Rusty bits

I have already started on the tub for my Zetec powered Spitfire. The bulkhead is sorted, and now it is on to the more conventional areas. Please note, when I bought this car it had a fresh MoT. I drove it home and it has been under a car port since, so it hasn't got any worse. All I have done is attacked it with an angle grinder fitted with a wire brush (excellent, but full face protection and a few layers of clothing essential, the wires REALLY fly when they break off) And sprayed the bare metal with Frosts metal ready. Hopefully it was worth buying, time will tell.

 

Drivers side seatbelt mount!

 Drivers side heelboard. The repairs were done by a Triumph specialist (apparently)

 

  

And finally the repairs started on the passenger side heelboard. It has had a quick cote of Upol aerosol etch primer, to help keep the rust off the new welds.

Probably not quite as original, but all boxed in and strong. I may well but the radius arm brackets out, and use it in the rotoflex position. I am too tight to spend £100+ on a pair of these, seems rather a lot for a couple of brackets!

I have also cut away the flange at the bottom of the inner wheel arch. This one was held together with braze, and was not very clever. I hope the removal will eradicate one of the many mud traps on the car. The area needs to be ground back, that'll happen once the wheel arch is cleaned off and I discover the next batch of welding

Gitfire anybody?

And todays job (after spending a few hours cutting/welding and generally mincing with my spitfire tub) was to go and collect this gitfire from where it has lain in a barn for the last 17 years. A jetwash to remove the inch layer of mud it acquired during storage, and a stick to remove the 4 dead rats in the boot, and it was trailered home. When it is light tomorrow I will have a proper look over it

History

My first post!Best I start with my car history. It was a poor start, learning to drive in my sisters brown allegro, but perked up a little over the following years. My first Triumph was a Dolomite 1500SE

 

Apart from worn piston rings, it was a pretty nice car. Had it for a year or so, but then had a variety of other cars until I got a job and bought a ropey Spitfire. Happens to be thesame time I met the lady wife, so it was inevitable the car was to be used on out wedding day. Note the 1990 hairstyle!

This got replaced after a year by a GT6, a car that went well, but had a nasty vibration that I just couldn't get sorted. If only there had been the Triumph forums back then.

 

 This got replaced by a MK3 spitfire, bought as a part completed restoration (ie new sills I pulled off by hand) and is where I learnt to weld, rebuild engines and later got the modifying bug. The ford bluecolour was a bit of an issue, but that changed. At the same time it got a 16V sprint engine fitted, done in just under 2 weeks over the Easter holidays. Gill drove the car every day until she was 8 months pregnant. It was only when her bump prevented her fitting behind the wheel she stopped. Meanwhile we added a second Triumph, this time a Herald  saloon fondly known as Harry (since been renamed Mildred). We also had to have a rethink on the 2 seater, as we now had one child, soon followed by another. So along came the Vitesse. Or rather it was created from 3 cars. It was my main transport for over 10 years

The picture was taken the day Harry went off to a new home, as he was replaced by a Herald estate for very practical purposes. The estate soon got the name "shed" for obvious reasons, but is also where I got involved in a bit of motorsport, being used by myself for many road rallies, and Doug and Katie Foreman for an autosolo. Doug tried hard to get the poor car on its roof, thankfully failing. However, he put in some good times beating a TR8! However I trumped him by using my Zetec powered spitfire giving me my first class win.

Sadly this car met an unfortunate ending in Scotland in 2008, but the replacement is under way.