Triumph Spitfire 1979 (1500 Yellow) - Moto Lita Wheel!!!!

[cjhillman]

Hi everyone,

This is a new arrival for our house, Its actually my Dads but we're joint sharing it. Its not a museum piece but, a good useable sports car.

My parents had one of these years ago and had to sell it because, i came along and drive an Escort mk3 like everyone else (which is where my love of those comes in)

( back in the 70s.)

Fast forward to some time last year and I spotted a yellow 1500 while on tour in a garage, fell in love with it and told my Dad i'd go halfs if he would. He decided he'd just buy one him self after thinking about it. So... after a year of searching for dark blue (like his origional) or a racing green mk4 Spitfire that weren't full of rot or filler... we ended up with a Yellow 1500 from Glasgow!
This all happened pretty quickly. Enquired on Sunday, drove it home on Monday... 270 Miles to Stoke-on-Trent!!! We were a little worried as it was an occasional use car (plus she called me the morning of going up saying it wouldn't start). This car has wanted for nothing though... with thousands and thousands of pounds spent with Chic Doig in Scotland from 1993 to recently we came along just in time i think. I'll put some pictures of the recipets up at some point.

Once we arrived and after we saw it running there was no way we were coming back without it.




Some money later I was given the task of driving it all the way home. Very surprised how quick it was for a 38 year old car!! Initially thought it would be like my Escort 1.1 but we flew all the way home and it never missed a beat.





Things that need doing so far are:
-Change Oil
-Check the breaks (seem a quite slow to react)
-Dash lights don't work/some are very faint.
-Stereo moving to glove box
-Adding extra gauges (Vacuum, Amps etc.)
-New rocker cover (cosmetic reasons)


Chris

[düdo]

Looks in good nick. See you got a few model planes hanging in your garage. Any Spitfires?

[ian65]

Looks like a nice Spit Chris... the brakes take some getting used to because there's no servo assistance on them.

[cjhillman]

Haha there is a spitfire model in the loft, my dad has flown RC places since the 70s/80s.

Is there anyway to get the brakes sharper? i did think it was because it had no servo but you'd never be able to do anything close to an emergency stop.

[cjhillman]

My Dads mate gave him a stereo that he said has never been a British Layland car... i think its a bit modern for ours though. Fitted it anyway and moved it in the "glovebox" area so he can use the center bit for dials (the Philips one fitted was broken)
Only problem is theres a lot of interference from the cars engine through the stereo, mainly on the radio... any ideas?

[daklone]

Nice looking Spitfire you've got there

What sort of noise is it? Does it vary with engine RPM?

I'd have thought it would probably be to do with the ignition system.

Things like suppressed plugs/plug leads, an in-line suppressor for the radio +12V line and checking for good earths might be a way to go. New rotor arm, cap and points might help too.

[cjhillman]

Its pretty cool thanks! we love it!

I've been looking at the inline ignition suppressors. Most of them seem to be 10amps. Is that normal? I'm not the best with electronics.

[07lilredwagon]

Ive remember seeing noise suppressors on distributors eons ago....I'm sure you could add one...its certainly noise from the ignition...

I think they are called "noise capacitors". very common and can be wired right in...

JP



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[danixr3imk490spec]

Hello. You send the front bumper 90 spec and the rs kit too portugal? Thanks and if you send tell me the price pleas

[cjhillman]

I never update this Car as its my Dads really. He does use it occasionally but its more there for when he wants it/go to a local shows. Some things have changed over the years. That god awful BL radio went for a very cheap but working vintage style ebay stereo. It was updated to hellogen headlights and electronic ignition. It broke down on me twice. Once as I tried to go to Manchester (ignition condenser went) and before that I had a problem with the wiring on the M6... not fun but all learning what needed sorting on the car. It also has some extra gauges now which are pretty nice. 

Anyway. Present day and its been good as gold for the last couple of years! Today we decided to replace the radiator for a full width one as this car runs really hot and so do our stress levels with that.



I didnt take many photos but the original radiator had an electric fan on the front which had to be turned on most of the time to bring the temp down. Plus these radiators are also tiny and seem to be a big problem in the spitfire world.




This is the new radiator in there. It so far has kept the temp gauge just above half which is much better. Also! when we removed the thermostat housing, no thermostat! Good go we bought one along with new hoses and clamps.



A small hose we replaced on the stat housing seems to be leaking water so we'll have another look at this tomorrow so its right before I head back to London. Were pretty chuffed though. Also, having a blast around the streets makes me want to sell my Capri and buy one of these for down south haha.

[homersimpson]

Got to love a Spitfire, I bought one in this colour (I think its Inca Yellow?) although mine is a 1974 car so started life in a different shade of yellow. One day I will restore it but at the moment its on tresles in my mums garage.

Looking at the new radiator do they not have any form of cowl on the fan to make it more efficent? Just a thought as I have no idea what they should be like as mines in bits.

[cjhillman]

Aug 26, 2020 22:50:25 GMT homersimpson said:

Got to love a Spitfire, I bought one in this colour (I think its Inca Yellow?) although mine is a 1974 car so started life in a different shade of yellow. One day I will restore it but at the moment its on tresles in my mums garage.

Looking at the new radiator do they not have any form of cowl on the fan to make it more efficent? Just a thought as I have no idea what they should be like as mines in bits.

