Jon J 1250

Had an hour to spare so sorted investigating, plugs look about right colour, I’ll re gap them. Points gap fine, dizzy looks in good nick (57k miles) well oiled and no lateral movement on shaft. Interestingly, I think the rotor arm is very old, may even be the original one judging by the divot worn in the middle. The three nos Lucas replacements I have are a different shape, no counterweight! Will have more time tomorrow so will start looking at timing.

Yes, that’s the place.

Ha, I have heard this before, should be interesting, will have to work out/look up what road speed 2000rpm equates to with the standard 4.11 diff. I can imagine there'll be plenty on tinkly sounds from the top end of my engine. Something else i've noted is the car really struggles with the short steep ramps up to my garage, the other day it flooded and died while i was driving it in, however the car performs absolutely fine on the flat.

Hi, I have just been giving my Herald 12/50 some more tests after a long layup and drove it up a nearby hill (for those who know it, Newlands Corner, between and Guildford and Shere, Surrey) I just find the car struggling with the moderately steep hill on the A25, needed to drop to third, which is expected, but speed continued to drop with some pinking going on, also felt like I'd need to drop to 2nd gear for a bit, but the road started to level out in time. From memory this car never liked hills, but I want to get the problem resolved. I am using 98 octane fuel, the engine has had all service components replaced and is in good health, uses very little oil and good compression. It retains original spec manifolds and Solex Carb Is this just a normal experience for a 60 year old, 1200 Herald, or can it be improved? Cheers Jon

Many thanks, very helpful tips all round. I have never even heard of repair sleeves for this before. I have plenty of gasket sets and two nos BL tensioners if I need one. I am concerned about getting the nut off, as my 12/50 has the starting handle kit on it so having the dog nut on it won't make things any easier! Although I have spares I am hoping the chain and sprockets are good to go again, the car has just under 60k miles, so guessing they will do another 30 40k miles (which I am unlikely to ever do) Cheers Jon

Many thanks, I'll probably wait until the level is low and lift the front of the car up on ramps just in case, but good to know I won't dumping too much oil on floor by taking the cover off! 🙂

Hi, Bit of a novice question here. I have never needed to replace the timing cover seal on my 12/50 in nearly 30 years of ownership, I fairly sure it is still the original and is now weeping and making a bit of a mess. Is it necessary to drain some of the oil to remove the timing cover, I am not sure where the oil level line is in the engine at rest? Also, are the new timing cover seals currently available from normal suppliers ok? or should I be looking for recent NOS from 80's/90's? Regards Jon

Thanks Colin, absolutely. Got straight on with fitting it after work, just to the old gauge for now, very happy with that. 👍

At last! Finally got my fittings sorted out for the dual gauge with capillary bulb sender. This NOS MK1 spitfire housing came up for sale so bought that and this means I can get the sender bulb in without spacing it out to avoid the thermostat as would be required with the top entry housing. The fitting is a 5/8" UNF parallel thread in case anyone needs to know in future. The capillary bulb has a 5/8 UNF male backnut (note some have female threads) which will seal the bulb by compression into this fitting once done up. JJ

As I understand it, the two piece strip is the inner one, where adjacent to the quarterlight there is only room for the thin metal strip sandwiched between the quarterlight and the top of the inner door shell, so can't have the rubber and felt that the inner glass section has. The outer weatherstrip is definitely one piece, I tend to favour the idea of the Canley Classics as I feel they mainly focus on the small chassis Triumphs so may pay a bit more attention to detail, even so, I doubt even they have the quarterlight cut out.

Yes, the original weatherstrips looked like this, relatively few cars still have them. The drivers side one on my car has now split.

Hi, As the original rubber extruded weatherstrip (between top of door skin and glass) is long since unavailable, are there any opinions as to who supplies the best replacement. I have seen some badly fitting replacements so want to avoid wasting money on those The original has a cutaway around the quarterlight frame, which I have never seen on replacements, I guess it is simple job to replicate this by cutting a section out with a knife. Any assistance welcomed. Regards JJ

The last SEM? 😧 How come?

