1970 - Triumph - Herald - With a Spitfire heart

Great first post mrbadger - more pics please + interior + bonnet up.

Thanks for the comments, its really nice to know I'm not just talking to myself.

Here's some more photos now that I know it works.

Mrs Badger driving it back from Norfolk:


IMG_0916 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

and then introducing to Riley who seemed to approve:


IMG_0919 by Mr Badger, on Flickr


The interior which after a damn good clean is in reasonably good nick:


IMG_1447 by Mr Badger, on Flickr


IMG_1448 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

The first problem we hit was the clutch.  We knew the brake master cylinder exploded not long before we bought it, I say exploded correctly because the paint was damaged in places by flying brake fluid.  Well the clutch master cylinder quickly followed:

IMG_1007 by Mr Badger, on Flickr


IMG_1449 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

It was in a shocking state, the circlip had corroded away, the cylinder wouldn't come out and the rubber boot had been replaced with one hand moulded out of black silicone sealant (!)

IMG_1003 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

IMG_1002 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

The previous owner had paid £860 in 2017 to have the gearbox rebuilt and clutch replaced, and I'm sure it was the shonky master cylinder all along.

So that was all fixed and then on to the next thing......  Engine shots to follow.   

they are so great to work on sitting on the tyre, gear box out jobs usually get some stinky gearbox oil on the interior but would still love another!

I've been looking for a short video of the play in the drivers side rear trunnion, it was a bit sobering when the thing flopped front to back by about 15 degrees.   That will be the explanation for the clutch judder on hills then.

First step was to access the rear spring fixings behind this panel:

IMG_1211 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

You cant really tell from the photo but the boot is trimmed in blue domestic carpet spray painted black; over the years the combination has turned into a rigid fibrous board. Mrs Badger informs me that it's 'historic' or 'patina' and has to stay. I don't have a picture but behind that innocent looking carpet was what looked to be a piece of old kitchen cupboard carcass or worktop, held in with 6 (!) coach bolts, metal plate with screws and the most vicious little tacks you've ever met holding the carpet on. It must have weighed 30 kg ish all by itself.

I removed the cover and find this, looks nothing like the pictures in the two workshop manuals I have (?).

IMG_1217 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

Next remove the driveshaft bolts and unbolt the trunnion/hub assembly. Very little is left of the drivers side trunnion bushing explaining the sloppiness.


IMG_1214 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

IMG_1213 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

The upright turns out to be scrap due to corrosion, but makes a nice ornament after it was cleaned up, the underseal and a fine wire brush in a drill give almost a polished effect.

The passenger side did not play nicely, the bolt had corroded within the sleeve.

IMG_1231 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

I threatened it with the angry grinder and it didn't listen

IMG_1241 by Mr Badger, on Flickr


IMG-1200 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

A failure in negotiation skills on my part obviously.
Next the spring came out and wow, it turns out to be the fabled swing spring type from a late spitfire.  

IMG_1218 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

Next follows lots of very boring scraping, wire wheel action, degreasing and painting.  

I come to re-assembling the spring and no I did not mark the components orientation on removal, so sod it lets see what happens in use.  Trying to assemble the spring pack in the swing carrier turns out to cause further casualties.

IMG_1271 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

Luckily its only and old spare and not my favourite one!

Many thanks to Barry who had the ultimate solution in the form of a hydraulic press, it took 16 tons pressure to get the damn bolt in!  In the picture the little black things on the bench are the rubber buttons, which we inserted with a pry bar after assembly of the spring.

IMG_1275 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

Finally all back in place, the bolts to be tightened after the cars weight was on the suspension:

JRNF7954 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

I then made a light weight version of the kitchen cupboard to trim the boot, re-using the original spray painted carpet.  Long staples and PVA glue worked well in the construction.

IMG_1432 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

I have no pictures of the final drama.  Refitting the trim panel I needed access to the hood well, lifting the hood there is the most horrendous clunk and scraping noise.  Turns out bolt number 41 had unscrewed itself over the years and chose that moment to fall out.





The toys were not only out of the pram, but were also stabbed and set on fire.  No pictures of the hours spent trying to remove plate number 39 to put the bolt (and non-captive nut!!!) back and then reassemble, it would have been easier to pick my nose with a shovel.  Mrs Badger decided rightly that I wasn't in a fit state for company, least said soonest mended.

Apologies for all the exclamation marks but they artistically reflect the emotions released.

Next instalment, the leaky engine.

Cheers Dan.  More nonsense to follow.

Right so where was I.  The rear end had done a few miles now and we're really happy with it, no more clonks good ride height and a lot more visually appealing.

My main goal over last winter to fix the horrendous oil leaks from the engine, one for sure being the timing cover seal.  I don't have a great deal of pictures because I I'd never heard of retro rides at this point.  

