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

[Bordfunker]

Just kidding Colin!

I think I’ll go with the existing clutch for now, particularly as it was fine before I dismantled the car.

Not a lot to report this week as I spent the weekend cleaning up a number of the parts that came off the car, before I move onto the engine.

Karl

[Bordfunker]

The last couple of weeks have been spent doing what our American cousins refer to as tearing down, or in the Queen's English, disassembly.

When I took the bulkhead off the chassis a few weeks back, I removed the wiper motor and rack assembly, initially with the aim of just storing them, but one look at the state of it all, made me change tack, and decide to give everything a spruce up before it was all packed away.

But then I got carried away......

I went to split the rack from the wiper motor, which meant opening it up, which in turn revealed grease the colour and consistency of ear wax.

This is after a partial scraping out!

The motor body didn't look any cleverer either....

And the interior showed signs of water ingress.

Nothing for it, but bath time.

Did I mention that it was a bit grubby?

I then spent the next 10 days cleaning, priming, and painting the cleaned up assemblies, leaving me with this to go into storage.

I didn't go overboard on cleaning up the allow castings, after all I don't own a vapour blaster.

The gearbox rear mount also got the same treatment, going from this...

....to this...

Again, I didn't fancy putting it away in a state, and its a nice feeling knowing that these parts are ready to back in when the time comes.

Back to the tearing down, sorry, disassembly, I started removing the ancillaries from the engine, ahead of taking the engine out.

The manifold came off with no issues, which was a relief, as did the water pump, an even bigger relief.

The timing cover oil seal has been leaking for years, so before I removed the flywheel, I locked it up, and cracked the front pulley nut.

All that oil, and none of it protected the rest of the timing cover, leaving it decidedly scabby. 

Also, is the motley collection of, nuts, bolts, and cheese head screws holding on the timing cover normal?

The flywheel and backplate came off without much of a fight, despite my initial challenge with getting the freshly unbolted flywheel to release from the crank.

Looking at that shiny core plug, I have a suspicion that someone has been here before me, and not that long ago, judging by the pristine condition of the aforementioned plug.

Pity whoever it was, didn't also take the time to replace the rear crank seal, as that has obviously been leaking for a long time given the state of the backplate.

 The dizzy, like everything else on this car was covered in a thick film of oil and muck, but responded to a quick brushing with Gunk, and an enthusiastic wipe down.

Which also revealed what looks like evidence of a minor conflagration!

Not sure what happened there, but it always worked before I took the care apart, so no harm, no foul.

The workshop manual suggests that the dizzy pedestal can be removed by removing the two nuts either side.

Except mine won't budge!

Am I missing something, or, as I suspect, is mine simply glued on by what looks to be a thick wodge of sealant?

All of which has left me with a relatively bare engine......

Looking a little naked now, and with the engine stand mount bolted in place.

I did try lifting the engine, with the help of my youngest son, all 6'3" of him, but given that I am currently working on a health and safety project at work, and the plethora of slip and trip hazards around the engine, I decided not to attempt it.

So this week I need to find an engine hoist.

Overall a very productive weekend, even if did tip a container of Gunk over myself, leaving me looking like a hobo who had wet himself!

Karl

[Josef]

The wiper motors are quite heavily greased inside. I believe it’s supposed to be water resistant and prevent water getting in the mechanism. Though having written that now I’m not sure how water might be at risk of getting inside. Anyway, I re pack mine with some marine grade grease. 

[mark powell]

I have a hoist, maybe too far away in Eastbourne?

[68vitesse]

12 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

The workshop manual suggests that the dizzy pedestal can be removed by removing the two nuts either side.

With the nuts removed should just lift off, might be several gaskets under it as these are used to adjust the drive gear endfloat.

Regards

Paul.

[Bordfunker]

Thanks for the comments guys.

The inside of the wiper gearbox has been thoroughly greased, with fresh, non-lumpy grease, Josef, so should be good for a few more years.

