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

[Bordfunker]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I spent a few minutes in the garage this evening measuring some of the offcuts that I had removed yesterday.

The chassis sections seam to be around 1.5 - 1.6mm, so roughly 16 - 17 gauge in old money.

I’ll have to order some 1.6mm steel, as everything I have is either way too thin or way too thick, plus 1.6mm should be easier to bend than 2mm.

Dick, I’d always attributed that quote to Eisenhower from the North African campaign, but it does sound very Moltke in retrospect.

Karl

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

Dick, I’d always attributed that quote to Eisenhower from the North African campaign, but it does sound very Moltke in retrospect.

Karl

I use it in the garage a lot.

No plan survives first contact with the bank balance.

[Bordfunker]

Following on from last week's adventures, I ordered some 1.5mm steel for the chassis repairs, which duly arrived on Thursday.

That would normally have been the cue to start making up repair sections, however last weekend my angle grinder had started cutting out, often after no more than a few seconds of use. You try cutting steel by hitting it with a dead angle grinder!

All very irritating, so with Mrs B out of the house at a craft show on Saturday, and me Beagle sitting, I took the opportunity to bring the ailing grinder in from the garage and take a thorough look at it.

Rear body removed, and I spotted this...

You don't need to be an electrician to spot issue there.

'That must be the problem!' I cried. (The Beagles did look askance at me, before dozing off again.

I soldered up the broken connection, plugged in the grinder, and hey presto.....

.......it was still intermittent.

Another hour or so of fiddling, replacing connections and re-soldering got me to the point where it didn't work at all!

I think it may be the actual switch unit, but the bearings are shot, and the screws on the bearing cover are made of cheese, so I took the plunge and ordered a new Makita angle grinder, which I picked up this afternoon.

What a difference!

I could never understand how people could cut straight lines with an angle grinder, now I know how, buy a decent angle grinder to start with!

Needless to say the comparison is like night and day, and I was able to make swift progress in turning a sheet of 1.5mm steel into chassis repair sections for the rear of the main chassis rail.

First I folded up the rear face of the chassis rail, ensuring that I had enough for both sides, before cutting it into two, and tweaking the section destined for the passenger side.

Excuse the stygian gloom, but as it was peeing it down here, there was no way I was putting the freshly re-welded tub on the drive, so had to work around it, or more accurately under it.

Happy with that, I set about the main portion of the chassis rail, and as with the back, my new sheet metal folder came in very handy, making short work of the bends in the 1.5mm steel. 

What the new folder doesn't do though, is provide very sharp bends, so these were finessed with a panel beating hammer on angle iron in the vice (Can you actually finesse with a hammer? Sounds like an oxymoron).

Leaving me with this...

.........which when fitted in place, looked like this.

Quite happy with that, the fit is good, and it matches the profile of the original section pretty well, but we're not finished yet.

I wanted to include the cut out that was visible on the original panel, I'm assuming that it was for ventilation of the cross member, here.

Good job I kept the bit that I had cut out....

.......quickly marked up.....

........then drilled and filed out.

I suppose I could have just drilled a round hole and left it at that, after all, no one will ever see it once it's welded up, but I liked the idea of retaining the originality.

So this is where I left it for today.

It still needs the plug weld holes drilling out, and then another oval cut where the rear outriggers would have been attached on the production line.

All that can wait until next weekend, which is going to be a long one, so I might just get this side welded on and a start made on the driver's side, but overall very happy with this week's progress.

Karl

[Bordfunker]

Matthew, I did look at the cable, and cut it back about 6 inches to fresh flex where it entered the grinder, before soldering on new terminals.

Still flaky after that, so might try a new lead and see if it makes any difference, after all it would be useful to have two angle grinders, one for each hand!

Karl

        

[68vitesse]

My cheap 9inch angle grinder stopped working, stripped gearbox, now have Makita soft start as you said chalk and cheese.

Buy cheap keep buying, buy quality buy once, hopefully.

Regards

Paul.

[DVD3500]

15 hours ago, 68vitesse said:

My cheap 9inch angle grinder stopped working, stripped gearbox, know have Makita soft start as you said chalk and cheese.

Buy cheap keep buying, buy quality buy once, hopefully.

Regards

Paul.

Oh I agree but for me a lot of times I use a tool for a project and once that project is done I barely need it or don't really need it all.

For things I know I will be using a LOT like a drill I go for better stuff but other things, like my car trim stripper tools I got the cheapest set I could find as I hope I won't need to strip a car again soon!

