1979 Trouble Spitfire

[Hooli]

Mine was a '78 with no viscous, I'd be surprised if it was different as it's the same lump.

[SiC]

Late 1500 had a viscous fan. Requires a different water pump.
https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-m ... 62-80.html

Perhaps that pump wasn't available at the time and so it was ditched for an electric anyway. The receipt history shows the electric fan was fitted when it was last full restored in 1998. So it's quite old now.

[angrydicky]

Hagerty sound absolute dogshit, 3 hours on hold? That’s pathetic. The Austin Counties Club are now recommending them as their ‘approved’ insurer, as they’ve offered cheaper premiums than RH who they must have been recommending for 15 years now.
I’m with RH and can wholeheartedly recommend them, they’ve always been great to deal with, always answer the phone straightaway and don’t charge ripoff admin fees either.

[SiC]

Hagerty sound absolute dogshit, 3 hours on hold? That’s pathetic. The Austin Counties Club are now recommending them as their ‘approved’ insurer, as they’ve offered cheaper premiums than RH who they must have been recommending for 15 years now.
I’m with RH and can wholeheartedly recommend them, they’ve always been great to deal with, always answer the phone straightaway and don’t charge ripoff admin fees either.

Usually they're pretty darn good and I can usually only say good things about them. My usual experience is that it's only a couple minutes tops before getting answered. Tbf they do a ringback service where you don't have to stay on the line. Except I was in a zoom call at the time and I couldn't take it. I just kept it on hold as I wouldn't miss it then and I get free calls anyway.

The chap did apologise and say they were unusually swamped today. They weren't open on Sunday or Monday. Also didn't help things as they only had two people on Saturday not expecting it to be busy with the coronation but were incredibly busy.

I'll probably continue to use them as apart from today, they have been faultless. Always get a nicely spoken person on the phone who really understand classics. Rather than a generic call handler with a strong accent. Occasionally you get a US call handler when they're really busy but again accent is not overwhelming.

Handily it does include RAC breakdown cover too. Not home start (iirc need to be half a mile away) but if I'm that close I won't be bothering with the hassle of recovery anyway.

Hagerty never used to charge admin fees previously iirc but I think they may have started with £25 admin looking through the T&Cs.

[angrydicky]

The RH call centre is in Cardiff I believe, but I have no problem with understanding the Welsh accent so it’s not a problem for me.
UK breakdown cover is included but it’s done via a network of local operators who of course vary in response time. I’ve had to use them a few times over the years and they’ve never complained, even when I’ve needed recovering home from hundreds of miles away (North Yorkshire to Essex springs to mind).

[Alf892]

Looks ok………

It’s an old car so will have rusty bits……but I couldn’t live with the bonnet script at the wrong angle like that!

[SiC]

Yeah it's been bugging me too. These two pictures are apparently the correct positioning. That said, back in 1979 they probably slapped them on any old way.

It'll be something I sort eventually. Unless I get commented on it all the time and it annoys people. Then it's staying like that. Like the wonky front plate on my Boxster.

[DodgeRover]

Would definately look better (in my eyes) wonked the other way, following the line of the front of the bonnet.
In that way you could both satisfy my OCD and still annoy other people with too much time on their hands.

[SiC]

Or put it vertically to really annoy people. The cake equivalent is this

[SiC]

Went to a local meet tonight and the first time I had a chance to really drive it in anger. Yes this rattles more than a toolbox, flexes more than a soggy shoebox, a roof like a toupee, darts around like squirrel and has as much refinement as a horse carriage with every bump transmitting through your arse. But the drive there was absolutely A*. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. The Rover P4 is such a superior built car but this ramshackle bunch of parts is so much more me. I don't regret the change.

Before setting off I needed to tend to a few things. Felt weird that the car pretty much sorted after I keep buying broken things. It almost felt I needed to fix something.

Anyway ND warned me that the fan was playing up. I had a look around and it seemed to work okay when I turned the temperature control. I did find this crimp that had been a bit through the wars. I replaced it with one that I can connect the other to easily. This allows me to short out the switch and let it run constantly easily.



The thermostat switch runs through a relay. At the moment it's just dangling about and was naked. So I wrapped insulating tape around it for now. I plan to rewire all this so I can put an override switch in. But I may remove the thermostat completely if it continues to play up. Then put a mechanical fan on with a switch under the dash to allow the electric fan to run if things get too toasty in slow traffic. The fans would be offset so may work quite well.


In the event, on the drive back home the temperature gauge started to creep up and not stop. I pulled over and turned the thermostat switch to nearly minimum and the electric fan kicked in. I set it to 70c (was 85c) and it seems to be cutting in/out at the mid point now. I definitely do not have a huge amount of trust in this thermostat switch.


It's been sitting outside for the last few days and it's been throwing it down. Not unexpectedly the footwell had a pond in it.


The Dolomite is going up to storage in a few weeks and then I can use the space in the garage to store the BGT or this out of the elements and swap it around when I want to.

Decided to drop the roof. First attempt went very wrong.


I had to go in for tea anyway so I read the manual over food. Then tried again. I don't think I got it quite right as I basically shoved the detached roof behind the seats. Worked good enough to go out with the hood down though.


Put £20 of petrol in (took it to half way) and then went for a drive up to the meet.