Post Wedding Work!

So I was a little distracted for the last couple of months getting MARRIED and didn't have much time to devote to the ol' spit. (keep the applause to a minimum) After a wonderful wedding in Lake Tahoe and a fantastic honeymoon in Mexico it was time to get back to work. I used rattle cans to finish off the trunk in black in preparation for padding and carpet. As I said before...I felt there was more value in luggage space. I'm also thinking of sourcing a similar sized space saver spare for emergency use.

With the floors coming together it was time to start sorting out the Miata seats. I've really only come across one article on the installation of Miata seats in a Spit where the owner constructed custom brackets to compensate for the Miata seats' angled legs. Although this seemed like a reasonable solution it also sounded complex. The seat rails are straight with simple bends on each end to mount to the Miata's floors. I simply flipped the seats over and using some leverage straightened these angled portions of the seat rails. With straight rails it was simply a matter of finding hardware to mount to the floor. When it comes to seats, safety is a concern so I opted for grade 8 zinc plated 1/2" bolts.

Using a combo of the 'eyeball' method and measuring the seat rail's length and distance from the sides of the frame - I was able to position the seats where they fit inside the vehicle and also operated in both tilt and front/back planes. The seats weren't quite high enough with the bracket resting on the pan so I ran the 1/2" bolt through the pan, into a 1/2" nut, through the bracket, and then secured by another 1/2" nut. This essentially raised the seat by the height of the one large 1/2" nut which was just enough clearance to position the seats perfectly. I was also concerned with the strength of the pan in a being secured by large nuts so used approx. 2 1/2" diameter washers to sandwich the pan, thereby distributing some of the load in the event of an accident. The seats were tight but having high back comfortable seats was a saving grace.

My birthday was also over the summer and Mandy was nice enough to 'gift' me a steering wheel of my selection for the Spit. I really wanted something classic like a woodgrain steering wheel which I plan on matching to the shifter trim and dash trim that I plan on constructing. Looking at new wood wheels was kiling me as they were approximately half of what I paid for the WHOLE car. Hard to justify on the first pass. I finally settled on a wheel in ebay located on Japan. Alhtough skeptical about overseas shipping the guy had impeccible reviews and so I locked in a Nardi 13" wheel and horn button for a decent price. It's in great shape and I love the color of the wood. It's gonna be a great addition - although I now realize I didn't source the hub at the same time. Ack. Oh well...add another task to the list.

Mandy and I have been keeping an eye out for houses in Marin to purchase and surprisingly ..RIGHT after we were married...we found a great deal and -lo and behold- we're buying a house. Although I'm super excited this also means I need to get this thing running in order to make the 20 mile trek up to San Rafael when we move. Some time ago I pulled off the carbs and linkage because the whole thing looked like a rat's nest, not to mention it was running super rich and stunk up the area while running. There were wires holding the linkage together, stripped screws, springs running from the linkage down to the suspension components...it was a mess. I pulled the whole thing apart and rebuilt the carbs with new floats, gaskets, and valves, cleaned the throttle bodies and interior to remove all the old gunk and carbon, and even took a shot at polishing the SU housings although I ran out of time and effort towards the end. I was also really disappointed in the way the linkage was set up...it seems ridiculous that there is not a set screw to synchronize the two carbs at an open throttle position so I used some of my old Datsun 240Z knowledge to fab up a set screw to achieve this. I also replaced all the old linkage bolts with stainless hex head bolts that are easier to tighten without interfering with the linkage itself. While doing this I also drilled a small notch in one face of both the mixture adjusting nuts so I can count how many rotations they have been adjusted. Seems basic but it was a great help on the Datsun. I now have the ability to synchronize the SU's at idle and also at an open throttle positon via the set screws which will hopefully keep brain damage to a minimal when setting the carbs. While firing up the car I noticed the rear carb is not getting fuel adequately...so I'll have to tackle that shortly. I have a feeling the float may be binding in the chamber. I should have a couple more pretty quick updates since we'll be moving this sucker by Feb 1. Whew!

Interior work continued...

Interior grinding continues to remove rust using a wire brush wheel to remove paint and rust down to the metal... although working long enough you end to wear down the wheels.

