project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

What a palaver.  Yesterday went on a daytrip to Cleethorpes, first time I've ever been, so that was fun.  Unfortunately the knock on is that today I'm having a rough health day so while I felt okay this morning, now I'm just exhausted.

Happily, after much frustration, this morning I finally got the Princess running again.  I really want to get it out for a test drive to be absolutely sure, I'm just not up to it physically and know when I feel like this I need to rest whether I like it or not, we'll try tomorrow.  I can say it's an awful lot quieter than it's been for years.  I'm hoping to take it over to the place that did the head work for me just to have an expert eye and ear cast over it, perhaps they can fine tune it to run even nicer for me.  If nothing else, it'll be nice for the guy to see what his work went into.

Once I know the Princess is trustworthy again I can turn my attention more properly to the Renault van and get an MoT on it, something that should have happened by now had the Princess not gone and done a Princess and monopolised my resources.

[plasticvandan]

Perhaps retorque the head now it's got hot and cooled down before driving it? Assuming these don't have stretch bolts or any of that nonsense? 

[vulgalour]

No stretch bolts, happily.  I've got some errands to do tomorrow which should allow me to get things hot enough to do a proper temperature cycle and then I can retorque where needed.

[SilverMachine]

glad your feeling a little better, and well done for getting on with it, ive been procrastinating a lot due to the crappy weather, finding other stuff to do instead indoors.... or being at work on milder days....  hopefully having the old girl going again will give you a bit of a boost too! if you manage to get over to the place that did the head work maybe a pic of her outside showing there buisness signs so they get a free plug and the fame that follows a.s!

any updates on the impending move? they can be very stressful, only advice i can give is try and get packed up in an organised way,  id even suggest numbering boxes and noting down brief descriptions of contents. im still looking for some rather large matsui car shelf wedge speakers  that used to live on the parcel shelf of my micra about 18 years ago - i packed away for moving over 4 years ago..

[vulgalour]

The first step of the house move happened this weekend actually, it's all in hand, and I've moved house so many times by now I know the drill.  I'll let everyone know where I'm heading to and all that once I'm set up.

Today was nice, did some errands in the car and it's the happiest I've known it in a very, very long time.  The sump plug is spotting when parked so I'll have to tighten that a smidge, the other usual leak culprits don't seem to be, time will tell on that.  Cautiously optimistic, just want to get a few more miles on, give the engine bay a clean, check for anything coming loose etc. over the course of this week.

JT Motors did the work and I would definitely recommend them.  Really quick turn around, great communication, professional, friendly... everything you want really and not even expensive.  They do any engine you care to think of too, from lawnmowers to vans, and were unphased by the antique I presented them with.

Unit 54, Hebden Road, Scunthorpe, Humberside, DN15 8DT

01724 855 255

[bigfella2]

On 03/02/2025 at 21:28, vulgalour said:

No stretch bolts, happily.  I've got some errands to do tomorrow which should allow me to get things hot enough to do a proper temperature cycle and then I can retorque where needed.

What no you tube footage?? much disappointment.

[vulgalour]

Princess videos are on quite a delay these days, at least 6 months, so it'll be a bit confusing when they do come out for those reading here I imagine.

[bunglebus]

[beko1987]

That's a promising sign of a going well shakedown period then 🤞🤞

[iainrcz]

13 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I've just seen that. Thought I recognised it.

[bunglebus]

9 hours ago, iainrcz said:

I've just seen that. Thought I recognised it.

It could be the other pink and black Princess with mad accessories though

[beko1987]

12 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

It could be the other pink and black Princess with mad accessories though

I bet that other guy didn't have to do the hg in January either on it 😂

[vulgalour]

Yeah, we're doing okay.  Keeping it super local at the minute until those sump plug washers arrive, it's doing a bit of a Land Rover at the moment and I don't want to push my luck.  I did have some oil smoke out the exhaust the other day which has since cleared up.  One of the spark plugs was a bit loose, some oil was getting out of the hole so I think that was causing the oil smoke as it stopped doing it once the plug was tightened.  I checked the plugs when I found the loose one and they all look pretty healthy, no oil or soot fouling, that nice pinkish colour they should be.

I did have an oil leak from the old camshaft oil seal, that seems to have stopped completely now which is nice.  Fuel pump hasn't started leaking oil yet (four paper gaskets with a smear of Wurth 250 Red between every mating surface seems to have done the trick).  There's no mixing of fluids or bubbles in the coolant and the head bolts are still nice and tight.  Manifold bolts and carburettor bolts have stayed tight too.

I did have the wiper motor fuse fail which did worry me at first.  However, it appears that it hadn't blown, it's just a poor quality ceramic style bullet fuse and the metal had just corroded away enough that I had no connection.  Replaced it and all was good there.

