project 1980 Austin Princess

[Felly Magic]

I bet that has done a hell of a lot for your mojo, a tiny list of jobs to sort, and it's time for MOT

[michael1703]

Like a John shuttleworth promo

[Ghosty]

Have we got a video?!

 

Great news, exciting times.

[Felly Magic]

As has already been said, worry about the cosmetics once you get a fresh ticket on it, with that it will boost your mojo by eleventy billionty twelve percent

[MikeKnight]

Tuning the carb properly (mixture-wise) and coolant flush next because they can be done at the same time on the ramp, as you need to run the engine up to temp to flush coolant.

 

I can make a start on that tomorrow before you arrive. Yes I will remember to leave the fan running. 

[vulgalour]

It's really weird getting in, turning the key and driving this car now.  Really weird.  It's been broken for that long with me stubbornly lugging it to new addresses it's hard to believe I'm here now.

[DeeJay]

 

 

Judging by the reflection you're getting a bit too excited about the MOT. 

[vulgalour]

In readiness for tomorrow's MoT I wanted to just do a few bits and pieces on the car today while I had chance. Mainly, I wanted to make sure it was clean, particularly the glass, and while we're not talking claybars and snow foam, I did at least want it to look like it hadn't really spent the past few years in and out of a working garage getting steadily covered in rubbish. As it turns out, this wasn't so foolish as the glass was much dirtier than it initially looked which wouldn't have done my new wiper blades any favours. I also sprayed some trim spray on the seatbelts so they're not so lazy - I left the furniture polish at home - and T-cutted the whole roof to get some of the really stubborn marks out of the paint. The roof used to be the best panel on the car, paintwise, but it having a cover on it when it was outside a few years ago has put paid to that. I had hoped it was just smudge marks but it's actually wrecked the paint, the only original bit left on the outside of the car. Oh well. I fitted the sunstrip tint as well, it needs some bubbles pushing out but really does help with that annoying high eye level glare you get driving without any shade across the top of the screen. Last thing I did was fit the grille badge, a present from Autosh*te.

This side already looked quite good. It needs more work to be perfect but it's fine when viewed from across a car park. It'll do.


The other side will need the doors stripping back to bare metal and the front wing replacing/repairing so I didn't do any prep and just blasted some purple on. It doesn't look great, obviously, but again it's good from a distance and looks better than the mismatched paintscheme it was on this side. Also sprayed a bit on the rear wing under the filler cap where there was a petrol incident that stripped the paint off.


After all that, there wasn't anything more I could do. I did trundle about the yard a bit and the brakes are immensely improved after having bled them so I feel more confident with those. The tune is perhaps a little off, we'll see how she behaves when in use, just doesn't seem quite as she used to.

To wrap things up, I took some snapshots with the Rover, a bit of compare and contrast. I'll report back tomorrow at some point on the MoT.

[Felly Magic]

Good luck Vulg

[MarvinsMom]

yes, good luck!

[KruJoe]

CALENDARISED

[Eddie Honda]

De man from de MOT, he say YES!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Good God yaw!

[KruJoe]

[oldcars]

Result, well done, lots of hard graft gone into it. Enjoy.

[Banger Kenny]

Congratulations Vulg.

[vulgalour]

It's true, she's now MoT'd and has 6 months tax on.  Next job is insurance, my current insurer (Tesco) can't insure it because it's too old but I sort of expected that.  I'll do a ring around of the usual suspects tomorrow.  Big thanks to Scaryoldcortina again for his patience, fairness and dilligence, highly recommended tester!

 

Mike and I arrived a little early, we'd allowed time for things to go wrong and nothing really did.  Annoyingly, the exhaust started blowing again and the oil filler cap decided to leak everywhere.  Scary was kind enough to clean up and reseal the cap and spotted a small section of sill rail that needed a tiny bit of weld to secure it.  Thanks to the gas analyser he could also get the emissions where they needed to be and the run home the car was much better. Then it was MoT time and it all went far, FAR better than expected.

 

 

Single advisory for an exhaust blow.  I can very much live with that.  I just need to take off the clamp, clean it up and reseal it to fix that.  Not all shiny and happy though, on the way back the filler cap decided to start leaking again and it got bad enough that it was actually quite embarrassing while sat in traffic... the speedo packed in... and a few dashbulbs went out.  It's niggles though and it was really nice to be in the car again even if it was in the passenger seat.  Mike was really happy piloting the car.

 

Look at the state of this now.

 

Oh well.  She's home, she's got tax and MoT on and tomorrow should be insured.  Now I get to enjoy using it again.  It's been a long, long wait but absolutely worth it.

[MarvinsMom]

result!

 

congrats too after all your hard work!

[320touring]

YAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

GO VULG:)

[Felly Magic]

How's your shitemojo now Vulg? I'd call that a win, and tomorrow you can start the post MOT shakedown

[vulgalour]

I've already ordered a new speedo cable and a new headgasket set so I can rebuild the original head and fit that when I fit the electric fuel pump.  That will also do away with the cap and mechanical fuel pump which are the major oil leaks on the engine.  Tomorrow I'll take the clamp to the unit to clean it up and pick up some new dash bulbs which should sort those items out.  Soon as it's insured I'll be going for a drive ANYWHERE because I can

 

I'm really, really happy.  I'm also slightly confused because I've grown that used to the struggle it's difficult to believe I've achieved the goal.

[Felly Magic]

I bet you felt like hugging SOC when he did a Mr Delmonte. It's a mountain climbed, now you can savour the victory, happy wedgemotoring

[Pillock]

Well done, that's a cracking result.

[vulgalour]

Felt like it, but didn't.  Not that I think he'd mind but he was in oily rags and I was wearing my best suit.

[Dick Longbridge]

Congrats on getting it back on the road. Must feel fantastic finally having it sat back on your drive.

Be ready for your Rover to now start playing silly buggers in protest at having to share the brick paving with a more mature model.

[vulgalour]

It's a bit odd, in all honesty.  Having spent the last three years moving the car from one storage place to another and battling to get it sorted, to now have it sat outside is very, very strange.  It almost feels like I've borrowed it and will have to give it back soon.

[danthecapriman]

Congrats on the much deserved pass! I bet it's great to have it roadworthy again after so long.

Just need to put some miles on the clock now.

[PhilA]

Huzzah! Huzzah I say, with highly polished brass knobs on!

[purplebargeken]

That has brightened my day. Well done, well done indeed.

[DodgeRover]

Congratulations!