On Wed, 14 Jun 1995, Dan Crone wrote:
> My '75 Spit is too fun to drive to take off the road and refinish properly.
> I've even comtemplated buying a second one to work on to appease my guilt
> over not fixing the driven one properly. Anyway, my question concerns some
> white stuff in the seams on the side of spitfire, the ones that run more or
> less parallel to the ground the length of the panel....
I believe this is simply some sort of seam sealer, a pretty common
material. Particularly on external applications such as the Spitfire
bonnet, it's not uncommon to see it deteriorate over time. Intact, it's
perfectly acceptable in appearance, and many would say it was an
improvement over the older Spitfire's exposed seams with stainless
capping (probably cheaper, too).
> On a completely different subject, can anyone point me at a book or give me
> directions on how to align the doors, or perhaps comment on how wide/even
> the door gaps are on Spitfires. I have a Haynes manual, which just about
> says "loosen and adjust until satisfactory". The door is about 1/4 to 1/2
> from the lower sill but by the door handle its 1/8.
Another case of "don't try this ball bearing seam test at home". It's
not likely, given occasionally lax assembly standards at the time, that
you'll ever get perfect, uniform gaps, unless you wish to cut apart and
reweld the entire body shell. Perhaps the factory manuals give a bit
more detail than does Haynes, but I'm afraid they are about as accurate
as you'll get on this issue. (I'll be glad to look in the factory manual
if you like.)
There is a fair amount of adjustment at the hinges; it's really more
trial-and-error than anything else.
Andy Mace
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