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California Emissions + 1980 MKIV 1500

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Gafirema said:
Unfortunately, it looks like Scott has gotten rid of his parts or something..?
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Or something is accurate.

Just being honest here... I'm not really interested in sourcing rare parts to someone who will flip the car in a heartbeat / at the first sign of trouble. Not at the price I've offered (roughly a third of what you'd pay to aquire this stuff anywhere else).

I'm not a business that needs to make a profit to feed my family. I'm an LBC enthusiast and a BCF member. I'm primarily interested in seeing this stuff find a good home. If I make a couple of bucks on the side to fund a night out with my kids, well that's fair too. Had I mailed this stuff out and you sold the car out of state, per the eBay plan, I'd have to imagine that box of bits would very likely have either been resold for a profit, or ended up in a dumpster. Neither scenario is what I envisioned when I made you an offer.

Now, if I were selling bits outright on eBay to the highest bidder, it would be none of my darn business where they end up or how they are used. That is not the case here.
 
cheseroo said:
It is the sellers responsibility to obtain a smog certificate for the car. Read this here. I would deposit the car back with the seller and demand a smog certificate. If they can't provide one, they are obligated to provide you with your money back. Let me repeat, this is NOT your problem to fix.
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Not so sure about that for a vehicle purchased "out of state". If I sold my Spitfire to a CA resident, your SMOG law is your problem. You can't make a PA resident fix a CA purchasers problem.

For sales within the state, I agree with you.
 
Scott_Hower said:
cheseroo said:
It is the sellers responsibility to obtain a smog certificate for the car. Read this here. I would deposit the car back with the seller and demand a smog certificate. If they can't provide one, they are obligated to provide you with your money back. Let me repeat, this is NOT your problem to fix.
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Not so sure about that for a vehicle purchased "out of state". If I sold my Spitfire to a CA resident, your SMOG law is your problem. You can't make a PA resident fix a CA purchasers problem.

For sales within the state, I agree with you.
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Waay back in the thread it was mentioned that the car was from Texas but the transaction took place in California. As such California law applies. If you sell your PA car to a CA resident and the venue of the transaction was not CA, I believe technically the seller is still responsible for the smog cert but there is really no feasible way to enforce it. CA won't register it but the buyer has no recourse because they can't really go to PA court and apply CA law against a case in PA.

BTW, I can completely understand not wanting to sell parts on the cheap under these circumstances as they have transpired here. Your parts, you choice as to what you do with them. If I sold parts cheaply to help someone out and the car ended up on ebay a month later, I'd be tinkled.
 
@ Scott, as I mentioned before I would not buy the parts if I was going to sell the car. If I found a buyer for the car, I would simply not buy them. I don't have the money to spend on parts for a car I would be selling, it doesn't quite make sense to me. Again, it's not that I'm wanting to give the car up at the first sign of a problem, it's that I am trying to figure out if it is financially possible for me to even keep the thing.

As I said, I came across some money and got some things squared away and now have what I would need to buy the parts, install them, have this fellow I met help me install them as well and keep the car, which I want to do quite badly at the moment, so maybe you'll have a change of heart about the parts and could reconsider selling them. I'd be very grateful and should you decide to do such you'd see my car taken off auction that very moment. But if not, there's not many more choices I have right now being as you're right, those parts are quite rare and I don't see how I can get a hold of them for a reasonable price like you were offering. If I got this car emissions legal and registered here as well, I don't think anything in the world could make me sell it ever, not after all this.

But yeah, it's your choice and I won't ask again.
 
Well, I've found out that I might not can even sell the car until I have the title in my name, which I can't get until I pass the smog test. At this point, I don't want to sell the car anyways, I've been through so much with it and I've really connected and bonded with it in the last month, as silly as that may sound. I really love this little car, I just wish I could register it and enjoy it. I found that the parts I need are rare and hard to come by and that the cheapest I found for them are way more than I can pay. It sucks to, because this guy I met said he could help me put them on if I had them. I should have never even considered selling it. I'm not sure what to do at this point but I sure feel quite worried.
 
Alright, so here's an update. Also, Opa, thank you for your help as well.

