Tinkering with the Triumph

[Father Ted]

Look what arrived today!

[Father Ted]

As I had the "fuel pipe kit" I thought I would replace the rest of the fuel lines today.


Bent the new pipes into the same shape as the old ones, and I had even remembered to buy a new olive for the end of the pipe that comes out of the fuel pump. The olive also came with a new tube nut but I decided to re-use the old brass one as I knew it was the right one for the pump.



It leaked.

So I tried the new nut.

It leaked A LOT!

I obviously needed a different new olive, but where to get one at 5pm on a Sunday?

Into the loft and search through the uncharted wastes of my collection of mostly used Zodiac spares, and I found a fuel pipe for a Mk2 or 3 Zodiac which donated its olive and tube nut after gently heating with blow-torch so the olive could be removed without being damaged.



50 year-old Ford bits fitted to 40 year-old Triumph and no leaks.

[Father Ted]

It's Sunday, Sounds of the 70s on the radio - so...it's TINKERING TIME!

re the bearing cap, if you get a screw of the right size (where the thread will only just fit in the hole in the cap) you can hold the screw with a screw driver and just spin the wheel - the screw goes in, touch the stub axle, and pops the cap off!

Simples! Brilliant, why didn't I think of that? I have ordered some new caps so will do that next weekend. Thanks.

First off I tried this as suggested by Aaron. Almost worked but the screw snapped off. However it did loosen the cap enough for me to hammer a screwdriver through it and lever it off, and fit the nice shiny new ones.

Then I managed to cut my finger, so had to go inside and have a can of ale to make it better.

Last year I repainted the nearside sill, and the offside one also needs doing so I took it off and started sanding off the surface rust. The sills are quite new but have been painted so badly that it is just peeling off in places.

Then I decided it was too cold to tinker any more...

[Father Ted]

Today I thought I would fit the new steering wheel that I bought with some money I was given for Christmas.


The old steering wheel came off a little too easily for my liking, but I decided that while I was about it I would also remove the redundant ignition switch/steering lock that is on the steering column.


Only later model Heralds had this, and although mine has the lock I don't have the key for it and the wiring for it doesn't seem to be there, so I think my car has had a replacement outer column from a later model fitted at some time. The outer column also has been butchered at some time just where the steering wheel fits to it, with several small holes and dents in it. Looks like someone has hammered a screwdriver into it. Why??? Unfortunately the photo I took of this is so blurred it is not worth posting.

Had to disconnect the wiring to horn, indicator and light switches.


Borrowed daughter's coloured pens so I would remember how to put it back together.


It was easy to remove the upper steering column (inner & outer). I am always impressed by how easy it is to work on a Herald. It also has a telescopic steering column so that you are less likely to be impaled by it in an accident. The redundant ignition switch/steering lock is held in place by "break-off" bolts which have to be drilled out to remove them.


After much drilling...


However, after all that work I think that I would rather fit a replacement outer column if I can get one. While it is off the car I would like to replace the bushes in it but because it has been damaged I cannot get the old bushes out or fit new ones. So if anyone has one lying around....

[Father Ted]

Had a bit of luck today. Wins International (Triumph parts suppliers) had a good second-hand outer steering column. The job I was supposed to be doing was cancelled so this afternoon I took myself down to East Grinstead ( down past 02Man land) and picked it up. Also got new bushes for it.


It turns out that I had a Spitfire steering column on my car. I wonder why it was changed? Could not work out why it had been butchered, and also realised that the horn connection had been bodged so I am glad I got the replacement.

[Father Ted]

Didn't get to do much tinkering today as Mrs Ted had other work for me - mending the mother-in-law's garden fence before she and the neighbour came to blows over whose responsibility it was. I still think we should have let them sort it out with a geriatric FIGHT, would have been entertaining, but Mrs Ted got her own way, as usual.

Then as it was a nice day I took the Zodiac out for a drive.

This afternoon I was going to fit the new bushes into the second-hand outer steering column wot I bought.


First had to remove the old bushes. Only hammered my thumb once.


Then I decided to paint it before fitting the new bushes.

Halfords aerosol grey primer & gloss black. And that's all I had time for.

In other news I also fitted new "red" rotor arms to both cars.

[Father Ted]

Due to doing other stuff for ageing relatives I have not been able to look at my cars for a while. Today I found time to put the steering column back together and fit my new steering wheel wot I bought with my Christmas money. opportunities aplenty !

First I fitted new bushes to the outer steering column. When I bought them I was advised that it would be a lot easier to push them in if I lubricated them with washing-up liquid. 



I used Lime & Lemongrass. Other flavours are available.

Bushes slid in easily. I then inserted the inner column  .

