Sold 1981 Austin Princess - [expletives removed]

[KruJoe]

A pair of pointy cars to match your pointy shoes..?

[barefoot]

You are absolutely bizarre in that you base your view of the worth of a car on your ability to cleanse its interior!

If it polishes up OK, you'll have a look to see if the engine is not seized.

This is not normal.

 

However, I think your hat is brilliant.

[vulgalour]

Engines can be replaced, the interior is a bit harder to find.  It'll probably be okay and if it's not, I'll make it okay.

[cms206]

I understand Angyl... today I am off to spend three times what the council estate cost on a potentially even rougher 700 which will provide a host of bits, but I just know I'm gonna end up with two rough as arses 700s...

[Tetleysmooth]

 

I'd probably buy an Adam as I rather like how they look.

I don't think I'd ever have one of these.

Getting into an Adam just doesn't sound right.

Just sort of - well - gay I suppose.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just did a little LOL there. Also loving the bucket shot once again!!!! GRADE A BUCKET ACTION RIGHT THERE.

[mouseflakes]

GRADE A BUCKET ACTION RIGHT THERE.

 

Two cars, one bucket.

[vulgalour]

We have still not got the engine running.  However, today has been a day of trying to determine why the engine won't run rather than more cleaning.  I've only had the car for 3 days so I'm not expecting miracles.  I'm flat broke until October so buying anything is off the cards too, I have to work with what's to hand.  One big advantage is having two Princesses in this instance because I can swap known good items from one to the other.

 

On my immediate shopping list is one spark plug and a second hand battery as these are the main items that are being swapped between the two cars to try and diagnose issues at present.

 

First thing I did today was get the carb off the car.  The fuel line in was full of fresh fuel from our first attempt to fire up the car, but the carb was full of stale fuel and sediment.  I gave the whole thing as good a clean as I could without having a parts/dish washer before rebuilding it and refitting it to the car.  The first problem was the metal circlip on the top of the dashpot internals pinging off and me not having a replacement - on the HL, this is a rubber O ring rather than a circlip - and the second was the fuel return pipe being so old and brittle that it shattered on removal.

 

Happily, I could just swap the dashpot from the HL to the HLS easily so we had a working carburettor for the purposes of engine checking.  Next we removed the old spark leads from the HLS and replaced them with the leads from the HL that I'd kept just-in-case and knew worked.  The old HLS leads do have some corrosion in the connectors and some electrical tape on one of the leads which doesn't instill a great deal of confidence.

 

Spark plugs were removed and found to be heavily sooted.  These have been cleaned in the meantime and will eventually be replaced but they'll have to do for now.  The internals of the carb were quited sooted up too, hinting at some pretty rich running which probably hints at another problem that's been disguised rather than resolved.

 

10,000 miles and 16 years ago the car did have a service of some sort.  This is the first fragment of service history I've been able to find.

 

At some point we also jacked the car up to see if the factory jacks worked (they do) and to put the car to her proper height.  After this was taken the car was let down and sits only slightly lower than the HL did when I collected it, there's no sign of a list to any corner and it does seem to just be low on fluid rather than having any inherent suspension issues which is reassuring.

 

The sill on this side is scruffy but actually quite solid, should just need a scrub and repaint and maybe a few localised sparkle-stick areas to be MoT ready.

 

Unlike the tyres.

 

Removed the rear view mirror plinth from the car and Dad showed me how to pop the mirror back into it without breaking anything.  The lens is very fragile and will ideally want replacing, but it's nice to have this all back together and in the car.

 

Even managed to not destroy the sticker when I cleaned this part.  There's another sticker underneath the one you can see but I didn't make any attempt to get to it.

 

 

We have a known issue with the wiper motor, it seems to work however it wants to regardless of the stalk setting and the only way to stop it is to pull the fuse.  The blower fan also works but that does at least appear to be controllable.  The headlights work on all settings but the indicators and hazards don't.  We didn't test the reversing lights.  Gear change is acceptable with the engine off, not been able to check with the engine on.  Brakes work well enough for the drive but will need an overhaul before being used on the road.  Handbrake seems to work well.  Clutch seems okay, but the level of wear is unknown.  Floor pans are definitely solid and appear to have never been welded or needed welding.  Exhaust looks in good order but we don't know if it blows on account of not having the engine running yet.  Driver's window regulator needs rebuilding, it doesn't really work at all.  Rear driver's side door now locks and unlocks.  Driver's door won't lock/unlock with the key, reason unknown.

