project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

Chopped off that manky sill end today, bit of an awkward thing to repair.  Glad I did, underneath were a few layers that were causing problems.

 

With the patched sill section removed and the closing plate literally pulled off because it wasn't welded on properly I could see what I was dealing with.  A little bit of frilliness to trim back but it's otherwise quite good and there's enough healthy metal to weld new pieces in properly.  Really, I should have chopped this out before repairing the inner sill and floor, life would have been easier on that then.

 

De-fillered the front wing.  There was a lot of filler hiding in the bottom corner here covering a patch I already knew about.  I need to cut this out and let a larger patch back in as the metal has holed beyond the repair.  Shame really, the repair wasn't too bad here originally, looks like they bothered to seam weld, cut out the rot and dress it back better than the other repairs on the car.

 

Found a bit that needs attention at the front too.  The wing shouldn't be welded to the front valance like this, there's a return lip on both that should be spot welded together.  Not entirely sure what I'm doing with this bit for now beyond repairing that little hole that's appeared in the wing just at the bottom of the headlight opening.

 

I'm definitely moving the side repeaters.  I really don't like the stock location and since it's only a case of extending some wires and drilling a hole I might as well do it while I'm doing the rest of the wing repairs.  You can also see here just how much filler was hiding in the wing, much of it for no reason at all because it wasn't covering repairs or even bad metal.

 

One thing I am doing is de-bumpering the car.  The back end looks pretty tidy without them, the front not so much because of the sidelight-indicator units.  I had a bit of a think and realised that I can relocate the side repeaters into the headlight trim.  You can get clear lens versions too and they'll sit in the gap above.  The old sidelight-indicator holes will get plated over to finish the front end off and the bumper mounting holes filled front and rear.  You can see the two little holes where my number plate used to be fixed, it will be going back there.

[Christine]

Have'nt they got to be 3 square inches area ?  Sommat i remember vaguely from kitcar building...

[vulgalour]

Maybe.  I was looking at options after making the post and thinking they might be a bit too tiny and invisible so maybe something more like MG B units would be suitable in the old location, something that's smart but doesn't stick out too much.

 

[Angrydicky]

Those sills look a little far gone to me, judging by the pitting they look quite thin. Would it not be better to replace them, rather than patching?

[vulgalour]

Replacement sills would be lovely, but nobody makes them any more.  Finding them is difficult too, even more so than finding front wings.  Repair is the only option and since I have three good rust-free partial sills that's become my solution.  It's more work but easier than trying to make the sills complete from scratch so it's what I have to do.

 

This side is much worse than the other, there's pitting all along where the stone-chip trim goes and in a few places it is far too thin to leave as is.  I'm pretty sure that I'll be patching these sills well into the future too because they'll just keep rotting and replacements will still be impossible to find.

[Angrydicky]

Hopefully you've got enough partial sills to make most of one good one. If you can I'd slice through just below the sill step leaving that intact, then that gives you something to weld to at the top. It'll be a bit of a trial and error getting everything lined up, but at least the profile doesn't look too complex so you should be able to make any missing sections, using the bits saved off the scrap cars to copy.

[vulgalour]

Upside-down day today so I got some hours in on the Princess before work.  Someone on the club is selling a bunch of Princess parts, including some complete sills, so I'm not working on those until I've collected them.  I'm hoping at least one of the sills is for the passenger side, it'd save me a lot of time and effort.  Instead, turned my attention to the nose end since my new lights had arrived.  Found that the few small holes in the valance I was aware of have got no worse, now I have the means these will get patched properly.  There's a lot of paint on the front valance too, it must have had at least four resprays judging by the layers I went through.

 

Chopped out the rust on the front wing and let in a section of one of the partial sills I've got that I can't use to repair the existing sill.  The profile is similar enough so it was easier to manipulate this than a flat sheet.  I've got to trim and fold the return and try to get the arch flare into it before filler and primer goes on.  Got about half way around on filling the pie-cuts which just takes forever and welded up the little hole in the leading edge of the wing.

 

Offered one of the new MG units up to the hole in the valance and found the hole was ever so slightly too big.  The units are also slightly curved. They do look better than the originals without the bumper, if a little too new and shiny.

 

When I let the new panel in I wasn't that keen on it, mocked up it looked fine, it bows out slightly to match the profile of the new units.  I may have just done things clumsily.  I'll be deleting the bumper bracket nobble and I may cut out this patch and fit a flush one so I start with a smooth valance.  It could be easier to modify the MG light unit to fit the valance and look better.  In fact, the curve of the MG unit is so minor it can probably be taken up with an extra foam gasket.  We shall see I suppose.

 

It's progress.  Progress is good.

[danthecapriman]

Looking good, the new sills should certainly make things easier.

