Cyril The Herald (1968 13/60 Restoration)

[Cyril_The_Herald]

Cyril The Herald (By Rich and Kelly)

Thanks everyone for your continued advice.  Tomorrow is "Fire Up Day", I'm confident Cyril will make fumes!!!

So, in turn, our approach tomorrow will be;

Hot-Wire Cyril - So to do this we'll;

• Fix a wire from Battery +'ve to Coil Ignition (effectively bypassing the ignition)
• Test for 12v using my 2nd test in my earlier post

IF THE ABOVE IS SUCCESFUL i.e. we're getting 12v at the Coil then we'll;

Points-Flick Test - So to do this we'll;

• Remove the lead from the centre of the distributor (keeping the other end connected to the coil)
• Rest the exposed end against the rocker cover/engine block
• Crank the engine by hand until the points are closed
• Turn on the ignition
• Flick the points with an electricians screwdriver

Finally tomorrow, we'll be lifting the front end onto ramps so we can look underneath.

It'll all very exciting.

[Cyril_The_Herald]

Shuddup !!!

You'll never guess what just happened !!!

This may take a while to explain, so please be patient with me.

So I'm impatient and can't wait until tomorrow to play with Cyril so I went outside to see if I could do the tests to hot wire the ignition and test for 12 volts at the coil and to test for 12 volts at the points and I'm doing the tests and finding that I got 12 volts at the coil which was really really pleasing and then I was just about to do the points flick test and I looked down the driveway and saw an old fellow walking past and then I looked again and he'd stopped walking past and was looking up at Cyril and he said "bye'eck is that a Herald" and I pounced on him and told him "yes, come and look" and he did and he told me a trillion stories about his life as a mechanic and that he'd just been to the pub (called the 'thack) and he was on his way home for tea and he told me a fantastic story about when he was an apprentice at Arnold G Wilson in Leeds and they were a car sales garage and they took in under cover one of the first Heralds in nineteen fifty something and was there for the unveiling of the new car and he told me how that as an apprentice he was there to fix up broken cars and he told be about when one of the new cars was in a crash and the chassis was broken so he had to rebuild the Herald onto the new chassis and he looked at Cyril, and fiddled and told me about what I should do and he flicked the points and THERE WAS A SPARK and he told me to disconnect all of the electrical contacts everywhere and clean them and the earth because the spark at the points was rubbish (but I'm just pleased there's a spark at all) and then he went because he was late for his tea and I think his wife was going to kill him for being late but he said he can be found "early doors" in the 'thack but he's rubbish at remembering faces but I told him that I'll remember him because he's my new best friend and that he must call again.

After he'd left, I did the big spark test taking the centre lead from the distributor cap and holding it near to the engine block whilst Kelly turned over the engine and THERE WAS A SPARK, not a big spark, but still a spark.

We are making progress ;D

[Pom Down Under]

Ah, all is well in Cyril land.  

You are now much closer to pleasure or pain.  Hopefully not the latter.

No doubt by now you have hooked everything back up and had a go at firing it up?  We all wait with baited breath for your next report.         ;)

[Oggi]

Just had a massive catch up on this one, sounds like you are getting closer. My money is still on a poor earth (engine to chassis) did you check the condition of that?

As you say the old boy could possibly be your new best friend I would offer him some beer tokens if he would spare you 1/2 hour of his time.  

[Pom Down Under]

Rich(ard)? - Remember how an engine works, basically: suck, press, bang, blow.  You now have the "bang" part.
"Suck" requires fuel going into the engine (nb clean fuel) by some means or other (preferably via a working fuel pump, but alternatively a small amount straight down the carb throat - do not lean over the top of engine in case it back fires or you'll end up with singed hair) and "press" requires compression (although even with very weak compression you may well still get the motor running).

Rest assured it will run - it's a Triumph!       :)      We all want to see a smile on your face and Kelly's.      

[GrayFox]

Good to hear Cyril has new friend.  Might be an idea to ensure your battery is fully charged up.  The various attempts to start the car could have drained it and this would result in a weak spark.  Best of luck.

[Pom Down Under]

Things seem to have gone very quiet around here?  

Could it be that Cyril disgraced himself somehow?  OR  

Is Kelly refusing to add any more comments here or on their own little website?  OR
    
Are Rich and Kelly down the 'thack with their new friend getting pleasantly p#*sed?

Wait for the next enthralling installment.

[Stu 1986]

Could be the Month's worth of Rain in 24hrs across the UK issue. Its causing problems for anyone who has anything to do with cars. :(

[Pom Down Under]

Refer to my comment yesterday on Herald appeal for Sat 7th July! thread.            8)

[Cyril_The_Herald]

Cyril the Herald

Right.  Not much to update on I'm afraid.  The weather has hindered progress, and as this is a 'weekend only' venture we are very constrained with time - And when it's raining, xBox wins :-)

We bought some ramps from eBay and tried to jerk the car onto them, but emptied the battery in the process so this has slowed us down (any suggestions on how to get the car on ramps without it running would be appreciated).  The reason why we want the car on ramps is so I can seek out this illusive earth strap and seek a replacement (any tips on where to get a replacement from???).

