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1980 Austin Princess


vulgalour

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Hooray!

26864206779_47e6345d21_b.jpg20171125-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

HOORAY!

26864206529_50973de86d_b.jpg20171125-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Goodness me it got cold though!  Mike and I got the old leaking pipe off and the two new individualisers fitted relatively easily.  The front individualiser fastens directly to the displacer while the rear fastens to the end of the flexi.  We'll be making a small hole in the boot floor to feed the flexi through and capping it with an appropriate grommet so the suspension can be serviced without having to jack up the car.  I'll cover this side of things in full when we do it.

 

After removing the suspension pipe and fitting the new individualisers, we flushed the system on the passenger side with purple meths as per a user manual I found for the Churchill pump.  This evicted quite a lot of scum and debris from both displacers.  We then reinflated them individually to 400psi which set the height about where it needed to be.  It's very cold tonight so this will need to be reset I think when it's a little warmer.  After that, the driver's side was properly vacuumed to get a surprisingly large amount of air out and refilled with fresh hydragas fluid to balance with the passenger side.  We suspect there's a leak somewhere on the driver's side as it did seem to drop a couple of psi when testing the system.  This could well be the pipe given the trouble the passenger side gave me, let's hope it's not a duff displacer.

 

With the car pumped up, systems checked, lights checked, etc. I took it for a drive around the block.  A few alarming smells amounted to nothing amiss, just sprayed hydragas getting dried off the exhaust, slightly musty interior (leaking windscreen seal), and an old car being stood outside for a few months having to now dry out.  The only hiccup was the battery was a bit flat and we learned my 414 isn't strong enough to jump the Princess but Mike's Rover 75 diesel most definitely is.

 

Once I got back from the very quick test drive I stuck the wheel trims back on.

26864206739_b8f59cfee0_b.jpg20171125-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The next job is sorting out why these bulbs are out, which is going to be easier in daylight.

26864206619_2631b04936_b.jpg20171125-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I do feel like I'm about 6' in the air when I'm driving the Princess and now the suspension has been serviced by the book with a proper Churchill pump, the ride is ridiculously smooth.  I never really got the 'magic carpet' analogy because while it was good, mine was never Citroen smooth.  Now it's quite remarkable how smooth it is, almost as though the road isn't even there.  I didn't notice any untoward handling from there being a connecting pipe one side and individualisers the other and I shan't be going very far with the car until I've built up a little confidence.  It was a joy to drive it just a few minutes after so long of it sitting grounded.  It is a very different creature to the Rover, very different indeed.

 

26864205979_735c4d5869_b.jpg20171125-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

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I was going to take this to the Rover R8 meet but took the R8 instead.  Not because the Princess was particularly broken, but because its battery wasn't quite full enough to crank the engine into life so the battery is now on the conditioner.  I don't think there's an earth problem or electricity leak, I just think there's not enough charge in it since I didn't have it running long enough after the jump start yesterday to really get it fully charged.

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Since the Princess has been idle for so long, Mike suggested that we take it to do the big shop instead of the safety of one of the Rovers.  Toolkit loaded into the boot, gloves, jump leads, AA card in my wallet, everything checked before setting off, battery tested... we were as ready as we could be.

 

Went pretty well to begin with though the windscreen fogs up quite quickly because there's still moisture in the cabin from it being stood for a while.  Fortunately the heaters are fierce enough that they can keep you warm even with your side window open all the way.  The alternator belt started squealing into the journey but it was unclear if it was a loose belt or just a wet belt so we pushed on.  The clutch feels very low now too, although the releasing bearing has stopped making noises for the first time in my ownership.  I've got a new clutch to go on, this is no big deal.  As we got nearer to town the car wasn't exactly happy, a bit chuntery when the belt was squealing, but we were nearly at the car park so we got a spot and parked up.

 

The alternator belt was quite loose.  There was plenty of charge in the battery and the unit was literally around the corner so it was no difficulty to leave the car and do the shopping first, coming back to it to trundle around to the unit.  An Audi tried to pull out on me on the roundabout and I hit the washer jets instead of the horn, got the stalks muddled.  A test of the battery to see it was indeed charging and holding charge was done, then the slack belt tightened and everything was fine.  At the unit we tested the horn, something I hadn't done, and it just makes a juddery noise at the pump so that needs unsticking. Drove back a much happier car with a boot full of shopping. 

