The embarrassing Herald restoration thread - and some unexpected wrist action...

[Colin Lindsay]

Well another week over, still haven't got to one single show but late evenings in the garage are getting lots done. I sandblasted a box of motorcycle parts for my nephew, he of the CAD / 3d printing / Engineering fame so it's got to be worth the remanufacture of a few small Triumph parts in the future. He's been making a hinge for the clutch arm on the alloy gearbox since 2021, so this may give him a gee on. 

In the meantime as the 13/60 can't get outside - rain, and running about like the proverbial have scuppered any planned trips - I've been pressing on with the 1200 Estate. The dashboard received its' first coat of satin varnish on Monday.

              

                            

The Cerejeira veneer is amazingly brittle, so I pressed on with the varnish in the hope that it would add some strength and enable finer work to be completed. It actually took two coats, but once hardened (says on the tin: 2 - 4 hours but closer to 24 hours, so one day per coat) I was able to sand off the excess on the outer edges without splintering, by use of 400 grade and great care - I just touched the face of the orbital sander to it, just the finest touch, and it sanded well. It will splinter if any kind of pressure at all is used. The holes for the cables and switches were cut out using the flat end of a chisel-like scalpel blade, pushed down against a firm surface; any kind of flexing will push the veneer off the dashboard again. Once the greater part was cut out, gentle grinding of the edges with a Dremel worked very well. I'm happy to be able to say that the chipped edges round the glovebox hinger and lower edge went back on with glue, and the varnish, dressed with gentle sanding, helped cover up the majority of the join. Five coats later:

                          

Ready for the reassembly. Here we hit a slight problem. The dashboard was an old dash bought as a load of parts off eBay, and came with no glovebox lid. No problem, as I have spares. What I didn't realise was that each is matched to the dash - well, cut out of the dash - with slight production variations. By sanding the edges, leaving wood here and taking off wood there I was able to get a good match all the way round until... I tried to fit the hinges. They are not in the same place, the left-hand hinge being about 2mm out. As I'd already veneered the glovebox lid using the piece of veneer cut out of the dash, for continuation of the grain, I couldn't use another one. I had to elongate the hinge slot with a Dremel, so it eventually fitted; a little bit off-skew with uneven gaps but not noticeable unless I tell you about it.

Final step this afternoon was attaching the Herald badge and fitting to the car. It's amazing to think that it started off full of odd holes, cracked and generally unloved.

       

Looks very well on the car, though. I'm very pleased with the final colour, darker than I had first thought but it will lighten up the interior more than burr walnut.

                      

I'm particularly pleased with the hole for the indicator jewel - a sort of odd-D shape - and the fact that I managed to drill the holes for the screws and domed washers without flaking off anymore veneer; plus of course the ashtray fascia which was made from scratch. The speedometer is the original from the estate complete with 'no reserve' fuel gauge (Estates for some reason don't need one!) and, for some reason, a red speedo needle but white fuel gauge needle. Still, it'll be nice to get that all operating again. The dashboard was the major holdup, it just didn't look right before, so now we can crack on much faster than in the past. I'll hope to have the rebuilt engine running again by the end of the Summer - I'll certainly be happier connecting the battery now we've got a fusebox. 

Now I need flap-type door seals, and to find the rear hatch seal which has been salted away for many years and probably used by now for something else.

One thing is bugging me... that hole for the fan switch looks very large. I'm going to have to run out, right now, and check that it hasn't been enlarged by a PO. That's just the sort of thing that would happen...

Edited July 1, 2023 by Colin Lindsay

[Peter Truman]

Looks great Colin, be careful passing cables through, have you got the multi prong tool for doing the dash rose nuts up saves damaging the dash.

The rings in the laminate are memorizing as you look at them! Beware!

[Josef]

Looks fantastic Colin!

Anyone know, did any of the Triumph range except for the non-estate Herald / Vitesse have a reserve tap? 

