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re: Spitfire Engine compartment valance stuff

To: triumphs@autox.team.net, alanco@sybase.com
Subject: re: Spitfire Engine compartment valance stuff
From: "John W. Hazelton" <hazelton@mizar.usc.edu>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 96 16:44:37 PST
 Alan Coleman <alanco@sybase.com> writes:

> I'm finally getting around to replacing that splash guard/airflow
> valance thingy in the engine compartment.

> You can't buy these things, so I was wondering if anyone had
> fabricated one.  The funky cardboard stuff is hard to duplicate. 
> The closest thing I've found is asphalt-impregnated felt, which is
> a roofing material (goes under the shingles).  

> Anybody had any experience trying to fab these things?

 The valances on my '80 Spitfire self-destructed a few years after
 I bought the car (new).  I don't know what caused them to
 disintigrate, since I lived in a great environment (Tucson,
 Arizona), and I know others with similar cars that are still
 intact.

 Anyway, I was preparing to rebuild the valances for the car (before
 it got totalled last year), and found the perfect cardboard at
 a local art supply store.  It was the right thickness and rigidity,
 came in big sheets, and was dyed black through and through, just
 like the original material.  I would have sprayed it with a good
 water-proofing agent, but otherwise, it was ready to go.

 Call a good art supply store and ask them about their drawing media.
 I also found the perfect material to rebuild my glove compartment
 at the same store.  Check it out.

--John Hazelton
  Los Angeles, CA, USA


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