and effort I've put in to try to achieve it,
now seems worthwhile!