[Colin Lindsay]

I can't believe I haven't updated this since July, but then I've been to one event since then - to man a stall to sell tickets for a Memorial Run - and didn't even bring a Triumph. It's been the worst year ever for getting out anywhere or getting things done, at least outdoors. I've been spending hours in hospital wards and nursing home bedrooms, sometimes twice a day, but have plenty of time for reading even if I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for subject matter. This is the latest:

                               

Too much time spent surfing eBay on a mobile phone, but those books came with a lot of small automobilia so not Herald-specific. Now I know what everything is called and how it all works, in theory at least which all goes out the window the minute a screwdriver appears in my hand. Just as well garage time has been very limited in recent months - I haven't broken anything in ages.

On a more interesting note I've just completed a book on the Triumph Herald; I was approached by a Publishers and asked if I'd do it, I did dither a bit so they talked me into it. Don't expect anything in the line of essential reference or deep maintenance; they cut all that out....  Ok so I was a bit in-depth and over-enthusiastic so 39,000 words and 189 photos was cut to 23,000 words and 106 photos. I've managed to locate some incredibly rare photos, some of which I had to buy in order to get the rights to publish. It's a minefield, and unless I can obtain permission to use a photo, from the established owner, or own the photo myself and can prove that, they won't risk printing it at all. So many great photos that I couldn't use, like this one (grainy yes but I haven't edited it yet!) of Jack Brabham trying out a Herald at Clarence Engineering, Belfast, in 1960. He was asked to road-test them to prove the locally assembled cars were as good as the Canley versions, and was happy to agree that they were. The newspaper never replied to my request to obtain an original copy or have permission to use in the book, same with a lot of other sources I tried. An amazing number of my own photos were either not large enough, or cluttered with people (can't include them) other cars (too crowded) or something else distracting in the background, and resizing the smaller ones often resulted in distortion. 

                                                                           

It's just passed the first hurdle and gone off to the printers for draft copies, and the photographs are currently being processed. It keeps coming back.... 'quotes must be in italics and properly referenced'.... use of an ellipsis must be preceded and followed by three spaces.... chapter headings in blue, sub-headings in red... I'd reckon it will be ready for sale by next May. I've got more than enough material left over for another one... so if I'm still sitting in hospital corridors at least I can bring in the laptop and work away on the sequel.

On the garage front, very little has been done. As therapy the other night I trial-fitted the carpets into the estate, which admittedly has the dashboard finished and fully connected bar the screenwashers. I bled the clutch - which necessitated rebuilding the entire master cylinder as it just would not pump fluid, and found that some of the rubber seals which were replaced a year or so ago have turned to jelly already and this is in a dry system. I also fitted the best tunnel cover I have in the attic, so it looks okay so far. Not sure about the white gearknob, though, but it came from a donor 1200 Estate now long gone. 

                                      

I've gone for black carpets rather than the intended red, as it contrasts better with the red seats, but they're also much better quality than the red ones I had. One thing that stands out almost immediately: both carpet sets for the 13/60 and 1200 are from Coverdale, but the black 1200 carpets are much narrower. There's quite a gap at either outer edge. The sets did not come with the two side strips, not needed in the 13/60, but definitely needed here. I had already got two in red (a sort-of red that matches nothing else on earth, and is certainly not Matador Red) so decided to try to dye them black. After two hours in the washing machine, everything - me, the machine, the floor - was black.... except the carpets which didn't take the dye at all. 

                                                                     

I've had to buy a pair of black side-strips, and clean the entire washing machine out too. I also need flap-type door seals once I work out how long they have to be for each door, but once that arrives I can fit the carpets properly and be done with it.

Things have progressed slightly with the 13/60, in the form of a home-made wind deflector. The one I bought from Cabrio-Supply at over £200 being fit only for the bin, I was able to make my own with plywood, scrim foam and tan vinyl covering bought in Shrewsbury when I was last over there. I should have ironed the wrinkles out first, I suppose.

The hardest part was making the brackets. Bending the metal was the easy bit; working out how to bend it resulted in complete brain fade every time. I could get two bends, but not the last, which is amazing given that the first time I trial-bent odd bits of metal strip I did it every time. In the end it came back to me and they were bent in the correct order to allow all three bends to be completed without fouling the bender - first successful version in the proper heavier metal at the bottom. 

