The embarrassing Herald restoration thread - now the fiddly bits

[Pete Lewis]

you want the thin reusable neoprene gasket is best on alloy covers 

and rimmers show the circlip nice picture but unobtainable   Grrrr!!!!

[Pete Lewis]

woud any of these R type clips work???  these are halfords own 

[Chris A]

58 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

When the PO had the car he obtained an inner door handle from me as his original was broken off at the base; when I bought the car the still unfitted handle came back to me. The replacement was very difficult to fit although we got there in the end.

I've got a new one as well that was supposed to replace the damaged one on the drivers side. Something is wrong with the alignment of the holes, I can put a nail or rivet, for example through it when not on the door mechanism but no chance when trying to fit it. I did think of trying to carefully re drill the holes but thought better of it ( ok too lazy)

I gave up on it and refitted the damaged one. It now sits in my spares box waiting until one of the existing handles gives up the ghost totally.

As for the door handle mechanism, the two on my 13/60 are the type where you can see the spring.

[Colin Lindsay]

R clips will work if I can find the correct size for the groove in the remote pin.These are Audi coolant pipe retaining clips:

...and these are Bosch fuel injector clips:

So the clips are still out there, it's just a case of finding the right size. This is where it goes so I want to be sure of fit-and-forget, not having to take the trim off again when the passenger can't get out...

 

 

[Pete Lewis]

could you use a clevis and split pin idea  

fit and forget but not OE 

Pete

[Josef]

How about a star lock washer? They’re designed to fit a groove on a shaft, and at least you can buy them easily in known sizes. They’ll stay put too as they’re not easy to remove once on!

[PeteH]

Won`t a standard "C" circlip (external) Fit?. Should go in with a pair of right angle circlip pliers?.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Aha! A circlip I never thought of! Gold star to PeteH. I tried other thingies from various drawers in the garage, the C-clip was just too loose and the R-clip bent, didn't have the correct size of star washer (but it would have worked) and don't fancy drilling it out for a split pin. The pin here is actually part of the arm, not intended to be removable, and on the original now-removed arm while it had been taken out and a clevis would have worked, the winder mechanism was the original problem so it wouldn't be replaced anyway.

  

All I have to do now is find a circlip without having to buy a box of 50,000, 90% of which I'll never use. (Many years ago I bought a box of 500 fibre washers, about £3 or £4, to date I've used about 50 and a month or so ago I knocked them down all over the floor. That cost an hour or two sorting them all out into the little compartments again.)

[Peter Truman]

SNAP! Fibre and copper washers a wasted hour! And they weren’t upside down cause I’m in the Southern Hemisphere.

[Colin Lindsay]

14 minutes ago, Mathew said:

That upside down just reminded me of the steel washers. You know when your too fussy , the washers have to be put on the right way up. With the rounded side up. Just now also thought what i might of started.

Especially with the toothed locking washers, where you have to fit them so as they lock left to right, not right to left.

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, Mathew said:

the washers have to be put on the right way up. With the rounded side up.

 

43 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

toothed locking washers, where you have to fit them so as they lock left to right, not right to left

I've just got back from a vernissage with a good "après". I need to have a lay down before I think about those points, far too technical at the moment 🤔

[Wagger]

5 hours ago, Chris A said:

 

I've just got back from a vernissage with a good "après". I need to have a lay down before I think about those points, far too technical at the moment 🤔

Love Colin's teasing. As a youngster I flipped a fan over in the belief that it would blow the opposite way. " NO". Lockwashers make anticlockwise rotation difficult. LH threads would need different lockwashers. I do not believe they were ever made. We just used double nuts.

Now don't go and start the push bike crank question. Why is the left side a LH thread when holding the pedal shaft pin screws it out when pedalling forward. That really did my head in. Precession I believe.

My Austin Ten Cambridge (1938) had LH threaded wheelnuts on the Left side of the car. No! Don't start, it is a downward spiral either way.

[PeteH]

18 minutes ago, Wagger said:

Austin Ten Cambridge (1938) had LH threaded wheelnuts on the Left side of the car. No! Don't start, it is a downward spiral either way.

As recently as 2012. My RV built on a Spartan fire truck chassis. Still had RH threads and LH on the traction wheels. When I had the tyres changed I had to warn the tyre fitters, getting them off. Required a torque multiplier.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, Wagger said:

Love Colin's teasing.

You got it...  I was wondering who would go out and actually try it...

In the meantime things have been cracking on, the last of the carpet and trim went in this afternoon, and finally the driver's seat.

                                                                            

It was strange to sit behind the wheel again, although it needs moved slightly to accommodate my legs. The brake pedal feels very hard but with all components replaced and not yet road tested it may bed in quickly enough. I think the seat may be high, too, but again I'll adjust over time. If only that durned bonnet would behave itself.

WARNING!! Those of a nervous disposition may want to look away now... but if you've ever wondered about blood sweat and tears going into a car, here's the proof.

                                                                               

The hand bled like a pig after fitting door glass sealing strips, the arm was from lying across the seat runners gluing the last of the carpet in place around the pedals. It's rather disappointing when you clean all the blood off and think: was that all it was??

It's strange to look back now at what the car was like in January and realise what has been done to it.

                                      

Give me a few more months of ownership I might actually have it looking like something...

[Wagger]

Car is looking really good Colin. But you have damaged yourself a wee bit. At least you have a good reason for the damage. I fault found a water distiller for D-I-L last Sunday sitting in a low chair hunched over the thing, turning from side to side depositing bits and operating a mains switch. I've given myself the worst bout of sciatica ever! Can't walk more than ten yards, can't sit for long or sleep for more than two hours. Painkillers not doing anything. Had to baby sit younger brother through a cataract op yesterday, so I'm stuck in the chair again.

