Richeee

Hi. The main problem was that the new wing seemed to be 10mm shorter in height than the original at its junction with rhe rear light. This then meant that the junction of side and rear valance did not form a uniform butt to the underside of the wing. So to resolve i cut the bottom of the light bracket by 10mm to allow it to fit better. Time will tell over this remedy but in trial fitting the rear valences appeared to be the way forward.

Cannot really believe it has been 4 months since I last posted. Life has been getting in the way. Not of working on the car although this has been a bit slower but work , holidays , work on my other cars and the fact also that my son is back living at home with me after a traffic accident left him with a broken leg and arm after he was rear ended by an HGV on the motorway outside Reading, resulting in the Micra i welded the crossmember on being converted by the fire brigade into a convertible and the air ambulance being called out. Anyway back to Herald matters and i will try to update where have got to. Finished off last time with myriad cuts to my fingers trial fittings rear wing and valances , because I was not happy with fit of wing around the rear light bracketry. This was when I got distracted with my sons Micra needing welding on an advisory, and a service. This was done and started to weld the wing on. But then was distracted with my MG-F failing its MOt with the mot tester poking his screwdriver through the bottom wishbone. Oh well. The wishbone replacement on the mgf requires the subframe to be lowered with 20 year old bolts needing to be extracted. After this little interlude it was back to the herald. And more wing welding. The photos don't seem to tell the full story, but this was the first time i had ever replace inner arch's and entire wing. The welding inside the boot for the connection between the wing bottom and top was an absolute pain. It will need a lot of hours work with finger files and dremel before I would dare post photos............. Unfortunately when i finished i was left with a minor depreesion in the wing just at the beginning and end of the arch. You might spot on next photo. This will have to be sorted at the painting stage. This had taken myself up to mid sept. Time now for the other rear wing. Not as bad and the inner arch would not need replacing but the outer inner did need replacing. So Paddocks for the wing and Rimmer for the arch which again laps over the inner arch. At this point my compressor packs up, the non return valve seemed to have packed up, along with the head gaskets. Oh well time wasted or rather invested in this. Head gaskets not available from Machine Mart , seems mine is now obsolete, so spend ages looking through google images after typing in the model number until able to locate an image and thereby a website of a supplier. Eventually fixed and now all working again. Back to Herald and the rest of the wing was cut out and rust convertor applied. Other cars got in the way and it was time for a belt change on an old VW polo I purchased as a run around to work on sites. TBH the belts were not too bad, but as the car had only done 47,000 in 21 years it was age rather than mileage that determined the change. Then followed a holiday to see daughter in Newcastle and the opening of the Rugby world cup followed by a grab a granny coach tour to the Orkneys to see the archaeology. Back to the Herald and trial fitting of the wing and inner arch began. Hopefully easier this time as it was no longer the first I had ever done. Lets see if I had learnt anything. Once i was happy it was time to flip the body again. Again had difficulty around the rear light brackets but in a different way. But soon sorted with a hammer and fine adjustment. At this point my son intervened and there was a 3 week gap of myself playing nurse, but his sister has come to my aid and flown down from Newcastle to Southern Wiltshire to help. So work was able to commence at odd times. The inner arch being finally clamped into place and the wing removed again to aid with with welded on the inner to outer wing. The first part of the dipping process had left paint and debris in the harder to reach areas and subsequent protective primer sprayed could not get into all areas and as i progress round the car I am mindful to clean original joints with a Sharpe blade or knife, blow out any debris and rust convert and try to dribble in primer. With the rear wings removed and the body upside down am able to blow out and wire brush the the upper wing capping's, rear of door posts and the panel behind the hood storage area, and coat in rust convertor. Well done any body who has made the end of this update and is still awake. That's me up to date. To be continued.

Is my cataloque out of date then ?.

