Logicaluk's V8 herald pickup project

I too had loaners.
And cr*p ones.
And "supposidly" good ones.
Bought an R-Tech. 
What can I say. I thought I could weld until tried it and it makes this hack look good. SO much better. Fabulous bit of kit. Buy it and be happy or suffer for the lack of it. Mu tuppence worth.

Plus 1 for the R tech. I bought one and its great.

Mention to them you are on Retro Rides and the RR deal. Think it's expired now but they still seem to honour it if you ask (about 10% if you are lucky).

Guess what, the box had to come apart again this time it was to get the tail shaft out to find some seals, the manual seemed to show them, but they looked like the metal/hard plastic bearing type rings called oil control rings in the manual but nothing like it in the rebuild kit, I found a proper old school hydraulic engineering company, the guy running it was sat behind a kneehole desk with a huge pile of job cards on the desk, real card job cards, with a wall of different sized seals behind him, a 1950s bus sized trolley jack on the floor that had just come in for repair, I was happy I had found the right place.
I showed Dave the shaft and explained what I was after and pointed to the similarly described rings on the shaft and the diagram In the manual, they are piston rings says save I don't think They do them that small, besides it's not moving you want an O ring, odd size for an O ring, says Dave with his vernier caliper in hand. Dave picks up the phone and calls a supplier and orders 6 pairs of different sized rings one of them will fit as it. I went in the next day and met his son who took one look at the pile of O rings and slipped one on the shaft bingo First try, when I proffer a £10 note he says they are 12p each I think I can let you off with that. Top chaps D&A hydraulics, 24-30 Francis St, Hull HU2 8ED.

I'd got quite Good at this so the box was back together in about half an hour

20201018_172358 by logicaluk, on Flickr

20201024_120257 by logicaluk, on Flickr

With that back together It's time for a workshop tidy up.

Oh, I did have a quick go with the new welder I need a hammer rack. This was just a fill weld where I had cut the angle to bend it, 0.6 wire full power

20201024_143228 by logicaluk, on Flickr

Happy with that, less happy with my esab auto darkening mask, the head strap had broken and I've had to use a normal mask, so all the rest of the welds looked shocking.

Dan

It's amazing how quickly things change, this weekend I was hoping to get the gearbox and engine trial fitted together, to work out the size of the spacer behind the flex plate, but it's not Covid-19 more, my discs got lonely and decided they wanted a quick pre-lock down meetup with the local nerves, It went like this,
Wednesday they had a grumble about missing each other and it looked like lock down was going happen which calmed but didn't let it go.
Friday I'm thinking easy weekend may be a little light tidying In the workshop and a walk.
Sat turns out I can't walk to the kitchen without having to closely inspect the carpets for a few min while I get my carp together to try again.
Monday I got to inspect the lino at Hull A&E (which was very good quality) when I went to wash my hands and completely forgot I really needed them to help retain a semi upright position when on crutches and had to put my self on the floor quickly before I screamed, later after a thorough check a nice lady gave me a pill which really chilled me out, and they took me for an MRI and a neuro surgeon checked me over and said if it's not right in 4-6 weeks get a referral from the GP.
Later in the day my(I say my as I don't think I've had the same one twice in a good few years) GP spent a good amount of time talking to me, adjusted my medication, so I've got an emergency painkiller, and now I have to wait.

Tuesday and Wednesday I don't remember much about as the painkillers were very Good,
Thursday I made it out the house and around the back garden, which is small. X2
Friday walked to workshop. Sit on chair (think about the project) walk back to house x3
Sat as above x5

So that's why now I've got to tell you about the project.

I've always liked Pickups, but they are not exactly plentiful, but what I do have is most of a stalled triumph herald rebuild, the chassis was done a few years ago. I've got most of the body parts which I have been picking up for a while but I've no idea how they will be after being in storage for many years. I was going to run with a 1200 bonnet as I prefer the shape but then, the V8 fell on my lap and I had the perfect somewhere for it to go, with that, the new workshop it and then casually being offered a GRP 13\60 bonnet for the collecting, the gears aligned and I thought it's time to do it.

But now I'm lying most of the day resting getting up as often as I can and having a short walk around the garden or to the workshop and back, whilst waiting for my back to get better. I need something to look forward to So it's time for some imagineering, I've been kicking this idea about for ages, herald pick up something for taking stuff to the tip or going to a show in, parts runner, it's never going to take big loads it's got a small load area, it's just for fun. It's also a rebody so all legal

From Google this is the best one

full for sale ad here
link

This car by Quiller triumph is probably the best roof job I've seen.
I'd like to bring the rear pillar further back change and the rear window to a more conventional pick up type, but it looks like there's not much space behind the bucket seat

2 by logicaluk, on Flickr

The roof also has to unbolt like a herald one.

But there's not much space in the bed already (could the bed be lengthened could I do it?)

93 by logicaluk, on Flickr

But then another thought occurred to me, the triumph courier.

Triumph_Couriervan6266 by logicaluk, on Flickr

What if there was a big brother, one with sides that came up further out, maybe at the tip of the fin and went straight up,and the rear roofline went up a bit like an Astra Max van. It would still have herald charm but be a far more useful van. Also having a slightly larger motor in it would help overcome come the wind resistance

media.gettyimages.com/photos/triumph-herald-1360-estate-picture-id1175887296?s=2048x2048

There you go that's what I've been thinking. What do you think?
Dan

Standard or courier max?
Dan

I really like the standard courier van, they, well pretty much all car derived vans look really good to me.

I’ve had quite a few small vans, and like bubble vans too... but they can look a bit gawky, so think it would be harder to get the lines right (but much easier that trying to lift the whole top (like a kango or the later combo van) tbh a bit more height in the back would be really good for my work van, so would be worth the effort

Shall continue to watch with interest

And hope the back gets better soon

Thanks john, it's driving me potty.

Kevin, I don't think going any further back than the tail lights would look right and the inside of that point is fairly narrow.

A small problem and the main reason I've spent so long wandering down the pickup path, is the lack of available courier/estate roof and tubs. I've been looking and had found a very rough example for OK money, turned up to collect it, only to find the owner was on holiday and hadn't told her parents we were coming or where the keys or docs were then started upping the price, so I walked away.

Without the longer roof, I would have to fabricate the back few feet of roof panel to keep the profile which I think is beyond my skill set, but having watched GN rebuild the Jowett Bradford van, I did think that style of ally skinned wood frame would be possible, but it would have to deviate from the Herald style roof giving extra useful space.

Or what about making a truck cab losing the entire rear body and building a bespoke body on the back one that could act as sleeping quarters with a tent supplying the rest of the space. Or a micro caravan sat on the back
Dan

Whatever your choice, hope the back gets sorted!

Thanks George, to be honest I'm fishing for ideas, maybe some potatochops, not being able to even get the chassis on the work shop to work on the best I can do is imagineer. I might run it as a saloon till I decide what to do with it, but that means I've got to put a floor back in as most of it has disintegrated.
Dan