63 Triumph Herald 1200* 70 VW T2a S/C* Nissan Cube

[Seth]

Indicator lens difference is an age thing. The ones with the internal lens thingies are earlier ones and are much more prone to having the orange falling off, hence your white flashing I imagine. The later ones are actually meant to be used with a different bulb housings that have reflectors built in behind the bulb.

Best thing to have done with the tank would probably have been to strip off the old sealing gunk, clean it all back and then apply some fresh chemical metal or similar assuming the area was not too badly gone. Its a nasty Herald trait as there was a factory fitted foam donut to seal between that drain plug and the hole in the boot floor. Never, mind too late for that now. 2nd hand tank would be your cheapest way out unless you can weld it up safely.

Disc brakes could have been fitted to that car as an option when new. There are differences between the set ups used so some decent photos would help identifying what you've got if you do need to get parts. It'd be worth checking that the flexible hoses do not pull tight at full lock though as that is possible if the wrong parts have been fitted at some stage.

[professorwheeto]

Mar 13, 2011 17:54:55 GMT yantorsen said:

Mines boot leeks like that too, drill a hole in the boot because your not likely to find the leek any time soon. Mine seems to drip in from under the C pillars.

Might be an option, I've popped out the plug under the spare wheel well for the time being and dried it all out with a rag. When we get to a repaint it'll be having a full stripdown and rebuild with new seals throughout so in theory it shouldn't leak!

Mar 13, 2011 18:17:58 GMT BenzBoy said:

I feel your pain with the broken tank drain plug! The same thing happened on my Bond. I got mine welded up in the end (I didn't feel brave enough to tackle it myself) but Herald tanks are a lot easier to come by! Rarebits4classics sells used 6.5 gallon tanks for £25 and 9 gallon ones for £35 - I'm not sure which one yours is.

Mar 13, 2011 18:23:07 GMT yantorsen said:

his is a 6.5 gallon tank, the 9 gallon ones were used in Vitesses, however you can use either in either car.

Interesting stuff, thanks for the link might be giving them a call if D&B can't help me. £25 sounds a lot better than £200 for a new one!
I've not looked into how much decontaminating a tank is but I'd imagine its not cheap and would take a while before I have it back. I might weld up the tank as a spare after I get a replacement, although I'd need some more bits to make a purging rig before I TIG'ed it up.

Mar 13, 2011 19:15:18 GMT Seth said:

Indicator lens difference is an age thing. The ones with the internal lens thingies are earlier ones and are much more prone to having the orange falling off, hence your white flashing I imagine. The later ones are actually meant to be used with a different bulb housings that have reflectors built in behind the bulb.

Best thing to have done with the tank would probably have been to strip off the old sealing gunk, clean it all back and then apply some fresh chemical metal or similar assuming the area was not too badly gone. Its a nasty Herald trait as there was a factory fitted foam donut to seal between that drain plug and the hole in the boot floor. Never, mind too late for that now. 2nd hand tank would be your cheapest way out unless you can weld it up safely.

Disc brakes could have been fitted to that car as an option when new. There are differences between the set ups used so some decent photos would help identifying what you've got if you do need to get parts. It'd be worth checking that the flexible hoses do not pull tight at full lock though as that is possible if the wrong parts have been fitted at some stage.

Thought that might have been the case with the lenses, with the LED bulbs they are certainly bright enough. On my van I got all Blue Peter with the tinfoil to make the backing more reflective that worked quite well!

From research the fuel would have eaten away at the JB weld and I've had a recurring problem. Plus the fact I want it right and liquid metal on a fuel leak would look gash imho! The donut was nowhere to be seen, I guess it would be an idea to replace it?

I'll check the flexis for length and get some photos up of the front brakes when I get at them. I'll be replacing the flexis all round so then they are done, when it comes to the repaint I'll be doing all the solid brake lines too.

And one more question while your all here!
Where the leaf spring attaches on either end is there meant to be a rubber bush or does it float?

The rubber bushes in the rear shocks are kippered so it'll be in bits for new shocks in the near future, just thought I'd do that at the same time.

