project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

I'd have to build the frame up a bit because the glass is only a bit larger than the hole and you'd need more surface to bond to.

[Rocket88]

Did this on my FE, ( front screen rubbers unobtainium) and it came out ok

[vulgalour]

We're getting ahead of ourselves here though, there's nothing currently wrong with my rear screen or seal so I'm not looking for a fix.

[SilverMachine]

theres a few companies that sell products that will rejuvenate rubber seals etc, i was wondering about the spares stash from the orange car and was there not another spares car or did that make it back onto the road? speaking of parts (ooh err) is there anything else that you need that may exist on another bmc vehicle? i think the blue princess for sale in torquay? was fairly reasonably priced at 1500 dispite needing a rear quarter glass and a bit of paint ( not sure if it needs welding but looks fairly complete and im guessing the front end sag is just suspension fluid release from standing? could be buggered also i guess. did you manage to keep hold of the spare engine you had?

[vulgalour]

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.

[vulgalour]

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.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

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.

If it's just a hose you need and it's a pig to get could you not just take the original to a hydraulics specialist and have them replicate it?

Last time I did this was a transmission oil cooler line on a Saab 900, and the cost was considerably less than NOS parts went for.

[vulgalour]

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.

[vulgalour]

As mentioned on the blue, the other issue could be the master cylinder seals.  Seal kits are available, the clutch master cylinder itself not so much since it's one of the unique-to-Princess items rather than a parts bin special.  Since it does work, I can't see that there'd be anything more wrong than a tired seal in there, I don't think I've done anything with the clutch master cylinder so it might still be all original.

[2flags]

If it is the master cylinder, would replacing the entire hydraulic system with something else, maybe a Landrover? I know these are available very cheaply. I cannot remember how the clutch slave cylinder is mounted on these as it has been nearly 50yrs since I worked on them. It might just be possible. 

[vulgalour]

I don't think we'll need to go that extreme tbh.

Had to do an errand to drop off a CV at a local bakery, since I'm looking to get something part time to bolster the income a bit without robbing me of too many hours from my regular artwork job.  That meant taking the Princess since it's about a five mile drive.  Clutch fluid was where I'd left it when I topped it up, so it's not leaked out overnight, and gears were working as they should.  Interestingly, on the drive there and back I couldn't get the car to do its usual dead spot thing when setting off when cold.  Clutch control at lower speeds was much better too.  This might be coincidental, the dead spot issue is intermittent and I've never actually solved it, time will tell.

Car was perfectly fine for the 10-15 miles I had to do today, we'll see how it performs over the next few weeks.  I'll be checking the clutch fluid weekly like I do with oil and water (and should have been doing anyway, really) to keep an eye on it.  There's no sign of any leaking inside the car or in the engine bay so if it is leaking it must be a very tiny leak.  One of those things where you have to wait for it to get worse before you can fix it.

As for how the master cylinder is mounted, it bolts to the bulkhead with a rod going to the pedal box.  Master cylinder is a horizontal type and has the reservoir built in half way along its length.  Looking for reference I found some from July 2020, and it looks like I did rebuild it back then.

[plasticvandan]

Many years ago I bought a 96 Mini a long way from home and lost the clutch almost as soon as I left.managed to drive 150 miles home at night without the clutch,figuring I would be on the motorway for most of it and wouldn't need to change gear. It was a loss of pedal that just seemed to be air in the system,I bled the system and topped the master up and never had a problem with it afterwards,just one of those weird one off problems.

[lesapandre]

4 hours ago, vulgalour said:

I don't think we'll need to go that extreme tbh.

Had to do an errand to drop off a CV at a local bakery, since I'm looking to get something part time to bolster the income a bit without robbing me of too many hours from my regular artwork job.  That meant taking the Princess since it's about a five mile drive.  Clutch fluid was where I'd left it when I topped it up, so it's not leaked out overnight, and gears were working as they should.  Interestingly, on the drive there and back I couldn't get the car to do its usual dead spot thing when setting off when cold.  Clutch control at lower speeds was much better too.  This might be coincidental, the dead spot issue is intermittent and I've never actually solved it, time will tell.

