While looking around I also remembered that I did not have an oil cooler connected to the oil lines, I could not use the original oil cooler as the motorcycle was in an accident when I purchased the engine and the oil cooler got banged up pretty badly. Previously I priced out an OEM oil cooler and was very surprised to find out that it lists for about $246!!! A lot of money for a very small oil cooler... So I hacked off the ends of the cooler and rigged up a simple connector that would leak, but not a lot.

I then pulled off the top of the air cleaner and injected some fuel directly into each of the carbs and started cranking the starter. After about 15 seconds I saw some smoke coming from inside the front dashboard! Quickly turned everything off and disconnect the battery and pulled out the instrument cluster. After feeling around and looking closely I finally found the culprit - one of the wires that went from the clutch diode to the negative side of the started solenoid was in pretty rough shape with a lot of the insulation either burnt or in sad shape.

After a bit of investigation I had realized that the problem actually was on the started solenoid. There are 2 smaller terminals of the Ford solenoid, the left one I wired up to the ignition switch starter (correct) the right one I connected to the clutch diode (wrong). In my application the clutch diode should only connect to the frame of the solenoid as it appears that +12v was present on it and probably originally went to the coil! I fixed the connection and replaced the burnt wire near the clutch diode.

Tried starting again - found that I mistakenly swapped the coil connections for two of the cylinders. Gee I thought that I looked at that initially... Fixed the connections.

Tried again this time using a spark plug so that I could see if it was sparking. Checked all four cylinders and had spark present for all cylinders.

Tried again using some starter fluid and got it to do a little bit of fluttering only with the choke fully closed and the throttle fully opened up.

Put some gasoline into a can and had the fuel pump line inserted so that it could draw gas. But noticed that the fuel pump on the engine did not appear to be working. I spent the rest of the day tracing down wiring and all checked out ok. So I bypassed the fuel pump cut-out relay and the fuel pump worked properly so my determination is that I need to replace this part.

This is an aluminum cooler is 4" x 15 1/4 and 2" thick with 13 cooling rows. It also has AN-8 male inlet and outlet fittings, these have 1/2" ID and I would NOT use anything smaller (eg AN-6 or 3/8" NPT)! They also state that they are designed for the range of oil flows and air speeds encountered in high-performance automobiles, and pressure checked to 175 psi.

It will be a nice addition to the aluminum radiator and be far superior to the original oil cooler at less money.

The switch for the clutch was not what I needed, the original switch from my donor vehicle was a normally open and what I needed was a normally closed. What this means is that when the clutch pedal is NOT depressed the switch is 'open', and when the clutch pedal is depressed the switch is closed.

I already had some flexible hoses that I got from Moss Motors, these hoses connect to the brake caliper out at the wheel, I checked the fittings in the Spitfire master brake cylinder that I am using and they are the same. So I brought the hose to my local Advance Auto store for them to compare to their stock. I went to my local Advance Auto store to pick up some brake lines and fittings. What I found out is that the master brake cylinder uses a standard metric fitting on a 3/16" line and the line uses what the salesman referred to as a 'bubble' flair.

Apparently a 'bubble flair' is basically a single flair with a flat end. In the US they typically use a double flair. The cheapest way to get the fittings was to purchase a couple of short lines which come with 2 fittings each. The longest brake lines that they carried was 60" long (both 3/16" and 1/4") so I picked up a bunch of each size. They did not have any 90 degree elbows nor tee fittings so I will have to acquire them elsewhere.

My intention is to use the 3/16" line for the front brakes while running 1/4" lines for the rear brake and fuel to the engine. I still have to pick up a proportioning valve, this is necessary to 'tweak' the flow to the rear brake. The rear brake should lock up *AFTER* the front brakes, otherwise you could lose control. To protect the lines under the vehicle I will enclose them in a length of rectangular steel tubing, this way if I bottom out on a hump the lines should stay intact.

In doing some research on the Internet I found a couple of very informative pages that I will share with you here:

• Everything You Wanted to Know About Brake Plumbing, but Were Afraid to Ask
• Brake Lines, FFR FAQ

Back to earth...

