Trimph Spitfire first car!

[Agrispeed]

Right gents, I took the car out last night for its first run since i put the new parts on it. it runs amazingly better, and is actually usable in traffic now (ish) however, did have a few minor mishaps, including an L plate escaping at 40MPH (spent ages looking for it in the dark) which is now stuck on the front grill, below Knee height, as i figured having one no one can see is better than having none. also, i have a electrical issue that i hope you can help me on (i cant get to work on the car until a fortnights time i expect, but i will have the neighbor who is a fitter with me) and that is...

when i Brake in daylight, its fine, both sides light up, (possibly N/s one lighter) but, when sidelights, or headlights are on, only the O/s brake light turns on, and the N/s rear light turns off (well almost) can anyone help? (i think I know the problem already, and i will draw a diagram in a mo.

cheers

[MrBrightSi]

I can remember at night when i used mine, if i had the lights on and indicators and braked the lights wouldnt come on at all. Turns out the fuse box was just paper clips. Swapped to proper fuses and suddenly everything worked.

[Agrispeed]

'
I think this may be the problem, will try the fuses though (the guy who owned it before me didn't seem to know much about them...) by the way, the image is copyrighted, so hands off

P.s the wire between the chocolate block and N/S light is thinner than the others, but its all bloody lagged in 'leccy tape, so its a giant mess...

[hoppo4.2]

If its the same as mine you will have only 3 fuses. Although they can cause issues is far more likely to be an earth fault.

[Agrispeed]

hoppo4.2 said:

If its the same as mine you will have only 3 fuses. Although they can cause issues is far more likely to be an earth fault.

Yeah, while they don't have many electrics, what they do have are not exactly reliable will investigate earth soon... the joys of a lit, insulated garage ... yeah, i found a few hidden switches aswel... so Christ knows what they are

here it is, on the Top right (there's another near the radio far behind the dash, but i guess thats for the radio, which was fitted later)

[N Dentressangle]

The symptoms you describe are normally caused by bad earths.

Check the earthing connections of the rear lights, as well as the headlights while you're at it. Clean things up with emery cloth and use copper grease or vaseline to reassemble.

Old car electrics = constant fettling, in my experience.

[anonymous-user]

N Dentressangle said:

The symptoms you describe are normally caused by bad earths.

Check the earthing connections of the rear lights, as well as the headlights while you're at it. Clean things up with emery cloth and use copper grease or vaseline to reassemble.

Old car electrics = constant fettling, in my experience.

Agreed my mate had a slight bump, no damage but to his rear number plate light which smashed

It got wet, cars electrics went batst crazy, but this was a fiat

[N Dentressangle]

IIRC the electrical connections on Spitfires use something called Lucar connectors, a type of bullet connector. They do get corroded inside and lose contact over the years.

There's a nest of them in the middle of the front of the bonnet, I think, which have the headlight wiring. There'll be a similar nest somewhere in the boot, together with an attempt at an earth. Try to work through, carefully unplugging them, cleaning them up and making sure any earth wires are secure and doing their job properly.

[petrolveins]

Such a beautiful car, and brilliant to have one at 17. I've always wanted one but have never been brave enough to enter the world of classic car ownership. May I ask roughly how much you paid for it?

[anonymous-user]

petrolveins said:

Such a beautiful car, and brilliant to have one at 17. I've always wanted one but have never been brave enough to enter the world of classic car ownership. May I ask roughly how much you paid for it?

Agrispeed said:

£2,600 in January

[petrolveins]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Ahh yes, so I see it has been answered already. Cracking car for the money. If I could afford to run two cars I would be seriously looking at one of these.

[Agrispeed]

petrolveins said:

Ahh yes, so I see it has been answered already. Cracking car for the money. If I could afford to run two cars I would be seriously looking at one of these.

very cheap to run... 30mpg, zero road tax and classic insurance (my mum is insured comp for £95pa) I bought in the depths of winter, so
if you sell in summer you will get a decent amount more for one. parts are very cheap and in plentiful supply now too! (as this thread shows, you do need to be prepared to get your hands dirty though!)

[Agrispeed]

New developments...

well, the rear wiring is a complete fking bodge job, including the reverse light & infrastructure being there, but not plugged in, and a new spur from the N/S brake light to the O/S, which by passes the old, and the N/S. (also, all the wiring is covered in acres of electrical tape, which has gone brittle.) I have a diagram here:


as you can see, as well as completely special wiring, it is also missing many earths, so I guess you guys were right , Just there's more bad things as well.

so, I started by taking the rear wheel out and the covers off... Now there is now fuel tank cover, trim or carpet, and the loom has been unplugged and marked. Luckily it looks like the boot has been connected in the past, so there are connections, and I have a local car fitter who hopefully will be able to fix me up with some new wiring. so, the car is now looking very sorry for its self - although, I didn't find any (much) rust in the boot floor, so at least thats one positive .

