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1980 Austin Princess


vulgalour

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The overflow location isn't plugged or capped, it's just not there, it's solid casting.  I don't know if this is because the other half of the pair has the overflow or because what looks like the oil breather is actually the overflow.

It's blank NOT because it's "the other half of of pair" (it IS single), it's not there because they never used to put them on everything.

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Fair enough.  I get confused easily.

 

Right, so, other things.  BRAND NEW windscreen seal arrived courtesy of the club, it really does look very nice indeed and I look forward to paying someone else to fit it for me, especially since my spare windscreen DISAPPEARED like an old oak table.

 

I have a strange brake problem.  I've been trying to replicate it and it only happens within the first five miles of driving.  You brake and it feels like there's a bump on one of the front discs making the pedal bobble ever so slightly.  It's so slight that you can't feel it wearing boots but can wearing shoes and after the first five miles it doesn't do it at all.  No loss of fluid, no visible leaks, no damaged pipes, no sign of brakes dragging or sticking, no heat build up, no problems with the handbrake not releasing, and no pulling to one side or the other under braking.  Just this peculiar, minor, bobble, for want of a better description.  Passengers are unaware of it when it happens.  The only thing I can think is one caliper is possibly sticking very slightly until the car has been driven and after a few pumps of the pedal it's freed off so it may be worth my while rebuilding the spare calipers I have with the new rebuild kit I bought a while ago.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a lot to report.  Ticked over to 76,000 miles recently.

41045606840_3827b4bcc5_b.jpg20180615 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I got fed up of the very nice looking clamp-mount mirrors recently because they kept getting knocked when parked and adjusting themselves while driving.  This would have been less of an issue if I could have got them to clamp a bit tighter and if my driver's door window actually opened.  I've lost track of how many mirror sets I've had fitted to this car in my quest to find something attractive and practical.  The black wing mirrors were best for visibility but got in the way when trying to do engine bay stuff and since I welded up the holes for those I reckon I drew a line under ever fitting them again.  I found a set on eBay for a lot less than they should have been, especially going by the prices others are selling them for.

 

Since it involved drilling holes in a door, I decided now would be a good time to trial them since the orange door on the car is only a step above scrap and I've still not finished repairing the original door because of other commitments.  You might be able to recognise them, the base mount is a bit of a giveaway and the bit I like least about them.

41045606590_32e9ea6e3d_b.jpg20180617-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Sometimes I don't like them because I've been used to seeing much smaller mirrors on the car.  They are, however, much better to use.  You have to knock them quite hard to put them out of adjustment and because the mirror is that much squarer than the previous offerings, you can still see well even if the mirror is badly adjusted.  They mount much better too, with no vibration while driving or sat at idle.  They can be folded in if needed too, which none of the previous mirrors could do.

41045606240_283c2ec81b_b.jpg20180617-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

41045606030_66fc0408c3_b.jpg20180617-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

They feel like they're the right size for the car and they almost eliminate the C pillar blind spot.  From some angles they do look too big and clunky, from others you don't really notice them, so they're probably about right.  They come from a Suzuki SJ, of all things.

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A little bit of an update.  I intended to do more today, instead it was lots of little errands and then getting sidetracked with some skip-diving (remember what I said about no more projects?  Oops).  First thing to report is that I didn't want to spend nearly $2 USD per special bolt/screw for the new rear light fixings, plus $20-30 postage, so I went to the local fixings place and bought a fistful of allen headed stainless bolts that will do exactly the same job for 50p each.  I also bought all the rear bulbs I need for the new light units, which was more expensive because they're weird American offset peg nonsense and coloured glass because of the clear lenses they're sitting behind.
28018586287_c00a0c8e64_b.jpg20180619-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr
 
