project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

The weather is appalling here today so my plan of spending a few hours stripping down the axle ready for fitting it to the car were thwarted.  I got as far as freeing off the union for the hydragas pipes to the rear spheres.  Pretty much every other nut has a good inch or so of paint on it so they're a bit stubborn and it's difficult to work on this sort of thing when the sky is trying to drown you.  Overall, the axle does look pretty sound with plenty of paint keeping the vast majority of any rust build up at bay.  The perishable rubber components are in pretty good health.  The stubs of the rebound straps actually help with moving the axle around so I'll leave those attached, that's the actual reason, it has nothing to do with the fact that I can't budge the nuts that hold the rebounds strap brackets on because they're welded on with paint.  The spheres are nice and dry and while there is some surface corrosion, it doesn't appear to be anything more than that so I'm hoping they'll clean up well and be servicable.

 
With the pipes off I can see that one of the braided sections has split.  Interestingly, it's split near the sphere so it is possible that the hose on the HL has split too and that's what's caused the loss of fluid and pressure.  I'm hoping that is the actual fault and not a blown sphere but obviously I shan't know until I have the HL up in the air again to inspect.  Looks like I've got a bonus length of undamaged metal hydragas piping and one servicable braided hose off the replacement axle so far, so that's an okay start.  I've also got a set of 8 good chromed wheel nuts that will clean up well, just a shame they're the wrong fitting for the Lotus alloys I have waiting in the wings still.  I'll likely clean up and keep all the various unions on these pipes as I can imagine them being a useful part to have in the stash.

 
Weather got a bit serious so I busied myself cleaning the worst of the muck off the interior parts and sorting out which stuff to put in/on which car to reduce the amount of storage space it was all taking up.  The boot carpeting cleaned up remarkably well and is a combination of original and owner pieces.  Unusually, the non-original bits of carpet are actually cut to shape very well so should provide useful patterns and still be usable in the cars.  Dropped one of the spare courtesy light lenses in the HLS and the majority of the boot carpetting since it'll finish it off well.  The tatty but complete carpet trim for the bit between the rear lights has gone in the HL along with the spare wheel cover but I've not fitted them yet, they're both trim items that are tricky to find as nobody seems to keep them.  Spare rear light covers went in the HLS too, but I've misplaced the screws to fix them in properly.  Disappointingly, the toolkit was missing from the spares car I visited, I had hoped to get another jack ratchet handle and possibly another jack.  I have this desire to own four factory Princess jacks because I'm sure it'll serve some practical use at some point.
 
The only other thing I got fitted where the rim embellishers.  I've got 7 embellishers between the two cars and some are very good while some have holes in them.  The best four got put on the HL so they take up no space but it did highlight that I should really get different weights fitted to the wheels to make them look their best.  I like the embellishers, they smarten up the wheels considerably.

 
Pineapple time!

 
It really does look comical when you come onto the street, as I mentioned before, jacking the car up to inspect the actual fault resulted in a loss of fluid and a proper lean.  One of our neighbours was very worried about the car and asked not "what's wrong" but rather "when are you fixing it?" so there's a little hope for humanity yet as she is of the opinion the Princess has to be fixed and has to be seen as much as possible.  Told you, total fanny magnet is BL stuff.

 
I'm told the weather is set to get even worse over the next few days so I'll likely not get much done on this axle refurb for a while which is really quite annoying as the longer it takes the longer I'm grounded.

[overrun]

It really does look comical when you come onto the street

And then the suspension collapsed. HAHA. </joke>

 

Nice use of the kitchen sink. Did you not get a rollocking for such behaviour?

[vulgalour]

I avoid such conflicts of interest by apologising in advance.  I'm almost at the point now where it's expected and I don't need to apologise.

[overrun]

I avoid such conflicts of interest by apologising in advance.  I'm almost at the point now where it's expected and I don't need to apologise.

We should* all drive new KIA's.

[Grundig]

The weather is appalling here today 

I'm told the weather is set to get even worse over the next few days so I'll likely not get much done on this axle refurb for a while which is really quite annoying as the longer it takes the longer I'm grounded.

