Triumph Repair: 70 and 78 compatibility, british sports cars, stromberg carburetor

Question
I love this site I can't believe how fast and accurate the answers are awesome. Ok well I am new to triumph so I hope these aren't silly questions first I have a 1970 and a 1978 spitfire and was wondering if I can switch bodies can the  1970 body fit onto the 1978, I know the frames are pretty much similar but was wondering if I can leave the engine and trans and all that on the 78 and simply swap the body of the 70 onto it? will the interior of the 78 fit into the 70? and last question on the zenith single carb on the 78 is in normal for rad fluid to be in the automatic choke? cheers

Answer
Hi David,

I believe the frame and body mounting points are the same but that is a guess, as I have never tried to switch the 70 and a 78. The older British sports cars tended to keep the same bodies for many years even when minor trim was changed or bumpers. The only places I would examine closely is the bumper area as that would be the most likely change if there were any.

The Stromberg carburetor with the auto-choke did use engine coolant to operate the auto choke. However, these were so much trouble that an aftermarket company went into production with a manual choke control to eliminate the auto-choke. You might check with Moss Motors or suppliers like that to see if they still handle them.

Howard