project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

Wow.  Just... wow.

[Noel Tidybeard]

I've just noticed a really unimpressed face where the centre vents are and now I can't stop seeing it.

 

Y THO!

[vulgalour]

I have been quietly getting stuff together on the Princess to try and get things in a position where I can really just go through stuff in the winter.  The suspension issues have thrown a bit of a spanner in the works, as did getting the 1100, and work projects... but I'm top side of everything now so I finally have time and resources to devote to the wedge.

 

Mechanically, I've got two oil seals to replace and everything is crossed that these custom individualiser blocks I'm having made resolve the suspension issues as much as possible.  Everything else seems in fine fettle on the mechanical front.  Electrically I've got two inoperative dashboard bulbs which are going to be investigated sometime within the next week or so and some minor rewiring for the rear end.

 

That brings us neatly to the cosmetic.  A colour change is planned because of the new orange carpet inside the car which works so well with the black interior.  The only other interior jobs I need to do are to redo the parcel shelf in vinyl because the velvet has already faded - the sunlight through that rear window is really fierce - and recolour the dashboard insert.  Other than that the interior is really as I want it.

 

On the bodywork side of things I'll be repairing the best four of the eight doors I've got and putting the best glass, etc. in them before repainting.  That will also allow me to hopefully resolve the saggy driver's door hinge that has been an issue since day one.  I've got a spare front wing to allow me to repair the damaged one too, this is one of the biggest jobs on the car since they're not easy to remove or repair.  Elsewhere there's two small patches needed on the rear lower wings and the new light buckets to let in on the back panel.

 

Ah yes, the back panel.  Originally I wanted a matched pair of lights and couldn't find what I wanted in budget.  For various reasons my budget has since increased and options widened so I now have what I wanted in the first place rather than what I could get.  I'm quite excited by this.

 

 

 

I'll be doing away with the bullseye modern lights, the BMW 2002 lights and the foglights and replacing the lot with these four 1964 Ford Galaxie light units.  I've got two more cake tins ordered to give me the bigger internal buckets I need to install them with and then it should be just a weekend's work at the very most to get it all in and wired up.

 

I know, unfortunately, that the suspension is going to be the one thing that is going to continue to cause me a headache on this car.  If I'm really lucky, the solution I'm currently pursuing will see me right for some time to come.  I've not had much luck with the suspension on this car, however.  In fact, I've been one of the unluckiest!  That's just the way these things go.  I'm so close right now to having everything tied up and finished and looking how I want it's both frustrating and exciting.

 

The Rover, by comparison, is perfectly fine the way it is and I'm very happy with how it looks.  There's room for improvement but how it looks doesn't frustrate me like the Princess does, perhaps because the Princess has been a real fight for various reasons for the last five years and I feel like I ought to be a lot further along with it.

 

I still can't see myself getting rid of the Princess or, for that matter, the Rover.  They're a good fit for me and I do, when they're behaving, enjoy owning them.

[JeeExEll]

You do realise that with four rocket-tail-lights installed you won't actually need an engine to drive forwards, and that suspension will only be required upon landing.

[vulgalour]

ooh, that should help with fuel economy!

[JeeExEll]

Onwards and upwards.

[plasticvandan]

I'm hoping for orange,or brown

[Mally]

It's the minor details that piss you off.

I sorted the pipes on mine, then a displacer, then the cam belt teeth fell off  and bent 2 valves.

Final straw was the gear lever started going round like a pudding stirrer instead of forward and back.

Welded a slot back into the ball on the lever and got rid!

[vulgalour]

I had the pudding stirrer happen in the middle of Sheffield.  That was fun*.

[Dippy]

The carpet looks great and those seat covers are brilliant.

[chaseracer]

I had the pudding stirrer happen in the middle of Sheffield.  That was fun*.

 

That's one for the quote thread...! 

[vulgalour]

Things are rolling along nicely at the moment, I've ordered some more suspension fluid so I can get things pumped up when that arrives, hopefully.  In the meantime, my primary jobs are going over the new rear light units and sorting out the dashboard.  Didn't really want to be faffing about with the dashboard today, so lights it is.  They proved fairly easy to dismantle with the exception of the flimsy little folded-metal nuts that hold the chrome trim onto the red lens, one of which snapped in half.  The problem with those is getting a tool in that's skinny enough, I found my sockets only just fit in the gap.  With those removed and the units dismantled I could bag the smaller items and see what I could do about cleaning up the rest.

20171022-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

There was a lot of dirt in one of the light units.  I don't mean it was a bit grubby, I mean there was actually soil inside it.

20171022-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Still, everything came apart easily enough and I had all the components laid out so I could assess for damage and such, of which there wasn't really any to speak of.

20171022-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The screws holding the lenses to the buckets are a little strange.  They're a shouldered fixing but the shouldered section is cut with a spiral rib, rather like a screw thread.  I need another 13 of these, or something very similar.  I'll try the local fixings shop who probably have if not the identical type then something that will work as a match.  Also shown here is the one folded-metal nut that snapped on removal.

20171022-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Spent some time thoroughly scrubbing all the components before leaving them to dry.

