JumpingFrog

Last time I looked at car club deals, many of them for young drivers were for multi-car - e.g. you insure your daily and your classic together which I'm guessing isn't much use to OP. But maybe things changed. Ten years ago, when I was 19 and bought my Herald 13/60, Adrian Flux were cheapest, it was not much less than £1000, after that it decreased by roughly a third every year. Worth ringing around some specialists and seeing what they say, Lancaster, Peter James, Adrian Flux, Carole Nash, Footman James are good places to start, but unfortunately you might find they don't offer classic policies to under 25s. I don't think anyone is suggesting it, but adding a young driver as a named driver (when they're really the main driver) with an experienced driver as the main driver to bring the cost down isn't allowed (termed "fronting"). It was a really popular practice when I was learning to drive and a Corsa C cost something like £2500 to insure. In such a situation you also won't have a NCB, which is the only way to reduce policy cost until you reach at least 25 and get real classic car policies. Hope there is some way forward, would be a real shame to have something dull as a first car when you could have a Triumph.

The original pump you have there with the cast arm is the best type and easiest to rebuild (non-return valves held in with a plate and screws rather than staked into place), they're rather well made. I wouldn't throw it away in any case. Personally I would prefer to rebuild it, it's not too hard, I've done a few, but the last one turned out to be impossible to stop leaking. Overkill, but after that I gave up on mechanical pumps all together, and fitted an electric Huco pump in the boot.

Shouldn't be heavy, always found my Herald very light, especially after driving modern super minis with cable clutches. My best guess, would be the swivel pins on the release fork are seized up - look at part 20, in the diagram below. They are retained in the fork casting by a small roll-pin (21), but should be able to turn 5 or 10 degrees in either direction (in turn allowing the release bearing to change orientation a little). However, I've often seen them seized in the casting. Unfortunately, it'd be impossible to rectify this issue without removing the gearbox. Of course you should also check all the parts are correct as glang mentions. There are other common issues in the clutch system, for example to top of the pedal, where it attaches to the master cylinder, wears out quickly (depending on driving style), but eventually becomes oval and elongated. And the pin that holds the release fork (26) is famous for dropping out, there are replacements with a mushroom head to prevent this.

This plate looks like a Laycock design one. The plate that Rog removed with the blue springs is the type I've seen others sell and fitted to my car with a similar gearbox conversion, these were made by Borg & Beck (B&B). At some point B&B and Laycock both became part of AP, but I don't know when that was. The reason I bring this up, if you start mixing and matching parts, you can have other problems (besides physically not fitting). In the past I mixed a Laycock friction plate (but a standard 10-spline one) with a B&B clutch cover (not reproduction) and ended up with a clutch that wouldn't release. Presumably because the cover was set for a different height friction plate. However, I'm not sure what the best route forward is for you, but mixing reproduction clutch covers with old asbestos friction plates is not the path I would pick. Personally, I would either buy a NOS Laycock clutch cover and friction plate (probably the hardest combination to find), or easier find a NOS B&B clutch cover and fit the old friction plate.

What do you want to use the car for? I think you have a lot of choices, Konis are mostly agreed on as being the best, other uprated brands such as Spax and Gaz get mixed reviews. Downside of Konis, cost and no adjustable spring seat and to adjust them you need to remove them from the car. I've abused Konis and now wouldn't use anything else for serious use. For a more budget option, I also heard good things about KYB, but I don't know how readily available they are these days. I also see some suppliers are offering "Monroe" branded shock absorbers, but I don't think these will be the same as the Monroe of old but maybe still better than the basic generic ones?

After a Spitfire/Herald gearbox, 3-rail gearbox (4-synchro or 3-synchro), condition not that important as long as it's complete as I plan to rebuild anyway. Ideally somewhere in Lancashire or along the M62 corridor. TIA

Others have noted tolerance issues with the Bastuck shafts, there was a thread on the TSSC forum: https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/8680-2nd-gear-seized-to-mainshaft/ I would suggest you complain, since the circlip groove is incorrect. If it was only the journals oversized, you could have it ground down. Had a similar issue with a shaft from a well known gearbox specialist.

