Spitfire progress!

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 08/14/2017 at 16:35 • Filed to: spit6

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Took a lot of faffing about, but i’ve hopefully got the wishbones aligned perpendicular to the diff mounts and square with each other.

Barring any detours, tomorrow should see brackets welded in place :)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/14/2017 at 16:43

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I spent Saturday messing about with some linkage arms for the transmission and trying to set up the clutch Z-bar and throwout arm. Very tight space, that - three linkages are traveling within 1/4" of other linkages (and the exhaust), and the Z-bar is positioned between two links, over top of another, and between two legs of the manifold.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/14/2017 at 17:00

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Well that sounds like a head-scratcher :S i take it you’ve got a cable clutch. Would a hydraulic one be easier to route, and/or is there an option for one?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/14/2017 at 17:15

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Not even a cable clutch - a pushrod one! Hydraulic might have been easier in one regard, but the firewall would’ve been a right bastard to set up for it, and while I could’ve ordered my bellhousing in a hydraulic version, I didn’t. So, it’s clutch pedal to rod to z-bar to rod to throwout fork - all with quite acceptable geometry, just crammed into the stewpot on top of quite a lot of other things.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/14/2017 at 17:29

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Pushrod? That must have been fun to set up right :S yeah i only thought about all the bulkhead modifications after i replied...

Clearance the other side as well.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/14/2017 at 19:40

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I haven’t even quite finished with the lot. Only just got the shapes and positions of all the shifter rods mostly sorted, now I’ll have to finish sorting out the Z-bar bracket plates and install the throwout. Here’s an exploded view of the stock setup:

I’ve had to shorten the Z-bar (“equalizer bar”), made it possible to break in the middle (otherwise would scotch being able to drop the engine out), and have yet to shorten the pedal to equalizer rod, because the outer bracket has had to move back ~3". I’m also going to re-cut the pedal assembly to move the pedals outward, as the accel doesn’t have enough room to install in the stock location.

Here’s a Mustang clutch linkage, similar except for the side of the column tube the bar’s lever comes up on. You can see how a hydraulic setup would be a right nuisance:

AM3R, lost another burner > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/14/2017 at 20:05

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Never realized how cheap spitfires were until I checked my local Craigslist originally looking at TR-6's.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > AM3R, lost another burner 08/15/2017 at 05:24

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Yeah that’s what drew me to them in the first place. I had a fixed term job right after uni that netted me about £1500 disposable cash and went looking for a project. They’re light, look great and are a fantastic basis for a project or build. Dead simple mechanically, great parts availability and super-low cost of entry :)

AM3R, lost another burner > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/15/2017 at 13:54

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How is reliability? I don’t know much about them, truthfully.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > AM3R, lost another burner 08/15/2017 at 16:41

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There are a few people on my Triunph version who daily theirs. I think they need a bit of tinkering to keep them going, but they’re so dead simple it can be picked up by anyone.

Probably a good easing in to learning about car maintenence, while being solid enough to get you places :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/15/2017 at 18:49

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Aah, that helps visualise it :)

If you shorten the z-bar will that mean more/less pedal effort? Or have you shortened the other arm respectively?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/15/2017 at 19:10

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Shortened the tube, actually - though shortening the arm isn’t out of the question just yet. Wouldn’t be more than a 8% shorten if I were to shorten the arm, so the effect would be to reduce effort, but not that much.