Triumph Herald 13 60 - Loud and rusty
Discussion
5harp3y said:
it looks so pissed off
i love the idea of one of these with modern running gear (ala Urchfab )
Haha you're right it does, not really noticed before! i love the idea of one of these with modern running gear (ala Urchfab )
A few of the triumph chaps put mx5 engines in which I reckon makes good sense (turbo!!). If I drove it a lot of miles I'd consider it for sure but I do love the noise of old carbs, you can literally hear your precious fuel flying into the engine and exploding.
One guy has even put a rotary in a spitfire, that would be pretty wild...
jiggawhat2k said:
anomaly said:
Love it, they look great in red. 
Did a couple of jobs today, both very satisfying but maybe not super exciting to look at...
The chaps at tssc confirmed that I had my twin carb trumpets upside down. Stupid mistake as it means my non standard trumpets were covering 2 carb breather holes that ensure things run smoothly. With them covered, the mix would be all over and generally would run rich.
It was running like a dog for the past couple of days after I took off trumpets to check idle, once swapped over it fired up, all running well again.
Also had an annoying job on the headlights that actually turned out to be good fun. The yellow Lucas covers on the lights, technically only for euro travel bug I think they look right all the time.
The elastic hooks that hold them in place we're starting to perish, they're original Lucas covers so they're 40+ years old so no wonder.
Bought elastic from the supermarket, riveted the elastic onto the existing clips, then reattached them. Nice and snug, and now I don't worry I'll lose a cover when I go out!
The old elastic
My pop rivet version
You have to take the headlight cover off to fit them, like most BL cars, most things are held on with a couple of screws!
And put back together! Now nice and straight and non-flappy
The chaps at tssc confirmed that I had my twin carb trumpets upside down. Stupid mistake as it means my non standard trumpets were covering 2 carb breather holes that ensure things run smoothly. With them covered, the mix would be all over and generally would run rich.
It was running like a dog for the past couple of days after I took off trumpets to check idle, once swapped over it fired up, all running well again.
Also had an annoying job on the headlights that actually turned out to be good fun. The yellow Lucas covers on the lights, technically only for euro travel bug I think they look right all the time.
The elastic hooks that hold them in place we're starting to perish, they're original Lucas covers so they're 40+ years old so no wonder.
Bought elastic from the supermarket, riveted the elastic onto the existing clips, then reattached them. Nice and snug, and now I don't worry I'll lose a cover when I go out!
The old elastic
My pop rivet version
You have to take the headlight cover off to fit them, like most BL cars, most things are held on with a couple of screws!
And put back together! Now nice and straight and non-flappy
What a fantastically awesome car. I love the approach you’ve taken with it.
I have a MK2 Cooper on a F plate which is far from pristine, but it gets used in anger and I am not overly precious about it. This to me is far more enjoyable than having pristine paint and rivet counters giving it their nod of approval.
Was the herald not a popular “kit car” donor many years ago? If so I would suppose there has been a decline in numbers?
I have a MK2 Cooper on a F plate which is far from pristine, but it gets used in anger and I am not overly precious about it. This to me is far more enjoyable than having pristine paint and rivet counters giving it their nod of approval.
Was the herald not a popular “kit car” donor many years ago? If so I would suppose there has been a decline in numbers?
Big Tomm said:
What a fantastically awesome car. I love the approach you’ve taken with it.
I have a MK2 Cooper on a F plate which is far from pristine, but it gets used in anger and I am not overly precious about it. This to me is far more enjoyable than having pristine paint and rivet counters giving it their nod of approval.
Was the herald not a popular “kit car” donor many years ago? If so I would suppose there has been a decline in numbers?
Cheers very much! I have a MK2 Cooper on a F plate which is far from pristine, but it gets used in anger and I am not overly precious about it. This to me is far more enjoyable than having pristine paint and rivet counters giving it their nod of approval.
Was the herald not a popular “kit car” donor many years ago? If so I would suppose there has been a decline in numbers?
Love a mini, glad it gets used. There's a place for the pristine paint I think, but defo not as fun as giving it hell! What colour? Any pics? Have been considering minis as a 2nd project.
Yep there are a good few kit cars based on them, although they're less common now. Think there about 1k heralds left in the UK, not sure how many of those are saloons tho.
Plenty more bits and bobs done today with the amazing weather.
Had a few neighbours complain when I tune it on the drive, they're not fans of the noise and fuel smell (fair enough, we're in a semi close to other houses).
Having some major cutting out when I apply the loud pedal, idles perfectly though.