Car was perfectly fine for the 10-15 miles I had to do today, we'll see how it performs over the next few weeks.  I'll be checking the clutch fluid weekly like I do with oil and water (and should have been doing anyway, really) to keep an eye on it.  There's no sign of any leaking inside the car or in the engine bay so if it is leaking it must be a very tiny leak.  One of those things where you have to wait for it to get worse before you can fix it.

As for how the master cylinder is mounted, it bolts to the bulkhead with a rod going to the pedal box.  Master cylinder is a horizontal type and has the reservoir built in half way along its length.  Looking for reference I found some from July 2020, and it looks like I did rebuild it back then.

Not leaking in the servo perhaps?

[vulgalour]

Pretty sure the clutch doesn't have a servo.

[vulgalour]

Fluid leak situation update for you all.  Clutch fluid is remaining exactly where I left it with no signs of any leaks anywhere, I also still haven't been able to get the dead spot to reappear which again may be coincidental or it may be I've accidentally found the cause of it.  Perhaps that dead spot has been low clutch fluid all this time and I simply hadn't brimmed the reservoir to the correct level.

The fuel pump leak was a lot less serious than usual and I did find the bolts were not quite as tight as one might expect.  Nipped them up just a smidge did a test run and the oil leak has thus far not reappeared.  What has happened is one of the paper gaskets has taken on an odd shape though so I think I'll likely have to remove and regasket the pump anyway.

The other suspect oil leak was proven to be so when I remove the oil filler tube.  I've had this off several times over the last twelve years and it's only ever been put back on with sealant because when I got the car it never had a gasket fitted.  It was clearly leaking when removed so I cleaned everything up and fitted a cork gasket here.  As with the fuel pump, I've not noticed any fresh oil appearing here after a run so hopefully that's that one resolved.

The other oil leak I cannot pin down at all.  At the belt side of the engine there's a few tiny spots of oil as if it's been thrown up from somewhere else but none of it looks particularly gunky or old.  I begin to wonder if maybe I've driven through something that looks like oil but isn't because the belts do pick up stuff and throw it all over the place due to the lack of undertrays and only a minimal cover on top of the belt as standard.  I cleaned it all off and I'll see if it reappears.

Other than that I'm not really seeing any issues aside from a lot of storage grime I need to hose down and some hastily applied paint that has finally failed and needs redoing.  Would have liked to do more this weekend but I've been absolutely hammered with a cold since Thursday so there's a bit of a gap between what I think I can do and what I can actually do when I try and do anything.

[vulgalour]

Done a few more miles so it's time for an oil leak update.

Fuel pump - seems to have stop leaking. If it is leaking it's such a tiny amount I can't see it.
Oil filler tube - no more leaking. More to the point, the oil that was on the front of the block as pretty rapidly self-cleaned off
Belt side - No reappearance of oil. However, there is an appearance of muddy water all over everything which does look and feel slightly oily. There might be a minor gasket weep for the oil filter/pump housing, but that might also be dirty road water.

Clutch hydraulics are remaining trouble free too, if I had a leak there I'd definitely expect to see it by now and I'm not losing a drop of fluid or having any gear selection woes. I've also apparently cured the dead spot issue and I have a theory on why that might be. Since the deadspot would only happen after changing gear, often when setting off, and nothing else - carb settings, ignition timing, etc - made any lasting difference I suspect I've had a bit of air stuck in the clutch hydraulics. If my theory is correct that means that most of the time the air is in just the right spot that everything works as it should, but every now and then the air is in a place where I can't get proper travel on the clutch arm in relation to the pedal, and that was causing the dead spot issue. It was a lot like the clutch wasn't engaging properly, but not a slipping clutch, and because of the intermittent nature of the problem it had proven impossible to pin down. Now, it could also be that the problem has just gone away for a bit like it has in the past so I'm not counting any chickens and that's why my theory is just that.

I am actually enjoying just having the Princess to worry about lately, it's all the car I need and it's nice not to be distracted by other project cars for the moment. I'm also looking forward to heading back down to Kent later this year to see Pat and the Lanchester and for that I think I'd like the Princess to be trustworthy enough to take me since she is cheaper than the train and takes no longer to get there and back. Might have to install some sort of tunes first, it's a 4-5 hour drive and I don't fancy that in just my own company.

