Update: 23rd Feb 2013

Today i picked up the Koni rear and Monro front shocks for the suspension and the Alternator + bracket for the Alternator conversion from Alan at the Triumph club today. 


They're a bit rough but should clean up nicely when they are rebuilt.

This last week I also put my order into Canley Classics, still haven't had confirmation, the guys are a little slow on the communication front but are really helpful and well priced. I've pretty much purchased every rubber part they have for a 13/60 herald, all the brake/clutch rebuild kits including caliper pistons, a new headlining, the replacement rear valance and splashed out on a set of brand spanking new rubber bumpers (even if the price still makes me cry a little) and a pile of little olds and sods.

On the shiny "upgrade" front I've thrown in a set of new rotors mostly for the laugh factor, but maybe they'll improve the braking (realistically they couldn't make it worse), and a halogen headlight conversion kit. 

I had confirmation yesterday the engine and gearbox arrived in Levin so i need to go up and organise to get it to my parents place and check it over. Here's hoping it's as good as it was described, either way as long as the bottom end is ok, it will do for now. I have my rebuilt head which i can fit if the current one has the typical leaky valve stems.

I've got a 4 synchro gearbox from a Toledo that's been rebuilt a few years ago which i intend on fitting when i put it all back together. Anythings got to be better than the straight cut whir of first on the 3 synchro boxes :)

Progress so far

Given i'd already started working on the car before i started writing this i've made some progress on the car already.

Entire rear shell of the car has been stripped minus the running gear.
Interior removed except the dash
Firewall stripped
Disassembled the heater and cleaned, sanded and painted it satin black.


Ideally i want to pull it apart to a rolling shell then prep the body for paint. Once thats done i'll strip the running gear and prep that/ rust proof the underside again.

What I've got so far:
Most of the suspension part (ball-joints, trunnions, tie rods etc)
Lowered front springs
Lowering block for the rear spring
Braided steel brake lines
Nolathane bushes all around

To get:
Carpets
Air compressor
Etch primer
Top coat paint
Spray gun
Tires
Underseal
Someone who can weld panel steel well :)

The Plan

I decided after all these years it was time to put some effort into Ed and see what i could do with him.

My plan is very simple, rebuild all the running gear and brakes, replace all the rubber seals and put together a car that is drivable standard looking but with some basic modifications to make it more interesting to drive today.

Other than the head work, extractors and a DCOE 40, The engine will be standard, in the future i will put a warm cam in it, but given the latest development (a low mileage rebuilt engine at a good price) i'll be sticking with that and focusing my time and money on things that need to be done.

I intend to paint the car myself, something I've never done before but I've always wanted to give it a go. My thoughts are, for the $300 its going to cost me for the paint (and how rough the paint is now), if i stuff it up i can always pay someone to redo it. I'll be stripping pretty much the entire car to bare metal (did i mention the paint was bad?)

Other than the paint the body work is pretty good with the exception of the rear valance and the bottom of the doors. I've sourced replacement panels/repair sections from the UK to  repair or replace. Now all i need to do is find someone to weld the repair sections into the doors :)

The rest of the work will be focused on the suspension, and brakes.  1/2" lowering block for the rear spring, a rebuilt pair of Koni classics, new bushes all around.  Up front lower springs, Munro shocks (till i can get something better) Dimpled and slotted rotors matched with nice pads. Nothing too major, just some minor tweaks to improve the handling.

It all started along time ago....

So whats this all about? Well its probably more for me than anyone else.

I've decided to set this up to document the rebuild of my 1968 13/60 Triumph Herald Saloon. If you're reading this maybe there might be something in here that will help you along the way, maybe not :)

First some history

I purchased Ed (a nickname from his license plate) back in 2003/04 as a non runner, he had been sitting under a tarp in someones driveway for quite a few years.  He was in a pretty sorry state of disrepair but had very solid bones. (nothing much but surface rust) My mate Anthony and i went out to have a look at him and even though i was looking for a GT6 at the time, i decided for the $200 they were asking i would be silly not to.

And so the journey began.

We originally were going to tow him the 16km back to my house but after throwing a new battery in him and some fresh gas he started after a few cranks and i decided to drive him back under his own steam to assess the running gear. (pretty stupid now in hind sight) The noise coming out of the rear end was horrendous, later on i would find the bearings in the rear axles had effectively collapsed and that noise was the axle shafts grinding away.

Over the next couple of months i got him road worthy again, redoing the brakes, getting the rear axles overhauled and drove him around for a year or so. I pottered around with various jobs over the years, balancing the drive shaft, shimming out the universals to get rid of the rear end knocking.

Finally after much tweaking i got the axles sorted and near perfect, only to be awoken  (literally 2 weeks later) in the middle of the night by the police asking me if i owned a blue Herald and if i knew where it was. I responded "well i guess since you guys are here it isnt out the front of my house anymore" Turns out someone had tried to steal him, they got about 300m down the road before they took a corner too fast (probably not expecting non-power assisted 45 year old brakes) slamming the left rear wheel into the curb.

On first look it didn't look too bad, until we tried to drive it out of the middle of the road where it had been dumped. Turns out the force of the impact had cracked the brake drum, bent the lip on the wheel and shaped my perfectly balanced axle shaft into somewhat of a banana. I was gutted. He was pushed to the side of the road and the next day i went down with a spare axle and replaced it on the side of the road.  Functional but annoying.

I continued to work on him in my spare time, deciding next on a carb replacment (single DCOE webber 40) and a rebuilt head. After sourcing head uprated parts from the UK (larger valves, new valve guides, double springs caps and collets etc)  i got it machined, ported and polished.As it turned out that was the beginning of the end for Ed, We pulled the head off to replace with the rebuilt one only to find a significant amount of "wobble" in the pistons. We decided against putting the new head and carbs on and instead sourced a running 1200cc engine as a run about until i could rebuild the  bottom end.

The 1200cc engine was awful, that in combination with losing my workspace and then as a result losing the 1300cc block i had (even longer story) resulted in Ed being put in storage around 2006. Where he has sat for the last 6+ years.

Until now :)