Bordfunker

I'm not aiming for a concours finish Dave, so I can live with the odd gap that may be out of tolerance. I think you have to accept that the Herald & Vitesse are real 'bitsa' cars, rather than the all of a piece monocoque structures of many of their contemporaries, but that's why we love them, as it also makes them easy to work on. I finally screwed up my courage and broke out the new mig welder yesterday and spent an hour setting it up and practising on some sheet steel. It wasn't great, but I did manage to join two pieces of steel together, so more practise is in order before I attempt a fix on the chassis. Karl

It's a Triumph, so I'm aiming for wonky chassis and body! Karl

I want avoid that, having had to do that on my previous Herald, and it never went back together again after that! Also I always heard that any outrigger replacement is best attempted with the tub on for alignment purposes, and I am rather hoping that I can get away with a patch on the outrigger for now, as the bulk of it is solid. Karl

Following hot on the heels of yesterday's activity, I decided to have a go at removing the under seal with white spirit, which I must admit I was somewhat sceptical about. This was my starting point, under seal applied liberally to both outrigger and bulkhead. First up I doused the area with white spirit applied with a brush, and allowed it to soak in for 10 minutes or so. I then attempted to remove the under seal with a wall paper scraper, but it just wasn't cutting it, so I tried a wood chisel instead. Immediate results, which left me with this in under half an hour. It seems my skepticism was misplaced, and half an hour after this, and with some effort with the stripping disc I had this. Unfortunately this also highlighted some holes in the front outrigger that weren't supposed to be there. These had been covered by under seal previously, and the box section of the out rigger was full of leaves and dirt, which had to be blown out with a high pressure air line, and these probably contributed significantly to the rot here. Before I attempt a fix the holes in the out rigger I'll remove the passenger side sill, it's damaged anyway, and check the condition of the side rail. No point patching up the end of the outrigger if the side rail is toast, which I don't think it is. I think next weekend maybe spent practising my welding skills, and probably the weekend after that and so on! I'm glad I bought a welder capable of handling chassis gauge steel, all part of my cunning master plan to try and make myself more self sufficient, particularly as son no.2 is off to Uni this September. Karl

I finally got back from Malaysia early yesterday morning, but the effects of jet lag meant I didn't feel much like working on the Herald until today unsurprisingly. Before I went away I tidied the garage up, and got my eldest son to give me a hand lifting the bonnet onto the roof of the Herald, getting it out of the way, and reducing my opportunities to bang my head on it! This has made a big difference in terms of access, as you can see from the second picture, and allowed me to continue working on the passenger side of the chassis. This is the bit I like least, spending hours with wire bushes, stripping back paint and rust to bare metal, and then treating it with Kurust, which is bad enough on the bits which are easy to reach, but is a complete pain in the arse when it comes to the dumb irons and the various sticky out bits of the chassis. This is where I had got to after a couple of hours. I hate cleaning out the rears of the dumb irons! Did I mention that already? I also removed the starter motor to improve access to the chassis, at this rate there's going to very little left attached to this car! Some previous owner decided it would be great idea to cover the chassis and bulkhead in a black under seal type paint, which is impervious to wire brushes and stripping discs. Apparently white spirit can shift this stuff, so I know what I'll be trying tomorrow! I'll also continue the clean up of the front bumper support, the ends of which are looking a little tatty, as you can see from the pic below. I think these may need a bit of tidy up, and the application of some weld beads, so I better get practising with my newly acquired mig welder. Karl

You'll be telling me you've never seen Star Wars next! Karl

Thanks Dave I might go have a look at that, as the metal on mine is pretty thin to attempt welding on. Karl

Colin, that's brilliant thanks for that. I'll give them a call. Thanks Karl

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Looks like I will either need to find a donor vehicle, or fabricate a patch. I think the latter is more likely, but first I'll have to cut back the rust until I hit solid metal, then I can assess just how complex an undertaking that might be. Thanks again. Karl

As many of you know I've been working on my Herald 1200 for the last 9 months, and now need to look at replacing the passenger side boot corner where the rear out rigger attached, see pics below. I have looked around the usual sources for a repair panel, but without joy. Does anyone know if a repair panel is produced for this section, or I'm looking at fabricating a new section? Thanks Karl

