Matthew Taylor's Journal

Pre 10- 25 - 14.
My son, Cole, is nearing the legal driving age, and the time honored question "what will I drive" has left the theoretical, and become a real, practical question. I wont go into the months and months long debate that led to the choice, but - in the end, he decided on a round tail Spitfire. He wanted to "earn" the car with sweat equity, and learn a thing or 2 about cars in the process. I was leaning toward a 2004 Corolla - but my first car was a 1972 Spitfire Mk IV - that I earned with sweat equity and $300. The sweat equity was BECAUSE it was $300. So, I was (all to easily) persuaded. His mother took a bit longer. I will refer to her as "the Saint" throughout this journal. And I am happy to report, as of right now, we ARE still married.

Now that the car type was decided on, the hunt was on! After several promising leads did not pan out, Craigslist brought us together with Larry and his 1970 Spitfire Mk III. After several emails, a ton of pictures, and some phone calls my perception was: A rust free, mechanical sound car that had most of its interior - in boxes - and needed body work. Larry kept causally mentioning things - weeks after I would have - that may have scarred off a mere mortal - but stuff that was big pluses to me. "...it idles a little rough, because of the de-tuned A6 cam..." or "it runs ok, probably run better with the electronic dizzy that comes with it"..."or "I don't know what kind of mileage it gets - not as good as factory because of the twin HS4's that are on it. It flows more with that, the header and Monza exhaust" or it comes with 2 Koni shocks in the box for the rear. I only got around to the 1 inch lowering springs and adjustable Konis on the front". The only sticking point, and the only reason I didn't just snatch it up - I am far more comfortable rebuilding an engine and gear box, than body work. My neighbor, and good friend, Jerry is the other way around. My TR3 has needed body work for some time, and its a project I have been dreading. Jerry volunteered to teach me the basics on a Spit, so I could tackle the TR3. He is almost as good a salesman as he is a painter (I have seen his work, he is a true master!), and he had me talked into it. We could do it during half time of an Alabama game, and it will look so good traffic would part for us wherever we go. All for the price of a six pack, and a few dollars. And it was just a short 7 hour drive away. Road trip!

10-25 / 10-26-14
This was not our first "father/son" road trip, and Cole knows the deal. We stay in the lap of luxury when we travel as a family - the Saint deserves at least that...but its all business, and on a budget when its just me and the boy - so cheap food and cheap hotels it is. Armed with his driving permit, Cole took us most of the way. We spent the night about 1/2 hour from Larry. The great thing about cheap hotels, you typically don't feel the desire to "hang out" longer than necessary. This one was no different. We were out the door with the rising sun. In the same parking lot was food on the same level. Not a norm for us, but, I treated the boy to some "Awful Waffle", just for the experience. Each with a couple of bricks in our stomach, it was off to U-haul for a dolly. Larry was a twisty country road or 3 away. He greeted us with Southern hospitality. And there she was. "She" doesn't have a name yet (Cole says he cant name here until he drives her, needs to "know" her personality" ). Larry had painted a fairly good picture in my mind. She fired right up. A small exhaust leak aside - it was clear there was defiantly a cam involved. Larry figured we would like a road test, so he had bolted in a couple seats ("did I mention - it comes with these original seats - there kinda rough, so, I will throw in these 1500's hounds tooth seats if you have room for them..." ). It had been a few years (just 15 or so) since I had laid a Spit through some tight twisty bits - but it all came back! She was the quickest Spit I had been in. And if we hadn't started running out of gas on the way up the hills, I would probably still be on that test drive. Hooked. Fortunately, Larry's was on the way down, and we coasted in on fumes. Larry looked relieved. Something about 10 year old tag, no insurance, no seat belts, the "SEG" plastered under my nose as I tore off at 6k, going 45 around his 15 mph curve from the house... I don't remember everything he said...he was just glad we were back. So the engine ran, the suspension was tight. The body looked a little worse than I thought. But, we were planning on a down the metal paint job anyway. In an afternoon, for a few bucks, right Jerry? A quick conference with Cole - who was still wearing his SEG under his nose from the test drive - it was agreed, she was a keeper. Good thing too, plan B was a green MKIII an hour from Larry, but, I hadn't been able to get in touch with him to tell him he was plan B that weekend. That left me in a week bargaining position, but I decided to haggle with Larry anyway. He had a number, and I beat it. 10 seconds, start to stop - and that's mostly because of the easy southern drawls involved. Maybe not the best negotiators, but we were both happy, and parted as friends. Larry helped us load the car on the dolly, and then proceeded to fill it and my SUV with all manner of odds and ends that were Spitfire related in his drive-in basement. And then we are off. Took a bit longer getting home - a bit slower towing a car. And we didn't pass too many truck stops without a mandatory "remember the Awful Waffle" tribute.

