Please, somebody talk me out of this...

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11-21-2009, 07:02 PM
CarCar

Please, somebody talk me out of this...

I found a 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 hardtop convertible for $850. The car is complete, very good body with very little rust but has a bad gearbox and no seats. The engine runs. I think it would be a great starter project for my son and I. Moss looks to have all the parts we need for the interior and rebuilding the tranny or we could do a Ford T9 5sp tranny with an adapter. What about a Miata 1.6 drivetrain? Wish I had a camera with me when I found it. The owner of the salvage yard is giving me a week before he Craigs lists it. The yard owner told me he had bought it in an auction for $150 but it cost him $700 to to tow it down from S. Dakota because the transmission was a surprise.
11-21-2009, 07:07 PM
Titus

http://spitfire-mx5.netfirms.com/
11-21-2009, 07:36 PM
CarCar

how do you find this stuff so fast?
11-21-2009, 07:45 PM
mildensteve

Do NOT buy the Spitfire as a project. Just to see why, price the master cylinder for either the clutch or brakes. Last time I had a Spitfire (1985) they were $300. I am sure they got cheaper since then :punchout: If you need more reason not to, PM me and I will give you my phone number to save on typing.

Having said that, they are really cool and you don't see them every day...
11-21-2009, 08:09 PM
smartmx5

NO, I will not talk you out of it. You said that it would be a project car for you and your son. Enough said. Time with family > than cost of car and parts.... Good luck and great find!!
11-21-2009, 08:37 PM
Titus

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarCar

how do you find this stuff so fast?

I have been doing research trying to find someone who has put a Miata engine in a Metropolitan. I haven't found anything for my project, but I did find a guy that had put together a website with links to Miata engine swaps and the spitfire was one of them.
11-21-2009, 08:42 PM
cwisenheimer

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartmx5

NO, I will not talk you out of it. You said that it would be a project car for you and your son. Enough said. Time with family > than cost of car and parts.... Good luck and great find!!

+1!

It won't be as reliable or as good a car as a Miata, but that's not the point. OTOH, you could potentially find an $850 Miata in need of a transmission (or other) and use it for a project car instead.
11-21-2009, 09:06 PM
POS Racing

I had a 1969 TR6 it needed work constantly it was a real piece of crap.

But we all need to own one as a right of passage, that car forced me to learn to work on cars since it stranded me on the side of the road so often and I need to go home eventually.

http://www.mossmotors.com/Graphics/P.../229-255_1.jpg
11-21-2009, 09:22 PM
creek

Let's see.....hmmm. '66 beetle, '70 beetle, '82 Yamaha XS1100, '69 Triumph Bonneville. Nope, I am not qualified to talk you out of it. A Miata drivetrain and electrics ought to go a long way toward making it reliable but further from being a Triumph. One consideration is that a Father and Son project should have a hope of completion or the result could be a big disappointment. Better a more certain project maybe.
11-21-2009, 09:24 PM
CarCar

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus

I have been doing research trying to find someone who has put a Miata engine in a Metropolitan.

You're the guy with the metropolitan! I love those silly things. Always wanted one.
11-21-2009, 09:32 PM
POS Racing

http://www.triumphspitfire.nl/triump...ire_buying.pdf
11-21-2009, 09:53 PM
CarCar

The wife is supportive.... knock me down with a feather. My son is only 9 but he has been learning tools, parts and such with me on my Miata the past year and half. I bought it with the intention of being able to fix the broken power antena and having a nice econmical car for back and forth to work. We since installed a supercharger, intercooler, roll bar,exhaust system,coilovers and lots of oilchanges and tire rotations together.
The Spitfires seem to be getting to be extremely rare finds. I think this will be a more mechanically simple project compared to a Miata. The last 3 I have found were all rusted out shells with no mechanicals or even windscreens. Even if I buy it and park it in a shop for a few years until he is really ready it seems a great opportunity. I don't think anyone really comes out very far ahead as monetary investments on projects like this but That is not the reason I want to this. But I don't want to dig myself a bottomless money pit either that could never be completed.
I had a '79 MGB when I was 17 and loved the time I spent with my dad working on it every Saturday. My dad taught me how to drive in that MG and we would drive from Bedford all the way to Denton on every back road we could find just to get a $.25 taco and a cola by the college. I would love to have that time back with him. After the MG I
i'm blabbering too much
11-21-2009, 10:15 PM
CarCar

Titus, would a MG engine and transmission from a Metropolitan fit in a Triumph Spitfire easily?
11-22-2009, 08:09 AM
Titus

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarCar

Titus, would a MG engine and transmission from a Metropolitan fit in a Triumph Spitfire easily?

No Clue, but you are welcome to borrow it for a test fit once you buy the Spitfire. ::Banana::
11-22-2009, 08:14 AM
onething

My ex-wife's son bought a 914 while he was in college. She asked me all the questions a Mom should ask about her out-of-town-college son's car:

My answer to every question was, "It is a 20 year old sports car." The Porsche sat in my front yard for 6 months after I had a buyer for it before Scott finally let go and sold it to a guy for half what my buyer offered.

Working on cars has taught me many things:
I learned to buy cars that didn't just have a dealer in town, but cars that actually had a dealership with parts in stock. (6 weeks for an oil filter and 6 months for a starter) I learned that I was not a mechanic with mad skills. I learned that at least for me, driving is much more satisfying than being flat on my back on cold concrete or dirt using words I just made up because my vocabulary is insufficient. I also learned that seeing something work before I have to work on it makes me believe it is supposed to work. Basket cases don't excite me. That is why I bought a new Miata.

How about one of those off-road gokarts so he can at least start learning to drive and do maintenance? If he's a typical 9 year old boy, he'll find some way to need to fix it very soon.
12-11-2009, 05:29 PM
trickyrix

Growing up, I wanted a go kart in the worst way, so when I was about 8 or 9 my dad bought a used '79 Honda Odyssey. It was easy to work on, a blast to drive (all hand controls and no shifting gears, so it was fun for dad and kid both), and cheap as dirt. We blew a hole in the piston once, but pulled an all-nighter at a friend's shop to get it fixed so we could go camping the next day. Good times.

In '85 we moved on up to the FL350 Odyssey - this one actually had such luxuries as a reverse gear and (gasp!) rear suspension! That puppy was effing sweet. With the 350 2-stroke and full suspension, you could immortally fly over just about anything.

From there, we graduated to a VW-powered rail buggy. We've still got that thing, and now that I have a garage I've threatened to haul it over to my place, refresh the motor in it, and make it street legal. One of these days...

For a dad/lad project, a VW rail buggy is dirt-simple, can be street legal, and (if you do it right) will pop a wheelie. I don't know any kid who wouldn't love that.
12-11-2009, 06:00 PM
CarCar

I decided to pass on this after thinking it over and comeing to some sense. Thanks for the inputs. Were looking at a old garden tractor now with ideas to supp it up for either drag racing or the mower road coarse races over in Louisiana.