Given my experience with the engine mount I think I'll steer clear of modern rubber mountings and go for poly where possible, though not the swearing kind! After yesterday's significant progress on the passenger side suspension, today has been a little less spectacular, focussing on clearing the brake and fuel pipes out of the way to allow access to the chassis. This is the before... ..and this is after today's efforts. Getting to this point required detaching the brake line running from the union to the rear of the car at the joint under the passenger seat on the main chassis rail. Needles to say it was filthy, caked in mud and grease. The fuel line from the tank to the pump also needed to be removed as it exits from the same point in the front passenger side outrigger, but thankfully this is a push fit, allowing it to be pulled off with a little effort. But before I could do that, I needed to empty the fuel tank, which I did by unscrewing the fuel feed into the pump, and then allowing it to empty into a fuel can. Given the age of the car I let the fuel drain through a paint filter before transferring it to my Citroen C1, as there was just too much for me to store safely. With the tank empty I was able to remove the tank. Now this may sound a bit dramatic, but I already knew I had a hole in the boot floor by the chassis mounts which would need welding, as you can see in the pics below, so removing the tanks makes sense. And in glorious Rustikolor close up! Wouldn't fancy welding this up with a petrol tank on top! Here's the tank itself. I'll steam clean it internally this week, before removing the sender unit and cleaning out the interior of the tank. Assuming it's all OK I'll give the tank a coat of paint and replace the sender unit seal, as well as filler neck seal, as mine is very ragged. With the tank out, I could then proceed to start clean up of the passenger side of the chassis. This was 45 minutes work with the aluminium oxide disks and wire brushes. It's a good start, but I see much work with the drill ahead of me this week. I also managed to pop the old bushes out of the upper and lower wishbones, though the damper bush is proving altogether tougher. Tomorrow will be a trip to IKEA so probably won't get a chance to do anything. Karl

Thanks for the encouragement Pete! All the parts look to be in good nick under all that crud, exempting the bushes which generally look fried. Karl

Having taken Mrs B around the garden centres this afternoon, and bought her a small tree for the garden, as promised for Mothers Day, I got a couple of hours in on the Herald, finishing up on the driver's side and making a start on the passenger side suspension. Yesterday I'd left the driver's side with the wishbones and dampers attached, but not the upright, so today would be my opportunity to attach the upright and hub assembly. Only one slight snag, I was missing the massive washer which sits on the back of the stub axle. Now, don't think me a complete fool, I had ordered a box of assorted washers earlier in the week, but unfortunately they haven't turned up yet, so instead I decided to press on and fit the stub axle without the washer for now. I have written a series of notes to myself on the windscreen so I don't forget to fit washers, torque up bolts and oil the trunnion before I take the car out. Here we are with the upright attached. At this point I got carried away, and didn't take any more pics of the driver's side, but it does look a lot nicer now, just need to clean up the calliper and hub a bit as they let the side down. With the driver's side predominately complete, I set to on the passenger side, removing the already rebuilt upright , which came very easily as you'd expect. This is the passenger side after I had removed all of the suspension components. All looking pretty mucky, and in need of a serious clean up. The suspension components themselves are very cruddy, and the bushes on the shock and upper wishbones look very tired. No doubt the bushes on the lower wishbone are in similar condition, but I haven't split the wishbone from the brackets yet. The spring is very tatty, but I'm sure will come up OK with a clean up and a coat of paint. The suspension tower is much rougher than the driver's side, but doesn't look to have any serious corrosion. And here it all is awaiting clean up. I think I know what I'm doing for the rest of the week! Karl

Well I did manage to get the paintwork finished last weekend, but then came the boring bit, letting it all harden off for few days before I could start doing the interesting bit, putting it all back together. So, today, time to start putting it all back together again, but first let's take a look at the parts all laid out and ready to go. First up was the suspension tower, which was, to be honest, was a right pain to install, as it's held in place with 5 bolts, 4 of which are secured into two plates which sit into channels in the chassis. You can see the four bolts in the pic below. Sounds simple, but comes down to trying to keep the plates in the place, while inserting the bolts, all of which would be straightforward if the plates were a tight fit, but they're not, so it all turns into a bit of a balancing act. Needless to say I managed it, but only after turning the air blue in the garage! Next up up was the engine mount, which just required jacking up the engine to get it all in the right position, before dropping the jack and bolting everything up. That was a lot easier! Emboldened by that success, time to fit the lower wishbone, which I am glad to say slid into position, once I'd remembered where I had put the shims which sit behind the mounts on the chassis. I'd put them in the boot for safe keeping! All that went together very easily with no issues, so onto the upper wishbones and the damper and spring. Note to self, install the upper wishbone first, not the spring and damper! I'll remember that for when I do the passenger side. And that's where I left it for today. I'm off now until after Easter, so with a bit of luck I'll get the driver's side rebuilt, and the passenger side cleaned and repainted, but final assembly may have to wait my return from Malaysia. Karl