[SilverMachine]

59 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Might have to install some sort of tunes first, it's a 4-5 hour drive and I don't fancy that in just my own company.

theres always the ghetto blaster on the pass seat option, or my uncle would chuck a small portable radio on a dash shelf or behind his seat! probably a charity shop /crash converters nearby with a half decent one fir a few pounds, i may even have something if i look, i know i did take some to charity shops years ago.

[vulgalour]

The ridiculous thing is I do have a head unit, speakers, and even the wiring in place and did have it all installed... then I restored the dash a few years ago and just sort of never put the head unit back in.

[SilverMachine]

22 hours ago, vulgalour said:

The ridiculous thing is I do have a head unit, speakers, and even the wiring in place and did have it all installed... then I restored the dash a few years ago and just sort of never put the head unit back in.

i know lol but i didnt think you wanted anything fitted fully? theres always the option of a bluetooth speaker too, and your preferred mobile cellular device then you can also use it when your doing bits n bobs on the car or wherever you are! 

 you could even get one of them 11 quid chinese bluetooth units in the glovebox or under the dash somewhere? endless possibilities, could even go as silly as making some leads to plug the car speakers into a boombox, but thats probably making it needlessly complicated.

[vulgalour]

Minor updates on the old bus.  Recently ticked over 79,000 miles so that something I guess.

The oil leaks have generally stayed fixed except for one which is the fuel pump.  Turns out the paper gasket between the pump and the phenolic spacer had failed.  The paper gasket between the same spacer and the cambox is still fine and in fact that part has sealed so well it stayed firmly in place when I removed the pump today so I left that well alone.  Stripped off the remains of the failed gasket, went over things with a sanding block to find there wasn't any surface deviation to speak of in the castings, and the made and fitted a new cork gasket.  A short test run proved it seems to be staying oil tight but I'm pretty sure it'll start leaking again soon because it always does.  Next attempt to seal will be a cork gasket with goop of some sort.

Oil filler tube has remained oil tight and the oily residue on the belt side has been steadily drying up so that's good.  I'm leaving less oil spots on the drive where I park too, which is nice.

The other thing I've done is order some modern LED headlights.  I did a lot of thinking and asking on this one to find the right solution and settled on these as the best compromise: https://www.originalcaferacer.com/product/5-75-monaco-gp-led-headlight-pair-50w-drl-dot-e-marked/

I wasn't going to go for LED headlights at all, instead I was going to try the relay harness upgrade, maybe brighter bulbs, maybe even high quality LED bulbs in the current headlights.  I did a lot of asking and reading and looking to figure out what the best compromise would be for what I want to achieve, and these look to be that.  I want ideally to have all my lighting in the twin headlights to keep the front end as clean and tidy as possible.  I would have liked to keep chrome reflectors but that was limiting my lighting options and would have meant finding alternatives for indicators and sidelights since I wanted to do away with the MG B units that were only ever supposed to be a temporary fix really.

These answer my need for better lighting output with lower demand on the existing wiring.  They're also as close to plug-and-play as I'm likely to get.  Being E marked and with a two year warranty offers a nice bit of peace of mind.  Style wise, they're not my first choice, but I think because they'll be in the big slab of black plastic that is the grille and headlight trims on the Princess I'll get away with it.  The LED bar that serves as sidelights I'm undecided about, I'll know better how I feel about that once fitted, and I might end up doing whichever bar of the front grille aligns with them in chrome or something to continue the theme across the front of the car.  Or I might not.

Now that the Princess is my only car I do have to make some concessions to modernity.  I've been finding that now I'm using the car more often it is starting to show its age more than it ever has.  It's not a quick car, it never was, but now when I'm setting off from a standstill at busier times I'm very definitely slower than everyone else.  It also doesn't accelerate or brake anywhere near as aggressively as modern traffic so at times I have to be a lot more careful because of that.  Increasing my stopping distances near retail parks and during rush hour is an absolute must because some people seem to think the only way to brake is last minute and as hard as possible.  I can't join roundabouts as quickly as I'd like either, the rate some people come around them has almost caught me out a couple of times, usually when I've been shielded by the car in the lane next to me who has been able to set off far faster than I have (and is usually an electric, so has insta-torque).

