Project King Herald

[ratchetmonkeys]

After 6 weeks of ownership Im finally breaking the back of my project. 
 

First let me introduce my 1964 Herald Porsche Guard Red. I have been wanting a Herald since I was 12 years old and I’m now 42, although it seems like it been forever. 
Me and my dad spent years pondering over what we would do if we owned one, we loved the look of the rear fins and the headlight covers and I was instantly sold. 

I’m a mechanic/MOT tester and have spent years building custom motorbikes which has taken up most of my spare time. 
This year due to lockdown things have been slow so I decided this is the year i buy my herald. 
 

I found a few on the internet but most seemed to need a lot of work and I wanted something I could drive straight away and be a running project. 
Finally I came across the perfect herald, in red with little extras I was going to fit anyway such as cobra Classic seats. This car had already had a engine rebuild in 2017 so I didn’t need to get in on the engine, I could see out the year with it before the planned MX5 engine. 
The bodywork was badly faded and I had planned on giving the car a flash over but as it turned out….. it didn’t need it…… More on that later 

I live in Newcastle and the car was in Margate, slight problem so after a conversation and a bit of haggling with a courier I had the car collected and brought up 

[ratchetmonkeys]

Firstly I removed the full interior down to the shell and fitted 40sq ft of sound deadening pads, swiftly followed my felt deadening across the bulkhead and the entire car, the roof was deadening using sponge pads for weight 
 

 

[ratchetmonkeys]

Once the car had been fully deadened I set to putting the interior in, new carpets, steering wheel and battery relocation into the boot. 

 

[ratchetmonkeys]

Now I knew the car could go forwards and backwards and quite well I may add but BIG problem, it just wouldn’t stop, and I mean wouldn’t, something was definitely wrong in a big way so I set to work figuring out what was wrong….. all I could think was A LOT  

I put the car on the nursery bay ramp and took the wheels off, as soon as I removed the back wheels the drums fell off by themselves, yup they needed serious adjustment although it looked like someone had done some work, brand new handbrake cables and new brake shoes and even on on the handbrake adjusters was brand new, they just didn’t work so I set to adjusting them up, after some dismantling fluid everything was free and the drums were back on and adjusted….. wow I had a handbrake

I was looking at the wheels thinking, these are ridiculously small and those tyres are 3000 years old. 
I went straight onto JBW and bought some black minilites and ordered some 185/60/13 Nexen tyres….. that’s better……we have traction 

 

Now onto the front brakes, these were just as bad. The car had type 12 calipers fitted and they had seen better days. Time for a full overhaul 

A call to spitfire graveyard and I picked up some Type 14 hubs, fitted the hubs with extended freelander studs. Then onto new type 14 calipers, discs, pads, ball joints, track rod ends and trunnions. 
I had heard that you could fit freelander servo assist and after some Googling I set to it and ordered the servo and fitted it, she WILL stop 

[Colin Lindsay]

Looking good, but the bits that have caught my eye already are the rear seat belts. There are a lot of queries on the forum about fitting these. How are they secured underneath, how do they fit and perform in use? All info very welcome!

[ratchetmonkeys]

Whilst I was doing the brakes it seems sensible to upgrade the suspension, my current shocks were was past “a light misting of oil” stage. Replaced those with 1” lowered springs and Gaz Fully adjustable shocks. Huge difference to standard but that meant I now had to lower the back. There was loads of choices but I went all in and a full 1” drop on the back. 
 

 

[ratchetmonkeys]

6 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Looking good, but the bits that have caught my eye already are the rear seat belts. There are a lot of queries on the forum about fitting these. How are they secured underneath, how do they fit and perform in use? All info very welcome!

The seats belts were fitted previously but they needed upgrades. I bought campervan strengthening plates from eBay so the seat belts now meet MOT regulations. The plates are cheap at £13 a pair

[ratchetmonkeys]

Once the brakes were sorted, interior kinda sorted less a couple of door panels and the engine serviced and running well it was time for the bodywork. 
Now I have to say the car is solid, none of the typical rotten holes, few welding patches on the chassis but solid and good, I will be under sealing the whole floor and it’s pretty much a toy and staying in a storage container during the winter so it’s good to go. 
 

Looking through my documentation I found out the car had been fully restored in 1992. It had been pained in Porsche Gaurds Red, the paintwork seemed decent but was badly badly faded. The intention had been to do a quick flash of paint to bring it back to life but lots of people on another social platform told me to try and machine polish it, I wasn’t convinced but thought “why not” oh how wrong was I 

The car came up amazingly well, much better than I could have ever imagined. I have to note the paintwork has come up really well but the prep work before it was painted In 1992 is really not good. You can see all the deep scratching in the metal and swirls under the paint, you don’t see them just looking at it but if you get close enough you can. 

