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** 26/02/23 Heading Up ** Probably how not to restore a Herald!


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The fresh welding wire turned up, however it didn't come with a portion of welding skill!

I ended up cutting out the patches that I had put in last week.

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All pretty quick and easy with the angle grinder.

Next up creating a card template for the patch.

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And marked out on the sheet steel with a marker.

5 minutes with the angle grinder gave me this.[

 

URL=https://imageshack.com/i/pm6cmKXij]6cmKXi.jpg[/url]

So far so good.

I then tacked the patch in and welded round the edges, quickly followed by a grind down, and a coat of weld through primer.

YfovkB.jpg

Lots of blow through around the edges, and the side rail has turned to lace where it meets the outrigger, having said that the patch itself is very solid, just not pretty or MOT worthy.

I therefore spent last night on YouTube watching welding tutorials, which did highlight my main issues:

1. Not enough metal being fed into the weld as I had the wire speed too low, overheating the weld and causing blows.
2. Pushing the weld not pulling it. Pushing is for gas MIG, not flux cored.

At least next weekend is a long weekend so I should get an opportunity to sort both the chassis and my welding.

Karl

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As expected this weekend has been dedicated to welding up the driver's side front outrigger and side rail, and trying to improve on my previous efforts.

Given that I need this welding to be strong enough to satisfy an MoT tester I decided to go belt and braces and flush weld and then patch them.

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Not the neatest I know, but it's very solid and hopefully will keep the MoT man happy.

Now I just need to weld up the boot floor and then the fuel tank can go back in.

Next weekend Mrs B is away so I should get plenty of time to clean up the remaining suspension parts and start the painting, the aim to have the car back on the road by the end of June ahead of the Bicester FlyWheel festival.

The MoT isn't due until the end of July but I want to get as much as sorted out early so that I can drive the car for the summer, rather than just taking it apart!

Karl

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Hi Karl

 

Your using Gasless MIG?.  I have one and have not had much joy getting good welds (a lot of info on net, saying it's more difficult?).

 

Have bought a cheap auto darkening mask to see if that helps, as some folk say it does make it easier, though not had a chance to try it.

 

Glad to see your improving, Keep up the good work.

 

Dave

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Dave, yes I'm welding gas less with flux cored wire and and a Clarke 151 EN, and it's certainly proving a steep learning curve!

 

I picked up an auto darkening mask at the Practical Classics show, and it's taken a bit of playing with settings to get it a point where I can see what I'm actually welding through the gloom.

 

I've also spent a lot of time on YouTube watching videos on gas less welding, and I noticed on one that the guy had removed the shroud from the torch so that you could see the electrode, and see exactly what was happening at the weld pool, so I gave that a go this weekend, and found it helped a huge deal.

 

I'm finding welding is more of an art than a science.

 

I've ordered my boot corner repair sections from Chic Doig this afternoon, so that needs to be my next welding exercise.

 

Karl

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With Mrs B away for the weekend I've got a chance to crack on with some of the long list of tasks which need to be tackled before I can get the Herald back on the road.

Much of the work that needs to be done is clean up, removing almost 50 years of muck, and what is left of any remaining paint.

First up was the anti roll bar and associated fixings. The bushes are being replaced as the current ones are perished, but I'll try and save the bush mounts.

Here is the before and after comparison.

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Not great, but they'll do after a coat of paint.

Next up is the driver's side engine bay valance, which when we last saw it looked like this.

WmOiUt.jpg

So I drilled out the spot welds and separated the two sections of the valance.

Here's the old section against the new section of steel. It shows just how badly corroded the original was.

rNfQTu.jpg

The new section is 1mm thick and has been plug welded through the drilled out spot welds.

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The plug welds need cleaning up in the morning, don't think the neighbours would appreciate me getting out the angle grinder at this time of night!

This still leaves the other section that had to be cut out, to be replaced.

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This section of the original is a complex shape , which my limited metal working skills were going to struggle to recreate, so I opted for a simpler pattern which would be easier to make, but still retain the strength in the panel.

wW9udj.jpg

To form the reinforcing depression in the panel I used a socket and the vice, opening the vice jaws to the same width as the socket, and then hammering the socket, on its side, into the gap between the jaws.

Brutal, and probably not very healthy for the socket, but it's a metric one, and who needs them?

Here is the new panel resting in position.

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Once I've ground the plug welds down tomorrow, I'll seam weld this in, and then it's time for primer.

Also on the clean up list this weekend, and something I've been putting off for ages is the passenger side suspension tower.

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It took me about 3 hours to get this state, using multiple drill mounted wire brushes in order to reach into all the nooks and crannies on this component.