Luckily, Scott reconsidered selling me the parts since I decided to keep the spitfire, not that I'd have bought them if I was going to sell it anyways. Just a bit of confusion it would seem. Scott has so far been very helpful and helped me with a lot of questions/parts and more, so special thanks to him.

I've got one month to make my car California Emissions legal. I should have close to all the parts I need, but I've found one of the most confusing things of this are the little cheap parts. It's hard knowing which ones you need ahead of time till you get to the scenario that they're needed.

I do have a few concerns though. First of all, my smog pump seems to be frozen up. I'm not sure if there's a motor inside it or something of the like, but the flywheel on it doesn't seem to want to move at all.

My second concern, would be with my charcoal canisters. Oddly, from the descriptions I've seen online mine don't look like the original kind, I'm not even sure if it's for this car, but I've been told it is. Either way, is there a place I can get one for cheap? My biggest concern with it, is that one of the little pegs is broken off where one of the hoses obviously attaches to. If you look in the picture below you'll see what I'm talking about.



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Also, I'm wondering if the bracket I can see there is suppose to be bent or if I need a new one, if that one is damaged or not? I can't tell.



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My next concern is in the picture below, the air filter canister. The top of it is being really stubborn and does not want to come off. I might have to buy a new one, any suggestions on where to get this?



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Further note, I ordered the Haynes Manual and Triumph Spitfire Owners Handbook off Amazon, they should be here on Wednesday as I got two day shipping.

I've got one month to make this thing legal, any and all help is greatly appreciated. I'm not going to give up and I'm going to see this through no matter what.
 
Kudos to you for sticking this out! I'm not sure of the answers to your questions, but I know someone will be along directly to help.

Party time when you get this thing on the road!

:cheers:
Mickey
 
No clue if those cannisters are correct or not. They look like they are for a Leyland car so if they aren't correct, are likely close enough. Extremely unlikely that an inspector will be able to tell either. I'd fix the broken nipple and run em. I would try a few different things like a short piece of copper tubing glued in there or make the top surface of the break flat and glue a piece of plastic tubing. A walk through Home Depot will provide your inspiration. There isn't much to a smog pump. The aluminum probably corroded to the vanes on the inside. You can usually free them up with a soaking of ATF or Marvel Mystery oil. Make sure you clean it back out afterwards or it will end up in the exhaust and the neighbors will love you. Don't understand your question in regards to the air filter. The picture shows 1/2 of the cannister so it's already been separated.
 
The charcoal cans are correct and the bracket looks right. The front can uses all three ports, but the rear can only uses two IIRC. Swap them in the bracket and forget about it. The bracket mounts to the outside of the passenger side front framerail kickup next to the rad surround. Theres a little perch on the same framerail, next to the fan surround, to mount the anti-runon valve. You might want to unscrew the bottoms of the charcoal cans and replace the charcoal/clean the gauze. They're usually pretty nasty.

Soak the mating gap on the filter can with PBBlaster or similar. The lid has a dent on the periphery to allow you to pry them apart. It will separate eventually. You can't "buy a new one"; new ones are long NLA and the used one you find will likely be stuck shut too. They all do that. The can uses a pair of weird shouldered bolts, BTW to prevent the lid from crushing into the can. Hopefully you have a pair.

Take the airpump apart and carefully clean and lube the vanes. Just be sure to put it back together *exactly* as you found it. If the bushing (or bearing) on the front is shot, you may be able to source a new one locally. Never had a Spit pump apart, but the MG variant uses an allen head flush mount bolt to hold the guts together.

This is all par for the course. Did you rebuild the carb yet? If not, add that to your list of things to do; it will almost certainly need it.
 
Thanks guys, I'll look into all that and see what I can make of this. I'm still not sure if I'll be able to repair the charcoal canister or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there only suppose to be one? When I look on spitbits it lists the part as a singular item, also the diagrams I've found so far only show one of them.
 