Does anyone know where i would be able to get a loom for just the rear wiring (I.e; boot) rather than a whole rear loom, as access is an utter bd.... Luckily it's getting done, when the appeal of open top motoring is small, and it isn't getting used.

Edited by Agrispeed on Sunday 4th March 21:41

[N Dentressangle]

It's Ebay for s/h:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-SPITFIRE-MK4-150...

or these guys will give you good advice:

http://www.canleyclassics.com

Spitfire electrics are so basic I would imagine you would be best off remaking it yourself, to be honest.

Have you joined http://www.tssc.org.uk/ yet? Their forum is useful, and membership is probably worth it for you.

[Agrispeed]

N Dentressangle said:

It's Ebay for s/h:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-SPITFIRE-MK4-150...

or these guys will give you good advice:

http://www.canleyclassics.com

Spitfire electrics are so basic I would imagine you would be best off remaking it yourself, to be honest.

Have you joined http://www.tssc.org.uk/ yet? Their forum is useful, and membership is probably worth it for you.

You beautiful bd!

cheers, have been meaning to join TSSC for bloody ages now . love how amazing this place is, really great community, and very helpful (even the grammar Nazis...)

many, many thanks, here's a virtual pint!

[hoppo4.2]

The wiring system is so basic that any one vaguely component should be able to make a loom section in just a few hours. If u can't find a replacement new one. I'd stay away from a used one as its most likely to be as old and knackered as yours.

[pthelazyjourno]

Gorgeous, gorgeous car.

Deeply jealous. I often consider them, or a GT6.

Be careful with the insurance, it sounds downright stupid, but many of them will put the premium UP £500-£1000 after you've passed your test!!

Worth checking to see how much it would cost - even via a price comparison thing or whatever for a rough guesstimate - just to make sure you can still afford it.

Statistically, I guess learners are a lot less likely to crash than a car full of young folk 3 months down the line...

Good luck.

[Agrispeed]

pthelazyjourno said:

Gorgeous, gorgeous car.

Deeply jealous. I often consider them, or a GT6.

Be careful with the insurance, it sounds downright stupid, but many of them will put the premium UP £500-£1000 after you've passed your test!!

Worth checking to see how much it would cost - even via a price comparison thing or whatever for a rough guesstimate - just to make sure you can still afford it.

Statistically, I guess learners are a lot less likely to crash than a car full of young folk 3 months down the line...

Good luck.

Yes, A GT6 or MGBGT would be nice, but at twice the price , maybe a family car, muuchhh later and, no lovely roof down class

It's not a stupid point actually, and one I did look into when i was considering these sort of cars (originally MG midgets) The insurance will go up, but, its a damn site cheaper than any other car, even a derv fiat panda is more by 1/3, and using go-compare, just to see, their 1st quote was £25 more for the spitfire (I will be using classic insurance, or, at least a specialist one), which is handy as the road tax for the fiat is £30

so yeah, I'm going to be wrecked from behind financially, but, I wont be walking as funny as if i was driving anything modern and small...

Edited because I can't spell

Edited by Agrispeed on Monday 5th March 17:26

[Agrispeed]

Well Gents, More progress today!

So, It turns out I got home around 20 minutes early and didn't need to do any tractor fixing (my god, that thing is st) so i cracked to work. So Ive managed a few smaller jobs, such as fixing the boot lock so it springs back (need to order a new head though, because the keyholes broken) and fixing the door gap on the Drivers side (adjusted the plate - still doesn't lock but mehhhh; hardly secure in the first place, y'know with a removable roof and all that) I got to work, tagging and removing the loom.

Its all now separate in the boot, and tagged,and i have pulled out the earth(?) brick thingy from in between the skins, and followed the wire through the car, until i found the actual connection, under the dash.... however it is on an odd pluggy thing, so I will hopefully get our neighbor who is a mobile mechanic to 'ave a looksy, however, annoyingly to get the wire exposed fully, I will need to take out the footwell side trim (carpet) footwell carpet (done, wasn't glued etc), the Passenger seat, hood frame (which stupidly is attached too...), the rear quarter trim, and the rear panel. I have already labeled up all the wires in various points, so it will (hopefully) be really easy to put in. (although, things NEVER go back as easily ).

actually enjoying this home mechanic lark, To be honest

[Agrispeed]

Well, Fitted the new Loom (old, but never used) that I got off ebay. Proper piece of piss, even cramming it through a inch hole. the longest bit was putting the carpets and seat back in. Only one rear bulb to buy tomorrow

Glad I have the car back on the road in this weather

really glad i actually had time to plan it this time, and label everything, made life a lot easier, even when i roughly knew where it all went.

Grainy and unpleasant photos later.