Terry,
You didn't say how many miles were on the engine. If it's over 40-50K, go
ahead and replace the rings. That's assuming there's no scoring on the
cylinder walls. Also take a look at the bearing journals to see if
they're scored, or if the coating on the bearings is looking thin. This
is easy, cheap stuff to do while your in there. Back when these things
were in production, the Brits, as part of routine maintenance, would
replace bearings and rings at about 50k, just to make the engine last
longer. That's a level of maintenance we yanks could never get used to.
Do you really need a new wiring harness, or can you just clean and
re-wrap the current one. Vicky Brit has a listing for the harness, but I
think the price is around $325. If you remove the harness from the car,
carefully marking and making notes as to color code and location, the old
plastic tape can be removed, the wires can be cleaned with mineral
spirits, and the whole bundle recovered with less than a roll of black
electrical tape. I've done it on two Spits with success.
Removing the windscreen is as simple as taking a utility knife, with a
sharp blade, and cutting around the front perimeter of the existing seal.
Once the entire front lip is removed, and you can see the edge of the
glass, take a 90 degree hook tool and gently work it between the glass
and the inside portion of the seal to break the bond, being carefull not
to chip the edge of the glass. The windscreen can then be gently lifted
out and the remaining portion of the seal can be pulled out.
Hope that helps,
Charlie B.
Spitfire Pilot
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