Spitfire 200$ Spitty report

[eejay56]

I got the car home Saturday and to quote another forum member (probably lots of forum members) "more rust than I hoped" The floorboard are shot, in fact it's a Flintstone car. The body is straight mostly and the floor seems to be the worst. The trunk is ugly but solid and there was about 3 inches of organic debris inside the rr fender. All the glass is there and the hardtop is in good shape, it has a little rust around the edges and the headliner is intact with just a couple of rips. The interior is trashed. Why would someone park a car for years with the windows rolled down? The plates expired in 93 so it has been at least that long since it was driven. The seller said that it was rebuilt but never put back together. If so they didn't bother cleaning the block. I think a more likely scenario is that somebody started to rebuild but never finished taking it apart. The intake manifold, distributer, radiator, water pump, air pump, and fuel pump are off. I found them in the trunk although I've still got to go through the 2 boxes of stuff from the trunk to look for the water pump. So far the only stuff missing for sure are the front bumper, gauges, the brackets that hold the trunk rack and some manifold studs, nuts, and some of the little manifold clamps. I might try to start it next weekend. Theres no key so the steering wheel is locked but I picked up a couple of wheel dollys at HF for 34$ a pair.

 

[TR4]

We do like photos, please post when you can. Nice to see what you are starting with. Yes, your description does paint a picture, photos will confirm our imagination.

 

[eejay56]

My son has the USB cord for my camera. I post pics as soon as he brings it back. Sellers pics are here. $200 Project spitty on craigs list in oregon

 

[Flinkly]

hey, if you are really amped about getting a second spit going, i have a spit valve cover full of odd engine parts sitting in my garage, and i think i might have a steering wheel too, although that might be gt6, if there is a difference.

i'm willing to share, but truth be told, would hate to give up too many parts before i get my car together. i like knowing i have two of alot of things and can always use the best one.

on a side note, i have matching suspension turrets, for what i assume is a spitfire, sandblasted and painted with por-15. slight mistake during cleanup.

 

[eejay56]

That sounds great. I'll take whatever your comfortable parting with. The more I look at it the more I can't just part it out. My son is really excited about working on it too. I plan to play cars all day Saturday, why don't you drop by and you can see what I've got to work with. I sent you a PM

 

[eejay56]

So, the motor wouldn't turn. Squirted some MMO in the cylinders for a couple of days, rocking it in gear just made the clutch slip. Took off the valve cover and found a fair amount of rust. Soaked that with MMO and dug deeper. The head came off easily and number 2 had some rust, more MMO and a socket on the crank nut eventually it came free so the motor turns. Fortunately the piston was near the top of the cylinder so rust was a small band at the top and cleaned up nicely.
There was oil in the crankcase, it was pretty grey. The oil filter was clean, no oil so it wasn't started after the filter was installed. It has an electric fuel pump added and the original was in the parts pile with a broken arm. There is some gas in the tank. I need to drain that out and find out if the fuel pump works (and at what pressure). The carburetor is intact and still had oil in it. Next step will be to flush the sludge out of the bottom end and pull the pan to get a look at the bearings and thrust washers. I found the brackets for the trunk rack complete and in good shape. No gauges though. MMO rocks!

 

[IanF]

Yowzers! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif And I thought my Volvo was in bad shape...

A big honkin' wrench on the main crank bolt wouldn't turn it? If the dizzy was out, chances are water/condensation got inside and did evil things. Maybe drop the pan; drop the main caps and see if you can get some oil on the bearings? But as I think about it, I'd be worried that in it's current state the internals may be salvagable, but actually starting it may do irrepairable damage as chances are there is surface rust everywhere inside that only a complete tear-down, cleaning, and reassembly can fix. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Good luck and more power to you! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif

 

[eejay56]

A 1 13/16th socket and a 24 inch breaker bar did the trick. I rocked it back and forth a little every time I walked past it for a day or so. I'm going to pull the pan this weekend and get a look at the bearings and shine a light into it's nether regions. There was oil so I'm hopeful. There's no rust on the cam followers and what I can see of the cam through the dizzy hole looks shiny.

 

[eejay56]

I finally got the cable back for my camera so here are before pictures.

[img:left]https://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w73/eejay56/79spit008.jpg[/img]

I found this guy in the trunk

and here is Red with his new hat.

 

[guzzul]

Congratulations, you have yourself a project.

The rat was a nice touch.....no relation to the seller I assume?

 

[DrEntropy]

He took a number, had a seat... ugh.