For all that though, I'm still enjoying piloting this old bus on the regular.  I've slowly begun to work through the jobs that are waiting for me and I'm currently saving up for a new windscreen to again help with night driving since my existing screen is very badly scratched and has some fine grinder spray from before I bought the car which definitely doesn't help when faced with ultrabright LED headlights glaring at me.  A new windscreen will allow the new seal to be fitted to and that should stop rain getting into the car.  £500 for a new screen, since the only place I know to get one is special order from Pilkingtons, but at least I can get one.

Not yet fussed about upgrading the rear lights to LEDs because they're massive and nobody seems to have any trouble seeing them, but perhaps in the future I will if for no other reason than to give my alternator an easier time of things.  Other big spends are that I still want to get the suspension regassed and I would like to refit a set of interconnecting pipes (nobody makes the original steel type, I'll have to get some special order hydraulic hose) since I'm told it is a bit crashy in the back.  Paint, of course, is still on the cards and that needs a spell of decent weather so I can get on with welding things and other prep.  It is easier now I've only the one car to look after and while I definitely miss working on the Lanchester and am looking forward to getting back to that eventually, it feels good to have some pressure taken off for a bit.

[SilverMachine]

were the original screens triplex? seem to remember some sort of advertising campaign with a purple princess estate? could be wrong probably am.

performance improvements - i doubt swapping in a 2.0 o series would make that much difference to performance, (for the hassle involved - let alone finding one) but maybe using the twin carb setup from another model to the 1.7 may give you a little more torque? (again could be more hassle to find than a whole engine, but easier to fit and remove! and someone reading this may have the parts? well it would be nice. maybe a little tune and time would offer  a little more even as a peace of mind kinda thing.

lights look good, are you doing all four or just two to see how good they are? i have tried led stuff in the rear lights of the fusion, and even the not cheap ones from amazon dont seem to last very long, particularly the two filament replacements. the single filament (fog and reverse) ones seem to last a bit better, but the fusion really dont see a lot of use so i expect they will also fail soon.

[vulgalour]

Original screen was indeed Triplex, mine still has the little sticker on it.

There's not really much performance gains to be had with the factory offerings.  The 2.0 is a bit better balanced for the car, especially in manual guise, and offers similar actual performance to the bigger 2.2 straight six.  Twin carbs again don't offer much advantage, and finding the correct manifolds etc. can be a bit of a chore.  The other problem with the twin carb set up is reduced fuel economy and since I'm lucky if I'm in the low 20s around town with this one I don't really want to drop that any further down than it is.  Best I've ever done out of this car - 1.7, single carb - is about 37mpg on a run.

I'm doing all four headlights up front, so it was a bit spendy.  Didn't see any point just doing the outers and didn't want to run the risk of doing the outers and then finding the style was out of stock or changed when I came to doing the inners.  I can't see them being any worse than the H4s currently fitted.  As long as the beam pattern is something like reasonable we should be good.  Good LED bulbs do exist, but they are very expensive if you want longevity alongside decent performance.  Tricky thing with the rear lights on the Princess is finding the right type of LED bulb so it puts the light where the reflectors can make use of it properly in the big brake lights, the other lights are less of an issue.  My high level indicators use push-in sidelight bulbs since they're actually Austin A30 front sidelights and I might swap the incadescent ones out for some much brighter LEDs so they're a bit more visible in daylight, haven't decided yet.  I'm only trying to upgrade things that I feel could perform better in day to day use rather than modernising for the sake of it.

[vulgalour]

Hey I did some photos for once so let's do an update on today's adventure.  Recently I found a little hole in the floor under the pedals, I'm pretty sure this is down to my leaking windscreen seal and a big chunk of underseal that had fallen off on the outside of the car... and my general neglect while I was working on other cars before pressing the Princess back into daily duties.

Got it up on an axle stand so I could pop the wheel off and clean up the area.

