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1iTim's triumph miglia special

5 Aug 2020, 6:31am
Not sure about the late plastic trip reset cable, but the early ones that have a knurled metal knob need to be pushed in about 1/8" and turned clockwise while being pushed in. The number barrels will all then roll round, the numbers will line up and scroll through from high to low -- 9999 8888 7777 etc. - and you stop turning when it reads 0000.

As for you dash lights, they're all fed from solid red coloured wires and are supposed to come on with the second stage pull of the main light switch. Sounds like you have hours of fun with a test meter looming (pun intended)...
5 Aug 2020, 6:59am
Mister Towed wrote:
Not sure about the late plastic trip reset cable, but the early ones that have a knurled metal knob need to be pushed in about 1/8" and turned clockwise while being pushed in. The number barrels will all then roll round, the numbers will line up and scroll through from high to low -- 9999 8888 7777 etc. - and you stop turning when it reads 0000.

As for you dash lights, they're all fed from solid red coloured wires and are supposed to come on with the second stage pull of the main light switch. Sounds like you have hours of fun with a test meter looming (pun intended)...


thanks Mr T.
Winner Mr T, push in but turn anti clockwise. Clockwise just kept going up and up by ones! i was wary of breaking this old clock, as a replacement is nearly as expensive as the entire herald was to buy :faint:

Dash lights do come on with the second détente. I thought that would be high beam and the first pull low beam? no? is there no high beam, or do we just live with a dark dash until there are no oncoming cars? (it is lucas electric so i would anticipate that...)

I'm getting a compliance engineer out next week to look at the car in prep for bonding the body on. Exciting!

thanks again all.
Tim
5 Aug 2020, 4:30pm
High beam, low beam and sidelights only are activated by the column stalk, as is the headlight flash. It's got three positions in the up/down plane for the lights and you pull it towards you for headlight flash. It's the one on the left with the indicators on the right.

I always swap the two stalks over so that the indicators are on the same side as pretty much every new car as it saves me from switching off the headlights in the dark when I'm trying to indicate...
5 Aug 2020, 8:38pm
Mister Towed wrote:
High beam, low beam and sidelights only are activated by the column stalk, as is the headlight flash. It's got three positions in the up/down plane for the lights and you pull it towards you for headlight flash. It's the one on the left with the indicators on the right.

...


Thanks again! I had thought that was wipers and have not connected them! But that does beg the question of why there’s a separate 2 position pull? What is on with the first and second?

sorted a few things according to a later model spit wire diagram - cant imagine they changed the colours much. high beam is in the middle stalk position, and it (blue wire with white trace) acts like a ground when the light pull switch is closed (in). i've checked and replaced fuses. is this normal behaviour? i have no idea.

On a separate note, on my list is sorting out the reverse lights, any threads that have dealt with that?
Best,
Tim
6 Aug 2020, 6:40am
1970's BL era wiring is a nightmare of haphazard multicoloured wire.

When they made up the looms they seem to have used any old wire they had laying about the workshop, then published a circuit diagram as a huge office joke.

The only way to be sure of which wire does what is to trace it with a test meter, make all the connections in the circuit you're working on then, say a prayer, hold your breath, connect the battery and be prepared to grab the nearest fire extinguisher.

To answer some of your questions, the two-pull main light switch appears to give you: all external lights on the first click; all external lights plus dash lights on the second pull. All the variations of side, head and main beam are controlled by the left-hand column stalk.

The blue wire with the white stripe is the main beam/flash circuit, and it's one of the few colour combinations that seems to have been universally used across all production years.

Rather than the 'on' switch adding power to a circuit, a lot of the lights have a constant live feed to them with the ignition on, and switching them 'on' connects the earth to complete the circuit. This means that, just to muddy the waters, you'll often find power where you don't expect it when checking with a test meter.

The wipers are on a switch on the dash. I have a late 1500 loom and I can't find any wires that are supposed to connect to either the switch or the wiper motor. Good job I'm using a perspex flyscreen then.

Do you really need a reversing light?

If yes, there are a pair of wires that come out of the loom on the engine side of the bulkhead near to the oil pressure cable. There are then wires of the same colour (purple and white from memory, but who knows?) on each side of the rear lighting loom.

The front ones connect to the reverse light switch on the gearbox if you have one - Spitfire gearboxes have it, Herald ones don't - while the rear ones connect to the reversing lamps. I'm using a Herald gearbox so I'm using that circuit to power my electric fuel pump.

