Post-War Other No such thing as a 1 hour job on a Herald

[tomgt6]

Now that the weather is better I thought I would start to tune the Spitfire and Herald up for the driving season.

The Spitfire got a new engine last fall and needed the timing and carbs synced. That went just fine.

The Herald needed to have the brakes bled. So Sunday I took the Herald out of the tent into the garage and jacked it up so I could bleed the brakes. Stared at the back right side and did a bit of bleeding and thought I would see how the pedal felt. Went into the car and pump the brakes a few times and then gave it a hard push to test everything and as I am pressing on it for 5 seconds all looks good until the peddle go to the floor. Something went out?

I look under the car and there is a large puddle of brake fluid on the floor in the middle of the car. Well, the brake line gave out. Time to put new brake line from front to back. I pull out the line I bought a couple of years ago and fine that it is to big. I now have to run into town and get new line. Find the line I need, more brake fluid and a set of wrenches for brake line nuts and barrow a flaring tool that makes bubble fittings.

New lines went right in with no real issue. Now my 1 hour job has turned into a 2.5 hour job. Start to fill the lines and my son is now helping me and things are looking up. All of the sudden there is a puddle by the back wheel. As we look further we figure out that the T is split as well. Now the fun begins. I need to find a T. I call the parts store and they have one in stock. Another trip to town. The only problem is the T is very shallow and needs double walled fittings. No biggy, the flaring tool makes those as well.

Get back and get the nuts off the T and find that the nuts all have a 1/4 inch dead spot on with no threads. Do I go back into town and find the right nuts or make these work. Well, by this time the stores are closed. Now I have get the nuts off the lines with as little pipe loss as I can, cut the nuts down and taper the inside of the nuts, that being done I get everything back together and start bleeding the brakes again. The PO used dot5 so this is a bit more difficult to bleed. My wife now helps me and I get the brakes back to were they were. I am not happy with them but maybe next weekend I will try to bleed again.

Start time, 10:30.
Projected finish time 11:30
In reality (this is a triumph) 7:45 and 2 trips to town and still have to bleed the brakes again.

Moral of the story:
Don't every thing that a 1 hour job on a Triumph will be one hour. Also don't park the car in the middle of garage so wife can't park in the garage overnight when the car breaks down.

 

[71MKIV]

Ah Hah, BTDT.

The wife's van has been out of the garage for 3 years and counting.

 

[Andrew Mace]

My mother has kidded me about this sort of thing for many, many years now. Way back when I was living at home, I'd tell her I was going out to the garage to do -- whatever -- on my Herald, and that it would probably take about an hour. She quickly learned to triple that timeframe. :laugh:

Meanwhile....

I am not happy with them but maybe next weekend I will try to bleed again.

What exactly are you not happy about? And what bleeding procedure did you use? Girling recommended that, with drums all around, slacken off the front adjusters (4) and tighten down the rear adjusters (2) -- doing so "reduces the space in the cylinders and economises in time and fluid"* -- then begin with the LR bleed screw and end with the LF bleed screw. Then readjust brakes, and (hopefully) Bob's your uncle!

*from a Girling service bulletin reprinted in a 1964 TSOA Newsletter

 

[tomgt6]

One, the brake pedal travels to far.
Two, if I pump the brakes I get a good 1 to 2 inches of less travel.

I haven't touched any of the front or rear adjusters. I started with the right rear, left rear, right front, then left front.

I will have to read up on the front brake adjustment. From what it looks like you tell me there should be 2 adjustments on each front wheel and 1 for each back wheel.

Do you know of any good documents on this?

 

[Andrew Mace]

Almost certainly brake adjustment will take care of the condition you describe. It's pretty straightforward inasmuch as you turn each adjuster clockwise to tighten "until resistance is felt, then turn...back one notch." Note, though, that the rear ones are like Spitfire, TR (Girling) and such in that they move in quarter-turn increments. The fronts, on the other hand, turn "just a bit at a time." See number 4 in this diagram of Herald brakes from Canley Classics: that's the front adjuster "wheel"!

It never hurts to have a "second operator" to push on the brake pedal occasionally, which might help to re-center the shoes after adjustment (then recheck the adjustment).

 

[booley]

Ah Hah, BTDT.

The wife's van has been out of the garage for 3 years and counting.

we've been parking in the driveway for as long as we've owned the house, 2 car garage is full of "my stuff"

 

[71MKIV]

The rule is that I get to go out in cold weather and clean it off and start it so it's warm when she goes to work. Which is pretty early on a Saturday that I would otherwise be able to sleep in a bit.

I considered it a fair exchange.

 

[tomgt6]

My wife gets the garage from Nov 1 to April 1 for 3 reasons.

1, she doesn't like the car to be all frosty.
2, I will not go and start it for her
3, we can't part on the street during that time frame and we have 4 cars that need to get in and out of the driveway. So the 3 toy cars go into storage.

As for the brakes, Andy you were right on. I now have good peddle. I learned something new. I took for granted the PO new what he was doing. Also I kind of forgot that the front brakes were drum and would need to be adjusted. It took almost a half turn to get them to grab.

 

[Andrew Mace]

As for the brakes, Andy you were right on. I now have good peddle. I learned something new. I took for granted the PO new what he was doing. Also I kind of forgot that the front brakes were drum and would need to be adjusted. It took almost a half turn to get them to grab.

Hey, we're all so used to self-adjusting brakes all around on modern cars, and even the "self-adjusting" front discs on most Triumphs! I'll wager the handbrake works a bit better now as well!