  

All I need to do now is to cover the brackets properly in tan vinyl and work out how to attach the perspex rear window, and then get those wrinkles out of the covering. Being at home rarely is great for gluing things; you glue them on one side, then by the time you get back a week later it's well dried and so can be tensioned without pulling it off again. I don't know when I'll get that Herald back out in the open air, for the first time ever I've had to declare a Herald MOT-exempt, but I just don't have the time at present to drive them. nor the weather, either....a new hood has been sitting in the box for ages now and will probably be too old to fit once I get round to it. If, of course, I find someone who can fit it, or a good set of instructions.

[Pete Lewis]

bit of a marathon  but we knew you could do it 

brilliant stuff

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Here we are a month further on, 'same old, different day' and heartily sick of Hospitals and Care Homes. I thought I had escaped for a day at the weekend when I was invited to a 'Classic Car Event' in the village but I ended up as one of three Classic Cars in the middle of around 97 HGVs and 74 tractors, and parked beside some 'classic' pickup vans half a mile from the main event arena...

                              

Still, a very entertaining day, no-one had the slightest interest in the Herald, all being John Deere fans running about shouting 'if it ain't green it shouldn't be seen'... half the local ladies seem to prefer their men in eye-wateringly fumey overalls tied round with bailer twine and their idea of a good catch is one who has his tractor paid off, whilst the other half love a man in a cab who sings along to Country & Irish music in a fake American accent and stays one step ahead of the law in terms of the little 'extras' he brings home from Europe in his trailer. I just can't compete. Still, they're generous to a fault and the run has reportedly raised over £35000 to be split between a Cancer Charity and the local Primary School, although if they eradicated the latter as well as the former it might be a welcome bonus. In any case that's another whole 400 yards on the odometer!

In my own garage little has happened; I started fitting the carpets to the estate against my better judgement, as the engine should really be started first, and the car driven, to make sure that the gearbox works before I cover it all over. I'll fit the rear carpets and leave the front ones loose to assist in tunnel removal if required, but couldn't resist fitting the front seat too. That's the first time in 30 years that the estate has had seats that can be sat in, rear seat included.

                          

I also found out that my seat runners were mis-matched - there are different sets from different periods of production, but these have two different kinds of runners, one where the seat rail fits in, and one where it fits over. I'll go for the 'thinner' set (right, below) which fits into the runner and looks more period. 

                

 

I also called in at a mate's house on Sunday to help clear a storage shed of many years worth of Triumph parts; a lot of local members have been keeping bits in there for years but the land is now being sold off. I ended up with most of the Herald parts which no-one else wanted, although I did leave a Herald tow-bar and some very rusty engine valences as being of no use to me. I came home with assorted bits and pieces including two bulkheads, one Coupe and one saloon, which I didn't need but didn't want to see them scrapped. I've absolutely no idea where they'll go. At least the windscreen is in good condition, but the bulkheads are not a straight fit-and-forget at present, and I don't know if anyone else would want them.

                               

This is the sad state of affairs at present; no-one is restoring Heralds or indeed any Triumphs locally (possibly bar me?) and there seems to be no interest in it. Those that have cars simply want to drive them socially, not restore or in some cases even maintain them. The local scene used to be full of home restorers and home garages all working away with various skills - is that really all gone now? Equally sad is the lack of spare parts or suppliers for the cars that are replacing them, the plastic fantastics of the 1990s - no-one is making parts, the dealers still have stocks at dealer prices, and there are so many being scrapped that replacement parts are plentiful at present, but more worrying is the lack of electronic parts that these cars require to even drive. For my Z3, a replacement catalytic converter is £1280, a replacement sensor is £980 - a small part required to turn off a dashboard warning light - and at least these parts are straight replacements; too many have to be coded to the actual car using expensive or hard to find diagnostic equipment, which is often jealously guarded by Dealerships. Did you know that there are over a dozen strengths of front spring for the Z3, depending on the spec of the car - engine size, fitted components such as A/C which affect the weight, even additional interior spec - all these affect the ride height and springs were supplied accordingly, so this requires determining the model and spec and working out which spring it requires from various pirated lists that appear on the Net. It's not surprising that good cars are being scrapped, or sold for a few hundred pounds to owners who are cannibalising them to keep their own cars on the road - the Net is full of them. I'd like to think that cars like ours will soldier on, once the electronics of the more modern versions have seen them off the road.