Yeah that it , Inca Yellow. I love the early spitfire mk4 colours . I’d love one in the dark blue colour that seemed a cross over from the mk3. Also a good few mustard Spitfires out there.
How much work does yours need? Yeah this is how the Spitfire radiators look. They have the card style sides to deflect the air but nothing on top. I guess the bonnet does all that.

[homersimpson]

Aug 26, 2020 23:01:43 GMT cjhillman said:

Aug 26, 2020 22:50:25 GMT homersimpson said:

Got to love a Spitfire, I bought one in this colour (I think its Inca Yellow?) although mine is a 1974 car so started life in a different shade of yellow. One day I will restore it but at the moment its on tresles in my mums garage.

Looking at the new radiator do they not have any form of cowl on the fan to make it more efficent? Just a thought as I have no idea what they should be like as mines in bits.

Yeah that it , Inca Yellow. I love the early spitfire mk4 colours . I’d love one in the dark blue colour that seemed a cross over from the mk3. Also a good few mustard Spitfires out there.
How much work does yours need? Yeah this is how the Spitfire radiators look. They have the card style sides to deflect the air but nothing on top. I guess the bonnet does all that.

To be honest i'm not sure what it needs, the story is that I went to buy a car part off someone on e-bay and the bodyshell was outside their house in the rain uncovered.  I asked them about it and they said it was complete and they had stripped it but given up so I bought it, brought it home and put it up on some tressles in my mums garage in 2014 and its been there ever since.

From the little i've seen it needs a repair to the chassis which is off the car at the moment and some welding or a replacement of the drivers side sill.  It does seem to have a lot of paint on it and possibly a lot of filler in places but the floors seemed good from what I remember which is what made me think it was worth saving.

For some reason these cars have not yet reached a significant value which has always suprised me as I think they are really pretty.  I have a MK2 Sprite which is worth a fair bit more and the Frogeye I used to own is now for sale on E-Bay for 17K.  My Spitfire if restored would probably be worth around 5k I guess?

[cjhillman]

Yeah I know what you mean about Spitfires. People are selling them for loads (if they ever sell) but I've seen them under 4K in lovely condition which is similar to what we paid for this a few years ago. I was tempted to sell my Capri and buy one for down London as i rarely drive this to get some money back.

Hope you can get to it soon. Looks like you have a Jag to keep you busy too?

[kevins]

My elan has the same small radiator, they are not much bigger than a sheet of A4, I am thinking of changing to a bigger one too, it is OK most of the time but struggles on really hot days and in traffic.

[cjhillman]

wow really! Its crazy how small these radiators are. I think its the same for the 1300 but my 1100 Escort has a bigger one than this. Canley Classics this came from.

[cjhillman]

With covid I havent seen this Car for nearly 2 years properly... not that i really did today. My Dad has been complaining about it having a flat battery and not starting (it just needs a new one) and recently a strong fuel smell. God he wasnt wrong, as soon as the garage was open you could smell it. Had look under the bonnet and all the fuel hoses are old and hard, definitely the next job before the battery. Looking in the boot where the tank is was like being down at the local Petrol station though.
It seems on the side where the hard plastic line comes through the floor, theres a lot of fuel kicking about and its ruined the paint. I cant see where its coming from, the little rubber connecting pipe on the top of the tank seems fine... will take a bit of investigating I think...

The tank seems to have oil on the top of it as does the rest of the car (rust protection) which makes it look a bit damp.

[cjhillman]

A couple of months have passed , I moved from London to the North again which means more time for classic car stuff

The problem seemed to go away on the spitfire but low an behold my Dad put £15 in the tank then put it in the garage to find it was leaking again. If the problem ever went away I don't know but we need to find out whats going on.

Today we removed the tank which was pretty easy. Disconnect the battery, sender, fuel pipe and filler neck. After that it was 5 bolts.





As the tank looks fine, we decided to fill it back up with fuel and leave it on the garage floor with the filler cap on and the sender feed blocked. After an hour or so it was ok and if its fine tomorrow i'm guessing it wasnt that.

[cjhillman]

Been a while since this Car has turned a wheel. I bought my Dad an older Moto Lita steering wheel for Christmas. A bit of a calculated gamble but after finding out the "original" wheel with 9 bolt holes was actually an aftermarket one I guessed It might fit.



This wheel has a British Leyland cap in the middle. I always thought It was original but after looking at the original 1500 wheels, they said Triumph on them. Another thing which I never noticed was how they were still Triumph Spitfires but everything at that time said British Leyland on it.










Here is the boss without any wheel. Not sure what the original would have looked like. Probably just a wheel on splines.





And here it is! Its a bit worn although I did give it a polish and the chrome with some "Mothers Mag" stuff. I think it looks right though with the Dash which is also a bit worn. I could have bought him a brand new one but I think it would have looked out of place... plus this one is a Moto Lita. 







The only problem is the bolts from the old wheel don't fit the new one. We're currently trying to find some online which didnt take too long. Moto Lita them selfs sell a pack for £5. I did think about going down to screwfix and getting a set of M5 x 25 screws which are the same as the Moto Lita ones... someone said they could be too soft and fail though.
Looks like we need them to be about 20-25mm long