Mark, many thanks for the offer, but Eastbourne might be a bit of a trek, but thanks all the same.

Paul, sounds like I just need to eat my Shredded Wheat and set about the pedestal.

Thanks all

Karl

[Pete Lewis]

the collection of long short and cheese heads is correct 

you just have to remember which went where  !!!

PT803	SCREW - PAN HEAD 5/16" X 3/8" UNF	£1.40		EACH	IN STOCK	5off
	HU807	SETSCREW - 5/16" X 7/8" UNF	£0.44		EACH	IN STOCK	6off
	HN2008	STEEL NUT - 5/16	£0.20		EACH	IN STOCK	1off

 

[ahebron]

23 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

..........

Mark, many thanks for the offer, but Eastbourne might be a bit of a trek, but thanks all the same.

.........

Karl

You reckon?

[Bordfunker]

Ahebron, now you’re just taking the Micheal!

As it was I managed to find an engine hoist locally, less than 3 miles away, so all is good.

I’ll post an update later today, once I have taken some photos.

Pete, thanks for the confirmation on the fixings, though I still think it looks a complete buggers muddle!

Karl

[Pete Lewis]

as they are all 1/4unf threads you can use  hex head setscrews all round if you fancy 

the  short  cheese heads only go where the engine front plate is exposed    longer where they enter the block

the nut goes on the one unthreaded hole and the grey matter is thinking earth straps ???

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Earth straps are bolts, one in the lower N/S front corner of the engine plate. I had to get a picture a while back to help me remember the sequence:

If in any doubt as to length of bolt, poke a small screwdriver into the hole until it bottoms out then check the length that went in against a bolt. That way you'll not use too long and possibly strip the threads.

 

[Bordfunker]

Colin, thanks for the diagram.

I have taken pictures as well so that I have a record of what was where before I get around to removing the timing cover.

As per my earlier post, I managed to find an engine hoist locally, which came as a bit of a surprise as most of the local hire places don't list these on their websites.

I remember in the 80s there always engine hoists outside hire shops, but then I guess we were all a lot more prepared to perform engine swaps on our life expired cars than today, where the focus looks be more on adding bling.

When I removed the alternator and water pump, I had also removed the lifting eye on the front of the engine, so had to go digging in the spares box for a short bolt with which to attach the eye.

Nothing quite fitted, so I used what I had, and added a bunch of body mounting washers to create some clamping force.

This was followed by an introduction to Mr Engine Hoist.....

For what is a fairly large piece of kit, I was surprise at how easy the hoist was to manoeuvre, even with the engine attached.

This was after I had remembered to unbolt the earthing strap between the engine and the chassis!

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little concerned at having my engine dangling in space, as this is the first time I've done this, but everything went OK.

Which just left me to swing the engine across, and onto the waiting engine stand.

The engine is definitely in need of clean up, but that will have to wait.

Again I raided the spares box, or more precisely the box of body mounting bolts, to attach the engine to the stand, but given that slots in the stand were bigger than the bolts, I sleeved the bolts with some sections of steel tubing that I had recovered from an old stair gate.

I hadn't drained the oil before I took the engine out, so now was the time to do so, but without the ability to run the engine to thin the oil, I needed another heat source.

Cue 15 minutes of playing the heat gun on the underside of the sump, at all times under close supervision, as the last thing I wanted to do was start a fire in the garage.

And this is what came out, more like a gritty sludge than oil. I left the heat gun running for a few minutes after the plug was removed, as well as tilting the engine over on the stand to get the last dregs out.

With the engine drained I moved on to removing the front suspension, after I had reminded myself of the correct procedure. It's amazing what you forget when you have spent most of the last few years welding rather than wielding a spanner.

Everything that has come off the chassis has been cleaned and labelled, most of it having been refurbished when I first got then car.

