The build begins

With body back in black it was now time to reunite the chassis and body and begin the build.
What first...
The wiper rack and pinions were first as these can be a ball ache to fit when everything else is in position.Then the dreaded loom, lots to think about here as didn't want any unsightly wiring on view and taking into account that this was an Emerald powered car with relays and a totally new fuse board to make,the engine was installed at this point too as to make the (engine harness) ECU wiring fit the spitfire loom or was it the othe way round..
KD

Black beauty

The paint shop really did us proud with a stunning black paint job. The underside was treated first with a special stone guard as were all the inner arches and 5mm on all edges. Stone guard on sills and rear valence but hand flatted to get a better smoother outer finish.
It speaks for itself i think.
KD

Body Shell

Good job done by SPL in Birmingham !! Fully dip stripped the body and removed everything apart from the good metal.
This has proven to be the best and most eficient way of preparing a body for restoration as there is no rust , sealers , filler , paint or underseal to deal with just bare metal.
So with all repairs done new sills fitted and new wings (not before the inner pannels had been etch primed , stone guard / sound deadner and painted 2K black befor wings sills were spot welded into posision)the body was sent off to the paint shop.

Dippers.

With Ians replacement body shell fully striped it has now gone to SPL Surface treatments in Birmingham for a full body dip and strip of all sealers paint and on top of the list rust.
The doors boot lid and front corners have gone too and should expect it all back in around 2 weeks,Rust free and and ready for new sills and wings.
KD

Donor shell has arrived.

Well its took a while but well worth the wait. The donor Spitfire 1500 has provided us with a fantastic canvas to work with.Needing only a couple of small repairs in the boot area and battery tray, i have decided to replace both rear wings and bot outer sills to make sure all is 100% then its off to SPL for a full body strip of all rust, sealers and anything else that's not good metal along with both doors and boot lid.
The Engine parts are slowly coming back too and the first build has already begun, the con rods are fantastic with lightning and end to end balancing then fully shot peaned to relieve any stress pints.
Work on the body will commence this week as needs to be ready for dipping appointment next week.
Till then..
KD

Update time

Well its been a busy last few months doing other customers cars (got to keep them happy too) now back onto Ians project Spitfire. A new donor shell has been found due for collection next week and on first inspection looks pretty good with no poor repair work what so ever unlike the original shell that needed virtually every panel available.
The engine parts are near collection too and a first dry build will give us all measurements for piston heights to be matched so all looking pretty good to get the car built in the coming months.
Next update with pics next week..
KD

Iain's Yellow 2.5 Spitfire

Came to us a while ago for full rebuild.

The car was stripped to bare shell and chassis and a new chassis was obviously needed as original was rusting from inside out and splitting at suspension points.
The new chassis was altered to take a 2.5 saloon gearbox and was then blasted, galvanised and powdercoated black.

All suspension was blasted and coated black with Superflex bushes all round and special trunionless front links from Canley Classics fitted.

Differential was a recent LSD so nothing done to that and rear shafts rebuilt as found damage to shafts and hubs. Rear Koni shocks still in good order just a lick of paint required.

The bodyshell requires almost every panel so a near perfect original shell is on its way from southern France once here will be converted to RHD then off to be dipped and stripped of all paint and old sealers then tottaly coated in a zink phosphate anti corrosion coating.

The new engine will be a fully balanced 2.5 Triumph engine running ECU fuel injection.

A Replacement head was needed as original standard head was found to have the worst case of core shift I have ever seen and was impossible to improve in any way.
Most of engine is at various machine shops or balancers so pics to follow on build up soon.

Keep watching...