I completely failed to get any before photos, I just wanted to get this job done.  Working in footwells is not my idea of fun, nor is welding upside down on the drive.  There had been a larger repair done to this area well before I got the car so that was done at least 12 years ago, probably nearer to 30 which is when the car was restored in the '90s.  For the most part, that repair is holding up just fine so I left it alone, the issue is where water has been sitting inside the car from the leaking windscreen seal, and the missing underseal on the outside I didn't know about.  Some chopping and grinding and rust treater later and it was no longer a hole nor was it rusty.

Had a bit of an explore of the rest of the inner arch and found some flaking paint and surface rust, a couple of localised bits of rot that need welding up, and not much more than that.  Picking battles again with this one, I only really had an afternoon available so decided to leave the welding that requires partial dismantling of the suspension alone for the time being.

While I had the car in the air I went over the sill repair, caught any pinholes that appeared after grinding off the welds, and just gave things a general tidy.  I've got a full outer sill to go on this side when I have time so I didn't go nuts.

Inside wasn't too bad, bit blurry for the photo because it had got to that point in the job.  This did end up being a much larger repair than I was expecting, there was a lot of overlapping panels and sealant going on here which I think had exacerbated things.

Passenger side didn't have the same problem, although it was a bit damp from the recent downpours.  I took out the foam sound proofing panels from the front of the car since they are definitely holding on to water, the red carpet barely holds on to any water at all so that can stay for now since I hate driving around with no carpets in the car.  Annoyingly, it wasn't until after I had put all my tools away and was refitting the carpet that the light caught what turned out to be a tiny hole in the middle of the passenger floor pan so I'll have to come back and sort that out, it's so small you could probably drill it and fit a bung to repair it.

A break to let things cool down and whatnot, flatting off of the repairs, and then a nice dose of primer and seam sealer on both sides to keep the weather out and the rust at bay.  Actually ended up looking a lot better than I was expecting.

Finished it all off with some top coat and a spritz of underseal, forgot to photograph that, and let the underseal cure a bit before letting it down off the jack.  That's when the jacking point - which has always looked pretty mangled on this corner but never offered a problem - decided to make some awful crunching noises, try and push up through the floor and generally give me The Fear.  Found another point to jack from and all was well so I could investigate.  It looks like the seam between the jacking point and the inner sill has partially failed, hidden by a very thick layer of factory underseal.  There's also been a repair to the floor over the jacking point which might have been me, I'm not sure, and that still looks perfectly sound.  I'll have to pull the carpet back again and have a bit of an explore, it'll either just need a quick line of stitch weld or for the jacking point to be removed and straightened, the floor likewise, and the whole lot put back together again.  There's no obvious holes or rust so it's a bit of an odd one.

I'm tempted to take a few days off work since May is always super quiet and just do as much welding as I can to deal with all these niggly little bits in one go before work gets busy again.  We shall see.  For now I'm just happy the big hole in the floor is now a big steel patch.

[vulgalour]

Small update here.

That weird deadspot issue has totally gone. It must have been the air in the clutch hydraulics, it's the only thing that's changed since bleeding it out and I simply can't get the car to repeat the deadspot issue at all.

Recently I brimmed the tank for the first time in ages. New problem is that it is definitely dragging some rubbish through from the tank. I do have a filter before the pump so I'll swap that out, it's probably clogged. Over the years I've had periods where a red sandy sediment (not rust) has been pulled through from the tank so it's probably flushed a bit more of whatever that is out.

Oil leak from the fuel pump appears to be solved too, the cork gasket has thus far done the trick. Normally it would have at least started weeping by now and it isn't yet.

There's been a bit of a delay delivering my new headlights because of bank holiday so I'm still waiting on those arriving.

