[Stanher]

Originally Posted by Gearphile

We had a couple of, what I thought, Standard Heralds in the neighborhood thirty years ago. They looked so elegant. Not sure what happened to them.

As you seem to live in Bangalore, you could go down to Stephen's Square and ask your gujiri guys, they ought to know!

[Gearphile]

Originally Posted by Stanher

As you seem to live in Bangalore, you could go down to Stephen's Square and ask your gujiri guys, they ought to know!

I lived elsewhere back then, in Assam. After seeing this thread, I inquired with my relatives. It sounded like those cars have been scrapped. People find it harder to maintain old cars as they themselves get older. I never see the landmasters, beetles, heralds and fiat's my father's friends had, anymore when I visit.

But, yes, I am a regular at the Shivajinagar gujiri market these days. I picked up some of the parts for my ambassador restoration project from there. I have befriended a couple of them including a guy named Basha and also Mubarak Meters.

[karlosdeville]

Some updates

June 9th 2015

Mock fitting the front end (still to be worked on) to the newly constructed bulkhead





June 13th 2015

Work proceeds on the front end







June 25th 2015

Suspension is now dismantled for overhaul and detailing







NOS goodies continue to pour in







July 10th 2015

The block is finally back from machining, and final assembly can now start. The colour scheme of the block and fixtures was matched to what came out of the car - we assume it is original.









Simultaneously some ancillaries were detailed.







July 17th 2015

Assembly continues









Clutch overhaul progresses, lucky to get spares for it.







Brake shoes were relined



July 25th 2015

Engine boxed up. Ignore the dirty delco, that is still to be tackled.





More NOS parts pour in. Sometimes I don't have the heart to open them

[karlosdeville]

July 29th 2015

Pankaj has suggested a layer of zinc coating (not primer) for the suspension components so we tried it out. Its the first time I'd heard of it to be honest.

The components are first blasted



Coils of zinc wire are melted and sprayed onto the surface





The finish is rough, shown here. We probably went overboard, but this is lifetime protection.







Advantage of the rough surface is easy to paint



July 31st 2015

The finished detailed components.







Coil springs were not zinc coated, apparently it can affect their performance.



Meanwhile work proceeds on the engine simultaneously

Engine being rebuilt 'By the book'









August 4th 2015

Old shock absorber compared to Herald units



Luckily one NOS unit was procured.



One was beyond repair, the other 3 were overhauled.



Starter and Dynamo off for service.



August 6th 2015

Luckily we managed to get a good carburettor - the one in the car was drilled through to accept the LPG conversion.



August 10th 2015

More components return after detailing.



August 17th 2015

Assembly begins in full swing. New bolts except one - which we are hoping to replace as soon it is found. So nice and clean, will break my heart to drive the car.









August 21st 2015

Radiator bears Stanpart stamping



September 1st 2015

Engine ready to be fired - an alteration was made for the water pump elbow in the interim. Radiator will be upgraded, hence not yet detailed.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear Karl - PURRRRFECT! Way to go!

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[autocrat]

Dear Sir,

Please share some updates

Has the engine been started?

Goutham

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by autocrat

Dear Sir,

Please share some updates

Has the engine been started?

Goutham

Yup, engine fired and sounding great. More updates as they come in.

[dominator]

Congratulations Karl, not on the car but on your choice of restorer. It is a very fashionable and loosely coined word - RESTORER. I have been telling the whole world of the THUG who claims to be a restorer in Bangalore without owning a garage, proper tools or having basic knowledge on automobiles. Thanks to Team BHP and FB , he has marketed himself well and I am happy that he has been banned now on Team BHP. Bullet Boy is a very honest and ethical guy. Knows the subject and is passionate. Sorry for being off topic but I feel the THUG needs to be punished for butchering and destroying cars in the name of restoration.

[Rudra Sen]

Work coming up really great! Isn't there anyway to procure white sidewall tyres for this baby?

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Simultaneously some ancillaries were detailed.

Just a suggestion. Try to get a plastic/PVC radiator fan with more number of blades for better heat dissipation.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Work coming up really great! Isn't there anyway to procure white sidewall tyres for this baby?

Full whitewalls would probably look out of place for this car from 1974, but ideally it should get 'line' whitewalls. They are not made since years, and inserts won't work either - maybe will try white wall paint.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Just a suggestion. Try to get a plastic/PVC radiator fan with more number of blades for better heat dissipation.