Yes worth a try, when I last enquired, they didn't have (or at least admit to having) anything much for Herald/Vitesse, only a red Vitesse passenger footwell carpet. Note that Canley Classics have an unmatched assortment of carpet sections too, Vitesse Mk2/Herald13/60 black and blue footwells, Herald 1200 grey drivers footwell, Coffee Herald Mk1 passenger footwells, useful if you need the odd section but no complete sets that I know of. Luckily my Herald 12/50 loop pile originals are in excellent condition, just faded, so I might risk trying to cold spray dye them back to charcoal grey (in situ of course, so they don't shrink)

I did speak to a chap at Newtons recently to ask whether they’d be prepared to try moulding their Ford Escort carpet material on the Herald/Vitesse moulds as that is a loop material much closer to the original Triumph material. He told me they would be willing to give it a try but thought the pile may not be tight enough for the gearbox section, it’s worth you asking them though if the look matters.

My other half doesn't 100% approve of this use of the washing line! Lol

Original owner of my Herald painted old oil underneath it and in wheel arches. He seemed to know exactly the places these cars rot hence why after 60 years the bonnet has not rot in it at all. I've owned the car 30 years (always garages and kept dry) and I've never done this as it makes such a mess, plus even now when i work on the car I still get far more grease and black grot on my hands than I would had this not been done. I have found the old oil has allowed quite a bit of surface rust to develop on the panels underneath largely because Triumph painted it with no more than a thin black/brown enamel from the factory, and of course it hasn't saved the double skinned treadplates. I am slowly working through removing all the dirty old oil, stripping any surface rust to bear metal and priming/repainting those areas in black brown enamel, with touch of body colour overspray as per factory. Then I am protecting all of that with Lanoguard (lanolin) clear wax, which being a sheeps wool extract is far less unpleasant to use than mineral oil based products. This has been very successful so far, plus being clear wax with a normal coat of paint underneath means I will be able to see any rust developing so can deal with it immediately, rather than being hidden by some thick black goo until it is too late. JJ

Thanks All. I am hope it will go away, but as recommended, I might rotate the spring so that when the top plate levels out on the turret it land in an optimal place and reduces the bend on the spring. I kept the original springs from 1965 as the car is low(ish) mileage and the springs were straight before on the original dampers and were still straight when i took them off the dampers. It might be a month or so before I can put all the suspension and wheels back so will have to be patient. JJ

Hi, Couldn't find any previous discussion about this. I have just fitted one of my original Herald coil springs to a SPAX damper, and the bottom of the spring wont sit down fully on the lower spring plate on the damper (see blue arrow) meaning once it is compressed up and installed, the spring has a bend in it rather than being parallel with the damper as it was on the old Woodhead damper. The coned bit of the lower spring plate seems a bit too wide for the inner diameter of the spring. Anyone had this before, and know the best way to correct it? Cheers Jon

My original and unrestored 1965 12/50 has the hessian showing on the seat back as does another unrestored and very original 20k mile 1966 Herald I looked at recently. (as well as several other 1200 & 12/50 saloons I've seen over the years) Looks as though this is how they were built

Coincidentally I have been working on cleaning up underside of my 1965 12/50. Most mounts have a steel washer/shim on chassis side and a rubberised canvas pad on the body side of the mount. Only exception I have found is the nearside boot outrigger where the gap is very small and it only has the rubberised canvas pads. I guess this is due to the original tolerances in the body chassis, which understandably will probably a slightly different fit on every car... My car has never been off the chassis and the panel gaps are good. Best photo I can find after I scraped the underseal off to show one of the front mounts, and agree they are all thinner than any replacement kits I have seen, and one to show the transformation.

Yes, that is very likely (the rubber buttons), I plan to take a closer look at the spring when I need access to the tunnel across the back of the car to clean and repaint the underside. Do you have any view on the relative merits of wrapping the rear spring in tape? Jon

Thanks Pete I hadn't considered the potential effect of blasting, they are not heavily rusted so a light wire brushing and even dipping in vinegar may be the answer before painting. I was concerned that new replacements may be problematic, I certainly dont want a harsher ride or incorrect ride height. My rear spring has sagged an inch or so from spec, but I'm ok with that as it helps the camber and cornering ability. Jon

I'm fitting new dampers to my front suspension. My car still has its original coil springs which appear nice and straight and in good condition, the ride height looks and measures ok too. Is there any good reason why I should replace these 60yr old springs with new from a reputable parts dealer, rather then blasting/painting and refitting them to my new dampers? I am not looking for any change in handling, just want a nice comfortable ride. Thanks Jon

I have seen quite a few discussions about problems with modern replacement mechanical pumps, just out of curiosity isn't rebuilding the original AC pumps an option, kits are available? Jon