Tag: conversion

Herald Alternator Update, Good old eBay! (originally published in 2009)

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I had been keeping an eye out for the correct alternator bracket for the Herald as I wasn’t happy with the bodged up dynamo bracket.

A Dolomite 1500 was being broken for spares and I managed to buy the alternator mounting and adjusting brackets.

These as expected fitted well, and the belt adjusted correctly.

The belt pulley run also looks straight and the original belt can still be used,

Triumph Herald Screen Washer Conversion (originally published in 2009)

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The old fashioned push screen washer pump failed on the old girl, so I spent £12 or so on eBay and converted it to electric screen washers.

The pump fits very nicely above the washer bottle and I installed a nice little switch where the old pump went. The switch almost matches the heater blower switch, so looks OK!

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Progress(3) (originally published in 2008)

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The wiring solution

I have seen various suggestions regarding the wiring for this conversion.

Here is how I have dealt with it, as mentioned previously I have used an earth block from Screwfix.

This has been mounted in a small plastic box for insulation and the ends of the wires soldered before inserting into the block.

I know it doesn’t look too original, but once mounted it will be quite hard to see.

Still have to tidy up the spare black wire from the regulator box, the warning light wire.

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Progress(2) (originally published in 2008)

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Alternator now in place with home made fan belt adjusting arm extension. not pretty but it works.

I also need to find a slightly longer fan belt, no luck as yet however.


All well after a test start and run without the wiring connected.

The wiring was interesting to say the least!

Most of the instructions and wiring colours on the net and various other sources do not apply to our car.

The brown and various brown variants were all to be found at the regulator box as expected.

Additionally our car had a thick yellow and a thin yellow and green coming from the alternator.

The thick yellow is to be joined to all the browns as per the usual instructions, the thin yellow and green is to be joined to the thin yellow at the regulator for the warning light.

A lot of instructions suggest either soldering the various wires or adapting the regulator as a junction box.(all good ideas BTW)

I have taken a different approach, I got an earth bar from Screwfix and joined all the wires up that way.

Something like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/11385/Electrical-Supplies/Earthing/8-Way-Earth-Block

This will then be insulated by placing in a project box from Maplin:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1677

This will then be mounted in the space where the regulator used to live 🙂

WARNING !!!

If you want to try this be very careful that the earth bar does not earth out at any point.

If it does you will be needing a fire extinguisher on the non fused Herald, be very careful!

I’m also considering the fitting of some inline fuses or maybe a small fuse box.

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Progress (originally published in 2008)

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Right, on we go!!

Now have the bolts, spacer and washers and have managed to (bodge) fit the alternator into place.

Not the most asthetic piece of engineering I’m afraid, however the Spitfire alternator brackets or quite hard to source and as a result quite expensive!

Everything is nice and tight and the belt run is pretty straight

Could probably do with a slightly longer belt I think, had a look in Halford’s today and the only ones available were either the same length or the 1500mm (a bit too long). I’ll go with the original for the time being.

I now need to fashion a little piece of aluminum or steel into an extension for the fan belt adjusting bracket, and then I will then complete the wiring.

Watch this space!!

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion (originally published in 2008)

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So it begins, out with the old and in with the new(er)

Started with removing the dynamo (strangely enough:-))

Please note that the dynamo may foul the distributor.

Got around this by loosening it off and turning it away from the dynamo.

Be sure to mark the position of the dynamo before loosening so as not too put the timing too far out.

I put a small felt tip pen mark on an HT lead to line up with the LT lead of the distributor.

The dynamo was then removed.

Tried a few test fits of the altenator with the various parts of the existing dynamo bracket.

It would appear the best way to do this is to remove all the existing bolts etc (including the large one in the alternator and dynamo picture above) and replace them with two different size bolts and a large amount of washers to ensure all the pulleys line up.

The Herald fan belt will also now be too short, I’ll pick up an new one when I get the bolts.

Triumph Herald Positive to Negative Earth Conversion (originally published in 2008)

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This is how I converted my Herald to negative earth.

1. Disconnect the battery

2. Remove the battery from the tray
3. Refit the battery around the “other” way

4. Connect the terminals in the correct
configuration for negative earth

5. Swop the LT connections on the ignition coil
to also reflect negative earth configuration
(you may have starting problems if you don’t)

Please go to this link where there is a basic
but very clever way of testing if the polarity
is correct. here is the test

6. Remove the large terminal from the dynamo

7. Take a piece of wire connected to the live
terminal of the battery and “flash” it on the
dynamo terminal a couple of times(it will spark)
The dynamo should now be repolarised
Refit the large terminal to the dynamo

8. Start the engine and check the charge rate
of the dynamo

In my case the dynamo charged prefectly first time, you may however need to flash it again if the charge rate is not sufficient.

My fuel gauge and wiper motor appear to work OK, I will therefore be leaving them alone!

The heater blower also appears OK, however I will swop the wiring over in the near future to see if there is any difference in the operation pos to neg.

Please don’t take this method as the same in all cases, follow these steps at your own risk 🙂

Coming soon “The Alternator”