Yeah, its a quaint little set up, I'm glade I allocated myself a day for this job, I just new that if something didn't go to plan that at least with a day I could get it all sorted out 👍
No such thing as an easy job on an old classic - everything takes three times as long as it should. They were never thought to last this long and everything than can seize does. Great job as always Steve.
I had a new stainless exhaust fitted to my triumph. As the old one would rattle about on leather bands. But now like your new one shake the exhaust pipe and the car wobbles 😂😂 I did however have an expensive repair from the exhaust company. As they had no idea about unf nuts and studs/bolts. So they put metric nuts on a unf stud and snapped 1 and left the others loose. Adding insult to injury they charged me an extra £100 for the hassle and blamed me for not saying about the thread patttern . ( When they planned the exhaust they did talk a good job . Claiming they do old classics and modern sports etc ) So please beware. If your viewers take there classic to a modern exhaust place ask about unf nuts and bolts / studs especially the studs on the 4:1 exhaust manifold which are studs. Thanks for sharing your video. Much appreciated
Sadly many modern garages will go at something with the best intentions but not realize that British and American classic cars and bikes aren't like modern cars where one metric spanner fits everything. With British 60's and 70's cars you need minimal of AF kit, and if you go further back cars, or go over to motorbikes you need Whitworth and British Standard cycle thread too. Glade you enjoyed the video 👍
4 года назад
Super, thank you, I will do the same on mine this winter. I wanted to hear the sound of this exhaust before I bought it. Good spit restoration to you !
Your welcome, I found the Bell's exhaust wasn't too much different in sound to the original sound, very raspy and sporty. I'm very pleased with it, it's a well made and good fit exhaust system 👍
4 года назад
@@SteveDentonClassics Thank you for the feedback ;)
Might have been worth heating the stuck studs with a blowtorch to try to release when you had the manifold off. There are also extractor tools - a bit like reverse-threaded taps. You drill a pilot hole down the centre of the stripped but then you "tap" the whole anticlockwise. The extractor is wedge shaped and progressively bites in, you get a lot of purchase. Saved my bacon on quite a few instances. Not tried them on an exhaust though manifold though - they really seize, so I'm not surprised you had problems. Nice work anyhow!
I know the exact tool your on about, and I've used them a few times. When they work they are brilliant, however I've had a few snap on me and they can be a bugger to get out. As with the blow touch method, I've done it that way many times at the garage I work at, saves so much messing about, but sadly I don't have a blow touch at home, hence running the engine 👍
nice job Steve, I had my spit at the garage and put it on the alignment machine to see if I could get get rid of eating up tires....I figured I now own a shop....I have access to lots of tools now....and believe it...the alignment machine had the specs for aligning the spit.....and they matched the shop manual....maybe I will have to make a vid about it and share it...it was a lot of fun playing with the settings...still have a lot of positive camber in the front so I need to find me some shims for the lower control arm. Anyhooo try to hit you up on insta with the shop profile just to let you know Im trying to keep up with you and love what you are doing with your cars...hope to have new material soon...take care mate!!
Cheers Robert, a big reason for the positive camber on the rear of mine is because it's got a new spring on the back. Spitfires tend to handle there best when the rear spring is old. The new rear spring you buy are made from thicker metal than originals, I've resorted to sticking sand bags in the boot for a few months, just to get it to sag a little. It's an old trick and it does work. The other thing that some owners do is fit a lowering block between the spring and diff, that seems to work well too. Look forward to your next video mate, cheers Steve
@@SteveDentonClassics the back is fine....it is the front that has the positive camber....I am how ever thinking of doing some upgrades to the suspension...I believe that the GT6 as an adjustable horizontal link from the rear knuckle to the body.......but I have found that there are nice modern adjustable control arms and links that will fit the spit and GT6...I am also looking at modernizing the engine and other systems with EFI and other controllable parameters for better eco and performance. I think those might prove to be interesting vids....since buying this shop I have been introduced to some new interesting concepts that I would like to put into my retro cars to make them more responsive...so much for going original....LOL
As one of my oldest friends has always said to me, there three ways you can go with a classic, original, original with upgrades or modified, whatever you do is better than it being in a scrapyard. EFi for me just defeats the point of owning a classic, as working on modern cars for a living, I just like the fact that a classic car is simple and easy to fix with not much to go wrong. However I do understand why people do it. And yeah I know what you mean with the adjustable upper wishbones, Canley Classics make them, I have know people to make them from scratch too. A little positive to dead straight camber on the front of any Triumph works well, if you introduce too much negative camber at the front it'll look good, but the consequence will be the steering will be heaver. Cheers Steve
That's a job well done! Very satisfying. One thing though, you really need some negative camber on those back wheels - it's not a great look when they're up on tip toes like that. Either your spring has been over tempered, it's the wrong spring, or it's possible you could loosen off every single bolt on the rear suspension a bit and then drive it round the block to get it all to settle before tightening everything back up again. Either way that back end needs to come down a few inches.
Cheers Steve, yeah that's one of them jobs I'm aware of, and it's annoying me a bit. The previous owner had replaced the rear spring but I've been thinking for a while now it's not the right one. I will get round to sorting it out at some point 👍
Most easterly Steve.The positive camber on Mk1 Spitfires is "normal" . The heralds and mk1 Vitesse shared the same problem . It was resolved in the later marks. I had a MK1 Vitesse that l fitted a GT6 MK2 engine and box in. I had 5 and a half inch "J" all round on 165 x13 and that kind of cured the problem . I think the serious boys would turn the spring upside down but that put tremendous strain on the driveshafts and suspension. You have to remember that 165x13 was as big as you could get in the late ''60's !
@@johndavey72 I disagree John. The Heralds and Vitesses were saloons with rear seats so their rear spring had to be tempered such that it would not exhibit excessive negative camber when fully laden - consequently, with only one or two passengers onboard they often retained slight positive camber in normal use. Spitfires experience a far narrower range of weight carrying. Even early Spits should never exhibit positive camber at the rear, even when unladen. With driver and passenger onboard there should be about 3 degrees of negative camber at the rear. You will find no original factory pictures that show Spits with noticeable positive camber - they are always between neutral and slight negative camber. Later Spits, especially late Mk4s and 1500s with their longer drive shafts tend to exhibit significantly more negative camber. Within reason, for the best road holding, early Spits cannot have too much negative camber at the rear.
@@SteveDentonClassics Some people really have noticed a difference if they loosen everything at the back and then tighten when it's laden - worth a try maybe. Also make sure those rear trunnion bushes are allowing the vertical links to move and adopt whatever angle they need to; if they're seized the wheels may adopt the wrong camber angle. I enjoy your videos - maybe it's all in the editing but you never seem to get angry when things don't go well. I'd be throwing spanners across the garage in rage!
Cheers Steve, I always think that when things go wrong, there nothing can do about it, just got to get on with it. It's just another problem to solve, just another jigsaw puzzle to make right. With the classic cars I'd do them weather I'm on RUclips or not as I just love working on them. With the daily job of fixing van's for a living that's a different story, but calmness is key. I know exactly what you saying with the Spitfire's rear suspension, and it makes perfect sense, as with the bushes etc being tighten up while the suspension is raised stresses them in that position. If I get a free moment I'll probably give it a try, I've got nothing to loose. I need to replace the rear shocks regardless and want to go round other areas, but that's all for future videos 👍
Cheers buddy, I just find that taking the dash pits off makes it easier to get a socket on the carb mounting bolts. There’s also not a lot of clearance on HS2 carbs to manifold so again for the sake of 2 screws it’s easier just to remove them 👍🏻
Good to see you resolve the broken stud issue. This is a 'real world' example of what we all have to deal with working on such old cars. It's not all plain sailing is it? 🙂
No, definitely not all plan sailing, but with the right mind set you can archive anything. I think it's important to keep things real, and I just hope my video are helping someone somewhere. I think it's also good to show repairs and not always just chuck away things, and replace when things can be made good with repairs too 👍
Hi Steve, just a quick question. I really like the twin exhaust look, very much like the Monza set up on the TR6 you did. The question, would it be easy to fit that type to a 1964 Spit? I've looked on Moss Europe and Rimmer and not sure what I'm looking for 🤣
Hi Russ, it's all depending on what sort of twin exhaust system you are looking for. Moss Europe and Rimmers both offer good twin exhaust systems, the Phoenix twin back box system from Moss is a very good exhaust system. A for a Monza or Ansa set up with quad tail pipes, they are not available in the UK, if you want that style of exhaust for a Spitfire, you will have to buy it off a USA or Canadian website and import it. They are really easy to fit, but they do require drill two bobbing into the boot floor pan to hang them from. Twin back boxes do look really great Spitfires, I used to have a Phoenix twin back box on my Spitfire 1500 👍
@@SteveDentonClassics Thanks Steve for taking the time to reply. It's purely an aesthetic look for me, I love the symmetry of a twin exhaust. I've just had a look at the Phoenix on the Moss website, looks a winner in my eyes. So once again this now goes on the shopping list (It keeps getting bigger🤣) cheers for the info. 👍
Steve, anti-seize on those studs for next time? WD40 was developed as a water displacement (WD) product. Get your self a can of OEM penetrating fluid, and stay away from the retail stuff, you may get better results.