Im not sure what you mean, I was talking about buying a Tr7 4-speed laygear which are still easily available NOS and then changing your existing mainshaft gears to match. AFAIK, 1st and 3rd are always the same, but has at least 3 different types. I think you're referring to the splines on the mainshaft, which as you say are only for the synchro hubs and should be the same.

Informed guess here, but I believe imperial strength goes R, S, T, V, X and these roughly correspond to 8.8, 9.8, 10.9 and 12.9. X is certainly very hard and only used in special places (brake calipers). I believe R/S is roughly 8.8: https://www.namrick.co.uk/acatalog/Kev-s_Blog.html I'm not convinced the new bolts supplied will be as strong as the originals, as a few years ago I was replacing the UJs on my car and decided to change the bolts, two of the bolts stretched while torquing them up, something I never experienced with the originals. I found some better originals and fitted those instead. The replacements I was supplied (from a classic car parts supplier), had 3 dash marks on the head, which I believe would correspond to metric 8.8. My originals were also marked 'V' grade. The small 5/16 bolts need to be done up pretty tight relative to their size (at least in the case of driveshafts) or they quickly come loose and distort the flange and make the holes oval, so whatever is used needs to be decent. The later change to 3/8 bolts don't seem to suffer as badly, and you can buy decent 3/8 bolts cheaply from Land Rover specialists.

I don't think you'll get much advice other than to contact Mike, he's the only one doing such repairs to these gearboxes now. Finding the correct NOS laygear is unlikely, and 6-cylinder gearboxes suffer badly for wear. There is one expensive alternative, NOS UKC8749 is available, as is UKC8748WO (29T 1/2 sleeve) and UKC8750 (17T reverse idler). This is a late TR7 4-speed laygear with the stronger reverse teeth, assuming your GT6 gearbox isn't an early one (small synchros and different helix angle on 2nd?) it should mesh with your existing gears. But I know that when using single-rail parts in a 3-rail gearbox there can be issues with getting reverse to work correctly (two different spacer sleeves exist for reverse idler shaft).

I'd be very wary of that clutch, it doesn't look right to me. The cover is laycock but the friction plate looks like a B&B refurb. I think that seller has just combined parts to make a kit, that theoretically will work together, but in practice I don't think they will. I know from experience that if you start mixing Laycock and B&B parts you will have issues. In my case it was a Laycock friction plate and a B&B cover, it wouldn't release, I assume because they both specified different plate thicknesses. The clutch plates do come up on eBay, but how long you'll be waiting I don't know. I managed to get one for my car after a few months waiting. Will work with a normal B&B clutch cover.

Yes, the wire from the distributor goes to your coil, the negative side since a 13/60 is negative earth. I think it should be white/black, but as this wire suffers from heat and vibration they usually get swapped with whatever the PO had lying around. Can't help much with wiring a dynamo, I never had a car with that still had one. Sounds like potentially someone started converting your car to an alternator? Brown/green wire should be thin and brown/yellow should be thick, both should go to the control box. As you say, there should be no extra wires on the battery, a thick brown wire should come off the starter solenoid. Or if the brown wire really goes through the bulkhead to the dashboard, it's likely the main lighting feed, but this should be brown with a blue stripe. At this point it's probably worth unwrapping the loom in the engine bay, and seeing exactly what you have, especially if like one of my cars it already contains numerous dodgy joins and choc blocks. Good luck!

That specific Toledo 1300 clutch was also fitted to the Morris Marina. But not all Marina, only early Marina 1300 (for one year only I believe). Later Marina 1300 switched to a larger clutch. The part is basically NLA, as standardthread said, not easy to source.