I also found a potential culprit for the intermittent poor running which is that the wires for the electronic ignition had been chafing on the rotor arm shaft, completely unseen.  There's nothing to keep the wires out of the way of the shaft and they run over the top rather than underneath by design.  It had gone through the insulation but not the wire so I've taped them because there's nothing else I can really do about it other than keep an eye on it and possibly get another kit.  I still suspect the distributor is a bit worn out, I'd like to get it rebuilt or replaced, unfortunately the new ones out there are apparently not worth the asking price and tend to be worse than a knackered old one.

[NigeT]

2 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Yeah, we're doing okay.  Keeping it super local at the minute until those sump plug washers arrive, it's doing a bit of a Land Rover at the moment and I don't want to push my luck.  I did have some oil smoke out the exhaust the other day which has since cleared up.  One of the spark plugs was a bit loose, some oil was getting out of the hole so I think that was causing the oil smoke as it stopped doing it once the plug was tightened.  I checked the plugs when I found the loose one and they all look pretty healthy, no oil or soot fouling, that nice pinkish colour they should be.

I did have an oil leak from the old camshaft oil seal, that seems to have stopped completely now which is nice.  Fuel pump hasn't started leaking oil yet (four paper gaskets with a smear of Wurth 250 Red between every mating surface seems to have done the trick).  There's no mixing of fluids or bubbles in the coolant and the head bolts are still nice and tight.  Manifold bolts and carburettor bolts have stayed tight too.

I did have the wiper motor fuse fail which did worry me at first.  However, it appears that it hadn't blown, it's just a poor quality ceramic style bullet fuse and the metal had just corroded away enough that I had no connection.  Replaced it and all was good there.

I also found a potential culprit for the intermittent poor running which is that the wires for the electronic ignition had been chafing on the rotor arm shaft, completely unseen.  There's nothing to keep the wires out of the way of the shaft and they run over the top rather than underneath by design.  It had gone through the insulation but not the wire so I've taped them because there's nothing else I can really do about it other than keep an eye on it and possibly get another kit.  I still suspect the distributor is a bit worn out, I'd like to get it rebuilt or replaced, unfortunately the new ones out there are apparently not worth the asking price and tend to be worse than a knackered old one.

Congrats on getting it up and running again and keeping the best thread on AS going. A proper roadtrip would be video gold. 

[vulgalour]

Dirty Girl!

The roads are still disgusting.  This weekend was another trip to see mates and it seems like my health has finally turned a corner, the drive there and back didn't exhaust me and I feel fine today so that's a bit of a milestone.  Another milestone was winding the Princess up to 60mph which might not sound much until you realise that's not on the motorway and instead on pothole and sodden, sometimes muddy, wiggly Lincolnshire roads.  I wanted to see what the car was happy doing after the head rebuild and try and find its happy speed.  That speed is still somewhere in the region of 55-57mph, that's where everything feels sort of balanced and happy and the point at which the wind noise is starting to increase and become annoying.

I can say the car keeps a really steady temperature and has lost the intermittent stumble and hesitation now.  I do think I could push to motorway speeds if I really wanted to and the car would do it except for one thing.  I hit a pothole a little while ago that knocked my tracking off and I've had a quiet occasional knock from somewhere at the front too that until today I couldn't pin down.  Above 55mph the handling feels a lot like I've got a worn tie rod and since I can't find any play or adverse wear anywhere I suspect when I hit the pothole it's also damaged a tie rod end and that's where the knock is coming from.  I'll order a fresh pair and get the garage to fit that, the steering rack gaitors, and do the tracking all in one go.

I've got about 100-120 miles on the car since rebuilding the top end and I feel much more confident in the car again now.  Aforementioned garage job aside, next task is probably the welding work I want to get through, I've got the panels together, just don't want to dig into that until the van is MoT'd, just in case the welding work goes sideways on me.  Welding is all cosmetic really, wheel arches, bit of a sill step, and a brace underneath the car that's trying to add as much lightness as possible.

Needs a bath too, it's disgusting.

[vulgalour]

Minor embarrassment last night.  Parked up at the pub for a social and lost reverse.  This wouldn't be a problem except for how tight the car park is and I was right up against a van I was trying to park next to and trying to reverse to get a bit more space to make the turn.  Fortunately, another patron spotted for me and we just squeaked in.  I have been having trouble with the gear change getting sloppier and knew what the issue was just didn't want to tackle it because I'm a BABY.

This morning got under the car, tightened the bolt on the side of the remote gear change box that a previous owner installed in place of the original pin, and have all my gears back and a much improved gear change.  Gave the sump plug a little extra tighten while I was under there too as it had a little tiny drop of oil on the bottom of it that was hanging on.   Amazingly, the fuel pump mount still isn't leaking oil, this is the most miles I've done with that staying oil tight.