 

I was just wondering when you said about going bumper less, what it would look like with body coloured bumpers instead of chrome? It might just fill the gap and make it look a little smoother but without being as noticeable as the original chrome.

 

Great work though.

[vulgalour]

I don't really like body coloured bumpers unless they're a substantial size, the only colour you could really do on the the Princess is satin black and I only like those on things like Chevettes and Kadetts where they suit quite well.  I don't know of any other bumperless Princess and since this one is never going to be worth anything to anyone but me even if I restore it to factory I might as well have fun making it more and more into my own car.

 

To make more sense of the front, the air scoop hole will get a coat of satin black when I've finished repairing and repainting the valance.  I'd like a full width grille that goes over the headlights, just not figured out the best way to do it yet, there's a lot of options there, some more practical than others.  I'm also wanting to put a high level brake light on the back, just not figured out what exactly I want for that or where it's going.

 

Totally enthused just lately.  I'm getting through the bodywork at a better pace and not worrying too much about the mechanical stuff for now.  Cutting out rust and welding in metal isn't costing me anything but time, that makes me happy.

[Timewaster]

Do you have a picture in your head of the finished article?

It does seem like you are making it up as you go along.

Fine if you are okay with that but i wonder if the end result might be a bit disjointed?

 

Disclaimer: your car, your choice.

[vulgalour]

I have a clear picture in my head now after having played about with several ideas on the computer and on the car and discounted a lot.  Keeping it really simple.  Debumper, tidy the lumps and bumps, install the new lights and repaint beige and black where appropriate.  End result should be clean but obviously modified.

 

Later stage is further work, that's when I look at hide-away lights and whatever.  That I'm not starting on at all until this stage is done.

[vulgalour]

Pair (one for each side) of sills collected, and all six brake hoses all for £40.  I also got a scruffy Allegro hub cap from eBay recently and can confirm they do indeed fit Princess steels which has broadened my steel wheel trim options considerably.

[dollywobbler]

I'm going to have to concede that I just don't like the MGB lamps. I'd be wondering about hiding some in the front grille somehow. Blacked out, they could be very secret until needed. It'd have a proper Dodge Challenger vibe then.

[Bear]

I would paint the lower infill area in satin black, and get two sets of LED strips to fit inside the grille - one sidelight/DRL, and one amber with resistor as an indicator.

 

Or take some inspiration from Ogle's designs and make a sequential light setup - and do the same at the back. The tail lights on the Princess always looked a bit weedy and with no logic to the shape relative to the overall profile of the car, it would suit something bolder.

[AndyW201]

Good to see progress on this, fwiw I think youre heading in a good direction there. Smoothed out with the original colour scheme will give it a nice slightly modified but mainly OE look, especially now you have the black interior to match the black C pillars.

Are you re-using the Lotus alloys? They will finish the look right off!

 

If you're also playing around with steel wheel ideas, I have a set of Unipart push-through chrome centre caps with the Leyland plughole logo. I had them on my Allegro, before I fitted a set of SS wheel trims to it, so presumably they'll fit Princess steels. Holler if you want them, I'm just up the road from you.

[Bren]

You will be much happier once the sills are on because fitting two panels will eliminate much of the rot.

 

The inners on my SD1 were also suffering, instead of buying a new panel I trimmed them and grafted in 16 swg zintec - it's thick and coated with zinc. I could then offer up the new sill.

 

I have done all the welding, but, like you, sometimes spot things you wish you could have done better. I fitted a rear arch repair panel to the n/s, however I could'nt get one for the o/s, so I let in metal and applied filler.

 

The problem is there is too much filler - I am not painting it then having issues with the filler cracking. So I am looking for a repair panel - no longer available, I could buy a rear quarter for £100+ and cut off the arch which would be extremely wasteful.

[vulgalour]

AndyW201:  I'm wondering if those centre caps will fit the Lotus alloys since they don't have any and I'm wanting some plugholes for them.  They will be going on the car because they absolutely must.

 

@Bren:  Can you not use a front arch for a rear arch profile?  I can't think of another car with a similar arch profile to an SD1.

[Bren]

I have been told the same thing - will have to do a comparison.

[AndyW201]

Vulg, I'd imagine the centre caps would fit, I'm 99% sure the Princess and Allegro have the same centre bore size. They're yours if you want them.

PM me if you're interested and I can drop by with them, I pass Thornaby every day going home from work.

[vulgalour]

I strongly suspect BL used the same centre wheel pressings for Allegro and Princess, they look identical and wear the same hubcaps.  Also, Lotus alloys fit on Allegros but don't look as good as they do on Princesses.  PM incoming.