So what else is happening?

We are going to replace as many of the electrical wiring and connections as possible (battery leads, wires to/from ignition/coil/low tension thingy) and also, where there are any connections which are brown and not silver (i.e. rusty) were going to clean up or replace.

Hopefully all of the above will result in a bigger, more consistent spark at the points, and then hopefully we'll see some fumes!!!

Thanks for your continued support, guidance and interest - This is fun !!!

Oh, and we've not been down 'thack (yet) although I may take a stroll in there for some ale and a chat with my new best friend on Sunday.

Wish us luck.

Rich & Kelly.

[Pom Down Under]

Jack it up and slide ramps under the wheels. Doing one side at a time is a bit of a drag but is generally easier, although a decent hydraulic jack will lift everything in one go.

Even if you have it in gear, plus the handbrake on, make certain you have a brick or some other means of restraint behind back wheels (and in front too, just for an added bit of safety).

All this having been said I wouldn't think it necessary to do this - not just to see if there is an earth strap. LOOK everywhere between engine/gearbox and frame/body - if there is one you'll see it.

Sidenote:  The 'thack would win over the xBox everytime so far as I'm concerned.       8)

[Elma fud]

run a jump start lead from the battery earth to the engine and see if spark improves as you connect and disconnect ;)

[rustbuckit2011]

Hi there,

Just reading through this thread, I'm wondering why you need to get the engine started at all right now? To fix the bulkhead you are probably going to have to remove it from the chassis. To do this, you will first have to remove the rear tub. By this stage the doors would have come off too- so you may as well remove the bonnet.
By now the earth strap should be right infront of you, you wont even have to search for it I'm guessing.
Getting the engine started should be way down the list of priorities, because a) by the time you get the body finished it will have sat for such a time you may have to go through some work to start it again, and b) If you get to the end of the build and find its buggered, you shouldn't have any trouble picking up another engine.
You could even drag it onto a table inside and work away on it at night! (my girlfriend loves it when I do this!)

Do yourself a favour, don't get bogged down trying to make it run. That should be the easy bit.
I think the priority should be to get the body and brakes up to a point where the sight of the car spurs you on to getting onto the road!

[Mark Hammond]

What he said.

M.

[Cyril_The_Herald]

Interesting.  Does this change our plans I wonder?

We need a garage  :)

[Cyril_The_Herald]

Cyril The Herald

So yesterday we did a little bit of electrical work.  Only tiny stuff but hopefully it all makes a difference.

• Replaced the battery cables & cleaned the connections
• Replaced the lead from the coil to the low tension lead

We're learning, and wanted to try out the new soldering iron and fit some fresh electrical connectors so doing the above was a satisfying thing to do.

*Cyril however still won't start*

Taking on board what rustbucket2011 advised, I'm wondering whether to start the strip-down and forget the engine.

[AndyR1]

Wow a thread on my car!
I bought Cyril (He's still called Cyril by the way) in January last year when I was 14 to restore for my first car for when I'm 17.  When I first when to look at it I made two mistakes.  I didn't look at the chassis (luckily all it needs is new side rails and front outriggers) and I felt sorry for it.  Especially when Rich told me that everyone else who had viewed the car wanted to break it for spares!  But luckily for Cyril I won the auction and this is how it arrived.



I decided it needed a proper restoration so stripped it down to the bare chassis
The strip down









And the whole rear suspension has been rebuilt, a lowering block added, Koni shocks been put on and all the bushes have been replaced with polys.






Now I've taken the bulkhead and front suspension off, the engine out and ordered the new chassis outriggers from canleys
Cheers Andy

[Sheepy]

Well done Andy,

Your making good progress, it's good to see younger generation interested in older cars.
Keep up the momentum and any problems don't feel shy to ask! We can all help.  :)

And keep the pictures coming!

[GT6 M]

I dip me cap to you Ladds who  can fiddlelate away in a shed, nee bigger than the car, thats getting fiddlelated upon.  (clap)(clap)

M

[andybeau]

Brilliant work keep it up
As said before more pics

[rustbuckit2011]

Wow! Fantastic news! I did wonder what happened to this car, glad to see it's still kicking around. Have fun!

[MSter]

Mate if your doing this at 15 good luck to you I would never had had the confidence plus the quality of your work looks very good. Keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming

[Matt306]

Well done...

[andycon67]

Nice one,

I am only in Barnsley if you get stuck or need a hand and  frequently go to Selby for work.

Andy

[Elma fud]

Great work there with the quality of the work this is going to be a cracking car when youve finished, good thing with a Herald with parts being seperated you can do a chunk at a time and seeing one bit done is a big mojo boost ;D