 

[Bordfunker]

The difference between the old and new angle grinders is like night and day, and it really does highlight the difference between cheap and good quality tools.

I bought my Bosch hammer drill when I got my first Herald back in the early 90s, and that is still going strong despite all the abuse it has received.

No real progress this week as it was very much a case of rain stops play, or more correctly wind and rain stop play.

Thanks Eunice!

No way was I putting the tub and dolly out on the drive in that weather, as the tarpaulin would have ended up in Northamptonshire!

Oh well, c’est la vie!

Karl

 

[Bordfunker]

After the last couple of weekends it was nice to actually have one where it wasn't either blowing a gale, persisting it down, or a combination of the two, so the bikes and the tub got wheeled out of the garage onto the drive, leaving me with room to actually work.

First up was a very small repair, not much bigger than a postage stamp, to the transverse chassis member which sits behind the diff.

I then had to add an additional fillet, as when I cleaned up the edge of the transverse member, I must have over done it with the angle grinder, so I simply added a small fillet to bring it back to the vertical.

Which then meant that I could add the inner portion of the main chassis rail.

Not my neatest welding, but it ain't ever coming off, and it will be hidden inside the chassis anyway.

The fillet weld is however on show, and I hate doing fillet welds, but I can live with this one, apparently the secret is a bit more wire stick out, and turning up the power.

OK what's next....oh yes the outer section of the chassis rail, which is where things started to go slightly awry, quite literally.

Welded on.....

.....and that is not a trick of the camera, but I'd managed to weld the bottom of the section out of true, leading to the creation decidedly non-square chassis section.

Arse!!!

Take a step back, have a cup of tea and think about it.

OK, use an old trick, cut a slice in the top of the section....

......followed by a few gentle blows from a hammer, to push the two sides of the cuts together....

 

...........followed by a wave of the welding torch.

Back to being square, and the boot outrigger fits a treat into the aperture, which is the main thing.

There is still a little tidying to do, but overall quite happy with that, so I made a start on the repair to the inside of the chassis rail just ahead of the cross member on the passenger side.

Excuse the awful photo, the i-Phone wasn't playing ball, but you can sort of see what I'm up to.

There's a section of the bottom of the chassis rail that has also been cut out as it was like lace, having had 50 years of leaf debris mouldering away inside it. 

I did replace it previously, but I used 1mm steel, and the welder wasn't working properly, so it was definitely coming out to be done properly.

And that was it for this weekend, a bit more progress towards a non-rotten chassis.

Karl

[Bordfunker]

I hadn’t realised that I haven’t posted an update in over 3 months, but it has not been for want of activity in the garage, however that activity hasn’t been focussed on the Herald, but the garage itself.

So what have I been doing for the last 3 months?

Aside from work, which to be fair has taken the bulk of the three months, I had a week in Cornwall with Mrs B and our two youngest.

Magically, Mrs B managed to pick a week when the weather was perfect.

Prior to this I had been welding up the ends of the main chassis rail, but was struggling with both access and lighting, so decided to take a step back and think about what was really needed.

The lighting in the garage has always been marginal, with just a single bulb, and therefore it made sense to address this with a proper lighting set up, that would allow me to see what I was welding!

But seeing as that would require an electrician, Mrs B suggested we go the whole hog, and get a proper power supply off the mains rigged up, which would then allow the luxury of more than 2 plug sockets.

Fortunately the estate that I live on has a very good Facebook page, so I was able to ask for recommendations for a suitable electrician.

In typical procurement fashion I went with the 3 bids and a buy approach, and soon had 3 electricians booked to provide quotes, which they all duly did, and which were all very close in both cost and method.

Obviously I went with most expensive quote, not because I think expensive equals better, but because I just liked the guy’s approach, which saw said electrician duly booked for early May. 

Which then meant I needed to get the rest of the garage sorted out, starting with properly boarding out the loft, which took a lot longer than anticipated, and which I only managed to finish off today.

So that is what I have been up to, but what does it actually look like?

Look at that, actual light!

Benches still need tidying, and there’s a box of crap that I forgot to take to the tip, but definitely better as I can actually work at the bench and see what I’m doing!

And the reason for all the effort lurking on the drive. 

It’s still a tight fit, but there is now room in front of the car and behind, which means I can get on with the next stage, removing the bonnet and bulkhead, followed by the engine and gearbox.

The aim is to strip it back to the bare chassis, which I can then flip, stand up, roll over, allowing access to weld it more comfortably.