I did manage to locate a few cobweb-covered goodies, these will be cleaned up and sold online next time eBay reduces their seller fees. The gearbox and bellhousing (I have so many cast-iron bellhousings in the roofspace that it's going to collapse some day) are from a Spitfire, prefix FH, so I've cleaned the grime off and salted the gearbox away for future use.

 

On a final note, I helped a friend sort out a Classic motorbike, which he had just bought and which wasn't running very well. The previous owner had put Redex in the fuel to help it run. One entire bottle of the stuff to about a pint of petrol. Once drained and refilled with 99RON, it runs very well. He has more than a few bikes, in fact so do a lot of people around me including most of the In-Laws and extended families, the argument being they're as simple to work on as the old cars but need little bodywork. Consequently they all go off on trips to Morocco or Vietnam while I sit like Billy No Mates in lorry yards wondering where it all went wrong and if I put my money on the wrong horseless carriage...

                                                                                         

 

[Pete Lewis]

well done Colin   never give up 

may the force be with you  Ha    

Pete

[AlanT]

You’re right Colin. There does seem to be a drop in home restorers. There are very few on this forum at the moment and it’s the same on the Morris forum. Perhaps it’s a loss of confidence to try fixing things as younger owners haven’t grown up with having to mend cars? Or (more likely)screens are taking up far more leisure time? 
Interesting about your Z3. I ran an old Boxster for a while and secondhand parts are easy to get, albeit expensive! The car wasn’t difficult to work on.  

[Josef]

On 01/12/2023 at 08:45, AlanT said:

There are very few on this forum at the moment

Well, some part of the lack of resto posts is related to the club’s changes to photo hosting allowances… Part of my reasoning for starting posting more to YouTube than my threads on here though is that the cars will then have a chance of reaching a slightly wider audience, and perhaps show more people that home restoration is a viable thing. 

[Homersimpson]

I think the issue is that we have people who had the cars when they were new and then those people who remember them because their dad/mum/uncle/neighbour/school teacher had one but they are all getting older (myself included), now the younger generation don't really know what they are and so are less interested.

Coupled with the fact that we now live in a disposable society and people don't fix anything these days, especially something as complex as a car.  I was talking in my office a few weeks back about putting some brushes in the motor of my mums washing machine and people were gobsmacked and couldn't understand why she didn't just buy a new one, the brushes where £15.

The price of classic cars has gone up and the days of being able to buy one for a few hundred quid, do a small amount of work and drive around in nice looking car are behind us, now you need a lot more money to buy a classic and it will need a lot more work because they are older.

I also think peoples expectations are higher which again increases the costs, people now want their classic to look as good as their new modern car with really good paint and panel gaps far in excess of what they were ever manufacturered to when new.

One other thing is that older cars have less/no safety features and you need to concentrate a lot more when driving them.  People now are used to front wheel drive cars with ABS, DSC etc. which keeps them all out of trouble and convinces a lot of them they are Lewis Hamilton, give them an old RWD car and a wet road with no electronic stabilit aids and most of them would be in the hedge before they got to their destination.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Homersimpson

[PeteH]

To which I might add, Age and limiting physical capacity?. In 2015 I took on a 13/60. And in the first year/18months brought it from pure basket case to rolling shell. Circumstances changed during and after lockdown, and to be fair the project stalled completely, yes I did some work getting the gaps looking less like the canyons of the moon, but the amount of time became seriously restricted by other factors, when I went into a virtual full time carer role. Hence last year I took on another 13/60, Plum, from Jeff, and finally enjoyed some driving time. The orginal car is now stored, and will likely be on offer in the new year, when I can get around to finding all the bits collating and then advertising. It`s a project whichever way you look at it and will need a fair amount of further work, which to be honest I can no longer complete. Overall, I suspect that "our" cars appeal less to the younger element who`s eye is more to the Golf GTi, Escort Mk3 generation of cars?, Some of which early one`s are already aproaching 40yr Old.