Leaving me with a stripped, but very mucky chassis, so out with the Gunk and the pressure washer, and the chassis got wheeled out onto the drive.

I gave the chassis a quick going over with the heat gun to dry it out, before popping it on the dolly and wheeling it back into the garage.

Next week should see me get back to the welding, grinding back all my original welds, which are all highly suspect given:

1. the welder wasn't working properly
2. I was a lot less adept with the welder when I did these.

Because the chassis can now be stood up, flipped over, or simply laid flat, the welding should be a lot easier, and therefore faster, especially the bit about not having to weld upside down.

I'm classing that as a successful weekend, with just the hoist to be returned in the morning.

Karl

[Colin Lindsay]

11 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

Because the chassis can now be stood up, flipped over, or simply laid flat, the welding should be a lot easier, and therefore faster, especially the bit about not having to weld upside down.

Remember the inside of the chassis too - now is a great time to address rust. With the chassis upside down or on its' side I pour Jenolite or the like down inside the main rails, to reach the upper corners or sides other than the horizontal. You can also thin primer and pour it inside the chassis rails, or even just spray it in through the holes in the rails, but with the chassis upside down it will adhere to the top rather than the bottom. Do the same for all four sides, and after painting the same with Waxoyl or Dinitrol and you'll know the inside is as good as the outside.

[Bordfunker]

Colin, that’s a very good idea.

I was thinking of getting a schutz type lance to force rust stopper into all the cavities, and could probably do something similar with primer as well.

I was planning on using a rust inhibitor type wax product, but I won’t apply that until all the painting is done, as I don’t want any fish eyes in the paintwork.

Karl

[Bordfunker]

You know when you have been looking forward to getting into the garage all week, and then it doesn't quite go to plan, that has been my weekend.

After all the work over the last few weeks to get the garage sorted, and the car stripped down to a bare chassis, I was hoping to get a couple of welding sessions in over the weekend, however Friday evening our elderly Beagle, 15, started throwing up, including over me and the sofa.

This continued into the night, which is not great when she sleeps on your bed, until we eventually decided it was time to take her to the vet, the time being 2 am!

Long story short, dog taken to vet's.

Dog left at vet's.

Get home about 3.30, sleep till 6, at which point little Beagle wakes up, so I go and sleep on the smallest sofa with her till 8.30. 

Can't sleep on the bigger sofas, as older Beagle had managed to throw up on both of them!

Took youngest son to work, and went shopping, before coming home to find Mrs B missing. Turned out old Beagle was doing fine, and could come home, but not after £550 had changed hands!

So rather than spending Saturday afternoon welding, it was spent cleaning sofas and trying to get some sleep.

The good news is that Willow, the old Beagle, is back to her old self, which mainly consists of sleeping while snoring loudly on the newly cleaned sofas, or shouting at little Beagle, Olive, for merely existing!

At least everything is back to normal now. Well as normal as it gets in our house.

So today I did actually manage to get into the garage to restart the chassis welding that had been put on hold when I had decided to refurb the garage, starting with the patch under the dip by the diff.

This was the old patch that I had started welding in before giving up in disgust at trying to weld upside down, which was promptly cut and ground out.

Now I had punched out holes for plug welding in the top section of the chassis rail, as I know I can't plug weld upside down, you really do need gravity's assistance for plug welding to work properly!

Therefore I did my usual, and stuck a copper block behind the holes, before welding them up, and then grinding them smooth, as with the chassis wrong way up, gravity would be assisting me.

Everything got a coat of zinc weld through primer, which dried in minutes in today's weather, before the patch was offered up, and welded in.

This is following the first clean up with a flap disc, and before I straightened the inner edge, but I didn't go much further as I would rather leave more weld and have a stronger repair, that clean it up so that it was invisible, not that is likely to happen with my skills anyway.

With the chassis flipped over, this was an absolute doddle, and I really wish that I had taken the plunge earlier and stripped the car back to a bare chassis before starting welding.