There’s an engine stand ready to receive the engine, but the only work I plan on doing to it is a thorough clean up, and replacement of the front and rear oil seals as I know they are leaking.

Likewise the same for the gearbox, though quite possibly a new clutch will go in white the two are apart.

So that’s the plan for the next month or two.

Karl

 

[Badwolf]

Karl - Whatever you do, now that you have light, don't start looking for more rust!! Good to see that you're still on the case.

[Bordfunker]

12 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Karl - Whatever you do, now that you have light, don't start looking for more rust!! Good to see that you're still on the case.

Bare in mind that I still need to sort out the bulkhead, and that is a veritable treasure trove of rust.

After that, I am not sure that there is anywhere else rust could be hiding, I’ve had everything else apart!

The bonnet is unbolted ready for removal tomorrow, after which the bulkhead will be next off.

Karl

[Bordfunker]

With the bonnet no longer attached to the rest of the car, I decided to remove the lights and trim before actually removing it, just to try and avoid damaging anything in the process.

The lights are a bit tired, and new chrome rings are definitely required, but for now they have been packed away, carefully wrapped up in bubble wrap for now.

The side lights are in a similar state, if not slightly worse, note non-standard screw in the pic below.

 

I also removed the stainless steel bonnet centre, and side trims, as these are still in good nick using my newly acquired trim removal tools.

These were £11, and I can thoroughly recommend them, as they made removing the trim strips etc a doddle.

Allowing me to tape them all up to a straight batten for protection.

Now to find somewhere safe to store them!

I also did the bonnet letters, though some of these may be beyond saving to be honest.

With that out of the way, my youngest son gave me a hand to remove the bonnet, quickly followed by the bulkhead itself.
 

Hey presto! 

I even had some help from Olive!

That’s it for this weekend.

Next weekend I need to take a look at removing the nut on the front of the crank shaft.

Now is that clockwise, or anti-clockwise to remove?

Karl

 

[Josef]

7 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

I also did the bonnet letters, though some of these may be beyond saving to be honest.

I’ve recently found one of my replacement letter sets was really poor quality. Looks like someone made it with their glasses off as the shapes are not sharp, and the pins are in slightly different places on some letters. So if you buy new, check them on the car immediately before stashing them away and finding out they’re rubbish way after you’ve forgotten where you bought them…

[ahebron]

8 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

 

 

Is that a rare Forward Control Herald I spy?😉

[Paul H]

9 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

With the bonnet no longer attached to the rest of the car, I decided to remove the lights and trim before actually removing it, just to try and avoid damaging anything in the process.

The lights are a bit tired, and new chrome rings are definitely required, but for now they have been packed away, carefully wrapped up in bubble wrap for now.

The side lights are in a similar state, if not slightly worse, note non-standard screw in the pic below.

 

I also removed the stainless steel bonnet centre, and side trims, as these are still in good nick using my newly acquired trim removal tools.

These were £11, and I can thoroughly recommend them, as they made removing the trim strips etc a doddle.

Allowing me to tape them all up to a straight batten for protection.

Now to find somewhere safe to store them!

I also did the bonnet letters, though some of these may be beyond saving to be honest.

With that out of the way, my youngest son gave me a hand to remove the bonnet, quickly followed by the bulkhead itself.
 

Hey presto! 

I even had some help from Olive!

That’s it for this weekend.

Next weekend I need to take a look at removing the nut on the front of the crank shaft.

Now is that clockwise, or anti-clockwise to remove?

Karl

 

Hi Karl do you have a link for the trim removal tools please ?

Paul

[Bordfunker]

2 hours ago, ahebron said:

Is that a rare Forward Control Herald I spy?😉

Funnily enough, I had the very same thought. Not sure what that would do to the weight distribution over the rear wheels though!

Josef, thanks for the heads up. I might just keep an eye out for decent second hand ones if that is the case.

Paul, see link below;

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/5-piece-car-trim-removal-kit/
 

They do also sell a bigger set, but this one looks to be sufficient for older vehicles like ours.

Karl

[Bordfunker]

With the car stripped down to just chassis, engine, gearbox and front suspension, the next step was going to be removing the gearbox.

With the body off, it's not exactly a difficult task, but one that did  turn out to be quite messy due to decades of leaking oil.

The gearbox itself came out without a fight, not surprising really considering that all of the nuts and bolts had been soaking in oil for 50 years, and it was soon sitting on my deluxe gearbox handling dolly!

Actually my old welding trolley, but as needs must.