Pete

[Mark B]

Unfortunately a lot of future classics like mk3 escorts early golfs mx5 etc. that fall between 1983 and early 2000's depending on model, full fail of London's ULEZ and thousands of perfectly good cars are being cashed in. This will ultimately make the remaining  cars more scarce. Along with the cost for a 17 year old just to get on the road, diy car repair/restoration will continue to die out, which is a real shame. I learnt at 17 how to fix my car in the road from a Haynes manual out in all weathers, but my mates did the same. Wouldnt have dreampt of taking it to a garage, could never have afforded to. I've restored several cars over the years only because of the skills I've learnt over the years. I encouraged nephews to repair their own cars, buying one a classic mini when he was twelve to work on, now in his thirties he's alwas been happy to take on his own repairs.  I've put my mk1 Eunos in mothballs for another seven years, when as long as they don't change the rules will become historic. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Mark B

[Colin Lindsay]

I read my post again and Lord was I on a real downer - DO NOT POST WHEN OVERTHINKING, LINDSAY!! -  but I was let down at so many of my old Club mates getting out of Triumphs and it seems that's the way the local scene is going, more social than hands-on. I know we've all got older but that's when we're meant to have more free time to tinker with things, and are supposed to sit about in chairs at shows and grumble! Maybe I should start a club for people who like old cars and want to work on them, or even drive them, and leave their moderns at home? Wonder if there's any interest in such a thing any more?

Roll on 2024 and a New Year for shows, but then I said that last year, too, and managed to attend one.

In any case as a pick-me-up I fitted one of the door trims in the Estate. It's just hung lightly in place, a little bit of work on the door to be done yet, but it makes such a difference.

                                    

I'm getting very near to starting the engine for the first time, or at the very least connecting a battery and turning the key, but am afraid of letting the smoke out. Okay so what's the worst that can happen? It melts the loom, hopefully no trim damage, requires a new Autosparks loom and a bit of time refitting, but I still have that reluctance to actually do it. Big Fearty! I had to reset the Service Warning light on the BMW last week - it's a row of green LEDS that drop off, one by one, over time until finally they reach amber and then red. There was also a 'change brake fluid' symbol displayed on startup. Given that I've done brakes, oil, coolant, air filter, brake pads and fluid, I reckoned I could clear them with a clear conscience. No fancy code readers for me! (Not until Santa brings me a Creator 410+ in December, any way) You have to short-circuit the terminals in the underbonnet socket. Locate No7 terminal and earth it to a suitable earth point for ten seconds; first time cleared the brake warning, the second reset the service interval strip. I really did have to check that this was a genuine way to do things and not some fool on the Net having fun at my expense, and which would leave me with a fried brain and no Z3 which he would no doubt find excruciatingly funny. Happily, it worked. I did put it off three or four times, though! Same Big Fearty as before! Of course, part of the reluctance with the Herald is the newly rebuilt rebored engine, which I don't want to banjax through having missed something, and do irreparable damage on first startup. I see more pre-flight checks coming up than on the Space Shuttle.

I also need seatbelts but QuickfitSBS are returning my e-mails as 'undeliverable' so will have to phone them. Or maybe they just know it's me again?

In any case, sod it, I'll stuck two fingers up to the world and go down fighting. So what if I'm the only Triumph driver in the village? 

[Pete Lewis]

3 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

So what if I'm the only Triumph driver in the village? 

nothing wrong with being UNIQUE  !!!

you're a  Star  

Pete

 

[AlanT]

It’s easy to overlook the simple pleasure of opening the garage door and finding our cars inside. Design, tinkering, sometimes driving. A simple pleasure. 

[PeteH]

This thread is getting very philosophical?. I`m hoping to "do more" with Plum come the new year, but at present the tank is out, the rear valence needs some tlc and the overiders still have to go back on now they have both bolts functioning and are bright again. And I just might put the Tow bar on, which means I have an excuse to use it for the odd trip to the recyling, using the long route through the back roads past a favourite Pub.👍

Pete

[Bfg]

What does it matter if others are moving away from Triumphs, I've been into quite a few different classic cars and motorcycles and still enjoy a natter and a beer with anyone who's into older and more interesting cars, even those who are in a financial league that I might only have once dreamt of.  

