Slowly but Surely!

Before my car went to Willow Triumph I removed quite a few parts to work on whilst it was being repaired. Sadly Due to a pretty mad workload at the moment time to spend working on these parts has been a bit thin on the ground. Today I popped over to Willow Triumph to have a look at the car as it’s now completed. As usual being a total fool I of course forgot to take my camera! However I was not disappointed, from the brief view of the car the work looks second to none. Tim Willow has spent a lot of time perfecting the panel fitment and alignment. I was extremely pleased! The car was far more rotten than anticipated (usual story we are all used too eh?) So lots of hours of blue words echoing Tim’s workshop has been had.

So now I need to consider what to do really with regard to painting. I am still mulling over whether to go for a complete pro job or do it myself in the spring time. I’m not bothered about it being a show car but would like it to shine! As the car has already swallowed nearly 2.5k i am trying to limit any more spending before my bank manager gets annoyed.

Other things I have managed to do are:-

Build the brains of the megajolt unit. This was a very easy task and I have connected it to my laptop and all is well, when applying load to the MAP sensor the values on the software change, its doing something!

The trigger wheel for the megajolt has been welded to the pulley. I asked my dad to sort this for me as he works with people involved in heavy engineering and aerospace workshops. I am not sure on exactly what was done but I think they have milled some of the rear of the pulley and press fitted the wheel in place then welded it in three places at equal amounts. Looks good anyway!

A wide width radiator has been purchased from Phil Wright. This has been sanded down, jenolited, primed and painted matt black.

The radiator surround bracket has also had the same treatment, I have modified one side to take a capillary thermostat as purchased from RS. Part no 561-460 www.rswww.com
This is going to be mounted on the drivers side and plumbed into the lower hose, not quite sure if it will seal properly from other peoples experiences but time will tell!

The MX5 seats have been cleaned and treated. These we're going a bit brittle in places so I have fed them with some leather restorer.

From my previous blog entry you can see that my interior is quite different from standard. This was completed in my college days and i am not too sure on the cream top and under trims anymore. Id quite like peoples opinions on this and whether or not I should revert back to the OE black style, answers on a post card please!

That’s all for now, hopefully the car will be delivered back in the next week or so, i am going to install the megajolt and get it running.

Ash.

P.S Dont know why but when my blog is displayed through the CT website it cuts pieces out and looses pictures. If you go directly to the link http://mesonsspitfire.blogspot.com/ all is well. Does anyone know why this is happening?

My First Time!

Well here I am, finally creating my own little space on the big wide web. After reading many of the blogs on the Club Triumph website over the years and gaining much knowledge from them I decided it was about time to give something back, well attempt to anyway!

Who am I? My Name is Ash Meson. I’m 26 years old and currently work as a self employed auto electrician, mainly installing equipment into fleets of vehicles. I’m based up in Kendal, Cumbria. Are there anymore of us in Cumbria? please feel free to drop me a PM via the forum. My interest in Triumphs stems from the purchase of a Spitfire 1500 in March 1995. This was fully restored by myself and dad, including sills, floors, wings and a full paint job; the bug had been caught at 14 years old :-)

Onto the car......

UEH 575L was purchased in July 1997. The car was shabby but basically sound and in need of a full respray. Whilst learning to drive, myself and my dad spent 6 months preparing the car and painting it, the overall finish was pretty dam good for a couple of amateurs and the car was ready to hit the road with a spotty 17 year old student behind the wheel :-)

The car was used and abused daily for a number of years and much fun was had. If anybody is reading this then here is a copy of a diary I kept during that time many years ago...

http://www.freewebs.com/vehiclesystems/spitfirediary.htm

During this time the engine was also rebuilt and slightly modified. Rebored with brand new hepolite pistons and brand new conrods. Reground and new shells. Kent fast road cam. Head skimmed, converted to unleaded and many hours spent with a dremel gas flowing it. Flywheel Skimmed. The bottom end was also fully balanced complete with pulley, nut and flywheel attached.

So fast forward to 2007 and where is the car now? Well currently it is at Willow Triumph having a full passenger side floor, sill set and rear wing. I dragged her out of the garage in 2005 and got it onto the road for the Classic Le Mans event. The drivers side floor, sill and rear wing were completed by myself for that CLM.

Plans for the future?

Well once the car comes back from Willows I already have some tan leather MX5 seats to be installed.

A complete J Type Overdrive kit has been purchased.

A Mega jolt 3d mapable ignition kit has also been purchased and built. A full post on this will follow at a later date once I get the pulley and car back to establish if it will all actually work :-)

The car is also going to need a full respray.

That’s all I can think of for now, watch this space!

Ash