[BenzBoy]

There were (and they possibly could still be there) a pair of Heralds at Albert Looms scrapyard in Spondon, as another option. I've been stripping various bits off them but I can't remember how good / bad the tanks are. They were both pretty rotten underneath so maybe the tanks are too... not sure.

The leaf spring should have a rubber bush in the spring eye where it attaches to the upright on either side. There are very cheap - three quid each or something. Be prepared to have to replace the bushes in the radius arms too, and it's probably worth getting rebuild kits for the rear trunnions too - all very cheap and available.

[professorwheeto]

Ah always good to know there might be another option!

Having a bush there would make sense, just looked wrong! Thanks for the heads up about the other bits, think I'll be making a trip to Rimmers fairly soon!

[professorwheeto]

Well if all goes to plan we should have a tank by midweek.
These are the front brakes


Not sure if any of you guys can identify them?

Done some pricing up and it looks like I've got to sling about £400 at the car and we'll be somewhere near roadworthy with new shocks, bushes, flexi brake lines, engine service and trunnion overhaul kit, and then hopefully that should be it for the year until we start the respray process.

[b7]

The 12/50 had Type 12 calipers I remember that much (I believe Girling make).

Heres a shot of the front on my nearside one. It may help you compare it to yours



IGNORE Rimmer bros "idea" of when discs were fitted to Heralds. They state Early Heralds (1200 12/50 etc) had drums and that discs were available on 1200 and 12/50's from about '67 etc. etc. Blah Blah. this is rubbish!

ALL 1200 had drums, ALL 12/50's had discs to handle the immense uppgrade to 51bhp.

I reckon this could be a 12/50 chassis that the original body was shot and a 1200 body on which the chassis was shot? But they used the 1200 engine.

[Seth]

Mar 14, 2011 23:10:04 GMT professorwheeto said:

Not sure if any of you guys can identify them?

Your car originally had drum brakes and has been fitted with the later type of vertical link with type 14 calipers (at least i don't think they 12's)

On drum brake cars the hard line ended with a fitting through the side valance/"inner wing" and the flexible ran from there. Disc brake cars had a longer brake line that ran to the bracket attached to the top wishbone pivot area like yours. So when yours was converted it looks like they've made up a short brake line to extend it to the correct bracket for the disc set up.

b7, I would beg to differ a little as there was an optional factory/dealer kit available to convert any Herald to discs (I have a 1962 Stanpart publication here with details and instructions) It retained the drum brake vertical link to which separate caliper mounting brackets were fitted, and included new brake lines etc. The '63 1200 Estate we had had this set up.

[yantorsen]

Mar 15, 2011 6:54:41 GMT b7 said:

The 12/50 had Type 12 calipers I remember that much (I believe Girling make).

Heres a shot of the front on my nearside one. It may help you compare it to yours

i150.photobucket.com/albums/s107/whitee30cab/Image13.jpg[/IG]

IGNORE Rimmer bros "idea" of when discs were fitted to Heralds. They state Early Heralds (1200 12/50 etc) had drums and that discs were available on 1200 and 12/50's from about '67 etc. etc. Blah Blah. this is rubbish!

ALL 1200 had drums, ALL 12/50's had discs to handle the immense uppgrade to 51bhp.

I reckon this could be a 12/50 chassis that the original body was shot and a 1200 body on which the chassis was shot? But they used the 1200 engine.

discs were available as an option on 1200s....

[b7]

Agreed guys, they were available. AS AN OPTION. All 12/50's had discs, all 1200 came with drums UNLESS you specified the option. Therefore Rimmers is wrong when they say :

"Early Heralds (1200 12/50 etc) had drums and that discs were available on 1200 and 12/50's".

Of course discs were available on 12/50's they were standard fitment.

If the OP's car has been converted then it's a 1200 end of.

[yantorsen]

Agreed

To put a spanner in the works though, I've been told that a few of the early 12/50s didn't have the different grill. Also I think you could choose not to have the sunroof on the 12/50, although I'm only saying that because I've seen quite a few 12/50s with no sunroof.