I am going to paint the roof white, just something I want but even the roof is in good condition with a small amount of rust just above the drivers window, that will be sorted before paint 

 

[Jeffds1360]

I've seen that in the flesh. It really shines. Pity about the chromwork though

Keep in touch Mark.

[Chris A]

Wow! That is convincing 😎

[Steve P]

Not a fan of Red but that looks really nice,and that`s some serious positive camber on the back,hope it settles ok when rolled.

Steve

[JohnD]

That red certainly is 'one in the eye'!

Is that why it's 'King Herald'?     Or should I get m'coat?

[Jeffds1360]

I think if it was Queen it would have to be Herelda?? 

 

[ratchetmonkeys]

19 hours ago, Jeffds1360 said:

I've seen that in the flesh. It really shines. Pity about the chromwork though

Keep in touch Mark.

Thanks Jeff, thanks for popping i too. Made Me wish I had bought a convertible though seeing yours. 
 

I think I just need to replace the chromework as most say it can’t be repaired due to the pitting ? 

[ratchetmonkeys]

3 hours ago, JohnD said:

That red certainly is 'one in the eye'!

Is that why it's 'King Herald'?     Or should I get m'coat?

It’s a reference to me by my mrs. She thinks I look like a Viking due to the hair and tattoo and beard so when I told her it was a “herald” straight away it was “oh like king herald” lol 

[ratchetmonkeys]

4 hours ago, Steve P said:

Not a fan of Red but that looks really nice,and that`s some serious positive camber on the back,hope it settles ok when rolled.

Steve

It does Steve, it’s fitted with a 1” lowering block so that’s helped with the positive camber and when it settles the wheels are in the arch and look much better. 
It’s an odd setup on the herald and I was warned about the rear “swinging” 

not what I want with a mx5 engine in but I was advised to lower it and it helps a lot. Soon to find out I hope 😉

[Jeffds1360]

3 minutes ago, ratchetmonkeys said:

 

I think I just need to replace the chromework as most say it can’t be repaired due to the pitting ? 

It is surprising how it cleans up with a bit of arm action. I have a stack of spare bits you can look at but all for the 13/60. 

[JohnD]

King Harold (the one who got an arrow in the eye) Godwinson's wife was Ealdgȳð Swannhnesce (Edith Swanneck) so you know what to call her now, RM!

[Jeffds1360]

I think we Geordies tend to drop a lot of 'haiches' so Harold becomes 'arold which is damn close to 'erold and a ladies higher pitch makes the o into an a so thereby lies the translation

[Mark B]

That's come up really great! Don't know what it is with some reds, and why they go dull and chalky. I have an old red citroen relay van, paint comes up nice with a lot of polishing, but if left for a couple of months goes flat again. The back doors always stay shiny, must have been replaced in the past and a differrnt paint used. I've tried using different waxes etc. But nothing works, so assume it's caused by UV.

[Colin Lindsay]

14 hours ago, ratchetmonkeys said:

It does Steve, it’s fitted with a 1” lowering block so that’s helped with the positive camber and when it settles the wheels are in the arch and look much better. 
It’s an odd setup on the herald and I was warned about the rear “swinging” 😉

I'm wondering how the rear would sit if you fitted longer halfshafts; I'm thinking that will give you two inches of wider rear track so that it takes on a more negative stance. 

[Jeffds1360]

That would be interesting Colin.

Using a 'long' 1/2 shaft might suit that car.

[Steve P]

I would be more worried about the shafts snapping,especially with a Turbo MX5 engine.

I have personal experience of loosing a back wheel at about 40mph in Cornwall in my Vitesse 2.5L.The wheel departed with the brake drum still attached.

I CV`d the Vitesse and have all the parts to CV my 1500Herald.

Steve

[Pete Lewis]

most shafts shear when you fit a opposite handed shafts they take on a torsional memory and reverse fitting can start a crack to propergate 

often when examined  you see a nice clean break where you can see the crack spreading across the shaft till it fractures 

so keep  N/S to N/S and O/S to O/S   

I used after some awfull swinger trials  used a courier spring and 1" block to give an unladen camber of about 1deg  /-\

Pete

[ratchetmonkeys]

It’s been a small while since I updated but I have been a bit busy with the herald. It’s keeping me on my toes. 

Decided to paint the roof whilst it was on the ramps so I prepped the car, rubber down the roof and painted it with Arctic White and it’s come out really well. 
You will notice I didn’t do around the rear window or the door pillar, this was a conscious choice and all will come apparent.