The steering rack also got a thorough clean up, which highlighted a perished gaiter on the passenger side which I'll need to replace.

 

VE44XU.jpg

As well as the anti roll bar bush mounts, I also cleaned up the remaining bumper stay , the aim to having everything cleaned up and ready for paint next week.

 

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Tomorrow I'll finish off the repairs to the engine bay valance, and then I just need to strip the paint off the radiator, I'm not touching the core, that I'll mask up, and the two side panels need a clean up and a coat of paint.

Karl

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Yesterday saw some more work on the driver's side engine valance, grinding down the welds from the first repair section before I could attach the second repair section.

XuqrcV.jpg

Here it is tacked into place on one side, I had to clamp it down on the left hand side to make sure it would be held against the parent panel.

And here it is all tacked in place.[

 

URL=https://imageshack.com/i/pm0W4kFnj]0W4kFn.jpg[/url]

I probably could have left it like this, just grinding the welds down, but I wanted to try and seal the edges up properly by seam welding it all, which left me with this.

Ri3PPN.jpg

I still need to sort out the upper join, which kept blowing through, my own fault for not getting a tight enough gap between the two parts prior to welding, essential with MIG.

Now I would have fixed this, but Sod's Law I ran out of welding wire at 5 past 4 on a Sunday afternoon!

So I then spent an hour and a half cleaning up all of the bolts and screws that I had removed with a wire brush before dunking them all in Gunk for an overnight soak.

Not the most interesting job, but one that needed to be done, and should help speed up the reassembly process.

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but I gave the suspension tower a blow off with the airline to remove dust from all the sanding and a load of mud was dislodged from inside the tower.

1uRaXV.jpg

This is just a fraction of the muck that came out.

Amazing how much crud can build up in a component over almost 50 years!

Karl

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I didn't fancy welding today, despite the new welding wire turning up earlier in the week, so instead carried on with the clean up of a number of components ahead of applying primer.

First up was the passenger side spring which was pretty crusty when it came off the car, but has responded well to several hours of clean up with wire brushes in the drill.

2Z34q0.jpg

It's amazing how awkward it is to clean up a helical spring, you always seem to miss a bit. If I ever do this again, I think I'll spring for media blasting. (I know awful pun, totally unintentional)

Next up were the two horns, but not a matching pair in my case.

One looks to be an original Clear Hooter, great name, and the other a replacement Hella item.[

 

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I ended up having to cut the mounting nut off the Hella unit as even after two weeks of soaking in penetrating oil it still would budge, preferring instead to round off its corners!

Oddly enough although it's a German made Hella item, the fixing on the back of the unit itself is imperial.

Here's the bracket post clean up.

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And the group shot.

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After this I gave everything a coat of Kurust ahead of applying primer tomorrow.

The aim tomorrow is to finish the welding on the engine bay valance and then start applying the etch primer so that next weekend I might actually get around to applying top coat.

Karl

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Clearhooter? Sounds like hay fever medication.

I could have done with some of that this afternoon after mowing the lawn!

 

Nothing particularly interesting done today, just applying primer to the large collection of parts which have been prepared to date, but I didn't get around to taking any pictures.

 

Karl

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a couple of weeks without any update due to work taking precedence over the last month, however despite a trip to the Flywheel festival at Bicester airfield I did get around to taking some photos this evening.

The driver's side engine bay valance has received a couple of coats of gloss black, here's the engine facing side straight from the gun.

evJlQC.jpg

It needs a rub down and a final top coat, but should be good enough for service under the bonnet.

Here's the exterior face having been rubbed down and awaiting top coating.

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A number of other components have also received a coat of gloss black, considerably improving their appearance.

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The horn bar has a few runs here and there, but no more than it had from the original paint job!

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The spring and wishbones have also been painted.

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It's bloody difficult painting a spring!

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All of this needs to be attached to something, so I've also finished cleaning up the passenger side lower bulkhead and chassis rail, which have received a coat of Kurust, then etch primer, and now red oxide as a base for the Dolphin Grey.

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The red oxide primer was applied with the paint gun rather than a rattle can, as the latter was getting a bit expensive at £10 a tin versus £12 for a litre of red oxide which is equivalent to about 5 rattle cans!

l3OA0G.jpg

The red oxide needs a rub down before top coating, but the aim is to have this sprayed next weekend, which should then allow me to start reassembly of the front end of the car.

Which brings me onto the back end of the car, which is not so pretty.

rwMVNf.jpg

Looking a little lacy both around the mounting and the lower boot side.

Here's some of the rust and mud that has come out of the backend!

GcQV6h.jpg

I already have the replacement boot floor mounting panels, sourced from Chic Doig.

