Jon J 1250

Ah, I did not know that, it is indeed an old NOS tacho as modern versions of it cannot handle positive earth. Presumably it won't affect the performance of the engine to connect in series, although I can understand parallel connection would be more resilient. JJ

Thanks Colin, Looks like yours is fitted to the rearmost tapping on the side of the water pump housing, mine does not have one, only the front one which looks like in your photo has a twin carb inlet manifold water feed attached. Presumably both tappings are 5/8"? Regards Jon

Hi Colin, Similar thing here, I have this 3" Smiths electronic pulse tacho and pod to fit also. (Wish I could have found a 6k RPM one, but hey ho) The fuel gauge means nothing, its going to have an ammeter, a dual temp/oil press some indicator lights and switches, and the tacho when finished. A nice period accessory. I've included the instructions if it helps. Jon

So just thinking, I have this Moss dual temp/oil pressure gauge to go in to a nos vintage centre pod. It has quite a long bulb and a 5/8" male thread gland fitting, so if I remove the plug from the side of the water pump housing (probably easier said than done) and relocate it on the top of thermostat housing. I can then screw the new temp sender in to the side of the water pump without needing to worry about the length of the bulb, and presumably will need one of these 5/8" male to 5/8" female fitting to make the seal on the bulb taper.? https://www.holden.co.uk/p/adaptor_5_8_in_unf_for_water_temperature_sender_070_017

Thanks Colin, Assumed the original Triumph plugs were brass because my temp sender gland was, due you know if they were brass or steel. Do you mean the plug on the side of the water pump like the one I have shown below. Looks like a steel plug, and a bit bigger than the one on the thermostat housing. I'll see what I can find amongst my old spares, definitely have an old water pump housing from a Mk3 spit engine somewhere. Jon

Thanks Pete, Mine used to have a temp sender in it and I want to keep my car original so I have to find a brass plug for it. I'm hopeful you can still buy them somewhere. Jon

Hi, Does anyone know what size and thread type the hole is in the pre 1966 Herald thermostat Housing / Elbow. The plug that I need isn't listed as a separate item in the Stanpart parts manual Kind Regards Jon

Thanks good point, I will have to use my senses. Meant to say regarding damper springs, as I understand it, H series carbs don't usually have springs on the piston as they are weighted (HS's have them), but I have a couple of springs from a spare pair of carbs just in case.

Thanks Pete for taking a look, I am a bit of a novice when it comes to trying different needles, I'm not sure what I need to look out for besides really obvious problems. Any advice gratefully received I have the standard Triumph SU H1 needles ( think) but of course they are probably for the 948cc engine, not the 12/50 1147cc, so I am going to start with with EB (rich) needles, which should also help counteract any reduced pull over the venturi. I'll be using a Colortune plug to check the mixture over a range of engine speeds, we'll have to see how it goes... Cheers Jon

Thanks both, appreciate your nice comments. I keep the engine bay pretty tidy too but I see what you mean about the wooden plinth! lol I decided not to refit the Triumph plenum and air filter box as the carbs too pretty to hide under that, so using these Unipart HS2 pancakes instead. Though it does mean i'll need to find a bracket for the choke cable. I may even try out some Coopers filters as found on the Frogeye Sprite, but want to make sure they work first...thinking about it the Sprite must have a bracket for the choke cable so I'll start looking there. They used to look like this so a big improvement!

Hi Colin, James Paddock have them, still not cheap but for those of us with Delaney Galllay heaters it my just be prudent to get a spare whilst they are available. https://www.jamespaddock.co.uk/heater-valve-delaney-galley560612 Regards Jon

HI, Fortunately I have a NOS twin carb exhaust manifold so don't need to cut off the original inlet. The inlet manifold is right for the Herald H1 SU's, the Spitfire uses HS2's on a much longer manifold to clear a tubular 4 branch exhaust and requires support from beneath. I might go to this setup one day as I do have an old pair of HS2's on a Spit Mk1 manifold, but I'll wait until the engine needs overhaul first as I may as well gas flow the head at the same time. Net expecting much of a performance gain from the Herald TC H1's but they do look rather nicer than the Solex. I will need to buy a new front exhaust pipe soon-ish as the original is looking a bit tired, so not sure if to get a TC one or a 12/50. The TC manifold looks same as my 12/50 manifold below to me (ignoring the integral inlet). I do wonder if the internal bore is smaller though.