Anyway, if your loom's anything like mine, good luck fathoming out what everything does in your rats nest of randomly coloured electric spaghetti!
6 Aug 2020, 7:22am
Thanks Mr T, you are a wealth of info, and i am very appreciative.

the multimeter is getting a good run.
you're right about bizarre live power - i've blown 2 fuses already! Hopefully i dont *need* a reversing light but rules are rules and i will have to do what they say. there are no wires at the back for reversing light, that was what started the confusement, when i found a 'spare' 2 wire "mini loom" from the tear down. I also forgot to connect the speedo cable when i permanently bonded and rivetted the aluminium forward transmission tunnel :eusa_wall: while i dont mind cutting an access port, now i dont know where to cut...

fun and games continue!
6 Aug 2020, 11:37am
Aah, just re-read your thread and you have a Herald loom. That's why you don't have any wiring for a reversing light as your gearbox doesn't have a switch in it. I'd also forgotten you're in 'Stralia so didn't realise your lighting regos would be different...

I'd just run a feed from a brake light wire (always live) to a lamp and on to a dash switch that completes the circuit to earth. You're not going to have the reverse light and brakes on for long enough to overload the fuse or wiring at any stage, so it should be fine.

If it's got to come on automatically when you select reverse I think the simplest(!) way that's going to be reliable might be to swap out your Herald gearbox for a Spitfire one with the reverse switch built in.

Assuming you have a Herald engine, a Mk1 to 3 Spitfire gearbox will bolt straight on while a Mk4 or 1500 gearbox will need a 1500 flywheel and clutch assembly bolting onto the crank with adaptor sleeves (available from Canley Classics).

I happen to be selling a 1500 overdrive gearbox on ebay at the moment if you're interested, but you'll need to come here to collect it, which could take a while...

Good luck, and I guess, goodnight.
9 Aug 2020, 1:03pm
ha ha yeah thanks Mr T i will pop over this arvo if UK will let me land...
actually i could just get the top plate of the 1-3 spit gearbox which would be ok. (if OK is paying 80pound for postage)
anyway, ive got the landrover defender lights, but the connectors are wrong, slightly loose in the lucas connections. so i've got some bullets and got to soldering. link to youtube:
https://youtu.be/o7bUc9ajgLM (tim hocking)

Now i will try to buy some female sockets for the landrover lights to earth them.

All the lights work, by the way, the stalk doesnt "dip" - perhaps a herald 948 coupe quirk. top is off, mid is high low is low.

engineer comes on wednesday - i'll let you know what happens.

good luck Dan Ricciardo in the F1 today!

best,

Tim
11 Aug 2020, 4:41am
Electrical bizzarity

1iTim wrote:


good luck Dan Ricciardo in the F1 today!



... not wishing him luck anymore. my luck sucks.

Anyway, I found the cause of my random sparks.

I've seen the bodywork thread but have not seen an electrical one so will post here.

In the front loom right down the bottom past the oil and brake sensor exits and before the horn exit, there are 2 thick brown wires, and a thick brown/black, poking out of some horrible melted loom 'protection' so this was likely originally on the bottom, or near the radiator, or both. these wires are live even when ignition is off, and at least one seems to go back to the voltage regulator or the ignition solenoid (same colour). Anyone have any idea what these may have originally been for? they're not long enough to go to the dynamo, and they have 1/4 inch bare twisted wire at the ends and one is bent to point back, and the other ends off forward, with the similar length out of the loom, so not just cut off. The car runs fine with them not joined onto anything (brake lights, oil pressure light etc work fine), and they are too thick to be sensor wires (i am still looking for the temperature sender wire...) and being always on they cant be lights (lights kind work - waiting on more globes and lucas bullet connectors in the mail so i can put earths to the lights, but jury rigged they were fine)

any ideas? (1960 herald 948 coupe)
thanks
Tim
11 Aug 2020, 6:53am
Sounds like the horns supply and return?
11 Aug 2020, 7:09am
peterux wrote:
Sounds like the horns supply and return?


thanks for the reply peterux, but the horn wires, although they are brown, and a brown with black trace, are separate to these. the horn wires are smaller gauge, these are thick, like the thick brown that hooks onto the regulator and goes to the start solenoid. but its not that either, and both my mystery wires are doubled, that is 2 thick browns twisted together and pointing back, and 2 thick brown with a black trace pointing forwards (also with ends twisted together).

T
12 Aug 2020, 5:14am
engineer visit #1

excellent result from my engineer visit.

no need for reverse light due to age.
Doors OK due to age.
car is looking good as it is
body to be glued on with just about anything. epoxy or his suggestion of a polyurethane foam.
add 2x rear reflectors
OK to source replacement seats
front blinkers need visibility from 45 degrees to the side, so my defender lights may not be ok. for 'parkers' at the front he suggested getting the bulbs that have the parker in - ive not seen them but will look now.
he said to check for brake return valves with a change from fr drum to disk - ive not heard of that either?
also to consider dual curcuit brake system. is that a triumph thing? i'll look.
research the original registration.


anyway all good, now to sort plumbing for radiator reposition and think about bonding on the body without wonkying the whole thing up!

bye all!
12 Aug 2020, 6:24am
Good news on the inspection.