Before I can fit these though I'll need to replace the rear chassis extension, as mine has rusted away around the bolts and is too far gone for patching, so I'll be ordering one of these as well. Ho hum!

I had a nightmare removing the rear overider as the lower captive bolt most certainly wasn't, and just rotated in its cage.

There's no room to get the angle grinder into the nut, but just enough room to get the air cutter in, and I then had to make a number of slices across the top of the bolt before applying some brute force with a cold chisel and a lump hammer.

Quite therapeutic after being locked in contract negotiations!

With that out of the way I could remove the passenger side valance, which proved to be in excellent nick, which is one less thing to pay for.

Hopefully this week will be a bit quieter, without having to work UK & US hours, so I may actually get some time to do some rubbing down ahead of top coats at the weekend.

Karl

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Karl,

 

I'm impressed with the speed of your progress.  I've been at my Herald since 2003 and although now roadworthy, it's not finished!  I've been there with the seized over-rider bolts and without an air saw, spent days in the boot  using a very short off-cut of hacksaw blade to work my way through the bolts!

 

My boot outriggers were full of holes, patching would take longer than the 4 lines of welds to fit a new one, so I asked on the old TSSC forum for advice.  I got plenty of help, so as a way of thanks I then submitted a few photos of how I did it.  Can't say the method is right, but it worked for me*.  The words are lost, but I still have the pictures, so will try and put them up later in the chassis section of the forum.

 

Regards,

 

Stuart.

 

*I'm sure this isn't why my door gaps are too tight.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've finally got a couple of days off from work with the express intention of making some serious progress on the Herald, namely getting it back to being a 4 wheeled vehicle, and sorting out the rot in the boot area.

 

Today I have managed to get the bulk of the front suspension rebuilt, and I'd love to show you some pics of what I've done, but unfortunately Photobucket have decided to suddenly change their T&Cs and now I can no longer share my photos.

 

Now I'm off to Google some alternatives.

 

Karl

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Trying to some post some pictures of progress today.

sbF1WR.jpg

This was my starting point, freshly painted chassis and lower bulkhead, with the brake union attached and the starter motor installed.
FvdbjC.jpg

Next up was the passenger side suspension tower, a job I hated when I did the driver's side, but this time, with a bit of thought it actually went quite well, as was soon bolted in.
GBMm1G.jpg
This was rapidly followed by fitting the passenger side engine mount, allowing me to remove the trolley jack for the first time in months.

YX9avn.jpg

Things were going pretty well despite the heat, and I soon had the lower wishbone installed, swiftly followed by the two part upper wishbones.

And here we are at the end of the day, with the new damper and old spring installed, and all tightened up.

 

Iurkir.jpg

Tomorrow should see the upright and hub fitted, followed by the passenger side front wheel, and a car that is once again vaguely mobile.

Karl.

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  • 3 weeks later...

PB have changed their terms Doug so that if I want to use their previously free services, I'm looking at $400 a year, that's a lot of Herald spares!

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy, focussing on getting the new passenger side boot chassis extension leg fitted.

Because the replacement leg pretty much butt joints to the rear of the main rail, rather than inserting into the chassis rail a few inches like the original.

Therefore I decided to seam weld around the join, which produced a pretty strong bond, but being me, I decided to add a series of reinforcing patched to make sure this be as strong as possible.[

 

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Pretty it ain't, but it isn't going anywhere soon.

Here's the underside where I applied another plate, again beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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You can see the 3rd plate in this shot as well. This was a small closing gusset that sits between the front of the rear cross member behind the diff, and the inner U face of the new chassis extension piece. This one was a pain to weld due to the spare wheel tub getting in the way.

And here's the new extension in place.

2fZmFF.jpg

With that in place, it was time to turn my attentions to removing the old rotten panels, starting with the lower wing/boot panel which sits behind the side valance, and which was decidedly moth eaten.

 

RTcNUu.jpg

I ground the seam down on the side until the skin separated , and then sliced out the remainder with the angle grinder. There's lots more tidying up to be done.

Here it is from inside the boot, with a portion of the rear corner removed, but still lots more to do.

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I couldn't resist sliding in the replacement boot corner that I got from Chic Doig.

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There's lot of work to do before this lot fits properly, but that's for another weekend.

And finally a shot of the rotten metal that's been removed this afternoon.

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In other news I've replaced all the bullet connectors on the wiring looms for the front lights, along with the female connectors following an e-bay purchase, and now have a fully functioning set of front lights and indicators.

I also replaced the wood screws which were holding the lights in!

Proves I'm not the first badger to own this Herald!

Karl

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After all the trials a tribulations with PhotoBucket I've signed up to ImageShack, so let's see how this goes.

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon cutting rusty metal out of the back of the Herald in preparation for the replacement panels, but didn't get around to taking any pics, maybe tomorrow.

