1974 Unibody Triumph Spit6 (with some detours inbetween)

[eurogranada]

I like your approach to problems! Hope this does the trick.

Isn't it strange and somewhat frustrating that what works in one way for another doesn't work the same for yourself?

[biturbo228]

Haha thanks we'll see how it works!

It really is. Makes me question whether I've fitted the internal stuff right, but I was dead careful to get the clutch plate and release bearing around the right way.

Apparently there's another variable in that some clutch release bearings are taller than others so that might explain the difference if I have a short one. Would rather not pull the gearbox off again though so slave cylinder it is! The 25.4mm one gives a super-light pedal as well which I'm not sure I like either...

[biturbo228]

We;;, fitted the new clutch slave and it works beautifully! Biting point's still relatively low so no way the 25.4mm one would have worked with whatever setup I have (biting point will only get higher as the clutch beds in and wears so happy with that situation).



Time will tell whether the banjo fitting is leaking slightly, but from testing so far it seems sealed

Still runs a bit rough, but I think I've figured out what I've done. Spent a little while tuning the idle with the AFM screw and idle screw, but did it without the filter fitted. As the AFM is a flap that's moved by vacuum, adding the filter will change the relative angle so will fuel differently when not fully open (runs fine at what). Will have a go at it with the filter added and that might be it!

[goldnrust]

I imagine it will feel transformed to drive with a clutch working nicely and the re-worked gear linkage. I think its an often overlooked part of the driving experience. A friend recently bought a r53 Mini Cooper S with a partially seized gear linkage and mega heavy clutch, really took the fun out driving it.

Seems like you've had a while heap of problems getting the car running right. What ECU is it running? Any thoughts about changing it for something a little less problematic?!

[biturbo228]

Certainly hope so from the little drive around the block I've done it's night and day. No long pause between going out of gear and trying the next one, and none of the nearly crunching feel when the synchro hasn't caught up yet. First and reverse select without having to coax them in with multiple clutch in and outs. Definitely worth the effort, even without the LSD

And yeah, I've got the engine management bits for a Punto GT in a box somewhere which is both more reliable and remappable, but want to get all the bits needed to run a bigger turbo and more power before swapping to that and would very much like to drive it until then!

On that front, I've settled for a Skyline GT-R T28, on the thinking that if there's two for a 2.6l then each one must be feeding the same 1.3l as the Uno Turbo engine

The turbine housing on one of those has a T3 flange, but I've got a Fiat Coupe 20vT turbo for the housing as well which has a higher A/R so should help the little engine spool at ~180bhp

[biturbo228]

So, seem to have tracked down something in the running, and it's a doozy

I'd tested the coolant temp sensor resistance against the book figures and it seemed to be off, so I swapped that over for another more expensive one. Started it up and it ran like complete junk. Same as its worst points.

Then I remembered that it had chucked it down with rain the day before. Thought I'd check the plugs for water ingress. Made my way around the engine bay finding nothing, but when I got to the big plug on the fuelling ECU...full of water!

Little bit of searching around and I found this little drip coming out of the loom above the ECU.



What I think is happening is the drain holes in the engine cover are dumping water onto the mesh braid that covers bits of the wiring loom. That's then capillary action-ing all the way inside the loom, through the bulkhead grommet and spitting it out directly on the ECU plug!




I've had a go at waterproofing things a bit better, and dried everything out. Runs much better still not 100% (there's a bit of a misfire, but that could be unrelated). Will whip the plugs out and see what that seems to be, but it feels like one mystery solved!

[biturbo228]

Took the exxy for a test run on Saturday to the Biggin Hill airshow and she performed admirably! Bit of a whine from the fuel pump still, and needs tracking, but ran perfectly

So of course she's off the road again.



Went to have a look at tweaking the tracking but everything under there is a bit perished and all the balljoint boots are split. So the whole lot's coming off, polybushes going on and everything's getting a clean and a paint all before Wednesday if I'm lucky!

We'll see how that one goes...

[goldnrust]

Fingers crossed that you've got to the bottom of the running problem!

Saw an amazing x1/9 at the gathering at the weekend, helped remind me just how cool these little cars are

[bmwv8capri]

Love your approach to the Spitfire IRS, they had some good ideas back in the day - but don't be afraid to cut up the chassis completely to improve on it! Nice work

(learnt to drive in a 2L vitesse & my brother had a 2L spit)

[biturbo228]

Aug 19, 2019 14:15:43 GMT goldnrust said:

Fingers crossed that you've got to the bottom of the running problem!

Saw an amazing x1/9 at the gathering at the weekend, helped remind me just how cool these little cars are

Hopefully so! Seems to have stayed dry over the past few rainy days

One of these days I'll make it to the gathering sailed right past me this year!