I was able to salvage some brackets that were on the original brake lines, cleaned them up and put some paint on them. These brackets go on the end of the flexible hose that goes to the brake calipers. Here is a picture of them note that they use a female fitting to couple to the 3/16" hard lines:

I realized that I need to do a little bit more research in finding all the components that I will need to complete the brake lines, so I switched gears and decided to start working on the bellcrank mechanism for the shifter. In past conversations that I had with Shep he noted that he uses a positive linkage rather than a cable for shifting. So I decided to go this route as well.

When I made up the engine subframe I put in a couple of holes/plugs to bolt the bellcrank onto - foresight is a good thing! So I had some attachment points already for me. Doing some quick measuring I determined that there was about a 7" offset from the center of the vehicle to the shifting arm on the engine, so I made the width of the mount 9". I also needed to have a little less than about 1-1/2" of throw to be able to up/down shift.

There are three parts to this: 1) mounting bracket with offset holes 2) bellcrank 3) shifting linkage from bellcrank to engine. Later when I make the shifter there will be another linkage between it and the bellcrank.

I started out with some 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron and trimmed it down to about 1-3/4" and cut a length 9" long. Next I made some offset mounts so that the bellcrank would be up and forward to accommodate the bellcrank, and put a 1/2" hole in them and welded them onto the angle iron.

Next I cut a length of steel tubing that was 5/8" OD and about 3/8" ID, this was cut so that it fit between the offset mounts slightly loose. Then I made two 'arms' that would accommodate a 5/8" hole to mount on the tubing and a 1/4" hole for the linkage, these holes were put about 2" apart. I put the 'arms' onto the tubing, spaced them about 7" apart and welded them onto the tubing.

Finally I used a 27/64" drill into the ends of the bellcrank so that I could tap it with a 1/2"-13 tap. The bellcrank will be supported in the mount using some 1/2" bolts to pivot on. As it happens I did not have a 1/2"-13 tap and will need to purchase one to complete the bellcrank.

Here are some pictures so that you can see how it looks:

Here is the entire mechanism bolted onto the engine subframe, After Note: I ended up shortening down the one arm which eventially connects to the shifter linkage (shown by the red arrow) about 1/2" to enable the shifter have a shorter throw, with the longer arm the shifter throw is too much! In addition I installed cotter pins into the 1/2" retaining bolts as well to ensure they do not come loose.

When I welded the bellcrank I initially set the 'arms' of the bellcrank to be about a 15 degree offset, in fooling with shifting the transmission I realized that this was not enough, so I cut the bellcrank in the middle, adjusted the angle to about 30 degrees and welded it back together. It now works better and the top arm is in a better position for when I connect the shifter to it.

I decided that since I was building a new vehicle that I would substitute a new clutch master cylinder for a new one. I priced this item out at the local Advance Auto store and they wanted $160 for it! Much better buy at Summit Racing.

I have finalized how I will be plumbing the front brakes, rear brake, hydraulic clutch and fuel lines. Note that the rear brake uses two flexible hoses, one is for the movement of the rear swing arm, and the second is so you can remove the brake caliper to put in new brake pads. You really don't want to use hard line onto the caliper.

Most of the general brake lines/fittings/adapters can be found at your local Advance Auto/Auto Zone stores.

In the component list below when I refer to:

• 3/16" metric fitting it's a 10mm-1.0 fitting
• 3/16" SAE fitting, it's a 3/8"-24 DF(double flare) fitting
• 1/4" SAE fitting, it's a 7/16"-24 DF (double flare) fitting

Front Brakes (starting from brake master cylinder):

• 1 - 3/16" metric male connector for 3/16" brake line to master cylinder
• 1 - length 3/16" brake line to master cylinder
• 3 - 3/16" SAE male connecters (SAE) for 3/16" brake line to tee
• 1 - 3/16" brake line tee
• 2 - lengths of 3/16" hard brake line to flexible hoses
• 2 - 3/16" metric female connector for 3/6" brake line
• 2 - OEM mounting bracket
• 2 - 10mm-1.0 metric retaining nuts to retain flexible hose on bracket
• 2 - flexible hose to brake caliper (Postnote: original Triumph Spitfire hoses aren't long enough, see 12/16 below)