Still you live and learn.

Another lesson learned, is if its 29-30 degrees outside, it even warmer inside when you are using a welder and covered head to toe for safety's sake!

Who knew?

The chassis has been left inverted for now, as next weekend I need to finish of the repairs to the ends of the main chassis rail on the driver's side, though thankfully that will be markedly simpler than the passenger side, where as always, the rot was a lot worse.

Karl

[Peter Truman]

Your old Beagle is doing very well at 15, glad he's recouped our previous 3 Beagles only made 10yrs each, but Kimba our big, big Foxhound made 16yrs & is still sorely missed.

Glad your back on track, I have an original Spit Mk1 chassis Aus supplied CKD part and still only slight surface rust inside, but RH front outrigger removed due to rust from that part being buried in the ground for years but under cover, I've made a replacement outrigger and will repair in time but all now in very dry garage so protected.

[Bordfunker]

Peter, we have had 3 make it beyond 15 over the years, so I think life at Bordfunker towers suits Beagles.

I do envy your lack of serious rot over there in Oz, but something has to balance out the wildlife that is trying to kill you at every turn!

Karl

[Peter Truman]

Son lives at the outer edge of suburbia and had a copperhead snake in the back yard last summer, he backs onto a golf course & river gum reserve. Their not agressive but very poisoness snake catcher got it and he now has snake proof barrier under the paling fence.

We've lived in small estate surrounded by a golf course for 43years and never had an unwanted guest! Maybe it was the Beagles barking that has kept them at bay! or the sight of the Kimba's the Foxhounds front two fangs you have to feel sorry for the fox's with them teeth they could do some real damage.

I hate snakes!!!!!!

[Colin Lindsay]

18 hours ago, Peter Truman said:

Son lives at the outer edge of suburbia and had a copperhead snake in the back yard last summer, he backs onto a golf course & river gum reserve. Their not agressive but very poisoness snake catcher got it and he now has snake proof barrier under the paling fence.

We've lived in small estate surrounded by a golf course for 43years and never had an unwanted guest! Maybe it was the Beagles barking that has kept them at bay! or the sight of the Kimba's the Foxhounds front two fangs you have to feel sorry for the fox's with them teeth they could do some real damage.

I hate snakes!!!!!!

Maybe they're escaping from the gum reserve? Wrigleys?

[Bordfunker]

On 11/07/2022 at 22:58, Peter Truman said:

Their not agressive but very poisoness snake catcher got it and he now has snake proof barrier under the paling fence.

 

That makes it alright then Pete!

As some of you may be aware, the UK has been experiencing slightly warmer than usual weather over the last few days, and as result activity in the garage was a little more restricted than anticipated, particularly given the need to wear head to toe PPE whilst welding!

I am always amazed at these programmes on TV where you see guys welding in a T-shirt and shorts, with no apparent thought given to UV or normal burns, and yet at the end of every show, there's the usual disclaimer that all health and safety regulations have been followed. Ant Anstead was the worst one for it on Wheeler Dealers, whereas at least Ed China was always fully covered.

OK rant over.

So as you have probably gathered, I did a bit more welding this weekend, focussing on finishing the repairs to the ends of the chassis main rails on the driver's side.

As you can see the welding went well, despite the heat, and again was made so much easier by being able to flip the chassis over to get the optimum weld position.

In the pic below, it looks as if the driver's side box section is larger than the passenger side.

Not sure if that is a trick of the photo, or it really is wider, but given that everything has been aligned with the rest of the chassis rail, it ought to be all the same size. 

Either way the boot outriggers fit well enough.

Now at this point I was soaked in sweat, and just wanted to head in for a shower, but when I went to push the dolly with the tub on top, into the garage, disaster, alright, minor annoyance, struck!

Oops! scratch one wheel. 

Nothing for it but to call on number 2 son to give me a hand to lift the tub onto the chassis.