You can see the state of the top of it, it was completed clarted up with old oil and grease, along with 54 years of general road muck.

This is what I scraped off the insides of the chassis rails either side of the gearbox.

This was the rear gearbox mounting plate, both covered in oil, and rusty, all at the same time!

How did Triumph manage that?

 

The clutch looked to be relatively new on first inspection, and that would certainly appear to be the case once it was removed from the car for inspection.

The flywheel also appears to be in good nick too.

All of which was good news, as I was half expecting to renew the clutch.

The same could not be said for the bushes on the gearbox restraining assembly, which are definitely well beyond their use by date.

I then set about cleaning up the gearbox, with a combination of wire brushing and a bit of Gunk stippled on with a brush.

A marked improvement, though I still need to drain the oil before I can tackle the underside.

Having said that, a lot of the oil appears to have come down from the rear corner of the engine, so I am assuming the usual Herald head leak, which has steadily been oozing oil over the back of the engine and gearbox for many a year.

I know that the rear gearbox extension seal has failed, so have a spare in the stash, along with a fresh set of gaskets for the rest of the box. 

And yes I did slacken off the prop shaft flange retaining nut before removing the gearbox.

Other than that, I won't be touching anything mechanical as it was working fine last time I drove it, so best left untouched.

Next step is the engine, but I am currently waiting on a suitably sized socket to remove the front pulley nut. I did order one last week, but it has yet to appear, I feel a phone call coming on.

I do though have to find somewhere local to hire an engine hoist first, so again phone calls are in order this week.

And that was it. The sum total of my few hours in the garage this afternoon.

I am looking forward to getting the engine and front suspension out and off, and then getting back to completing all the chassis welding.

Karl

[johny]

Not even a lever bush kit required on the gearbox? 

[Colin Lindsay]

I'd replace the clutch, in any case. It might be additional expense but it's peace of mind for a few more years.

 

[NonMember]

I recently had to replace the clutch on my GT6. The previous one had been replaced when I upgraded to a J-type / fine spline gearbox in preparation for my first Round Britain run... in 1994.

With the surface rust evident on the flywheel and pressure plate, I'd be tempted to stick with that clutch and save the new one for when it's had a few years to clean itself up with use.

[Pete Lewis]

i would give the caces a whizz witha flap wheel to clean up the rust patches

i would say its a recon clutch as OE never used hamerite on the disc hub faces 

Pete

[Bordfunker]

On 12/06/2022 at 22:39, johny said:

Not even a lever bush kit required on the gearbox? 

Given the quality of the modern replacements, I’m inclined to leave as is, as mine didn’t rattle when I took it off the road.

On 13/06/2022 at 12:59, Colin Lindsay said:

I'd replace the clutch, in any case. It might be additional expense but it's peace of mind for a few more years.

 

We’re not all as flush as you Colin!

Thanks Rob and Pete, I’ll give it a clean up, and then put them away for even the engine gearbox are reunited.

The socket has now turned up for the front pulley nut, now is this clockwise, or counter clockwise to remove?

Karl

[Paul H]

10 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

Given the quality of the modern replacements, I’m inclined to leave as is, as mine didn’t rattle when I took it off the road.

We’re not all as flush as you Colin!

Thanks Rob and Pete, I’ll give it a clean up, and then put them away for even the engine gearbox are reunited.

The socket has now turned up for the front pulley nut, now is this clockwise, or counter clockwise to remove?

Karl

Karl if you do go for a replacement clutch cheapest I found was Canleys under £70 

Paul 

[NonMember]

12 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

The socket has now turned up for the front pulley nut, now is this clockwise, or counter clockwise to remove?

Front pulley nut is a conventional one - anti-clockwise to undo - so that if you ever use the starting handle (on earlier cars!) you are tightening it, not loosening.

[Colin Lindsay]

On 15/06/2022 at 20:15, Bordfunker said:

We’re not all as flush as you Colin!

Sitting here looking at torrential rain that is what passes for the heatwave you lot have been getting all week, and trying to work up the enthusiasm to replace rear brake pads on a Mondeo to save £40 at the local garage... so if that's flush, I need to be REALLY flush.

However my thinking about the clutch is that once fitted, it's fitted, so no removal of half the car's interior in a year or two to replace a half worn clutch that's now fully worn. I forgot to order a new plate when I swapped the GT6 gearbox and re-used the old one, so was always wondering when it was going to give up. That was in 2004, and it's still on the same plate, though, so I suppose they can last quite a while.