Hi, There isn't an exhaust forum area, so I decided to put this here. As many will know the Herald 12/50 exhaust manifold has a longer branch to the exhaust front pipe than the standard 1200 manifold, presumably for better gas flow. The factory twin carb Heralds all used SU H1 Carbs with a short inlet manifold and a cast exhaust manifold with a longer branch to the exhaust front pipe as well. (it was quite different to the 1200 Spitfire HS2 setup) Does anyone know if the these exhaust manifolds are dimensionally similar enough that the Twin Carb exhaust manifold will mate up with the 12/50 front pipe without modification? (I am intending to fit a Herald twin carb kit to my 12/50 this winter) Regards Jon

Agreed Richard is a nice chap, really knows his line of work well, can sort out any type of wheel (when I was there he was fixing up some rare and damaged 1930's alloys).. loves his Model T's too! Another option is to add anodised aluminium outer trims, the square slot Vitesse/GT6 trims look good and hides the scruffy wheel. I never used to like Minilites but I keep thinking about gold ones for some reason, am I wrong? lol

I had these done by Tudor Wheels in Cadnam, Hants. Very happy with them, high quality job, they even did them brown on the backs as they were originally. JJ

Just following this up, the sill to side rail tabs are supposed to be screwed in to these clips, which snap into the holes in the bottom of the side rails as pictured above. The the sill tabs are screwed to them using no.10 screws of the same pattern as those used to attach the sill to the door step tread plate, with a washer under the screw head. If anybody needs some of these clips they are available from Bresco. https://www.bresco.com/acatalog/Expansion-nut-for-No.-10-self-tapping-screw-and-assembly-in-33-64--square-hole.--General-application.-SNO1742P.html#SID=17 In the photo an original from my car is shown on the left and the Bresco one on the right, they are exactly the same. JJ

Thanks, I will post some updates as things progress. The original owner (I am the 2nd owner) worked for AEC in Southall and maybe learned a few things about how to preserve a vehicle. He stuffed every crevice and plugged every hole with an oily rag so they stayed clean and didn't rot. He also poured old engine oil into the chassis and liberally painted the underside with it. There are still quite a few areas where the original brown underbody paint (with a little body colour overspray) still exists, but it is so thin that its little wonder these cars rotted.

You're not wrong, it is that, luckily restoring this car is my hobby so I do not mind. Short of taking the car off the chassis which it doesn't need, there is no other way of doing it, so I am doing it the hard way. The whole outer extremities of the underside is covered in surface rust where the thin factory paint has failed, it hasn't eaten into the metal in any significant way anywhere and cleans up to bright shiny steel, but laying underneath and doing this is hard work nonetheless. The Lanoguard has better do its job, I'm not doing this again! Latest progress around the side rails (the tread plates are going to be replaced)

PS. we have similar tastes in low mileage Heralds (though mine was originally blue, and will be again one day...)

Standard Triumph used to race/rally Heralds and Vitesses with the original swing axle suspension so they certainly can handle ok, trick is to get the camber neutral or slightly negative with spacers if it doesn't settle down naturally as the car rolls. If you go too negative it'll be no good for carrying any weight and spoils the looks of the car in my opinion (makes it look clapped out!). JJ

This is how I'm doing it, seems to be going well so far. I wish I could use a sandblaster but I don't have the facilities for that, plus I am getting back to bright metal well enough, It's just a LOT of work! Cleaning back to bare metal, acid etch prime, 2-3 coats of satin black, 2 coats of wedgewood blue (the whole car will eventually be restored into this colour), leaving some black showing through the overspray as per original paint. Then a good coat of Lanoguard spray, with Lanoguard grease painted over the seams. As expected holding up well so far, I'll try and do an update in 5 years or so... JJ

It is the 60th Anniversary of the 12/50 next year, does anyone know if the club plans to celebrate this in any way? I'd like a 12/50 event to take my '65 model to. Regards Jon

Hi, Can anybody advise on the new rear overriders available, which I think TD Fitchetts make on the original tooling. I imagine they should be pretty good if made with the Triumph tooling, are there any known issues with these? JJ

Interesting, I guess around 1968 with the Vitesse Mk2 and Herald 13/60's they changed to a rubber mat. My one previous owner 1965 Herald 12/50 has a fibre backed hardura mat, almost the same as the Newtons one but without the edge trim found on the repro item. I don't think a carpet mat was ever a factory option JJ

Just to add to the timeline, my mid 1965 built 12/50 was built with this water pump with one blanked off port (which I intend to use for a capillary type sender) and a thermostat housing with a blanked off port on top.