Unfortunately most of Cynthia's restoration will have to take place outdoors on the driveway. This is not too much of a problem because her bodywork and chassis are good enough to avoid a body off restoration; the main disadvantage, aside from the rain, will be wind which can make MIG welding a little tricky. I expect to do at least 90% of the work myself -- the Herald is the ultimate Meccano kit car and I'm confident there won't be too many unexpected problems that will send me off to the specialists. For parts, I anticipate dealing with most of the well known dealers. Alas, I haven't seen any Heralds in local scrap yards because I require one or two bits that are no longer easily available. Each of the Restoration pages describes the jobs tackled on a region of the car. This page, for example, deals with work carried out on Cynthia's right hand front corner. The accompanying photos are a pretty good guide to places where a typical Herald might rot. RHS front corner I decided to strip the front suspension to make more room for the welding work on the front wing. This is straightforward stuff and described well in the various repair manuals. The MOT inspector had already advised me that the trunnion was worn; fortunately, the threads on the upright itself look good and the replacement trunnion is a tight fit. The play observed by the MOT inspector was probably being exaggerated by wear in the top ball joint which will also be replaced. The wheel bearings are known to be good as they are only a few thousand miles old. I left the wishbones on the chassis. The inner bushes were in good condition and I don't replace parts for the sake of it. Polyurethane (rather than rubber) bushes are available at reasonable cost and if I were intending to uprate the engine and brakes, I would fit these. The shock absorber bushes were badly worn however. The load on the inner (top) and outer (lower) bushes is much higher than on the wishbone bushes so I chose to replace them. The spring must be removed using a compressor to replace the top shock absorber bush. I did the job safely with a hook type compressor, but the job would have been a lot easier using a tool like the Churchill one described in the factory manual. The track rod ends had worn out again after just a few thousand miles -- these had been replaced as part of a pre-MOT service a couple of years ago. Some cheap replacements have been purchased but they appear to be the same brand as the worn ones. I've made a note to look for some genuine Stanpart rod ends to fit when the cheap ones fail. I've never been aware of any problems with the steering rack but I removed and cleaned it anyway. With the gaiters removed, there was no play on the inner ball joints or elsewhere so I just re-assembled and painted the rack. The rack mounts (rubber type) also looked good and will be re-used. If I've made a mistake, they're very straightforward to replace. Similarly the anti-roll bar was removed and repainted, with the intention of re-using the mounting bushes. The brake caliper was removed and placed in dry storage. The seals were replaced after I purchased Cynthia but the cylinders and pistons are prone to rust, especially when not used. I'll look at the front brakes again as one of the final points of the restoration. The flexible brake hoses will be replaced at this time (new copper brake pipes are already fitted). It's impossible to determine the condition of a hose as they tend to fail from the inside and these hoses are quite possibly the originals. RHS front wing repair The front right hand wing was in very poor shape all along its lower edge. Repair sections are available but several Herald enthusiasts advised me that replacing the entire wing makes more sense. The photos below show the general condition of the wing. This photo shows the rusty lip on the right hand wing. The wheel arch panel and the outer wing are almost completely separated. A view of the wing near the bonnet catch. This area is just starting to rust through indicating that the whole wing should be replaced. The area around the sidelight/indicator cluster is in good condition. The reinforcement D plate behind the light cluster is just starting to rust through. A D shaped reinforcement plate attaches between the front wing, wheel arch and front panel. A replacement (right) was purchased from John Kipping and is a perfect match for the original. The steel is a slightly thicker gauge, I suspect. It's accuracy will be very useful in correctly aligning the outer front wing panel. The two main panels -- outer wing and outer wheel arch -- were purchased from T D Fitchett. Compared with the original, the outer wing was a good match dimensionally although the flange below the headlamp was turned the wrong way. I understand that this is common for replacement 13/60 wings.  Unfortunately the outer wheel arch panel looks to be a pretty hopeless fit. The flange that is attached to the inner wheel arch section is the right curvature and length but it does not look as though it will butt with the reinforcement plate without some work. The lip that joins to the outer wing is hopelessly wrong and a lot of cutting and reforming will be required to join the two panels. Stage one -- outer wing removal: The wing is held in place by welds along a flange under the bonnet panel and along the edge of the front panel (adjacent to the headlamp). In theory, the front wing is also joined at the lower lip to the outer wheel arch, but, in Cynthia's case, this section has rusted away. The old welds were ground out using an angle grinder -- not a particularly pleasant or quick job. The bonnet locator plate (at the top rear edge of the wing) was then removed from the old panel for re-use. Fortunately, the plate is in good condition as I am not aware of anyone who is able to supply one new. Stage two -- outer wheel arch removal: The wheel arch is in two sections and I chose to replace the outer section entirely. Again it was removed by grinding through the welds along the flange joining the two sections. It would be very difficult to remove the outer wheel arch section without first removing the front wing. The two photos show the process of removing the front wing. In the left hand picture, the bonnet locator plate and a bit of wing are still attached to the bonnet flange. On the right, both the outer wing and outer wheel arch panel are shown to have been removed. Stage three -- reinforcement plate removal: The plate is vulnerable to rust, althought the one I removed wasn't in bad shape. Removal was fiddly but I managed not to damage any of the adjacent panels. Stage four (to be completed!) -- trial fit the reinforcement plate and outer wing: The replacement front wing needs some gentle reforming and trimming to fit. Holes will be pierced or drilled along the flanges and welded in place. I'm not sure whether to use my MIG welder or my aging stick arc welder. I will definitely need to use the carbon arc brazing attachment on my arc welder for some fine touches on outer wing. Stage five ** -- fit new wheel arch panel Next restoration page: RHS Middle and rear sections

Phil Beesley (beesley@mandrake.demon.co.uk) December 1999