heraldcoupe

Ooh... that's the worst I've seen in a long time! Cheers, Bill.

It looks like the bearing's shot to me. As Clive suggests, you need to get it released from the spring to check, I would expect the shaft to have considerable in the vertical plane, Cheers, Bill.

The lower halves of the body/chassis assemblies were subject to a dip as part of the paint & finishing process. There were holes at low points to allow drainage as the shells were drawn out of the bath, these account for some of the grommets, Cheers, Bill.

Debris from corrosion or contamination in the fuel will settle out in the tank. Anywhere forward of this can be victim to contamination, rather than a cause, so I place a filter directly at the output of the tank, in the looped flexible pipe above. Cheers, Bill.

Has it always been like this in your ownership, or has it changed recently? An originally configured Herald will have the bite point broadly in the mid range of travel, not particularly high or low. Modern replacement clutches are a different matter though, thinner linings and (in some cases) completely redesigned covers frequently make the bite point exceptionally low. The slave cylinder's piston can be right at the end of it's travel and hitting the circlip before there is any release. The engineered fix is to modify the release bearing carrier to bring the bearing closer to the cover when at rest. As this requires substantial dismantling and (understandably) more work than anyone should expect with a simple clutch replacement, welding an extension onto the slave cylinder pushrod is a quick and dirty fix. It may of course be something else, but the above is a very common cause of the problem, Cheers, Bill.

Which is correct for all but the earliest 13/60s. The first cars received the same copper/gold finish as the 1200's rocker cover, though the switch to silver came very early. The OP's 1968 car would without doubt have the silver rocker cover. Cheers, Bill.

Nick_Jones wrote:I haven't used anything other than bike brake cables for the last 20 years......... That's the way I've been going recently. Quality of aftermarket cables is utterly shocking in many cases, I cannibalised the 'new' cable on my last Spitfire for it's fittings to build one from a bike cable. The 1500 TC engine in a Herald needs to be longer than anything I could find on a Triumph. Again, the custom bike cable was my solution when I fitted one a couple of years ago. The bulkhead ferrule was the only complication, however I was able to salvage an old one and re-crimp using a hex die I had available. Without the die it could be secured with a dab of epoxy, Cheers, Bill.

It's not the trunnion itself which usually fails, it's the vertical link which breaks at the point where it exits the trunnion. Wear is easy enough to detect, but rust spots giving rise to stress fractures won't be detected without stripping down the link. Cheers, Bill.

Later 1200s received the 12/50s GD engine from the factory, but fitted with the 1200 manifold and exhaust, Cheers, Bill.

That's not something I've previously encountered. I guess it would be fairly easily made by someone with access to a large mill, and possibly a scrap head? Cheers, Bill.

1505 wrote:Can the tank from an estate be fitted to a saloon? Yes, but you will need to open out a hole int he floor for the outlet chamber. There's a shallow pressing where the hole needs to be cut, Cheers, Bill.

Are you using silicone fluid? Cheers, Bill.

The factory approach was to take a standard tank and add a neck on the opposite side, welding a neat patch into the original aperture. I have an early tank modified this way in store, but it's never been fitted to any of my cars. Cheers, Bill.

How thick is the felt? An awful lot of aftermarket felt seals are excessively thick, I would argue that they're not fit for purpose as the bearing cannot be properly loaded before the seal is completely crushed. Thinner felt seals should be available, but you may have to shop around to find them. Cheers, Bill.

In that case the 0.7" bore would be the best approach. None of the cylinders in your ebay searches is technically correct as they have their cylinders at 90 degrees to the body, the original designs were angled so the body was sited vertically. Not that they won't work, just consider them as an aftermarket alternative with all that entails. In recent years the cylinders with a seperate plastic body have gained a reputation for leaking. I don't know why, but I see repeated reports of fluid weeping at the seam between the reservoir and the cylinder body. Keep this in mind of you go for this option, Cheers, Bill.

