Saltddirk

Who will tell,
I have always heard it referred to as flaming torch

It evokes an mental image in me of those early propaganda posters of Whathis name Cheremnykh or whatever Eisenstein made,
no political affiliation intended, I don't think that Black qualified for a party membership card.

In fact I must be the most a-political person you can meet, would not even know what tories are.

Anyhow, this is what they remind me off
D

I was tempted to change mine,
It has a commy ring to it IMO,
Forwards you commie brothers onto the breaches for a new and braver world we carry this torch...  :X

;D

Martin,
If original it should represent a flaming torch.
The early ones did not have a mascot, they had a plain cap similar to the Roadster, the torch was added from  TDB (1950) models onwards together with the change in instruments and chassis layout
Dont ask me why a flaming torch, have no clue.
D

Hi Adam,

Depends on what you want to do, is it for track, road, daily runabout.... Want looks or comfort?
regardless of this go for the best your budget can afford and steer clear of cheap chinese wanabees.
Each will have his own opinions but I have always used michelins on mine. Like the look of them, period enough not to distract, and are good build quality.
Those four little pads of rubber is all that keeps you on the road after all, they have to do the steering braking and acceleration.

Dirk

somebody nicked the padlock!!

as to the finish, coachpainting is the term that springs to mind!
(the PO must just have skipped a bit on the blocking stage )

BTW
Welcome!

Dirk

Actually you don't need any of these.....
There are 2 steps in tuning the carbs, first is to synchronise so they both will allow the same amount of air to the engine and then there is the setting of the mixture.

For the first step you can use one of the vacuum tools, but also a piece of plastic hose, with the engine running hold it to your ear and poke it in the mouth of the carb, they should both make the same hissing noise indicating same amount of air running past. you then fiddle with the throttle set screw until they sound the same.
A vacuum tool is more accurate of course.
For the mixture you need to lift the dash very slightly, revs should rise slightly and then drop off to about the same amount as before. If they rise considerably the mixture is too rich, if they drop and the engine stalls it was too weak.
A Gunson color tune is more practical as you can set the carbs without having to remove the air filters, which in turn change the setting...

Dirk

cheer up,
It can only go better from now onwards!
If you are handy with a welder (or have a friend who is handy like I have 8) ) it is just time consuming and welding new panels. Most are available...
Easy for me to say as I just dumped the Spit with Shaun and picked it up a few months later.

Round tails are getting rare enough to warrant a second lease of Life.
If my garage was not Full and her indoors could be persuaded I would take her of your hands....

Dirk

The man said it all,
Triumph 14/60 Vitesse, "4 Light Sport saloon " 1937, Very similar to the older Gloria Vitesse's exterior only the front bumpers differ, they do not have the cut out but now reached to the front bumper, and a few minor styling differences.
The main difference is the engine and gearbox, from 1937 onwards this one uses Triumph's own 4 cylinder 1800cc engine with twin SU carbs wheras the older used the coventry climax engine, and the gearbox where Triumph finally start cutting their own gears.

The roadster is a 2LT 1949 model.

Dirk

one more,

not so much progress pictures,
Here is how the Spit looks like now, stewn across the garage.... :'(

:'((dissappointed)
there are no further progress pic's.
Summer (as in season to drive my other triumphs) and Life got in the way,
The chassis is still standing proud in the garage with the new steering rack and the sub's ready to be mounted.
The only thing that has happened to it is that ever so often I pick up the dolly and hammer and work a bit on straightening the bonnet.

However Life that got in the way is not necessary a bad thing, as we are erecting a new garage, and my tool cupboards finally have been installed.

So on the bright side, we are almost ready to start afresh

Dirk

Like it how google street view makes cars and persons dissapear
Bit of a challenge though.

Dirk

Having had the pleasure of breaking down twice in 2 days on French motorways (but that's a different story) I can strongly advise to carry Breakdown cover.
Normal recovery companies are not allowed to operate on the motorways, you have always to go through the Gendarmerie (phone # 17) and they will send an agreed truck. First time I never saw the bill, but the second time i noticed the sum, nearly 200 Euro's for what amounted to a 20 km round trip for the truck. You pay the distance from his station to breakdown to station again. In my case it was weekend and before 6, so that added some % surplus to the bill.
Once off the motorway you are allowed to do whatever you fancy. The truck driver also told me that legally you are not even allowed to give your mate a tow to get him off the motorway
Luckily for me our breakdown cover took care of all the bills.

Dirk

Bob,
With the rubber boots off the straight ahead part of the rack is visible at full lock. You might have to take the drop arms off to get it that far ( mine was not connected up yet)
you can easily see the worn teeth on mine, but i did not have the amount of play you are having.

In the end I bought a new quick steering rack, only because it was cheaper than buying the parts separately, and some were not available off shelve. If I do not like the quick rack I can always revert to the old rack and use the new drop arms on that one

It would seem that you can remove the whole rack from the housing and turn it 180 deg so the worn part is not longer at the straight ahead position.

Dirk

Louis
Are you telling us that the oil is 30 year old?

I would change it without running her any more. Lot of chemistry going into oil to make it do it's thing and protect your engine.

Dirk

I see they have added the rear mounting bracket.
It was missing from the kit I bought (years ago)

But yes, as said by Cookie, easy fit and forget kit, even by me....

Dirk

mine came from Powerlite and had a "clockeable" plate

Wim,
If you can make it to Herne you are more than welcome to borrow my wheels. Mind you.... Borrow! They are nice wires with brand new Michelins, So you might change your mind about those Revolution  ;D

Hi Paul
I was traveling so did not check the forum.
OK thanks that seems to be a good idea, it has to come apart to replace the track rod anyway.

good news is that Canley will change the wrong Stub axles for other ones, It would seem that mine are early Mk3's. The change over happened while Mk2 were still made, see their quoted text below.
<<Quote
Towards the very end of Spitfire MKII production the design of vertical
link, stub axle, and steering arm, changed to that of the later cars
(Spitfire MKIII onwards). The change point is random.

The later Spitfires used this stub axle;

http://www.canleyclassics.com/searchforapart/?desc=&ptno=ukc697

Send back for exchange no problem.

In future order front suspension parts for a Spitfire MKIII it makes things
simpler!
Quote>>

Don't wnt you to be sitting next to me and worrying about anything else but my gear change :-) :-) :-)
Btw adjusted the clutch on the renown ,had to take one counter nut off and am'now on the last dregs of the clutch. Working fine now, just hope it last. Avround trip to the lake district next month

Probably right to bite the. Bullet now and change it.
As proven before you don't want to mess with suspension and steering parts

other than that,
nothing more than sandblasting parts, painting and bolting on a few components,
And getting my hand at panel beating a bit on the bonnet. Slow progress while the other oldies wait patiently outside, away from the spray dust....

Also saw that the Track extension rod on the left hand side had been welded previously, again, what to do?
guess is if it held that long it is not going to break anytime soon.

Also stripped the dust gaiters from the steering rack and ordered some new one,
From all the parts i ordered the only ones that are holding back progress are those gaiters, so now let guess which ones are on back order  >:( >:(
on the picture below you can hopefully spot the wear at the "straight ahead"position on the rack, (7th and 8th tooth counting from left on the picture) Consulted my mechanic and he seems to think that it is still not worth the expense to change.