Bordfunker

With it being a little warmer over the last few days I thought I would have a go at applying a black gloss coat to the rack plates and the suspension shims. Not an earth shattering bit of progress, but I always find it's the little bits that I forget about and then which delay me. I also thought I would attempt fitting the new bushes to the newly repainted lower wishbone, which after a little faffing proved to be remarkably easy. Here's one side with the mounting bolt inserted, mainly so I don't lose it! I tried fitting the fulcrum brackets to the lower wishbone, which was fine when it came to refitting the original one, but not so for the replacement bracket that I bought to replace the cracked one. The bolt holes in the new bracket are fractionally too small, so I'll need to drill these out before attaching the bracket. I then had a go a reassembling the spring and shock absorber unit using my the trusty spring compressor. All appears to have gone reasonably well, however the spindle on the top of the shop absorber doesn't appear to be fully central, you can just make it out in the photo below. I haven't fully tightened up the top nuts yet, as you can see below, so I'm not sure if it will centralise if I tighten these further, or as the unit takes the weight of the car. I might sleep on that and have another go tomorrow. Karl

I've spent a few hours tidying up the garage today as it's got into a right state with all the clean up work, as well as setting up a rail from which I can hang items for spraying from. However I did manage to get a coat of etch primer on the suspension tower. I also cleaned up the steering rack mounting plates and the lower wishbone adjustment shims with wire brushes before hitting them with a coat of etch primer. I also gave the rack mounting boxes on the chassis an extra coat of primer, having to lie underneath the car to do so. That'll do for the weekend. All of that can be allowed to harden off for a few days, and then I'll apply the red oxide primer, and top coats. Karl

Pete, I admit it, I do like shiny, but by the time I'm finished it will either be gray or black, so not so shiny, but hopefully rust free! Karl

Mine often has air in it, see pic below. I always assumed is was air drawn in from the carb as the fuel drained back towards the pump. Karl

Mrs B took youngest son off to Lancashire to take a look at Edge Hill University yesterday, staying overnight as it's a 3+ hour drive from sunny Oxfordshire, leaving me to my own devices for Friday evening, and a chunk of Saturday. This off course meant more Herald fettling, focussing on the chassis on the driver's side, and the suspension tower that I removed last week. That meant more clean up with Gunk and the steam cleaner. You can see how cruddy and oily this part of the chassis is from the photo below. This is after I attacked the front cross member with a scraper, as neither the steam cleaner now the blow gun were making an impression on the near 5mm thick layer of road muck and oil. As you can see the paint came off with the crud, leaving me with a pretty much naked cross member. Never nice! There's an oil leak from the front of the engine, but due to the level of filth I can't tell whether it's coming from the timing chain cover, or the join between the sump and the block. This is the driver's side chassis rail post clean up. Almost seems a shame to paint it! And here is the suspension tower following vigorous assault with the aluminium oxide disk. I am really loving these disks as they are absolutely stunning at removing paint and surface rust. The only problem is that they aren't deep enough to reach the bottoms of the channels the upper wishbones mount into. These had to be attacked with wire brushes and cellulose thinners, as the paint was extremely stubborn. Here it is with the obligatory coat of Kurust, and looking like a dinosaur skull! The chassis rails and front cross member got the Kurust treatment as well, but I couldn't be arsed to take any photos of them, so it was straight onto the etch primer, which went on a treat. The rack mounts boxes, those square sections either side of the cross member, are open underneath, and we're full of oily muck, which took a large chunk of the morning to get properly clean. Those wires hanging down are from one of the horns, having removed both the horn support bar, and the front valance in order to improve access for cleaning and painting. I need to get under the car tomorrow to make sure I have fully painted the interior of the rack mounts, which should be lovely given how much muck is now on the garage floor after all this cleaning! Karl

Pete, thanks for that. Moss have an office not far from where I work so I'll pop in on the way home next week. Karl

Pete, had a look at the drip tray this evening and no sign off the plug. It may be on the floor, but more likely it was lost when the original mounts were replaced. Dave, Choppers were a thing when I was a lad as well, that and the Grifter. Both looked great but were heavy as hell, and dead slow to ride. Karl

