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1980 Austin Princess


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Posted

That'd be like having vegan fish and chips

Which incidentally reminds me, I still need to go down to our local Vegan fish and chips shop down the road. Friends that have been, have said that it's really very tasty.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=matter+fast+foods+fishponds&oq=matter+fast+foods+fishponds&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.665j0j7&client=ms-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

The thing about vegan and vegetarian foods, as you don't have the strong taste of meat in something, you need to make it up elsewhere. So it's usually is very tasty food.

Posted

Can you easily convert to conventional springs and dampeners?

A, there's a dedicated fred for these sorts of questions.

B, there's no need to unnecessarily raise Vulgalour's "displacer anxiety" level.

Posted

I'll get it sorted.  It's just hassle.

 

- fork out for those custom adaptors so I can individualise the displacers, doing away with the stupid pipes completely.

 

 

 

Would it have no suspension at all then? 

Posted

The theory is sound, at least, it's how they do 'wet sprung' racing Minis after all.  No idea if it'll work in practice or what it'll do to the handling and ride characteristics in practice.  The suspension is one of the best and one of the worst things about this car and I've spent pretty much my entire ownership trying to find long term solutions and being met, mostly, with a no solutions.

Posted

Checked the leak this morning to see how bad it was and found that the schrader valve itself is leaking, not at the thread where it goes into the block, but at the top where you get the fluid in and out of it.  I have no idea on that, I guess the valve is buggered.

Posted

Yup.  The valve body should be a taper thread - Metro ones were.  

Posted

I've got spares I'm just... urgh... at the moment with this.

Posted

You might find a bit of grit under the valve stem. "Tickle" it, being careful of the pressure. ;) A rag over the valve should help.

Posted

Tried that already and it made no difference at all.  First thought was that the pin had got stuck.

Posted

I can stick one of my spare brand new never been used ones in, that'll probably do the trick.  I reckon tomorrow I'll be rummaging through spares and cobbling something together and we'll get it sorted.

Posted

Dropped off one the small MGF individualiser blocks and one of the displacer fittings to a local engineering company today.  I decided that the cost wasn't so much a factor as the hassle and risk with the pipe.  I know from the way the fixing works that these individualisers stand very little chance of leaking and if they do they'll be very easy to seal with any number of plumbing type products.  Ditching the pipes is, at this moment in time, sensible.  If I want to reinstate the pipes at a later date I suppose I can, I expect I won't.

 

I only have a rough estimate based on how long they think the blocks will take to make and what the materials will cost.  The displacer fitting is an unusual size and the hex bar they need to be made from is also less-than-standard so that adds a little extra as a result.  Estimated time to machine each block was 3 hours and estimated cost for the set of four was £60-100.  I'm going to budget £150 because estimates are estimates and hope it comes in closer to the £60 mark leaving me some cash in my pocket.

 

Time for completion is, ideally, by the end of the month.  It's a funny sized job being not quite small enough to do in a day and not quite large enough to go in the order queue, so it'll be done between other things.  This should also keep that estimate down a bit.  I'm optimistic that this will fix the problem.

 

The other advantage to this is if I have another displacer fail it only takes out one corner, not the whole side of the car.  If it goes gas-to-fluid I can then just fill that displacer up with more fluid to compensate as a temporary measure until a replacement was got.  It just means the ride won't be quite as smooth as it was, in theory, though it might handle better if reports from MGFs, Metros and Minis with the same treatment is anything to go by.

  • Like 1
Posted

Alex Moulton will be spinning in his grave....

 

....although I individualised the rear displacers in one of Craig the Princess's wife's Austin Metros, so the above is said somewhat tongue in cheek  :-) 

Posted

I have the greatest respect for his work, I really do, I'm just fed up of the lack of parts support.

Posted

I wasn't criticising; I totally agree.  For 20 years from 1995 I pretty much exclusively drove hydrolastic/hydrogas suspended cars (a couple of Maestros might have snuck in as well).  Although I still own four I no longer use them as everyday transport as suspension issues are a pain to sort out in quick time.  One of my 1100s is currently on the naughty step with a burst pipe above the rear subframe, and I know if I drop the subframe to extract it I'll find other problems.

Posted

I know you weren't criticising.  Written word falling a little flat there, as it sometimes does.  Dropping subframes... you never know, you might get lucky and find there's nothing to do but clean and underseal it!  That's reminded me, I have a weird 1100 problem that needs going in its thread so I'll stick that over there.

Posted

That's reminded me, I have a weird 1100 problem that needs going in its thread so I'll stick that over there.

Another thread to add to my list. ;)

 

Where is it? :)

Posted

There's a link to it in my signature.

Silly me! :)

 

Found it via a search, although AS is getting a bit bloated with all the sub categories now. ;)

Posted

Let's have a happy Princess update for a change shall we?  The carpet I redyed has cured and is ready to go in the car.  The weather is clear, Mike is available to help with fitting everything and we can ditch the old black rug that's in there.

 

37745509372_668aa8dbd9_b.jpg20171018-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I've done this job a few times now, trying to improve the carpet each time and finally I've got a carpet I'm happy is complete, in reasonable condition and a colour I like.  Just having the inner sill pieces complete alone has made a huge improvement to the cabin.  It's also much less dreary in there than it was in all black.  I really don't like all black interiors, I like a splash of contrast at least.

37107243403_f638143a88_b.jpg20171018-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

37745509072_a6e59c72e8_b.jpg20171018-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The dashboard needs repainting again, or the paint stripping off back to the original orangey wood veneer.  I'm going to try stripping the purple off first to see if I can salvage the veneer since it's a reasonable match for the carpet and if not I'll likely repaint it in copper or metallic orange to match up with the rest.  I also need to get some fixings for that under-dashboard trim.

37068099234_b44492259a_b.jpg20171018-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The only thing that went a little bit wrong was a wire for the rear cigar lighter pulled out of its spade terminal and needs recrimping  so I haven't fully fitted the rear centre console yet.  I would have done it today but the wire crimpers and spare connectors aren't at the house.  Other than that, I'm really happy with this job.

 

 

Posted

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

Posted

That looks pretty impressive. Typically I have no carpet that needs recolouring. How remiss of me.

 

Metallic orange dash would look very, very cool indeed!!!

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