[professorwheeto]

LOL I thought we were getting somewhere then! If it helps the chassis number on the car is well under 200, not sure what the numbers produced where but being a 63 it could be a really early 12/50 thats had the engine swapped? I won't know about the holes for the badges in the rear quarters until I strip the paint, the inside is lathered with paint and underseal so I can't see any signs of filler or welding.

(I'm not really fussed either way just want to know if its a ringer or not, but its making for interesting reading!)

I assumed sunroofs would be swapped out for solid roofs over the years due to leaks! Out of interest I'm guessing getting hold of a roof with the sunroof is near impossible?

[goodoldluke]

not impossible. some pop up on ebay quite regularly, at least one a month id say

[professorwheeto]

Just a quick update, thanks to Guz's tip off we snagged ourselves a Vitesse tank, this needed flushing as it was full of curse word but it got us home as the workshop is rammed at the moment.

So I can now either flush and seal the vitesse tank which is in ok condition, or get the herald tank decontaminated professionally and then TIG it myself as the condition of the inside is perfect. Or fix both!

Other jobs now on the list are new fuel hoses as these are perished, will also be sticking an inline fuel filter in whilst I'm at it.

[professorwheeto]

Spend sunday afternoon giving these some attention:


At which point I realised the front valence its fibreglass, so this will stay as a spare for a while I'm guessing


Fitted these for the time being, will probably be getting rid when it comes to repaint.

[professorwheeto]

Had a spare five mins today so did a bit more, removed the ropey looking wiring cover and this piece of wood that had been painted black

Found out that someones had a go at the wiring and has had a thing for random insertation of insulation


Some tiding up to do here

I think the pinkish wire is from the horn push so I think I'll end up reinstating this and getting rid of the horn button on the dash which I think is why the washer jet button has been relocated under the dash.

Heater has been plumbed out for some reason, so this is on the list for removal and strip down.

Its either had a decent respray or this is the original colour?

Briefly titarsed about with the effects on my camera phone

[professorwheeto]

So an update!
Pick Up gained tilt and bows...



Which replaced the tent we used to put on the back for camping, so we had a much better set up for the 2011 season

The start of this year I had some alternator issues so the engine got dropped. Ran it through the summer when it developed some starter motor issues. Still trying to get to the bottom of these.

The Herald was used throught summer 2011

But my other half is having trouble getting insured on it now and it really needs tyres and exhaust some other bits, so its been tucked up in the garage and hopefully coming back out to play next summer. It had a brief jaunt outside recently for a music video.

Along with some other very nice toys owned by friends. The bus came from Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicle Society who operated the Lincolnshire Road Transport Museum where I've been helping out. www.lvvs.org.uk/

[professorwheeto]

Forgot to include in my other post, I forgot to fit the gaskets between the exhaust and the carb pre heat tube on the van which lead to this...

Which leads me to my next fleet addition.
We got rid of my girlfriends corsa c (because I hate them with a passion) and she now has the micra. Which means I needed a daily, so I bought a magazine featured trophy winning car....

...that had been crashed into. I did some work for the seller's new cube and I picked up this one for £450. It was previously on air ride with airbrushed ronal teddies. All the blingy bits got transferred to the sellers new cube and all the standard bits put back on mine.


Some one had quite literally smashed its back door in, so I needed to do some tweeking.





Ended up needing crankshaft bearings because it had been run really low on oil at some point and was rattling.


I couldn't leave it standard though, so tailgate had been de-badged, the front grill was debadged, meshed and painted and then the rear "cube" badge cut up and stuck on (just to confuse people) Wheels have been painted and alloy gators fitted. Rear light units have been colour coded, aerial has been changed for a saab style fin that I colour coded, fitted fly eyes mesh to front lights and indicators. Nothing major just a few bits to pretty it up.

[webbscarhire]

Mar 10, 2011 6:37:47 GMT b7 said:

Your title states Herald 12/50? Thats a 1200 is it not? Being a 63 though it's an early 1200, with the smaller front indicators, Earlier heater box and early recessed dash.

I had a '65 12/50 that took me 11 years to restore. Did 2 show seasons in it then sold it in 2004. Wonder if DYU474C is still out there? It was the second oldest Triumph known in paint code 56 (Royal Blue), the Earliest being a 65 Vitesse.