It's OK Doug, I've done my calculations and the weight of the paint is equal to the weight of crud and rust removed so far! Back from the NEC now, and chilling out with a coffee, but should get a chance to finish the paintwork later. Karl

Following on from last weekend's application of the red oxide primer there really was no excuse not to apply a couple of coats of Dolphin Grey using the rattle can of said colour that had come with the car. Now, if I'm honest I'm not a great fan of rattle cans for top coat, fine for primer especially etch where you don't want to messing around with various elements, but not top coats. So despite my misgivings I applied a couple of coats of top coat using the rattle can, and it actually came out looking OK, even if the can was a pain in the nooks and crannies where a bit more control would be useful. However it soon became clear that one rattle can doesn't go very far, and given I still have the other side to do, this was going to get expensive. Considering that I now have a compressor, it doesn't make a lot of sense to keep forking out £10-15 per rattle can, when I could buy a litre of paint from the club for £26. Well that is how I justified purchasing a clean air pack from GTAir and a mini HVLP gun, along with paint and thinners from the club shop. I've never used a spray gun before, but have been using air brushes for the last decade and a half, so I understand the principles at least. Paint, thinners, measuring cups and paint filter lined up and ready to go. Here's the gun, complete with moisture trap. It's a lot smaller than the gun that came with the compressor, but that is fitted with a 1.8 mm nozzle, and only really suitable for primers, whereas this one has a 0.8 mm nozzle, and is much smaller and far better suited for the smaller areas that I need to paint at the moment. It also looks smart in its blue & chrome finish, though I doubt it will stay that way for long, given the state of my airbrushes! Now, I know the principle, but there comes a time where you need to actually try painting, so I mixed up 200 ml of paint and thinners at a 50/50 ratio, poured some into the paint cup and had a bash. This is the suspension turret and brace after a couple of coats. Note the classy painting rack! As well as the turret and associated components, I also sprayed the chassis on the driver's side, but didn't take any pics as the light is pants at that end of the garage, note to self : reverse car into garage next time when working on the front! Overall I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out. There are a couple of areas I need to revisit, but overall it looks decent enough given that these are chassis components, and therefore have a relatively rough surface finish as a result. I might get some time to finish this off this weekend, but seeing as I'm off to the NEC tomorrow, it may be a Monday evening job. Assuming that it does get done, it means that I can reassemble the suspension on the driver's side next weekend, which will feel like major progress. Karl

With the weather slowly improving, and the temperature in the garage slowly rising, boosted by the heater so that it is actually warm enough to paint in the garage again, time to apply the red oxide primer. First up were the smaller components, such as brackets, braces and the suspension turret itself. And a close up of the largest item the turret. Before applying the red oxide I gave everything a rub down with a sanding sponge I usually use for my modelling, just to make sure I had a nice smooth surface to start with. The chassis got the same treatment before I sprayed the red oxide, but unlike the smaller components which were easy to spray due to being hung up, the chassis needed a few more contortions, including having to lay on my back to get paint onto the back of the bumper rail and dumb irons, and also into the two box mounts for the steering rack. With that lot drying off, I decided to return to cleaning up the driver's side engine valance, which revealed this. And it was holed on the other side too. The rib that had been pressed into the panel, and then double skinned, had obviously filled up with crud over the last 49 years, most of which had set hard, but still managed to act as a moisture trap. This is some of the muck that came out. No wonder it had rotted out. At this point I decided to do something that I might regret, dissembling the two parts which make up the valance by drilling out the spot welds, as I figures if was this bad on the outside, how bad was it on the inside? Well that answers that question then! Here we are after 20 minutes of clean up. Given that this is a non-structural component I'm wondering if I can get away with cutting back to good metal, applying a coat of weld through primer, and then plug welding the two parts back together. Alternatively I might just look for a decent 2nd hand replacement. Karl

Tony, I can't comment on the specifics of the convertibles, but having owned two Heralds they have a tendency to rot in all the usual places, front and rear wheel arches, corners of boot floors where they mount to the chassis, door bottoms are particularly prone to tin worm. In each case repair panels are available, as are full panels for the common areas, wings, door skins etc. Because of the separate chassis, you also need to check that, especially the out riggers which run under the perimeter of the cabin. These are frequently rotten, but also relatively cheap to replace parts wise. In terms of fitting, this can usually be done with body on, and to be honest is probably better done that way, if only for set up, to ensure that all the mounting points remain in the right places relative to the body. The saving grace of the Herald is that it a giant Meccano set, with many sections of the shell bolting together, to allow easy replacement or removal for repair. I haven't touched a spanner in years, but have really enjoyed getting to grips with my Heald over the last 9 months. Karl

