1969 Triumph herald 13/60-MX5 turbo powered

I decided I couldn't wait to get the engine/gearbox into the old girl so I did a hard out evening and achieved heaps. Everything fits extremely well. Really nice to see the motor in place. It feels like I'm moving forward and now I got a good Idea how things will fit. It's easy to get the engine out when you cut the two front panels out with a sabre saw. Felt bad about cutting up a good car but it would have been a mission otherwise.



The hardest part was getting the engine in as I couldn't get the legs of the engine hoist under the chassis because its so low. I had to disconnect one leg. It was a bit hairy but managed not to drop the engine on myself.











The Subaru STI brake booster fits OK. I'm making a special extra long/curved pedal and custom pedal box to allow me to maintain this position.















The best thing about using the MX5 donor car is that the whole drive train will fit as per the original. This means I can use the ladder frame between the gearbox and diff and not have to modify the drive shaft. This will also make only 4 drive train mounting points (2 x engine mounts- 2 x diff mounts)

I did manage to break off the Oil sender when it got caught fitting the engine into the Herald. I was able to get the threaded piece out of the block OK so not to much of a major. Not my best work there!!



Should be able to get the heater to fit with a few firewall mods. The Fan unit will fit in the footwell with still more cut & tuck. These cars are not very big at all.

very cool dude kept at it

Like this, the MX5 engine fits so much better than the Zetec as l had to move the front cross member and move the engine right back
I fitted the escort sevo, master cylinder and pedal box but because the Herald bonnet has the wheel arch attached l had to face it backwards and make a lever system to clear the wheel arch when you close the hood, whats your plans for this?

Have to agree with you there isn't a lot of space in these motors in the end because of the wheelarched fixed to the hood.
Also noticed your gear lever is allmost at the same position as the hand brake, can you get a remote setup for the gear change?

Hi Rob, I've been watching your build (great project by the way)and as you point out you have made a few mods to get the Zetec to behave. I'm going to try and fit the brake booster as per my photo but split the inner guard so the bit that will protect the booster from splash is mounted on the car not the hood assm. This will be removable. Plans may change as this might prove the wrong approach.

As for the handbrake I'm cutting out the tunnel from the Donor car and this has a recess for the handbrake so will use the MX5 lever and adjuster. It will be back behind the gear lever but should be fine-Who does hill starts with the hand brake anyway.

The Lexus right hand handbrake cable to the Brake caliper fits into the MX5 part. All I need to do is get a new right hand cable to replace the left hand side one which is different and then it will look factory made and be very simple-Or so the plan goes. ;D

Donor cars are the way ahead and the MX5 seems made to be infused with a herald-I recommend this approach.

I'll post some photos soon to explain this better visually



The cable in top left of photo is the Lexus right side handbrake cable-The link and cable at the bottom is the MX5 part. The cable on the right is the left hand side lexus cable which i'll replace with a lexus right hand unit to fit the other side of the link.-Does that make sense? Adjustment is at the handbrake lever inside the car.



Taken some bits out of the MX5 to adapt onto the Herald. The tunnel will need reducing in size and the windscreen top will be trimmed right down so that the modified MX5 soft top will mate up and all the clips and rubbers will fit. All parts will need to be narrowed as the Heralds are slimmer than an anorexic super model.


I'm cutting out and modifying the MX5 tunnel to fit the Herald. This will make mounting the Mazda handbrake assembly a breeze and still give clearance for the passenger seat. It will be back a ways but still functional as a park brake.



I Drilled out all the seat mounts from the MX5 to weld into the Herald

bet thats great fun,perfect doesn't need a thing altering

probably a bit of a hanfull in the dry, lots of ;D factor.

l do have this idea in my mind to drop a saloon or wagon herald onto a scooby shortened floor pan .

But lets finish the first one

I managed to get the rear axles out of the hubs (splines tight with rust) and made this Jig to locate my rear hubs at the right height and orientation so I can start fitting all the rear suspension mounts. Still waiting for my welder to make my rear suspension mount I-beam. I'm tacking all the chassis bits together but seeing as a failure could be life threatening and my welding is on the lower side of average I'll be getting the guys at work to do the finishing welds.

I'm going to get the alignment and the bump steer test done before the final welding is finished. This means any adjustments or major re-work will be easier.

The suspension front and rear is fully adjustable using eccentric cams which will make alignment fairly straight forward.

Nice work!
I'm building a kit car with a rear MX-5 sub frame which I need to narrow it by 320mm.
I wish you were using MX-5 set up so I can copy your idea! Still I like the idea of making jig the way you have done. I will make one and see what I need to do as well. I will be using Volvo 360 gearbox with a torque tube so it will make interesting.

Keep up with good work!
Cheers
Atchi

Still been waiting to get my rear chassis suspension mount I-Beam welded so decided to dry fit to make sure it would all work. I had to cut another 20mm of the chassis rails to get the rear arms to line up in the right place.

I'm going to trim the ends of the I-Beam flush with the chassis rails once its welded in.