Skip's Belchfire

[Skip]

Finally after eighteen months I got the Spitfire out of the garage. The 1975 Triumph Spitfire has finally seen the light of day. It is nasty, dusty, and has bad gas. Just like its owner. Yes it took a while to fire it up and keep it running with two year old gas but it does run and with a litle TLC will be back into cruising speed again. You will notice by the pics that it is customized. The bonnet is off a GT6 and the interior dash is cherry wood with more gauges than the original. It has been rebuilt about six years ago and it still runs. Just have to play with it some and away we go... Hope yall like the pics and no she has not seen water in eighteen months....Skip... And the reason it is the belchfire..well it followed in my footsteps...Thats what my youngins say...

[SkyBaby]

THAT IS GORGEOUS... Hope you let me sit in her when I get there.... SkyBaby

[Skip]

When I last put this car in the garage it had just under a quarter tank of gas. I added stabil to it. Now after 18 months in the garage I think I have bad gas because it runs rough. I popped all the plugs and turned it by hand to make sure that the cylinders were not seized. Then cleaned the plugs and stuck them in. Fired it up and every thing works but it is rough. Besides dumping the 2 or 3 gallions of gas what could I put in the tank to burn off the rest of the gas before I stick new gas in it?...Skip...

[JohnD]

Mighty purty. Like the color, too.

Looks like you found a new gal to keep you company!

[xmicro_Redline]

Really nice Skip, a classic!!

[Skip]

This is the car that I have had since 1975. It has been custimized by me over the years. I completly redid the inside. I got me a chunk of cherry wood and had it planed down to 3/8 inch. Took my old veneered wood dash and transposed the layout onto the wood plank. I skill sawed the new dash out of the plank and then used a router freeform to cut the gap on the guages layout. Then camethe fun part of sanding everything by hand for a nice tight fit. After that varnish and sanding till about 7 coats on the dash. Then reassembly. For the dash top I used nogahide because I figured that over 32 years leather would have cracked from sun use and I would have to do it again. Anyway the guages new and old all work. I had to buy a new tach because the old one just quit. It has the original speedo, gas, temperature guages. I added oil pressure and amp meter guages. It has mostly the original wiring. The hard part was the side marker lites because they do not have any original ones anywhere under a 100 dollars apiece. So I went to the autozone and bought side marker lights and installed them. The color For the exterior I had mixed and painted myself with my air compresser. I plastisized the whole inside of the garage to seal the rest from overspray and shot the base coat and two color coats and two clear coats all in one day. It took me awhile to reassembly the interior because I had to redo both floor pans with kittyhair and that was a PIA. All new carpet and seals and the door panels got new nagohide and foam backing. new seat covers and foam. And because it got hot I bought new sheep skin seat covers in grey to keep my ass from burning up.I rebuilt the engine and bored the thing 45 over and new flat pistons instead of the stock concave ones. The engine came out of a 1974 car because it was pre-emissions. No carbon cannister and related garbage. I reworked the head for non lead gas. When I put on the long tube headers it was ready to fire up and did it sound sweet.The tranny and the rearend came out of the same 1974 car because of me racing and tearing the chunk gears and the transmission gears out. Hey I beat the X 1/9 by two lengths. And that was when I was 30 years old. I redid the brake system with all new seals and then put in silicone brake fluid and I have had no leaksover 20 years. The car runs rich after I rebuilt the side draft carb. I figuered that I better use as much gas for the 10 to 1 engine as I could . It has about 60,000 miles on it and when it purrs it runs like it did back in 1975. It also has a 1975 suspension upgraded with shocks, ball joints, yadda yadda. And yes, it feels like you are riding in a go-cart at 75 miles an hour. It has been a good girl to me and yesterday I came to the conclusion that it has to be sold. Dang I am getting to old to try to get in and out of her. My knees and butt were sore from sitting in it. When yall complain about the Sky and being small inside well the Belchfire is so small that you can put a long neck bottle on the ground while sitting in it as well as roll down the passenger window from the drivers side. Talk about tight...Well I thought yall would like to see what the Belchfire looks like before I clean her up. Oh and the reason I call it the belch fire is my youngins when growing up would listen to their dad as I drunk quite a few brewskis working on the BELCH fire. Hehehe...Skip...

