LewisK78 pestered me to sign up ages, and I've never really made much use of the account, I thought I might start up a bit of a project log for my Spitfire for anyone who's interested!
This is as I bought it a few years ago - a 1971 MkIV:
'Restored' by the dealer I bought from, unfortunately, that consisted of having all the rust and holes covered up with ridiculously copious quantities of filler and underseal, a quick blow over and a dodgy MOT. Unfortunately, I started doing bits up gradually, by the time I'd got to realise just what a death trap it was, I'd sorted most of it anyway, so little come back. So much for a reputable dealer!
When it's most recent MOT ran out last October, I knew it had little chance of getting through the next one, the underseal was flaking off along the base of the sills, revealing the rot underneath, but I had no desire to tidy it up and try my luck with the MOT tester when I knew it wasn't solid underneath - took it off the road.
But all was not lost, I'm man of little money, sense or mechanical knowledge, so I thought I'd undertake to restore it myself! Before this, I'd done little more than a basic service on my other cars, and some tinkering with this one, so I'll be learning as I go, but it seems the ideal car to do it with.
Here she is in January after stripping some of the bodywork. Getting the bonnet off on my own was a bit of a pain, as I'm hardly a big bloke, but just about managed. Had a final drive with it in this state before I rolled it into the garage - amazing fun! I can see why people love stripping the weight out of them so much!
Early March (you can see I make quick progress!) with a newly aquired engine crane, I got the engine out:
Which gave me room to start attacking the front of the chassis with the wire brush attachment for the angle grinder. Rather than welding some new steel into the front chassis cross member, the restorer decided filler would be just as good :rolleyes:. It looks fairly square, so I think it's just the tin worm having been at it, rather than accident damage. Bonnet sat reasonably, at any rate:
Late March, and the front area of the chassis is completely stripped back to shiny metal, most of it surprisingly solid, which is a relief. I guess when you've got an inch or two of oil sitting on your chassis rails, it helps keep the rot at bay! Here we are with generous splashings of POR-15. It might not look as good if it had been shot blasted and powder coated, but I know it's been done properly, and the POR-15 is near indestructable!
I've left the front of the chassis as it was for the time being. I'm hoping to fit a Le-Mans style bonnet (undecided as yet - not sure if they suit the later square-tail Spits), which will require some different bonnet fixings, so I'll just attack it all at the same time:
Here we have the rebuilt front suspension in June, all new fixings, stripped and painted over a few major bits, wishbones, anti roll bar, etc. The rest is all shiny new. AVO height adjustable dampers, 330lb springs, polybush, rest is stock.
I started having a poke about with a screwdriver in March so I could order up the necessary repair panels I needed.
Here we have the inner rear wheel arch - as I started poking, it seemed as if it was constructed entirely of filler, which I couldn't understand. The repair panels for the inner arch are £80(!) each, but it still seemed odd. As I got further it turned out there was no metal left to weld it to, so this could prove to be an expensive area to work on. I'd rather spend the cash than bodge it about again, so I may well try my hand at some fabrication:
The same goes for the panels that make up the inner rear area of the sill, part of the wheel arch and rear deck. I managed to pull out a solid lump of filler about the size of a one-litre juice carton from above the sill, behind the front of the rear wheel arch:
This is the front end of the driver side sill, the end cap was, yet again, made almost entirely of filler. Couldn't quite understand that one, as it's a £7 panel and the area it would need to be welded on to was pretty solid:
So where does that leave me for now? With lots of panels to weld in! I've also got the O/S sill/strengthener/inner, more A-post panels, rear wing panels, rear deck, B-post panels, boot panels and chassis bits in the garage. Some of it will be original, honest!
This is the garage she's stored in, in a rare state of tidyness - it's about 50 metres from my house, which makes life a bit awkward, so I have to trail an extension reel down the footpath when I need to do anything that requires electrickery!