 

Anyway, long and short of it is that it was a successful mission.

37795131265_f413373b31_b.jpg20171127-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

 

Also, now I've had the car up to 50mph I can state the suspension modification/repair is perfectly sound.  The only peculiarity is that one side is a little more rolypoly than the other, the side with the original pipe, so I shan't be going any great distance or any great speed until both sides are matching.  Oh, and the brakes are either in need of a bleed or are just terrible compared to the Rover, they need considerable effort to operate, much more than I remember.

 

So there's a few niggles to work through now but at least the car is mobile and it's easy to get to a work space out of the weather to do so.  I'm a happy chappy.

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Its amazing how much better you feel about a car once you start using it as a car. Once I've had a car conk out on me, I loose a lot of trust in it and get concerned it will do it again. However I guess on these sorts of cars, the majority of problems that can stop a journey are rectifiable by the side of the road with a handful of tools.

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Absolutely.  With the exception of the suspension, pretty much any failure I'm likely to have in the Princess can be sorted with a very basic toolkit, and has in the past.  The only problem really is having to plan ahead a lot more in modern traffic, newer cars are able to accelerate and deccelerate so much quicker than a car like this can that you really have to be paying attention all the time.

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Well.

 

24850996898_7b10bcaf77_b.jpg20171129-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Yeah.  Let's go leak hunting then.  I did expect this a little bit because it's new stuff and you do expect things to need nipping up here and there.  For the rear to be that low something was very broken rather than just leaking a little.  First culprit was the schrader valve where it goes into the adaptor block.  It needed a quarter turn and that seems to have solved that one.  The green wire is temporary and to prevent the hose from getting trapped or stressed until the boot holes are drilled and a proper retaining bracket made, a job I was hoping to do at the unit this week.

26948203489_e4b4c5f7da_b.jpg20171129-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

There was a more serious leak somewhere though.  Time to check the next point which is the flexi-hose.  Dry where it goes into the adaptor, which is a good sign, unlike the underside of the car which is sprayed liberally with suspension fluid suggested it's coming out at a decent pressure somewhere.

38691734342_932a51defe_b.jpg20171129-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Ah.  That would be a failed flexi.  It looks like it's gone right at the crimp.  The union to the displacer isn't leaking and is as tight as it will go but the flexi-hose is soaked through from the crimp upwards.  Rather than failure of the new parts, this is failure of a 40 year old high-pressure hose.  It's annoying but an easy fix at least.  I knew the fittings are obsolete so getting new pipes made is going to be pricey because of that so I'm hoping to find a pair of good NOS ones, or at best some lightly used old ones.  We'll see what turns up.

24850996758_965a0a7ae9_b.jpg20171129-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Front looked to be sitting just a tiny bit lower than it was so I inspected that too and gave the adaptor a quarter turn there.  I'm putting this down to us doing the job when it was very cold so things hadn't fully tightened and I'll keep an eye on it for now.  If it undoes itself or leaks I'll get some thread lock of some sort on there in addition.  The front hadn't dropped enough to warrant getting it pumped back up and hadn't sprayed fluid everywhere so I'm not worried about this right now.

26948203289_7a26b3da5c_b.jpg20171129-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Hopefully replacing those rear flexis won't take me too long.  I'm irritated, but not angry, about this development.  I was sort of expecting the rear pipes to fail given their age, it's the way of these jobs that as you replace things you knock the problems further down the chain.

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I have.  They did the repair section with the obsolete fittings and that was about £70 from memory.  Trying to sort out this suspension is beginning to get expensive now:

£70 flexible repair section

£25 hard pipe repair (that didn't work)

£60 individualiser adaptors

 

I'm expecting the custom rear flexi hoses to be £70 each since they're a similar size and fitting size/type to the ones for that first repair.  If it were all metric it wouldn't be anywhere near as expensive, but the obsolete sizes means the fittings are all special order.

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Going UP!  If you think the suspension updates are a rollercoaster, you should try living with them!  Hopefully this is the last problem for a while at least.  Because of the new suspension solution, when I lose a displacer I don't lose the whole side of the car which meant I could easily turn it around to make working on the driver's side pipe that much easier with no tyres scrubbing on arches and causing bodywork problems.  This was actually a really useful case of proving a theory with some practice.