Oh yes, as soon as I replace the manifold bolts with the correct studs they will be copper slip on them. And with the WD40, I’ve tried various different types of penetrating fluids but I just get on well with WD40. That said I’m always open to trying new things, what do you use?
I actually work for a chemical blending and packaging company that manufactures automotive service chemicals for the OEM's, so I use what we make (any brand, same products for the most part). Use a known industrial brand, or Ford, G.M, Honda, etc.
One extreme to the other , last week your driving the M.G. like you stole it and this week a careful driver looking to take his Advanced Driving Course ! 😂😂It may have taken you the best part of a morning, for the rest of us it would have taken a week! That Spitfire is ideal for top down driving. And cheap as you like to run, Classic car insurance, cheap parts and 40 to the gallon! And reliable ! What more could you ask ? Thanks Steve.
Oh I love it, I’ve real soft spot for Spitfires, My first classic car was a Spitfire 1500, it tort me more about mechanics than I ever learnt in a 4 year apprenticeship, it was also my daily driver. I do miss that car, it features in one of my very first videos 👍🏻
I'm not very product loyal with exhaust paste, so it's whatever I can get hold of at the time, normally Holts exhaust paste works well, that said I have used low melt grease before now as it attract the carbon and melts off fast giving a good seal over time 👍
I like how the intake sits into the exhaust manifold. Sometimes, things can take a bit longer than planned 😉
Yeah, its a quaint little set up, I'm glade I allocated myself a day for this job, I just new that if something didn't go to plan that at least with a day I could get it all sorted out 👍
No such thing as an easy job on an old classic - everything takes three times as long as it should. They were never thought to last this long and everything than can seize does. Great job as always Steve.
Cheers John and that’s so true John, I’m just glade I allocated myself a full day to this job 👍🏻
I had a new stainless exhaust fitted to my triumph. As the old one would rattle about on leather bands.
But now like your new one shake the exhaust pipe and the car wobbles 😂😂 I did however have an expensive repair from the exhaust company. As they had no idea about unf nuts and studs/bolts. So they put metric nuts on a unf stud and snapped 1 and left the others loose. Adding insult to injury they charged me an extra £100 for the hassle and blamed me for not saying about the thread patttern . ( When they planned the exhaust they did talk a good job . Claiming they do old classics and modern sports etc )
So please beware. If your viewers take there classic to a modern exhaust place ask about unf nuts and bolts / studs especially the studs on the 4:1 exhaust manifold which are studs. Thanks for sharing your video. Much appreciated
Sadly many modern garages will go at something with the best intentions but not realize that British and American classic cars and bikes aren't like modern cars where one metric spanner fits everything. With British 60's and 70's cars you need minimal of AF kit, and if you go further back cars, or go over to motorbikes you need Whitworth and British Standard cycle thread too. Glade you enjoyed the video 👍
Super, thank you, I will do the same on mine this winter. I wanted to hear the sound of this exhaust before I bought it.
Good spit restoration to you !
Your welcome, I found the Bell's exhaust wasn't too much different in sound to the original sound, very raspy and sporty. I'm very pleased with it, it's a well made and good fit exhaust system 👍
@@SteveDentonClassics Thank you for the feedback ;)
i just love a 'running project'. Keep up the good work and let us follow.
Cheers Ole, that’s pretty much how I run all my projects as it just keeps the interest going rather than doing everything at once 👍🏻
love these fun little cars. im currently working on restoring a mk3 spitfire as well.
Oh awesome!! There great fun, like go karts on the road and good looking little cars too 👍
Might have been worth heating the stuck studs with a blowtorch to try to release when you had the manifold off. There are also extractor tools - a bit like reverse-threaded taps. You drill a pilot hole down the centre of the stripped but then you "tap" the whole anticlockwise. The extractor is wedge shaped and progressively bites in, you get a lot of purchase. Saved my bacon on quite a few instances. Not tried them on an exhaust though manifold though - they really seize, so I'm not surprised you had problems. Nice work anyhow!
