Been looking for a fun, cheap project car

[nate]

Any idea what was causing the loss of power?

[nate]

Our house was built in 1967 and the electrical panel and meter hadn't been upgraded so in order to get full 32 amp charging going to the Tesla it cost another $2600 not including the $500 cost for the wall charger.

[Blarg]

7 minutes ago, nate said:

Any idea what was causing the loss of power?

None whatsoever. It happened, it went away and I haven't had the problem since.

I now have a problem where the SU carbs are not returning to idle and the car is running at 2k rpm unless I drag the clutch to force the engine to drop to idle. These damn carbs use oil and there is an actual piston that moves up and down to control some of the fuel mixture. 

Going to pick the brains of one of the spitfire guys that is pretty much an SU carb whisperer. I have the tools, he has the brains. Maybe we can get it sorted before I drive back home Sunday.

Did I mention the overdrive now wants to randomly pop out of gear. Yeah, that's fun on the freeway when suddenly it drops from 4 high to 4 low and the RPMs jump another 800. 

[Blarg]

13 minutes ago, nate said:

Our house was built in 1967 and the electrical panel and meter hadn't been upgraded so in order to get full 32 amp charging going to the Tesla it cost another $2600 not including the $500 cost for the wall charger.

Looks like you aren't going to see any fuel savings before Trout's retirement party. 

[nate]

Yeah, any savings are out the door

[Blarg]

But you get the moral superiority over the lesser people driving polution generating fossil fuel vehicles. Like fun, cheap project cars. 

[nate]

We didn't get it for those reasons.  Well saving on gas was one, the tech was the other.

My E Class got shit gas mileage, but at this point spending so much money on the Tesla sucks.  Would have gone for another E Class.

[Blarg]

You should have gotten a Spitfire. I checked and my last fill up netted 31 miles per gallon. Of course I don't have air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, radio, but I do have a USB port for charging my phone!

[nate]

I am sure the top doesn't leak at all either and would keep me plenty warm in the winter

[Blarg]

What top.? I live in California.

[Blarg]

It's Friday the 13th, there was a moonlight cruise scheduled tonight of Triumphs going from Santa Maria to the beach and back that I was going to participate in. 

But at 4:45 this afternoon I was on a call to Moss Motors in Goleta requesting a replacement starter. I had just finished doing a wipe down of the entire car, used a nap brush to clean up the carpets and even cleaned all the windows and when I turned the key all I heard was the electric motor spin but not engage. 

Tomorrow I will remove and install a brand new starter in the parking lot of the Radisson while judges will be walking through the stalls and accessing points. Hopefully my tool box gets best in show. 

[Blarg]

The show was this morning and Spitfire row looked pretty nice with all bonnets raised. Mine is the only stock car so it may earn some judging favor. 

After the judges completed their review we got to work and removed and replaced the old starter. It was not all that difficult and only required removing the engine shrowd and the oil sensor to heve the room to remove the old unit. The new one was almost an e act replica and slipped into place without  hitch. 

 

[Blarg]

Left for home this morning at 6am. At 52 degrees and fog it was a rather chilly drive. I really had never used them before but the fog had coated the windshield on the drive so I tried the wipers. To my surprise they worked perfectly. 

There is minimal lighting on a Spitfire dash and I had forgotten that I had left the heater slide in the hot position from the night before. So fumbling in the dark I slid it the opposite way, thinking I turn the heat on and drove all the way to Ventura for our breakfast stop wondering why the car felt so cold inside. Idiot. 

That overdrive problem? Well that got progressively worse to the point I had to hold the stick shift to the right to keep the override switch disengaged. I wasn't about to hold that damn thing in place the whole drive home so I decided it was time to employ some high tech dynamic tensioner to the stickshift shaft. 

 

[Blarg]

Oh, forgot to mention. 

 

[Tank]

blarg, i don't know how you keep going on this car. at this point i think i probably would left it by the side of the road with the keys in the ignition and bought a prius.

[Blarg]

Don't want to be fined for littering.

[Tank]

that's the kind of responsible behavior that keeps me coming back to aw.com

[nate]

@Blarg should I do it?  Those US spec bumpers are so ugly

 

[Blarg]

Looks original which is a good starting place. You have to drive it to see if it's running right but it looks like it was very well maintained and that's the original paint color.

Just know that they were detuned and are pretty slow in stock form. That's easily changed, if you want to spend the money. Or you just drive it as is until it tells you it's time for a rebuild. Then follow this guideline for raising the HP back up.

http://auskellian.com/paul/links.html

Although it has a lower differential than the previous years it still isn't much of a freeway machine. The cure is either installing a Laycock overdrive or go the more reliable, albeit more expensive, 5 speed conversion. But if the intent is drive around town, a few winding roads, then leave it stock and polish it up for the local car shows.

As for the bumpers, that front end didn't change much over the years of the cam tail production so you can swap them out for the lighter chromed. Again, money and a little wrenching. 

Plenty of info on this website to search for more info on the 1500 series.

https://www.triumphexp.com/forum/spitfire-and-gt6-forum.8/

 

[Blarg]

By the way, if you do buy it join the local Triumph club. This is almost mandatory for you to learn the car and get help if something isn't working properly. The members will have good tips and know who to trust to work on it. 

[nate]

I contacted the guy to find out if there is any rust and how long it has been since it was driven.  If no rust then I will probably go check it out.

[Blarg]

You should. This looks like a one owner and there is value in that. They will know it's complete history instead of guessing what the list of owners did to the car.

[nate]

We finally took delivery of the Tesla today.

The guy is going to see when I could go see the car, he said he doesn't know of any rust so that is good.  He also didn't seem to have much of a background on it.

[Blarg]

Under the hood should be a single Stromberg carburator. That should be signs if the owner kept it stock. If it has two side draft Weber's it could be an interesting ride. 

[nate]

It hasn't run or even started in 12 years.  Dude takes a long time to communicate.  I told him I could bring over a battery and see if it will turn over and also check it for rust.