To be honest we are really lucky to have the great suppliers that we do have. Triumph panels and spares are plentiful and there are a number of clubs as well. We can discuss and get help. Bordfuncker suggested / recommended at the end of last week that I obtained some rear and quarter valances and trial fit. The club was out of stock, but managed to reassess and today was trial fitting brand new panels. Last time i asked a question re part numbers. I think / understand that the only difference is the lack of bumper retaining flange on the valances which can be obtained any way. I ordered Sunday and delivered Tuesday. If i had been looking for something for a rare Italian or something I would have had no chance. So Thank you to The Triumph community. First job today was sort out and bag up my newly delivered UNF nuts , bolts , washers etc. I had depleted my stocks from my Land rover 2a restoration. And they were in a bit of a mess. Next job was to turn the rear tub the right way up, Then Cleko the rear wing temporarily back on. The problem i had previously was the rear wing not being deep enough at the rear light unit. This could cause problems, I wondered , when i fitted the rear and 1/4 valances causing a gap between the wing and side valance.?? Anyway trimmed a bit of return away that should have gone under the rear light and started to trial fir the valances. The rear light recess causing a gap between the 1/4 valence and the wing. The valances all came from Paddocks, and needed some trimming and fettling. Perhaps a bit more than i would have hoped, but hey they are available and delivered to my door in 2 days so tbh No complaints. More fettling. On and off 10 times at least. More masking tape on cuts on my fingers. There was still a gap between the wing and the valance. But getting better. So the option was as I thought all along was to trim the bottom of the light unit. To a line level with the wing. Then put the valances on yet again. Getting better. I know it will work and will all line up. The valances although from the same source still have a different protrusion between the 1/4 and the rear. But am happier and the over rider will hide the transition. Ran out of time and my poor sliced hands needed a rest. But one last photo of the Tub convinced me I was getting there. Tread plates done. Front flange to fit to the tub repaired. Several other holes patched. New inner rear arch welded in , and the rear wing about to be welded in and the valances will fit. Tomorrow is not welding the rear wing on , now i'm happy. Its actually welding the front crossmember to my sons Micra. An advisory on the MOT, and a service. Oh well. To be continued..........

Hi. Thought i ordered rear valances 705883/4 from the shop but told that no longer available. Its for a 13/60 Paddock have 902274/3 Just wondering what the difference ? Not at home so dont have my part books near me.

Rear valances ordered. Will trial fit with the light units and over riders before welding the wing on. Thanks for the advice. Lets see how good they are? Have been Looking through discussions on here regarding fitting etc. Ta.

Ahhhh. I have used a clarke air punch joggler that makes a 3/16 hole. 4.8mm. (Just looked it up to check.) Where i had to drill i used a 4.5mm drill. Thanks for the advice. I shall be wary. Must admit that when i was adapting the chassis for the automatic gearbox , that the first cover / fish plate i put on , i had to redrill.bigger holes. This the first time i have tried to plug weld an external panel on, and will be wary.

Bit more acheieved today. Just wish my skills were better. But none the less did get somewhere. Had previously welded in new inner rear arch. Had managed to trial fit the rear outer arch to the wing. Did not fit too well. Quite a bit of brute force and ignorance. Finally got it welded to the rear wing. Badly. Will needs lots of dressing and seam sealer. Next re trial fitted the rear wing with its attached outer arch to see if it still seemed to meet the inner arch. Had two of the outer arch panels as described before. The rimmers one seemed eaisier for myself and laps over the inner. This was marked up and cut to reduce the amount of overlap. Finally i removed again prepared all the eges ground off old the paint and replaced with weld through primer. Punching and drilling holes for plug welds. Next time try to weld into place. That will be a bit tense. To be continued.

