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1972 Austin 1100 - SOLD


vulgalour

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  • 3 weeks later...

Odd problem time on the 1100.  When the Churchill pump was fixed, Mike gave it a test run on the 1100.  Or rather, he attempted to.  He only tried one schrader valve and then didn't try the other before quizzing me and I'm equally perplexed.  The suspension on the 1100 is quite good but the schrader valve won't release any fluid.  You push the pin in and only get a dribble out which is at complete odds with how healthy and presumably pressurised the system is.

 

All I can think is the valve is stuck or perhaps not working somehow.  There's no leaks, the suspension hasn't dropped and it behaves exactly as you'd expect of a healthy system.  I haven't looked at it in person as I've not had opportunity to do so, it might be that I have a look, press the pin and it works.  Is this a problem anyone else has encountered?

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I discovered the problem today as I happened to be at the unit for a few minutes sorting out some post.  I may be the only person to encounter this issue and it's a really weird one.  Please excuse the quality of the pictures, I only had my ancient phone-camera on me and it doesn't really understand macro.  First, here's the good side which, I can confirm, works well and has decent pressure.

37498157260_b60ed5f495_b.jpg20171017-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

When I removed the cap from the other side it was full of fluid and the valve was slowly dripping.  Gave it a prod with a screwdriver and a rag and that didn't really change.  Then I noticed there was something inside the valve, which was a bit odd.  A little bit of a dig and I was greeted with a facefull of fluid.  So it DOES work!  I couldn't really see what was going on so got the camera in to look for me.

37756604861_a1897b6cf3_b.jpg20171017-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

It's full of what looks like fibreglass resin.  Why?  Why would you do this? Did the valve fail and this was the solution?  I don't understand this at all.  There's pressure in the system and I can at least get it to release if I have a dig at the pinkish stuff in the valve.  I got it to stop leaking as best I could and put the cap back on for now because I haven't any fluid to pump this back up at the moment (cheers Princess).  When I've got some fluid I'll remove this valve and replace it with one of my spares before pumping things up again.

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It's full of what looks like fibreglass resin.  Why?  Why would you do this? Did the valve fail and this was the solution?  I don't understand this at all.  There's pressure in the system and I can at least get it to release if I have a dig at the pinkish stuff in the valve.  I got it to stop leaking as best I could and put the cap back on for now because I haven't any fluid to pump this back up at the moment (cheers Princess).  When I've got some fluid I'll remove this valve and replace it with one of my spares before pumping things up again.

 

Is it some sort of fibre washer or similar seal? Has someone put a bicycle quality valve in there? (I'm presuming hydrolastic valves are built to take more pressure.)

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3VOM:  it's not fibrous, brittle or rubbery like you'd expect from something like that and it's really splodged in like a lump of chewing gum.  It's on the same side as all that pink fibreglass nonsense so I'm suspecting bodgery from the same person responsible for that tbqh.

 

DodgeRover:  I aint afraid of no ghost.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Want this car?  It's now available to purchase for £600 as it stands, no offers.

 

However, this price is subject to change.  The more work I do on it - putting the floor in, repairing the sills, etc - the higher the price will go.  In the meantime I'll carry on as normal with the restoration work but if someone comes along with the right sized pile of money, I'm happy to let it go.

 

I want to focus my attentions on the Princess and Rover and, with a big house move happening in the next year or so I ideally need the 1100 gone before that happens.  That said, if it doesn't sell by the time I'm ready to move, for whatever reason, I'll just take it with me.

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Oooh, actual progress!

 

Had a an hour or so spare and Mike was at the unit and able to assist so we had a look at the brake and clutch master cylinder.  After going through what people had suggested, the manual and my own gut feeling on the issue I was pretty sure the problem with the clutch was the clutch master cylinder rather than anything else.  Since we were removing that I decided to turn the brake master cylinder around too.

 

What I then learned is the reason the brake master cylinder was in the wrong way around is that the reservoir couldn't clear the bulkhead properly as it needed a little dent adding.  Some hammer time later and it was all sorted.  I need to repair the cracked filler, but that's not a big deal.

38361975806_5ef2013174_b.jpg20171114-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

While I was  fiddling about with that, Mike was dismantling the clutch master cylinder.

24546627668_373f11f38c_b.jpg20171114-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The seals aren't too bad but I have a rebuild kit so we'll replace them anyway.  The problem is the spring inside has snapped in two places.  This, I'm pretty sure, is the reason the clutch isn't working so now I need to try and find a replacement.  Tips would be welcome on where to hunt one of those down since I don't really want to have to fork out for a whole new master cylinder just to replace one spring.

26641353799_57dbaee380_b.jpg20171114-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Once the spring is replaced the car should be fully driveable, which is quite exciting.

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Would a pack like this be any good? Might be an element of chance but you might get lucky

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASSORTED-SPRINGS-COMPRESSION-EXPANSION-TORSION/dp/B00B5FBYZ4

 

Otherwise if you can measure it, a simple google search of "8cm compression spring" or whatever size it is might yield a result

 

Edit - hang on, is it narrower at one end??

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Would a pack like this be any good? Might be an element of chance but you might get lucky

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASSORTED-SPRINGS-COMPRESSION-EXPANSION-TORSION/dp/B00B5FBYZ4

 

Otherwise if you can measure it, a simple google search of "8cm compression spring" or whatever size it is might yield a result

 

Edit - hang on, is it narrower at one end??

It looks conical. But would a spring of the smaller size, then just open up the loops on the larger end to fit around whatever they fit round work?

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