Upgrading to Front Disc Brakes
on your Herald or Herald 1200

The pages below are taken from the Triumph Herald 1200 Owners Repair Manual; should you ever stumble across one of these, it's an invaluable resource! Click on any of the seven images to see that image full-size. (Sorry, no HTML!)

Note: It is unlikely one would find a complete NOS "kit" such as depicted above. It is far more likely (especially in North America) that one would come across a "donor" Spitfire that could yield most of the basic bits needed. There is no reason I can think of why a Mk3 or later Spitfire, with the larger and easier-to-rebuild Type 14 calipers could not serve as a donor, although the "kit" features the earlier Type 12 caliper of the Spitfire 4 and Mk2.

Key points (in my mind, anyway) are:

• use of the proper hoses, pipes and brackets for the front brake conversion;
• use of the proper master cylinder (with its taller reservoir) and larger-bore rear wheel cylinders. Of course, after all this time, there's a pretty good chance your Herald already has the larger wheel cylinders, so it wouldn't hurt to see which ones you have currently:
  • Most 948 Heralds would've had the 5/8" rear wheel cylinder, also shared with Spitfire MkIV and earlier 1500s up to around FH [FM] 80000, and with GT6 from KC7279 through the MkII/GT6+ model
  • Most Vitesse [Sports] 6, later Spitfire 1500 and pre-1973 GT6 Mk3 would've had the .7" rear wheel cylinder
  • Most Herald 1200 and 13/60, Vitesse 2 Litre, Spitfire through the Mk3 and early GT6 "Mk1" would've had the 3/4" rear wheel cylinder.

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4/6/2004; revised 6/30/09