[SilverMachine]

2 hours ago, vulgalour said:

This morning got under the car, tightened the bolt on the side of the remote gear change box that a previous owner installed in place of the original pin

can you get any thread lock on it?

good your feeling better and getting the old girl out too! just still take it easy!

do you need to get the welding done before completing the move? or is there a suitable drive way area at the new place?

[vulgalour]

I have tried threadlock in the past and it didn't work for very much longer than without, but I've also learned recently there are different kinds of threadlock so I'll try a stronger one.  As for the welding, that's a bit of a Forth Bridge situation.  I can get the important stuff done before the house move, and then I'll just have to do the rest as and when and where I can.

[SilverMachine]

i was also thinking a spring washer or locking nut, but as its replacing a pin, could it be drilled and use a split pin? (where it threads into) or maybe thats probably more effort than just nipping it up as and when!

[vulgalour]

The thing that puzzles me with it is how would the original pin hold the gear change better than the bolt?  It must be compressing something inside the gear change box and taking out some slop.  I keep meaning to get a replacement box, it's the same as used on classic Mini, the only difference for the Princess is that the rods that connect it to the gearbox are longer.  Gear change has been pretty nice today, unsurprisingly, so I'll likely forget all about this until it becomes a problem again in a few months.

[Noel Tidybeard]

stupid as it sounds these gearbag-in-sump changes seem to feel better with a later type mini/metro/maestro gearknob like this

but with this pattern

[SilverMachine]

1 hour ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

stupid as it sounds these gearbag-in-sump changes seem to feel better with a later type mini/metro/maestro gearknob like this

but with this pattern

cue the knob jokes?

[Noel Tidybeard]

33 minutes ago, SilverMachine said:

cue the knob jokes?

a bigger knob feels better in the hand🤭

[vulgalour]

Changing gear in a Princess is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman.  You have to be firm but gentle, determined but patient, and always be grateful for whatever she is willing to give you. /Swiss Tony

That's also why I don't really like those later knobs, they encourage you to grip and shove and if you try that on the Princess it will fight you and refuse to give you the gear you want.

[Noel Tidybeard]

17 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Changing gear in a Princess is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman.  You have to be firm but gentle, determined but patient, and always be grateful for whatever she is willing to give you. /Swiss Tony

That's also why I don't really like those later knobs, they encourage you to grip and shove and if you try that on the Princess it will fight you and refuse to give you the gear you want.

well it worked on mini 1000 & allegro 1500 5spd

[vulgalour]

It might be more down to the length of the rods from the gearbox to the remote selector box since they're a lot shorter on the Allegro and Mini than the Princess, it's remarkable what difference that little bit of extra length can make (stop it).

[SilverMachine]

princesses do like longer rods,,

 

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

a bigger knob feels better in the hand🤭

That's why I'm married! 🤣

[vulgalour]

A full half of the companies I called tonight to try and get someone to fit the windscreen to the Princess had told me it's too old and they won't do it.  One was at least honest enough to say their work force is too young to know how to fit the type of seal the Princess uses, but that's not what you want from a company that promotes itself as a specialist in fitting classic car glass!

I've got one lead from a local fitter who is booked up for the next week.  I have another lead from a heavy plant glass fitter.

All the big names - Autoglass, National, etc. - won't do it at all.

One company won't do it on site because the job takes too long so I have to take the car to them, which is a bit difficult since it has no windscreen and I have no way of getting the car transported over there.

I thought I could fit the windscreen myself.  I've done the pull-it-in-with-a-string types loads of times.  After TWO HOURS of my housemate and I fighting to get the seal to co-operate I gave up.  There's nothing wrong with the seal or the glass, I just don't have enough hands to hold enough of it in place to get the whole thing on the glass, and then keep it there while I load the string in, and then the soap, and then get it over to the hole in the car.  I've never known a windscreen seal of this type to be this difficult before.

I'm hoping one of the fitters that might be able to help actually can.  The trouble is the car has overstayed its welcome at the unit it is in by a week due to things beyond my control, and it really is supposed to be out by this weekend.  I'm not optimistic about getting it out.  I might be able to fit the screen myself if I had three or four people to help, I certainly can't do it on my own.

[comfortablynumb]

TBH we've found the big glass companies to be completely useless with anything more than a few years old. We had immense problems getting a screen for an '88 sapphire, and I had similar problems with classic range rover stuff.

The smaller one man band style guys, on the other hand, couldn't do enough to help.

 

Edit - and ones bonded, and the other is a rubber seal, so I guess at least they're consistent 🤦

Edited March 18 by comfortablynumb
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