Aug 19, 2019 18:31:05 GMT bmwv8capri said:

Love your approach to the Spitfire IRS, they had some good ideas back in the day - but don't be afraid to cut up the chassis completely to improve on it! Nice work

(learnt to drive in a 2L vitesse & my brother had a 2L spit)

Glad you like it dude they did have some good ideas back in the day. People malign the swing axles (probably for good reason), but the later swing spring type suspension was a brilliant solution for its class and price point.

Car and Driver conducted a group test of the 8 most popular affordable sportcars of 1973 and came out with some results that would surprise a fair few people.

Unsurprisingly given the US versions were especially anaemic, the Spitfire was the second slowest in a straight line (beat the Karmann Ghia, but was just pipped by the Midget due to weight and gearing). However, it came top in cornering g by quite some margin (and against competitors with known handling chops).



Seems like it doesn't cope brilliantly with extra power and/or weight though, given the GT6 results. Hoping mine will fare better

Also, your 2l Vitesse is significantly cooler than my first car...

Oh, last little observation about the test-drive in the Fiat. I'd noted that the MGF linkage had a lot of rubber-mounted bits. Rubber fittings on the gearbox end of the cables, and the whole linkage was mounted on rubber grommets. I'd presumed this was to damp vibration coming back through the gearstick.

Ended up solid-mounting the linkage and using rose joints in the Fiat. No vibration. Nada. Zip. Niente will remember that for future ideas

[biturbo228]

The Fiat lives!



Couple of late nights and the rear wishbones are stripped, painted, and have new polybushes, balljoints and tie rods. Would have been finished a lot quicker if one of the balljoints wasn't an original riveted in one. Had to get a little medieval with that. Flat out did not want to press out (pressed the socket in, rather than the pin out.



Ended up cutting down through the whole thing with a sodding great angle grinder and drilling through the centre for good measure before it would budge.



The eyeballed rear tracking using a scaffolding pole seems to have worked acceptably too

The list of problems grows ever thinner just a leaky oil pressure sender, the whining fuel pump, the little stumble-misfire at idle, front polybushes and proper tracking left to go!

[biturbo228]

So, Fiat's been running pretty well recently! Tweaked the mixture a bit richer and it's running much smoother. Even behaved herself on date night with a girl I've been seeing awhile think she has a new fan. Was worried I might not get it back! All those years in garages might have a payoff regular people can understand after all

Took it to a vintage race day at Brands as well and discovered she still doesn't like motorways though. When we got back we tried bleeding the radiator again in case there was still air trapped in there (there was), but found another issue. If it gets up to regular fan cut-in temps then the fan can bring it back down, but if it goes over then the single X1/9 fan has real trouble bringing them back into order. Didn't have the issue on the old stock radiator, but I reckon the new alloy one doesn't fit as flush to the shroud. Two 9" high flow fans should do the trick

Pics at Brands and a cool retro petrol station in Penshurst:

[biturbo228]

Not a massive amount of work done in the past few weeks. Not on the Fiat at any rate. However, I did want to have a go at the overheating situation.

Cleared the garage (which was a monumental 3-day task in itself!), popped the Fiat in and fitted the two 9" fans.





Not 100% sure the airflow from them is greater than the old single, but I suppose it's through more area of the radiator. Will need testing I think. On the positive side, both of the new fans together weigh ~200g less than the old one, so I'm calling it even with a little added wiring weight from the thicker cable I've run.

I've also found that the coolant pipes underneath are still leaking. Has anyone else had this sort of trouble with mikalor clamps on silicone hoses for coolant systems? Bought them because I thought they'd clamp better, but definitely considering going back to good quality jubilee clamps...

Still, cranked them up one more time and we'll see if they hold!

[biturbo228]

So, tightening up the mikalor clamps didn't do the trick. Still the occasional drip from the joins. Changed the clamps over to good quality stainless jubilee clamps and they seal! Lesson learnt bled the coolant and took it for an hour and a half run, including long stretches of motorway where it performed admirably some things learnt though:

1. Single-speed wipers are no fun at all in torrential rain
2. The electrical system is not particularly happy with lights, wipers and heater being on at the same time (was discharging faster than charging on the motorway!). Think part of it was the aux belt not being tight enough so perhaps it was slipping the whole time, but the sound was masked by the rest of the noise at 70. Tightened that and seemed better on the way back, but conditions weren't as bad so not sure.
3. Seems that the coolant flow at idle isn't quite good enough for whatever reason. If it starts cold and warms up to temperature at idle (as when bleeding coolant), it's perfectly fine maintaining temperature. If it's slightly hot and then drops back to idle for too long (say, when coming off the motorway and getting stuck in traffic) the temperature climbs, albeit slowly now. Seemed relatively steady at 100 degrees, although didn't leave it there long enough to really test it. If the revs are held at 2000rpm then it'll start dropping back to 90 with the new fans. Perhaps an electric water pump might be the solution...