First of all, which Vitesse brakes did you fit? The Vitesse 6 brakes have type 12 calipers on Herald discs together with 8" rear drums, so only the rears could be considered an upgrade. The 2L cars maintained the 8" rear drums, but upgraded to larger front discs with type 16 calipers, so a genuine upgrade. Next, beware of master cylinders with a small reservoir, they are not intended for disc brake applications. There's nothing wrong with them in terms of hydraulic operation, but consider how a disc brake system self adjusts. As the pads wear, the caliper's rest position moves further along the bore. This in turn means more fluid is held in the caliper, so the level in the reservoir drops. In a standard cylinder with the large reservoir, the fluid level under all conditions will sit between the max and min marks - theoretically at max with new pads fitted, min when they're worn down and approaching replacement.   Considering the above, if you have a master cylinder with a small reservoir, as your pads wear, your fluid will drop below the minimum mark, the cylinder would potentially be emptied through the life of a set of pads. So you top up the master cylinder as part of regular maintenance. When you next change your pads, you need to drain away some of that excess fluid, or eject it over the top of your bulkhead when you wind back your caliper pistons. Not a problem with a well maintained car, but I don't see it as a corner that's worth cutting. While the genuine Vitesse master cylinders all came with a fatter cylinder reservoir, the late Heralds took the short master cylinder used for the clutch, and also for the brakes on drum-braked cars, and added a plastic extension. Though they're rarely sold in the Triumph trade, there are plenty on ebay and elsewhere - here's one found at random: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/151627220212?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0 As regards the 0.7" bore question, a larger bore means more effort but shorter pedal travel, smaller bore means less effort but longer travel. This was the specified bore for the Vitesse 2L brakes and works well - the type 16 calipers move more fluid than the type 12 or 14s of the Herald, so the 0.7" will have been chosen by the designers with this in mind. So we come back to which calipers you have... Cheers, Bill.

cook1e wrote:II'm sure the OEM ones for a Spitfire will alos come up from time to time on ebay.. Just avoid the GFE4 replacements Unipart was punting out as a supposed equivalent in the early to mid 1990s. No drain valve whatsoever... Cheers, Bill.

Have your doors been reskinned? The return at the top of replacement skins is often cut longer than the original, so the clips won't push fully home There are various other sizes of clip if this proves to be the problem. The current outer weatherstrips are either based on original tooling or they're very good copies (except for the fact they're usually cut 1/4" too short) so they're unlikely to be the problem, Cheers, Bill.

Have your doors been reskinned? The return at the top of replacement skins is often cut longer than the original, so the clips won't push fully home There are various other sizes of clip if this proves to be the problem. The current outer weatherstrips are either based on original tooling or they're very good copies (except for the fact they're usually cut 1/4" too short) so they're unlikely to be the problem, Cheers, Bill.

They're certainly Vauxhall, but I don't think the FB has the reversing lights, Cheers, Bill.

Lucas was a major aftermarket supplier as well as providing OE parts. A lot of later Lucas branded components were identical to those supplied in the boxes of other companies, though often with a Lucas logo printed on them. Proper Lucas OE parts tended to have the logo incorporated in the moulding, Cheers, Bill.

This is how it was done at the factory, eyelet under the bolt, braid to another eyelet under the rack to the closest rack mounting nut. The external strap is common on later cars, but most had an internal wire as part of the coupling. It's no less likely to be broken, which is presumably why the external link was introduced. Cheers, Bill.

It's hard to see that you could have done anything wrong to cause this. Do you have a picture? Cheers, Bill.

The nipples won't fit when the suspension drops, it's one of the reasons you can't leave the nipples in place. With the suspension level you will be able to fit the nipple, alternatively it can be fitted when the face of the joint points forward or backwards, though this gets fiddly. In practice, I've rarely re-greased UJs once the assembly is on the car. The main benefit of the greasable joints is the ability to properly charge them with grease after their initial assembly, something which is practically impossible with sealed types. Cheers, Bill.