Flying Cat

Hi, everybody. I picked up a 1980 Spitfire not long ago. The previous owner stripped it down to paint it, and then never got around to deciding on a colour, so it sat for the next 25 or so years. Luckily it was out in the desert, so it didn't rust to pieces. Now I'm trying to put it back together, which is a bit of a challenge because many of the parts are missing, and I'm pretty sure some of the parts I have aren't even for this car. I don't have a lot of experience working on cars, but I figure with the internet and a modicum of intelligence (and a fair amount of cash) I can get this thing running eventually. I'm starting at the back and moving forward. Currently, I'm playing with the rear wheels while saving up for a new gas tank. I've got the brakes pretty well figured out, but I've been told that I probably should check the wheel bearings while I'm there, which seems like good advice to me. From what I've gleaned off the internet, it's not going to be easy (such as, apparently, needing to remove the stub axles, if not more than that), and it will take some specialized parts, such as a Churchill hub puller (whatever that might be) and a bearing press. What I can't find are clear, step-by-step instructions telling me what I need to do. I'd like to do as much as this as I can myself, but is that realistic? Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks! Michael in Oregon

Michael, hi welcome! First of all, glad you are here and sounds like you have an interesting project. My current project also came as an unassembled abandoned project.

You probably want to repost this in the Triumph section - there is lots of good advice and if my Midget is anything to go on these cars are easy to work on and don't require a lot of specialized tools.

I would say also that if it ain't broke.... so, if the bearing sound good they probably are good. Again, in MG world it is hard to find bearings that are better quality than what was originally there, but, get over to the Triumph area and they are ready to help! (and we all love pictures)

cheers

JPSmit said:

Michael, hi welcome! First of all, glad you are here and sounds like you have an interesting project. My current project also came as an unassembled abandoned project.

You probably want to repost this in the Triumph section - there is lots of good advice and if my Midget is anything to go on these cars are easy to work on and don't require a lot of specialized tools.

I would say also that if it ain't broke.... so, if the bearing sound good they probably are good. Again, in MG world it is hard to find bearings that are better quality than what was originally there, but, get over to the Triumph area and they are ready to help! (and we all love pictures)

cheers

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Hi, JP, and thanks for the advise. First, I didn't know there was a "Triumph" section, so I will try there. And I'll try to figure out how to post pictures. I tried that, too, but to no avail. And, yeah, if my car were puttering around and not making noises, I wouldn't bother with trying to fix it. But it's not. My thought is that while I'm here, while I've got the car up on jacks and the back wheels are pretty much stripped down to the hubs, I might as well see if there is a problem and fix it if there is. But then, I'm also of the opinion that it's not that hard to strip it to the hubs, so waiting until it runs is an idea, too. But, yeah. Thanks for the tips.

FlyingCat said:

Hi, JP, and thanks for the advise. First, I didn't know there was a "Triumph" section, so I will try there. And I'll try to figure out how to post pictures. I tried that, too, but to no avail. And, yeah, if my car were puttering around and not making noises, I wouldn't bother with trying to fix it. But it's not. My thought is that while I'm here, while I've got the car up on jacks and the back wheels are pretty much stripped down to the hubs, I might as well see if there is a problem and fix it if there is. But then, I'm also of the opinion that it's not that hard to strip it to the hubs, so waiting until it runs is an idea, too. But, yeah. Thanks for the tips.

Click to expand...

We have a forum called "Forum Software Questions/ Instructions" that also has a "sub-forum" with lots of video tutorials. Here's a link to as tutorial on posting pictures.:

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?87521-Posting-pictures-on-BCF

Thanks for the link. I figured out that I needed to make my pictures smaller, so with a little editing, I now have pictures.

Excellent. One thing - when you first upload the image it will show as a small thumbnail. If you double click that thumbnail you will get a popup window that allows you to make it larger. I recommend selecting Alignment "Center" and Size "Large". As seen in attached picture. (I re-sided yours to make it larger).

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