Dave, just checked the show guide and it was A1 Abrasives I bought the oxide disks from. http://www.a1abrasives.co.uk/ Pete, I didn't notice anything drop out, but with all the pushing and shoving I may well have missed it. At least it would only have dropped into the drip tray I had under the car to catch the degreaser, so I'll have to have a sift through. Karl

Dave, I think it's quite satisfying to take a knackered old part and refurbish it, rather than just buying new, even if that is easier and quicker. I got the oxide wheel from a stand at the MG & Triumph show last week, but can't remember who the seller was for the life of me. Machine Mart do them, but they are about twice what I paid, but still worth it given how good they are at removing paint and rust. I have been busy in my deluxe paint booth painting the suspension parts that I have refurbished so far..... The upper wishbones and damper still need a few more coats of paint before they are complete, but even that grotty old spring has come up nicely. Meanwhile in the garage I've been busy further reducing the mass of the Herald! Yes, I've only gone and removed the suspension tower and rack so I can clean up the rust on the chassis, here they both are on the bench. This just needs a clean up and a coat of paint before it goes back on the car, much like the rack which is in good nick. When removing the rack, I found that a previous owner had replaced the rubber rack mounts with nice solid alloy ones, which along with all the other bits and bobs are marinating in Gunk at the moment. Karl

Richard, I picked up the package that came with the blow gun, tire inflators etc, as I figured these would be useful, and I've been using the paraffin gun this afternoon with Gunk to clean the engine bay. Mine is situated in the garage, which is separate to the house, which is a good thing as it's not exactly silent, but then I don't think any compressor in this price range is going to quiet, but having said that it's quieter than a direct drive model. The other point is that the tank fills up within 2-3 minutes, and therefore unlike a smaller compressor doesn't have to be running all the time. Karl

If you are sold on a compressor, then I can recommend this one, as I bought one the other week. http://gtair.co.uk/air-compressors/1-burisch-bt-390t-90-litre-3hp-belt-drive-air-compressor.html It is a bit of a monster though at about a metre long and weighing in at just under 90kg, so the only bed you'd hide it under is a bunk bed! I bought mine with the intention of running air tools and spray guns, hence going for something at the larger end of the DIY scale. Karl

I bought a few of those when I ordered the bushes, so I'll make sure I apply some to the bolts and sleeves as well. Just need to finish repainting the suspension components first. Karl

All, many thanks for the responses on this. Sounds like I ought to protect the sleeve/bolt with silicone grease purely to resist corrosion, as one of the original bolts was seized into both the sleeve and the fulcrum bracket when I removed the wishbone, and I want to avoid that in future. Thanks again Karl

As some of you may know I have stripped down the front driver's side suspension on my 1200 Herald after noticing how tired a number of the bushes looked. I'm replacing the rubber bushes with blue polyurethane items, and have bought the correct grease to allow these to be inserted. However I am assuming that I also need to lubricate the internal metal bush to wishbone bolt interface where the wishbone pivots vertically, see blue circles in picture below. What should I be using for this? Grease? EP90? All advice happily accepted. Thanks Karl

No chance! Karl

We had a little trip out today to Stoneliegh for the Triumph & MG Spares Day, apparently MG is another brand of car from yesteryear, but I've never heard of them myself. The aim today was simply to go for a mooch around the auto jumble and tools stands, and pick up some new wire brushes as mine are knackered. What wasn't part of the plan was spotting a rather nice, rust free door to replace my not very nice, and decidedly not rust free passenger door, and all for £95, which I figured was a good deal as mine needs a new doorskin at least, and quite possibly a new door bottom as well. Said door is now stashed away alongside the Herald, hence the rather poor photo. It's actually off of a Vitesse, so hopefully won't cause the passenger side to go faster than the driver's side! My quest for the aluminium oxide standing discs proved fruitful despite the distractions of the door. Here it is chucked in my old power drill after a session cleaning up the remaining suspension components. And I have to say I was most impressed with the results, way better than wire brushes as you can see from the photo below. Like new! Very quick, very impressive and would definitely recommend. Unfortunately everything then got a coat of Kurust which turned it all black and mucky! Karl

