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Need Parts and Advice for my 1500!

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malice

malice

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I just bought this car. Its a 79 1500. Picking it up today I hope. Drove and purchased saturday afternoon. It runs and drives. Clutch felt good. I think it has factory electronic ignition. It has ignition box on firewall (no id, just black with wire harness plugged into it), but i didnt pop distributor cap to look. Gearbox sounded fine, no synchro problems that I could tell. I didn't check any of electrical items close. Its lucas. Im prepaired. It needs interior, top, cancer taken care of, rear spring etc. Says 55k on dash and I believe these to be original as the drivetrain looks unmolested. I guess I will ask for parts first.

I need: seat covers, handbrake cover vinyl

Carpets

Rear leaf spring (or should I just go ahead and do air shocks) It has pretty good drivers side lean, although I never looked on even level ground either.

Lower Radiator hose

Also: What should I do about the terribly oxidized plastic bumpers? Ive seen recommendations for shoe polish, plastic dressings, etc. I was thinking I could just pull them, clean, rough and paint? Has anyone else done this? Let me know. Cheers!
 
You should be able to get most of those parts from Moss Motors at:

https://www.mossmotors.com/

Or Google "Victoria British", another popular vendor.

Tony Barnhill, a member here at BCF is a Moss dealer.

I would not put air shocks in a Spitfire in a zillion years....that sounds like a bad idea.

Many of the folks here just paint their old bumpers with rattle can satin or flat black paint. If you pull them and bring them to a body shop, you could probably have them painted with urethane for a modest amount.

The 1500 engine has a weak spot: the thrust washers. At some point, you should inspect the crank thrust and see if they are worn. Running loose thrust washers will kill the engine (I swap them out every 25 hours or so in my 1500 racer). To find out more about thrust washers, use the "search" function here....there is much info already written about this at BCF.

G'luck!
 
Yeah im aware of those thrust washers. One of the first things I will try to do is check crankshaft see how much play shes got. I dont want to have to find one bound up somewhere where it doesnt belong.
 
malice said:
I need: seat covers, handbrake cover vinyl
Click to expand...
Try Parklane in the UK for vinyl. The stuff I have got from Owen Lloyd there has been good quality and reasonably priced (even with shipping cost).
https://www.parklaneclassics.co.uk/

For other parts (including carpets) you might also try Spitbits in California. Again, good prices and good service. Nigel is very knowledgeable about Spits. I would ask his advice about re-blacking the bumper too.

malice said:
Rear leaf spring (or should I just go ahead and do air shocks)
Click to expand...
I would replace the leaf spring rather than go to an air shock.
 
Thanks for the info!
 
"need parts and advice"...I've got junk and opinions...does that count?
Call your auto paint supplier for how to paint your bumper....correctly.
You need a good enamel or urethane,reducer,proper primer/sealer and a flex additive, and maybe a flattening agent. You dont want to sand them, just detergent wash them and then auto type wax and grease remover.Then maroon scotchbright them prior to your first coat of primer sealer, etc,etc.
 
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