....Just get out there & get the job done! it's only rain  Man up boy, do the job, get wet & then have a hot bath - sorted 

P.s

I like the Passion you have for the wedge - keep up the good work 

[vulgalour]

Well it's dark now.  I can't work in the dark

[Bobthebeard]

....Just get out there & get the job done! it's only dark  Man up boy, do the job in the dark and rain & then have a hot bath - sorted 

 

EFA

[Micrashed]

I think I have missed a chapter VA, but where did the purple paint go?

[vulgalour]

Under a coat of Halfrauds finest* just before Shitefest 2013.  I was getting fed up of the constant "Why's that bit purple" and "when are you going to finish painting it" from friends and strangers alike.  Now they've all shut up because the car looks better* than it did.  I'm going to paint it purple and beige one day, just not today.

[autofive]

 

 

 

i notice the window winder mechanism

 

i have some elctric ones, and switches, if you fancy going all posh

[vulgalour]

I do have a pair of Ambassador electrics but one of the switches is broken.  One of the few modernisms I'll admit to genuinely liking is electric front windows, particularly useful when you stop to ask for directions, something I do quite often as I haven't got the best sense of direction and don't possess a Sat Nav.  But I could be interested in adding them to the stockpile anyway, never hurts to have spare regulators since the teeth are made of brie.

[Bobthebeard]

 One of the few modernisms I'll admit to genuinely liking is electric front windows, particularly useful when you stop to ask for directions, something I do quite often as I haven't got the best sense of direction and don't possess a Sat Nav.

 

I do have a Sat Nav, but still rely heavily on using my electric windows before asking for directions.

After five laps round, but not to, the chosen destination, and being told to 'turn left then turn left then turn left and do a U turn where possible' electric windows are great.

Keep fit windows serve the same purpose, but the handles tend to snap off due to 'Sat Nav induced rage'

[vulgalour]

Axles are heavy.  I don't know why this keeps surprising me as a thing.  In an effort to make the axle easier to move and refurbish I made a concerted effort to strip it down today and found a couple of good reasons beyond prettifying it to do so.

 

One side was in pretty good order with a decent amount of grease packed into the bearing and the hub nut tightened suitably.  The condition of the drum internals this side was also pretty good.  The other side, which looked like it had a replacement outer drum as it wasn't painted red like everything else, had no grease packed around the bearing as it should and the hub nut was massively over tightened.  On opening the hub on this side it looked like one brake shoe had been replaced but the other hadn't due to one being much more worn than the other and there looked to be a fairly new cylinder.

 

Because I wasn't sure if the hubs were handed, I made sure to take a couple of reference shots.  The metal brake pipes were retained and the unions taped once everything was removed so I didn't get any mess into them. Corrosion is actually very minimal thanks probably to the copious layers of paint that have been applied since '77.

 

This is the properly maintained hub with even brake shoe wear and a dusty but tidy appearance to everything inside.

 

I was expecting the nuts and bolts to be fairly stubborn, but either I'm getting better at this or they weren't too bad as the hubs came off in relatively short order, reducing the weight of the axle by about half and making it a lot easier to lug about.  I did eventually find a spot that needs welding but given how thick the metal is I expect I can do this with the stick welder I've got to good effect.  I managed to shear one of the bolts on this bracket even though everything is well marinaded.  I wasn't initially going to remove the arms from the axle but it will make refurbishing everything easier and will mean that there'll be minimum chance of rust returning.

 

The other side is nice and solid, I gave everything a good stab with the screwdriver.

 

Once I find the wire brush that's gone walkies I can crack on with refurbishing the bits I've removed while the nuts and bolts on the axle marinate in storage since it's now lightweight enough to actually move to a place that's not outdoors.  Providing weather is suitable and I have enough free time, I'll have another go at dismantling the rest of the axle.

[Lankytim]

Sorry if I've missed it, but why don't you just stick the new displacer onto the existing axle? It's pretty easy to do and will mean you get the Princess back on the road in an afternoon (ish)

[vulgalour]

Yeah, I thought it would be an easy swap too but according to the book you need to remove the arm from the axle tube which means undoing the four utterly seized bolts and one slightly less seized bolt to remove the long pin so you can free the displacer and swap it over.