With those got, the only thing stopping me doing the rear lights is now time, so they can be my reward for when I've got the front panels done on the Princess and the MoT on the Rover.  I didn't really have enough time to get into welding today, but I did have some time, so determined to fit the other door mirror since I'm so happy with the first.  Biggest problem is that I don't actually have a pair, I have two driver's side mirrors.  Not an issue, I've got heat, a vice, and a huge wrench, all of which were employed to bend the mirror stalk the opposite way.  This worked very well and I now have excellent rear visibility on both sides of the car, which is something of a novelty.  I like the mirrors more now there's two on the car and taking the paint off the mirror mount to reveal the cast aluminium is a big improvement in that area, I'll strip the paint off the driver's mirror when it goes on the door I'm repairing.
42839387572_11dd0301cb_b.jpg20180619-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr
 
Trying to do at least one little job a day from now on, even if that little job is a mere inch of welding.  That way I should make progress on everything and easily hit my self imposed deadline.  You'll have to excuse blur-o-vision, the camera was clearly too excited to focus properly.

42839387502_520f32e4b7_b.jpg20180619-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

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Little job, every day.  Welding not a thing I can deal with today, not in the right headspace for it, so let's see if we can get that bump stop bonded back together.  It fell off when we had the suspension apart ages ago and I hadn't found anything that would bond it back on reliably.  The pressure of the system does hold the rubber in place so it's not going to go anywhere even if it isn't glued.  Anyway, first thing is off with the wheel trim, then the wheel, then up on stands to access the schrader valve.  After several hundred miles of driving about I'm happy to report no issues. Having the Churchill pump makes this a super fast job.  Once depressurised, unclip the bottom of the rebound strap so the trailing arm can be pushed down just enough to get the bump stop rubber back in.

42873422802_d25f8b20b5_b.jpg20180620-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Flash makes it all look quite rusty under there, which it isn't.  Flash is weird like that.  Easy job at least.  Popped the wheel back on, car on the floor, suspension reinflated and all done.

41112167460_f23187b447_b.jpg20180620-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The ride is improved slightly and the occasional knock from the rear end is gone, which isn't really a big surprise given that the displacer is now cushioned rather than resting on metal.

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Did a little health check just now and made things worse.  Go me.  Coolant and oil nice and clean still, and at the desired levels.  Tyre pressures good.  Suspension good.  No leaks... blablabla.  So let's pull the plugs and have a look.  The engine has felt a bit 'off' recently, a bit too willing to stall first thing sometimes, but nothing obvious.  Plug gaps were all at .55mm instead of the book .9mm suggestion and while they indicated things are running a bit lean, nothing to worry about (turned up the mixture a tad).  Checked the throttle cable too, another gut feeling moment when I undid the bolt that holds the cable in place and watched as a tiny bit of resistance from the cable being a smidge too tight was released.  Also bent the bracket that holds the cable a smidge so it lines up better with the throttle position arm thingy.  So far, throttle doesn't seem to be sticking at idle like it was so maybe I fixed that?

 

Engine still didn't seem right, seemed a bit... lumpy, but not like a reliable miss.  Took it for a spin around the block and the first attempt at going above 30mph rewarded me with a three cylinder car.  Got home, pulled the plugs and regapped just to be sure, and restarted it to find it running very lumpy on three.  Pulled a plug lead at a time and while I'm getting a healthy spark at all four leads, one plug is delivering nothing at all.  It's in the same condition as all the rest, with the same gap, it just doesn't want to spark.

 

I have no idea how old these NGKs are that are in, I suspect at least 5 years old as plugs were one of the first things I did, so they're probably overdue a change.

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Generic plug gap recommendations often assume factory fitted electronic ignition, hence 0.8-0.9mm being common.  Typically, older cars with a coil, distributor and points used to require 0.6mm.  However, each manufacturer may state something different in the owner's manual. What happens if you move the non-sparking plug to a different cylinder or re-gap all of them to 0.6mm?  New plugs would be a fairly cheap option.  Otherwise, as I am sure you are aware, a plug lead or the distributor cap may be suspect.