Next I re-fitted the horn contact and the light and indicator switches. Not difficult but fiddly.



Then I very carefully made sure that everything was lined up, and re-fitted the steering column to the car and re-connected the electrics.



Then all I had to do was fit the new boss (NOT the same as the old boss) and the steering wheel.



Looks good eh? Took a bit of fettling to get the horn working and at this point my Stag owning mate from up the road came to see what I was doing.

Much as I like chatting to him, conversations with him are time-consuming because he is from Newcastle and I don't have a Geordie/Queen's English Dictionary in the garage.

Took the car out for a test drive just as it was getting dark, (which for some reason seemed to amuse the local "yoofs" in their Corsa) and found that on the road the steering wheel was about 15 degrees off centre. Couldn't work out why so I just took it off and re-fitted it straight.

Looks much better now, and more importantly I can now fit in the car without my legs touching the steering wheel.

Changing the subject, when I bought the car the seller was very keen to point out that it had a "professionally fitted" radio/CD/MP3 player. I have the invoice for this. The "professional" fitter charged £120.

This is the professionally fitted live feed to the unit...



Difficult to see in that photo, but it is a female spade connector, crimped onto the wire and then jammed into a female bullet connector, on the live feed to the light switch.

Good job it was done by a professional, I hate to think what an amateur would have done .

[Father Ted]

It's Spring already and I have hardly done any tinkering this winter.

So I have decided I will just put it back together and actually DRIVE it this year!

But first I need to put back the sill that I took off to repaint. As a Herald (and Vitesse and Spitfire) have a separate chassis the sills are purely cosmetic. Mine had new sills fitted but they had beeen painted so badly that the paint was peeling off in places. I repainted one last year and took off the other back in November with the intention of repainting it....

So today I finished scraping off the loose paint.


Used red oxide as etch primer, for no other reason than I had half a tin on a shelf in the garage and am too mean to buy anything else.


And then high-build cellulose primer.


Then Mrs Ted wouldn't let me play with my cars anymore today.

[Father Ted]

After sanding out the runs with 800 grade wet & dry I repainted the sill again today, but couldn't get a really good finish. Maybe it was too cold, or I got the paint/thinners mix wrong (I don't have an accurate way of measuring it), or more likely it is just my incompetence and lack of experience.



Anyhow, it is good enough, and once hard I can flat it and polish it.

I have painted the inside of the sill with No 1 primer and 2 heavy coats of black Smoothrite.

Tomorrow I will fit it and then I will be able to go out in my convertible and enjoy this early summer weather....

[Father Ted]

Sill flatted with 1500 grade wet & dry, cut, fitted & polished.



I am actually quite pleased with it. I like painting with cellulose because you can usually rectify your mistakes with wet & dry and another coat of paint if necessary. The sills now look better than the rest of the car. So maybe... ... ... Noooo - I mustn't!

Went out for a quick blast around the 'hood and noticed that the steering wheel was still not centred, the horn had stopped working, and the indicator repeater light on the dash was permanently on, although the indicators themselves worked perfectly.

Re-fitted the steering wheel, and sorted the horn (crap design of horn mechanism on new steering wheel). Spent a few minutes scratching my head over the indicator dash light and then remembered that I had bought a new flasher unit at an autojumble last month, because it was cheap and shiny.

Put the old flasher unit back on and problem solved.

So if you see these on sale for £4, remember that there is a reason why they are so cheap.

[Father Ted]

Interesting day today. Started badly but ended rather well.

Today was the TSSC South of England Meeting at Leatherhead, about 12 miles from here. As I had not used the Herald for a while I charged the battery on Thursday.

Went to start it this morning and battery was as dead as a resting parrot. Stupid previous owner fitted a stupid modern stereo with a stupid flashing light on it, so this keeps happening. Anyway, tested the battery and it was looking terminal (battery - terminal - geddit?) so went to Halford's when they opened at 10.00 and the very helpful Lucy sold me a new battery.

The scene at Ted Towers at 10.30...



Got to the show only a little late and got some useful bargains at the autojumble, including complete wood dash, glove compartment and unmarked intact crashpad for just £12. I then realised it wouldn't fit in the boot so had to dismantle it to get it home.



And then I won a prize...


... in the raffle. A front valance for my car. Fibre glass, same as the one on the car, but in much better condition.



Last year I bought brand new second-hand sun visors on eBay because the mirror on my passenger one is broken.



However, the new one was no better - new mirror had been glued on top of old broken one, and was also cracked.


I was talking about this with a very nice gentleman and Triumph expert today, asking if it was possible to buy a new mirror, and he pointed out that you really don't need a mirror on a sun visor, and the driver's side is the same as the passenger side, so all I needed to do was fit the "new" driver's side one to the passenger side, and it would look much better.