 

It'll take longer to refurb the axle and swap it over complete, but it gives me chance to clean up the bodyshell above the axle and underseal it which I might not otherwise have.  However I do this it's going to take me ages but when I'm done I'll hopefully end up with 3 refurbished axles, 1 on each car and one in storage.  Does that sound too ridiculous?  There's nowhere I need to go over the next couple of weeks that I can't get to on foot so it's not all bad.

[Lankytim]

Those books can be seized solid, as can the long pin. I dismantled an allegro axle in around 5 mins using an impact gun, they are mega handy if you can get hold of one. Seized nuts and bolts come off in seconds! In theory it should be a very quick job to swap the displacer on its own.

[vulgalour]

Finally, after a temporary weather induced rage quit on my part, I got the axle stripped down to managable chunks ready to be refurbished.  The 8 bolts that hold the end brackets onto the cross tube were all seized up so badly that I just resorted to attacking them with the angle grinder which made very short work of them.  Fitting new nuts and bolts admittedly adds a little expense and time to the refurb but that's not necessarily a bad thing if I want this to last.

 

I found another hole on the other side of the bracket that had the bigger hole.  This will obviously need repairing and I'm considering dropping off the stripped cross tube with a company that can repair and repaint or powder coat it so it's as good as it can be.

 

Here you can see why I stood no chance getting those bolts out.  These washers have a pair of threaded holes in them that are completely rusted up, the fact I got one bolt out was pretty amazing really when I saw how bad these are.  There is some evidence that these were originally spot welded to the cross tube bracket, but none of them were still attached.  I'm not sure what my solution here is going to be yet.

 

I mustn't forget to reinstate washers like this when I do rebuild this bit, wasn't a chance of them surviving when I chopped the heads off the bolts.

 

First real problem I found was the difference between the mounting brackets.  These brackets fit to the ends of the cross tubes and I think they bolt to the underside of the car. They should, as far as I know, be a matching pair but one has half the bracket missing which is probably still attached to the breaker.  Not sure how I missed this, but I did.  It looks like a very simple bracket so I could probably get a new one made up to match, but how would I then go about bonding it to the rubber mount?

 

Getting those brackets off is pretty important as it allows you to remove the arms from the cross tube.  I haven't attempting to strip the arms down further than they are.  I'm concerned that if I damage the bushes in the arms I won't be able to get replacements and rebuild everything, though I'm aware that it's the best way to get rid of all the corrosion and make sure everything goes back together like new.

 

The only other issue with the HL is that the petrol tank seems to have a minor leak so I need to drop that and find out what's going on.  I had hoped it was condensation or something from the car being stood, but water doesn't dissolve underseal and leave little spots of it under the car like petrol does.  I'll drop the tank when I drop the axle and do both together.  At this rate it's going to be easier to get the HLS on the road, I can see this job with the HL dragging on a bit.

[Grundig]

 

  These washers have a pair of threaded holes in them that are completely rusted up, the fact I got one bolt out was pretty amazing really when I saw how bad these are.  There is some evidence that these were originally spot welded to the cross tube bracket, but none of them were still attached.  I'm not sure what my solution here is going to be yet.

 

 

 

 

First real problem I found was the difference between the mounting brackets.  These brackets fit to the ends of the cross tubes and I think they bolt to the underside of the car. They should, as far as I know, be a matching pair but one has half the bracket missing which is probably still attached to the breaker.  Not sure how I missed this, but I did.  It looks like a very simple bracket so I could probably get a new one made up to match, but how would I then go about bonding it to the rubber mount?

 

 

Those washers are easy enough to sort - grind remainder of bolts off flat, drill & re-tap the holes

The brackets should be complete, the two halves bonded together by the rubber bit in the sandwich I think?? Try & source new ones?? 

[666jjp]

this looks like it may help.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REAR-CROSSTUBE-SUSPENSION-MOUNTING-ALLEGRO-74-82-PRINCESS-75-82-1800-2200-75-/140921921960?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20cf99e1a8

[vulgalour]

Yes it does.  Kev over on the Princess forum pointed the same one out to me and he has a NOS item for even less than the eBay one so I reckon I'll just buy one to save fannying about with the existing one.

