Piran2

I have a pair of Herald doors. They're a bit rusty along the bottom and there's stress tears by the quarterlights, so I don't know if they're any use to anyone. Collect from Didcot area Oxfordshire.

Having gone to the silverstone classic, spent the day fixing her again 🙂 Found the strange knock I had from the drivers door when going round corners (I'd wondered where that screwdriver had gone 🤪), fixed the drivers doo so that it would open again - I think the internal mechanism had shifted slightly. Started to look at UJ and diffs (may need to do some work in that area next - and if it's got a non-original diff on that may go some way to explain why the speedo is so far out.

Driving up to the Silverstone classic on Friday, overtaking a lorry and the herald pops out of 4th. I've not had any problems with the gearbox before but now it feels quite stiff getting it out of gear and then selecting the next gear. It all moves fine when the car is off. Any ideas?

Getting ready for the Silverstone classic: seatbelts fitted, doors close (and stay closed!), Carpets fastened, top up oil, water, fuel, air in tyres and load the camping stuff in the boot

Well I've got inertia reel seatbelts fitted to the front of the herald now, and they still work when I put the roof down. I've added a GPS Speedo so that I can see how fast I'm actually going and I've faffed around with chassis spacers and door hinges in a vain attempt to get the doors to shut properly 😭. I'll leave her alone till after the Silverstone classic and then I may have another go at the doors and I need to replace the biscuit tin lid that acts as a heat shield between the exhaust and the carb

We're going again this year - doing the Retro Run

The water sounds ok, not saying that flushing and putting in new stuff isn't a good idea but it sounds unlikely to be your problem. When starting the car or when it's running rough do you get a petrol smell from the exhaust? I think you are looking at either fuel or timing for your problems

Wheels are 155s so that should give about a 3% difference, don't know about the diff.

So school breaks up for me today, long list of things to do on the Herald before the Silverstone classic and I've been told not to work on the car as I've just torn the ligaments holding my right collar bone on. Looking for jobs I can do one handed.

I had a Vauxhall Chevette when I was learning as my first car, but long family history of Triumphs and worked on Vitesse with my dad when I was a kid (as well as some TR6s)

So, I was quite sure that the speedo wasn't reading correctly, I got one of the Eling GPS speedometers to see how they compared (I don't know how acurate the GPS speedo is at this point) but comparing the two and the Herald is reading about 0.75 of the GPS one through out the speed range.

I've also found a real hotch potch of stuff between the body and the chassis from nothing at the boot to a stack of washers at the front of the bulkhead, some rubber washers, some rubber washers and steel washers and one which is probably original rubber, canvas, c shaped steel

Looking at it all carefully it looks like when I do the roof up it's pulling the rear forward, digging around in the boot and a couple of the bolts on the drivers side were loose, I've tightened them up which promptly made the situation worse 😞. I've got her parked in the sun today to see if that helps relax the roof a bit but it is starting to feel like it might be a take the body off to get it sorted - which I really don't want to do.

Ok, so all the others looked OK but I went ahead and got the polybushes to see if they helped reduce the flex or the door troubles I have and the answer is a resounding no.

The brakets that came with the seatbelts seem much shorter than the ones above. I've tried using the ones in the kit and I can get much better movement on both sides but neither work with the roof down 😞

Well I think I've found something that is contributing to my door shutting problem: Where the body is attached to the chassis the three rearward fixings by the door have rubber washers. I replaced these with new ones a couple of years ago and looking at them now the front two look ok but the rear one is completely shot. The rubber on the newer kits looks a lot softer than the washers that were on ther before. (with the roof up the gap at the trim line of the door shrinks by 1.5 mm) I see rimmer do polyurethane ones, has anyone tried these ? or any other suggestions?

Ah, thanks for that, I'll have another look.👍

Thanks. They do come with metal strips, but don't they move about under stress/time? I had endless problems with the seatbelts in my kit car as the slightest movement and they would just lock up.

I've attached an image showing the drivers side which isn't too bad but won't work with the roof down. and the passengers side which is just facing the wrong way! I guess I could replace the hardboard with aluminium and bend it to allow the seatbelt to fit.

Yes I have the securon ones that allow me to change the angle, although mine look a little different to yours. On the drivers side it's like yours and I'm not sure why it's binding with the roof down (yet). On the passenger side the bit sticking out would be on the other side and that doesn't fit as it is blocked by the side panel. I'll post some pictures tonight.

We're going back to the SIlverstone classic this year, just wondered if anyone else was going?

As we're now swapping drivers more frequently - son learning and wife having a go. I've decided to fit inertia reel seatbelts to the front of the Herald. I've got a pair of Securon 514/30 seatbelts, I've got them in using the existing holes but it's not ideal: The drivers side seems ok until you put the roof down at which point it locks up. The passenger side would only fit facing out so the belt comes off at about 45 degrees, it works but binds on retraction and isn't going to last long at that angle. Does anyone have any advice or photos of how to get these fitted? Thanks

Ok, so it will shut with the roof down- if someone is sitting in the car! Removed the sill, tightened the body/chassis bolts and the door shut without anyone in there :) Put the sill back on, put the tools away, went to shut the door .... bounce... no joy :( 

Ok, so it will shut with the roof down- if someone is sitting in the car! Removed the sill, tightened the body/chassis bolts and the door shut without anyone in there :) Put the sill back on, put the tools away, went to shut the door .... bounce... no joy :( 

No, the bodywork hasn't been moved :(  I did manage to get the doors to shut by reordering the arrangement for the bottom bracket of the quarterlight. After much cussing I finally got them to shut, Yay! Drove to work and around, all fine, dropped the roof and drove home (fine getting in at work), got home, shut the drivers door - bounce... it wouldn't shut! put the roof back up and it shuts ... aarggh.