01 MayUprated Brakes – long pedal travel mystery solved
I recently refurbished my brakes as the fronts were starting to get in a bad way. Despite being equipped with new dilled/grooved discs, EBC pads, Big Red refurb calipers and silicone brake fluid when new, the pistons were sticking with rust, stopping the pads retracting and thus glazing the discs and pads. The pads were […]
Read More ...19 FebPolishing Takes Bloody Ages
I ended up splitting this up into several 3 hour sessions after work, eventually turning the inlet manifold into something blingy enough to earn me street cred. Starting with this: everything was gone over with a fine scotchbrite pad to give me an even surface prep and to see where the manifold needed a lot […]
Read More ...26 AugThinking About Electronic Ignition?
I’ve tried most of the options for ignition, here’s what I thought: points – generally excellent and reliable if using a red rotor arm. make the car feel a bit more ‘raw’ than electronic ignition. cheap electronic ignition – smoother than points, slightly better idle but poor reliability. keep points in boot as they will […]
Read More ...23 DecFootwell Lights
After a tipoff from fellow Spitfire owner Martin Wood, I came across some really cheap LED lights on ebay that can be installed in 12v car wiring. They come in the form of a 30cm strip with self adhesive backing, and are very bright! They’re a lot brighter in person than they look in this […]
Read More ...14 NovThe Case For Headlight Relays
I guess this really the first part of a two part guide on how to install headlight relays, although this part doesn’t really feature me doing much (I’m still waiting for the relay holders to arrive). There are several reasons why using relays to activate the headlights are a good idea, including: brighter headlights vastly […]
Read More ...09 AugUsing Dinitrol 3125 and 4941
For the past 7 years since it’s restoration, my Spitfire has had all four wheel arches Waxoyled to prevent rust. So far it’s done the job, but I wanted to try something different as I’m not a great fan of the Waxoyl finish. Although Waxoyl is clear, dirt sticks to it and cannot be cleaned […]
Read More ...29 JunAluminium Glove Box
Parcel tray, glove box, whatever it’s called, this article focuses on remaking the two cardboard items under the dashboard from the Mk.4 Spitfire onwards. They just aren’t designed for longevity, and before long end up looking tired and tatty like this: so the natural solution is to build something more rugged, in 1mm thick aluminium. […]
Read More ...19 JunSub £10 Ignition Scope
Recently saw this fantastic post by Joe Horner on the CT forum, who has kindly allowed me to repost it as an article here: A couple of weeks ago I was thinking (as you do) that it might be nice to have an ignition scope for tracing those obscure little misfires and stuff. Only, they ain’t […]
Read More ...10 JunCentral Locking on a Spitfire
I hate having to lean over to unlock or lock the passenger door internally when I’m sat in the car, and since I was fitting a remote alarm/immobiliser that had a central lock facility, getting one of these cheap kits was a logical thing to do. The unit hooks up to +12v with a fused […]
Read More ...21 AprThe ‘World’s Best’ DIY Immobiliser
Came across this article recently: http://www.autospeed.com/A_107975/cms/article.html which basically outlines how to fit a hidden immobiliser in your car. Instead of the usual killswitch to the coil, this one has a killswitch but can only be reactivated by swiping a magnet over a hidden location – if the thief can only find your pushswitch, he or […]
Read More ...