I'm not sure that more blades results in more cooling. Yes, a plastic fan being lighter may reduce load on the water pump bearing? Just a guess. But to me the joy of seeing a shiny metal fan when you open bonnet is important - and I am confident it should work well, being a factory setup. A plastic fan is a real eyesore to me.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

I'm not sure that more blades results in more cooling. Yes, a plastic fan being lighter may reduce load on the water pump bearing?

Not only more blades but the curvature of the blades also. I did experience better heat dissipation after changing from four blades metal. Yes, additional load is another factor for sure.

[thebulletboy]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Isn't there anyway to procure white sidewall tyres for this baby?

It's proving difficult to find new 13 inch cross-ply tyres nowadays, leave alone whitewalls. :-(
If anyone has any pointers to where these may be available, pls do share.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Try to get a plastic/PVC radiator fan with more number of blades for better heat dissipation.

The planned upgrade of the radiator from 2-core to 4-core should help improve the efficiency of the cooling system even in start-stop traffic.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by thebulletboy

The planned upgrade of the radiator from 2-core to 4-core should help improve the efficiency of the cooling system even in start-stop traffic.

True, though having said that I would also like to believe that an original configuration if correctly set up, cleaned and in correct state of tune should also perform satisfactorily.

And forgive an amateur question, but is 'over cooling' a serious concern? Most of my driving will be restricted to cool evening or morning runs with no traffic, barring the rare long or traffic run.

[thebulletboy]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

True, though having said that I would also like to believe that an original configuration if correctly set up, cleaned and in correct state of tune should also perform satisfactorily.

Absolutely.
There are a number of mods to improve the efficiency of the cooling system like a better fan, synthetic coolants, better radiators, and one can pick and choose, but a properly set up system without any mods should function perfectly fine too.

Having said that, if one is anyhow re-coring the radiator, it makes sense to go for the maximum cores possible in the radiator frame.
In this case the radiator frame has sufficient space to go upto 3 or even 4 cores. There is sufficient gap between the radiator and fan to accomodate this upgrade as well.
I wonder if the Triumph Herald came with a 4-core radiator, and the 2-core radiator was a cost cutting measure in India ?

While on the same topic, it's advisable to use only distilled / RO purified water for the radiator to prevent choking it with salt deposits in the long run.

Lastly, if one does not need to re-core the radiator, Wurth makes a product that helps flush out blockages in the cooling system.

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

is 'over cooling' a serious concern?

You mean can a cooling system bring down the temperature of an engine to such a large extent that combustion would be affected?

Experts can correct, but I don't think so.
Once fired, the engine will reach the optimum temperature for complete combustion soon enough.

Of course, since a 4-core radiator would hold a few more cc's of water, it could take a few more seconds for a cold-start'ed engine to reach the optimal temperature range, but this would be offset by the benefits in stressful conditions like start-stop traffic.

If we disregard early morning cold starts, I don't think any cooling system can cool down a *running* engine to that extent.

Text book vales for optimal difference in temperature between top and bottom hose is around 30 degrees, and (just for kicks) we can probably verify that on your car with an infra red temp sensor, and also how long it takes a cold-start'ed engine to get to that temp range with the current 2-core vs 4-core radiator.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Full whitewalls would probably look out of place for this car from 1974, but ideally it should get 'line' whitewalls. They are not made since years, and inserts won't work either - maybe will try white wall paint.

One word- DON'T! Already tried it and you can't afford to get it right if its a "thin" whitewall! Unless you're a professional artist like those guys at Royal Enfield who paint stripes on the tank sides!

I'm not sure that more blades results in more cooling. Yes, a plastic fan being lighter may reduce load on the water pump bearing? Just a guess. But to me the joy of seeing a shiny metal fan when you open bonnet is important - and I am confident it should work well, being a factory setup. A plastic fan is a real eyesore to me.

Same here!
Also I remember Mr. Behram Dhabhar had very explicitly advised against fitting a plastic fan on older cars (though he was talking about Fiats then) cannot recall why he said so or where that post was made.

Originally Posted by thebulletboy

It's proving difficult to find new 13 inch cross-ply tyres nowadays, leave alone whitewalls. :-(
If anyone has any pointers to where these may be available, pls do share.

They ARE possible to procure from some parts of the country - I did get a set for my Herald recently! BUT, caveat- they are TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE!! That's what Karl felt too!