So when I got home I did - and it does.



Also fitted some of the knobs from the dashboard that I bought, and have started cleaning some bits of trim that I also bought today.

[Father Ted]

As mentioned elsewhere the Herald failed its MoT on a missing dust cover on top front suspension ball joint (only a fail since this year, apparently) and excessive play in one front trunnion.

Ordered parts from James Paddock on Thursday afternoon and they arrived Friday, at no extra cost, and the parts were a lot cheaper than from the much more well-known Triumph parts specialists.

Missing dust cover



Once I had separated the joint it seemed to me that there was a lot of play in it so I ordered a new one as it was less than £8 and included the dust cover.





Removed front upright and separated from disc in order to remove trunnion. Came apart fairly easily after applying "gentle persuasion".



Old trunnion removed. I probably only needed new bushes as it turned out but I ordered the new parts before I had dismantled it so bought new everything. The thread on the upright was in excellent condition too.



New trunnion fitted.



The MoT tester had missed the split dust cover on the steering rack / track rod end. Luckily I had a spare one in my stock of Ford spares so replaced that too.



Fitted back on car, just need to re-fit brake caliper.



I have to get the car back to the test centre this week, in order to get a free re-test, otherwise I would have spent more time and re-painted all the components.

Fingers crossed for the re-test.

[Father Ted]

A bit of unplanned tinkering today.

Thought I had better make sure the cars were fit for Tedfest on Saturday, so started up the Herald no problem. However there was a strong smell of petrol so I opened the bonnet to see that one of the NEW fuel hoses that I recently fitted had split and was spraying unleaded in 2 directions! Fortunately nothing caught fire, and I replaced it with some old fuel pipe that I had. Will have to buy another new one, but I am getting seriously p1ssed off with the cr@p quality of new parts sold online.

In other news I collected a gearbox that I won on eBay for a very good price. (Incidentally, the seller owned a Spitfire and lives in Spitfire Road!). The seller was sure that it came from a Herald 13/60 but it has a switch for a reversing light, and I can't remember ever seeing a Herald with factory-fitted reversing lights.



So, does anyone know if this is the correct gearbox for a Herald 13/60? Number stamped on top is either GB or CB followed by 6 digits.

The reversing light switch bolts on so may have been an optional extra, or fitted later but I just cannot remember seeing Heralds with reversing lights, other than the type operated by a separate switch added to the dash.

[Father Ted]

I was planning to go on the charity run with 02Man today, but Mrs Ted had other plans for me, which were then cancelled at the last minute, leaving me free to spend the afternoon messing about with cars.

Whe I bought the Triumph it came with several keys, which I stupidly didn't check until I got the car home. I then found that I had 2 keys that fitted the ignition and bootlid, 3 keys that fitted none of the locks on the car, and no key at all for the door or glove compartment.

At the NEC last year I bought a full set of matching locks and keys. I have changed all the locks in the last few weeks and today I decided to change the ignition switch lock. I also changed the ignition switch for one that was in a second-hand dashboard that I bought, because the one on the car did not have the auxilary terminals on it that a Herald 13/60 should have.

Looking under the dashboard I was reminded of the dog's dinner that was the wiring for the radio, that was fitted by a "professional" for the previous owner, who paid over £100 for this service.



At least this bodger fitted a fuse in the live feed to the radio! Interesting fuse holder with 20A fuse! Shame this bodge was unnecessary because the radio has a 15A fuse in the back of it. Feed was taken from the brake light switch. I removed the wiring and connected the radio to one of the auxilary terminals on the ignition switch.



This is the wiring I removed. Note the extra male spade connector. This was for the cigar lighter, also fitted for previous owner so he could plug in his Sat Nav. The connection was loose, as was the earth, and neither insulated in any way. As I do not smoke or own a Sat Nav I removed the cigar lighter, and it is free to a good home to anyone who wants it.



The plastic surround looks like it has been hacked about a bit, but the actual cigar lighter looks OK and also has a light, that wasn't connected in my car.

2017 edit: That was the last 2012 post in this thread.

[Father Ted]

2017 Edit: This next section started in January 2013.

Got bored with dismantling the Zodiac, so decided to do another job on the Herald that I have been putting off.

When I replaced the door lock last year I realised that the door card was disintegrating. It wasn't the original and had been made of plywood which must have got wet. The clips were pulling through where the wood was crumbling.



After removing the vinyl, I used the old card as a template and cut a new one out of hardboard.



Clips re-fitted. Some were missing but I had some left over from when I fitted the new Zodiac door card last year.



Trial fitting. Needed some fettling to get all the clips to line up with the holes in the door.



More to follow...