 

On the engine front we now know a bit more about what works and what doesn't.  We suspect there's a compression issue and possibly a snapped piston ring on account of abnormal behaviour with the oil filler cap visibly pressurising and depressurising when cranking.  No compression tool at the moment so I can't check what's amiss exactly.  Two core plugs on the battery side of the engine have been gummed up with araldite for reasons unknown.  By swapping items between the two cars we know the coil and leads work.  We also know the coil ballast resistor/suppressor thingy for the HLS is missing.

 

So the car will crank on the starter motor.  But there's no spark from the coil at all.  We ran out of time to apply a multimeter to things today, it's been a bit hectic, but that's the next job to find out where the electricity is escaping.  Earth points and wiring routes look the same as the HL and there's no obvious signs of damage or corrosion to wires or connectors but a multimeter will tell us more on that front.

 

The engine will likely need a rebuild, that's okay and to be expected given the information I was given about the car.  Parts for the 2 litre O series aren't too difficult to obtain and there's even a local firm that I'm told specialise in engine rebuilds of any variety for not obscene amounts of money so I might be going that route.

 

My immediate plan is to get a compression test, buy a second hand battery, a spark plug and an O ring for the carburettor.  I'm going to see if the local hydragas specialist will come out and pump up the suspension for a nominal fee, he's only about 4 miles away, and we'll go from there.

[brickwall]

The garage is still in business, I wonder if they have a rusty old cabinet with some paperwork

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Have you had a look at the points? I bet they are rusty or broken.

[vulgalour]

@brickwall: Well now I know that it's SERIOUSLY tempting to rock up in the Princess and ask them if they can do a service as I'm a little bit overdue from my last one.

[vulgalour]

@Mr Boll:  The points are in need of replacement, the two pads are sort of welded together so I'll be putting the new ones in I just didn't get around to doing that today.  Not sure it explains the lack of spark from the coil though.  Tested king lead rather than spark leads for spark, you see.  I may have done it wrong or something.

[meggersdog]

The points need to open and close to charge the HT side of the coil

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/ignition-system.htm

[michael1703]

just run a length of wire from battery + to LT side of coil, then with dizzy cap off, flick points or crank and see if theres a spark at points so as to rule out ignition switch/ballast

[vulgalour]

Does that mean I'm just being a spazz then?  Seems likely.  I'll swap the good points in tomorrow and try again.

[meggersdog]

With a long thin flat bladed screwdriver and the ignition on try manually opening the points.You should be able to see a spark and sometimes you can get the king lead to spark doing this.Hopefully you will be changing the condensor aswell.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

the opening of the points is what sets the spark off, so the points are mega critical to the whole spark side of things.

[Albert Ross]

Why pay a reconditioning firm to build the engine? It can be removed and stripped in a weekend, and once measured, the block/crank can be sent away for machining as required, and you can have it rebuilt at home. Seriously.... I have all the kit and knowledge required to remove/rebuild/fit engines. Sort of a "Rent-a-shiter" (Crates of beer and cans of diesel work well here)

[vulgalour]

Sometimes, we miss the obvious.  Brother and I were busy chasing dodgy earths and checking components and all that and we never thought to try replacing the points to see if that would help.  Derp.

 

@Albert:  I think a deal could be brokered that would benefit us both.

[purplebargeken]

Good steady progress. It never hurts to go over the earths and so on. Better to do and not need it. Am looking forward to seeing this one sorted and on the road, which will of course happen without any shadow of a doubt. Fabulous stuff 

[vulgalour]

After swapping the relevant bits over from the HL, I gapped the known good points from the HL after fitted them to the HLS.  The stage was set, the players - Dad, neighbour and I - stood anxiously by and we turned the key...

 

Burning rubber smell but an engine really trying hard now to fire up.  Seized alternator.  Dad showed us how to free this off with a BFO spanner before we made a second attempt at which point the engine fired into life and the alternator span and then seized.  A third application of BFO spanner and the car sprang into life with a big cloud of smoke out the exhaust (presumably the oil put in the bores ages ago to unseize things) and a VERY loud exhaust.

 

IT LIVES!  Here's a crappy video by way of demonstration.

