Spitfire Chassis mods
 

I seem to remember reading somewhere that some of the original spitfire chassis is redundant on the front end, can somebody let me know what is removed, i have added an image and circled in red the parts i think may be not required, any help appreciated.

Attachment 1181

Once you've bonded on the body and got it through the rebody inspection (whatever form that take now???), just lay the bonnet over the engine and cut off what gets in the way. It really is as simple as that. :)

Thanks Mister Towed, so what i pick up here is to leave alone until the inspection has been approved other wise there may be problems.

The rule of thumb is that to qualify for a rebody instead of the onerous iva the body needs to be fitted to the original, unaltered chassis. You can add or move brackets but you can't shorten it, so to be on the safe side it's best to leave the front bumper brackets alone (or the boot outriggers on a Herald/Vitesse chassis). Once the rebody inspection is completed, you can do what you like with it so that's the time to get busy with the angle grinder. Good luck fitting your bonnet, just use your imagination and I'm sure you'll come up with a suitable bracket arrangement, even if it takes a few goes... :frusty:

Swifty - I have been trying in vain to get any official confirmation that the original bumper bracket can be defined as a bracket and not part of the chassis.

Until I can get something in writing I am leaving the front bracket as it is, which is a pain.

The other thing worth mentioning is that the bonnet is not part of the re-body inspection, so it doesn't matter if it isn't fitted at the time.

If I ever find someone who will take responsibility for providing an answer (rather than pointing me to someone else) I will keep you posted.

Cheers, Paul. :)

Thanks Paul, it sounds like the slow wheels of central government playing at odds here.

Here's something to ponder. All Three photos below are of unmodified Spitfire chassis (Or at least they are as they were when the donor was stripped). Who in DVLA would know which mark Spitfire they are from and whether it was a factory modification or not as I'm darned sure I wouldn't know!

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps80723d9f.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps84c860c6.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6ba70534.jpg

Andy with a navigator kit what on th front end is not required in my photo?

Hi. None of the ringed areas are needed for the Navigator bonnet hinge. We usually weld a small bracket just inboard of the outer longitudinal member and marry it with a bonded bracket on the bonnet.

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps334599d4.jpg

Andy - Thanks for those chassis photos.

My chassis is currently a match for the first photo.

But I would really like it to look like the third photo.

I might have another go at trying to get an official definition of a bracket.

Alternatively, I might just go and bang my head against a brick wall. :rolleyes:

Cheers, Paul. :)

Best to just get the rebody inspection done before cutting anything off the chassis. Then you can make free with the angle grinder to your hearts content. :)

Mr T - That was always my plan.

But messing about with tie down straps & these brackets being in the way every time I remove & refit the bonnet is slowly getting to me.

( The bonnet gives the engine extra protection from the elements while under a cover on my drive. )

I'll certainly wait until Scottie's gets a re-body inspection on his A352/XKSS, as his Spitfire chassis looks like the blue one above.

Cheers, Paul. :)

PS
Obviously this wouldn't be an issue at all if there wasn't so much work to do before my re-body inspection can take place. :rolleyes:

I was lucky as my donor was a MKIII and just had 2 fairly restrained brackets on the front chassis bumper you can just see them here at the top:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m.../IMG_00274.jpg

What I did was to remove them prior to having the chassis galvanised, in fact the only rot on the whole chassis was behind them as can be seen here:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K.../IMG_00388.jpg

I have saved the brackets and painted them up and for safety's sake will just stick them back on with sikaflex or the like prior to the inspection, 2 minutes back in the workshop will see them removed and the paintwork touched up, they aren't checking for the build quality just the integrity of the chassis so cant see them actually tugging on anything.
HTH
Mac

I came across this chassis drawing on Rimmer Bros. while looking for something else.

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/ItemImag...GRID005858.gif

I might send a copy of this to the "powers that be" (if anyone will ever admit it is their job :rolleyes: ).

As it does suggest that the chassis ends at the front cross member and everything thing in front of that is a "bracket", not part of the chassis.

Note:
I'm still not going to cut anything off unless I get confirmation of this in writing.

Cheers, Paul. :)