I managed to get some time in the garage this afternoon with the intention of trying out the new compressor with the blow gun and some Gunk, as the area behind the driver's side front suspension needs a thorough clean up. Slight problem, the drain valve underneath the air tank refused to close as the knurled nut used to close it had separated from the valve stem, and so could not be closed. I then removed the body of the valve and tried to screw the valve closed, but no joy as the thread had stripped! A quick call to the manufacturer however secured immediate dispatch of a replacement part and profuse apologies. Not ideal, but good customer service none the less. With that plan stymied it was time for plan B. Taking a second look at the damper I cleaned up last week, I decided it wasn't good enough, so attacked it again with wire brushes and mule skinner, which left me with a much shinier damper. Not perfect, but certainly good enough considering it can't really be seen most of the time, so out with the Kurust. This isn't the only thing I managed to get done this week, as I also got paint onto parts I'd cleaned up last week. Here they all are sitting in the booth looking nice and shiny, and ready for reassembly. Karl

Finally remembered to measure the length of the suspension spring that I removed last week. Triumph manual states unloaded length of 306mm, measurement of scabby spring from my car comes up at 308mm, so more than close enough for me. Now I just need to clean up the spring and give it a good coat of paint. Karl

Not quite sure where the weekend went, but it somehow got away from me and I only got an hour or so working on the Herald, so progress has been somewhat meagre. What I did manage to get done, consisted purely of attacking various suspension components with wire brushes and an electric drill, however it did leave me with an assortment of clean parts ready for paint. The brake shields took a fair bit of cleaning up, including assault with a mule skinner for the really stubborn bits, but came up pretty well. As did the damper and spring top mount. I love that the steering arm has 'Stanpart' cast into it! This gives me a sense of deja vu...... With everything clean it was time to apply rust stopper as a sound basis for the paint to come. It does have a tendency to turn everything mauve though at first! As per usual I'll let that lot dry overnight, and then as Mrs B has postponed V day to Friday I might get to put some primer on it all. I finally took the plunge last week and ordered a mail order bride, mainly because she came with a free compressor, which I've been promising myself for years. Willow, the beagle is obviously unfazed by the large red compressor, less so by Mrs B in a box though! Karl

Paul, I've put all the bushes and old nuts to one side for now, as I know what I'm like for buying the wrong parts, and only finding out when it comes to reassembly! Karl

Doug it's because of what I've spent that I'm not considering new shocks, that and the fact that new shocks appear to be of somewhat dubious quality. These look to be the older Monroe shocks, and are working nicely, so a coat of paint will do for now. I'll have to check the spring lengths at the weekend, thanks for pointing that out, as I wouldn't have thought of that. Karl

It's bloody annoying when they spin that old line, makes you wonder if you really have got the one dodgy set, or they're just telling porkies! My new toy turned up today from the club shop, a spring compressor! This allowed me to split the spring from the damper very easily, and just as importantly, safely! Which then allowed me to inspect the damper and the spring, both of which look to be in good fettle, if very grubby. So out came the electric drill and wire brushes, and then with the damper held in the vice I set to. This is the result of half an hours effort, including attacking the really cruddy bits with a mule skinner. A bit pitted, but I'm sure it'll be fine under a few coats of black paint. Karl

I've ordered Polybush bushes, so hopefully I won't have an issue. Karl

Flaubert has since lodged a complaint for sexual harassment! Apparently resting your damper on another man's paradox is not the done thing! Paul I think I will be adopting your approach as there is very little space to remove or replace the wishbone bolts. I'll keep an eye out for the issue with the top bush problem. Which make & colour of bushes were you using for your Vittesse? Karl

The thread on the upright is in lovely condition thankfully, as it looks like it has been regularly, and correctly lubricated over the years, even if the last person to service it decided to grease it, which is what started this whole exercise. Karl