Triumph Spitfire 1300. (Oh Crumpets!!!)

[pauldaf44]

I bought this today. Top down motoring in the snow anyone?

Its nearly completly rust free as well just a bit of surface rust underneath. But I will let the pics do the talking.









there are a few bad points that will need putting right chief amongst them being this ruddy great dent in the bonnet.



the foam in the seats needs changing and their are a few bits of interior trim missing





Engine bay is clean and tidy.

[33grinder]

That looks very nice indeed Paul.

I remember a friend owned one a few years ago and it was so easy to work on the engine - Triumph even gave you two free seats! His one succumbed to rot in one of the worst places to fix - the bonnet hinge area. But I still remember how much fun it was and, iirc you won't be cold in winter, there's a nice notch in the transmission tunnel that will keep your left leg nice and toasty warm.

[thebear54]

VERY NICE FIND PAUL ;D
Looks in great condition with only minor work to be done.
"Samantha" seems an appropriate name, if you look at the license plate.


Now all you have to do is relocate to a warmer climate to utilize the top down motoring...or wait for "Global Warming" ;D ;D

John

[pauldaf44]

Im very pleased with it indeed, now if Sophie isn't on the road for the next essex dafs weekend at least I will have a classic to drive.

Just a little comparison here to show how similar in reality this is to our DAFs.

Triumph Spitfire Mk4

2 seat convertible.
Engine = 1296cc OHV inline 4
61 bhp at 5500rpm
68 ft/lb torque at 2900rpm
Kerb weight = 734kg
Designer = Michellotti
Transmission = 4 speed manual with overdrive
Rear suspension = Swing axles with transverse leaf spring

DAF 55 Coupe

2 + 2 in all honesty the rear seats aren't exactly suitable for adults.
Engine = 1108cc OHV inline 4
43bhp at 4600rpm
torque 62 ft/lb at 300rpm
kerb weight = 787kg
Transmission = Variomatic
Designer = Michellotti
Rear suspension = Swing axles with coil springs.

Those specs are surprisingly similar at it would be interesting to see which one performs better in real life. Unless Matt's driving the 55 then I stand no chance.

[mattsdafs]

Sounds like a challenge Paul ;D...if plans go as we are hoping,by the time the w/end is here,i`m hoping to have a choice of 55`s to use

Nice Spit by the way

[shaun]

Nice car.
SMaRt 455N

Bit like 'smart assing' ;D ;D

[pauldaf44]

She's arrived!

Todays plan was to get her running and start drawing up a list of jobs to do I was succesful on both accounts.

To get her running I hooked up a battery stuck some fuel line into a jerry can and connected directly to the pump pulled the choke and turned the key. She fired straight into life and promptly revved up to about 4k rpm before I was able to turn her off again. I traced this problem to a sticking throttle cable which will need so disconected it at the carb linkage. This time when fired up she idled. She is a little lumpy on the idle so will need a bit of tune up, but thats to be expected on a car thats been idle for at least 3 years.

Once I had her running I quickly spotted a couple of other jobs. The float chamber seal or at least the inlet pipe joint is not sealing properly on the rear carb, the result is a steady drip of petrol right above the exhaust when running this is the first thing to fix before she is started again. The other thing spotted was some rather perished engine mountings.

Going further back the car. The impact on the bonnet has deformed it such that the door catches if opened with the bonnet closed. The roof is leaking as the glue along the front edge has failed causing the skin of the roof to start pealing away and losing tension.

There is a patch of welding to do on the same A pillar about the size of a 50p piece and that is the only bit of welding I have found to do anywhere on the car and its also not within a prescribed area. It will be done ASAP though due to its proximity to the upper door hinge.

Going inside the car the dash needs re-laquering and the seats could do with some attention, the vinyl is in fantastic condition but the sorbo rubber that bulks out the seat has collapsed with age. So the seats will be stripped back to the frame and the collapsed rubber replaced with modern fire retardant upholstery foam.

Ive had both front carperts and the sill carpets off they were glued down but were only hiding nice clean shiny paint. Interestingly whoever resprayed the car has done it inside and out as the original colour was brown.

I need to replace both seat belt buckles as they are missing, and the seats need to come out in order to unsieze the for and aft adjustment as this is now required to work for an MOT.

So the list of work to do so far stands as such, obviously it may increase as I work my way through it.

For MOT

1. Seal leaking carb.
2. Replace engine mountings.
3. Make a battery clamp.
4. Refit clutch slave the right way up
5. Fit new seatbelts.
6. Re glue front edge of roof.
7. Replace one side lamp bulb.
8. Blow out fuel lines and replace any bad sections.
9. Full service
10. Replace throttle cable.
11. Welding on A pillar.

After MOT

Re upholster seats.
Replace missing carpet.
Re tension and refit roof
Re laquer dashboard.
Re paint bonnet underside.
Fit a boot rack.

Once ive worked through that list I should have one rather tidy Spitfire. Oh and the cars name is Winston this is because its a MkIV Spitfire and is proud to be British.

[pauldaf44]

Some more photos I took today.



Here she is hiding under her cover due to the fact that her track is too narrow to go over my pit she has to be stored outside. So she has a breathable cover fitted to protect her from the elements.



After being rolled off the transporter her suspension has settled down giving her a more pleasing stance.



The large amount of possitive camber from the previous pics seems to have gone after rolling her of the transporter she arrived on



The area of rot on the A pillar looking to have this sorted by the end of the week.



Close up the dash is quite nasty so I will be removing and re-veneering. It will then be laquered and polished up to high gloss finish. This is not my first attempt at rejuvenating this sort of wood work and the last lot came out rather nicely.



Oops spoke to soon have found a bit of rot in the sill. Whilst the welder is out to repair the A pillar during the coming week this too will be sorted.



Modern cars really could learn a lot about accessibility from this car!



This is the dent before I started beating from behind to get rid of it.



The original colour of the car, Sienna or Russet?



5 mins work from behind with a rubber mallet has improved the dent. Im going to use a slide hammer to pull the remainder out and see how well it comes up. At the moment im considering just putting another bonnet on it but im going to give it a go at getting the dent out as it would save a sizeable sum of money if successful.

[Kenr]

Nice purchase Paul, if you can sort the dash and the bonnet out you will save yourself quite a wedge. Are you going to keep the pedestrian crippling wires or go for steelies. You could flog the wires for a pretty amount of dosh in all honesty. It looks like a decent example in a nice colour.

[pauldaf44]

I think I will be keeping the wires as I like them even though 99% of internet land and screaming at me to ditch them. ;D but as a DAF owner one must be a little bit contrare