I know the exact tool your on about, and I've used them a few times. When they work they are brilliant, however I've had a few snap on me and they can be a bugger to get out. As with the blow touch method, I've done it that way many times at the garage I work at, saves so much messing about, but sadly I don't have a blow touch at home, hence running the engine 👍
nice job Steve, I had my spit at the garage and put it on the alignment machine to see if I could get get rid of eating up tires....I figured I now own a shop....I have access to lots of tools now....and believe it...the alignment machine had the specs for aligning the spit.....and they matched the shop manual....maybe I will have to make a vid about it and share it...it was a lot of fun playing with the settings...still have a lot of positive camber in the front so I need to find me some shims for the lower control arm. Anyhooo try to hit you up on insta with the shop profile just to let you know Im trying to keep up with you and love what you are doing with your cars...hope to have new material soon...take care mate!!
Cheers Robert, a big reason for the positive camber on the rear of mine is because it's got a new spring on the back. Spitfires tend to handle there best when the rear spring is old. The new rear spring you buy are made from thicker metal than originals, I've resorted to sticking sand bags in the boot for a few months, just to get it to sag a little. It's an old trick and it does work. The other thing that some owners do is fit a lowering block between the spring and diff, that seems to work well too. Look forward to your next video mate, cheers Steve
@@SteveDentonClassics the back is fine....it is the front that has the positive camber....I am how ever thinking of doing some upgrades to the suspension...I believe that the GT6 as an adjustable horizontal link from the rear knuckle to the body.......but I have found that there are nice modern adjustable control arms and links that will fit the spit and GT6...I am also looking at modernizing the engine and other systems with EFI and other controllable parameters for better eco and performance. I think those might prove to be interesting vids....since buying this shop I have been introduced to some new interesting concepts that I would like to put into my retro cars to make them more responsive...so much for going original....LOL
As one of my oldest friends has always said to me, there three ways you can go with a classic, original, original with upgrades or modified, whatever you do is better than it being in a scrapyard. EFi for me just defeats the point of owning a classic, as working on modern cars for a living, I just like the fact that a classic car is simple and easy to fix with not much to go wrong. However I do understand why people do it. And yeah I know what you mean with the adjustable upper wishbones, Canley Classics make them, I have know people to make them from scratch too. A little positive to dead straight camber on the front of any Triumph works well, if you introduce too much negative camber at the front it'll look good, but the consequence will be the steering will be heaver. Cheers Steve
That's a job well done! Very satisfying. One thing though, you really need some negative camber on those back wheels - it's not a great look when they're up on tip toes like that. Either your spring has been over tempered, it's the wrong spring, or it's possible you could loosen off every single bolt on the rear suspension a bit and then drive it round the block to get it all to settle before tightening everything back up again. Either way that back end needs to come down a few inches.
Cheers Steve, yeah that's one of them jobs I'm aware of, and it's annoying me a bit. The previous owner had replaced the rear spring but I've been thinking for a while now it's not the right one. I will get round to sorting it out at some point 👍
Most easterly Steve.The positive camber on Mk1 Spitfires is "normal" . The heralds and mk1 Vitesse shared the same problem . It was resolved in the later marks. I had a MK1 Vitesse that l fitted a GT6 MK2 engine and box in. I had 5 and a half inch "J" all round on 165 x13 and that kind of cured the problem . I think the serious boys would turn the spring upside down but that put tremendous strain on the driveshafts and suspension. You have to remember that 165x13 was as big as you could get in the late ''60's !
@@johndavey72 I disagree John. The Heralds and Vitesses were saloons with rear seats so their rear spring had to be tempered such that it would not exhibit excessive negative camber when fully laden - consequently, with only one or two passengers onboard they often retained slight positive camber in normal use. Spitfires experience a far narrower range of weight carrying. Even early Spits should never exhibit positive camber at the rear, even when unladen. With driver and passenger onboard there should be about 3 degrees of negative camber at the rear. You will find no original factory pictures that show Spits with noticeable positive camber - they are always between neutral and slight negative camber. Later Spits, especially late Mk4s and 1500s with their longer drive shafts tend to exhibit significantly more negative camber. Within reason, for the best road holding, early Spits cannot have too much negative camber at the rear.