I'm presently burnt out with working on my TR, but this Thursday expect to be taking the second engine in to be checked and reassembled by someone else.  This is the engine I bought while still trying to buy a project TR4 from America. That purchase didn't happen, and I never got that engine back together because I was unhappy about the machining / crank balancing I'd had done.  I was just about to have the work independently checked when covid happened.  And then I was forced to move home into a studio apartment, so everything I could pack away went into a storage container. I've moved home twice more since ..and now it's time (I'm ready) for it to be dealt with (whatever the verdict on the work already done).  I've got too many other things to do over the next 12 months that I've finally conceded to pay someone else to put it together for me. Better that than my friends inheriting a pile of bits which they don't understand so just take down to the council skip. 

My bottom line is that..,  classic car chaps, particularly those with the more modest marques like Triumphs, are a good bunch to have a beer with even if they drive something else, and my Triumph and its parts can hang around until I'm in the right frame of mind to get on with it.  During winter things slow down anyway, because work spaces tend to be flipping cold and too small.  In the meantime my focus is on studying c.12th English history, as research for a book I'm writing. I'm otherwise gathering the necessaries for the Daimler 250 I've recently bought, and trying to choose a colour for its respray.  I also have a boat, a trailer tent, and two motorcycles in the background just waiting for me to decide what to do with them.  Do I allocate time and resources to doing them, or do I cut my losses and give up on those dreams. ! ?

Take cheer Colin,  wiring is easy to check for smoke ..just leave the battery clamp loose in case it needs to come off again - very quickly !   ..and then turning on just one thing at a time to check the circuit ..starting off with the lowest power items like side lights, before working your way up to ignition on and checking the gauges, and brake lights. Only after horn and lights do you crank the engine ..by hand first to feel and listen. Then crank the motor with plugs out, and also out of gear ..and with blocks in front of the wheels in case the clutch is seized on !   Crank the engine and check for oil circulation to top-end ..and non on the garage floor.   Crank the engine and check for sparks at the plugs. All common sense and easy, even before you turn the fuel on or put the plugs back in. By which time oil has been pumped into and around all the engine's galleries, and any big, hard &/or sharp bits have flushed through and are settled comfortably in the bottom of the sump.

Remember to look hard into the mirror and 20 times say "This is Fun ".  Do that before the men in white coats turn up with their nice n cosy jacket and some sleepy medicines.

p.

   

Edited December 6, 2023 by Bfg

[Colin Lindsay]

16 hours ago, PeteH said:

This thread is getting very philosophical?

I do have a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, might explain things?

14 hours ago, Bfg said:

What does it matter if others are moving away from Triumphs, I've been into quite a few different classic cars and motorcycles and still enjoy a natter and a beer with anyone who's into older and more interesting cars, even those who are in a financial league that I might only have once dreamt of.  

Classic Cars yes, I love the chats and the natters, and learning things, but when there's no longer anyone to learn things from, and you're relegated to an out-of-the-way corner of a show behind all the 1990s and even 2000s cars then it can get you down. It just seems like the emphasis has jumped from Classic Cars to modern, lowered, blacked out and noisy cars with no gradual transition in between, and the cars I'm interested in are no longer of interest to anyone else - and once you start to query the point of restoring or displaying cars that no-one seems to have an interest in and no future generation seems to want to keep, it becomes a downward spiral. I just need a morale boost so thank the powers that be for this forum.

[Steve P]

Interesting point earlier about why we buy our classics. My parents both had Hillman estates when I was young, a Minx and a Hunter, my first 2 cars were both Mini`s. That was after a run of bikes starting with a Suzuki AP50 then a Yamaha DT175MX and a Honda Super dream 400. I rebuilt the second MINI and put a 1293 engine in it, went like a rocket but had terrible 997 Cooper discs which were worse than drums.

I sold that and bought my Vitesse in 1985 and still have it. Its a bit Triggers broom as I didn`t really look over it properly because it needed a ground up resto.

The mini isn`t listed on the Gov.uk since 1986 so the new owner must have wrecked it.(Nothing to do with crap brakes).

