Spitfire Body Removal Preparation #1

Started the preparation for body removal today. Some of the stuff was already done based on work in progress so now there are only a few things left prior to being ready to pull it. As the Workshop Manual lists it, on page 5-202:

1. Disconnect the battery cables (Done), remove the battery (Done) and disconnect the following cables and controls:
• Cable from oil pressure switch (Done)
• Front end lighting cable at the snap connectors on top of the air duct (Done)
• H.T. and L.T. cables from the coil (Done)
• Both cables from the generator (Done)
• Cables from the temperature transmitter (Done)
• Earthing cable from the engine (Done)
• Tachometer drive cable from the distributor (Done...found this broken, though it did work the last time I ran the engine. Hate to have to route that damn thing through the heater again...what a pain!)
• Choke and accelerator controls at the carburettor (Done)
• Hydraulic pipe at the connection between thc brake master cylinder and three-way connector adjacent to the front suspension on the left-hand side of the car (Done)
• Handbrake cable (Previously done for repair)
• Accelerator relay lever (1 mills pin and split pin with washers) (Not done)
2. Remove:
• Bonnet (four bolts) (Not done)
• Both seats (One already done, pulled the passenger's, so done-done)
• Four bolts securing the facia support bracket to the floor (Previously done for transmission pull)
• Floor covering (Done, but never really there in the first place)
• Spare wheel (Done)
• Fuel tank (Done)
• Release all clips securing the cable loom to the chassis. Pass the cable loom under the outer left-hand side tie rod and withdraw the loom clear of the engine (Done)
• Release the clamp bolt from the lower steering coupling and push the inner column upwards, clear of front suspension (Not done)
3. Disconnect the radius arms from the body (Not done...and not looking forward to it, either!)
4. Remove 12 bolts securing the body to the floor (Not done)
5. Attach lifting tackle and lift the body clear of the chassis (Definitely not done).

Unless I missed it, the manual does not mention removal of the hydraulic pipe between the clutch master cylinder and the slave cylinder, so I did do that as well.

Not too bad for about 2 hours of work. If figure if I can get some solid time tomorrow, I should be able to get everything else done with the exception of the bonnet removal (I don't plan on doing that until just before I pull the body). I should be able to get the accelerator relay lever and the steering column done without much issue. That shouldn't take long and I'll give it a shot at the radius arms and see how they go. Hopefully I'll get lucky there and they will unbolt easily. Otherwise, I'll soak them in some WD-40 for a day or so and revisit.

The "three-way connector adjacent to the front suspension on the left-hand side of the car"

Master cylinders drained. I put a paper towel in each reservoir and in the pipe holes.

The wiring harness in the engine compartment was in pretty sad shape. I think I may have mentioned that, with the exception that the dynamo is not charging the battery, I have not found any electrical faults in the car. However, the wires up there have insulation that is cracking and some have been repaired (poorly) with new connectors at least once. And years of oil leaks and general road grime has left several of them covered with that black gooey stuff common to LBCs. I figure a visit to British Wiring (or some other source that may be cheaper) will solve all of my problems. A full wiring harness refresh will be in order once I get the whole thing out of the car, especially since I have the black car's harness as well.

The hole through which the engine compartment portion of the wiring harness comes through. Need a new rubber grommet.

The harness. Hard to tell, but there's grease and grime all over it. Pretty sure they used all blue harness wrap, too. Nice.

Finally, my latest Harbor Freight purchase was their 1.5 Ton Compact Aluminum Racing Floor Jack with Rapid Pump <whew, that's a mouthful>. There was a coupon for about $70, so I picked on up. I have a big, heavy Craftsman 3 ton jack that I purchased over a decade ago. It's built like a beast and of good quality (think before Craftsman went more the way of Harbor Freight with some of their stuff) but it was too big for jacking several points on the car. I like to use a wood buffer between the jacking point and the jack itself. Unfortunately, since the Sears jack stood so tall, I either couldn't fit the wood in between the car and the jack or, if I could, I couldn't lift the handle enough to actually start the jack going up. Since the HF one is low profile (and racing, did I mention that...so I can pretend I'm doing pit stops on her, obviously), both of those problems are solved. Haven't used it too much yet, but it jacks the car up without any leakage, so it's go that going for it.