Josef

Hi Will, My first car was and is my Herald 13/60, though I’ve now had it about 14 years! I also had head gasket problems, about 3 months in. Though they only became apparent when it shot into the red on the A1 just north of the M25 in early December, that wasn’t fun… Anyway, that HG change was my first major job on the car and it was pretty straightforward for a classic car novice, so you should have no trouble!

I made my own replacement washers out of leather offcuts. Didn’t want to pay approx £2 each for washers! (After spending £1000s on panels etc that of course pales into insignificance, but it’s still a lot for a washer!)

Hopefully this’ll show you what the bits you can’t see inside the door look like.

For that George you’ll have to remove the weather strips from the top of the door. Then undo two of part 38. It’s a horrible fiddly little clip (Picture here) that holds 31 to 15. Pull the pins you removed the clips from out of the slot and you’ll be able to pull the glass out the top of the door. I’ve got my mechanisms off the car so I’ll see if I can pull together some photos for you.

Just for confirmation of Triumph’s numbering patterns Russell, you can see Spitfire commission numbers here http://www.spitlist.info/ In the MKIV production the commission number letter prefix even was different for the US market (FH vs FK for North America), but the overall numbers were still sequential.

I only used mine for the first time recently (got it in an air tools set when I bought my compressor). It really was a revelation though! I would’ve probably have been stumped by the nut in question without it too.

The fibreglass repair thread will likely have been Colin L (and I think is in this months Courier too). Andy Cook (I think) had a relatively recent article (past year or so) on making a hatch for one of the ABS tunnels too which you should be able to dig up. https://www.tssc.org.uk/tssc/uploaded_files/500 February Courier 22.pdf Page 32 for Colin’s article, will see if I can find the other. Edit: can’t find the hatch making article in my paper copies, I don’t keep hold of them long anymore though. My internet is being extra slow so I don’t fancy going through all the online back issues!

You can also get air impact drivers if you have a compressor?

Canleys list 207907 as the early coil type release arm (Mk1/2), 213032 as the diaphragm type (MkIII, IV, 1500) for ~£40 second hand. Though how different they are someone more knowledgeable might be able to chime in with. You’ll at least be able to compare the two when you get it!

I’d give the wheel / column a home, but it would be awkward to post as is and possibly awkward to separate to make postage easier… (Unlike Pete I’m unlikely to be venturing southwards any time soon)

Is the rod connected to the lock mechanism? Did they work up till now? If you disconnect the rod from the lock mechanism does it move? Is everything gunked up with ancient grease? Some photos of what you can see of the mechanisms would be handy too

Got a source for those Colin? (I’m assessing the bits of a clutch release arm at the mo - most of it’ll likely need replacing though so if there’s a better bit I’ll go for that!)

Unfortunately E5 fuel still needs R9 hose, so definitely wouldn’t bother with the R6! I’d agree with Ian on buying a loom if you want a stock look one, they’re closer to £350-400 now though if I remember correctly. Tracking down all the right gauges and colours of wire to build your own takes a long time, on top of the time required to figure out exactly what you need (I’ve only done a heavy refurb, and that was bad enough)! Personally I’d consider building my own using single colour wires and marker tags, but would buy if going for standard colours. Autosparks will also incorporate mods for alternator fitment etc which is handy.

I was thinking it must be some sort of ‘special’ issue that might not be well known, though I was mainly thinking along the lines of temporary import / export plates from somewhere. Interesting to know!

I’ve actually now looked up the reg styles of the period for all of Western Europe, Scandinavia and Poland, nothing matches the pattern…

My thoughts immediately were French, Dutch or Belgian. But none of those formats match for a 1961 ish car.

I was trying to figure out which country OY41B might’ve come from (my initial suspicions were all wrong…) and stumbled across an online photo archive https://www.motorsportimages.com/photos/?race_type_id=0&search=Triumph+herald which was pretty interesting!

I like the design of the rear of that boss. Looks like it'll not have the problem of touching the horn contact ring and shorting.

I think that AAA11A is the modern Swedish Reg format so that .se site is most likely unconnected.

Yeah you can get the foam stuff by the length too, which is what I ended up doing rather than buying kits.

I’ve rebuilt quite a number of clocks (mostly Rev counters) over the past few years. The seals are pretty compressible (and you have it right as to which goes where), it’s just the bezels tend to have been crimped on pretty hard making the replacement and removal via twisting difficult. Either extremely carefully bend the tags on the bezels to give you a bit more play and crimp them back after, or grip the bezel in one hand with a soft cloth and push the case and bezel together as it sounds like you are trying.

This Is The Way You start off adjusting the fit of a bit of trim and then find yourself with a gearbox in pieces wondering how you got there

Well, for context on the time required it took me about a month to replace my passenger floorpan, a-post, inner and middle sills on my Spitfire. Including repairs to the heelboard and b-post. Two of the weeks I was on annual leave and working on it full time. I am an amateur, and my car was in a right state, but that should give you a very rough idea (you’d also need to add on some time for fitting an outer sill - the whole sill usually needs to come off for floors, and of course the extra problems that will show up )

Well, I would recommend Tim at Willow Triumph near Darlington. You will get a proper job done there. However, he usually has more offers of work than he can actually take on so it’s unlikely you’d be able to get it in very fast. Cost wise, minimum £600-700 on panels, then it’ll depend on what the more hidden bits of the car are like. Bodywork near me costs £35-45 ish an hour and you’re likely to need full weeks of work.

As I now know this is a thing that can be wrong I’m going to have to check at the weekend… Though my rack was replaced in about 2007 by a non-classic but pretty competent garage so fingers crossed.