My 1970 Spitfire Journey

 Took our lovely 1970 spitfire to the Manawatu Vintage Car Club Daffodil Day Gathering and run. About 150 lovely cars and the Triumph fitted right in. The run from Fielding to Colton then out to Apiti and back to Palmy was the longest and most challenging drive I’ve taken the car on. She ran beautifully keeping a steady temp and pulling strongly up the hills. A great 2 hour drive in some of Manawatu’s best scenic roads. Isaac loved his day out and even won a spot prize. 

  Slowly working through my to do list. Frozen window mechanism is now well lubricated and going all the way up and down without complaint. While the door cards were off I decided to change the colour from tan to black. Looks pretty smart. Had to do the tan trim in the back of the car as well so it all matched. Hopefully it wears well and stays looking great.  Replaced the drivers door hinges as well as after 55 years they had worn and there was some vertical play  seems much better now with second hand Herald hinges  

After a false start where I installed the positive earth ignition module and possibly fried it. Would have been ideal if I hadn't reversed the polarity so that I could add a modern stereo and use after market electronic items and LED's. A replacement negative earth module has arrived and been installed and the car seems to be running sweetly. New module and distributor unit installed and looking great. Timing completed and the car seems to start well and rev sweetly. The test will be cold starting after a few days of inactivity.   

 After removing the original sensor unit and finding the float 1/4 full of fuel and the rheostat corroded it didn't seem like I could fix this. Thankfully, Hawkeswood in Auckland had a new shipment in and I picked up the last unit in stock. Old unit removed and new unit installed this weekend. Job done and working well. Added injector cleaner as well and redid the timing which all seem to have helped with smooth running and more consistent power delivery. Still need to sort electronic ignition.