Think it's dirt in the lines annoyingly, I ran the tank down to the very bottom twice due to a broken fuel gauge, that seems to be causing issues potentially.
Opened up the carbs and gave them a clean up.
Also decided to swap the SU carb needles while I'm in there, these needles alter the mix at idle, acceleration and top end and I still had needles in from the bigger engine that the carbs had previously been on.
Took out the needles in there, which are code AAR, not yet sure how much fuel these deliver but they were put in to dump more fuel in for a 1500 so probably are a bit much for the 1300.
Put in a set of ADN needles I had laying around from the old setup to see what happens. If it doesn't like those then I also have some AAN needles (standard 1300 ones) as backup. Hard to know what the right ones are until you find them!!
Then needed to add oil to the carb damper but didn't have any specific carb damper oil so I mixed some 20w50 with a bit of wd40 to thin it out a bit and popped that in there.
Now time to put it together again. Gave it a little clean up while I'm in there.
Fired it up and gave it a little rev, started first time and seems OK but needs a proper run. Didn't break the carbs at least!
The fuel filter that is in line just before the carbs is full of grot and actually is broken, so some fuel can get around the filter. Potentially this is what is causing the rougher running up top so another has been ordered. I took the fuel lines off and gave them a blast with penetrant and blew them out, hopefully clear now. Next time I'll check the fuel pump too, give it a clean up.
One of the arch liners (which is sheet metal and original) has come away from the arch so I riveted them back together.
The rev counter had stopped working, turned out to be a not well attached power lead, so I fixed that and all working again.
I've the rev counter by my right knee in a little cluster, originally I was trying to not have gauges on top of the dash but having revs so low is annoying. Have bought an old Smiths tacho that looks lovely (from a spitfire) and I'll find a way to fit that so I can see it more easily, probably right in the middle above the dash...
Had a fuse blow for the 2 front rad fans due to the fan belt cutting through their power. I bodged it short term so I could use it, but wanted it fixed. Now fixed and running fuses once more!
Last job was some chrome trim on the front indicators, clear ones too, 90s Ford style. I found some brand new ones in the box of spares in the shed that came with the car, someone must have been shopping around as one had come from an old market (still with old sticker) and the other came from somewhere totally different.
Old ones are tatty, I like rough paint with good chrome so I swapped them over. Nice and quick, 2 screws per light surround, each screw was different lol.
The lenses are glass, like actual old glass, thought they were plastic so that was cool to see/feel. New ones done.
I've also bought the accelerator pedal from a spitfire, the Herald accelerator is comical. Literally a flat plank with the cable directly attached to the top. Previously I had a spitfire and preferred the pedal, so I'm gonna see if I can fit it.
If I'm clever then I can also get the gas pedal closer to the brake to allow some heal-toe (not possible on my old spitfire or on thd Herald as it currently stands).
Not yet fitted but it'll look something like this -
Had a few neighbours complain when I tune it on the drive, they're not fans of the noise and fuel smell (fair enough, we're in a semi close to other houses).
Having some major cutting out when I apply the loud pedal, idles perfectly though.
Think it's dirt in the lines annoyingly, I ran the tank down to the very bottom twice due to a broken fuel gauge, that seems to be causing issues potentially.
Opened up the carbs and gave them a clean up.
Also decided to swap the SU carb needles while I'm in there, these needles alter the mix at idle, acceleration and top end and I still had needles in from the bigger engine that the carbs had previously been on.
Took out the needles in there, which are code AAR, not yet sure how much fuel these deliver but they were put in to dump more fuel in for a 1500 so probably are a bit much for the 1300.
Put in a set of ADN needles I had laying around from the old setup to see what happens. If it doesn't like those then I also have some AAN needles (standard 1300 ones) as backup. Hard to know what the right ones are until you find them!!
Then needed to add oil to the carb damper but didn't have any specific carb damper oil so I mixed some 20w50 with a bit of wd40 to thin it out a bit and popped that in there.
Now time to put it together again. Gave it a little clean up while I'm in there.
Fired it up and gave it a little rev, started first time and seems OK but needs a proper run. Didn't break the carbs at least!
The fuel filter that is in line just before the carbs is full of grot and actually is broken, so some fuel can get around the filter. Potentially this is what is causing the rougher running up top so another has been ordered. I took the fuel lines off and gave them a blast with penetrant and blew them out, hopefully clear now. Next time I'll check the fuel pump too, give it a clean up.
One of the arch liners (which is sheet metal and original) has come away from the arch so I riveted them back together.
The rev counter had stopped working, turned out to be a not well attached power lead, so I fixed that and all working again.