As to Colins point about people not being onto them any more, do what I do and drive to the seaside, mostly inhabited by people of a certain generation that remember them, always get loads of people commenting when I go there.

I went out in my Vitesse on Sunday with the roof off and it was -1 degrees, bracing I`d say.

Next local show is Brooklands New Years Day which normally gets 1000 attendees.

Steve

[AlanT]

Colin. I only went to my local branch meet once. A bunch of people there but only 3 Triumphs, including mine! Weird. 
Kicks from these cars? Increasing levels of individuality. It seems anyone can have any car now…except when it comes to classics. In the ‘80s you stood out by having a Range Rover. We get the same perk for very little (comparably) plus free road tax!

[Bfg]

On 05/12/2023 at 13:29, Colin Lindsay said:

the cars I'm interested in are no longer of interest to anyone else - and once you start to query the point of restoring or displaying cars that no-one seems to have an interest in and no future generation seems to want to keep, it becomes a downward spiral. I just need a morale boost so thank the powers that be for this forum.

I was at our TSSC local meet yesterday evening, in Katie my TR ..which in the car park was accompanied by Mike's GT6  ( used daily) and Russell's Stag  with Rover V8 motive power. Brian also came in his Spit-6 special which again he uses all year around.  ..out of the 20 or so bod's, I'm not sure if anyone else came out in their Triumph. 

At one point, we at one end of the table were discussing the repaint of the Daimler 250 I'd recently bought.  Repeatedly I was confronted with comments regarding my plans change the car from original, but as I said - I have no family, and very few life-friends interested in my cars or old bikes ..should they inherit any one of those upon my demise.  The cars I have are not rare like a Bugatti ..they are cheap production cars that I choose to drive. So, I'll have what I enjoy owning, and like to drive.  None too precious to be driven at this time of year, nor to be parked unattended when i go into a shop or restaurant. .

If I want a sunroof, simply because I like driving through an autumnal avenue of trees with the roof open ..then I'll fit one.  And if i don't like this or that detail of the car's original design (for example that car's lack of front under-valance panel, the style of half spats over the rear wheels, or even the heavy looking Daimler grille) then I'll change them.  Likewise if I want a non-standard colour, then that's fine too ..My car is not a museum piece to be preserved until the apocalypse. Put another way, as per my footnote on the Autoshite forum  "..its a bloody motor car  ..not a Fabergé egg. !  " 

The pertinent point is ; I'm driving my cars because I want to.  I don't go to shows for my car to be admired ..I go to see other cars and to enjoy a little time with their owners.  It really doesn't matter whether others like my choice of car, nor agree with what I've done with it.  I'm driving it even when the roads are wet and the weather is cold.  On Sunday I was driving in the pixxing rain, and while stopped for petrol a complete stranger in 'a modern' took the time to politely comment on Katie ..saying how he really liked her bumper-less look.  

Colin, are you not old enough to do what you want, and to enjoy what you like.?  Do that ..and others with like-minds will hone in ..and those who don't - well that's no real issue nor concern to you.  There a huge number of people who will be admiring your cars, in part because of their good looks or perhaps in nostalgia of good friends and past family, or for an era which was somehow more personable than it has become. Most will not say anything, but using your Triumphs do make others happy, and surely all the hard work is worth it because of that.? 

 

 

   

Edited December 8, 2023 by Bfg

[Colin Lindsay]

I'm starting to think something is wrong. I seem to have free time again! No more hospital trips or long boring visits; no harm intended to my esteemed Father-in-Law, I'll miss him, but he did take up an awful lot of time. Christmas was a bitter-sweet affair, one down at the table, but we all agreed it was for the best. Now that the initial rush of organising, tidying, cleaning and sorting has come and gone, we're actually starting to wind down and take things more easily. Consequently I've been back in the garage after messing about ineffectually for months, first thing on the agenda was to clean up a spare pull-cable end following a forum post by Morgana. I just wanted to see how it worked for myself.

