I talked today to Nigel at Spit Bits about his experience with Swing
Spring upgrades on Early Spitfires. He stated that Early MkIV Spits had
the shorter axles and in later production the MkIV changed over to the
longer ones. He also said that all of the MKIV as well as the 1500
models have the Swing Springs installed at the factory.
Thus, one must conclude that indeed the shorter axles (ala Mk 1, 2 & 3)
will work fine with the swing spring assemblies.
He did say that the rather massive negative camber that is observed on
the later Spits is brought to you as a direct result of the longer
axle. Those cars equipped with the shorter axles should have some but
not as much negative camber, and there should be no problem with tire
clearance (except for those who choose to go to massively oversize
wheels, tires or both).
So, boys and girls, I guess we can forge ahead with our swing-spring
upgrades with perfect reassurance that we will be just fine.
At least I will!
Joe Curry '63 Spit
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