The embarrassing Herald restoration thread - now the fiddly bits

[Peter Truman]

2 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

no point in running dry whilst the gauge reads 1/4 full

Been there done that, in the Sprint ran out of fuel at 110 kph on a freeway no spluttering at all engine just died & by the time I'd cruised to the shoulder of the road not a drop of petrol in the tank, easy to remove sender and check! Thank goodness for club mates. I'd put the float in the wrong way & it had got hung up!

Tri Gauge looks great now you can search eBay over time for a NEW spare!!

How about a Vac gauge even more of a time absorber/waster, look & look & look! 

[Colin Lindsay]

10 hours ago, Peter Truman said:

How about a Vac gauge even more of a time absorber/waster, look & look & look! 

Options are.... volts / amps / time clock (not a big fan!) vacuum gauge... don't need or want oil temp (It's a Herald!!) It'll have to be something that matches the rest and I find vacuum gauges often very gaudy, but great fun to watch and they induce paranoia. I have one of the Redex Car Care gauges in the drawer so it might do. There are quite a few gauges to choose from... I love the 'no charge / low oil' gauge but no idea of how that would connect up.

     

 

[Chris A]

13 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

no point in running dry whilst the gauge reads 1/4 full.

If tank has the reserve position you get a little reminder . . Better to have a gauge that under reads than over reads.

[Chris A]

2 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

vacuum gauges often very gaudy, but great fun to watch and they induce paranoia.

Had a Fiat years ago with one. On long boring journeys I would spend ages trying to keep the dial in the good zone . . .

[dougbgt6]

Vacuum gauge need, well, vacuum. GT6s have a handy access joint, but Heralds I dunno? Manifold drilling may be required.

Doug

[68vitesse]

You can change the bezel on a gauge, removed the black bezel from a Tim oil pressure gauge and fitted one matching the temperature and fuel gauge in my Vitesse. Used closed cell round cord as packing to get the glass and bezel to fit nicely.

Regards

Paul.

[Colin Lindsay]

2 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

Vacuum gauge need, well, vacuum. GT6s have a handy access joint, but Heralds I dunno? Manifold drilling may be required.

Doug

That's the fly in the ointment. No take-off point on my manifold. I could drill and tap one but that means more work in the short term... might just stick with volts / amps.

[dougbgt6]

I prefer an ammeter to a voltmeter, tells you much more, you never notice the volts dropping until it's too late. But I can't get away with an ammeter on my GT6, too much current warming up the dashboard. Should be OK on a Herald though. However, a voltmeter would be easiest! 

Doug

[Josef]

Is the No Charge / Low Oil one not just the same thing the standard 13/60 speedo warning lights show? Is it any more than a different fancy lamp holder? 

[PeteH]

2 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

I prefer an ammeter to a voltmeter, tells you much more, you never notice the volts dropping until it's too late. But I can't get away with an ammeter on my GT6, too much current warming up the dashboard. Should be OK on a Herald though. However, a voltmeter would be easiest! 

Doug

You could put one in Parrallel with a Shunt?.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, Josef said:

Is the No Charge / Low Oil one not just the same thing the standard 13/60 speedo warning lights show? Is it any more than a different fancy lamp holder? 

Yes it is (for the charge light) but the low oil warning is a different kettle of fish. Am still intending to see how they worked originally, just for curiosity.

[Josef]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Yes it is (for the charge light) but the low oil warning is a different kettle of fish. Am still intending to see how they worked originally, just for curiosity.

I am also curious! Though I assumed low oil was just short for low oil pressure. 

[Pete Lewis]

with any vac gauge you need to squeeze up the pipe to damp the needle or induction will make the needle vibrate . 

the No charge  and Low oil looks a bit USA style of notation dont known of any dip stick sensors in the 60s

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

4 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

with any vac gauge you need to squeeze up the pipe to damp the needle or induction will make the needle vibrate . 

the No charge  and Low oil looks a bit USA style of notation dont known of any dip stick sensors in the 60s

Pete

Possibly used on tractors, I searched for them and got a few tractor sites. These were genuine tractor sites and not the ones that politicians look at.

The vacuum gauge can have the pipe squeezed with a good (metal) restrictor for aquarium hoses, but I think I'll shelve that in favour of one of the electrical options.

[Pete Lewis]

the best part of having a vacuum gauge is to keep it in the green you go Slower and Slower

and every 300miles the fuel   tank overflows    Ha !

 

[Colin Lindsay]

My current mondeo tells me the range remaining; it's not unusual (said Tom Jones) to start off with 100 miles remaining, and after ten miles find 120 miles remaining, and it keeps going up...

[johny]

You must be driving more efficiently than the computer initially expects, well done thats very green😍

[Colin Lindsay]

6 speed gearbox and my boy racing days are long gone.... so sedate driving seems to pay.

[PeteH]

What I do find, which is to some extent surprising, is that using Cruise Control, the MPG figures are often better.

Pete

[Peter Truman]

Re fuel consumption, Colin it's probably high after the wife's driven it, Ooh!! then drops with your sympathetic driving. My wife's 3lt Jag when she told me it needed filling up was usually up around 14l/100klm, which on a clean out run to the daughters 60klm return dropped to around 9l/100klm, it was the local shopping trips that killed it & her lead foot! 

Re cruise control it annoys me but I use it extensively but override it going down a hill to stop it braking the car to hold set speed then accelerate up the next hill to regain speed, surely the cruise control radar can see ahead and let it run on/speed up a little going down so you have inertia to get up the hill? like the truckies do.

[mark powell]

18 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

with any vac gauge you need to squeeze up the pipe to damp the needle or induction will make the needle vibrate . 

the No charge  and Low oil looks a bit USA style of notation dont known of any dip stick sensors in the 60s

Pete

Not a dip stick sensor, but I believe the Rover P4 had a sump 'tank unit' like the fuel tank, whereby you could, with the press of a button, read either the fuel or oil level on one gauge. 

[Colin Lindsay]

14 hours ago, Peter Truman said:

Re fuel consumption, Colin it's probably high after the wife's driven it

She doesn't drive it! Hates it... too used to the 'invulnerability' of the Freelander, she can't see over the hedges in my car either.

4 hours ago, mark powell said:

Not a dip stick sensor, but I believe the Rover P4 had a sump 'tank unit' like the fuel tank, whereby you could, with the press of a button, read either the fuel or oil level on one gauge. 

Love it!! Too complicated for me to install or experiment with but it's a great idea. That 'water' reading is interesting; is it a needle, or a large coloured area?

[Josef]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

That 'water' reading is interesting; is it a needle, or a large coloured area?

A proper analog water gauge perhaps with a tube to the rad and a float in the gauge for the level?

[dougbgt6]

Or this?

Doug

[PeteH]

At the more complex end of the scale The Sprinter automatically checks the oil level remotely, as well as via the buttons on the steering wheel, and tell how much oli is in the sump in litres, there is a dipstick, (analogue? no not me😁) which I do check ocasionally but it always (so far) has been just as accurate.

Pete