Good suggestion Pete, I'll have a look. I did do a quick Google search for NOS mounts and there still seem to be some out there. Karl

Pete mine looks like it has been assembled as per the WSM, as the links were attached to the dumb iron at the round hole, rather than the slot, and looks like it's been that way since it left the factory. So anyone's guess what's happened there. I've propped the bonnet open, supported on a couple of props, to improve access. But decided to take it a step further and remove the radiator as well. Here we are with the radiator removed and the driver's side of the chassis etch primed. You'll have to excuse the poor lighting as having the bonnet up, blocks the meagre light from the bulb in the garage. It took me ages yesterday clearing all the muck and rust from the backs of the dumb irons, using a variety of wire brushes. I had ordered a new long skinny wire brush last week, specifically for this task, but I'm still waiting for these to turn up! The chassis that I've etch primed so far will get a coat of red oxide primer this week, quickly followed by a couple of coats of Dolphin Grey, after which it will be allowed to harden off for a week, before I can then start reassembly of the suspension. I also had a go at the bar which sits beneath the radiator, on which the horns are mounted. This part was in a real state, coated in crud, and with pealing paint and lots of rust, and it will need more cleaning up before it's fit for painting. Still that will have to wait until the new sanding wheels turn up, assuming that they do of course! Next up was the driver's side engine bay valance, which was in a bit of a state, but which has responded well even to my worn stripping discs. Still a bit more work to be done on the rear of the valance, but starting to look better. Once these are clean, they'll get a coat of Kurust, and then etch primer and gloss black. Just to show that I'm not just taking parts off the car, here are the upper and lower wishbones, ready for reinstallation, including bushes. Upper wishbone and top ball joint. These are now set aside, awaiting the refurbished suspension tower to be fitted, which, hopefully, won't be too long now. On a less positive note, this is the driver's side engine mount. Yes, one of the ones I replaced late last year! I feel an email to Rimmer's coming on! Karl

Rather than work on the big stuff this weekend, I decided to focus on some of the smaller components removed from the car in the last week. First up were the two T brackets which are attached to the front chassis uprights, and which provide a mounting point for the front valance behind the front overriders. The one on the right is as removed, including hacksawed screws, as one had stripped it's head, and the other had a not so captive nut. The one on the left has received the benefits of the oxide disks and wire brushes, leaving it lovely and shiny, and ready for paint. I'll need to source two new screws and spire nuts, once I've identified the right ones from the Rimmer's site. The two bonnet hinge brackets also revived the same attention. Neither looked like they had seen an oil can in years, and as a result both spacer tubes were firmly rusted to the pivot bolt, requiring a dose of WD40, before being clamped in the vice and a spanner applied. The one on the left is still soaking in WD40, and I'll have another go tomorrow. One of the bonnet to chassis stays also received a clean up, and came up looking lovely![ Almost a shame to have to paint it! I also had a go at the new bracket, drilling it out with a 10mm drill. Even with this modification the bracket was still a pig to fit to the wishbone, requiring much pushing and shoving before the pivot bolt would go in. I did a quick test fit of the lower wishbone to the chassis to make sure everything fitted as it should, which thankfully it did, but I didn't take any pics. Karl

I'm just about to repaint part of my chassis following a suspension overhaul, and have already primed it with a grey etch primer. I was intending to give it a coat of red oxide primer before applying the top coat of Dolphin Grey, however I can't remember why I was convinced that I needed the red oxide base for the grey topcoat. Is my memory playing tricks on me, or should be applying the top coat? Karl

Nev, glad you're enjoying the thread. I always like to see photos of the work that people do on their cars, as it's so much better than a description for novices like me. I've used Halfords rattle cans so far for the etch primer and the gloss black without any issues so far. I've used the Halfords red oxide on the bulk heads, but so far not overcoated it with anything. Still I'm aiming to put a coat of red oxide over the etch primer on the chassis and suspension tower, followed by a top coat of Dolphin Grey over the weekend, so we'll soon see if I have any issues. I must admit the etch primer goes on beautifully, and is a great base for top coats. Karl

Sod Easter it's my birthday this month! Karl

I thought about that when I put them back on. Thinking I'll rebuild the spring and damper over the weekend, and give the nuts a good clean up before refitting them. Karl