@ Tdskip

That's a very kind offer of you. I'm not quite sure where I'm standing or what I'll need help with just yet, I still have to wait for the parts from Scott to arrive. They should be here in the next few days or so. I just may take you up on that offer :laugh:

I've found some people around my area, mechanics who specialize on these little cars if worst comes to worst. As far as me myself, I've worked on cars before, not anything quite this involved. I've built computers and many other technical things of the like so I like to hope I'm mechanically inclined, I learn pretty quick on these things usually.
 
Gafirema said:
Thanks guys, I'll look into all that and see what I can make of this. I'm still not sure if I'll be able to repair the charcoal canister or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there only suppose to be one? When I look on spitbits it lists the part as a singular item, also the diagrams I've found so far only show one of them.
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Trust me, there's supposed to be a pair. The diagrams you need are attached to a book published by Bentley entitled ... "Complete Original Triumph Spitfire 1500".

78emissions.jpg
 
@ Scott, I see. So if they need to be replaced, you have to buy two of them? Or if only one needs to be replaced you only buy one of them? I think I understand. As some one was suggesting, possibly switching them out. It seems like the one on the back doesn't connect to any hoses, so could they just be swapped?
 
Gafirema said:
@ Scott, I see. So if they need to be replaced, you have to buy two of them? Or if only one needs to be replaced you only buy one of them? I think I understand. As some one was suggesting, possibly switching them out. It seems like the one on the back doesn't connect to any hoses, so could they just be swapped?
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I don't know anybody who replaces them. You just R+R them with activated charcoal. There's a little filter pad in the canister that usually pretty gunked up (technical term). Just need to clean it or replace it with something similar.

The two cans are identical, just switch them around in the bracket. Be REALLY careful removing hoses and such; thats likely why one of them has a broken nipple. The large hose on the bottom of each gets connected to the anti run-on valve. In your photos, one is connected but the other is not.
 
Okay I see, that should solve that problem then. I just need to clean them out it seems. Thank you Scott. As far as replacement goes, I believe you can get them on spitbits for $119 if I read correctly, but it would seem I'm not going to need to do that, just clean the little guys out. I went to WAL-MART earlier and got some PBBlaster, some of that Marvel Mystery Oil, some Degreaser and some other assorted goods to help me along. I'll try soaking the smog pump in the mystery oil as per the instructions above overnight I suppose. Hopefully the PBBlaster free's up the air filter.

It looks like I may also need some of the hoses for a lot of this, but I'm waiting till the parts you sent me arrive to see what all is there and what I'll need.

I'm feeling hopeful. I know this is going to be a pain in the butt to get done but I like working on things naturally and love accomplishing tasks like this. It's got to be ready for smog within a month so I'm gonna do what I gotta do and when it's all over I know it'll be well worth it.

Again, thanks for all your help Scott, and for everyone's help. I couldn't do all this without you guys.
 
Gafirema said:
I'll try soaking the smog pump in the mystery oil as per the instructions above overnight I suppose. Hopefully the PBBlaster free's up the air filter.

Again, thanks for all your help Scott, and for everyone's help. I couldn't do all this without you guys.
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If it wont spin, oil probably isn't going to help it. Remove the three bolts on the case back. Squirt the mating joint with PBBlaster and CAREFULLY wiggle the back off, prying GENTLY and EVENLY all around the case. Use more PBBlaster if it's stuck. If little pieces of broken vane and/or needle rollers fall out the back when you get it open, it's a paperweight.
 
Well, I tried PBBlaster, I tried the Marvel Mystery Oil, I let it soak, etc. I was able to get the air filter canister apart and it seems to be in good condition, but it would seem the smog pump is dead. Got it about halfway apart and it will not budge any further. Looks like I'm going to need a new smog pump, but I think I know where I might can get a decent one for cheap, here's hoping. Also, before I mess anything up, I want to double check. There's no screws on the bottom of the charcoal canisters. Do the bottoms just "pop off"? Or am I taking the wrong approach? I guess these questions will probably be answered when my haynes manual gets here tomorrow...
 
Oh and on a lighter note, @ Mickey, it's still technically on the road and running as of now, I've not started the major engine disassembly yet and have still got one month of legal registration (although that will end when I begin tearing the engine apart in the next day or two).

Does that mean it's party time already?! :banana:
 
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