@@SteveDentonClassics Some people really have noticed a difference if they loosen everything at the back and then tighten when it's laden - worth a try maybe. Also make sure those rear trunnion bushes are allowing the vertical links to move and adopt whatever angle they need to; if they're seized the wheels may adopt the wrong camber angle. I enjoy your videos - maybe it's all in the editing but you never seem to get angry when things don't go well. I'd be throwing spanners across the garage in rage!
Cheers Steve, I always think that when things go wrong, there nothing can do about it, just got to get on with it. It's just another problem to solve, just another jigsaw puzzle to make right. With the classic cars I'd do them weather I'm on RUclips or not as I just love working on them. With the daily job of fixing van's for a living that's a different story, but calmness is key. I know exactly what you saying with the Spitfire's rear suspension, and it makes perfect sense, as with the bushes etc being tighten up while the suspension is raised stresses them in that position. If I get a free moment I'll probably give it a try, I've got nothing to loose. I need to replace the rear shocks regardless and want to go round other areas, but that's all for future videos 👍
Great video Steve. What a pain you had to get that manifold off! How come you need to remove those dash pots to get the intake off?
Cheers buddy, I just find that taking the dash pits off makes it easier to get a socket on the carb mounting bolts. There’s also not a lot of clearance on HS2 carbs to manifold so again for the sake of 2 screws it’s easier just to remove them 👍🏻
Good to see you resolve the broken stud issue. This is a 'real world' example of what we all have to deal with working on such old cars. It's not all plain sailing is it? 🙂
No, definitely not all plan sailing, but with the right mind set you can archive anything. I think it's important to keep things real, and I just hope my video are helping someone somewhere. I think it's also good to show repairs and not always just chuck away things, and replace when things can be made good with repairs too 👍
Hi Steve, just a quick question. I really like the twin exhaust look, very much like the Monza set up on the TR6 you did. The question, would it be easy to fit that type to a 1964 Spit? I've looked on Moss Europe and Rimmer and not sure what I'm looking for 🤣
Hi Russ, it's all depending on what sort of twin exhaust system you are looking for. Moss Europe and Rimmers both offer good twin exhaust systems, the Phoenix twin back box system from Moss is a very good exhaust system. A for a Monza or Ansa set up with quad tail pipes, they are not available in the UK, if you want that style of exhaust for a Spitfire, you will have to buy it off a USA or Canadian website and import it. They are really easy to fit, but they do require drill two bobbing into the boot floor pan to hang them from. Twin back boxes do look really great Spitfires, I used to have a Phoenix twin back box on my Spitfire 1500 👍
@@SteveDentonClassics Thanks Steve for taking the time to reply. It's purely an aesthetic look for me, I love the symmetry of a twin exhaust. I've just had a look at the Phoenix on the Moss website, looks a winner in my eyes. So once again this now goes on the shopping list (It keeps getting bigger🤣) cheers for the info. 👍
No probs and you're welcome 👍
Steve, anti-seize on those studs for next time? WD40 was developed as a water displacement (WD) product. Get your self a can of OEM penetrating fluid, and stay away from the retail stuff, you may get better results.
Oh yes, as soon as I replace the manifold bolts with the correct studs they will be copper slip on them. And with the WD40, I’ve tried various different types of penetrating fluids but I just get on well with WD40. That said I’m always open to trying new things, what do you use?
I actually work for a chemical blending and packaging company that manufactures automotive service chemicals for the OEM's, so I use what we make (any brand, same products for the most part). Use a known industrial brand, or Ford, G.M, Honda, etc.
One extreme to the other , last week your driving the M.G. like you stole it and this week a careful driver looking to take his Advanced Driving Course ! 😂😂It may have taken you the best part of a morning, for the rest of us it would have taken a week! That Spitfire is ideal for top down driving. And cheap as you like to run, Classic car insurance, cheap parts and 40 to the gallon! And reliable ! What more could you ask ? Thanks Steve.
Oh I love it, I’ve real soft spot for Spitfires, My first classic car was a Spitfire 1500, it tort me more about mechanics than I ever learnt in a 4 year apprenticeship, it was also my daily driver. I do miss that car, it features in one of my very first videos 👍🏻
Try using “Plusgas” as your penetrating oil, seems to do a much better job than WD40. 👍
I’ll give that a try, cheers 👍🏻
What is the product you used on the joins
I'm not very product loyal with exhaust paste, so it's whatever I can get hold of at the time, normally Holts exhaust paste works well, that said I have used low melt grease before now as it attract the carbon and melts off fast giving a good seal over time 👍