At least that means it's all set up for trial fitting the boot outriggers and tacking them in next weekend.

Which leaves a very sorry looking dolly out on the drive for now. 

I shouldn't complain as it was only supposed to last a few months, and here we are 4 years later, with it still in use!

Anyway, that was my weekend, and now I'm off to go sit in front of the fan!

Karl

[Bordfunker]

I started this weekend exactly where I left off last, with the tub sitting back on the chassis, and with the rear end of the chassis rails ready to accept the boot outriggers that I had removed a couple of months back.

First I needed to make some repairs to the outriggers, as I had gouged them about a bit in my efforts to remove them in one piece.

This is the driver's side one looking a little scarred!

Note cut marks, where I had to cut through the original sub par welding!

10 minutes with the welder and the grinder left me with something that had regained its structural rigidity, as well as its looks.

This was pre-clean up, but you get the idea. 

I even welded up the forward joints, see that line of weld at the top, as these are just open and un-welded on the outriggers as supplied. 

Don't know it makes an ounce of difference, but it makes me feel better.

With both outriggers, I welded on a 'tongue' which I could then weld into the side of the chassis rail.

It's not quite 'factory', as I know the originals had a much more complex pressing on the end of the outrigger, but I figure this is better than simply butt welding the outrigger to the end of the chassis rails.

And after all, I did go to the trouble of cutting those nice ovals into the main chassis rails!

Here it is slid into position, and bolted to the boot floor in the correct position this time.

A quick wave of the welder on the top and side, just enough to hold it in position for now, I'll sort out the final welding when the chassis is bare again, and I have unfettered access.

Both sides received the same treatment, but I won't show you the driver's side, as I am sure you can imagine the above in reverse!

So next, I unbolted the tub, of which more later, leaving me with a semi-bare chassis.

Boot outriggers in place, and awaiting final welding and clean up.

Now about that tub.

For anyone who has followed this rambling thread at all, you will know that to date I have replaced all of the chassis outriggers, as well as large chunks of the tub floor, particularly the various body to chassis mounting points.

As result, not everything is lining up as it should, with a couple of instances where bolts won't pass through the chassis to the receiving mount above.

Don't get me wrong, we're not talking the level of mis-match that Colin suffered, only a few mm in this instance, but enough, so next week I will be measuring my chassis again, just to be on the safe side.

Finally, I had the steam cleaner out on Sunday morning, cleaning, again, the sofa that the dog had vomited on, and having achieved that task, and with steam to spare, attacked the engine with it, revealing this.

'47' hand painted in yellow, which I assume refers to 1147, but which does suggest this might not be the original engine.

Some research is required.

Given that I was expecting the boot outriggers to take a couple of weeks, I am well chuffed withy this weekend's progress.

Karl

 

[Josef]

Interesting. I did learn recently that the TR3 engines had large red 3s hand painted on the side from the factory. So the 1147s being similarly marked up would make sense especially as there was crossover with the 1296 from 67-70 ish. If your engine number and commission number are in the same ballpark then chances are it is the original. My 13/60 has 57xxx and 64xxx for example and it is matching numbers from the Heritage cert. 

[Bordfunker]

Josef, that is interesting, as I always assume that any parts with what looks like non-factory markings have been recycled, as I always associate it with scrappys.

No idea if mine is matching numbers, but the engine serial is GD113000HE, not sure where that fits in the production, though the car is a 68 model.

Karl

 

[Josef]

Well 113xxx would indicate a later engine (nominally the numbering series will have started at GD1HE - I think, don’t have any concrete evidence there though - in 1961). Given in 68 the 13/60, Spit Mk3, 1300 etc and 1200 Herald were all in production, having some obvious mark up to make sure each car got the appropriate engine fitted first time seems logical. But I’m only inferring, maybe someone round here knows for sure?

[Josef]

Managed to find another 47 example and some discussion about 7’s and 10’s on later US Spitfires