Triumph Spitfire Engine Swap! (Miata 1.6L) S3E7

[@ericpohlman5131]

You are fortunate to have a garage. Great upload. Keep them coming. Take care

[@misplacedgarage]

Absolutely! I’m very thankful for it, especially coming from working cars outside previously. Thank you, I certainly will!

[@GekkeHenkie93]

I'm doing a 1.8 BP4W in a 75 spitfire right now, took the original engine out yesterday and put the mx engine in the same evening. Had done all suspension, bearings and all that last week. Just stumbled on here, like seeing what youre doing, good luck!

[@elkbarry89]

Ya don’t worry about the rear yet. they always generally sit too.. low. Love seeing what your doing !

[@sgold1132]

I’ve had a few spitfires and I can tell you that until you roll that car forward at least 20 yards it will not sit correctly. Don’t judge it by how it sits in the garage……please. It has to settle in. And rolling the car backwards makes the camber in the rear wheels change believe me.

[@misplacedgarage]

That’s exactly what I’ve been told by a few people now! I guess I need to be more patient with it. Thanks for the tip!

[@sgold1132]

@@misplacedgarage In the past I left the rear end for last. Get the car drivable and then mess with the rear spring, camber, etc.

[@rachelleybee]

Good cable management!

[@sveip]

Well done, good progress. :)

[@geoffburrill9850]

I would guess when you get a prop shaft attached that this will add extra weight to rear. Plus you haven't the standard petrol tank in the original place and it might not be full of fuel. Everything you have removed from the interia will also have an effect on the rear ride height.

[@grubinski]

That business about not tightening suspension bolts until the car is on the ground is real. Applies to anything with rubber bushings in the suspension.

[@misplacedgarage]

No doubt! I have yet to run into this issue with newer cars because most are much heavier. But I will store that in my knowledge for future projects!

[@delvinal5583]

When you overhauled the rear spring, did you use spit or maybe gt6 springs ? Its been 30 yrs for me since I put a gt6 rear in a spit, I used the 6 spring which was arched slightly more and had the same issue. My wife solved it for me by filling the trunk with crap and brought it down. Your right to loosted/tighten. Get a 4 wheel alignment when you put it on the road pronto. This rear end type will produce oversteer in a corner if you let off the throttle , and you can spin out then. You go into a corner hot, lift, spin. Gt6 will do it bad, with its 98hp. Don't forget this ever. Gt6 has a lower rear ratio, 3.25 or so. I think. Spit has 4.11 ratio. If you can find a gt6 rear and install it your car will be much more composed at highway speeds. Might be hard as gt6s eat them if abused. Remember these spits are not high perf cars. The chassis is a 35 mph one from a slow sedan with a sporty body. You might be better off with an ejection seat instead of seatbelts. And get a roll bar. Then take the top off and ride sitting on the back deck while your girlfriend drives. Nothing like it on a fine spring day.

[@misplacedgarage]

I did use spitfire specific parts. I do plan on getting an alignment when I deem the car even road worthy to get to a shop! Yea it’s definitely going to be a little bit of a scary vehicle and I assume I’ll have to change some things to make it “safer”. I’ve been lead to believe that the car will settle once it’s been driven a distance so I’m not gonna worry about the rear end height yet.

[@delvinal5583]

I was 40 when I got the spitfire bug. I'm 71 now. While its mostly behind me now I still have some triumph stuff. Most people want seats. In a book from Hot Rod books named Make your car handle it showed some spitfire track cars that had a rear z type anti roll bars on the rear axles. There is also an anti sway spring leaf that goes across underneath the rear end. Check em out. The safest thing you can do is stay cool driving this beauty. Think way ahead. Good luck with it, I can see you have a lot invested here and thanks for showing it to us. @@misplacedgarage

[@jamesegan808]

Does the rear have a swing spring transverse spring? There are two different length half shafts on Spitfires. I believe you should have the longer axles. 1973 to 1980 require the longer axles. May not be the cause, but should be checked.

[@misplacedgarage]

The major parts in the rear suspension are the factory stuff I just rebuilt all the original stuff. I’ve been let aware that the car needs to be driven quite a bit before making a judgement call, I have yet to drive it…

[@TheDlipowski]

Stick a couple of bags of cement in boot for the first few runs!

[@misplacedgarage]

Now there’s an idea! Haha

[@nickyalousakis3851]

the rear height is - sorry i just had to laugh. wouldn't worry about that bridge yet. it wasn't that low before you began the diff removal. so nothing is fundamentally wrong.

[@misplacedgarage]

Yea I’m gonna be leaving the height alone for the moment. I’ve heard you gotta drive the car a bit for these car’s suspension to settle.