Bitumen Boy

I'd be inclined to try a trolley jack before a lever, hopefully the new bushes aren't so oversized that the whole car will lift - or am I missing something?

  No, it isn't ideal, but working outside on a breezy day is, I feel, unlikely to cause any problems in reality. Of course if I ever ran with the shed idea it wouldn't be a total loss system and the proper abrasive would become practical.

Be careful about rebuilding clutch master cylinders. They get a lot more use than brake cylinders and the seals aren't the only parts subject to wear. Close inspection of all parts is required to be sure that rebuilding isn't a false economy that will lead to you waiting several hours for recovery when you'd rather be doing something - anything - else...

I did toy with the idea of a small shed behind the garage to do blasting jobs in.

On the Herald at least I find I can just bleed the clutch on my own once the tunnel is removed. For my purposes that's probably easier than trying to round up an assistant.

My compressor was second (or possibly third) hand so I'm not sure of the exact spec, but was told it was 14cfm. It certainly dims the lights briefly when it starts up! By eye I'd guess the receiver to be at least 100, maybe 150 litre - it's a bit too big for the space really and if I had the cash I'd probably change it for something a bit more compact. Anyhoo, I don't have a blast cabinet, but I've done a bit of open-air blasting with a cheapish gun from Machine Mart and it keeps up well enough with that, wheels wouldn't be a problem except for getting enough abrasive to use in a total loss system - I tend to use ordinary builder's sand dried in an equally ordinary domestic oven for economy's sake.   IMO a better bet for wheel refurbishment - with steels at least - is to get a plastic drum or dustbin and set up a simple electrolysis tank. Takes a while to get the result but very little effort required and it will eventually shift all the rust and soften the sound old paint enough to remove it with ease.   Another option we've used for wheels is to ask someone who does blast cleaning of stonework - there are a couple of small firms round here who do this as most of the old houses are built of stone, and their equipment makes short work of the job. It's a few years ago now but we paid £20 (cash, of course!) for 4 wheels, and that included a coat of primer - a real bargain price but a sound job.

Mine kept on blowing at this point for years, over and over again. Eventually I realised that there was too much movement in the joint as the standard support clamp that mounts to one of the bellhousing bolts wasn't really up to the job.    I cured it in the end by taking a piece of thick steel plate with an angle along one side - ex garage door mechanism - and using it to support a standard U bolt type clamp to the exhaust while solidly mounted to two (or maybe 3, not looked in a while) of the bellhousing bolts. It's never given trouble since, there's nothing more satisfying than sorting out these niggling repetetive faults.

Try removing the sticky jet and giving it a quick polish with Brasso or similar, worked for me before now.

  The one I did didn't have a wire needing to be unsoldered, so it's not all of them - just a matter of luck which type you have!  Adjusting the self-parking is the bit I found awkward, I eventually settled for "near enough". Things are no better with modern cars, I had to replace the wiper motor on my Corsa last winter and also ended up settling for "good enough" rather than dismantle it all again to make an adjustment... 🤔

A second vote here for the wee valve seal in the master cylinder. You could rebuild the m/c and cure the problem, but by now it's probably so worn that it won't last long. I suggest fitting a replacement, wouldn't hurt to overhaul the slave cylinder (which is much simpler and doesn't really have anything to wear) with a seal kit while you're at it.   Should you go down the road of fitting a replacement m/c, it wouldn't hurt to quickly dismantle it first and make sure the factory hasn't left any drilling swarf inside, I've found some before now. If removed and cleaned before use it won't hurt, of course it shouldn't be there at all but I despair of the quality of most stuff these days.

It's a few years now since we sold our last Acclaim, but even then most of the knowledge was to be found on F*cebook - a platform that I personally want nothing to do with, though I believe there's an active Acclaim group to be found on there. I did hear a rumour that someone had found a source of carb bits so it may be worth asking there, they've been unobtainium via the usual UK channels for years now - I always thought it a shame that BL used the Honda setup complete, if they'd bothered to work up a manifold for a pair of SUs then Acclaims would be more practical cars now.   I agree with Tony though, we have found old-school Honda dealers to be helpful when stuck for parts in the past, it's surprising what can be gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. Worth asking anyway, if one isn't interested another might be.

Brand new steering racks that fit Heralds made in Argentina? That's interesting, I wonder what they're really made for.   Just a thought, but what tyre pressures are you running? People have been caught out before now using pressures that were right for OE crossply tyres but don't suit modern radials.

I exchanged a worn steering rack a few years ago and found the inner trackrod ends had been assembled with no grease and much too tight. They would have worn rapidly in that condition and I can't help thinking that might have been the intention. I altered the number of shims - luckily I'd nicked all that were in the old rack before taking it for the exchange - and greased the joints well, and that sorted it nicely. Grease won't really work its way into these joints in use so do have a look.   Really, I wanted to recon my old rack at home, but none of the usual suspects would sell me the parts either at all or for a sensible price. Cynical old me thinks it's because they want to sell more recon racks...   I'm skeptical of the idea of a "sealed maintenance free" steering rack for a Herald, I'd be interested to hear where you got it from. I suspect it means nothing more than simply removing the usual grease nipple.