Boy. Doesn't time fly. June the 22nd for last post on this thread from myself. Must admit though that have been on holiday to Northumberland and over the border to Duns to visit the Jim Clark Museum. Excellent Museum and Duns was a lovely place. Nearly thought about emigrating there. But with my views I would only be allowed a day pass. Just a quick update whilst the boss's are not looking. Will do a fuller update when I've had a couple of drinks and feel more inclined to show off some of my terrible metal work skills. But have a question re the rear wing fitting. I have been busy however ignoring all the advice of my betters, in the comments above and set to with a grinder. Whilst on Holiday I ordered some panels. As it turns out two panels from same supplier with same number are not the same. And not as the Triumph spare parts catalogue. See The two outer wheel arch panels below. Need to magically morph into 1. One is from Fitchett's via the club and one is from Rimmers. One has 2 flanges and the other has 1 flange to meet the outer wing, ( Or it will when i have hit it with a big hammer) and a flange to lap over the inner arch. One has the full extension down to the boot floor. 1 does not. Unfortunately I can live with the above. I will make it fit and again it will only be seen by myself and the Mot man. The question is on the rear wing. Yes as per above its straight but with a little pushing etc Have managed to curve into shape. The problem is below where it meets the rear light . Its basically not tall enough by 10mm. Fits in all other respects. This wing is from Paddock's but probably all made in 1 place. (The picture above is upside down as have the tub inverted on trestles.) I Have trimmed the panel as it would not fit under the bottom of the light box by the tube for the over rider. Question is with the wing now 10mm out of alignment with the light box will the rear and quarter valances fit ok ? Or should i alter the light box to suit. To keep all level. ? At this stage i'm tempted to leave as is , and not fully weld in this area until I acquire some new valances and do a mock up. To be continued.

Well asking about cavity wax , certainly had a few different replies. Seems we all have our favourites. Thankyou for replying. Over the last couple of days have repaired the front seat belt fittings by cutting off the back plate and nut. Cutting out the rot and roughly welding in a patch and refitting the plate and nut. Then had to repair the mounting above by fitting a plate under and and welding it in place and drilling new mounting hole. Next a tricky one for me and my messy lumpy welding. On the floor plan there's a kidney shaped moulding and drain hole just before the front axle. This was extremely lacey. Cut it out and tried to replicate as best I could. Half way through I nearly gave up because my panel was rubbish, and my welding was real lumpy, But the grinder came in useful and its only the MOT man and anybody i run over that will see it so carried on. Now got to pay attention to the rear inner and outer wheel arch and wings. Where the inner wheel arch meets the floor its a bit flakey, and the inner wing is holed. Also the wing return flanges are very holed. The actual external wing faces are OK. So a bit of a dilemma. I am minded to remove and replace the rear wings, and replace the inner and outer arch's. Trying to eradicate all holes and rust. But I don't Know. With my welding skills, hmm and I only want the bare minimum of filler to smooth , reckon I might make a mess unless I use new panels. Decisions , Decisions, Anyway, thats it for today. To be Continued.

Thanks for the replies , will investigate the Bilt-Hamber range. Never used before, normally waxoyl but inside the car wanted something that might dry better. It was back to the tub today. Replaced the offside treadplate . Then had to patch a few holes in the front flange , and the front seat mountings all seemed cracked. Now have both treadplates and front flange repaired. Moving backwards the next job will be the seat belt fixings. It seems that the plates bolted on the back are only welded on the side and not the top. So dirt and dampness can get behind and rot out. Next job will be to cut of the plates and nuts, repair the body and then weld the plates and nuts back on. This will have to wait till next week now.

Over the last couple of days started work on the bulkhead and tub. The bulkhead had not suffered to bad from being dipped. There are two small holes on the windscreen gutters. They are small , but just trying to build up courage to attack them with the welder. As thin and i don't want to burn big holes. When I've got my hand and eye back in will give it a go. Also where the heater box fits on is an area of dissolved rust. The same applies. Couple of small holes in the floor have been welded. Amazing that a small pin prick hole quickly becomes bigger, especially with welding skills. And the rear flanges that connect to the tub patched. To be fait though the bulkhead was in amazingly good condition. Attention then turned to the rear tub. Placed on a couple of scaffold board stands decided to start at the front and work to the rear. Starting with the tread plates for which i had a couple of NOS panels. These appeared to be twice the thickness of the original panels and must have been meant to replace the double skin tread plates with one panel. As always my welding is agricultural. That's if for today. Tomorrow i hope to attack the offside treadplate and the tub flange that connects to the bulkhead. Question. The A posts on the Bulkhead have been dipped with the rest, and so now have no internal protection. On the chassis etc my protection of choice is waxoyl. But in the A posts and other areas think something that dry's out would be suitable. What do you guys suggest would be suitable and how to apply.

