Totally unrelated but both causing me concern at the moment...
My Spitfire 1500 (1975) recently started pinging and generally
performing badly and on pulling the plugs I found the were all black
and oily, also on examining the contacts I found they had a large pit and
crack in the surfaces. So I replaced both contacts and plugs and the
problems seemed cured. Then a day or so latter I noticed in the rear
view mirror I was getting puffs of smoke as I changed gear (on the
overrun). I discussed this with a friend and we decided it must be
the valve guides which were worn and oil was being sucked in and
burned off on the overrun. So just as I'm contemplating a head change
or re-con the puffs of smoke disappear completely. I've been driving
the car for a week now and haven't had any problems. Assuming that
worn valve guides don't cure themselves overnight (dream on!) what
else might be the explaination of smoke when changing gear ? (There
is none otherwise, even when accelarating hard so I assume that the
piston rings are okay).
Also can anyone advise me on how easy it is to fit new front trunions
on a Spit? Do I need any special tools ? I'm tempted to let a garage
do it but $150 seems like a lot of money...
Ta,
Simon Waddington, waddy@vsfl.demon.co.uk
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Simon says: "It's easier said than done." ... and if you don't believe
it, try proving that it's easier done than said, and you'll see that
"it's easier said that `it's easier done than said' than it is done",
which really proves that "it's easier said than done".
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