Thanks Viatron and Paul.

The type 9 gearbox has eventually arrived having been sent to Aberdeen by mistake and it looks good, all gears mesh with no chipped teeth. Its out of a Ford Capri with the longer input shaft to be able to reach the bush in the end of the crank shaft plus the gearing suits the GT6 engine better. I decided to go along this route as these gearboxes are reliable and pretty bullet proof with the fifth gear instead of the overdrive in the triumph box.

Attachment 1172

Coated in zinc primer and a coat or two of epoxy chassis paint for good measure. It has the ally top cover which adds strength compared to the factory fitted pressed steel cover, short shift lever and an electronic speedo pick up sensor, will have to do some research for this and see what's available clocks wise etc.



Attachment 1175 Attachment 1174

Removed the release bearing mount form the type 9 G/B and machined the tube section off as this interferes with the GT6 bell housing, left hand pic shows before and right hand pic shows after machining with a new lip seal ready to fit as it's a good time to replace seals etc.

Made a drawing for the adapter plate that will attach the type 9 gearbox to the GT6 bell housing, i need to source a clutch plate for a Capri to match up with the gearbox input shaft splines.

Also made some adjustments to the engine mounts to suit a GT6 engine, tacked welded on for now and tomorrow i will lift the engine in to the chassis to make sure all is correct then fully weld the brackets onto the chassis.
Well that's it for now, see you all soon.

Today progress was good, managed to trial fit the engine and gearbox before welding the engine brackets fully, also checked out the seating position to see where the type 9 gear change is and it looks good. The seat is balanced on top of a few breeze blocks to give me an idea of height etc.


Attachment 1176

Engine bolted in with the gearbox whilst using a piece of wood to support the rear of the gearbox, the engine has about a 3 degree tilt backwards which i assume is ok.


Attachment 1177 Attachment 1178

Removed the rotten front outriggers to weld in two new ones, i used a 1mm cutting disc in a angle grinder to carefully cut through the old rigger metal making sure i didn't go into the chassis, then ground back the old weld/rust ready to weld. Before removing the old riggers i took various measurements and angles to make sure the new ones are in the correct position.


Attachment 1179 Attachment 1180

Lining up the new riggers using a large set square and tape measure double checking everything before i weld the riggers to the chassis. Finished article which went very well and will hopefully last another forty years.

Well i am nearly at the stage to strip the chassis completely and send off to be shot blasted, will also send all the suspension parts and diff etc before overhauling them. I still haven't decided on which colour to paint the chassis i do fancy something different to the standard black.

Well time to go and if the weathers good tomorrow then i will progress the project further getting ever closer to the finally.

At last the chassis is ready for shot blasting with all bushes etc removed from the suspension parts so the dirty side of the build is coming to an end. The easiest way to remove the old bushes is by drilling the metal insert out which releases the rubber part of the bush. The diff requires new oil seals and the back lash is minimal with a 1.83:1 ratio, one thing that is evident the diff is an earlier version with six stud holes where as from a car of this age has four stud holes.

Attachment 1182 Attachment 1183

Chassis and parts ready for shot blasting.

Now looking around for parts to upgrade the brakes to GT6 standard, 8"x1.5" rear drums and larger front discs/calipers also fitting a remote servo possibly the Power Tune version. I may also have to change the front vertical links to suit a larger disc's but more home work required.

Finished the adapter plate to attach a ford type 9 gearbox to a GT6 engine. Will hopefully have time to fit it tomorrow.
The threaded holes which fasten the bell housing onto the plate have been fitted with M12 x 1.75p heli coils for greater durability and high tensile cap head bolts will be used. Managed to buy locally at a very reasonable price four M12 x 1.5p high tensile cap head bolts which fasten the plate to the gearbox, ford sell these at the usual inflated price so it pays to check a local supplier first, i think i will also get a price for UNF nuts and bolts from these guys.


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Saved a few quid again as these are about £90 to buy.

Fitted the adapter plate to the engine and gearbox and all went well, had to make a new phosphor bronze bush as the input shaft on the type 9 (15mm dia) is larger than the triumph gearbox input shaft.

Attachment 1189 Attachment 1190

Photo before and after of the crank shaft with a new bush fitted to suit the ford gearbox input shaft diameter of 15.02mm.


I had to come up with an idea to make sure the new gearbox and triumph bell housing were centrally aligned, so i made a split plastic bush to slide into the clutch release bearing shaft, it has to be split as the type 9 input shaft is 19.05mm dia but the spline section is 25mm dia, if that make sense any way here are a couple of pictures to show what i mean.

Attachment 1192 Attachment 1193

Fist picture shows no plastic bush fitted and second shows the bush in place circled in red. Once the bush is in place you can tighten the bell housing mount bolts up confident that all is aligned.

Attachment 1194

Split alignment bush used to align bell housing with gearbox input shaft, made from plastic as it's easy to machine and cheap.

Attachment 1195

Here you can see the adapter plate fitted to the type 9 gearbox, bolted on with four high tensile cap heads M12 x 1.5 pitch x 35mm which i bought from a local nut and bolt company for less then a quarter what ford charge. Paper gasket fitted between the gearbox and plate.

Attachment 1196

Had to fettle the inside of the triumph bell housing slightly to allow the mount bolts to seat correctly, two new holes have to be drilled into the bell housing as the original top two mount holes are half way over the position of the type 9 gearbox mount holes. Circled in red the area slightly cut away by hand.

Attachment 1197

Gearbox correctly aligned and mounted onto the engine, supported by the sling as i don't trust the engine stand to hold both together, i have removed the gearbox for now until its ready to go into the chassis.

Well today the weather was rubbish so not much progress made, still waiting for the chassis to be shot blasted which is the next big thing to be done. Managed to snap up a full stainless exhaust system and high torque starter motor for a very good price so saved a few pennies again which is one of my life's missions.

See you all soon.

Swifty - More nice work going on here. :cool:

I am guessing that this is not your first car project. :icon_wink:

Good luck, Paul. :)

Hi Paul It's my first kit car project although i very nearly came close to starting a Dax Cobra build about four years ago after visiting many kit car shows but the total outlay to build a high spec cobra was way over what i felt was reasonable. I then moved onto a MGA but the price and availability of these cars made me think of another project.

I have completed a full nut and bolt restoration of a MGB back in the eighties and i suppose from that i caught the bug, i also have a great interest for all things mechanical and enjoy making parts etc for a car plus the banter and threads like yours on this forum made me take a harder look at a spitfire based project.

Cheers.:wink:

Not a lot to report made two indicator stalks out of stainless and two out of ally, the stainless stalks have a push switch for a horn or washer pump facility where as the ally stalks are solid, will wait and see which ones i will use.

I am thinking along the lines of shortening the original stalks and sliding the new ally ones onto the old stalks, may be glue with araldite or if i use the stainless stalks i will have to cut the old stalk off completely and attach the small plate to the indicator switch body which will be fun!!:smash:

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The small push switch is behind the spring, machined a slot in the moving end to locate a nylon covered pin. The ally stalks are one piece with a 5mm dia x 50mm hole in one end to fit over the original triumph stalk.

The chassis is off to be shot blasted on Saturday so once back i can begin to replace the suspension parts etc and start to see something happening. Hopefully off to Stoneleigh this weekend to pick up a few goodies and see the Ribble guys.

See you all soon.

I am now looking to buy a full chassis bush kit with bolts etc, can any one recommend a good source for these. Is the poly bush any better for the extra cost as this car will be a second vehicle, week end use.

Nice work , keep it up . :eusa_clap:

as mikmiglia .....nice work ....cool bit & bobs great

Swifty I just went with the blue bush kits from Canleys, fitted ok and seemed ok value. If you need any bits I have some left ill find a link.

Think these are still at the workshop:
http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/foru...ead.php?t=4590

And I think all of these are still available as well as some spare bushes and trunions, if your interested ill have a sort at the weekend and pm you a list
Mac

Not sure if you meant to post a link here but it's not visible.

Are the brake drums standard spitfire or the larger GT6 drums? I am thinking of changing over to the GT6 front and rear brakes to match the engine, but this may not be required due to the reduction in weight so more thought required on this one.

Thanks Mikmiglia and Phil9

Stripped the stromberg 150 carbs down today ready to fit an overhaul kit which i need to order, the problem is the small id tag is missing and there's no numbers stamped on the carb body so will speak to the guys at Zenith Carbs tomorrow. Found a build up of lacquer and seized float valves, butter fly shafts are worn also a missing gauze filter on one of the float valves plus rounded/missing screws, me thinks a butcher has been at work.

Attachment 1206 Attachment 1207

The carbs before i gave them a clean with petrol and the cleaned carbs.

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View into the float chamber were the petrol goes, you can see hard lacquer on the left image and after a quick clean with carburetor cleaner, its wonderful stuff.

Attachment 1210

All the parts off one carb stripped and cleaned ready to re-assemble with new butter fly shafts and gaskets etc.

Attachment 1211 Attachment 1212

Photo of the air valve and needle which has a large build up of lacquer, a couple of squirts of carb cleaner and its gone. I did notice that one carb was worse with carbon buildup, it just happens to be the one with the missing screws and float valve filter.

Attachment 1213

Wear on the butter fly spindle were it rotates on the bush in the body which are part of an overhaul kit along with new spindles.

Excellent reference as usual... I have same carbs/rebuild kit, so keep thi detailed as I like to follow the pictures.