This was a Range Rover P38 rad, that i had to replace. For some reason I had coolant problems. Yep. Don't mix your drinks.

Good luck for yours. You will have to post some pics. I can now see the good and bad points. Clean primered metal. Started on a couple of holes yesterday. The primer is deffinetly weld through and the mig made a contact nicely.

Right today the tub, body, Bonnet, door frames , boot lid and 2 NOS wings came back from Enviro strip. Not as bad as i feared and really gets it clean, and with the Novol weld through primer gives a nice base to work from. Will let the pictures tell the story. Some panels such as rear wings are not as bad as i anticipated and I now have the dilemma of whether to replace or not. The flanges have Gone but not bad, do i just try and repair the return flanges or replace the entire panel. Removing the panel would give better access to repair the inner arches and then replace. Decisions.......

Managed after long ebay trawls to locate a Dolomite automatic gear selector and a cover / tray. It will marrying to a fibreglass tunnel and some hidden support for the lever but not in surmountable. Just be a bit of head scratching. A job not for now but probably 12 months or so time.

Just had a knock.on the door. My brother who I got my basket case off 10 years ago. I could not invite him in because at half term i picked up covid somewhere. But any way said would i like some herald bits that were in his way. Of course i said yes and he left this lot on my donor car. 2 sills complete with metal tangs to fix to chassis. 2 door repair bottoms. 2 outriggers. 1 side rail , grill and steering column. Not bad straight out of the blue.

Boy does time past. Hopefully life calming down a bit, Still having to sort out two lots of probate, one for the remnants of the family farm, and one for my sister who has a reasonable if complicated will, needing to be split between 15 beneficiaries, so have appointed solicitors as need to be squeaky clean. Anyway back to triumph land. The tub, bulkhead, bonnet, boot lid, two NOS front wings and two door frames went off yesterday to be dipped. Have taken detailed photos of the panels and when they return (possibly dust in an envelope) I will do a before and after comparison, for your amusement. In the meantime i removed the old rear suspension temporarily and with a heat gun to try and keep dust levels down , have been removing layers of old paint off the chassis. Looks like hammarite , over black bitumastic over the original white. De-rusting where necessary and then brushed on Rustbuster FE-123 converter. This appears to leave a black film and the idea is for this to be the temp coating while i undertake the dry fitting and welding that will be required to all the body panels etc. When I'm happy with all the fit and panel gaps to doors bonnet tub etc and that I have enough clearance all around the auto box etc will remove all the sections before another de-rust and painting. The rough rear suspension has now been refitted whilst I now work on the front of the chassis de-rusting etc. Had a good luck round Beaulieu Autojumble the weekend before last, Cooked breakfast under a tree in the carpark on both days before a leisurely 9 mile walk as recorded by mates son's phone. Managed to pick up a new door skin from Guy's stall . Go the autojumble twice a year as only live 15miles away and am a friend of the place. Free entry being the best benefit and their excellent monthly talks in the winter. Have a look on their website. also picked up some looms off ebay. Not totally sure about them , and or whether i buy new or make my own as I did on my landrover 2a . Time will tell. Possibly a useful supply of coded wire at least. That's it for this report. Sorry for spelling etc. Will update when panels are returned on the 14th, and I place a big order at the shop..........

The death of of my mother followed by my sister a couple of weeks ago means progress has been slow. Also waiting for bodywork to be collected for chemical dipping. However did find time to remove the head off the 1500 my herald is recieving and pleasently surprised. Bores not bad bad and not much of a noticeable ridge. Then spent a whole day removing all traces of old head gasket that had manage to magically blend itself into the head and block. Keeping it well damp and soaking with oil and wd40 to stop any nasty fibres from the gasket getting airbourne. Will inspect crank and big end bearings but will, if all is ok as i suspect, replace bearings and rings etc with standard size. But thats for another day. Did manage to pick up boot floor today from an ebay seller, surplus to his requirements. Mine has holes already and may well be lace when it returns from its bath. Not sure if i will fit complete or cut to obtain areas that i need. Time will tell. TBC.