IIRC they're both a bit awkward but an old fashioned box spanner works a treat. Still available in AF sizes from Machine Mart, not expensive and more useful than you'd think.

Seem to recall I've got one of those same odd nuts in the same place on my 1200, unless I changed it. It might be easier to work with than a standard hex nut on one side or the other where there's not much room.

Have you considered incorporating the exhaust manifold in your design? Suitable cast exhaust manifolds are thin on the ground and probably aren't in fabulous condition if you find one, while the tubular type are probably going to be remanufactured now and we all know how great the quality of such parts often isn't. I also feel - though I appreciate you're doing this more for interest than profit - that someone interested in fitting a single SU instead of twins to an 1147 would likely prefer a cast exhaust manifold over a tubular type. Also, a one piece design wouldn't need any extra plumbing to warm the inlet, a "hot spot" as per the originals would do nicely and means fewer parts to go wrong. I'll have a look at mine later if you want, but I think using the warming tube requires an extra connection to the waterpump housing that the standard Herald part doesn't usually have, OK new alloy ones are available but it means more trouble and expense to do the conversion. If you do decide to go down this route, I would suggest that the exhaust manifold should be akin to the longer, larger bore later type as per the 12/50 Heralds, the earlier type seems rather restrictive.

I always felt the Solex carb on an 1147 was restrictive, and seemed unable to flow enough fuel at higher revs. I also found it the single most unreliable component on the whole car, and eventually came to loathe it so much that I went to the trouble and expense of tracking down the parts for a twin carb conversion - the engine was already a mk 1 Spitfire unit, just what turned up locally when I was looking for one to rebuild, so I got more benefit from the twin carbs than may otherwise have been the case. However, given the scarcity of suitable manifolds for the twin carb conversion I would have been most interested in something suitable to fit a single SU in place of the Solex with as little fuss as possible. I still might be interested as simplicity is something I value highly in a car and the twin carbs take up rather more space than I'd ideally like.  I'd be tempted by the idea of a second Herald if the right car came along at the right price, but the right Herald for me definitely wouldn't be one running a Solex carb... 

Did you fit a decent oil filter in the end? If not I suspect there may be a greater improvement in oil pressure to be had for negligible extra work. However, I wouldn't worry unduly about oil pressure that's on the low side but steady, the time to panic is when you see a sudden loss of pressure at speed.

Have a look on fleabay, I've often found it a good source of similar sheet materials in small quantities.

Hi Antonia, Plenty of good advice here as usual, but from my own experience I would advise against dismantling your engine just yet. I've had my 1200 for a good many years now and one of the first things I did was to fit an oil pressure gauge. Always had good oil pressure until one day a couple of years ago, when I did a routine oil and filter change. Cold oil pressure was normal, but once hot it was down to the sort of level you're seeing. I figured it had to be either the oil or the filter as it happened immediately after the change. Another lot of fresh oil made no difference, but replacing the filter returned the oil pressure to normal levels.   The first filter that caused the problems was an aftermarket jobbie, box was branded "classic gold" though the filter itself may have been unmarked - I forget now. The replacement filter that solved the problem was NOS picked up at a show somewhere - enough said. I've since gone down the Mann filter route, but if that's not an option I'd suggest you look out for a NOS filter and try fitting that, it might not be anything more serious. Touch wood, my engine seems to have suffered no damage but time will tell!

I know the part you mean. If they're not available I doubt they'd be hard to cut your own from sheet material.

From my own experience the fibreglass valances available aren't quite the right shape, also the fronts can be a bit of a pain to fit as you're left to form the central cutout area yourself. I found that the shape precluded use of a jigsaw so ended up using a ground-down hacksaw blade with a handle made of rags and string🙁 Also, you're pretty much left to figure out your own mounting brackets at the outer ends on the fronts.   However, there are advantages. The shape of both front and rear valances makes them very effective rot traps from the inside when made in steel, and proximity to the road means frequent stonechipping from the outside which makes steel ones a drag to keep looking reasonably smart. I fitted fibreglass valances front and rear several years ago now to replace rotten steel ones - couldn't afford new steel ones anyway - but I've never regretted my choice and would likely do the same again if I had another Herald.

Quite. IMO there was nothing really wrong with the MOT regime before they started dicking around with it, except I would have had cars subject to a yearly MOT from new - a lot can go wrong in 3 years. Some places may have had an issue with younger testers applying the wrong standards to oldies, but that's an issue to be resolved with training and education rather than a vague system of exemptions.

It's not normal, or at least it shouldn't be! Try a bit of lubrication and fiddling at first. 

Shimming them is both easy and effective. I use a 1" circular punch, then snips to put a single cut from the circumference to the centre which helps a lot when wangling them into place.