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Herald948

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Everything posted by Herald948

  1. That seems reasonable pressure "at speed"; what weight oil are you using? Also, with that kind of mileage on the engine, you might consider changing big-end bearing shells...or at least checking them for wear. Checking and, if needed, changing them can be done without much difficulty from underneath without disturbing anything else, and it might be worth doing?
  2. As someone who has indeed "cruised at 4000+rpm" on many long trips (not the least of which was a 2500+-mile round trip awhile back, almost all on US Interstate Highways at around 65-70 mph, in a Herald 1200), I agree completely!
  3. I suspect that even an outfit such as Newton Commercial isn't large enough and viable enough to be able to commission exact replication of original ICI Vynide and Ambla fabrics. From what I've seen in person and on their website, they seem to do reasonably well with materials that approximate those old vinyls, but they're not a perfect match. (And, for now, I'll leave the less popular colors and such out of this discussion, i.e., no Phantom Grey, Coffee, etc., as were used in Heralds when new!)
  4. Something I didn't see in all this discussion bears emphasizing. Your three fuses should all be the same. Please note, though, that the "35 amps" refers to an instant-blow rating if you will, and they actually are rated at 17 amps continuous. Later original Lucas fuses were so labeled, but earlier ones weren't. If your replacement fuses are not exactly as per original, ensure that they are not actual 35 amp fuses; a typical "replacement" should be no higher than 20 amp; 15 amp might be better? I've seen my share of damage due to shorts and other problems with original configuration. I shudder to think how much worse that damage might have been if upwards of a full 35 amps were allowed to surge through those wires and components for any length of time! 😟
  5. I'm used to date codes on Lucas components and Triplex glass, but I've never before seen one on something so simple as a washer!
  6. This page from Canley Classics details the bits needed, all of which appear to be readily available!
  7. Frankly, one look at the brutal misalignment of the rear bumper overriders (note they seem to be pushed in at the top, leaving the bottom of the taillamp lenses rather more vulnerable) is enough to put me off, although that's a moot point given the absurd price following comments about "extensive chassis welding" and such. Seems to me the "sub-100 original miles time-capsule" cars go for less than that.
  8. For whatever it's worth, IF you want original GT6-style Konis, and IF you can find a pair, they are rebuildable, and there are "official" (i.e., Koni-authorized) places that can recondition/restore them. That said, the cost usually is close to if not as much or more than new ones (if you can find any) would be. For some folks, it's worth it!
  9. As to use of such additives, my preference is to empty the contents of my wallet, add an accelerant, and set the pile afire. It's more fun to watch, and the overall result is about the same. 😏
  10. For whatever it's worth: 1. I've been told that once a container of fluid has been opened, it's really only good for a month or so. 2. Castrol themselves told me that, even in a never-opened container, their brake fluid only has a shelf life of about two years. Even the modern plastic bottles are apparently somewhat permeable! Who knew?
  11. The Vitesse 6 was dubbed "Sports 6" for the US market. All of the whopping 679 such cars were very early specification 1600cc convertibles (pre-HB15001), all sporting the Solex semi-downdraught carbs and the earliest single-dial dashboards. As Dave said, the price was just that bit more than the US market could bear, as potential customers could get a roomier Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiants or Chevrolet Corvair convertible (among other possibilities) for just about the same money. Many of that original batch of 679 cars sat for the better part of a year or more before being sold for the first time! The Vitesse apparently did a bit better in Canada, where it continued to be sold for several more years, in saloon as well as convertible form. I'm not absolutely positive when, but at some point those Canadian models began to be badged also as Sports 6 models! I would note that the US and Canada were two very separate and distinct markets and were served by two separate and distinct companies, Standard-Triumph USA and Standard Triumph Canada, respectively. p.s. Thanks for the compliment, Dave!
  12. My experience over the past several decades is that cleaning out that area and restoring a good flow out that drain inevitably results in a significantly cooler-running engine!