It's super important to wear sufficient protection including gloves, mask and eye protection. I actually removed my safety goggles and found a piece of wire brush embedded and sticking out of my forehead... just above the goggles. Having a piece of wire shot into the eye would not have been good. Once the brush begins to to lose portions of itself it disintegrates fairly quickly.

I measured and test fit cardboard templates for the fabbing of the new floor pans which was imperitive to make sure the pans would fit correctly. The A/C shop I chose locally constructed the pans using 18 gauge metal and bent the tabs that would be used to attach it to the floors. They turned out great and fit nearly perfectly. Obviously some finesse with a hammer was needed to ensure an ideal fit so I could pop rivet the pans in place.

I was really happy with the accuracy that the shop replicated the pans versus the cardboard templates I made and was even more pleased that it only cost me $45 for both sides. I test fit them and besides a little bending and torque work to get them in place just right it looked like it would match up perfectly.

After all the grinding and test fitting and scrubbing of 50 year old metal there was a noticeable accumulation of dust and crud throughout the interior. Blowing it out with an air hose was not the greatest solution so I rolled it into the driveway, removed the floor plugs, and gave it a good bath, complete with soap and water and a hand towel dry.

After letting it dry in the sun, I rolled the Spit back into the garage and taped off the rest of the interior so I could primer it to prevent and ongoing rust issues.

The primer went on smoothly and revealed the insane amount of screw holes the prior owner had inflicted onto the floor to attach the old carpet. With a car this low I was surprised there weren't more issues with rust and pooled/standing water in the pan. I guess we were a little lucky in that respect.

Since this is a renovation and not a full bore restoration there would be no 'welding of ye holes' and I just needed something that would last until the next resto/renovation. Although there are car products that could probably handle this duty I didn't find anything locally that was both pliable and waterproof. After some consideration and poking around Home Depot I stumbled upon this roofing goo that looked like it would serve perfectly.

I ended up using wood shims to apply the roofing goo across the smaller holes and seams that looked suspicious. After a bit the stuff dried to a consistency almost like bathroom caulk - although seemingly much more durable. I figured if it can withstand weather, sun, and uv on metal roofing it should certainly be enough to seal the pans.

After sealing up the various seams and holes I applied a bead to the driver pan and was able to press it in place. A cordless drill and pop rivets finalized the installation along with some hammer-whacking to ensure a tight fit along the different seams. Eureka - $50 worth of new floors! Enough to last quite a few more years!

Time to start the interior...

I'm finally turning my attention to some of the interior renovation and have torn apart a fair amount of the dash, most of the connecting interior hardware, and have removed all of the carpet(which was a hassle since it was glued EVERYWHERE). The floors didn't look too bad in most spots except under the driver and passenger's feet where it was seriously rotted. I used a grinder with a cutting wheel to cut the floor out that was entirely rotted and plan on doing my tried and true 'AC Fabricator Floors' install. (Back when I went to work at a ski resort I owned a 1972 Ford Bronco with similar floor rot. Restoration shops love to charge hundreds of dollars to sell you new floorpans. I had an AC mechanical shop construct some floorpans out of galvanized sheet metal and I pop riveted them in, sealed them on the inside with body sealer and sealed them on the exterior with spray-on undercoating. Held up great and probably saved me $1000.) Since this is a renovation and not a restoration I plan on doing the same. I also started to grind down the interior metal to remove the surface rust for a similar treatment as I applied to the trunk. (you can see right is started vs. left that is not) .Also received a few more parts including a battery tray, some switch knobs and NEW bullet mirrors! Not as streamlined as I would have liked but I found these for $20 each on ebay. Done deal

More work..interior construction...etc

The door panels and interior components of the car were showing their age so I pulled all the carpet out and tossed it...ordered a new kit off of ebay somewhere (which looks pretty good actually) for $150 and decided to construct new interior panels. I found some pressed fiberboard at Home Depot that actually had a painted side (which I figured would make it a bit better at withstanding weather) and bought a large chunk to fabricate everything from. I forgot take pictures of the fabrication but this is what the stuff looks like.

I took some time tracing the door panels from the old ones which ended up being a trickier task than you would think - probably because the original panels were so old that they were warped or bent or just generally falling apart. It appears that some previous owner had also painted the vinyl of the old panels from red to black...the whole thing was a mess and I was glad to redo them.

