woensdag 27 juli 2011
zaterdag 23 juli 2011
vrijdag 22 juli 2011
zondag 17 juli 2011
vrijdag 15 juli 2011
How (not) to buy a triumph spitfire!
Rusty cheap dirty old leaking but running Triumph Spitfire IVBest of all. My 1971 spitfire on his way home! :-)
I was looking for a new project after my Little Bsa Bantam.
It sure took a while to find a car i really like.
And it will take a great deal of time to get things right!
woensdag 13 juli 2011
Mods for the Spitfire engine
Radiators + Fans
The standard radiator in perfect condition is adequate for an unmodified engine, a wider one or one with 4 core channels will be what is needed for a tuned engine
Very expensive aluminium ones are available as they are lighter and dissipate heat better, at about £300 a piece you should ask yourself if you really need one though.
The standard fan provides not much cooling at low rpm when it is needed and too much at high revs when you are getting plenty of air flow naturally. The later Viscous fan is much better but is still not as good as an electric fan mounted in front of the radiator.
The electric fan consumes much less horsepower as it is far more efficient than the mechanically driven one and is only switched on when in heavy traffic anyway.
If you don't fancy the cost, get one from virtually any modern car breakers yard and you can probably fit it.
You should chuck the old fan away now as it blows air which interferes with the suck electric fan. That will gain you up to about 4 Bhp as the engine no longer has to drive round that old fan.
Oil Cooler
An oil cooler is just a miniature water radiator but made much more robustly to handle the higher pressures.
I think oil coolers are very good and should be fitted. Basically when Triumph designed the Spit engine in the dark ages people didn't go bombing down the motorway at 90 Mph all day.
So oil getting too hot and losing its lubrication properties was not a problem, hence no oil cooler. Although it was available at some point as a factory option.
Oil pump
Regardless of which Spitfire engine you use fit the alloy bodied 1500 oil pump, it is superior to earlier models (as well as a bit lighter!) It bolts straight on to all models. Improve its performance as follows:
- Reduce end float to a minimum by carefully lapping the body on a bit of thick plate glass with 1000 grade emery paper.
- Check that the ends of the rotors are smooth and burr free to reduce the chances of them `picking up` some bits of end plate.
- Check that the new pump outlet lines up with the feed hole in the block, you never know with Triumphs!
Pics found on http://www.restaureerjetriumphspitfire.nl
Text found on http://www.totallytriumph.net
Very expensive aluminium ones are available as they are lighter and dissipate heat better, at about £300 a piece you should ask yourself if you really need one though.
The standard fan provides not much cooling at low rpm when it is needed and too much at high revs when you are getting plenty of air flow naturally. The later Viscous fan is much better but is still not as good as an electric fan mounted in front of the radiator.
The electric fan consumes much less horsepower as it is far more efficient than the mechanically driven one and is only switched on when in heavy traffic anyway.
If you don't fancy the cost, get one from virtually any modern car breakers yard and you can probably fit it.
You should chuck the old fan away now as it blows air which interferes with the suck electric fan. That will gain you up to about 4 Bhp as the engine no longer has to drive round that old fan.
Oil Cooler
An oil cooler is just a miniature water radiator but made much more robustly to handle the higher pressures.
I think oil coolers are very good and should be fitted. Basically when Triumph designed the Spit engine in the dark ages people didn't go bombing down the motorway at 90 Mph all day.
So oil getting too hot and losing its lubrication properties was not a problem, hence no oil cooler. Although it was available at some point as a factory option.
Oil pump
Regardless of which Spitfire engine you use fit the alloy bodied 1500 oil pump, it is superior to earlier models (as well as a bit lighter!) It bolts straight on to all models. Improve its performance as follows:
- Reduce end float to a minimum by carefully lapping the body on a bit of thick plate glass with 1000 grade emery paper.
- Check that the ends of the rotors are smooth and burr free to reduce the chances of them `picking up` some bits of end plate.
- Check that the new pump outlet lines up with the feed hole in the block, you never know with Triumphs!
Pics found on http://www.restaureerjetriumphspitfire.nlText found on http://www.totallytriumph.net
maandag 11 juli 2011
Building a Reliable Spitfire Engine for High Performance!
Just found a great link about engine rebuilding!
With the Golden rule:
Hosted & Formatted by Jeff McNeal for
the Totally Triumph Network
Original posting date: March 26, 2001
With the Golden rule:
Written by Calum E. DouglasI read this and it seems to me to be perfect, when building an engine assume NOTHING. Double and triple check everything, all measurements and dimensions. Do not assume that any factory produced item is accurate, "always check everything".
Remember too that Sods Law is always hard at work and likes nothing more than groundless (and possibly very expensive) assumptions on your part. Be sure to avoid Sod by following the `Golden Rule`.
Hosted & Formatted by Jeff McNeal for
the Totally Triumph Network
Original posting date: March 26, 2001
zondag 10 juli 2011
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)