Triumph Spitfire Finished Rebuilding

Now it is Time to Work Out the Bugs

Jump to page-1, the Spitfire Bodywork page of the car.

Jump to page-2, the Paint page for the next story on this project.

Jump to page-3, the Paint-Pics for more painting details.

THIS IS page-4, the Finish page for the final story on this project.

The re-assembly of all the components still had complications. Even when the parts were newer looking and clean, finding the bolts was an unforeseen chore. Most of the critical parts were stored on cardboard cutouts, with bolt arrangement in the holes, but the common stuff was whatever available, and the corroded or stripped and worn bolts did need replacing.

The Autoparts stores had absurd prices at 4 to 8 bolts in a package for 2 to 3 dollars. I did indulge there on occasions when the Ace Hardware did not have that size. Triumph is all ASA- fine threaded, and most stores now stock Metric and ASA- course threaded. You can thank Jimmy Carter for that one, for most cars are now metric.

Another logistic problem was finding the right part in the garage. The car was completely assembled and trim, except the rear bumper for a long time. I had the bumper, but could not find two of the four mounts that went in the trunk. They were likely one of the first things removed, so they had not been placed in a strategic area with other things. My garage was in great disarray and crowded until this was assembled. Also, I had moved from Kansas to Florida, and needed to urgently complete the work. So some shortcuts were made, and many of those came back to bite.

Some of the major items that were shortcut, were Carburetor, Exhaust, Removable Top, and Interior. The Carburetor was a Weber, and I wanted that changed to an Updraft SU. I found a place in Birmingham and traded some SU's of a different type for a single SU and manifold. It is assembled and ready, but not yet installed. The Exhaust was fitted with an old tractor muffler temporarily, and all of the Car Bottom photos were from the muffler shop install. I paid high dollar for a good system, and got a loud muffler, and he would not replace it. So that needs replacing again with a quiet system. I should have done that myself!!! The Top was originally dented badly by a limb fall and needed rework, so that was replaced and is ready to paint before install, and the ragtop is on at this time. The Interior is graduating slowly, and the seats that worried me, were stripped to frame, and are really more comfortable than first thought. It might be simple to acquire an outdoor padding from a lawn chair, that would be suitable and look interesting.

There is also the transmission, that is fine as is, but geared for the days of 55 speed limit. I have the overdrive, but not the adapter plate for this model. That needs to be a future item in the budget, but needed before it is ready for the road. Otherwise it is only good for around town driving, as it tachs out 3000rpm at 55mph. My overdrive should run cruise 2200rpm at 70mph.