                           

Who was it that used to say: "And that's all there is to it? " He was right. The inner cable pushes in and is held in place by the little screw, and the outer cable sheath screws into the pull-end round it. The clever thing is the adjustment-stop; this is a three position heater direction cable which needs a solid-position adjustment to prevent it slipping during use. Quite simple really, there's a ball bearing held in place by a spring-loaded collar, which drops into the three grooves under sufficient pressure to stay there, but will spring out again when the cable is pulled. 

                                                                                 

Simple, until you drop the ball bearing. I did it, twice, and managed to find it again, twice, which given the state of the floor especially under the work bench is something of a miracle. That cable control has now been cleaned up nicely, greased, and salted away just in case, but now I know the theory. One more 'might-be-useful-some-day' piece of information.

Given that the Herald is actually running I went out for a solo Boxing Day run yesterday. Those guys in the 60s were a hardy breed. I was frozen. Okay, the top was down, but no hat, no gloves, and no feeling in either ears or fingers after about three miles. No heater, either - the temperature gauge never got above 1/4 and so the air coming out of the heater blower was cold. Still, it was an enjoyable run, or would have been if the engine hadn't missed slightly twice about five miles in. I turned for home, but no further problems, and once back home and the radiator found to be very hot I went back out again for another five miles or so, this time with gloves on. Never saw another classic but plenty of motorists saw me, and no doubt sympathised, presumably calling me 'a hardy fellow' if nothing worse. Buck Eejit springs to mind.

Sadly that little miss - just a momentary slowing down of the engine - worried me, and my assumption that it was fuel related proved correct. I could find nothing yesterday, but this morning the garage was full of the smell of petrol. It took an age and a very detailed inspection before I found drops at the front of the fuel pump, and once I was happy I wasn't going to be warmer than I should be through an inadvertent spark I started the engine, getting quite a flow in the process. It turns out the pipe out of the pump was not sealed, and I was able to pull it in and out through the olive. This was my own fault on two counts - firstly, the fuel pump body being alloy I have in the past stripped threads through overtightening, so it may have been looser than required, but a few more turns made no difference. Time for a replacement pump.

                                     

I refurbished a few during lockdown, but for some reason none of these wanted to play ball. I fitted the topmost one, but it would not tighten to the block, and I started to wonder if it required a spacer. When I did get one fitted, the leak continued, only worse - I must have lost a couple of pints onto the floor. I tried another pump, this time with no priming lever as it makes accessing the fitting nuts more difficult, still to no avail.  Eventually I worked out the problem: I had also made a super-duper blingy one-piece fuel pipe, shaped to the contours of the engine, but from kunifer. I suspect that being very hard, it won't conform to the perfectly round shape required and so the olive would not seal completely no matter which pump was used. Even flaring the fuel pipe slightly made no difference.

                                                                              

In the end too much fettling bent the pipe and kinked it slightly, so a replacement is now required. I don't want either breakdowns or fire... I'll maybe insert a joint into this one, so that pump replacement will be an easier job than taking the distributor out and the alternator off and thereby taking up a whole afternoon. On which, to be honest I was doing nothing anyway...

[PeteH]

One would normally say, try re-annealing the end of the pipe, but perhaps not, it being a fuel pipe!. One other "thing" to watch for, is the size of the pipe. Some sell 8mm O/d pipe as 5/16, which whilst close, it is not. The same applies to other popular pipe sizes ie 1/4" is just 6.35mm. 7mm is closer to 9/32.

IF I wished to remake a section, assuming it to be part of the supply section? I would be inclined to cut it back to a point some 6 to 8" back and aneal said section before re attaching with a Non ferrous Coupling?. I also prefer copper olives as opposed to "brass".

Pete

[Peter Truman]

I've had the brass olives swage into the pipe so they can turn on the pipe but not come off, the result is a leak past the olive to pipe joint, my solution was to solder the olive onto the pipe

[PeteH]

Proper solder nipples are available on Flea bay, and might be another solution?.

eg:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232608316648?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQiA1rSsBhDHARIsANB4EJad9BxhCxiSfXIS5M7gZZegRFrmJh3YdJMT2qaAKcJJ1XuWWEEXWacaAvnBEALw_wcB

Often supplied for the traction engine/steam model fraternity btw.

 

Pete

Edited December 28, 2023 by PeteH