(Fourth Edition - 2012)
A great 106 page book about
racing Triumph Spitfires and GT6s
Only available direct from me at £9.50 (plus
delivery)
Delivery cost: £2.50 UK, £7.00
Mainland Europe,
£9.00 rest of the world (sorry it's so much Royal Mail have increased the
international postage price by over 250% between 2010 and 2024)
You
can pay
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| UK including delivery £12.00: | |
| Mainland Europe including delivery £16.50: | |
| Rest of world £18.50: | |
| Anywhere in the world US$29: |
Contents of the book (4th Edition) 1 Introduction 2 The Four Cylinder Small Triumph Engine
2.1 Which four cylinder engine is best? 2.2 Where from? 2.3 Watch out 3 The Six Cylinder Triumph GT6 Engine 4 Building a Race Engine 4.1 How much will it cost? 4.2 Watch out for bullshit 4.3 Block 4.4 Crankshaft 4.5 Bearings 4.6 Sizing main and big end bearings 4.7 Front pulley: 4 cylinder 4.8 Crankshaft damper 4.9 Flywheel 4.10 Connecting rods 4.11 Pistons 4.12 Oil pump 4.13 Camshaft 4.14 Timing gear 4.15 Cam followers 4.16 Cylinder head 4.17 A note on compression 4.18 Cylinder head studs or bolts? 4.19 Rocker box 4.20 Valves 4.21 Valve guides 4.22 Valve caps 4.23 Valve springs 4.24 Valve collets 4.25 Rocker gear 4.26 Push rods 4.27 Engine plates 4.28 Oil 4.29 Sump pan 4.30 Exhaust system 4.31 Exhaust wrap 5 Fuel Delivery 5.1 Modifying SU carburettors 5.2 Twin-choke carburettors 5.3 Alternative carburettors 5.4 6 Cylinder inlet manifolds & linkages 5.5 Carburettor linkage 5.6 6 Cylinder twin choke carburettor
sizing 5.7 Weber matching 5.8 Air filters 5.9 Forced induction 5.10 Fuel pump and filter (carburettors) 5.11 Petrol tank 5.12 Fuel 5.13 Fuel injection 6 Engine Cooling 6.1 Water radiator 6.2 Radiator fan 6.3 Oil cooler 6.4 Water pump - mechanical 6.5 Water pump - electric 6.6 Thermostat 6.7 Cylinder head cooling 7 The Electrical System 7.1 Electrical basics 7.2 Electrical connections 7.3 Relays 7.4 Dynamo or Alternator? 7.5 Lights or no lights? 7.6 Switches 7.7 Ignition 7.8 Ignition advance – mechanical and vacuum
7.9 Electronic ignition 7.10 Distributor (general) 7.11 Rotor arm 7.12 Distributor cap 7.13 Plug leads 7.14 Spark plugs 7.15 Spark plug fouling 8 Instrumentation 8.1 Oil pressure warning 8.2 Gauges 8.3 Tachometer 8.4 Data logging 8.5 Shift lights 8.6 Speedometer 9 Gearbox, Clutch & Propshaft 9.1 Gearbox types - original 9.2 Which gearbox fits into what? 9.3 Uprated Spitfire gearboxes 9.4 The Ford Type 9 gearbox 9.5 Oil retention 9.6 Gearbox oil 9.7 Remote change 9.8 Overdrive 9.9 Bellhousing – 4 cylinder 9.10 Propshaft 9.11 Clutch master and slave cylinders 9.12 Clutch – 4 cylinder 9.13 Clutch – 6 cylinder 10 Final Drive 10.1 Ratio summary 10.2 Casings and shafts 10.3 Crown wheel and pinion (CWP) 10.4 Mechanical traction control devices 10.5 Gear oil 10.6 Electronic traction control 11 Brakes 11.1 Factory brakes 11.2 The hand brake (aka parking brake) 11.3 Improving the standard brakes 11.4 Brake pad compound 11.5 GT6 front brakes on a Spitfire 11.6 Vented front disks 11.7 Four pot brake calipers - Princess 11.8 Racing brake calipers 11.9 Braking folkore 11.10 Twin brake master systems 11.11 More on brake cooling 11.12 Brake Feel 12 Front Suspension & Steering 12.1 Steering rack and column 12.2 Bump steer 12.3 Steering wheel 12.4 Front hubs 12.5 Wishbones (upper and lower) 12.6 Front anti-roll (sway) bar 12.7 Camber angles 12.8 Front and rear toe in 12.9 Caster angle 12.10 Front springs 12.11 Shock absorbers 12.12 Corner weights 12.13 Summary of possible front suspension
modifications 13 Rear Suspension 13.1 The rear suspension types 13.2 Swing spring Vs fixed spring 13.3 Shock absorbers 13.4 Rear anti-roll (sway) bar 13.5 Rear half-shafts (swing axle) 13.6 Rear spring spacers 13.7 Rear uprights (swing axle) 13.8 Radius arms (swing axle) 13.9 Rotoflex 13.10 The Rotoflex upgrade 13.11 Rear uprights and wishbone (Rotoflex) 13.12 Rear suspension modification 14 Bodytub and Chassis 14.1 Roll cage 14.2 Roll-cage. Buy or fabricate? 14.3 Headroom 14.4 The boot (trunk) 15 Safety 15.1 Suggested basic safety requirements 15.2 Clothing 15.3 Optional safety features 16 Weight Saving 17 A note on Rules 18 Wheels and Tyres 18.1 Steel vs. alloy wheels 18.2 Fouling 18.3 After market alloy wheels 18.4 Wheel studs (lugs) 18.5 Buying second-hand wheels 18.6 What are 'Mags' ? 18.7 Wheel size 18.8 Wheel spacers 18.9 Tread patterns and grip 18.10 Tyre size 18.11 Slick tyres 18.12 Tyre wear 18.13 Tyre pressure and temperature 18.14 A note concerning 'Road holding' and
'Handling' 18.15 Set-up 18.16 Recommendations 19 Practising and Testing 19.1 Practising 19.2 Heel-and-toe 19.3 What does heel-and-toe do? 19.4 Testing 19.5 Instructors 20 Circuit Notes 20.1 Cadwell Park 20.2 Snetterton 20.3 Mallory Park 20.4 Oulton Park 20.5 Silverstone (National Circuit) 20.6 Silverstone (Stowe) 20.7 Thruxton 20.8 Lydden Hill 20.9 Croft 20.10 Pembrey 20.11 Brands Hatch 20.12 Castle Combe 20.13 Donington Park 20.14 Rockingham 20.15 Anglesey 21 Suppliers and Contacts 22 Bibliography 23 Rough breakdown of costs 24 Things to keep you going 25 Where did I go wrong? 26 About the Author