 

First of all we disconnected the front driver's side displacer... or rather we tried to.  Numerous tools were tried, spanners and adjustable spanners were proving ineffective.  Hammers were defeated... we even got a bit desperate when trying to get anything that would fit in the engine bay this side to act as a suitable lever.

38877278931_49fb8604b4_b.jpg20171206-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The trouble on this side was that the clutch hydraulics, fuel lines, and bits of engine were all in the way of getting anything onto the displacer nut.  In the end we had to admit defeat and cut the pipe off.  Given the condition of the other pipe it's likely this one would have gone the same way anyway as we found the metal had gone very thin near the displacer fitting just like it had on the passenger side. That did at least allow us to get a socket over the displacer nut and a breaker bar on that and with a colossal bang the thing came undone.  This is the one corner I haven't had a displacer fail on so I suspect that's why this was so difficult to undo, it's probably not been touched for the whole life of the car.

 

With that off we could flush the displacer through with some purple meths before the next step.  It was a lot cleaner this side for some reason and didn't take long to sort out.  With the driver's side now ready for the adapter to be fitted we removed the adapter from the passenger side after flushing the Hydragas out.  I had considered reusing the fluid but it was a little opaque and I've got plenty of fresh so this was tipped away.  There was no sign of any large particles or the scum that came out the first time we did this so I'm hopeful that it's in reasonable health.

24012552057_b4bbf71ca3_b.jpg20171206-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Next up was the threadlock.  An order for some had been placed but Mike had some left in a bottle that needed using up so we used that first.

38877279131_f6bd597613_b.jpg20171206-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

That seems to have done the trick with the small leak we had at the front the first time and the parts screwed together much smoother.  Both front displacers were then vacuumed and inflated with fresh fluid and the front end returned to full functionality, leaving the rear on stands.  There was just enough time to get to the pipe making shop and just enough light to see what we were doing so off with the awkward-to-access rear hose that had burst.

38877279041_3bda43ee4a_b.jpg20171206-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Then a quick tidy up and scrub of hands before scooting over to Pirtek.  I haven't had a reply at all from the tip off I was given so rather than waiting indefinitely I wanted to at least find out if getting a pair of custom pipes made was affordable.  A brief moment was taken to watch a neighbour's cat play a bit of footie.

38847080952_1c2a588dda_b.jpg20171206-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The new pipes are going to cost less than the front repair section.  Rather than using the custom blocks I got made on the back, we're using schrader fitting adaptors that are off the shelf which reduces the new pipe cost considerably.  The displacer end of the pipe is a standard size but with a cone-seat rather than a flat-seat so that was special order which is why the pipes aren't already in my pocket.  New pieces for the new pipes will arrived between noon Friday and noon Saturday so by Sunday the car should be fully suspended again and we can test the new suspension properly.  When that's done I can then report on what it's like to drive and what the costs are to get this done without the incorrect bits and mistakes I've made along the way.  Hopefully that will help other owners should they wish to go this route.

 

For now, the car is sat patiently waiting until the new high pressure pipes are made.  It should be easy to get this resolved.  As a side note, the car started first flick of the key after being stood outside for a while with the battery connected so I reckon we've solved the flat battery problem by tightening that alternator belt so that now it actually charges things.  I reckon we're doing okay.

38847080782_7430689c71_b.jpg20171206-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

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The usual nervousness of seeing where the car is sat today after doing suspension yesterday was rewarded with it being in exactly the same place.  No sign of any leaks.  I do seem to have a very slightly squeaky displacer, the one I most recently replaced in fact.  It doesn't bother me, you won't be able to hear it in the car it's such a quiet squeak.  I got the remaining suspension pipe off and in fact I'm glad I did because it was thin in lots of places and just fractured in three places as I was trying to carefully remove it from the car.  I suspect that would have been my next suspension failure on the car so it looks like these adaptors were a well timed idea.  The driver's side pipe is a lot easier to remove too since the shape of it seems less keen to snag between the bulkhead and engine/gearbox at the front and there's no exhaust in the way at the back.  I have at least salvaged the rear hose from this side as that still looks in reasonable condition and may help someone else out should they need it.  I've also left all the brackets for the pipe on the car in part because it's work I don't want to do, and in part because if I do need to go back to the factory pipe set up I can much easier this way.