However this evening I decided to something about my tatty front number plate, which was looking somewhat bent and battered, hardly surprising given its exposed position under the front bumper.

So off it came and got a good wash, before I attempted to remove the digits, which were held in with pesky star washers. Here they are after an hour of swearing and sweating!

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Think I might need to replace some of these.

This left me with this.

 

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This was after I had knocked all the dents out an straightened it up as best I could, hence the hammer.

The digits were then given a thorough scrub in the sink, and to my surprise appear to be aluminium, I was expecting plastic.

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Both the digits and the back plate will need re-painting, the digits silver, and the back plate satin black, but before that I put everything back together for safe keeping, minus the star washers of course!

T97Bcx.jpg

Looking better already.

Karl

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I thought I would start today's activities with a bit more work on the number plate, starting with giving the digits with a coat etch primer, here's a quick before and after.
 

g0KQGW.jpg[/url]

 

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I mounted the digits onto a sheet of cardboard, having first punched the holes out through the backplate onto the card. This allowed me to just push the digits onto the card securely for painting.

Attention then turned to the backplate itself, with was attacked with a stripping disc.
 

PztLfL.jpg

It still needs a bit of work to remove a few dents and dings, but it's already a lot straighter than it was. Once they are sorted I'll etch primer it and then give it a coat of satin black.

I also spent some time stripping the paint of the fuel tank in preparing for getting that primed and painted gloss black, especially as I now know that James Paddock do the fuel cock decal, so I can make it look original once it's done.

Next up was a return to the back of the car and stripping out more of the panels that are going to be replaced.

I started off by stripping off the remains of the valance panel to rear wing join, slowly running the grinder up and down the join until the remains of the old panel fell off, leaving me with this.

mMVujs.jpg


It may not look like much, but this represented about an hours work!

After this I removed the distance tube from the back of the boot floor reinforcing plate, as it was getting in the way of cutting out the remains of the old panel.

 

B7hYfS.jpg

Here you can see how much the rear of the car sags without the lower quarter panel and boot corner in place to hold it all together, which gives me my next problem, as part of the rear lower quarter panel sits between the lower light panel, and the boot reinforcement panel.

I think a little research is required.

So this is where I left it this afternoon.

 

lWeIFe.jpg

Mrs B is away next weekend, so I think I know what I'll be doing!

Karl

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With Mrs B away with her mate in the North East for the weekend, I've spent the last two and a half days working on the Herald, with the focus on getting the hole in the boot sorted.

Now last week I was left with the issue of a piece of the side panel being stuck in between the boot reinforcement pressing, and the front of the rear light panel.

Some investigation with a torch and screw driver, identified a series of small spot welds, which were drilled out, and then the edge of the panel attacked with a hammer and wood chisel, which popped the remaining sections of spot weld, and which allowed me to pull the old piece out with pliers.

Getydd.jpg

Et voila![

 

URL=https://imageshack.com/i/pmevxa8Wj]evxa8W.jpg[/url]

It may not look much, but it was a major potential headache it I hadn't been able to remove it.

With that out of the way, it was time to fit the side panel.

V9tv6m.jpg

 

Starting to feel like progress.

At this point I trial fitted the boot corner and reinforcing plate.[

 

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At this point I marked up the boot corner panel, and with much trepidation cut the panel with a 1mm cutting disc in the angle grinder.

I did check the fit a couple of times before cutting and committing to welding.
 

nMiMeZ.jpg
 

At this point all looks good, despite my dodgy welding, and this is where I left it last night.

However this morning I realised that the boot panel must have slipped when I was marking it up, and was sitting too shallow.

What to do? Spend another £60 on a new panel? Expensive and embarrassing!

Out with the angle grinder and cutting disc, slicing between the old and new panels, and inserting a new section of metal.

Here it is tacked up.
 

BpkBuj.jpg

And showing the seam welding of the reinforcing plate.
 

BQNaMQ.jpg

I wasn't happy with my attempts at plug welding, and so seam welded all the seams, which should prove be strong if not particularly pretty.

Trying to get everything to line up was a challenge as the back end of the car ends up a bit poppy with all the rot cut out, and so Heath-Robinsonesque work to get it all to line up.[

 

gB2su6.jpg

As well as the welding I also tacked the paint on the fuel tank, primering it, and giving it a coat of gloss black.

1auKyT.jpg

I need to flip it over and do the other face, but it looking much better than it did.

I also did some work on the front number plate, it's not perfect, but again neater than what came off the car last week.

i0Vdak.jpg

Now I just need to paint up the driver's side engine valance, so that I can get the radiator back in, and the boot repairs painted.

Karl

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