I've the rev counter by my right knee in a little cluster, originally I was trying to not have gauges on top of the dash but having revs so low is annoying. Have bought an old Smiths tacho that looks lovely (from a spitfire) and I'll find a way to fit that so I can see it more easily, probably right in the middle above the dash...
Had a fuse blow for the 2 front rad fans due to the fan belt cutting through their power. I bodged it short term so I could use it, but wanted it fixed. Now fixed and running fuses once more!
Last job was some chrome trim on the front indicators, clear ones too, 90s Ford style. I found some brand new ones in the box of spares in the shed that came with the car, someone must have been shopping around as one had come from an old market (still with old sticker) and the other came from somewhere totally different.
Old ones are tatty, I like rough paint with good chrome so I swapped them over. Nice and quick, 2 screws per light surround, each screw was different lol.
The lenses are glass, like actual old glass, thought they were plastic so that was cool to see/feel. New ones done.
I've also bought the accelerator pedal from a spitfire, the Herald accelerator is comical. Literally a flat plank with the cable directly attached to the top. Previously I had a spitfire and preferred the pedal, so I'm gonna see if I can fit it.
If I'm clever then I can also get the gas pedal closer to the brake to allow some heal-toe (not possible on my old spitfire or on thd Herald as it currently stands).
Not yet fitted but it'll look something like this -
Takes me back to my first car in the late 80s - a Herald running with roughly the same spec engine as this. I had endless fun tuning & modifying that car.
From there I moved on to a Spitfire, and tuned the bo11ocks off the 1296cc engine. Despite using the earlier Mk3 engine, I broke crankshafts quite regularly. Using hot cams, skimmed & ported head, weber carbs, fully balanced rotating parts, etc I managed to get about 120bhp out of it, but needed over 7,000 rpm to get there.
The thing you could consider for this is to supercharge it - it's probably the easiest way to get more power from it. There was a guy running a supercharged Herald when I had my Spitfire, and by the standards of the late 80s / early 90s it was a respectably quick car - it would certainly out accelerate an XR3i.
Other things that were done in the 80s and 90s that I can recall, and might give you ideas:
- Herald V8 (lots of work, including chassis mods)
- Herald Sprint (Dolomite sprint engine & gearbox, plus loads of chassis mods)
- Toyota & Mazda 1600 or 2000 engines dropped in without extensive mods
- Ford 2.3 engine, again not much modification required
Very few people dropped the 'six' in though, as Vitesses were cheap at the time, so more cost effective to just buy a Vitesse.
Oh, and for your rev counter..... try to source a Vitesse MK2 dash, which has speedo, rev counter, fuel & temp gauges in good locations.
From there I moved on to a Spitfire, and tuned the bo11ocks off the 1296cc engine. Despite using the earlier Mk3 engine, I broke crankshafts quite regularly. Using hot cams, skimmed & ported head, weber carbs, fully balanced rotating parts, etc I managed to get about 120bhp out of it, but needed over 7,000 rpm to get there.
The thing you could consider for this is to supercharge it - it's probably the easiest way to get more power from it. There was a guy running a supercharged Herald when I had my Spitfire, and by the standards of the late 80s / early 90s it was a respectably quick car - it would certainly out accelerate an XR3i.
Other things that were done in the 80s and 90s that I can recall, and might give you ideas:
- Herald V8 (lots of work, including chassis mods)
- Herald Sprint (Dolomite sprint engine & gearbox, plus loads of chassis mods)
- Toyota & Mazda 1600 or 2000 engines dropped in without extensive mods
- Ford 2.3 engine, again not much modification required
Very few people dropped the 'six' in though, as Vitesses were cheap at the time, so more cost effective to just buy a Vitesse.
Oh, and for your rev counter..... try to source a Vitesse MK2 dash, which has speedo, rev counter, fuel & temp gauges in good locations.
Edited by Magnum 475 on Monday 20th April 11:29
Magnum 475 said:
Takes me back to my first car in the late 80s - a Herald running with roughly the same spec engine as this. I had endless fun tuning & modifying that car.
From there I moved on to a Spitfire, and tuned the bo11ocks off the 1296cc engine. Despite using the earlier Mk3 engine, I broke crankshafts quite regularly. Using hot cams, skimmed & ported head, weber carbs, fully balanced rotating parts, etc I managed to get about 120bhp out of it, but needed over 7,000 rpm to get there.
The thing you could consider for this is to supercharge it - it's probably the easiest way to get more power from it. There was a guy running a supercharged Herald when I had my Spitfire, and by the standards of the late 80s / early 90s it was a respectably quick car - it would certainly out accelerate an XR3i.
