Spartan Owners Club Hints and Tips

The Spartan Owners Club has hints and tips going right back to the early Triumph based Spartans. The material originally from the club magazine Spartacus has been compiled into a Hints and Tips manual by Richard Lowenstein and is on sale to members at cost price.

The club has very a Triumph and Ford technical advisers who are experienced members who built their own cars and are prepared to talk to members about their problems or choices.

Spartacus has a section of ongoing Hints and Tips as members come across new problems or requirements. The members only Yahoo interactive site has frequent discussions concerning sourcing of parts, problems solving and idea sharing. The material varies from information regarding new legislation about M.O.T., emissions, registration, fitting of 5 speed gearboxes, tables of compatibility of gearboxes, engines and back axles, ideas for improved braking, tips on obtaining professional quality paint work, hints on fibre glassing, chassis and body repairs as well as general tips applicable to most cars eg :

A windscreen glass wholesaler told Chris a few years back about a company that will do 1 off toughened windscreens.
The company is Windsor Glass. Tel 01753 862224

To replace rubber oil seals on the valve stems without removing the head

  1. attach air line and pressurize the cylinder so keeping the valves shut while replacing the seal
  2. the low tech. approach, insets rope into the cylinder and rotate the crank (by hand) until the piston compresses the rope to the top of the cylinder so keeping the valve shut. DO NOT let the end drop into the cylinder.

OR
the current tip on your site is great but not everyone has a compressor here's how the ford mechanics do it :

Remove spark plug and feed in some heavy duty cord then turn engine over by hand until piston is at top then the valve cannot fall into the cylinder, hope this makes it easier for some people.

To prevent oil spilling out of and old filter during a service (on a pinto at least) Screw an old spark plug into the hole in the filter so preventing mass oil escape when kicked over.