I was going to at some point query as original poster the single v double skin and it reminded myself to check my new old stock treadplates which 1.7mm and got to be 15 years old and my intention is to replace as 1 unit and do away with double skin, thats a rust trap.

Thanks everybody , definitely food for thought. Liked the idea of the eyebolts in the seat belt fixings and Pete,s above with a strap wrapped around the wing and 45 degrees up from the opposite door way so one side can be aligned at a time. Had a butchers at my B post this afternoon to see how assemble and welded together. In this Photo , have inserted a knife between part of the B post and the heel board. This part of the B post is welded to the floor and the vertical piece is not welded until the top of the heel board. Same for the other side. The knife could be slid up and down. Now a photo from behind this position. So not welded to the heel board behind this part of the B post. But he other part Of the L shaped B post buts up to the end of the Heel board and is presumably spot welded here. The outer part of the L shaped B post connects to the external wing and outer wheel arch. When it comes back from being dipped at the beginning of June, and as I have realised not before will attempt to squeeze in. , Will first repair, reskim the doors and fit the bulkhead and doors to the chassis. Fully expecting to have to fit new rear wings and outer wheel arch's amongst other bits that dissolve away. So removing them will release part of the b post. If the weld above the knife in the top picture is released and perhaps the spot welds below the knife where the B post is fixed to the floor , it should be possible to squeeze the B post in. Align with the door and then replace the outer wheel arch and rear wing. The B post can then be rewelded to the heel board and floor, locking into position. Not to be to caught up about 46 1/2 . Just make the doors and wings look right. ( Should the bonnet be on as well to get the front of the doors aligned with the bonnet or is this taking it to far ? ) Anyway , that's my cunning plan. Suppose time will tell. All conjecture at this stage till I get the lace curtains back from the dippers. Thanks for input.

My first Tr7 and my first Triumph. 1986 purchased with a bank loan and some money from my first Pay as a graduate engineer with Wimpey the builders. Had some crazy headlight conversion which i believe some one offered at the time becsuse of the problem with the headlights. Broke down and overheated so many times that i had to sell it 3 months later as i had spent the same amount as i prchased it again on repairs and work was moaning at me as i was late so many times. Traded it in for a 2.0LS Capri mk 3. Which was totally reliable. Since then i have had another tr7 when i was able to afford money and time for a toy 20 odd years later which i had for 10 years. A spitfire and a herald came and went, and now have the Herald im restoring and a parts car.

Reading the last couple of posts have left me with a little trepidation. Initially i was going to squeeze the body whilst off the car, as it now is. Then send if for dipping. But on 2nd thoughts will just temp brace as the tub is now , wait untill the bulkhead is bolted on the chassis. Repaired the door bottoms and reskinned the doors and then squeeze whilst the tub is in position on the chassis, with doors fitted so that i can see how other areas are affected and bracing / support / straps can be introduced as i replace rear wings outer and inner. Thanks guys and gals for posting back. Appteciated.

Thank you. Rereading some of the various threads again it seems that the right dims appear to be when the doors fit flushly. As my tub is off the chassis and has no reference points like doors etc , I will squeeze and possibly over squeeze until i get the dim of 46.5 and then weld in a brace. Hoping both sides come in equally. Got to start somewhere. It will remain in place for quite a while whist repairs etc are undertaken, hopefully the body will then stay like it. Ta.

Before i start work on my restoration of my herald 13/60 tub, am going to weld a brace in. Reading other threads understand that the required dim is 46 1/2 inches. Just need clarification as where to measure this from. Took a couple of photos today and believe that the correct place is fom the upstand on the wings just by the B post. Measuring 49 on mine. Or is it the seam on the B post itself which measures 46 1/2? This is probably a coincidence and i could not be so lucky. Or do i measure somewhere else. ? Seems i might have to get some ratchet straps out and squeeze it in by 2 1/2 inches. Any help appreciated. Thanks