 

 The cars needed moving around a bit since space is limited and everything was just a  bit too far down the drive for Mike to park easily.  Happily, this is possible even without the rear displacers connected because of the new system and I had everything realigned very quickly.  The throttle was stuck too far open at first and that ended up being the  plastic bukhead grommet for the throttle cable having come unseated and somehow holding the cable in the wrong place.  Not sure how that happened, but pushing the grommet back into the bulkhead fixed it and all systems were normal again.

 

Now I just have to wait for these new pipes to arrive so we can pump up the back end.

 

27117768959_3058a3ecb4_b.jpg20171207 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

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320: I'm finding answers to the questions nobody asked!  It should, in theory, improve the handling a crapload without putting extra stress on the displacers so I'm excited to find out how it behaves when everything's all set up.  I can also adjust the spring ratings on each corner with this system by altering the pressure of the fluid.  If/when I get the displacers regassed I can also adjust the nitrogen side, which I think translates as the shock/damper rating.  Fully adjustable independent Hydragas suspension.

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You've bettered the odds on the system failing now, both by making it independent and fixing the potentially weak parts so that's good.

 

It's also psychologically good, it's nice to know it's better than it was. I am now jealous of complicated suspension.

 

Phil

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Today, the new pipes were ready and Mike kindly collected them in the morning before I was up (he works days, I work nights, sometimes this is useful) so they were ready to go when I rolled out of bed.  Very nice they are too, especially when seen alongside the  one they're replacing.

27160468019_acfac0e608_b.jpg20171209-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Because the Princess suspension fittings are  older sizes that means special ones have to be ordered in as nothing is really standard.  This adds to the cost and timescale but it's still not terrible.  The new pipe is rate well above what's required because of what's available, there's a rather large jump between pressure tolerances  and the 400psi of the Princess system sits in an awkward spot for standard modern applications.

24072778887_edce247409_b.jpg20171209-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

27160467859_01b3c1b912_b.jpg20171209-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

If I'd known fitting a custom pipe at the back without an adapter was more cost effective I would have only got a pair of the displacer adapters so the front was catered to properly.  As a result, the actual cost of this conversion is only about £100 (two pipes and two adapter blocks) which is actually very cheap.  The new pipes sit naturally on the flange of the petrol tank which was safe enough for the test run but not the long term solution.  Servicing the rear displacers with the pipe sat there isn't ideal  so the boot floor modification is the next job to finish things off.  At the front I'm considering the suspension sorted.  You can just about make out the pipes in these pictures, it's difficult to photograph with the car all together.  The Hydragas fluid you see isn't a leak, that was just from opening the air bleed valve on the pump fitting when we pumped the car up.-

27160467809_d639c78462_b.jpg20171209-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

24072778747_703d98cbcb_b.jpg20171209-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The car was sat up nicely with all four corners at 400psi.  No leans or leaks that have presented yet, if that's going to appear it will take a little time to do so.  The front was initially sitting a little high because the car has been jacked up and down quite a bit so everything was a bit out of sorts.  It settled down even once I'd driven around the block.

27160467719_e927f84bef_b.jpg20171209-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

With that all as done as it could be it was time to go for a test drive.  It is VERY cold here today and the Princess isn't massively keen on sub-zero temperatures, understandably.  I'm about the same age and I'm not too fond of it either.  Typically, once I got in the car and tried to select reverse the clutch that was very low is now almost non-existant.  Rev-matching  is required to change gear, something I'm not very good at as I've not had a lot of practice.  I do have a clutch kit to go on so that'll be the next job, I've put off doing it in favour of other things for the five years I've owned the car!

 

Here's a terrible video that isn't edited.

 

What I can tell you is how it drives.  It feels more modern.  It's also weird.  I'm used to the Princess being very wallowy and having to predict sweeping into and out of bends.  It doesn't do this now, it feels more direct.  Not sports car direct, just more predictable and as I'd expect from something a few decades younger.  The ride itself isn't hard or jarring, nor is it so inclined to pitch and yaw which, if I'm honest, I do prefer.  I'd like to know how it performs on a long fast road since that's what it was always good at but even just a quick whizz around the block shows it's much easier to pilot in an urban setting.

 

I also really need to replace that top door hinge pin on the driver's side, another job I've been putting off forever even though I've got replacement pins.  With the clutch the way it is I can drive it, just, but I might do the clutch change at home rather than trying to go to the unit as then I don't have to faff about trying to change gears  without holding everyone else up. Overall, I'm happy, and the clutch failure is just normal old car nonsense so I'm not even mad about it.

 

 

 

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