Other things that were done in the 80s and 90s that I can recall, and might give you ideas:
- Herald V8 (lots of work, including chassis mods)
- Herald Sprint (Dolomite sprint engine & gearbox, plus loads of chassis mods)
- Toyota & Mazda 1600 or 2000 engines dropped in without extensive mods
- Ford 2.3 engine, again not much modification required
Very few people dropped the 'six' in though, as Vitesses were cheap at the time, so more cost effective to just buy a Vitesse.
Oh, and for your rev counter..... try to source a Vitesse MK2 dash, which has speedo, rev counter, fuel & temp gauges in good locations.
Aren't rev counters cylinder specific?From there I moved on to a Spitfire, and tuned the bo11ocks off the 1296cc engine. Despite using the earlier Mk3 engine, I broke crankshafts quite regularly. Using hot cams, skimmed & ported head, weber carbs, fully balanced rotating parts, etc I managed to get about 120bhp out of it, but needed over 7,000 rpm to get there.
The thing you could consider for this is to supercharge it - it's probably the easiest way to get more power from it. There was a guy running a supercharged Herald when I had my Spitfire, and by the standards of the late 80s / early 90s it was a respectably quick car - it would certainly out accelerate an XR3i.
Other things that were done in the 80s and 90s that I can recall, and might give you ideas:
- Herald V8 (lots of work, including chassis mods)
- Herald Sprint (Dolomite sprint engine & gearbox, plus loads of chassis mods)
- Toyota & Mazda 1600 or 2000 engines dropped in without extensive mods
- Ford 2.3 engine, again not much modification required
Very few people dropped the 'six' in though, as Vitesses were cheap at the time, so more cost effective to just buy a Vitesse.
Oh, and for your rev counter..... try to source a Vitesse MK2 dash, which has speedo, rev counter, fuel & temp gauges in good locations.
Edited by Magnum 475 on Monday 20th April 11:29
finlo said:
Magnum 475 said:
Takes me back to my first car in the late 80s - a Herald running with roughly the same spec engine as this. I had endless fun tuning & modifying that car.
From there I moved on to a Spitfire, and tuned the bo11ocks off the 1296cc engine. Despite using the earlier Mk3 engine, I broke crankshafts quite regularly. Using hot cams, skimmed & ported head, weber carbs, fully balanced rotating parts, etc I managed to get about 120bhp out of it, but needed over 7,000 rpm to get there.
The thing you could consider for this is to supercharge it - it's probably the easiest way to get more power from it. There was a guy running a supercharged Herald when I had my Spitfire, and by the standards of the late 80s / early 90s it was a respectably quick car - it would certainly out accelerate an XR3i.
Other things that were done in the 80s and 90s that I can recall, and might give you ideas:
- Herald V8 (lots of work, including chassis mods)
- Herald Sprint (Dolomite sprint engine & gearbox, plus loads of chassis mods)
- Toyota & Mazda 1600 or 2000 engines dropped in without extensive mods
- Ford 2.3 engine, again not much modification required
Very few people dropped the 'six' in though, as Vitesses were cheap at the time, so more cost effective to just buy a Vitesse.
Oh, and for your rev counter..... try to source a Vitesse MK2 dash, which has speedo, rev counter, fuel & temp gauges in good locations.
Aren't rev counters cylinder specific?From there I moved on to a Spitfire, and tuned the bo11ocks off the 1296cc engine. Despite using the earlier Mk3 engine, I broke crankshafts quite regularly. Using hot cams, skimmed & ported head, weber carbs, fully balanced rotating parts, etc I managed to get about 120bhp out of it, but needed over 7,000 rpm to get there.
The thing you could consider for this is to supercharge it - it's probably the easiest way to get more power from it. There was a guy running a supercharged Herald when I had my Spitfire, and by the standards of the late 80s / early 90s it was a respectably quick car - it would certainly out accelerate an XR3i.
Other things that were done in the 80s and 90s that I can recall, and might give you ideas:
- Herald V8 (lots of work, including chassis mods)
- Herald Sprint (Dolomite sprint engine & gearbox, plus loads of chassis mods)
- Toyota & Mazda 1600 or 2000 engines dropped in without extensive mods
- Ford 2.3 engine, again not much modification required
Very few people dropped the 'six' in though, as Vitesses were cheap at the time, so more cost effective to just buy a Vitesse.
Oh, and for your rev counter..... try to source a Vitesse MK2 dash, which has speedo, rev counter, fuel & temp gauges in good locations.
Edited by Magnum 475 on Monday 20th April 11:29
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