Bought my first Spit, 1980 - red - with factory hard top and softtop,
after looking at it and driving it for about 20 minutes. It had no rust
(surprising for a Clearwater, Fl car) and ran well. I made this buy for
$1500.00 as I and my family were moving from my folks home on the west
coast of Florida to our new home on the east coast of FL ( I had just
retired from the AF and had found a new civilian job). My wife and son,
and hardtop, went in our Caravan, and my daughter and I went in the
Spit.
All was fine until we got on the interstate, and every time I would get
up over 60 MPH she would start to cut out and lose power. We were able
to make it home, although there was a strong smell of fuel wafting in
the windows, the fuel gauge didn't show an unacceptable fuel loss during
the drive, as verified by a gas stop on the way.
The following few days were spent trying to find the problem. Thought it
might be a fuel filter problem so bought a new one, and when I went to
install it, noticed that the fuel tank looked like someone took a sledge
hammer to it's center. In fact, it had imploded somewhat. Further
investigation revealed that the DPO had hooked up the gas tank vent line
to a manifold vacuum port. Thus that ol' engine was trying to suck gas
from BOTH ends..... lol. Hooking up the line to the correct port
eliminated the power loss problem, but I was left with a gas tank the
would only hold about 5 gallons, since it was half crushed! But I
figured I must have had an angel on my shoulder, or my daughters, in
that the tank didn't burst and/or blow up on the trip across the
state!!!!
Fast forward about 9 months forward.... In starting a new job, finding a
new house, etc. hadn't had much time to work on the car ( although it
was running fine and didn't seem to need much) On the way home from work
one evening, I pulled out into a T-intersection and was promptly hit on
the rt front corner by a 'snowbird' from Illinois in a big ol' Cadillac,
who had run the red light. It spun me around about 180 degrees and
pretty much mangled the bonnet, but the car was still driveable and I
was unhurt. The insurance adjuster figured the car was totaled when I
told him how much parts would cost to repair it, although I could still
drive it, and the insurance company settled for an amount that just
equaled the price of my current, 1976 Spit that I was able to find for
sale while the claim was being settled. Even though it was older, was in
better shape than the '80 and included a tonneau. It was a one owner car
that she owned when she got married and now the family was to big to
play with it anymore. The PO had recently replaced the carpeting and
rebuilt the tranny (but used a cheap clutch kit and I had to replace the
clutch after about 3 years)
So I pulled some major parts off of the '80 (alternator, distributor,
starter, carb, rear end, all the bits and pieces of all light
assemblies, switches, radio, tach, speedo, fuel and temp gauges....not
as much as I would have liked, but had nowhere to put 2 Spits) and sold
the carcass. Being a neophyte with Triumphs and Spitfires at that time,
I didn't realize how much in the future I would wish I had that carcass
back again!!! I tried to track it down later, but I think it went to the
crusher.
Since then, I've replaced the transverse spring, rebuilt the front end,
swapped out the rear end (the '80 was less noisy) rebuilt all four brake
systems, swapped out starters, distributors, water pump and fan clutch
and had it repainted. I'm now in the process of getting ready to pull
the head and get a valve job and replace all gaskets. Just waiting for
TRF to get my parts in!!!!
Cheers
--
Bob Norway
Rockledge, Florida
Home Page http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/5953/mypage.html
ICQ# 3752712
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TLCB - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Brotherhood
http://www.seacoast.com/~jsweet/brotherh/index.html
Udorn RTAFB Nov'70 - Nov'71
432 AMS/Autopilot
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Member Udorn VFW Post 10249
Sawadee Home Page http://www.khonkaen.com/vfw/index.htm
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SpitList
1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500
FM43376UO - Daily Driver
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"Don't Take My Pint Mate,
I'm In The Loo!"
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