  13. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this "yellow" or "white" (or whatever) residue is remaining mould-release compound, is it not?
  14. The "SC" indicates that the car is a station wagon / estate car. I always fancied it as "saloon conversion"! I'm not sure that's accurate, but part-completed saloon bodies were, in fact, converted by an outside concern (Carbodies? can't remember offhand and don't have my books handy) into estates.
  15. It's also worth noting that when the shafts changed (got longer), so did the "soft" brake hose, and the backing plate gained a bracket into which the "soft hose" went on one side and a hard pipe from there to the wheel cylinder into the other side. Of course, 45 years later, such visual "confirmation" doesn't necessary mean your assembly still has the correct shaft originally fitted.
  16. That's about it, although I would add that it usually helps to also loosen the bolt holding the shock/spring assembly to the lower A-arm. As to durability of these bushings, it's hard to say what "is" or "should be"! In the 1970s, when Heralds and Spitfires and GT6s were my only cars and saw daily use adding up to sometimes 10,000-15,000 miles per year, I got to the point where I pretty much considered the front trunnion bushings to be "regular maintenance items"! It would seem that I would need to renew them typically at 24,000 mile intervals, sometimes maybe a tiny bit less often than that. As always, your mileage may vary!
  17. I would agree; "contact patch" might be the key here, and that area can vary significantly amongst various brands of tires in any given size, be it stock size or whatever. And as others have suggested, there's the rather significant range of camber in the rear suspension in particular, so....
  18. In my nearly 50 years of playing with small Triumphs, I've only had one or two instances where the bullet connectors for various lights on the bonnet gave me any grief at all. Sure, there likely are (arguably) better 2018 solutions, but seems to me that some cleaning as needed and perhaps a dab or two of dielectric grease is a simple and durable solution!
  19. I hesitate to ask, but what brand were those wheel cylinders? OE Girling or some other aftermarket brand?
  20. TR7 brakes are Lockheed, while GT6 are Girling. Whether one can adapt a TR7 backing plate to a late GT6 Mk3 hub, I don't know. To revert a late Mk3 to the earlier GT6 brakes, one would need to go back to a "Mk1" GT6 for the backing plates, etc., as the Rotoflex suspension backing plates won't bolt up to the swing-axle hub. In short, I don't think there's anything inherently "bad" about the late Mk3 brakes other than the occasional difficulty in finding certain bits.
  21. Do you have a source you can site? The only references I've ever seen to the KA and KB series Heralds in Australia were to 1959 and 1960 models, respectively, then still with the 948cc engine.
  22. This! If you don't know how old the flexible hoses are (or even if you do), spend a bit and replace them while you're replacing everything else. I had a front hose fail internally on my Herald back in 2012. Long story short: LF hose failed, pretty much locking up that front drum. By the time I could get to a place to safely pull out of traffic, it was so hot that the wheel bearing grease caught fire, and the backing plate end of the hose popped out of its fitting. After that, the car rolled fine again...and there was still pedal pressure, even with that end of the hose flailing about. Yes, I was towed home! I've never seen brake linings pretty much literally charred to nothing before! Oddly, the wheel cylinders were rebuildable.
  23. Hard to say for sure without a commission number (or someone who could track such information via the number plate). I personally am leaning towards it being a 948 that has gained some, er, "upgrades" (dash, boot lid, door trim cards) over the years.
  24. At one point, there was an optional, dealer-installed "Triumph-Aire" air conditioning kit for the Herald 1200 in the US. Supposedly, it only used 1/2 horsepower. Yeah, right; like the typical Herald 1200 had that to spare.
  25. Question: Which way does ("would" -- assuming it could be fitted) the grease fitting face? If it's facing the flange, I can understand the problem, and I'm thinking the u-joint was installed backwards. That fitting should face the axle shaft so that, at some point of rotation, there would be plenty of room to fit the grease fitting.
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