Been looking for a fun, cheap project car

[Blarg]

Bet you wish you still had that Nova. Unless it had the crappy four cylinder. 

[Jay]

No it had the 307 with powerglide, still no hot rod.

 

 

[Blarg]

The saga of the Spitfire continues. I got tired of the wire wheels never holding a true balance and the aftermarket hub adapters not being honed exactly right so there is the slightest amount of slop which cause some movement between wheel and hub. I opted for dumping the wires and hub adapters and getting some retro mags from the 70's and came up with Dunlop D1 wheels. 

They were the correct size and most important the holes for the lugs were correctly spaced. I just needed to pop off the hub adapters and bolt these on...

That's never how this actually goes. The original lug bolts were too short and have to be replaced.  The replacement is a lug from a Land Rover that is too long so I have to cut down hardened steel lugs then disassemble the wheel hubs to pound out the originals and replace them with the larger diameter and length Rover studs.

To do that you have to remove the brake caliper, pop the hub that is connected to the rotor from the wheel spline and then removel the rotor to access the back of the hub to install the new longer studs. 

Reassemble the entire hub, repack wheel bearings with grease, secure the hub and then it's just mount them like regular wheels. 

It only took about two hours to do the first front wheel and those are the easy ones. The rears are drums and requires a specialty hub puller that is only available once in a while. I got lucky and found one online, bought it and within a week they were completely sold out. 

As usual I was sent lugs that didn't fit and a supplier that wouldn't respond to emails. I ended up following forum advice from others that had the same problem and that is how I ended up with lugs I had to customize since there is no exact plug and play part. The car had been up on a lift for two months waiting for the correct parts and that us why it looks like it has an improper ride height. It's going to take a while for the suspension to sit back down. But at least I have one done, only three more to go.

 

[Lou]

Worst saga ever. 

[Blarg]

I never told you about the Alfa Romeo.

[Jay]

The alloy rim looks pretty sweet. Not crazy about the Dunlop logo though.

[Blarg]

I'm not going to use the Dunlop or the JB Wheels logo. I'm probably going to find a Triumph shield logo that matches the horn button.

[Tank]

at this point, you should just buy your self a nice new chevy.

[Blarg]

I bought a Ford Ranger pickup to tow it.

[Tank]

4 hours ago, Blarg said:

I bought a Ford Ranger pickup to tow it.

Even better!

 

In before “and how will you tow the Ford?”

[T.G.]

Found On Road Dead

Fix Or Repair Daily

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by T.G.

[Blarg]

I finally got a full day off and finished cutting down the lug nuts and tackled popping the rear hubs. Not easy but far from impossible, the hub nuts were torqued on about 120 lbs and some idiot put red locktite on them. 

The second picture is the specialty hub puller that's only available on a vernal equinox on even numbered years. When that hub finally pops loose you better have remembered to keep the hub nut on or the entire hub explodes off the spline.

The original hub locking nut was worn out so I replaced them with heavier duty lock nuts from King Bolt. $3.27 was pretty cheap to insure the axle and wheel stay connected.

Took it for a ride down to the local bakery for a slice of victory cheesecake and iced coffee. The ride is so much better, I didn't expect such a difference. 

 

[Blarg]

[Jay]

Those rims are nice.

[Blarg]

Thanks. I tried taking it for a drive yesterday morning.

The new starter should be here Wednesday.

[Blarg]

On 1/10/2021 at 7:19 PM, Jay said:

The alloy rim looks pretty sweet. Not crazy about the Dunlop logo though.

Replacing the Dunlop Logos with this. I think it will look better than the Triumph shield.

 

[Jay]

On 3/1/2021 at 11:28 AM, Blarg said:

Replacing the Dunlop Logos with this. I think it will look better than the Triumph shield.

 

If you really want to burn some cash take those and have somebody screen print "TRIUMPH" in the center.

[arch stanton]

Or make it a real collectors item by putting this in the center

Spoiler

 

[Blarg]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:56 AM, arch stanton said:

Or make it a real collectors item by putting this in the center

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Not funny Arch. Not funny at all. 

[Blarg]

My best friend has gone a little car crazy. He usually only takes on one project at a time but now he has 3.

He bought a 1974 BMW 3.0 that needed lots of detail work on the interior, some electrical work along with a new gas tank. The paint has bubbles but from 10 feet away looks good. He just got it road reliable and drives it everywhere. 

Six years ago he bought a 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe and had done a lot of work on including a transmission rebuild he did himself. Sold it to a retired aerospace engineer that bought one brand new as his first car. That guy drove it for 3 years and offered it back so he not only bought it, he has it at a restoration shop getting the entire car stripped and repainted. He will own probably the only fully restored Fiat 124 Sport Coupe in the US when it is done. 

While the Fiat is in the shop he drives the BMW but then got a wild hair to buy a Maserati. He was looking at buying a Ghibli and put some rediculous bids on a couple only to be out bid by far more rediculous bids. Then out of no where he sends me a link to a 1965 Maserati Mistral Coupe for sale. This was my dream car in High School in the convertible model but I like the Coupe as well. Very nice looking driver and before I could ask him much about it he texted me that it is already on a carrier heading his way. 

Of course it came with flaws like oil leaks and a couple electrical gremlins, needs new window seals and some interior refresh along with a mushy suspension and outdated Michelin tires. But overall the paint is good, the body lines perfect, chrome in excellent shape. 

He has really upped his game from playing with Fiats and Alfas. Meanwhile I'm in the 12 week waiting game for my carburetors to be restored by one of the very few shops that can do it right. So the Spitfire is out of action and I need to pour some gas additive in the tank so it doesn't go bad. 

[arch stanton]

45 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Not funny Arch. Not funny at all. 

Agree to disagree

[Jay]

On 7/13/2022 at 7:22 AM, Blarg said:

Very nice looking driver and before I could ask him much about it he texted me that it is already on a carrier heading his way. 

So how much?

[Blarg]

$124k. 

[Blarg]

I sent out my carbs to be professionally refurbished back in mid May. They are over 50 years old and needed lots of work done that I don't have machine shop tools to use. I got them back Friday but it was worth the wait. 

Yesterday I installed them and went to turn the car over and the battery was dead. I looked and I bought it in March of 2017. It had a 5 year warranty and that's how long it lasted. Luckily Costco had the exact right series of Interstate batteries in stock so that was a quick fix.

Twin SU carbuerators usually take a few hours to get tuned correctly. The first go around they were pouring fuel out of the float overflow on carb 1 and out the air intake. So I reinstalled the fuel pressure regulator that I had removed because previously the carbs were so bad it required higher pressure. Once connected all fuel leakage stopped so I figured it was tuning time. 

I checked the vacuum on each and it was perfect, the dle perfect, the fuel richness also perfect. These were plug and play, something I did not expect.

Test drives said it was damn near perfect with the current timing. Before I couldn't get the engine to hit redline in 2nd gear. Now I have no problem reaching redline in 3rd. It's like I just popped a whole new engine in the car. So well worth the $700.

Now I'll need to detail the car since it's been sitting for 4 months so it's ready for Triumphfest in San Diego in two weeks. 

[Adam]

About to buy a new car. Like maybe today but definitely within the week.

Anyone want to buy a shitty 2011 Hyundai Sonata? The AC doesn't work. The drivers side rear door does not lock. The passenger side rear door doesn't open. The dash is cracked. The steering wheel is corroded. Front drivers side quarter panel is damaged some. 

Car has 98K miles but engine was replaced at around 50K.