Rear Brakes (starting from brake master cylinder):

• 1 - 3/16" metric male connector for 3/16" brake line to master cylinder
• 2 - 3/16" SAE female to 1/8" NPT
• 1 - proportioning valve (has 1/8" NPT female connections Summit Racing)
• 1 - length 3/16" brake line to rear of vehicle
• 1 - 3/16" SAE female brake fitting
• 1 - mounting bracket
• 1 - 3/8"-24 retaining nut to hold line onto bracket
• 1 - 3/16" flexible hose with 3/16" SAE male ends
• 1 - length 3/16" brake line down length of rear swing arm with 3/16" SAE female connections
• 1 - mounting bracket
• 1 - 3/8"-24 retaining nut to retain flexible hose on bracket
• 1 - flexible hose with 3/16" SAE female connector to 3/8" banjo fitting on rear brake caliper

Hydraulic Clutch (starting from clutch master cylinder):

• 1 - 1/4" SAE male connector for 1/4" brake line to master cylinder
• 1 - length 1/4" brake line to rear of vehicle
• 1 - 1/4" SAE male connector
• 1 - mounting bracket
• 1 - 7/16"-24 retaining nut to retain flexible hose on bracket
• 1 - flexible hose with 1/4" SAE female connector to 3/8" banjo fitting on engine

• 1 - stainless braided hose with AN-8 female (tank) to 1/8" NPT male fittings (fuel pump)
• 1 - low pressure 12v fuel pump
• 1 - 1/8" NPT to 1/4" ID hose nipple
• 1 - length of 1/4" rubber fuel line
• 1 - length of 1/4" brake line to engine subframe
• 1 - mounting bracket
• 1 - 1/4" collar to retain hard line on bracket
• 1 - 1/4" ID rubber fuel hose connecting to fuel filter

Apparently certain master brake cylinders from Mazda actually have three outlets which on a three wheeled vehicle would be the utmost in protection, a separate circuit for each brake! Failure on a single circuit will not affect the remaining two. A basic premise is that on any vehicle the front brakes are the major stopping brakes, the rear brakes should lock up slightly after the front. If this happens the other way around the vehicle has a very high degree of probability of spinning - probably out of control.

Initially I was considering running both front brakes from a single outlet on the master cylinder, and the rear brakes from the other outlet. This does not give a lot of redundancy in case of a failure on a single circuit. Failure of the rear brake circuit is probably not a huge problem, the vehicle will stop relatively under control, however failure on the circuit that connects to the front brakes could be catastrophic as you have lost *both* front brakes!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I believe that it makes *far* more sense to run each front brake from a *different* outlet from the brake master cylinder, with one of the circuits feeding the proportional valve which connects to the rear brakes. This way if a failure on either brake circuit occurs then at least one of the front brakes should still work, the worst case is that only one single front brake works, and the best case is that one front brake as well as the rear brake works.

My decision is to go with this idea as I feel that it offers a better solution in the event of a failure. It does not change much the component list above, merely a plumbing change. I will be plumbing the left front brake with one outlet and the right front brake through the other outlet, teeing off and going through the proportioning valve to the rear brake.

Here is a graphic showing the brake circuits:

I welded on a bunch of mounting tabs along the sides, under the rear pontoon I would only be able to put mounting tabs on one side as there would not be enough room on the other side. I basically ran it from just behind the front subframes all the way back to about where the shifter on the engine is. It will be mounted using 3/4" long #14 screws and when done I will plug the ends with mini-cell foam to help keep the inside from accumulating stuff, here is a picture of it ready to put on:

As much as possible I tried to use full lengths of lines so that I had as little cutting/flairing as possible. However some smaller pieces had to be fabricated. First I tried out doing some flairs on a couple of sample parts, on the 3rd one the little nub on the 3/16" die broke! The flairing tool did not sit squarely and it went off center a little bit and sheared the pin. Lesson learned as I had to go out and purchase a whole new flairing tool as no one just sold the dies... Basic lesson is keep everything square and use lots of WD-40 lubricant!

