Chapter II -- whereupon Pooh and Tigger discover the fatigability of
undercoating materials
In our last episode, Joseph, the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat (a.k.a. my
1960 Herald 948 saloon and its body of many colors), returned on 1 September
1996 to some semblance of life after lying dormant for over 20 years in
various and sundry storage venues. Since then, an amazing amount of work has
been contemplated, if not actually undertaken.
When last we visited our protagonist, Joseph was idling calmly in the
driveway of Heralds 'R' Us, but showing little else of his potential.
Subsequent attempts to run the mighty 948 cc., single-Solex-carbureted
Triumph engine have proven only somewhat successful. Several drastic measures
have been undertaken to rectify this situation. First and foremost, resetting
of the ignition timing seems to have aided the effort somewhat. Meanwhile, a
thorough cleaning of fuel pump and Solex proved useful for the fuel pump, but
not for the Solex.
A trip to the Heralds 'R' Us warehouse quickly turned up yet another in the
seemingly endless supply of B30 PSE1 units common to the 1200 (albeit NOT the
948, but since Joseph currently sports a 12/50 manifold and exhaust system,
the earlier 28 ZIC1 carburetor is of little value). This unit proved somewhat
more useful as installed. However, I thought the fact that the choke cable
had broken off inside the linkage to the old carburetor would be a problem,
as it is now too short to allow a full return of the choke butterfly to the
"open" position. This proved NOT to be the case, as I have yet to make the
car run well with the choke fully "open"; apparently there is a slight vacuum
leak somewhere causing a weak mixture.
Funny thing about the Solex carburetor, by the way. In what is surely one of
the more clever design features, the carburetor bolts down easily on ONE of
the two studs holding it to the manifold. However, the other side is a
problem. The carb body is shaped in such a way as to interfere with the nut
unless all bits are in just the right positions. One holds the carb in
position so that just about 2-3 threads of the hold-down stud show above the
base. Any less and the nut won't catch the threads. Any more and the shape of
the carb body prevents the nut from starting straight on the threads. It's a
somewhat tedious process unless all threads are spotlessly clean and free.
I'm sure someone had a good reason for doing this!
Anyway, timing and a better carburetor resulted in Joseph starting and
running fairly well -- finally, and well enough to attempt the proverbial
test-drive. This, of course, thrilled my five-year-old son Ian almost as much
as it did me. Leaving the garage itself would be the first test. Before, I
simply could not muster enough out of Joseph to make this jump up the
makeshift ramps and over the concrete threshold of the garage (you'd have to
see the garage to fully comprehend the obstacle the settled floor poses,
especially to low-slung vehicles or, in fact, any vehicle with 13" or smaller
tires).
The engine work paid off, though, and Joseph rather flippantly exited the
garage under his own power. At this point I invited Ian along for Joseph's
"maiden" voyage, following the same route well-known to Priscilla (my
Mayflower -- see Chapter I) and other cars -- around the circular driveway,
followed by a quick loop around the house and swingset, then back to the
driveway. The drive went rather well, all things considered, but pointed up
further deficiencies in Joseph.
First, and most important, I think I now understand why Harry Webster and the
rest of the gang first specified a 4.875:1 differential ratio for the single-
carb 948 saloon. Joseph, currently running a 4.11:1 diff. because the front
mount on the original 4.875:1 had broken many, many years ago, was not
especially peppy on takeoff, and second gear proved almost useless as a
result. That is not a problem, as the original diff. is available, along with
a replacement front mount.
Second, and of almost as much significance, the handbrake mechanism proved
itself of absolutely no value whatsoever. This I found difficult to
understand, since I'd been all through the brakes only about 22 years ago.
Not surprisingly, the relay and compensator for the cable were frozen in
place, meaning that a tug on the handbrake lever did little more than tension
the cable to that point. Additionally, the wheel cylinders were stuck tight
to the backing plates, so there was little chance of the shoes contacting the
drum regardless. And, to top everything off, one shoe on each side had
linings free of their former bondage to the shoe. A little work, penetrant
and white grease on each side freed everything up nicely, and better used
shoes were installed. The handbrake now performs about as well as can be
expected, which is to say I can now actually slightly retard the motion of
the car.
It was during this process that I reached a "cataclysmic" decision regarding
restoration plans for Joseph. Having jacked up the car and placed stands to
support him, I was of course able to take a rather good look at the chassis
and underside of the car. I never really expected all to be perfect, but I
wasn't fully prepared for the discoveries I made while under the car.
Apparently this car had been undercoated when new or nearly new in the
typical fashion of the day -- a sort of rubberized asphalt, not unlike some
roof coatings. It served many purposes when new: it helped deaden some of the
road noise, it added untold road-hugging weight to the car, and ostensibly it
helped retard the spread of rust. Any of you familiar with such undercoatings
know that it can, over time, have a detrimental effect. This undercoat tends
to dry out and crack just enough to allow dirt and moisture to enter, where
said mixture is then held in place by the remaining undercoat. No surprise to
find that this had been the case with Joseph. There are a few spots in
outriggers that have rusted through. Probably they will best be dealt with by
replacing the outriggers complete.
Meanwhile, though, in areas sometimes less than 1" from the rust-through are
patches where the undercoat peeled off to reveal a. the original Primrose
Yellow body color; b. the black of the chassis under the body color; or c.
SHINY, bare metal. Needless to say, as soon as time permits, all loose
undercoat will be scraped off and replaced with at least some sort of primer
or other anti-rust coating to preserve what is there.
What all this means to Joseph, though, is that it is now likely he will face
another long down period -- this time disassembled and categorized in boxes,
cans, bags, etc., so that proper attention can be devoted to the underside of
the body and to the chassis frame.
Meanwhile, though, a weekend archaeological dig at one of Joseph's former
homes (mom's garage) yielded further evidence of his early life -- a life
before a well-intended twenty-something enthusiast briefly attempted an
"updating" of Joseph's interior and running gear (see Chapter I). Located
thus far during careful excavation are the original grey steering wheel,
column and all column controls. Also found are the original, plain, black
pressboard fascia -- not perfect, but restorable or usable as is. The
original white-faced gaugess were found as well, along with the proper front
suspension turrets and part of the original 948 single-carb EXPORT air
cleaner assembly.
During this dig I also was able to confirm the existence of an important bit
related to the still-to-come restoration of Juan Valdez, my Coffee-colored
948TC Herald Convertible. Many years ago I lucked into an "offer I couldn't
refuse" on an early 1200 convertible. At the time, I didn't much care about
restoring it; even now I'm only a bit remorseful about my decision to part it
out. The most important item gained from that car, and the reason I'd bought
it originally, was the engine. When I drove the car home, I was happy simply
that it had a really good, strong engine. It was only years later that I
discovered it to be in fact an original 948 engine suitable for twin-carb
applications (albeit minus the twin-carb setup). These "Y" differed from
single-carb "G" engines in camshaft and cylinder head/valve specifications as
well as the use of the twin 1.125" SUs in place of the single Solex. This
engine will find its way into Juan's chassis at some point, replacing the
single-carb 1200 currently occupying space there.
But Juan will someday be the subject of another rambling; this is still
Joseph's story -- to be continued soon.
--Andy
Andrew Mace
10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant
Vintage Triumph Register
amace@unix2.nysed.gov
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