The new pumps, I wouldn't use from what I've heard, too higher pressure, or risk of destroying the lobe on your cam - seems all pumps made now have the longer operating lever that needs a spacer. I would have previously to recommended the rebuild kit, especially if you can find an early pump with the forged operating lever and the valves that are retained with screws rather than being staked in, then everything is easy to rebuild. But last one I did, I couldn't get to stop leaking, and I really tried! So I'm more taken with electric pumps now, I've just fitted a Huco 133000 (near tank fitment) to my car along and although everything worked fine before, it's nice not having to worry about priming after long lay ups etc.

I would also like to know, at the moment thinking of trying the polybush ones since NOS ones aren't easy to find either. My experience was that they're too wide, and the seal supplied is wrong and ineffective, I think it's the metal washers that are actually the problem, too thick. You can make them fit by spreading the upright (bit of threaded bar and some washers and nuts through the spring eye hole), but they don't last all that long. Similarly, if you tighten up the bolt to the specified torque in the manual, you won't be able to swivel the trunnion at all so that's best ignored if you want your suspension to work properly. Edit: I had a look on evilbay, and these at least seem to look correct (unlike the cheaper blue ones), anyone tried?: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363046573771

We will agree to disagree, it's fine if you believe "need" is too strong of a word. But my point remains, the later pump is the correct pump for the engine. In my opinion doing anything else is entering uncharted territory, Triumph thought it was necessary to increase the size of the pump. Whether or not this was one of the misguided things they did, I don't know, like the recessed fire rings on late blocks that cause more problems than flat blocks ever did. I don't have experience of downgrading the pump, but it's reassuring to hear that there is enough excess capacity for this case. FWIW, I'm now curious what pump the late GK-prefix Herald 13/60 got which will be almost the same as your DG block.

Just to point out, unless I misunderstood, you're refreshing a Mk. IV 1300 Spitfire engine. You definitely need the "uprated pump" . The whole reason for its existence was to increase the flow/volume (not pressure) to supply sufficient oil for the larger journals of the later "big crank" engines. The later oil pump is really only an upgrade if you fit it to an earlier engine, in your case it's just the correct oil pump for the engine. I think the repair kit will do you fine as long as you check the rotor clearances and end float, you already said your outer rotor/body clearance was in-spec. This seems like a pretty good guide for blue-printing the pump if you decide to go so far: http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/OilPump.htm

I would prefer to use the later alloy bodied one, the smaller oil pump is from an earlier small-crank engine. I would go for the repair kit in this case, the chance of finding a NOS oil pump these days is low and you just have to keep fingers crossed on the quality. You may need to lap in the pickup end of the oil pump to reduce the end float if its worn. By the way, I believe that the later angled pickup is inferior. All cars can stop much faster than they accelerate, the angled pickup sits at the back, which can lead to oil starvation under hard braking when the oil is thrown forwards.

There won't be any issue with current, the H4 halogen bulbs and sealed units are roughly the same power rating. If you want relays just to take the load off the dash wiring and make the lights brighter, you need to minimise the wire distance between the battery and the light. I think the neatest place to fit relays is on the bulkhead behind the battery. You cut the original blue/white (high beam) and blue/red (dipped beam) wires here such that the switches energise the corresponding relay coil. Add new fused feeds from the battery positive to one side of each relay's NO contacts, and connect the existing blue/white or blue/red to the other. Each relay needs to have a current rating to handle the power of both bulbs, for a 60W bulb, 60/12=5A. But this is for one bulb, so 10A. A classic Lucas 6RA relay handles up to 20A so would be fine. Or use a modern relay of a similar rating.

One more thing to add that nobody mentioned, if you're updating the electrics. It's well worth adding relays for the headlights (one for dipped, one for high), your lights will be much brighter (add a real earth from the bonnet too) and will avoid high currents through the feeble dash switches which could also help protect you from wiring fires.