I took a brave pill and then took the tinware and radiator off.  Yet again the under-seal fairy had gone crackers so they all needed scraping, degreasing and painting by Mrs Badger.  There was at least some coolant in the engine but closer inspection revealed some of the hoses at the back of the engine by the heater box were very dodgy.  As this car is a dastarb child of a Herald and a Spitfire, parts ordering is a pain in the ass, but I got most of what I needed by ordering a Herald hose kit.  

IMG_1298 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

IMG_1302 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

I tend to use James Paddock for the parts, reasonable prices, good availability and reasonable quality so far.  The crank nut came off easy with a very old compressed air Chicago Pneumatic impact gun.  The timing chain was checked for wear and found to be well within tolerances, thank crunchy!

An evil pixie had whispered in my ear that it could be leaking from the rear main seal as well.  I took the starter motor out (also to get a clean and paint) and this proved not to be the case.

IMG_1317 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

The sharp eyed will note however that it was peeing out of the bottom of the fuel pump, removal revealed half a gasket and some silicone sealant - bodgetastic!  Thankfully there were no cracks in the filter housing and I replaced a gasket cut from a sheet of gasket paper - fantastic stuff and everyone should have at least two thicknesses in stock.

I checked the fuel filter and found this:

IMG_1318 by Mr Badger, on Flickr



I painted up the timing cover, being sure to take a photo of the marks before painting over and then highlighting the zero and 10 degrees marks to make life easy.

IMG_1307 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

I knocked in the new oil seal and then used a bit of bent wire to keep the chain tensioner in the right place during fitting.  Torqued it up feeling dead chuffed and then noticed the oil thrower sat on the bench.  

After calming down I took it all off again, installed the cursed oil thrower then put it all back together again.  Tightening it back up again with my brand new swanky Teng 3/8" torque wrench and suddenly one of the bottom bolts just keeps spinning.  

Off it all comes again and yes a 5/16" UNF thread has pulled.  A quick google search enlightens me that Triumph in their wisdom used alloy 'bridges' to fill the gap below the crank!  The savages even used bits of wood to hammer either side, it just aint right!

Dan the man (logicaluk ) comes to the rescue with a HeliCoil kit, left socially distanced on his front wall - thanks Dan!  Now I've never used a HeliCoil before, all goes well until I come to break off the tang, it takes no end of knocking and waggling  to break it off.  Something was obviously not right because screwing in the bolt damages the end of the thread so I convert it to a stud.  I know this aint quite right but it works fine and when the engine comes out (it's definitely a when and not an if because its a Triumph 1500 after all) a steel bridge will be fitted.  No pictures of all this because toys have been thrown out of the pram, stabbed and set fire to again.

The other leak is from the rocker cover so I invest in a Rimmer Bros silicone seal attached to the cover with RTV before putting in place.  I bash the top of the rocker cover back into roughly the right shape, to repair the PO's idea that just tightening it down more will work.  Of course the cover gets painted racing red while its off, and for once the under-seal fairy had not been there first.  

Preparing for reassembly I take the dodgy hoses off and find this in the end of the heater valve:

IMG_1346 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

Disassembly shows that originally a lump of silcone sealant had partially blocked it first and silt had done the rest, new valve please.

IMG_1347 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

Just to rub salt into the wound a thread in the themostat housing was lunched due to corrosion on the threads, I'd checked it and it held just enough to give a false sense of security, until you try to torque it down.  It's 5/16" UNF again but by this point I've given the Helicoil kit back to Dan.  Stuff it, it gets tapped out to M8 thread and a std bolt just fits.

Flushing the heater matrix yields biblical amounts of brown silt.  This convinces me to run some of this through the engine before filling with coolant:



and absolutely nothing comes out.  Conclusion is that some previous owner had problems with the temperature and had got there first, but neglecting the heater.  While we've had Rosie the temperature gauge has always been rock steady, even with some long hard drives in hot weather.

Cassie the hound made a brief visit, she doesn't come in the garage much because there's no food, so whats the point?

IMG_1366 by Mr Badger, on Flickr


We're getting there now but first I want to change the oil on the gearbox, mainly because the drain plug is leaking.  This comes out:

IMG_1395 by Mr Badger, on Flickr

No lumps, very smooth when rubbed between finger and thumb.  The gear change was good before but with fresh oil now fantastic.  The PO had the box rebuilt, so I suspect it's just from bedding in of the new components.  The drain plug still leaks even with PTFE on the thread, hhmmm.

I adjust the valve clearances (only two needed any adjustment) and check the points gap, all good.  Starts up fine (phew) and next step is to change the oil and filter, the PO provided a K&N filter with the car.  Hot oil drained, filter off and then the new filter turns out to be the wrong size - thank you again to the PO.  Dan the man again steps in to get me out of a hole - thanks!