I've not done a list in a while, so here's where we're at on that:

Windscreen - order and fit (maybe order it next month if things go to plan). Already have a new seal to fit at the same time.
Roof - paint when new windscreen is fitted.
Front Driver's Inner Wing - small repairs to driver's side
Front Driver's Outer Wing - media blast and paint NOS wing before fitting
Front Passenger Wheel Arch - cut out rot, fit repair panel
Rear Passenger Wheel Arch - cut out rot, fit repair panel
Driver's Outer Sill - fit NOS outer sill
Driver's Front Jacking Point - straighten, weld, and otherwise sort out
Passenger Front Floor Pan - weld small hole
Passenger Front Door - repair, paint, and fit spare door
Driver's Front Door Hinge - determine what's worn and repair/replace it. Probably the top hinge pin.
Suspension - Full regas of all units. Ideally find someone to remake the interconnecting pipes too, tricky since I have no template to work from.
Rear Passenger Axle Mount - replace metalastic bushing
Steering Rack - replace boots
Headlights - Fit new LED units when they arrive
Valve Shims - adjust to correct values
General Service - We are due an oil and coolant change this year, perhaps a little past due now.
ICE - fit head unit, speakers, and aerial. Still fancy twin electric aerials on the rear wings.
Spoiler - repair crack in fibreglass spoiler and then get it painted
Boot - make and fit interior trim panels for boot lid and boot interior
Protection - cavity wax all the things, underseal all the things
MoT - I'm exempt, and taking full advantage while I've got other things going on in my life right now. I would prefer to have an MoT all the same, just so I can be sure I've not missed anything daft.
Profit? - unlikely.

[High Jetter]

10 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

That weird deadspot issue has totally gone. It must have been the air in the clutch hydraulics, it's the only thing that's changed since bleeding it out and I simply can't get the car to repeat the deadspot issue at all.

Recently I brimmed the tank for the first time in ages. New problem is that it is definitely dragging some rubbish through from the tank. I do have a filter before the pump so I'll swap that out, it's probably clogged. Over the years I've had periods where a red sandy sediment (not rust) has been pulled through from the tank so it's probably flushed a bit more of whatever that is out.

I haz no clue how clutch air could affect combustion, but glad it's gone.

I had that red sediment years ago, can't remember the cause, sorry.

[vulgalour]

My working theory is that it was affecting clutch engagement/disengagement but manifesting with symptoms as if it was combustion/fuelling at fault which is why I hadn't been able to pin it down.  I'm pretty sure that red sediment is what killed my in tank pump too, it's probably completely clogged up with the stuff.  Since removing the in tank pump means the war to get the tank to seal up again I opted to leave it alone and fit the mechanical pump and fight the oil leak there instead.

Should have called this car Incontinence instead of Serendipity, really.

[martc]

On 04/05/2024 at 22:09, SilverMachine said:

were the original screens triplex? seem to remember some sort of advertising campaign with a purple princess estate? could be wrong probably am.

Are you thinking of the Ogle Triplex Glassback 10-20? Based on a Princess and designed to advertise Triplex's glass making skillz?

https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts-and-prototypes/triplex-10-20-glassback/

 

[vulgalour]

All Princesses got Triplex windscreens as standard, not just the funky promo vehicle.

[vulgalour]

Been trundling around no bother today when I could smell fuel sometimes.  That could have been all sorts of things really, Scunthorpe has a fair few filling stations and industrial zones and whatnot so I just put it down to Someone Else and carried on until I could park up.  Took some pics when I got home of the carnage, I forgot the Princess does this.

Yeah.  Well that goes to show the paint I bought is not only nowhere near the quality I was expecting, it's also not fuel resistant.  Can't really do much of anything about this until its dried out now.  The cause I'm not entirely certain because it only happens when I brim the tank and it's a hot day, which is why I don't normally brim the tank.

Maybe modern fuel pumps have the cut off trigger a bit higher in the neck of the fuel tank than they did when the Princess was new, allowing it to be technically overfilled?  Maybe there's an issue with my filler cap (it never leaks any other time, only under these specific circumstances)?  Maybe I shouldn't brim the tank.

Easy fix at least, just need to let this dry out, scrape/sand off the ruined paint, and redo it in something fuel resistant instead.  On the plus side I now know the easy way to get this paint off the car should it turnout to be a sanding pad clogger when we prep for proper paint in the near future.

[SilverMachine]

5 hours ago, martc said:

Are you thinking of the Ogle Triplex Glassback 10-20? Based on a Princess and designed to advertise Triplex's glass making skillz?

https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts-and-prototypes/triplex-10-20-glassback/

 

yip thats the one i was thinking of! wonder how many they actually made? probably just the one i guess. i do like it though, can i have one please?