Automobile Forum

Title says it all, really. That's a new one for me. I try to calm myself by telling myself it's all part of the British Experience. I did not buy a Spitfire expecting reliability... but losing forward drive strikes me as a little silly.

Fortunately a fellow enthusiast saw me struggling with it and offered to help. With a little fiddling we were able to find second. If I had known AAA would take 3 hours to come I probably would have just driven home in second, but I was worried about whether I could go uphill from a stop if I had to.

Also fortunately, it sounds like the problem is just something in the gear selector/linkage area. A wonderful opportunity to become familiar with how the shift linkage works. I tried to get in there to have a look, but wasn't sure how to take the carpet off and remove the tunnel cover without damaging the carpet. It seems like things may have been glued on that oughtn't have been glued on.

I already replaced the alternator which was really pretty easy all things considered. After I fix the gear selectors I imagine the cooling system and/or clutch will be next to go. It already has, as the Haynes Manual says, a slight "judder when taking up drive." God damn, the Brits are silly--but I kind of love it.

Wally, fellow Triumph/MG people--ever do any transmission work? The gear selector sounds relatively trivial (aside from things like worrying about damaging my carpets) but how hard is the rest of it? And what joyful, unique failures have you all experienced?

I can't recall how the carpet comes out on a Spitfire. I think it was clips. Although a PDO (previous dumb owner) may have glued it. The transmission cover is a heavy duty cardboard material (yes, really) that comes off with clips. Sounds like the linkage. I played with that on my last Spitfire and it wasn't too bad as a I remember. I was missed a bushing that made reverse really, really hard to get.

My seats weren't bolted in when I bought the car so I had them out. Only a couple bolts so I'd take them out to give yourself more room to work. There two styles of gearboxes so yours might look a little different.


tunnel in vs out

Sounds good. I don't think it should be too hard to take the seats out, although a bit scary to me as I've never had to take a car apart like this before. I guess I'm just being a bitch about it, but it seems there is something alarming about tearing everything apart as opposed to just replacing something that's bolted on to the engine.

Damn, I like the look of that car with no carpets. Although I'm not sure the wife would approve...

Sometimes I wonder the fascination with these old jalopies. I see those pics above and envision a nightmare. I’d rather be driving. Working on a car is fun and all but after a while it becomes more of a chore than fun and if it spends more time down than up… I dunno. More power to ya.

Damn - you're making me want another one! They are somehow very "special" to drive.

Alright, Brio, fair enough. Enjoy the ride! :cheers: