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1980 Austin Princess


vulgalour

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My Fiat 500 used to eat condensors - they are helpfully positioned above the exhaust which fries them. I put a Lumenition kit on it and it's really good though a b****t to fit and it wasn't that cheap either. But that's the end of ignition problems.

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On the topic of Accuspark: it's the route I'm likely going in the long term, but in the short term I just don't have the funds to go that route and I needed to see if the condenser really was the route of the problem. So while I'm on the old system at the moment, I won't be when I've got £30ish spare to splurge on an Accuspark or similar system.

Today's update can be summed up with this picture.
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The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that in the top picture, the Princess is parked slightly differently and that there's no way a tow vehicle could have got her there. Those with some long-term memory still functioning will also recall she's too heavy to push up my driveway so surely that can only mean one thing.

That's right, we fixed her! Party at mine later, bring some decent tipple.

Dad was pretty awesome and got me a tube of Autosol for the bumpers and brightwork and a new condenser. This should have come to around £15 but for some reason the local auto supplies place (who nearly know me by name now) only charged a tenner... on purpose. Happy days.

In a previous update I didn't show shots of the finished throttle cable, here's something to make up for that. Note that the airbox isn't fitted here as we were fiddling with settings and whatnot.
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Fray prevention fitted this time.
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With a new condenser now ready to be fitted. We took the distributor cap off to find this. The earth cable has very little sheath left and it's routed in such a way that it's free to short out on anything. That can't have helped.
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We took out the earth cable, removed the tatty cloth sheath and checked that it was still in good enough condition to be reused.
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Once it was wrapped in electrical tape it was reinstated in a tidier way, the condenser fitted and everything put together.
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Another attempt to start the car was more convincing, certainly she tried every turn of the key now rather than once every three or four attempts and then not at all. So the initial verdict was that the condenser had been faulty, but that things still weren't right. This is what we saw to begin with. Dad has done some work on this type of engine with an old bright yellow Morris Ital estate he had in the late '80s/early '90s and he set about with his experience to show us how to sort out the static timing.
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First of all, we lined up to the white marks but if anything this made things worse.
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So we consulted the book and using Dad's experience and the wisdom of the BL manual, we ended up here instead. More fiddling, more book consultation and I think this is where we ended up, but we might have moved it further, I haven't got a picture to back up what happened either way, but suffice to say we got it where it needed to be.
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The Distributor was relocated with the vacuum chamber at 45 degrees angle to the bottom left and the rotor arm at 1 o'clock. Pushing the distributor into the head turns the rotor arm to between 2:30 and 3:30 precisely as the book instructs. Timing set properly.

Suddenly, we were bolting things together and turning the key and, allbeit a little lumpy to begin with before we reset positions of fiddly bits and pieces like the mixture screw on the carb and a tweak of the distributor to get the timing fine tuned, the Princess fired back into life. What glee! Tinged slightly with suspicion as we listened to the engine, sniffed at the exhaust, tried the revs a little bit. All seemed well, the engine sounded smoother and quieter than before, so we risked rolling her back off the drive onto the lane. Still no trouble. So my brother (who was at the helm, he loves his old Austins) pulled her back up the drive with considerably less revs than we'd needed before and with greater ease.

No scary smells or noises, no hiccups, no nothing. A bit of procrastination before we decided to take her for a drive. I did take the camera, but there weren't really any photo opportunities of sufficient interest. Decided to head over to an old fashioned classic-friendly MoT and maintenance garage in Whaley village where they have a nice flat forecourt and a friendly owner. Shop was shut up when we got there but it did give me chance to have a proper look underneath. No leaks, no smells, nothing untoward. Car sits level all round and doesn't run on.

How odd, she's being reliable. Headed back and opened up the taps a bit, scared some oncoming traffic on the narrow roads and apart from an occasional squeak from the exhaust which I need to reseat, all was well. How rare!

Today was a good day to be an Austin Princess owner. Tomorrow... well, we'll have to see.

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Today I headed out to collect a run for Mister Bunny and to see some friends for a meal over in Sheffield. This was a good plan.

Spent an hour or so quickly washing the car and reinstating the bottom half of the dash after we'd removed it for doing the throttle cable. This in turn tidied up some of the wiring since it now sits out of sight a bit better. Then headed over to the supermarket to get some cash and was told by some kids on scooters that my car was cool... so cool in fact that they convoyed out of the supermarket car park with me to the petrol station across the road where I dropped a tenner in the tank. At the petrol station I was told by the cashier that she was admiring my car... must be something about people in Clowne, that's the second time I've had a compliment at that petrol station.

Headed home to get a few supplies and then off out onto the Motorway. All was well, no issues apparent, but I wasn't being complacent. This is a Princess, I was expecting trouble, but I wasn't expecting when it struck. 80mph overtaking in the fast lane of the M1 suddenly the engine pops and farts and I lose quite a bit of power, the fuel pump makes some untoward sounds and I feel like I'm driving on one cylinder. I ease off and make my way to the slow lane with the engine gradually popping and farting less and picking up the lost cylinders. For safety's sake I pull into the nearest service station and ring my Dad, whose phone is engaged. I pop the bonnet, have a look and a smell and a listen but nothing at all is amiss. Get back in and fire her up and there's no problems, it's as though the incident never happened. I press on, not exactly fearless but more determined that this will not stop me enjoying my day out.

When I rejoin the motorway I stick to a more sedate speed range of 56-72mph and do a bit of streamlining behind lorries to save petrol because I'm both tight and poor and the problem does not resurface. If I put my foot down a bit the engine responds smoothly and healthily, if I back of I get a likewise positive feedback. Very, very odd. I eventually reach my destination and manage to parallel park in a gap just the right size on one of Sheffield's infamous narrow and steep roads. Cup of coffee and a chinwag and we decided to load up and go collect the rabbit run.

Get in the car, turn the key... doesn't fire. Try some more and manage to flood it. Hop out and consider calling the break down people, think better of it and call Dad. It's worth pointing out that the engine was getting fuel, and wasn't behaving like it did before we did all the work, it was just like she didn't want to catch. Dad couldn't help this once so in desperation I popped the distributor cap off and sanded the slightly dull looking rotor arm and contacts inside the distributor cap. Put it all back together and tried again and she started. Left the car running for fear she'd stop if I changed anything and rang Dad to tell him disaster averted. Dad said it might be condensation in the cap or a hairline crack, but that it still seemed a bit odd.

So, we headed off to get the rabbit run, which was a couple of inches too long to go in the boot. Just as well I'd taken my roof rack then. Allowed me to get some excellent shots of the Princess loaded up, just like she might have been in her youth.
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All loaded up, bit of a chinwag with some other friends I've not seen for ages and we get in to set off. Turn the key, one aborted attempt to fire and then nothing. Off with the distributor cap again, but there's no obvious wear. I use the sandpaper anyway, just in case, put everything back together and get in and she fires up grudgingly at first as though she's only on three cylinders but then perfectly fine. We set off and I'm getting very wary now and worrying about getting home, but I press on regardless, there's not much I can do about it.

We arrive back at the first friend's place for pie related noms which is thoroughly enjoyable. I even found something old and red to keep the Princess company.
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I was dubious when it came time to setting off home that the car would work at all. By now it was dark and a bit nippy so it was with some trepidation I got in. I did notice more old tin had joined the party.
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So I sat down, I put the key in the ignition and expected to fail. What I didn't expect was for the Princess to fire up straight away with no issues, no popping or farting, no misfiring, nothing. She was fine and sporting no issues whatsoever. Cautiously I pulled away and nothing was wrong.

I got all the way back home without incident in comfort and some sort of style. So what was all the fuss about earlier? I have no idea, I'm thoroughly perplexed and I suspect I've got an electric gremlin that I'll evict as more service parts are updated and corrected. Best of all, I did 55 miles today on just under £10 of fuel, even with a rabbit run on the roof, so my mpgs are pretty healthy too.

What a peculiar day.

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Will someone please give this guy £30 for some fresh sparks?

Until then, I fear this 'fun' will continue...

 

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She's looking good. I'd never noticed how the the top of the wings flows into the bottom of the side windows forming a nice wavy line. V.Cool!

Unsure about the mirror treatment however.

Anyway, looks like you're enjoying it!

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The mirrors are a bit of a laugh until I can get something better, they really are the most atrocious bit of rearward vision you could hope to have attached to a car. Eventually, I'll be fitting some smart chrome or satin black jobbies but for now the silly union flag ones are keeping me amused ;)

 

Don't have any plans to use her for a bit now, we've had a few runs out so it's now time to save and do some proper servicing because I've got a better idea of what is and isn't wrong. I reckon about £100 will see everything - fuel pump, spark plugs, spark leads, accuspark, oil filter, oil change, &c. - engine wise sorted and now that customers have actually started to pay me what they owe me, that should happen sometime in April. As long as I'm all shipshape and Bristol fashion for the end of June (RAF Waddington obligations), all will be well.

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To Do List update again, mainly for my own reference really.

 

Bodywork

> Get a quote for and repair the small hole in the driver's floor pan before the end of the year/MoT in September - have a willing welder, but will only get price on proper inspection.

> Cut and polish the existing paint - made a start.

> Finish painting the C pillars. - have the materials for most of this.

> remove the rear screen and treat any rust

 

Interior

> fix driver's door window mechanism - part sourced, just need to get the cash together for it.

> find a better brown steering wheel

 

Engine

> Buy SU carb rebuild/refurb kit (£40ish)

> Buy Accuspark ignition stuff to update current system (£30ish)

> fix blowing exaust

> full oil change (6 litres) and new oil filter (£30-50ish)

> possibly fit new thrust bearing/clutch kit. (£30ish for clutch kit)

> Distributor O ring needs replacing, source of minor leak.

> New spark plugs

> New spark leads and HT lead

> Possibly new coil

> Possibly new fuel pump

> Possibly new distributor cap

 

Misc

> Tracking (not showing signs of being off, but would be reassuring to get done)

> Wheel balancing (lost a weight on one wheel)

> Buy new bushes for selector box to eliminate unwanted movement

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Hopefully today's exploits will continue to entertain. I wasn't planning to use the car for a while, but a job came up that only I could help with since I'm the only one with a roofrack/car suitably shaped. But first, some other things.

I like some of the tat this car came with like the silly No Smoking sign on the dash and the Fasten Your Seatbelts sticker that was originally on the glovebox, but I only got around to reinstating the latter recently and the former is firmly attached to the dash I doubt I'll ever remove it.
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My job was to collect some lengths of wood and a door that was formerly a cat run that my Dad had built about 14 years ago, but which was now surplus to requirement. My brother is repurposing the wood and door as a Guinea Pig run for their rescue concern (19 piggies and counting). The wood was too long to go in the boot of my Dad's Lexus, there was no way it would fit in my housemate's 107 and my brother is still looking for a car. So I was the only one available with a car and a roof rack that could do the job. Now I know I shouldn't be doing treks and things until I have everything sorted, but family is family and the petrol was being paid for so that was that.

At my parent's we got use of their hosepipe jetwash thingy to clean out my arches because I've found it surprisingly difficult to locate a garage with a jetwash locally, so it wasn't an entirely wasted journey. Princess was behaving herself too. Popped the bonnet to check the oil because it appeared low in Sheffield but is now back to normal... that's an odd thing none of us understand but I'll be doing an oil and filter change anyway pretty soon so it's not a big issue.

Dad informs me that what I thought was just general greb on the distributor cap is actually more likely a lot of Easy Start. Probably connected to the somewhat whimsical attitude the Princess has towards starting first turn of the key.
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I'm also aware of this bit of chemical metalwork which, while not pretty, certainly shows no sign of causing problems. It's low priority at the moment but is going to be up for replacement eventually.
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Some research was done and it was found that my fuel pump is for much smaller 1100 and 1300 engines, which would go some way to explaining the conking out on the motorway issue I had.
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Nothing else is really amiss under the bonnet, everything is as it is and the Princess is as un/reliable as ever. I'll just plod along and replace bits as and when, we'll get there. Light or no use until stuff is sorted though. I turned my attention instead to the speakers which I now know are a pair PYE ones to match the tape deck. The one on the left has been updated, the one on the right original.
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After cleaning the interior, the speakers no longer stuck to the parcel shelf and knocked their covers off from sliding around. Eventually we unplugged them and I set them aside for sorting out which I've now done. One of the paper cones was fine, but the other isn't and no longer works.
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Stripped it all down. Checked that these are the same 4ohm rating as the Panasonic replacements.
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Offered up the new speakers to find they're a bit deeper and foul the casing.
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But since the casing is plastic the locating legs have some movement, so I just screwed the speaker down and hoped it would fit... which it did.
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Then I had to undo it all because you can't get to the spade connectors for the wiring.
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Relocated, job done.
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You know what, I don't even think you'd know these were modified unless you picked them up and turned them over. I'm very pleased about that.
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There was a pleasant happenstance when in Bolsover (had to get a few bits from the shop) when I managed to park next to the fanciful Micra - we call it the Moocra - with a cow theme. It's a great little car precisely because it's so daft and the only car I'll allow to have those ridiculous eye lashes on.
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That was my day. Didn't get any proper work done though >.>

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Off topic slightly (Sorry Volks) but are those Powerspark and Accuspark electronic ignition kits any good?, my Cortina can be a sod to start from cold at times and isn't always great even when it's warm, I've just had the cap of and it's still running it's old points and condenser.

 

Would it be worth chucking £30 at it for one of these? http://www.simonbbc.com/electronic-igni ... -ohc-pinto and would i see much improvement?

 

 

oh yes - both are great -not as sophisticated as a luminition system but easier to install and cheaper and reliable - best thing is you can retro fit the points and condensor etc should the accuspark ever fail although I have never had to do this - for a daily it makes total sense - 5 mins to fit on most cars

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Today I have mostly been melting. It has been a glorious day and Mister Bunny has thoroughly enjoyed taking possession of his new office. I do find that if I rub my face on things, the same rule of "This is mine now" doesn't apply.
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So that was the gaffer happy, which meant I could turn my attention, eventually, to the Princess. But to be honest, I just felt all mnyeh today so there was much flopping around and doing very little and watching Mister Bunny being a rubbish mower. First of all, we must go to yesterday. I've discovered that the Princess' reluctance to start on occasion can be resolved by just continual trying of the key and sometimes all the revs. So yesterday I tootled down to Dad's to talk engines (he's LOVING the Austin and I can't say I blame him, it's a great car to work on). I think I need to replace the engine/gearbox mounts, it might help reduce some of the interior mirror vibration and dashboard squeaks at idle.
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We then looked at the wiring bodge for the fuel pump and tried to decypher the labels. Eventually, we did figure out what does what and it can all be safely and sensibly removed and reverted to something like factory again.
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I've mentioned previously that Dad used to have a bright yellow Morris Ital estate. That Ital had the same 1700 O series that my Princess does and ran a mechanical fuel pump. My Princess has a blanking plate where a mechanical fuel pump can go and a new mechanical pump is only £20 delivered, as well as having none of the interference issues of the electric version and pumping more fuel the faster the cam rotates, effectively. Off with the blanking plate to check if there's a lobe in the right place.

Without flash.
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And with flash. My camera is a useful tool for seeing the bits that are hard to see at times, this being a case in point.
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There is a cam where needed, the mechanical pump bolts straight on and all that's needed is to cut a little bit of soundproofing away from the underside of the bonnet (in theory) so it should be a good, O series suitable, fix.Originally, the Princess ran on an in-tank fuel pump but since I can't seem to find these new and I don't particularly want to disturb it for fear of ending up with a leaky tank, I'm leaving well alone for now. The original pump is located thus.
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Attention then turned to the fuel cap which we weren't sure of the workiness of. Turns out it's fine, but it's good to know how these things work. This is the back of the cap.
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Inside is a ballbearing and a pivoting valve which we discovered is actually fine. My previous fears of the tank vacuuming a bit are unfounded, what it's doing is normal as far as we can tell.
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So on to today. On starting the car to move her a bit on the drive to be easier to work on there was a rather loud backfire on starting. We looked under the bonnet and found that the fuel drain hose from the carb had burst along what looks like an old split. The hoses are on my in-head replacement list, they just got moved up a bit now. My picture of it is gone, but that hose is now replaced with a brand new clear reinforced hose.
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While we were looking at hoses, we cut off the squashed bit of overflow pipe from the coolant bottle and rerouted it in a less stressed and easy path so the green pipe won't get squashed again. Must remove the red paint from that lid or buy a replacement, looks scruffy.
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We then noticed (well, I had noticed it before but not really registered it) the lack of jubilee clip on one of the radiator hoses. It was steaming a bit.
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Dad gave it a bit of a prod and water came out.
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So we put a new jubilee clip on that too. This hose will get replaced once I've bought a new length of suitable hose.
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To stop this entry being too long, I'm going to stop here and update in a tick with bodywork we did today.

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Second part of the update, concerning bodywork. Due to my long term wrist injury I'm not confident at all with electric drills, my sporadic tendency to involuntarily let go of things or for my hand to cramp means they're quite a dangerous thing to use lately, I'm really hoping this is something that goes away eventually. So I gave Dad the drill so he could remove the rivets holding the trim clips on the driver's C pillar. This pillar has been letting the side down since I removed the vinyl, but I've not had chance to do much about it.
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With that all tidied and as much of the scraps of vinyl removed as possible we could move on to other things. Tomorrow, providing the weather continues to be nice, I'll be preparing this panel for paint. Later still, I'll be getting someone to help remove the rear screen and do any remedial work required underneath, as well as removing the last remains of the vinyl trim. This is not something I want to do on my own and ideally will be something I do once I have both a spare screen and some new chrome insert trim to finish the job off smartly.

The next job was to get the boot ready to be painted to match the C pillars. Learning from the side trims, we carefully prised the plastic end caps off and then tried to slide the aluminium trim free. However, no matter what we did, the trim wouldn't budge, so I risked getting a screwdriver and prising the trim free of the clips. This is risky, because it could bend the trim, but as it turns out the trim clips were so rusty they broke and deformed rather easily, having got stuck partially to the shiny trim.
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Eventually, after some rather nailbiting firm-but-gentle persuasion, we got the boot lid trim free without damaging or bending it.
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Looks like it needed off too, rust was just setting in unseen.
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Next to remove that vinyl. This was surprisingly difficult, as we started to get an edge to lift it behaved a lot like it was metal. That was odd, why would a vinyl trim behave like metal? We opened the boot and tried to pry it from the back, eventually freeing it in one clean sheet because...
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... it actually is metal! Looks like pressed tin plate painted to look like vinyl. Only British Leyland would have a real wood dashboard and an imitation vinyl exterior trim!

With the trim free, we could assess for damage.
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A lot of dirt, some surface rust around the original trim clips and a bit of rubbing to the top part of the bootlid that hadn't rusted yet. In addition, a fair amount of road muck trapped.
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Overall, not too bad. I wouldn't have liked to have left that for more than a couple of years though, the tin worm could have really bitten in here. I gave it a quick wash to better assess what I had.
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What become clear very quickly was that the rear quarter and door I'd worked on before is down to the original paint because on the boot lid the paint under the trim matches, but where the trim wasn't it's the weird, slightly green and very shiny paint.
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The Princess is a bit heavy, we know that, but she seems intent on recreating Continental Drift in miniature with my driveway.
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Tomorrow, I hope to get the driver's side C pillar and boot lid top keyed back, rust treated and primed. If I'm really lucky I'll also get some metallic top coat on which should really smarten the back end up a lot. Sometimes I think all these jobs I'm doing point at a bad car but really, it's a lot of niggles and general maintenance that's gone unobserved for so long that it's adds up to one big job. Take the interior as a prime example, I could just have thrown it away and started again but by spending three weeks cleaning it I now have a respectable, habitable interior that while not perfect, is certainly good enough for me until I can afford to spend a lot of money retrimming in there sympathetically.

What has caught me off guard is just how much I'm enjoying this car. I knew I'd like her, but I never expected to like her this much or to be having so much fun driving and working on her. Even the increase in mpg over the Polo, the clunky wide-gated gearbox and impossible rear visibility doesn't bother me. I think that the best I can say is that she has a certain je ne sais quoi.

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Spent more time than I meant to on today's job, and not as much time as I needed to. Progress, however, has been made.

I decided that I should make use of the materials I have and get cracking on making the back end of the Princess look a bit more presentable, I've not been that pleased about driving around with one manky C pillar and after removing the trim yesterday, I knew the boot needed treating sooner rather than later. First job was to tackle the worst of the overspray on the roof from the bad masking I'd done previously. The whole roof is getting cut and polished anyway with a few stone chips needing some new paint blending in at the same time. The paint I haven't removed will likely get painted over or cut back further when I do this bit properly. I was going to sort it out today, but I didn't have enough daylight.
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There was then the long - much longer than expected - job of cleaning off the glue from the driver's side C pillar. Eventually, with the help of a craft knife, paper scraper and turps I did get there, but this ate up a lot of time. I gave the whole thing a flatting back with some wet and dry paper and buzzed a couple of trouble spots with the wire brush to clean them up.
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The boot lid was given the same treatment.
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Then that was treated to some Kurust. Reassuringly, there wasn't a huge amount of rust here, just some surface squiggles.
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Alarmingly, when I was cleaning out the loose crud from this corner of the window seal, the tool I was using disappeared into a hole. I think that the corner of the rail the rubber attaches to may well have rotted away, probably from water getting stuck in there thanks to the vinyl trim I removed. I don't have the funds to rectify the rust hiding under here so, much as it annoys me, its going to have to wait and I'll just keep an eye on it.
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In the meantime, I cleaned it out the best I could and put a good splodge of Kurust in the gap in the hope that it will slow things down a bit so it's not as bad when I do repair this bit.
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While I had a bit of Kurust left in the pot, I dumped some in the gutters too. The gutter rails have been brush painted before and some rust staining is showing, the Kurust will put a stop to that and I'll deal with it properly when I sort out the paint on the roof.
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This little yellow gadget is excellent. No more spray-can finger cramp for me! I've had it ages, I can't even remember where I bought it, but if you find one get it, life with aerosol cans is a lot easier.
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This is the nearest thing to a ball gown this Princess will ever wear. Took a while to get everything masked up, as it always does, and I ran out of masking tape. But I got the boot lid and C pillar with two coats of red oxide and mostly smooth enough for top coat. There's a few niggles still to rectify, but overall it looked smarter.
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Time really was getting on at this point so I had to get a waterproof coat on the red oxide. I don't like rushing a job like this, but equally I didn't want to leave the primer exposed to the elements to absorb moisture and feed the tin worms.
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Oops, missed a bit.
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It looks a bit stripey, but at least it's waterproof and a lot smarter than it was.
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The colour split follows the line of the original panels and will be finished off with the original trim I removed, repainted to match accordingly.
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Still need to spend a few more days cutting back the paint, applying more coats and then properly lacquering and polishing it, but I'm much happier with how things look now.
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There's a lot of paint to sort out on this car, so many little bodges to put right. With the beige on the rest of the car, I'm going to get it looking smart and just blend in any bits that go through to bare metal or undercoat rather than going for a full respray. I like the idea of letting her show her age a bit but in a cherished rather than neglected way. Eventually, I'll probably get a proper respray done, but that's massively low priority.

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Is that Ford Roman Bronze you're using on the C pillars? Looks good whatever it is - contrasts with the beige nicely.

 

If you can get to the BMC/BL day in Peterborough (usually in June/July) then there's a superb autojumble where all things Austin, Morris and BL can be found - maybe you'll get lucky with a steering wheel there.

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It is indeed Ford Roman Bronze, and an excellent colour it is too for this application. I recall Dad used to have a Shove-it in a similar shade which when clean never looked clean and when mucky always looked clean. I don't know if I can make it to the BL day, it all depends what's happening with the old cash flow. Just lately I seem to be having to spend all my money on things I don't care for but need like water and gas and internets and food.

Thanks to the old wrist injury my hand has been spazzing out like an octopus hugging an electric eel so I've not been able to do much of anything today. However, my inability to work doesn't stop me from getting stuff done on the Princess! Queue my Dad and my brother, who seem to have caught the BL bug.

Today's update is about fuel. The first bit was to put the in-tank additive lead pill things into the tank. I've had so much conflicting info about whether or not my engine runs on unleaded I thought rather than risk it, I'd go with the advice that these things actually help. Good for 100,000 miles or 10 years, whichever comes first and since I'm unlikely to top 6k a year I'm guessing it'll be renewed in 10 years time.
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Then, to fit the new fuel pump Dad bought for me (did I mention my Dad is awesome?) we had to take a trip out to Rimmer Brothers (RB) in Lincoln to get a spacer, not to mention having an opportunity to quizz the staff about what bits I can get for the Princess (turns out, not a huge amount). Ribs were tickled and jokes were made, thankfully not being able to take the beige bus too seriously usually results in pretty excellent customer service. I did want to go to RB in the Princess but with the reliability issue and the lack of petrol - not to mention lack of funds and lack of places to buy petrol, the station next to RB sold out while we were in there! - we took the Lexus instead. There are few finer sensations than driving past queues of fuel panic-buyers in a 4ltr V8 with plenty of fuel in the tank. Part bought, plan to return for some poly bushes for the gearbox, we headed home and saw station after station with 'no fuel', 'no diesel' and 'no petrol' boards out. Some of the bigger stations like Sainsburys and Tescos had professionally printed boards, but the smaller chains mostly had marker pen on paper ones instead, I'm sure some sort of commentary about money and business was evident with this.

So, as a refresher, this is where my old too-small pump was fitted, an upgrade part for things like Morris Minors, Morris 1100s and MG Midgets.
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Not only is the pump too small, and conks out when any sort of demand is put upon it, when we removed it we found out it was mounted upside-down. Well done!
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The new pump was not recommended online, it was found through some lateral thinking and research and confirmed suitable by RB. There's a blanking plate on the head of the Princess version of the O series where a mechanical pump is fitted on the Ital. We could find no reason against fitting a mechanical pump which was cheaper and easier to source than an in tank pump (as originally fitted) and plenty of reasons to get rid of the inadequate pump fitted by someone in the past.
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Smart thing it is too. We got a thick rubber mount for it from RB which spaces the pump correctly. The pump is operated by a lobe on the camshaft which means the more the cam spins the more fuel is pumped. Two longer bolts were got to secure everything and it all bolted in tidily. There's a (factory) hole in the soundproofing that gives clearance for the pump too and nothing fouls anything. This seems like a rather good idea.
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Once everything was bolted up, the blue pump removed, we decided to have a go at starting her. Bear in mind since getting her I've had starting issues, normally having to wait for the fuel pump to go quiet and the sit turning the key for a long time before anything happened. Additionally, it was cold so I wasn't hopeful much good would happen. We can but experiment with these things, and Dad was confident in his research so we turned the key and instantly, this happened (clicky video). Note the exhaust is blowing at the downpipe, we need to drop, clean and reseal the whole system.


I was amazed. The engine has lost the occasional pop and fart, the noise of the old electric pump is obviously gone. The engine revs more freely and shakes less. We turned her off, turned the key and she started first attempt. We let her get a bit of temperature in the engine, turned her off, waited for things to cool down, turned the key and she fired first time. It was... miraculous. Suddenly, I had a reliable first-turn-of-the-key start.

After some looking and listening we finally understood what was causing the problem even though it had been staring us in the face for a while. The previous upside-down electric pump was not only under capacity but had been air locking, which was giving inconsistent fuel feed to the engine, thus causing a lot of the poor running. Thanks go to Dad for doing the spanner work, and my brother for lending an extra pair of hands when needed. I couldn't really do anything other than watch and learn. I'll be getting some fresh fuel hose to replace the old stuff to both smarten things up and replace worn old parts.

Here's an updated To Do List:
Bodywork
> Get a quote for and repair the small hole in the driver's floor pan before the end of the year/MoT in September - have a willing welder, but will only get price on proper inspection.
> Cut and polish the existing paint - made a start.
> Finish painting the C pillars. - Base top coats all round, more coats and work required to finish.
> remove the rear screen and treat any rust

Interior
> fix driver's door window mechanism - part sourced, just need to get the cash together for it.
> find a better brown steering wheel

Engine
> Buy SU carb parts required (about £25ish)
> Buy Accuspark ignition stuff to update current system (£30ish)
> fix blowing exaust
> full oil change (6 litres) and new oil filter (£30-50ish)
> possibly fit new thrust bearing/clutch kit. (£30ish for clutch kit)
> Distributor O ring needs replacing, source of minor leak.
> New spark plugs
> New spark leads and HT lead
> Possibly new coil
> Possibly new distributor cap

Misc
> Tracking (not showing signs of being off, but would be reassuring to get done)
> Wheel balancing (lost a weight on one wheel)
> Buy new bushes for selector box to eliminate unwanted movement (Rimmer Brothers probably have a suitable item, about £3-5 each in poly)
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Brilliant stuff, but those fuel pellets may as well be Malteasers for all the good they'll do. Use an approved fuel additive [Castrol valvemaster is my favourite] to avoid OMG valve recession doom. To save yourself a couple of quid on the welding [and you can get at the offending hole] cut out the rest, and make a cardboard template of the bit that needs doingmaking it about 1" oversixe and transfer to metal. Once your happy with how it fits, Araldite it in position, and give it a squirt of primer. When you come to get it welded, it'll only need a quick seam weld.

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As I've said on the other forums, those pills are something Dad bought and seemed confident would work but I have my reservations about them, everyone seems to say they're bollocks. They probably are bollocks too, I don't understand how something that slowly dissolves can provide the correct dilution of additive to the petrol unlike an additive you put in that you measure according to how much fuel has gone in the tank.

 

None of the rot holes are serious enough to need temporary bodges, it's just a case of having some pocket money so I can work through them. For now they're solid and not getting any worse so I'm taking the course of action of leaving them alone so I don't make them worse with bodgery. Also, if I do bodge them I'm likely to just tell myself it'll do at MoT time and that means they'll never get done and I need to be better than the previous owners of the car on that front ;)

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Those fuel pellet things are indeed total bollocks, (well theyre not literally some bollocks in a net). As you rightly say if they just dissolved into the petrol, the lead concentration of the fuel would depend entirely on how long your petrol had been sitting in the tank.

 

However, i dont think you need to worrry too much about valve seat recession anyway. These cars have an ally head with hardened valve seat inserts, and lets face it it must have been running for the last 15+ years on unleaded so it cant be doing that much harm. Maybe if you caned it up and down a motorway all day every day, after 3 years you might find a bit of recession, but its not going to be something that causes the car to break down or end up wrecking the engine. I honestly would not worrry about it at all. back in the day I did 50,000 miles in an Ambassador using unleaded petrol and it did it no harm at all.

 

 

Car looks great by the way!!! Theyre such a great shape these things. I always thought the only thing wrong with them was the gearbox, rubbish gearchange and no 5th gear. It would be great to fit a 2.0 Montego engine + 5-speed but theres not really enough width in the engine bay so it would turn ito a right old war. I wondered if a 2.0 KV6 from a 75 would go in better, theres got to be a bit less length to that engine hasnt there and it would suit the wedge ambience perfectly.

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Hello Mr Boll. I'm glad my thinking isn't entirely broken, I think I'll probably be okay, on balance, with the fuel situation. The gearbox selection is a bit rubbish, but I've found the 4 gears are ample for me, it's the bottom end of the box I'm struggling with, especially getting the speeds for changing between 1 and 2. If I drove the Polo like I drive the Princess I'd travel everywhere in a haze of burnt clutch, but keeping the clutch down for longer seems to be the way of things with the barge.

___

My road tax ran out today and sadly, the money pot is empty for a little bit so I'm going to have to keep her on SORN for a little bit. Boo. Not the end of the world, I had a run out today that put things to the test. The first job to do was to make sure I had more petrol in the Princess as I was running low and, as far as we're aware, all the stations within driving distance were out. Not to worry, I'm not using the Polo at the moment and I know he has fresh fuel in. My brother also had the great idea of using the old Princess pump to get the petrol out quicker. So the pump was hooked up and my two jerry cans pressed into service to transfer the fuel.

Pumpy, pumpy, 5 litres...
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... pumpy, pumpy, 10 litres...
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... pumpy, pumpy, same noise as I had on the motorway that time, 12ish litres.
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Great, that made the fuel needle in the Princess move to a point somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 full. More than enough to try out the fuel pump properly and do some errands. Turn the key, starts first time. Haul the yacht off the drive and, as we're setting off, notice some smoke coming from the bonnet. Stop, have a look... ah, fuel pump was leaking around the spacer. Not to worry, we had some gasket stuff that was splurged on and cured the oil leak instantly. We pressed on and I pulled into the first convenient MoT place along the way to pop the bonnet as we still had a bit of smoke, but nothing to really worry about. Looks like oil had got into the the exhaust paste on the downpipe and on the downpipe itself, causing a few wisps of smoke but nothing fire-causing. The biker I pulled up next to seemed most bemused by me hopping out, popping the bonnet and fanning the wisps away, but he didn't say anything.

Set off again, no more smoke, no more smell, no more leaks. Arrived at my parents with the intention to spend a couple of hours getting the exhaust reseated to eliminate the blow on the downpipes and the centre joint. My first time ever driving up onto metal ramps, with a handbrake that doesn't really work and a car with an interesting habit of continuing to move after it's stopped meant I got the ramps balanced on point before they and the car rocked back to the level. Bloody terrifying! No harm done, thankfully, but not an experience I want to repeat.
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Gave us a chance to get our first proper look underneath as we now had a flat surface and greater clearance. Turns out the bushes on the selector box are actually okay and the play is in the main selector rod to the gearbox.
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This is the worst bit that we can see under the car. I'm hoping to get the car undersealed or at least waxoyled anew before winter this year.
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Everything else looks nice and solid, with the odd bit of surface rust that just needs a wire brushing and reseal to be spot on again.
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Next job was to remove the exhaust. Originally I was going to help with this, but my hand and wrist were still playing up so I was watching and learning and pointing the camera at things instead. These are the downpipe clamps before they were cleaned up.
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The exhaust is a big one, and the boxes look like new. I don't know how old this system is, but it's barely seen any use at all. For a tempting few moments I wanted to convert this into a magnificent floor lamp with the plug at the tail end and two round bulbs at the downpipe end... I thought it might work better as my exhaust, so it didn't come to anything more than an idea.
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Nice shiny Bosal boxes.
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This seam was blowing after I stuffed the exhaust into the verge outside my drive. One of those things where you don't know you've done it until it's far too late.
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With four people wiggling and hammering the exhaust we got it free. Barely any paste, some surface rust and angle grinder marks.
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This was cleaned up with the wire brush before fresh paste was applied and the whole thing refitted, without a blow.
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The other problem area on the exhaust is the down pipe fluted sections which we knew from trying to fix the blow without dropping the exhaust the first time, were pretty mullered.
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Luckily, Dad's pretty handy with a pair of pliers and got them to resemble something like the original shape.
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Then these too were cleared of any paste and wire brushed clean.
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Because of the angle of the exhaust previously, I was scraping it when reversing off my driveway. The chrome trim happily came off in my hand when we were moving the exhaust bits about. Initially we considered cutting the end off the pipe, but instead we left it to see how it would all fit first.
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Turns out it fits much better. I'll get a before and after pic up eventually, but I don't have one at the moment. The exhaust refit was actually a massive ballache. With two people under the car and two people guiding things and holding clamps over the engine bay, it was moved around and finally seated properly. More exhaust paste was knocked off the exhaust manifold and another attempt made. Finally, we went from this...
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to this...
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Which it turned out was good, but one of the seams blew. Clamp and collar came off, new paste applied, things were jiggled and it was refitted. Car started anew and all the blows were gone completely. Sitting inside the car it was quiet, I could hear the radio without any electrical interferance and the previous cabin vibration was almost completely gone. Of course, the tuning was now off slightly again, but nothing a minor tweak can't resolve. It was... marvellous.

The job had taken not the estimated 2 hours with 1 experienced and 1 learning person but 5 hours and 4 people to do. Obviously, it's not a job we want to do again! I needed to get some glamour shots of the car for a club thing and it was now too late to go and find a place so I borrowed the nearby garden for that, I'll show the pics in a sec. But first, my brother and I had to ferry some things back to his place so the Princess was loaded up and off we went. It was so quiet! We both couldn't stop marvelling at the near silence of the cabin until we started to hear a little putter. After 3 miles the putter was a blow again from the downpipe that had been such a problem to seal initially. It's okay though, my brother is going to fettle with this at some point and sort it out, he's got a few more tricks up his sleeve yet when it comes to exhausts. No more oil leaks from the fuel pump, a nice amount of power without pops and farts from the engine, a lack of cabin vibration... the car felt much, much newer with that sorted out.

To finish off this update, here's some glamour shots taken in poor light. They give a sense of how good the car is looking now with all this TLC and I'm not ashamed to admit I'm actually proud of her.
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Tune in next time, same Bat channel, same Bat time!

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Very cool. When you refit the exhaust make sure the mounting off the back of the diff is nice and solid, otherwise it'll be blowing from the manifold joint again within a week. Also if th front pipe has one of those 'ball and socket' flexi joints, try to work a load of copaslip into it. They are sods for leaking at the manifold joint.

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We did wonder if that ball-shaped bit was a flexi joint. It didn't seem to have very much movement, but since we weren't entirely sure about it we just left it alone. If we can get access or have to remove the exhaust again, we'll be sure to lubricate it as suggested.

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