Late Spitfires and GT6's had dual circuit brakes. They use a GMC226 master cylinder, which are about £80 -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-SPITFIRE-1500-BRAKE-MASTER-CYLINDER-1976-1982-TANDEM-SYSTEM-GMC226-TRW/183195843064?epid=1037446461&hash=item2aa752b9f8:g:NtwAAOSwY3BZHVw4

From memory I think they have metric pipe unions, there is a version with imperial unions but it's about twice the price so it's cheaper to just change the pipe unions at the master cylinder end of the brake lines.
12 Aug 2020, 8:26pm
1iTim wrote:
excellent result from my engineer visit.

no need for reverse light due to age.
Doors OK due to age.
car is looking good as it is
body to be glued on with just about anything. epoxy or his suggestion of a polyurethane foam.
add 2x rear reflectors
OK to source replacement seats
front blinkers need visibility from 45 degrees to the side, so my defender lights may not be ok. for 'parkers' at the front he suggested getting the bulbs that have the parker in - ive not seen them but will look now.
he said to check for brake return valves with a change from fr drum to disk - ive not heard of that either?
also to consider dual curcuit brake system. is that a triumph thing? i'll look.
research the original registration.


anyway all good, now to sort plumbing for radiator reposition and think about bonding on the body without wonkying the whole thing up!

bye all!


I've had good results using Tiger Seal UP0727 (black) for bonding
12 Aug 2020, 10:44pm
molleur wrote:
I've had good results using Tiger Seal UP0727 (black) for bonding


thanks Molleur i will check it out. [edit: i've been using a very similar product - sikaflex 227 - for all my aluminium work.] I'm also keen on the sika foam earl suggested.

T
13 Aug 2020, 12:01am
Sika 227 works well, never tried the foam.
13 Aug 2020, 6:53am
hey i need a longer choke cable as the miglia cabin is so much further back. are the left hand drive models or spits any longer do you know?

I still don't know what those power cables are, i may pick up power for my electric fan from there.
T
19 Aug 2020, 11:34pm
radiator moved, bonnet fits.
i realised that ive not posted any pics for a while so heres one:



when i say fit, i mean fits not like a glove, but like a hand laid up fibreglass part made for another hand laid fibreglass part.

I will show pics of my radiator install when its done, i've made some brackets and it will be mounted to the shroud at the bottom and the front body frame cross member at the top. Unfortunately this means an el-eck-tron-ick controller for the fan. it will be the only thing on the car that relies on quantum mechanics to work. Hope it doesn't break down as i don't know any quantum mechanics, just regular mechanics.

T
20 Aug 2020, 10:56am
Hi, made brackets for the radiator reposition.



bottom brackets in:



working on it only a little each day. radiator and fan are current goals

T
20 Aug 2020, 6:56pm
Finally had the chance to have a quick look under my bonnet today, as I was sure I remembered three brown wires.
(Two thick and one thin.)

This is a 1980 Spitfire 1500 wiring loom, so not sure if it relates to your Herald one.

These are the wires.



And this is where they are connected.





Not sure if that helps.

Good luck, Paul. :)
20 Aug 2020, 9:59pm
thanks Paul



Not sure if that helps.

Good luck, Paul. :)


neither am i paul! but thanks heaps for taking the time to photo and share.

i see the temp sender green wire there too so i will poke around for that. these wires, if they went to my generator as yours go to your alternator, they have been cut short, and the dynamo/generator wire altered. Once I finish with the radiator i will revisit this.

best,
T
21 Aug 2020, 3:09am
finished mounting the rad. Benefit 1, maintained bottom position well enough that the standard bottom hose still fits.
some pics:

and a close up of bracket:

and with 10" fan from davies craig:
22 Aug 2020, 8:15am
plumbing and electrictrical done. i may still have clearance issues with the new radiator cap, depending on how high the glue sits the body off the frame.


all that was done using one camry v6 bottom radiator hose. And a stanley knife.

I found the temp sender wire up near the dynamo wires. Extracted it and it’s ready for when I put the sender in the back of the block near the hard heater pipe I can’t remove.
Best
T
24 Aug 2020, 9:13pm
cleaned up nicely with windex. i couldnt get the glass off, or from the back, so the face is untouched. i thought i'd leave well enough alone!


best,
T
7 Sep 2020, 6:29am
I thought i was winning with the heater threaded hole in the back of the block. But alas. The sender i got (herald 948 specific) is not the same thread. the block has a taper thread, the sender is not. Plan B is to get a 1/4 NPT sender to put in the currently blanked second hole in the fan thermoswitch sender housing. I will have to earth it of course.
I'm also waiting on a hose transition from china, then i can fill the system again.

on the plus side, i have the mini hinges and the small 'bear claw' latches for the doors. got some aligning and fitting jigery to do.

best,
Tim