The car was running increasingly smoky and it was no surprise to find the plugs were very sooty.  The plug gaps were enormous and the plugs the wrong type as well, thank you again to the PO, there seems to be a trend emerging here.  Before messing with the carbs I checked the ignition timing with a strobe light.  It was set at zero degrees BTDC, a quick adjustment to 10 degrees BTDC and the idle revs rise by over 500 rpm, the sooty smoke disappears and the engine sounds so much happier.  Now kicking myself for not checking this earlier.  

The final step was tuning the carbs, I personally had more luck with the Gunson Colourtune than the lift the piston approach.  A synchrometer was a good investment, but I made up a right angled adapter from PVC pipe and a random rubber piston seal to get round the tinware for the front carb.



Rosie now flies and the engine is utterly transformed; Mrs Badger is the owner/driver (I've got my bikes) and I'll be honest I didn't enjoy driving her (Rosie that is).  Now I get it and enjoy driving her occasionally, I should have had more faith in my limited abilities early on.

That gets us pretty much up to date so I thought no more posts for a while.  Then Mrs Badger brings Rosie back today with toasted rear brakes, despite me taking the handbrake quadrant out and greasing it up a while back.  Ah well, it keeps me busy.

Wow, long time no post.  The sticking handbrake in the last post managed to toast the drivers side rear wheel bearing.  Due to the design it's a hell of a job so I entrusted to Barry, the man who can ably assisted by Mrs Badger.  No pictures I'm afraid because I was busy working at the time but the hub was toast as well.  Got it back on the road but with COVID, lockdown and all the events cancelled Rosie got very little use during 2020.

Rolling swiftly on to 2021 as soon as the garage got warm enough it was time to tackle some more issues.  The front trunnions had always worried me because they'd been greased so the winter project was to dismantle the suspension and replace all the bushes. 



The front shocks were looking ropy so I planned to buy some standard shocks at £18 each.  Mr Dan (logicaluk ) advised these we "wibblepooh" which ended up with me buying shiny yellow adjustable ones .  

I started on the passenger side and everything came apart very easy, wow!  The trunnion was mucky but after cleaning it was inspected and approved for re-use:



Spring and shock that came out:



New shock and (stock) spring being assembled.  I bought the correct spring compressor because I can vividly imagine what happens if it goes wrong.



To remove the old bushes running a 10mm drill down the steel centre worked wonderfully, the combination of relieving the tension, heat and torque often meant the bush simply popped out on the end of the drill bit.



The suspension arms and upright were cleaned up with a wire wheel and then painted.  I made up a little contraption to put in the vice and draw the new bushes in lubricated by tyre soap.





During assembly with a full set of shiny new bolts:



So I got everything back together on the passenger side and I was feeling so chuffed with myself I forgot to take a picture.  Don't worry, it won't last......

Last instalment the passenger side front suspension was done apart from full tightening of the bushes, here's the lost, now found, picture to prove it.




Feeling chuffed I thought simply rinse and repeat for the drivers side, hhhm.  The lower fulcrum bolts and the trunnion bolts undid but would not leave their comfy hidey holes even with the big hammer.

So stepping up to Defcon 4 the angry end came out.  



Taking the head off the bolt helped not at all, so then it escalated to removing the trunnion the hard way.



The remnants of the bolt still wouldn't let go so I had to turn all of the bolt into metal shavings.  The compressor got upset at all this hard work and decided to burst it's cap.  



The fulcrum bolts I took out with the hacksaw because I was concerned with damaging the brackets if I used an angle grinder.



After all that the upright was condemned due to lots of rust pitting and replaced, complete with a new trunnion.



Clearly the drivers side front suspension hadn't received much love this century.

Lots of scraping off of underseal, wire brush in a drill action, bush insertion (sounds so wrong) and assembly with shiny bolts followed.





If  anyone has a blast cabinet going spare let me know!

To cheer myself up I did an easy job and fitted the back shocks.



The drivers side was now fully back together again but I got distracted and didn't take a picture .  What distracted me was loss of fresh coolant I'd only recent just put in after fixing a slight weep from the thermostat housing.  I checked the hoses - nope, checked the radiator - nope, checked the thermostat housing again - nope, checked the water pump - nope, checked the heater - nope.

Then I checked what I should have checked already and found this, forgive the picture but it's well hidden under the inlet and exhaust manifolds.



A nasty, spiteful, good for nothing core plug that had been leaking for a long time but the acid flush of the cooling system I did last year must have finished off.  Cue expletives and the throwing of random non expensive things until I felt better.

The local Club Triumph brain trust tell me that if one core plug has gone, the rest are well on the way, so as you read this drastic action has already happened.  The only question is if I have the ability to to turn a pile of components back into a functioning car.  At least the weather has been curse word and events not yet allowed, so Mrs Badger hasn't missed much.

Until next time.  

It's a gift.
Dan