'ello again,
First let me publicly thank those who have taken time to reply to my questions
yesterday. I'll try to reply to them all privately to avoid cluttering up the
list too much.
Now I have to tell you about the Spit I drove today. First time I've been in
one in about 5 years. This one was a 79, mostly stock with a single Weber
carb, a header, Monza exhaust and KYB struts.
Looked okay from a distance, it was orange all over, no serious upper body
rust, but some noticable rocker panel rust and rust showing through the
headlight seams through the cracked paint and such. Way too far gone for me
to consider for a daily driver.
Mechanically, it wasn't bad. The engine idled well, and did okay at speed,
but sputtered on acceleration at low RPMs. I'll have to drive a better
running car to be sure I can be happy with the power, but even with the way
this one was running, it seemed adequate.
The car handled quite well considering the less-than-great tires that were on
it. The joy I recall from my previous Spitfire driving days was still there
in that respect.
Brakes were a concern. He said the brakes had been redone, but the handbrake
was completely dead (might have been a broken cable), and the pedal took a lot
of effort. The brakes weren't spongy once you found them (way at the bottom
of the pedal travel), but it took considerable effort to get them to stop the
car. I know Spitfire brakes aren't the greatest, and I realize that I'm going
from very good POWER brakes in my Saturn to no-assist brakes in the Spitfire,
but shouldn't the brakes start working at about 1/2" pedal travel?
So there you have it. I'm still not completely certain that a Spitfire is
what I need... but I there are only two things left that could rule one out.
Brakes, which I think should be fine on a better-maintained car. And power
output, which I think is an attainable goal, even with the stock 1500 engine.
Help me out here:
Saturn SC2 power = 124 hp, weight=2400 lbs... about 18.5 lbs/hp
What's typical weight and power for a slightly street-modified Spitfire 1500?
And last question for the moment... the owner of the Spit I drove today said
that wheels are hard to get for them. Is this true? I'd really like to put
14x6 wheels on the car to allow for better tire options.
--
Loren Williams - #59 CSP-light 1994 Saturn SC2
Homepage (Who Cares?) - http://www2.southwind.net/~lsw
Wichita Region SCCA - http://www2.southwind.net/~scca
|