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Re: Stereotypes & Spit camber

To: british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Stereotypes & Spit camber
From: doug@dsg128.nad.ford.com (Douglas Mitchell)
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 94 14:47:42 EDT
Well, I've been reading the stereotype responses, and I find them
interesting to say the least. I guess it is time for me to fill out
the survey.

I am 42, almost 43, so I guess that makes me middle-age, although I
don't want to admit it. I drive my Triumph as much as I can, although
I rarely drive it to work. (My commute is 54 miles one way). I am
married, almost 22 years, and if you look up gearhead in the dictionary,
you will see my picture next to it. My wife claims that I have motor
oil in my veins instead of blood. I was brought up in the Detroit area,
and my father worked for General Motors. I always knew that I would
work for one of the Big 3, and I knew it wouldn't be Chrysler. My 
grandfather worked for Ford and my father-in-law worked for Ford.
I spent seven years in the U.S. Air Force, four of it in England.
I bought my Spitfire there in 1975. Actually, I traded a '73 Morris
Marina 1.8 Super for it. I shipped it back in 1977 with 60,007 miles
on it when I turned it over to the shipping agent. It now has about 110K
miles on it. After 19 years, I have gotten rid of most of the PO problems.

I have had British cars on the brain ever since elementary school and
one of the teachers had a brand new Frog-eye. I fell in love with it. I've
had British cars in the garage for the last 21 years. The only non-British
car that I regret selling was my 1964 Corvair Spyder Convertible.
150 horses of turbo-charged fun.

For recreation, I enjoy flagging at the race tracks, sailing, and skiing,
Oh, yes, and working on the Triumph.

-----------------

New Subject:

On the camber problem.  Changing the rear spring will have no effect on
the rear camber. Believe me. Been there, done... I completely rebuilt the
rear suspension of my Spit to eliminate this problem. This was while the
car was only about three years old. After this exercise proved fruitless,
I rang the Triumph engineering offices. They were awara of the problem,
and they told me that if I found out what cured it, would I be so kind
as to let them know? Rebuilt in this case means new: dampers, spring,
bushings, along with rebuilding the vertical links. I finally decided
that if the tail were going to squat, I would de-arch the leaf spring,
and use the competition guide to make it work for me. One of the ex-members
of the Detroit club had a camber compensator kit put on his car, and that
straightened up the rear wheels, but it made it ride a lot more rough.

Doug Mitchell - I have an oil pump in my chest, not a heart.


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