We took the preconstructed panels up to a local upholstery shop in order to do the stitching. While they were there I also had them add some small pockets to the front of the panels where I felt it would be convenient to stash sunglasses, maps, etc. I was really pleased with how well they turned out - especially the stitching and the padding thickness the shop used. They are based in San Rafael and their contact info is to the right if you need work done. Tell them Cameron sent you.)

The rear boot divider was also repainted, warped, falling apart and had huge holes cut into it where the previous owner placed 6x9 speakers. Looked horrid.
I removed it, reconstructed a new panel out of the coated fiberboard and had the shop stitch in the verticals to break up the surface so it looked similar to the original. Everything turned out great and I was happy to have found Matt's small upholstery shop. He really does great work and everything turned out solid.

Day 3 Work

I've slowly been accumulating parts for the renovation of the car and trying to save dough where I could. Talking to people in the biz and poking around on Craigslist.org have been two great resources. I've gotten some great contacts from a fellow I've known for years who is a mechanic in Marin and will throw some links up with his recommendations shortly. One of my great finds was a convertible top for the Spit sitting in some fellow's storage unit. The only downside was a small tear in the vinyl window...but for the $63 that I negotiated him down to - it was a no brainer.

The very same mechanic also had a pair of Miata seats laying around that I had been searching for and I was able to pick the set up for $80. I've seen a couple of write-ups on installing these in the Triumph and I look forward to having nicer seats than what were provided.

Day 2 Work

Work has been a bit crazy so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to get around to working on the Spit. I did devote another day to it last weekend…tore more of the interior and weatherstrip out, removed more of the exterior trim, pulled off rear bumpers, lights, chrome lettering and logos, and Mandy managed to scrape off all the stickers and tape the former owner used as touch up materials. I also hit the right rear area with a wire brush on grinder to remove a big patch of bondo someone had smothered there.

Since this is a weekend fun car that we will probably drive up to Napa in I wanted the car to have a decent trunk to haul around our luggage and assorted gear. The trunk had some surface rust…not too bad…but was generally dirty and not something you’d want to put anything besides a tire in at that point. My goal was to clean it up, remove the rust, and get it to a condition that we could actually carry stuff in without worrying about them getting all nasty.

The grinder would get kinda hot from working the metal so I’d give it breaks every so often and pull off more interior pieces. The door panels were a little tricky since the window lever escutcheons were covering cotter (gasp! old school cotter! YES!) pins. Once I got them off the panels underneath looked pretty clean. (ie – rust free)

Took a while but I eventually ground down a fair amount of the rust and grime while continually rinsing the inside of the trunk and got it to a pretty good state. Using a cutting wheel I also cut off the spare tire mount to give more room for luggage. I’ll research a space saver tire (miata maybe?) later. I figure I’m more likely to carry luggage than get a flat tire. (knock on wood) Cleaned the metal with a harsh detergent, dried everything, masked it off and then primered it. Looks way better now, for sure. I’ll hit it with a generic black to seal it before carpeting the trunk.

And viola! Gratuitous box shot of some new and exciting parts. Among the bin - new weatherstrip set, new light gaskets and seals, new rear light housings, and some new instrument knobs. Thanks spits bits! (and the parents for an xmas weatherstrip kit)

Day 1 Work.

After getting the car inside we started the process of seeing exactly what we had gotten ourselves into. Further inspection revealed a couple of surprises – nothing major - and we were pleased with the integrity of the car.

We pulled out all of the old parts and literal ‘junk in the trunk’ and found an unusual assortment of watches and watch parts. The last owner must have been a watch collector or enthusiast. We even found one taped to the steering column with electrical tape. Odd. The trunk itself is in decent shape with some rust and a busted weld/seam where the car was hit in the right rear. A little whacking with a hammer, a couple of pop rivets and bondo should fix most of this.

We also pulled out the old seats which were mangled and the old carpet which was pretty worn and beat up. Further inspection revealed holes under the passenger footwells and small holes under the driver footwells. Time to get out the angle grinder and cut that old metal out. I’ll probably have some small inserts made from a metal fabricator to install versus buying the expensive replacements.
- Cam