Oh, and the other exciting development...



I definitely needed another project didn't I :S

Alfa 75 3.0l! Was previously running a 12v twin-turbo setup with around 300hp (not sure if wheel or flywheel) but is now sans that engine. There's a 24v 3.0l from a 166 that's part-way through a strip-down and rebuild with the bits for the 75 conversion, and some bits of plumbing left over from the turbo install (no standalone unfortunately). So, question is: run it NA for a while, go for the twin-turbo setup the PO had planned, or rotrex supercharger to preserve some of the Alfa V6 exhaust note?



It has prompted a bit of a rationalisation of the fleet though. Going to be getting rid of my junk Spitfire shell, probably the other good one I have (not the main project, but a solid body and chassis), the E30 which I like but not quite enough, and possibly the BX. We'll see...

Here's a pic of the E30. 2-door 320i auto, but not a great runner and pump gone in the auto gearbox. Bits of rust about but by no means a rotbucket. Started collecting the bits you need for an M52 swap (M52B25 and 5-speed, E34 sump and oil pickup, E36 mounting brackets, E21 mounts, and that's as far as I got). Definite project, but not a massive one. Anyone interested just drop me a PM



Oh, and last thing is my trusty MGF has finally done something that means it can't be driven (not sure how far back 'retro' goes, does a '98 MGF count?). A while back I'd fitted GAZ adjustable shocks, and people mentioned that if you put them stiffer than 8 clicks up then they crack shock mountings. Being the sensible person I am, I thought 'let's put the rear at 8 then'. Turns out they can crack at 8 as well :S



Simple welding job mind, and a bit of strengthening while I'm at it. Still, not bad going considering it's self-inflicted, the car's on 168k and still going solidly, and I only paid £150 for it! If anyone's thinking of one they're cracking little cars. This one's a VVC, and I've fitted 4-pots from the Trophy model (with 16" wheels and 15mm spacers) which make a world of difference. Been to the 'ring and back, through a 1000 mile Wales road trip with no hiccups, and majority daily driving for a good 2 and a bit years. Cracking little thing

[NudgerSS]

Just sat and read through all of that. Got to say you’re a persistent fellow. Nothing worse than chasing down rough running issues on a car with an engine swap and dodgy wiring. Unfortunately i can’t blame anyone else for mine.

Keep up the good work.

[biturbo228]

Haha thanks man I see now why people say not to pick up other people's projects. Although I definitely think that's a matter of expectation. I think people take on other projects expecting them to be 95% done, when in reality if they're 95% done the PO would just finish them. The reality is they're closer to 80% done and the PO knows it so is looking to get rid when the other 20% hits them!

Fair few bits are self-intlicted too see the MG and the fact I will probably need to helicoil the Fiat's sump plug having done a taper plug up too tight trying to get it to seal :/

[Darkspeed]

I would have my old 75 TS LE back tomorrow - especially at the £500 I sold it for - Looked around for a V6 quite a few times but never found one that I liked and after the LE I would have only ever settled for a Clover and they were getting pricey and hard to find way back then.

[biturbo228]

£500! Things like that make me wish I was hotter on hoarding stuff when I was 21 seem to be making up for it now...

That's one of the reasons I jumped on the 75 when it came up. I'm sure there's some very good reasons people get rid of them, but they're one of those cars that everyone who's had one regrets selling it.

Will probably take a while before I get round to it, from both an 'other project' and financial standpoint, but I've been researching rotrex superchargers and it seems silly to have an intercooler plumbed in and not use it with the 24v engine I've seen a neat little setup that replaces the AC pump so you can use the stock aux belt: www.alfaowner.com/Forum/tuning-andamp-upgrades/1176453-alfa-romeo-v6-3-0-rotrex-c30-94-a.html

[goldnrust]

The noise of that Alfa v6 is one of the truly wonderful sounds of motoring. I vote for not muffling it with turbos! Good luck with the 75 project!

Nice to hear you're still making progress with the x1/9. I guess the water pump has to work pretty hard to push the coolant the whole length of the car (same for any mid engined car). Have you checked that you're not missing any fins on the impeller?

[biturbo228]

Glad you agree with me supercharger it is!

Yeah this is about the 4th different water pump it's had. Changed the original one in it when I did the cam belt, but the one that I replaced it with had duff bearings so the fins contacted the housing. Bought another (X1/9) pump which was fine. Then I suspected it wasn't pumping enough so bought an Uno Turbo one to see if it had a different design to pump more water, but comparing the two the differences in design are close enough to be aftermarket manufacturing differences. Kept the X1/9 pump as it looked like the fins were slightly deeper.

Seem to remember reading on the old xweb forum that someone with a UT engine had issues with water temp until he went to an electric pump so sounds like it's a common issue. Will work for now until I get round to a bigger turbo