[TulsaSky]

Sorry to hear your ready to part with old Belch fire but if your not driving it and letting the general public see a classic and enjoying the car then maybe it is time to let it go. I will hang on to my Vicki (64 Alpine) until like you its to hard too get in and out of her and by golly I can not keep up the maintenance, darn LBC (little British car) take a lot of tinkering. My daughter says she has first tibs on Vicki, not sure if she will ever be capable of seriously taking care of the old car, nephew that is rebuilding the Austin Healey would be my first choice to hand Vicki down to. Just make sure you sell old Belch fire to the right person, its not about the money anymore its about having someone appreciate and take care of the LBC!
These LBC's are like old Aunts, annoying at times but members of the family, have to find someone that will take care of them, treat them right

TulsaSky

[marlboromike]

TulsaSKY is right...someone who can give respect to a memory....by the way, is that an 8 track sitting in that rust bucket...said lovingly, of course.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by marlboromike

TulsaSKY is right...someone who can give respect to a memory....by the way, is that an 8 track sitting in that rust bucket...said lovingly, of course.

No that is a C/D player and behind the seats are the speakers and inside up front is two smaller speakers. So 4 speakers in all within this tiny car...greatsound with top down...Skip...

[Midnight Sky]

Ah....now that brings back memories......but, alas, I guess I was the enemy.

The first car I owned was a Bertone X-1/9. It is now long gone, but I loved it (though being my first car I didn't have much to compare it to). It started my love affair with small two-seater cars (ultimately leading me to purchase the Sky).

I guess I came along too late (I bought the X-1/9 in 1987) but I never fell into that whole British versus Italian battle that raged through 70's and early 80's. I've always liked all of the cars from that era: X-1/9's, Spitfires, Opels, Triumphs, etc.

[JohnD]

Hey - can you lower the top without getting out of the car?

Huh? Huh?

I guess Triumph doesn't know anything about making "true" roadsters...



What are you looking to get for your little buddy there? How much would make you a happy guy?

[Grandpa]

GREAT CAR, Skip. And thanks for sharing all the details of the re-build. That was a great accomplishment. Are those carbs SU"s? I used to have an MG. Had to balance the SU's every time I drove into the driveway. And I could adjuct the timing on the side of the road with just a 12 v bulb and aligator clips. Ah--the old days. When you get ready to sell, find someone you would be willing to give it to if they would love it like you do.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by JohnD

Hey - can you lower the top without getting out of the car?

Huh? Huh?

I guess Triumph doesn't know anything about making "true" roadsters...



What are you looking to get for your little buddy there? How much would make you a happy guy?

I could iffen I did not pop the snaps put the top up faster than the first raindrop...I want , considering that there are not anymore out there in working order, about 8000 dollars. I think that would make me happy....Skip...

[Skip]

Originally Posted by Grandpa

GREAT CAR, Skip. And thanks for sharing all the details of the re-build. That was a great accomplishment. Are those carbs SU"s? I used to have an MG. Had to balance the SU's every time I drove into the driveway. And I could adjuct the timing on the side of the road with just a 12 v bulb and aligator clips. Ah--the old days. When you get ready to sell, find someone you would be willing to give it to if they would love it like you do.

No it is a Stromburg carb with new neddle and rubber. I keep ATF in the shock part of the carb. and yes I have played and reworked that carb over the years. I adjust it till I see black smoke and then back off a smidge...That way it goes thru the gas till I store it again...Skip...

[Skip]

Originally Posted by JohnD

Hey - can you lower the top without getting out of the car?

Huh? Huh?

I guess Triumph doesn't know anything about making "true" roadsters...



What are you looking to get for your little buddy there? How much would make you a happy guy?

Iffen I do not pop the snaps I can have the top up and locked in a blink of an eye. If I have to get out and snap it on well I can do it as fast as doing the Sky. As to a price I am thinking 8000 dollars. As I said it is customed...You will not find another like it in the USA...Skip...

[V8 SKY]

I an '80 Spitfire for 10 years. Fun and reliable for a few years, then basically a pain. Always had to set timing and tweak the carb, and I just wanted to have a car I could drive anytime I wanted.

I did love the lines - classic British look (though by 1980, the big, black bumpers had slightly ruined the look), and the green I had was sweet. The top was a pain compared to the SKY. All the snaps, and the Zip-Up rear window.. definitely as an emergency only, just in case you got caught in the rain. Driving with the top up SUCKED! It did have an acceptable sized trunk, however.

My SKY has all I was looking for now - great look, fun to drive, and a nice, powerful American V8 under the hood. I don't plan on selling this for a long time, and I will drive it whenever I can.