20171022-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

One thing I did learn was that the very dirty lens isn't actually a Ford original, nor is the clear glass lens that accompanies it.  The red lens is brighter than the others and neither lens has a Ford or FOMOCO logo on them, unlike the bucket they live in.  I guess this one was replaced at some point.  The colour difference isn't really too apparent until you have it and an original lens side by side and the fit, while not perfect, is pretty good for an aftermarket item.

20171022-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

20171022-08 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

20171022-09 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The units are a lot brighter for a clean and look much better.  I will need to replace a few items like the larger ring gaskets which have dried out and gone brittle.

20171022-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I'm a bit puzzled by one item on the back of the light units which is a single black plastic T piece that as screwed onto one of the light buckets.  All four buckets have a captive bolt in the same place but only one had this plastic T piece.  I'm guessing it's some sort of wire guide since it sits right next to the wiring for the clear lens (not fitted here), but I'm not sure.

20171022-11 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

20171022-10 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

 

All I need to get these working is a selection of coloured bulbs for the clear lenses (I don't want to colour the lenses as I prefer the uniformity of matching lenses), 13 fixing screws to hold the lens to the buckets, 8 new O ring gaskets (I can make those out of suitable foam or rubber) and two blanking gromits for the two missing ones (I'll use plain black ones since I won't need the outer most ones to emit any light into the boot).  Mike and I have look at the wiring and it looks like it's just a case of adding different connectors to the Ford units and plugging straight in to the existing wiring in the car.

[purplebargeken]

Those bolt/screw thingies are very weird.

[purplebargeken]

What colour vinyl is required for the parcel shelf?

[SiC]

Like you said, I bet it's a wire guide. I reckon a loom is on it and a zip tie holds it against it.

[vulgalour]

pbk: plain black.  Might do a buttoned parcel shelf, because I can.

 

SiC:  exactly my thoughts.  Not been able to find a picture of the lights in their factory location, owners seem reticent in covering really important details like this and are more concerned with shiny paint and big engines.

[PhilA]

In this instance, what are your plans for the things?

 

There might be distance/clearance to other lamp regulations but I'm pretty sure you can have fog light share space with tail light (see Ford Sierra with the newer lights where they put the brake lights in the middle, the outer lights are tail and fog).

 

Also, Osram silvered bulbs so you don't see the orange inside the lens, but it flashes orange. Perfect time for them really, most other applications they look gash.

 

Edit: The fixing screws are designed to be put into the plastic first. If you see they have a reverse thread on the steep helix, that grips PMMA well, and sticks out marginally further than the nut thread. That means you just fling the plastic in the hole and do the nuts up- you're doing it up against the thread but you have little in the way of pulling force from the torque and the coarse threads don't strip the plastic and only need one tool, the other hand just holds the lens in place.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

Should be fine on the distance thing, the back end will look right and if I do get pulled up on it I can always stick a central fog LED under the number plate and put a second reversing light in.  Won't do that unless I'm made to though.

 

I did find some of those specific screws on eBay America (listed for Ford Thunderbird of the same year) but decided against them because they want something like $3 USD each plus $20 USD postage which is ridiculous when I can just get plain shouldered screws for far less locally.  At least I now know why they're the shape they are.

[purplebargeken]

I have probably enough black vinyl in the lock up of mystery if ya want it for the cost of a bit of postage. 

 

Just need to check on the condition.

[PhilA]

Yeah, you'll achieve the same effect by putting a screwdriver on the outside and a socket on the inside and turning one without the funny shouldered twin helix screws.

 

Get stainless ones.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

I have probably enough black vinyl in the lock up of mystery if ya want it for the cost of a bit of postage. 

 

Just need to check on the condition.

 

I'd appreciate that   Going to have a rummage through my button jar and see if I've got enough suitable buttons in there for the job and of course I'll need to get a slab of foam.  Been ages since I've done buttoned upholstery.  I don't need a lot, it's a fairly short but wide piece.

[purplebargeken]

I have some laminate flooring underlay which is virtually perfect for the job. Let me have the dimensions

[vulgalour]

For... foam?

[purplebargeken]

Well it comes in a roll (the thin foam), just need rough dimensions so I can cut both to size for you and post it out.

[vulgalour]

The stuff I've used of that before has been quite thin and brittle a bit like polystyrene sheet, is the stuff you've got fairly flexible?  Ideally I need a good half inch of squishy foam for the buttoning so that the buttons really sink in

[purplebargeken]

Ah, the foam I have is only thin, no deep buttoning action indicated with this stuff.

 

It's more like OE thickness stuff.

[vulgalour]

Could be handy for the 1100, that's the sort of thickness I need for the door card retrim.  I'd not thought of using that sort of foam for the job.

[purplebargeken]

It'd be perfect. Mate of mine used it to retrim his lovely Toledo using alcantara (or whatever).

 

I think* it is this stuff: 302337319092

[vulgalour]

The suspension is getting to be really frustrating.

 

We've got one of the new adaptors fitted and the displacer it's fitted to flushed and filled to 100psi with fluid.  A new correct diameter pipe had been bought for the Churchill pump to sort out the lack of pumping pressure and then Mike noticed that one of the non-return valves for the pump isn't actually working properly so has scooted off to the unit to dig out some spare parts and tools to hopefully fix it.  We're right on the edge of having the car operational again and being thwarted by niggly little nuisances like this.

[Rocket88]

eFoam.co.uk   .............thoroughly recommend..............