[michael1703]

 

Here you can see why I stood no chance getting those bolts out.  These washers have a pair of threaded holes in them that are completely rusted up, the fact I got one bolt out was pretty amazing really when I saw how bad these are.  There is some evidence that these were originally spot welded to the cross tube bracket, but none of them were still attached.  I'm not sure what my solution here is going to be yet.

 

I mustn't forget to reinstate washers like this when I do rebuild this bit, wasn't a chance of them surviving when I chopped the heads off the bolts.

Go to an engineering shop/fabricators and say, oi mate,got any 40 by 10 flat bar?

 

Stand there brandishing your rusty bit and they will cut you off a length and ask for a few quid for the tea fund

 

Return home,mark it out,centre punch it, drill it with 6.8mm and tap it m8 or drill it 8.5mm and m10 tap* it and jobs a goodun

 

 

*cant tell if its 8 or 10 due to corrosion,more likely 10

*might not be 40 by 10

[michael1703]

Just a thought.... It's not much of a hole, if you haven't got a welder, drill the hole out to make it look "factory" and put a blanking grommet/pipe clip/nut and bolt in it

 

Mot tester won't know if the hole is meant to be there or not and it won't compromise it's structural integrity

[Grundig]

Just a thought.... It's not much of a hole, if you haven't got a welder, drill the hole out to make it look "factory" and put a blanking grommet/pipe clip/nut and bolt in it

 

Mot tester won't know if the hole is meant to be there or not and it won't compromise it's structural integrity

...Also it'll make it lighter & therefore, the car faster   

[drum]

Is this the same suspension set up as the allegro? I could do with tidying mine up.

 

Those washers as you call them look remarkably similar to series land rover spring shackles. I wonder if BL saved some money...

http://www.paddockspares.com/279970-shackle-plate-lwb-rear.html?___SID=U

[vulgalour]

I'll measure them properly, I'm doing some more work on the axle tomorrow, but those Land Rover things do look remarkably similar if not identical and could be the easiest solution as I'd only need to buy some nice shiny new bolts and possibly nuts rather than trying to do centre punching and drilling without a vice, a work bench or a drill.

[vulgalour]

So, other half has taken the suspension stuff away to be stripped apart and reconditioned because I'm now out of options on that front so he's going to attack them with bigger tools and fire which I can't do here.  For the price of free, it's the sensible option.

 

Shiters of a nervous disposition should look away now.  This car needs respraying, as I've mentioned many times before, but rather than sinking megacoin into a proper restoration I thought I'd clear up the worst bits of bad paint and apply a fun new colour scheme to satisfy my desire to own something that wouldn't look out of place in Custom Car circa 1980.

 

The car will remain predominantly beige with black bits, but I'll be adding in some bright colours in the new design which will make this the first car I've owned with a proper custom paint job.  So far, I've only got one and a half lines of the boot lid panel done but it gives a hint of things to come.  I guess receiving paint to modify/ruin my car is one of the more unusual birthday gifts I've had over the years, but it's what I wanted.  Roof and C pillars will remain as they are, the new design is limited the bad paint on the sides of the car, the boot lid and the bonnet which will need a fresh coat of beige over the tatty remains of the Oyster metallic currently on there.

 

 

I'm also working on a granny square (it's a crochet thing) blanket for the rear seat to match the bright colours planned for the exterior and have finished about 50 of the estimated 300 little squares I need to make to complete that.

[rml2345]

I quite like that! It's like something from an 80s TV continuity sequence.

[Station]

Hey Vulgalour, this is probably too late, but you can get nearly new spheres off a relatively new MGF:

 

 

They should still be nickel plated as well, and not a solid mass of orange.

[barefoot]

Mondrian...

[vulgalour]

@Station:  Don't fit on the back, only the front.  Kinda annoying really, it seems the rear spheres are specific to Princess and Ambassador and the Ambassador spheres are different again and have to ideally be replaced in pairs if you're putting them on a Princess.  If a front sphere fails I'm told you can even replace them with Maxi Hydralastic spheres so you have a combination Hydralastic/gas set up.  If all else fails, I'll price up getting air suspension fitted, or Citroen stuff plumbed in.

 

@barefoot:  a little bit, yes.  Shall be a little more restrained than the painter of this... Nissan Sunny?