Triumph Spitfire
Nigel continues bringing his ’Spit up to scratch
Shortly after acquiring my Spitfire project nearly six months ago, I went right through the car replacing fluids and servicing. At the time it was obvious some of the coolant hoses were starting to perish but rather short-sightedly, I didn’t change them. With summer hopefully approaching and a burst hose bound to stop the car, it was time for action.
Frankly, I like the traditional look of black coolant hoses, but don’t care for the poor quality and short lifespan of many aftermarket rubber components. The Triumph Sports Six Club provides the answer, having commissioned new hose sets for many Triumphs in silicone.
The TSSC silicone hoses are black and look period correct. At £100 a set they’re not cheap, but well worth the price as they should be ‘fit and forget’.
After draining the coolant, I set to work taking off the old cracked rubber tubing. All the hose clips were in reasonable condition, so weren’t too difficult to remove. The heater hoses clips on the bulkhead and near the exhaust proved hard to access, but a flexi screwdriver fitted with a 7mm socket gripped well at all sorts of odd angles.
A couple of the new hoses were slightly too long, needing trimming by a few millimetres to fit perfectly – far better that way than too short. In all other respects the hose set was spot on. With all the clips tightened I topped up the coolant and checked for leaks, finding none. Running the engine up to temperature went fine, with no sign of the dreaded air locking and no drips of coolant. I reckon the Spitfire’s cooling system is ready for summer, whenever it may arrive!
Back to basics
Next, I moved to the interior, specifically the dash and parcel shelf area. I’ve recently removed the steering column to replace its bushes. While the steering wheel and column were out of the car, access around the dash was good, making for an ideal opportunity to ‘reverse some problems’ at the front of the cockpit. A previous owner had fitted a modern stereo and had also carefully crafted parcel shelves from alloy sheet, covering them in black vinyl to match the car’s interior. False backs were fitted to neatly accommodate high power loudspeakers in the parcel shelves.
All together, it was a fine job, but a big stereo in a small sports car just doesn’t float my boat;
the speakers and head unit above the gearbox cover had to go. Also destined for the bin was a three-gauge plastic pod fitted to the top of the dash. Again, it’s not to my taste and ruins the interior style – just my opinion of course.
Out came the alloyfabricated parcel shelves, firmly secured by more self-tappers than I could imagine, some hidden at strange angles behind the speakers. Good news is that the original bulkhead mounting points are still there, and Rimmer Bros can supply new parcel shelves. I will retrieve the parcel shelf support rails by drilling out the pop rivets securing them to the alloy shelves then re-cover using vinyl found at the Stoneleigh MG and Triumph Spares Day. Safety first
I stripped out the H-frame and stereo, revealing live wires in black and earthing in brown cable! Why, oh why use the opposite cable colours to convention? It was an electrical accident waiting to happen and I’m now on a mission to remove any wiring that wasn’t fitted either by the factory or yours truly. I know what electrical fires can do and fervently wish never to see another.
After removing the stereo head unit, I turned to the ugly instrument pod atop the dash. Unscrewing the plastic pod revealed more dodgy wiring, but the hateful thing is now consigned to history. I will save the ammeter and oil pressure gauge, rehousing them in the H-frame in place of the stereo, as these are at least useful. The dash top has been badly scarred by the instrument pod, so my plan must include re-covering it, fitting new parcel shelves, and making a panel for the ammeter and oil gauge to fit in the H-frame.
My apologies for this little rant and for any offence caused on the subject of tasteless interior modifications, however well-crafted they may be. This job could run and run, I’m in full-on classic style police mode now. Perhaps it’s time I stepped back and got a brew!