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vulgalour got a reaction from Datsuncog in 1980 Austin Princess
Slight fright today, although I was half expecting it since things have been going so well. Yesterday the clutch pedal felt 'off', but I couldn't figure out if it was just me being tired, or the car being cold or what, so just had to wait and see. Today on trying to reverse out of a parking bay I couldn't actually get reverse. Now, the Princess has done this to me before a couple of times, I know the drill. If the gear change is notchy, that usually means the oil is getting low so I check that and it wasn't as low as it would have been to affect the gear change. Dropped a tiny bit of oil in anyway to bring it to almost the full line and it made no difference. That means it's clutch cylinder related. It's not the clutch, it's not slipping, I'm just not getting full travel of the arm in relation to the pedal. That is usually failed seals in the clutch cylinder or a collapsed clutch hose. Checked those out and both are dry and don't show signs of damage. Checked the fluid level in the clutch reservoir and it was actually very low. It's been a while since I've checked this and the car had been sat around doing nothing for a while, it made sense that it might have disappeared a bit like brake fluid does sometimes. Topped it up, still no change, opened the bleed nipple to check the hose wasn't restricted and found that there was air in the system, probably because the fluid had dropped a bit too low. Once bled, all gears back to normal and reverse considerably better than it's been for a couple of weeks.
We'll see if normal service continues, it might, or I might need another clutch hose (there's at least three different lengths, which I found out last time I tried to get one) or to rebuild the clutch cylinder again. Time will tell. It's a bit of a relief something went wrong to be honest, it's been a bit overdue.
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vulgalour got a reaction from High Jetter in 1980 Austin Princess
The hose is easy to get, it's getting the one that's the right length that can be a bit of a lottery. Since I know there's different ones now my chances of winning are higher, but if all else fails there's always Pirtek.
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vulgalour got a reaction from GrumpiusMaximus in 1980 Austin Princess
Slight fright today, although I was half expecting it since things have been going so well. Yesterday the clutch pedal felt 'off', but I couldn't figure out if it was just me being tired, or the car being cold or what, so just had to wait and see. Today on trying to reverse out of a parking bay I couldn't actually get reverse. Now, the Princess has done this to me before a couple of times, I know the drill. If the gear change is notchy, that usually means the oil is getting low so I check that and it wasn't as low as it would have been to affect the gear change. Dropped a tiny bit of oil in anyway to bring it to almost the full line and it made no difference. That means it's clutch cylinder related. It's not the clutch, it's not slipping, I'm just not getting full travel of the arm in relation to the pedal. That is usually failed seals in the clutch cylinder or a collapsed clutch hose. Checked those out and both are dry and don't show signs of damage. Checked the fluid level in the clutch reservoir and it was actually very low. It's been a while since I've checked this and the car had been sat around doing nothing for a while, it made sense that it might have disappeared a bit like brake fluid does sometimes. Topped it up, still no change, opened the bleed nipple to check the hose wasn't restricted and found that there was air in the system, probably because the fluid had dropped a bit too low. Once bled, all gears back to normal and reverse considerably better than it's been for a couple of weeks.
We'll see if normal service continues, it might, or I might need another clutch hose (there's at least three different lengths, which I found out last time I tried to get one) or to rebuild the clutch cylinder again. Time will tell. It's a bit of a relief something went wrong to be honest, it's been a bit overdue.
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vulgalour got a reaction from bunglebus in 1980 Austin Princess
Slight fright today, although I was half expecting it since things have been going so well. Yesterday the clutch pedal felt 'off', but I couldn't figure out if it was just me being tired, or the car being cold or what, so just had to wait and see. Today on trying to reverse out of a parking bay I couldn't actually get reverse. Now, the Princess has done this to me before a couple of times, I know the drill. If the gear change is notchy, that usually means the oil is getting low so I check that and it wasn't as low as it would have been to affect the gear change. Dropped a tiny bit of oil in anyway to bring it to almost the full line and it made no difference. That means it's clutch cylinder related. It's not the clutch, it's not slipping, I'm just not getting full travel of the arm in relation to the pedal. That is usually failed seals in the clutch cylinder or a collapsed clutch hose. Checked those out and both are dry and don't show signs of damage. Checked the fluid level in the clutch reservoir and it was actually very low. It's been a while since I've checked this and the car had been sat around doing nothing for a while, it made sense that it might have disappeared a bit like brake fluid does sometimes. Topped it up, still no change, opened the bleed nipple to check the hose wasn't restricted and found that there was air in the system, probably because the fluid had dropped a bit too low. Once bled, all gears back to normal and reverse considerably better than it's been for a couple of weeks.
We'll see if normal service continues, it might, or I might need another clutch hose (there's at least three different lengths, which I found out last time I tried to get one) or to rebuild the clutch cylinder again. Time will tell. It's a bit of a relief something went wrong to be honest, it's been a bit overdue.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Datsuncog in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from beko1987 in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from adw1977 in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Stanky in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Wibble in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Vantman in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Remspoor in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from EspenO in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from MorrisItalSLX in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Asimo in The new news 24 thread
Call centre work is a big nope for me, I have one really big gap in my cv due to a call centre job causing one of the worst mental breakdowns I've ever had and vowed never to subject myself to it again.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Dyslexic Viking in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Tickman in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread
Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers.
Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.
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vulgalour got a reaction from Ghosty in The new news 24 thread
Call centre work is a big nope for me, I have one really big gap in my cv due to a call centre job causing one of the worst mental breakdowns I've ever had and vowed never to subject myself to it again.
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vulgalour got a reaction from egg in The new news 24 thread
This house move has continued to kick my arse. Today I made my first application for regular work in 17 years. Just looking at part time right now to bolster my income and manage my hours sensibly but it feels like a step in the wrong direction. Not much choice. Without some sort of viral incident that suddenly drops several grand on me I'm just treading water and I need to crack on and get the cash flow improved. Not sure how easy it's going to be to get back into the mainstream work force after so long being self-employed and being in my early forties, and don't worry I'm looking at shitjobs because that's all I'm qualified for. Shelfstacking, warehouse operatives, office monkeys, that sort of bollocks. Just need a safety net, especially since it's very likely the tenancy here will end in a 2-3 years and I'll have to find somewhere else to live solo.
Not dropping the artwork just yet, and I'm carrying on as normal while I fail to get job interviews, I just need to make sure I've got a back-up plan in place. We'll cross the bridge of things like trying to get commuting insurance on a 40 year old car when we get to it.
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vulgalour got a reaction from SilverMachine in 1980 Austin Princess
Considering the spare car I broke was 2 house moves and 2 counties ago, no, I didn't keep hold of the spare engine though I do have the head from it. Buying another car is not an option either, I'm flat broke, to the point that today I applied for a part time job and will be continuing to do so until I acquire one or my income improves. What things the Princess shares with others are easy to get hold of, there's a few bits of BL parts bin in the cabin, some classic Mini mechanical bits, but the vast majority is Princess specific and unobtanium. The spares stash from the orange car is almost all gone now, used on my car or on others, or had to be culled with successive house moves as I've had to decide what I can and can't keep.
Better yet, in a few years I shall be moving house again and may need to cull things further if things don't improve. Things aren't super right now, I'm managing but it's a bit of a balancing act and I'm trying not to fall off.
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vulgalour reacted to wuvvum in The new news 24 thread
Now that it's properly spring I thought it was time to dig the Renault 6 out of the garage. It always needs a jump start after it's been sat for a while, and I cleverly* hadn't left any room to get to the bonnet when I put it away - I remember thinking at the time "that's going to be a problem - oh well, fuck it, I'll worry about it in the spring". Well the good news is that my brake repair last year seems to have held as the brakes were still free, and thanks to the new tyre on the nearside front all the tyres were fully inflated. So all I needed to do was climb in through the tailgate, knock it out of gear, climb back out again, grab hold of the back bumper and pull, and out it came.
The Rover 75 and a pair of jump leads soon got it running, and I took it for a quick run round the block and was reminded of the issues that had cropped up shortly before it went into hibernation and that I hadn't had a chance to look at properly. So that was the first task for today once I finally got my arse in gear.
The first issue is that the bonnet latch isn't locking the bonnet. I couldn't immediately find what was causing this, but removing the latch soon revealed the problem - the mechanism is made of plastic (yes, really) and after 51 years one of the bits had decided it had had enough and snapped off. So that's irreparable then. Of course bonnet latches for Renault 6s are completely unobtainium, but a Google session suggested that the Renault 12 latch is similar - or at least the plastic bits are - and those are available (albeit at some expense), so I'm going to order one - worst case I can butcher it for its plastic bits and make one good one out of the two. For now I've put a Bungee strap on to stop the bonnet flipping up - it's a forward opening bonnet so in theory shouldn't be an issue but aerodynamics can do strange things.
The other two were easier fixes. The nearside rear indicator was behaving funny when the lights were turned on - this turned out to be a cock up on my part, when I refitted the light unit after the car was hit last year I put the earth wire behind the clamp instead of between the clamp and the nut, so it was flapping around and barely making contact. The other problem was that the choke wasn't returning properly when the knob was pushed in - this was a slightly stranger one as it transpired that the clamp that holds the end of the cable had come off the carb - I certainly don't remember doing this (and I would have remembered as it was a fiddly bastard) so can only assume that the bolt had vibrated loose and fallen out. One of the three screws holding the end plate on the carb had also vanished, but I found suitable replacements for both in my stash so that's all sorted.
I then chucked a bucket of water over it to get the garage grime off - next job is to make a template up for the repair section I'm going to need to make for the nearside front floor, but I didn't get time for that this weekend.
Most of the rest of the weekend was spent playing with pushbikes. I did get the Mobylette fired up - it took a few more kicks than last year but still not bad for an elderly two-stroke engine that's been sat for six months - but I didn't get a chance to take it for a spin as I'd been hoping to do, and the forecast looks shite for this coming week so that might have to wait a little while.
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vulgalour reacted to High Jetter in Magnificent Motors, Eastbourne. Now including other local shows
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