This is as I bought it a few years ago - a 1971 MkIV:
'Restored' by the dealer I bought from, unfortunately, that consisted of having all the rust and holes covered up with ridiculously copious quantities of filler and underseal, a quick blow over and a dodgy MOT. Unfortunately, I started doing bits up gradually, by the time I'd got to realise just what a death trap it was, I'd sorted most of it anyway, so little come back. So much for a reputable dealer!
When it's most recent MOT ran out last October, I knew it had little chance of getting through the next one, the underseal was flaking off along the base of the sills, revealing the rot underneath, but I had no desire to tidy it up and try my luck with the MOT tester when I knew it wasn't solid underneath - took it off the road.
But all was not lost, I'm man of little money, sense or mechanical knowledge, so I thought I'd undertake to restore it myself! Before this, I'd done little more than a basic service on my other cars, and some tinkering with this one, so I'll be learning as I go, but it seems the ideal car to do it with.
Here she is in January after stripping some of the bodywork. Getting the bonnet off on my own was a bit of a pain, as I'm hardly a big bloke, but just about managed. Had a final drive with it in this state before I rolled it into the garage - amazing fun! I can see why people love stripping the weight out of them so much!
Early March (you can see I make quick progress!) with a newly aquired engine crane, I got the engine out:
Which gave me room to start attacking the front of the chassis with the wire brush attachment for the angle grinder. Rather than welding some new steel into the front chassis cross member, the restorer decided filler would be just as good :rolleyes:. It looks fairly square, so I think it's just the tin worm having been at it, rather than accident damage. Bonnet sat reasonably, at any rate:
Late March, and the front area of the chassis is completely stripped back to shiny metal, most of it surprisingly solid, which is a relief. I guess when you've got an inch or two of oil sitting on your chassis rails, it helps keep the rot at bay! Here we are with generous splashings of POR-15. It might not look as good if it had been shot blasted and powder coated, but I know it's been done properly, and the POR-15 is near indestructable!
I've left the front of the chassis as it was for the time being. I'm hoping to fit a Le-Mans style bonnet (undecided as yet - not sure if they suit the later square-tail Spits), which will require some different bonnet fixings, so I'll just attack it all at the same time:
Here we have the rebuilt front suspension in June, all new fixings, stripped and painted over a few major bits, wishbones, anti roll bar, etc. The rest is all shiny new. AVO height adjustable dampers, 330lb springs, polybush, rest is stock.
I started having a poke about with a screwdriver in March so I could order up the necessary repair panels I needed.
Here we have the inner rear wheel arch - as I started poking, it seemed as if it was constructed entirely of filler, which I couldn't understand. The repair panels for the inner arch are £80(!) each, but it still seemed odd. As I got further it turned out there was no metal left to weld it to, so this could prove to be an expensive area to work on. I'd rather spend the cash than bodge it about again, so I may well try my hand at some fabrication:
The same goes for the panels that make up the inner rear area of the sill, part of the wheel arch and rear deck. I managed to pull out a solid lump of filler about the size of a one-litre juice carton from above the sill, behind the front of the rear wheel arch:
This is the front end of the driver side sill, the end cap was, yet again, made almost entirely of filler. Couldn't quite understand that one, as it's a £7 panel and the area it would need to be welded on to was pretty solid:
So where does that leave me for now? With lots of panels to weld in! I've also got the O/S sill/strengthener/inner, more A-post panels, rear wing panels, rear deck, B-post panels, boot panels and chassis bits in the garage. Some of it will be original, honest!
This is the garage she's stored in, in a rare state of tidyness - it's about 50 metres from my house, which makes life a bit awkward, so I have to trail an extension reel down the footpath when I need to do anything that requires electrickery!
Awesome stuff.
omg! if you've got little sense or mechanical knowledge then by comparison i reckon i should barely know what a car *is*! i'd of described myself similarly but can't imagine myself doing anything that involved on my own for quite a while!