Ok back with new flairing tool seemed moderately better. Using some 36" lengths of 1/16" tig welding wire (a wire clothes hanger would also do) I bent it into the shapes that I needed for all pieces that required bending. I have a pretty good tubing bending tool that can bend tubing to 180 degrees. I would highly recommend one like this as the ones that bend 90 degrees just are not enough for some of the bends.

Begin at the brake master cylinder, I had to run a line down to a tee and from the tee to the proportioning valve using 3/16" tubing. From the valve I went under the chassis and to the back of the vehicle.

Then I ran some 1/4" tubing for the clutch master cylinder, and 1/4" tubing for the fuel line through in a similar fashion drilled a couple of 1/2" holes to run the tubing through the chassis. Here is what the plumbing up front currently looks like:

Next I used some double line retaining clips (got at local ACE hardware store) to hold the lines under the chassis. Then I ran all lines all the way to the back, slipped on the tubing/protector that I made and screwed it to the chassis.

Since I could not work on the front lines I went underneath and tied down the lines that go through the front steering rack tunnel. It is a bit hard to get to as it is pretty tight in space, I had to be sure that the three new lines would not hit the gator (boot) on the drivers side of the rack & pinion steering. Turned out that the lines were rubbing a bit so with a little judicial force persuaded them to sit flatter inside the tunnel and anchored them with some clips. Also anchored them with clips just before they entered the protective tube, I still have to plug the tubing ends with mini-cell foam to keep out stuff from getting into inside of tubing.

Here are a couple pictures showing the line routing:

Next onto the back of the lines, I had to shorten slightly the line for the hydraulic clutch so estimated where to cut it. Then I had to reflair the line, this is *not* an easy task performing it on the vehicle, it is a job far better suited for doing on a bench vise. But had no choice, it took a while but I finally got it done and then formed the line to put the fitting in a suitable position.

I was going to do a similar thing with the fuel line but after messing with the clutch line I decided not to shorten it and put on a flaired fitting, instead I just cut some length off from it and formed to line so that it would be located next to the clutch line.

Talked to the guy at AN Plumbing, real helpful he basically knew all the part numbers that I needed - off the top of his head! They really had everything that I needed to complete brakes/clutch/fuel lines so ordered everything from them. See below for remainder of items ordered, have it broken down by function.

They actually sell what they refer to as a it is a half height nut with a nylon portion, if needed I will grind off the nylon portion of the nut to make it shorter.

These springs were previously ordered from Moss Motors #661-655. These springs are from a 75-80 Spitfire MKIV because it seems that these model years vehicles are almost 200# heavier than the 71-74 model years.

In doing a bunch of research I found these Spax shocks, they are not only ride adjustable but they are also height adjustable. I found other height adjustable shocks but most of them seem to allow only for the lowering of a vehicle, I wanted to be able to increase the ride height if necessary. These have to be shipped from Europe so may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive.

I also looked into Koni shocks, the suitable ones for the Spitfire are #80-1388, but to make them height adjustable Koni sells some 42mm threaded sleeves (#80.0000.005) and threaded perch (#80.0000.0006) that can go on the outside of the shock. The price for a Koni shock w/sleeve and lower perch is about $153. I decided to go with the Spax instead and not have to fuss over extra parts, plus I get the ride adjustment to boot. The Koni shocks would have to come from Holland and they also had a 5-6 week waiting period.

In reviewing the front suspension construction sheets from the Vortex I believe that I might have put the top shock mount about 1/2" too high, this was probably what was making my tire/fender problem worse that it should have. The problem stems from the fact that the top of my shock was different than what the plans called for and the difference in mounting geometery caused the slight shift in height. The original plans called for a 1/2" top mounting bolt (similar to the lower mount) while the original Spitfire shocks use a top spring mounting plate as follows:

Here are a couple of pictures with the cooler in and out:

I took the radiator and located where it will be mounted in the vehicle. I had to offset the radiator all the way to the right as the filler cap would have hit the chassis, an unforseen item however there was just enough room to compensate. As it is the bottom of the radiator clears the head of the engine by about 3/4" and bottom of the fans by 1/4". It also had to be mounted low enough so that I could remove the radiator cap without removing the mounting bolts.