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Pretty sure it's a duff plug and not something else.  If I'm getting a healthy spark at the end of each lead, I can't see it being anything other than the plug.

 

Yes, you did say that in your post.  My memory of recent things often misfires, which could explain why I sometimes go in to the kitchen but haven't the foggiest idea why  :-D .

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Pretty sure it's a duff plug and not something else.

Put the questionable spark plug in a different cylinder and see if the fault follows it.

 

 

Also, your brake pedal "bobble" issue. If you drive very carefully without using the brakes for the first 5 miles, does it then still do it, or is the 5-mile time for it to bobble brake-use-independent.

 

If you manage (difficult, I know) to drive 5 miles without using the brakes, and then after said 5 miles it *doesn't* do it, I'd be looking at something other than the brakes.. Maybe a driveshaft joint warming up or similar.

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It is impossible to drive for five miles without using the brakes because there's about forty roundabouts outside my front door.  Given that the bobble has pretty much stopped this week it's probably my hypersensitivity to mechanical stuff, nobody else is aware of half the things I smell and hear and feel when I'm driving.

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it's probably my hypersensitivity to mechanical stuff, nobody else is aware of half the things I smell and hear and feel when I'm driving.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Naturally if I hear it, I'm only ever worried if its my car making that noise.

 

Whatever you do, don't let it rub off onto your other half. Mine is now hypersensitive to every noise a car makes, but due to her lack of automotive mechanicals, she worries overtime. It took a good few days to properly convince her that the popping from the amp in the TT isn't the car about to explode.

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I remember in my spark plug selling days how lots of older fellas would be incredibly loyal to spark plug brands.

 

Initially we stocked Bosch but we kept a few Champion to keep the oldies happy.

Easily done when N9Y fitted 50% of the cars out there at the time.

 

There were some who wouldn't buy NGK because they remembered the war and saw Japan as the evil nation.

 

But with NGK, when a customer came back and said they had a duff plug from us, we could confidently say "No you haven't."

 

We would change it because the NGK rep would always honour it but he recons they never ever had a duff plug get through quality control.

 

The customer would always be back for a set of leads or distributor cap the next day.

 

Five years might be pushing it though :-)

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I hadn't had a problem with these NGKs until recently.  Went to the local motorfactors and they only stock NGK.  I wanted to avoid waiting on an order arriving, and ECP, so it was a little irritating that the type I need isn't one they had on the shelf and they had to order in for me.  Still quicker through the local shop since the plugs will be here tomorrow, it's less hassle, and they're a comparable price to everywhere else.  Then I got flumoxxed because I was presented with a contactless card payment machine and I've only just normalised using chip-and-pin.  The future is scary and beeps a lot.

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Collected my new spark plugs today.  Gapped them since they were all different, chucked them in and fired the car up.  First thing I noticed is that it fired up a lot easier, it had started getting a bit lazy and grumpy about it recently.  Second thing is that the misfire is totally gone.  It feels nice and even now rather than ever so slightly off, so that issue was probably the plug breaking down.

 

I also found the irritating occasional rattle from the boot area.  That's part of the lock mechanism touching part of the boot lid ever so slightly and vibrating at idle, easily fixed with a file and/or rubber grommit.

 

Only thing of concern now is that I noticed what seems like a very occasional knocking noise from the head at idle.  I can't tell if it's just old engine noise, or something that's worn out.  You can only hear it with your head in the engine bay too, it's very subtle.  None of the danger lights have come on and it doesn't feel like a major problem, it could well be perfectly normal, it doesn't seem like something amiss.  Difficult to explain it better as it doesn't pick up on camera microphone so it's something I'm just keeping an eye on for now.  I do have the car's original head in the garage that can easily be rebuilt if needed, the one on the car is from the lower mileage orange one I broke for parts so I have no history for it at all.  The noise is definitely coming from the head too and only noticeable at idle, if it were coming from lower down the engine I'd be much more worried.

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