Here's one for you.
After CAREFUL rebuild and installation of my 1500cc motor, I decided to take
it on it's maiden trip.. I had actually run it quite a bit doing the odd
tuning and such so I knew the engine was in tip top shape. Anyway, as I was
cruising along the FM road a nice gentle man came up beside me. I was
expecting to hear "Hey, nice car".. Instead I got "Damn things got oil all
over it!!" then he was gone... I slowed to the shoulder, got out and was
horrified.... The whole side of the car was covered in OIL!!! I popped the
bonnet and looked around, no leaks.. In fact, with the exception of where
the guy that was helping me spilled a "Little" oil there was nothing...
Wait, did I say a "Little" oil?? Well that's what he told me!!! Seems he
had spilled at least a quart, he got most of it cleaned up but he missed all
of it that had come to rest along the frame rails..... It made it's way out
along the side of my Spit with help of the air passing over it.. It's kind
of like blood in your mouth, a little seems like a whole lot...
He has since moved...
Nick
N.A. Campiglia III
Abilene, TX
'67 Spitfire MKIII
'74 Spitfire 1500
http://camalott.com/~spitdrvr
----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Hensley <susan@bearcom.com>
To: Spitfire List <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 9:51 AM
Subject: Spitfire-related topic
>
> Hi all!
>
> I'd like to hear about an experience you have had with your Spitfire
> that not only was some sort of event (breakdowns, learned something new,
> met someone special in an odd situation, etc.) but taught you something
> about your Spit or Triumphs in general.
>
> I'll give two of mine for examples:
>
> I was in the process of delivering a pizza for Domino's when I lived in
> Lake Charles, LA back in the '80's. I had just turned onto the street
> the customer lived on when I heard an abrupt puffing hissy sound and
> smoke just boiled out from under the bonnet and under the dash inside
> the car (the top was down as always). I threw the car at the curb,
> leaped out and yanked the bonnet up (I think I leaped over the bonnet to
> get to the second latch, but I don't have much recollection of doing it
> -- I moved FAST). There was a fire on my battery! I hadn't thought
> about carrying a fire extinguisher, but had a handy towel (shades of
> Hitchhiker's Guide) I beat the flames out with. It turned out that the
> heater cable had crossed the corner of the battery and had melted
> through into the first cell, causing the fire and the hissy noise. The
> pizza was late and the customer made me give them the $3 for it. They
> must not have had experience with Triumphs before. I learned to make
> sure everything under the hood went in its proper place and to not let
> cables and wires come near places where they might cause problems.
>
> Second story, also to do with fire: I was trying to get Tristan (my race
> Spit) started in the driveway at my McKinney, TX apartment in the later
> evening (it was almost dark) a couple of years ago. He was being really
> cranky, and was having a hard time starting. He'd catch and backfire
> and stall out (the timing turned out to be off). Finally, I got him to
> catch and run a little and he gave me a huge backfire, and all of a
> sudden these huge flames just shot up from the carburetor area. I
> yanked the pin on my fire suppression system and slammed the knob down
> and nothing happened. I was really freaked out and shot out of the car
> (I still do not remember doing it or hitting the ground) and grabbed the
> fire extinguisher out of the Jeep and gave the fire a blast. When the
> puff of extinguisher material died down, I saw what had happened. Tris
> has twin 1 1/2" SU's with velocity stacks, and the stacks each have
> muffs that go over them to protect them from taking in dust and dirt. I
> hadn't thought to remove them while trying to start a cranky car, and
> when he backfired, it shot flame into the muffs, which were apparently
> plastic or plastic-based, shooting flames to the sky when they caught
> (quite vivid in the dark!). Then I had to clean up the extinguisher
> mess and I still have mess where the plastic muffs dripped onto the
> shock tower. Bleah. Taught me to A) remove all obstructions when
> starting the car cold, B) keep the fire extinguisher handy, and C) learn
> my equipment -- it turned out you have to pump the fire suppression
> system. Probably a good thing I didn't know that then -- it would have
> blasted the whole car, since it has outlet nozzles all over the place,
> and I would have had one heck of a mess to clean up.
>
> I hope some of your experiences have been better! Pass them along!
>
> Keep Triumphing,
> Susan :)
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