Chiropractor made it worse, Physio did slightly better. Now it's ice packs, light excercise and a massage. I would much rather have changed the gearbox and trapped some knuckles.

Must stop doing favours. Just though the distiller could produce some fuel if I fixed it. Instead, the element parted company with the tank so it, and me are a write off.

New bed arriving next week. How am I gonna switch those over? Oh well

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, Wagger said:

Car is looking really good Colin. But you have damaged yourself a wee bit. At least you have a good reason for the damage.

Skin grows back but paint costs money, as they say...

The reason for the driver's side being left to last is because I can't lie on my left side! Passenger side, lie on right, no problem. Driver's side, I can't lie comfortably and my arms won't work in that extended angle - screwing the side trim on in the footwell was a bit of a faff. My shoulders won't squeeze through the gap between steering wheel and floor whilst I'm lying in over the sill so I had to give up changing the brake light switch on the pedal, unless I can reach it with my right arm from the passenger side whilst lying over the centre tunnel. 

My natural way of working is from the right, so if working on the bonnet wheelarches, I can stand on the N/S beside the wheel and work away with the arch on my left. On the driver's side I'm trying to twist to the right whilst facing the engine and it just doesn't work as well. I'll swear the passenger sides of my cars are better mechanically than the driver's sides...

[Bfg]

44 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

My shoulders won't squeeze through the gap between steering wheel and floor whilst I'm lying in over the sill

it's only one nut to undo to remove the wheel Colin.  

Smartarze madness n my methods with Katie  you see. doing all I needed to do in the footwells before seats and steering wheel were refitted.

[Colin Lindsay]

She moves! A monumental day, of sorts.

I got fed up with the bonnet so left it with terrible gaps, tidied everything else up, started the engine and drove out of the garage.

Initial impressions: revving too high, choke cable comes apart at the rubber joint, still a slight misfire, initially hard to get into first gear but eased up, clutch biting point quite high and the bearing began to whirr quite quickly.

Otherwise: suspension all good, no rattles, graunches or squeaks, no whining from the gearbox or diff, brakes good, the water leak has cured itself and seats didn't collapse. I drove it about 50 yards, reversed back, same again, and the skies opened with a huge thunderstorm so back in the garage we went. Didn't even get a photo. There's an oil leak under the engine - I should have used sealer round the sump - but that's a great step in the direction of the open road.

All I have to do is connect the lights, fit the front grille, and adjust the doors so that opening them doesn't result in a huge bang and paint flying off the wings.

[Pete Lewis]

there is light at the end of the tunnel then    Yipee

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Back on the road.... more or less.

Bit the bullet today and hit the open road - the good weather did have a certain appeal - so off we went.

First impressions on the first proper drive in four months - no whining, graunching or grinding (so replacement gearbox must be good), steering terrible, engine running very well, and the birds in the trees are incredibly noisy. Three miles out and three back, then opened the bonnet to find I'd forgotten to attach the bonnet stays which were flailing about. It's only paint. Anyway, most importantly - no flames, no burning smell, no dripping water.

I think the steering is due to poor front tracking - after all, everything has been replaced and only roughly set up again - and the steering wheel went from horizontal at start to a definite 11 - 5 position on return. That will be sorted locally next week. The wheel also hits my left leg - do I move it outwards and therefore upwards, or lower the seat?

There's also sideways movement in the steering column, which I don't like - it got new bushes top and bottom so shouldn't be moving. A little bit of mayonnaise on the filler cap - that's to be watched - but might just be moisture burning off after a lot of idling. Amazingly the choke worked properly. I still need to set the timing and watch the mixture, in case it's running rich again, and put proper anti-freeze in. I'm running on plain water in case it leaks... no point in wasting the good stuff!

The bonnet fit is still terrible but if I go fast enough, no-one will see. I'm just happy that the drivetrain is good, and that it stops when it needs to. Next job in that area will be to connect the overdrive circuit and see if it works.

The front valence also requires attachment at each end but at least it didn't drop off. I must replace that badly dented sill too - that's on the shopping list for Stafford. The main thing is actually having something worth attaching it to.

 

 

 

[Chris A]

22 minutes ago, Mathew said:

Looking 👍 

Sure is!

[PeteH]

HAS, to be a satisfying feeling, having got it that far.?.👍 I`ve seen far worse Bonnet gaps on showgrounds in the past!. Looking at them, I still think the answer lies in the height of the bonnet pivot?.

 

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, PeteH said:

Looking at them, I still think the answer lies in the height of the bonnet pivot?.

Me too. I just cannot work out what I'm doing wrong especially as the bonnet will not open fully but doesn't appear to be hitting off anything round the front cross tube. I had the gaps almost perfect then all of a sudden they reverted to this 'high up and angled' stance that you can see in the photos, with the swage line almost an inch out of line, and both doors hitting the lower rear wing as they open. When the car arrived the gaps were excellent, but after the bonnet was removed for repairs to the front panel (only) it hasn't fitted since.

I raise the front, the gaps look okay, yet no matter how hard the brackets are tightened they seem to revert back again within days. It's a real head scratcher.

[Badwolf]

I have no idea (about much!!!) about Herald bonnet fixings but what is actually holding the brackets? Is that moving? Maybe the point on the bonnet that the bracket is attached to?

[PeteH]

I may have posted these before? It`s how mine are secured.

There is a crush yube inside the Overrider bracket too?

 

Pete.