Joseph Burlein wrote:
As was going to ask about this topic myself. I am pulling the rubber
bushings and replacing with poly so decided to replace the spings all
around too . When I tried to install the new front springs, they wouldn't
fit and there wasn't a rubber spring pad up there. It turned out the
rubber spring pad was under an aluminum spacer. With the years of grime on
there is looked like it was originally part of the car. The spacer is not
that thick, maybe something on the order of a 1/16 of an inch. Anyone out
there have an idea what this would be for? I have not reinstalled them
yet. But, I still don't have the car down off the jack stands yet either!
++++++++++++++
Joseph - During the early years of Spitfire production runs the factory was
inadvertently shipped a batch of springs that were the wrong length - i.e.,
too short. The "short" springs have a dab of light blue paint on them
(clean off all the grime and you'll see it) versus the "normal" height
springs which have a dab of green paint on them.
In order to make up the height difference the factory fitted some early
Spits with an aluminum spring spacer that fits on top of the spring and
under the turrent. My 64 Mk I Spit had them, but I removed them during my
restoration because I wanted the car to be a little lower in front. You
are correct, the spacers are about 1/4 inch thick. All of this is
discussed in John Thomason's book on Triumph Spitfires and GT-6s.
Ross D. Vincenti
Asst. General Counsel/Asst. Sec'ty.
Transamerica Home Loan - Legal Division
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 742-4756
(213) 741-6945 or 742-4010 fax
ross.vincenti@transamerica.com
64 Spitfire 4
64 Porsche 356C coupe
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