 

 

 

 

There's something about getting a car to fire up for the first time when it's been silent for a long time, it's a very satisfying thing.  Of course, this wasn't just about giving the car its voice back, this was about finding out just what was wrong with it and why it had been laid up all those years ago.  It took only a minute or two for us to find out when oil started to seep from one corner of the engine and steam from the other with the temperature gauge rapidly climbing towards danger zone.  Obviously we turned the car off straight away so as not to cause any further problems, but it looks like the car was most likely laid up due to head gasket failure.

 

After everything was turned off and we were having a poke around and deciding what should be done next we noticed that one of the old fuel lines had split.  No real surprise but it's good that it did this after the engine was turned off rather than during.

 

With all the excitement out of the way, I was left to get on with anything else I could find to do.  That really meant I could only crack on with the cleaning since I'm waiting for payday until I can do anything further for the engine.  Took the centre consoles out for a clean and found out why the handbrake warning light doesn't work; looks like the wire has lost the connector.

 

The rear centre console was packed with copper coins too, like someone had been posting them through the holes in it or something.  Cleaned up the front centre console and managed to break the ashtray/cubby lid when trying to get the crack to line up on it.  It's a clean break and I have some plastic glue so I'll repair it.  I need to remake the gaiter too as the vinyl is split and torn, the handbrake gaiter is missing completely so I'll need to make one of those too.  Fairly simple items to make at least.

 

In order to clean up the seats properly I needed to perform some repairs.  I haven't got any matching fabric and this is probably the most difficult colour HLS interior to find as it seems to not have survived in great numbers.  Sewing kit it is for now.

 

 

It did mean I could give the driver's seat a shampoo.  I'm using Stardrops in a stronger concentration than usual in a squirty bottle.  Spray on the cloth and work up into a foam with a nail brush before blotting it with a clean damp flannel.  The seats will all need two or three applications of this but it's very good at not ruining the fabric or soaking the foams too much.

 

Removed the black gaffer tape repair on the rear seat bolster too.  The gaffer tape was hiding a very long tear that looks like it's been caused by a dog scratching the fabric.  Ideally I'd let a new panel in here but since I don't have any to hand I did my best to stitch the fabric together before attempting to clean it.  Trickiest part was making sure the ribs of the fabric lined up properly.

 

Then finally I shampooed the other half of the rear seat.  I'll do the passenger side of the car once the driver's side is fully dried out.  It looks like this interior will tidy up rather well and although it won't be perfect, it will certainly be servicable for everyday use.

 

So that's Day 4 of my adventures with the new Princess.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Excellent work!  Your seat repairs are most satisfactory indeed.

I'd love to use Stardrops to clean general stuff, but I don't think it is sold anywhere daaaan Saaaaouff?!

Might be just my shonky speakers but the engine note sounds like a taxiing WW2 bomber- top result!

[dollywobbler]

I just used washing soda on the Golf. Very satisfactory.

 

Good work on getting it running. Hope it isn't too much of a pig to make healthy!

[Rusty_Rocket]

Are you going to remove the head on this engine and investigate further Vulg?  I'd love to do the head gasket on something simple like this, would make such a nice change compared to fighting with more-modern tat (would genuinely be happy to help if I lived closer).

What's the parts availability like on these now?

[vulgalour]

It's not your speakers, it does sound like a bloody aeroplane at the minute, exhaust is so loud you have to shout to make yourself heard.  Head is coming off, going to have a proper look inside so everything is sorted before we hit the road.  There's not a great deal that can go wrong, it's a good solid, simple unit.  Generally speaking, I can get just about anything I need engine wise on eBay but I can't get it from EuroCarFarts or the like.  I doubt I'll struggle to get many items the engine needs because it was used in so many vehicles, including the Sherpa which just went on forever.  A blown head on an O series is unusual, but then so is 145k miles on a Princess that's not in a scrapyard so maybe they go hand in hand?

[purplebargeken]

Whooooo hooooo.

[Junkman]

Does the cigarette lighter work?

[KruJoe]

Meh - cracked ashtray lid.

 

FUGGIN YAY! - She runs!!!111!1!

[vulgalour]

I have not yet checked the cigarette lighter, I have assumed it will work but obviously since it's such a key* item I'll be sure it's operational before I go for an MoT.

[skattrd]

Nice one Angyl, good to see it running.