Well I got the wife's 1970-sorta Spitfire running...Finally! Everything
(almost) works great - ran cool, no leaks, great oil pressure and the
overdrive works too! Although you can beat third gear synchro if you try
hard ( I am hoping that it's just new and a little stiff, but we'll see)
The only problems encountered were that both odometers don't work,
speedometer is off (probably because of the 3.63 gears, should and probably
will change to a 3.89) and a bit of a breeze enters the cockpit via the
door seal not entirely sealing at the front (an easy fix) Also, the car
seams a bit twitchy and I am wondering if maybe the castor is incorrect but
I haven't found any reliable way of checking it. Has anybody done this at
home? I can measure camber and toe fairly accurately, but there is no
surface or reference point that I can determine to gauge castor. I think
that I may need a little more positive castor to help in directional
stability. The manual specifies 4 deg positive, but like I mentioned, I
cant really verify what I have and I hate to take it somewhere cause most
places don't even know what it is, let alone how to set anything - anybody
got any ideas?
The downside of all this is that I don't think we'll be taking it to
Triumphest - it's just a bit to buzzy and hot inside (with those vinyl
seats) even with the overdrive. And the few little things that need to be
fixed, well, let just say I'll be taking my good old Spitfire which will
have no problem making the trip - (I'm old and need cruise control, comfy
cool seats, and a bit more horsepower :-} - it' s a LONG trip for us in a
stock Spitfire)
Too bad we can't join in the caravan, but we won't even be leaving from San
Diego until Thursday around 3...:-( We plan to stop at a hotel/motel
somewhere around the halfway point, and get there Friday afternoon sometime
- but we'll have pictures of her car on the computer!!
Barry Schwartz (San Diego)
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