Herald Convertible rear body tub repairs

[smiddytom]

Hi this is my first post on here and as a relative newbie to the Triumph world I would appreciate some advice regarding mending my 1360 rear body tub.

Having found a hole at the bottom of the rear wing behind the b post I took the back seat out and was rather alarmed to find a lot of missing and rusting metal hidden behind the wing at the bottom :(. Not good news though Im told not uncommon.  What would people advise to be the best way to approach mending this?  Would it be better to take the whole wing off  to get behind it or just enough to replace with a repair panel, and what would I need to do to fix the structure behind?  In my investigations I also see that the tread plate has been plated over at some stage so would it be advisable to strip this off and check behind it at the same time?  Also would this be an MOT failure since thats due next month?

I know thats an awful lot of questions but any answers would be gratefully received.

Cheers
Tom

[valencia1]

if the chassis area around the diff is ok/sound the mot should not be a problem as long as there
are no jagged edge's on the outside the bodywork to endanger pedestrians, etc.i'm no expert
on repair aproach side but some pics may help someone more skillful to asess.whats the/your
ownership history of the car, or have you just aquired it?
regards,  bryan

[bxbodger]

Hello, I'm just in the process of repairing this area myself-cold weather stopped play!!

I got bottom wing repair panels which replace basically the bottom 4 inches or so of the wing and arch-its not a difficult panel to fabricate if you have basic metalwork skills, but I picked my repair panels up off ebay for a song-along with the arch repair sections, so assuming you can weld, then its not a hard job to fix.

The Haynes Herald/Vitesse, GT6 etc, repair book does a photo shoot of repairing this bit as well.

Once the bottom of the wing is cut off its pretty easy to patch any nasties behind. Recieved wisdom appears to be to NOT remove the whole wing on convertibles due to body sag making it impossible to line the new wing up to the old top half.

Its not a structural area so should be o.k. for the MOT provided the rot hasn't spread up the arch to the seatbelt mounts.

Regarding the treadplate, this is actually supposed to be double skinned- I thought mine had been plated-I couldn't work out why, though, as the one underneath was sound, but on close examination of the factory workshop manual, there is actually a cross section which shows it to be double skinned! Its presumeably to add strength when people,well, tread on it!!

[smiddytom]

Alas ive yet to enter the world of the digital camera so cant get a picture. As far I can see around the diff is OK and nothing to puncture any passing to pedestrians with so fingers crossed...:)

Regarding the car I bought it about a year ago in Somerset as an easy recommissioning project to take my mind off my university finals in Bristol, and it now lives in Norfolk.  I got it through its MOT last April and since then its been my daily transport provided its not too wet or salty, covering several thousand miles in the last year.  Hopefully ive attached a picture.

I am the 6th registered keeper. The car started its life in Hendon, bought from Halls Limited, Finchley on 24 March 1970. It was sold to its second owner, a man in Edmonton in 1976, then to a man in Waltham Cross in 1983 from where it passed to a relative in 1988. It was bought in 2004 by the previous owner and taken to Somerset, he started to recommission it and I bought from him eleven months later. Originally Valencia Blue its currently a rather faded Red. 

Since I bought it I have been slowly renovating it cosmetically and mechanically as time and money allow. Its proved almost completely reliable (except for a "strop" on the M4 one hot day) and I enjoy driving it a lot more than what people describe as my "sensible car"??? Vaux. Corsa .

[heraldcoupe]

As others have mentioned, removal of a Herald rear wing is not to be taken lightly, the body can sag with age, albeit not visibly. Aligning a straight new bottom wing against a gently bowed original upper can be an absolute bear....
Repairing the fromt part behind the B-post is straightforward. Be aware that under the B-post there is a body mounting point, rust within 30cm of this is an MOT failure point. Most MOT inspectors are completely unaware of how cars of this age are put together, so chances are it wouldn'tbe picked up unless exceptionally bad, but that is the risk.
The treadplate is indeed double skinned. The main floor extends all the way to the sill and forms a down-turned lip. A panel of identical cross section is spot welded on top, it turns up on it's inside edge to form the retaining lip for the door seal. On the latest cars, probably including all 13/60s, there is an additional tab on the treadplate panel, which extends beneath the B-post - at this point the structure is tripple skinned.
Treadplates are often repaired either by roughly plating over, or by fitting a single panel to replace the entire structure. Both are bodges, but I can understand the appeal in eliminating the double skin. My own approach is to use two treadplate panels. On one of these I flatten the doorseal lip and use this as the lower panel. The facing surfaces are painted in weld-through primer, then both are pressed together with a coat of weld-through seam sealer between. I use a resistance spot welder to replicate the original pattern of spot welds. When done this produces a very strong structure which can be welded straight in place on the car. Looks absolutely original too.
Cheers,
Bill.

[Jason]

Also, don't forget that there are some crap new wings out there - the flat ones. If you look at the wing there is a gentle curve in the panel, it's not flat like the replacement wings. There
are some curved ones out there so if you do replace the whole wing, get the best one - fit is always going to be interesting because of the dreaded sag but it is possible to get a good result.

[heraldcoupe]

To clarify, looking along the top edge of the wing, it curves inwards, but should be dead straight in the other plane.
There are other problems with repro wings having the swage line above the wheelarch too large. I don't have the measurements recorded, but the distance between arch lip and swasge should be around 41mm, some repros are around 47mm. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it sticks out like a sore thumb on an otherwise nicely restored Herald!
Cheers,
Bill.