11-15-2015
After getting her home, I unloaded her from the dolly. She really didn't want to come. When she did, it was clear the header was what was dragging. There was a bit more of an exhaust leak now than before. The first order of business was to inventory parts, and clean up the car. I put Cole to work washing and polishing the car - not that I had any hope the paint was salvageable, I just wanted a better look - and I didn't know how long it would be before Jerry could give me a hand on the body work. I will say Cole did a great job, it polished up well. Unfortunately, if you polish a turd, its still a turd. I was all proud "look Jerry, its shiny! Maybe its not so bad after all". Jerry "...fish eyes....a$$holes...orange peal....dent...dent....dent...dent...dent...dent..dent...dent..." So, the verdict was as swift as it was harsh - paint has to come off. He gave me a list of materials, and we laid out a plan. In the mean time, Cole went to work on all the chrome with some WD-40, and steel wool. The shiny bits came out well, with most being usable on the finished car. A class on electrical took us through a diagram, tracing out why the horn didn't work. With Cole driving the meter, we found a bad horn, missing push brush, and no ground wire on the ring in the steering wheel. Ordered the brush, along with the supplies we would need to de-paint the car in our garage. Cole got a class on soldering, and we added back the missing wire to the steering wheel.

Meanwhile, I changed out the distributor, went for a few more "test drives", and took stock of all the parts that came with the car, vs what I knew we were missing. Then went shopping. They didn't say it, but I could tell - TRF and Moss had missed me. I added a couple new friends too - Spitbits and Rimmers.

11-26-15
A friend of mine for high school still brings up the holes in my floorboards. There is just something about the Spits floor pans, they just really like to rot out. So, I was very happy to see this one had 2 actual floor pans! And originals at that. I attributed that to the fact the pans where magic, or the fact the car has been primarily in storage since 1980 or so. Since the later was more likely, I expected that the pans would soon rot right out the second we started driving it regularly. To prevent that, I put the boy to work with a wire wheel and a gallon of truck bed liner.

The next order of business was to get our "shop air" up to the level required to take the paint off a car, and put something back on. My 2 1/2 gallon compressor was not going to cut it. I picked up (ok, a fork lift picked up) a 60 gallon, 11.5 scfm (@90 psi) compressor. We ran 220 to it, and laid out a 50 foot sloping header, with drop legs drains, a regulator and a couple water separators. Problem was, to get the fall we wanted, we had to run it in the attic. Cole did a bang up job crawling around, and strapping it up nice and tight. Just ask him, he will tell you how good a job he did. If you have a system even slightly inferior, you wont have to ask him, he will volunteer the info on it. And now he knows why it pays to stay in school....

Planing on using a chemical stripper, we laid tarps on the garage floor, tape them down, and went to work removing everything from the car. Bagging all the hardware, and taping the bags to the main parts, we created a "file" system in the floor to ceiling shelving next to the work area. Everything came off quickly, and we took lots of reference pictures.

11-28-15
My mentor for this project, Jerry, is no fan of the heavy commercial "aviation" paint strippers available today, especially for use in the home garage. Most of his "recommendations" were actually "requirements", and the choose of stripper was not optional - "Capt Lees Spra Strip". Capt Lees is far more gentle on fingers, fumes and clean up - its water soluble! It can be deactivated on the car with alcohol as well. Very easy to work with, not as easy to find. Jerry started using it when he was stripping Corvettes - it wont eat the fiberglass - and that's where I had to go to get it - online Corvette suppliers. I ordered 2 gallons - and we have 2/3 of one left. Cole and I hit it hard during the Thanksgiving break, and put the paint job in a cardboard box with a couple of putty knives. We used a drill and wire wheels to get in all the nooks and crannies. The only thing left on the car was a light residue of melted pigment that had hardened, and the deeper body filler pockets. And there were a ton of those.

11-30-14
We passed Jerry's inspection at this point - with some corrective action ("looks good, just get right here, and over here, and here, and here...." ). The next step was cleaning up what was left - time to put the DA sander and the shop air to the test. The smell of fresh paint getting hot filled the garage, as the compressor got a break in. Some of the dents proved to be so deep, I had to dig out the angle grinder to get down into the pockets. Jerry showed us why we were DA noobs a few times, but, we started to get the hang of it - as we finished. That's how most of this project went - we got really good at a particular step - as we finished that step. But, we were both learning, and Jerry kept us out of the ditch. To us, and our untrained eyes, the car looked incredible down to the metal. There was NO RUST anywhere. Jerry had said, we can fix anything, but NO RUST! So, that's what we had. I was thrilled. Jerry mentioned "allot of body work". Hmm, wonder what "allot" means...

12-1-14
Well, I can't say I have never beaten on a car with a hammer anymore. Jerry brought over his body tools, and explained how it all works. Several times. With examples. Then more slowly with simpler words....Well, you get the idea. We started on the drivers side quarter panel. Turns out, its not a "rear wing", its a quarter panel. And the one in the front is NOT a quarter panel at all. We have had many a discussion about what a "hood" really is, and I have heard Jerry say "Bonnet" twice so far. So, I can give some too - its a quarter panel. But, unfortunately, it was a bashed in mess of a rear wing - er - quarter panel. Jerry also explained that an inch of body filler is not a good thing, and we need to shape it as close to the correct shape as possible. And, FYI, its not called "Bondo" if it cost $90 a gallon with a discount... So, this lesson was a big one. We shaped the metal. Filled the holes and sanded it flat until we feathered the edges. And repeated, going out farther, until the shape was correct. I was just learning how to "see" with my fingers...and they had a lot to see. I was struggling with getting the highs and lows just right, and allot of filler had to come back off. Jerry repeatedly demonstrated that 20 minutes of his time was much much more productive than several hours of mine. Good thing the body was so dinged up, I had plenty of opportunities to learn how its done. Ya, real good thing....