Woodruff key looks to be broken in half too, if that wasn't a result of removing the front pulley, and it was running like that, check the key way inside the pulley is still straight. For the chain wheels, you have only once choice unless you can find NOS. It depends what you want to use the car for, I think replace the lot if you're doing serious miles, it not a fun job to do again later. From new the teeth end in a point, so the flatter the tips, the more wear there is. When they get really worn, they also start to have a hooked appearance too. I've seen better crank chain wheels and personally would replace it. Regarding the chain, there are lots of complaints about suppliers selling cheap, badly finished chains. If you want better, get in touch with "The Chain Man", he specialises in motorcycle chains, but he will supply a decent chain if you tell him the size (I forget) and the number of links (62). https://the-chain-man.co.uk/ For the tensioner, there are also complaints about quality, if you're doing limited miles, it probably isn't important. But Tony Lindsey-Dean recently did a batch of hard-chromed tensioners and was offering them for sale on Facebook. I can find the post if it helps. I've bought one, but I haven't tried it yet so can't vouch for the quality.

Good luck guys! Btw I'm half of the team "Triumph and Tribulations", from 2018. Happy to give you some advice and will definitely be watching your progress. In general, I don't know much about FWD, but I know the 1300 engine pretty well: Fuel vaporisation will be an issue in Iran, between Tabriz and Tehran we were stuck in traffic the whole day at 46C. We managed, just. But decided to ditch our original plan to go down to Yazd and stay North along the Caspian coast. Similarly, I would definitely rebuild your radiator with a thicker core (3-row) and fit an electric fan, flush your block and make sure its not full of sludge. We thought the mechanical fan (8-blade Spitfire 1500 type) would be fine, but its not enough in traffic and hot weather. We also decided to rise our bonnet (see photo below with ratchet strap and wooden blocks), it at least seemed to get hot air out from around the carb. Pamirs are incredibly hard work, air filters are important. We had no air box and fully open air filters, they clogged really quickly, new one every day. I don't know how vulnerable the underside of a 1300FWD is, but consider protecting fuel tank and gearbox, because some roads are really deeply rutted, especially in Kazakhstan. If your engine is a TC, I would say you should switch to a single carb, it's just less to go wrong. Would also recommend an alternator conversion if your car is still on a dynamo, lots of countries have headlights always on rules, and someone will want to extract money from you if you break it (Kyrgyzstan in particular). Similarly, if you have sealed beam units, replace with H4 units and carry spare bulbs, you can usually win with these "fines" if you act dumb, but it's really annoying. Ignition gave us the most issues, take some rotor arms, points, spark plugs, condensers and maybe a coil. One thing I absolutely recommend is van tyres, we fitted Hankook Vantra, and didn't have a single puncture. If possible, look at raising the ride height slightly with heavier duty springs, no idea what springs would fit a 1300FWD. But if you're driving back across Russia, you don't want a car that's been forcefully "lowered" by Mongolian "roads". We took LOADS of spares, suspension uprights, balljoints, alternator rebuild kits, master cylinder rebuild kits, driveshafts, head gaskets, water pump, fuel pump and to be honest, other than what I've mentioned, the only bits we used were front suspension bushes (our polybushes completely disintegrated in Mongolia) and both driveshafts. All this extra weight was annoying to be honest, we had more spares than actual luggage...

I've been collecting the parts up for an uprated diff for my Herald (w/ 4.11 Dolomite CWP) for a little while, but I've not actually built it. I used simply-bearings for the pinion head and tail bearings. For the others, I used reputable bearing suppliers selling on eBay. All said and done the total was about £120, all Timken. I don't think I was sold any fakes, although the markings do seem to vary a bit different depending on which factory they were made in...

As Rob said, it was revised at some point. The reason was to stop leaks and prevent the sealing block bowing outwards in the middle. If you're fitting a new one, it is worth drilling the two extra holes needed into the engine front plate, as they leak far less with 3 bolts. According to this (original Triumph Service bulletin) it was introduced in 1969, about when GK engines started to appear for the 13/60. http://www.triumphsonly.com/pages/technical/1-a-4.htm

A lot of people do recommend not placing any gaps on the major thrust side of the engine. This would be the manifold side of the engine... But as you say, rings are supposed to rotate so in practice I doubt it matters.