[vulgalour]

Chopped out a rusty section so I could do repairs on the upper valance and found it was much worse on the back than expected, this meant a slight change in plans because replacing exactly as original was going to be time consuming (more not-available panels here) and I don't need the original shape anyway.

 

A new upper valance section was created from that bonnet I'm still making use of and welded in place.  The welds need dressing back to finish.  Coincidentally, this removed all of the deformation of the valance panel so the front end looks much straight than it did.  The structure behind is undamaged, it looks like all the damage was restricted to the wing and valance.

 

This is less involved than repairing the original pieces in the way I was going to and took me less time.  You'll just have to wait and see how it looks when I've done it, I've got all the pieces I just have to put them all back on the car.

[derskine]

Impressive work, you have definitely got the hang of it!

[captain_70s]

Also, Lotus alloys fit on Allegros but don't look as good as they do on Princesses.

I have a new life goal, it involves owning a purple Allegro 1750 sitting on Lotus alloys...

[vulgalour]

Got a good way towards completing the welding on the front end today, which was a great feeling.  Having decided on the indicator's final location I found I didn't have the time to make the small brackets needed to install them today, nor time to fit the final element of the front end.

 

Instead, I managed to come very close to finishing the welding on the passenger front wing.  All those little cuts on the arch have been welded up, a small hole I'd previously missed was caught and the bumper mount hole-and-bump flattened to match the arch better.  I need to cut a new indicator hole and plate up the old one as well as plating up the bumper mounting hole before I can get a bit of filler on here to smooth it all out nicely.  Tiny glimpse of the bit of metal I've not quite finished that's going back on the front end too.

 

Happily managed to salvage the centre brace.  I'm pretty sure now that this car has had a minor bump before I owned it because I found that were the metal had split was an old brazing repair.  With some patience I got most of the original shape back to the brace and welded it in place.  I also tidied up the front lip and centre seam of the lower valance and got some primer on it.  A little bit of filler will see this all smoothed out properly.  I'm rather pleased with it.

 

[KruJoe]

Looking well, that is, wor kid.

 

Have you used a grinder to dress back that wing? A flapper disc is my new best friend for that kind of job. (This evening I have nostrils full of powdered oxidised aluminum and scabby old paint to prove it.)

[vulgalour]

For some reason the camera makes it look like I took a grinder to everything, I haven't, I've used a flap disc as they're just better in every single way.  I do feel a bit like I've gone overboard with this, I was only supposed to be doing the MoT welding and instead I appear to be going full-resto-mod.

[purplebargeken]

Never heard that before. Nope, never.

 

I'll just fill this hole...................................... oh look, I now have a bare shell. How the fuck did that happen.

[vulgalour]

Finally got time and motivation to crack on with the Princess this weekend. Putting theory into practice on bodywork is quite a learning curve, especially when you're trying to do ambitious things with shapes. I had fitted the MG B sidelight-indicator units to the front valance on the Princess, it looked perfectly okay on the bench. Then when I put it on the car it looked HORRIBLE so I had to cut out all the work and start again.

 

I'd already marked out where I wanted the unit to sit but transferring the shape of the light unit to the curved panel was a case of trial and error as the light unit is slightly curved horizontally whereas the panel it's going into is heavily curved vertically, and ever so slightly horizontally too. After much nibbling and filing after the initial hole cut I had a hole the right shape without taking too much material out. Then I just had to make a rectangle of metal the right curve to fit the hole.

 

 

That's also complicated. The recess needs to sit parallel to the top edge of the panel I'm working with but the back of it will be angled so the units sit in a better way. Many, many frustrating minutes of bend, hammer, tweak, bend, adjust with offering it up to the hole between and eventually I get to a point I can weld it in. Ugly welds, I know.

 

I do know that welding from the other side of this would have probably made for a neater finish and required me not to make a second pass on the seam. It was very difficult to get access all the way around on the back of the panel due to its shape so I opted not to. When the piece was welded in I trimmed off the excess with the tin snips and then got the flap wheel to get everything flush. This bit wasn't so bad and the end result is fairly smart. Few bits here and there need extra attention and finishing and of course a bit of filler will be needed before paint.

 

The backing plate next. I made several cardboard attempts at this and it was just annoyingly difficult. The back of the light units have two fixing bolts in opposing corners and the unit itself isn't flat so you need a really specific shape for the hole. Originally I was going to cheat and get a repair section but I've been unable to find one so I guess it's one of the few bits of MG B that you can't get off the shelf. After a while I had one side in, not fully, but enough to check for fitment. You can just see the orange corners of the backing plate where I've not trimmed them yet.

 

 

It's not bad. For a first attempt at this sort of thing I think I've done okay and with a little more graft I'll have it finished nicely. What's surprised me is just how difficult it's been to get the shapes I want. I did notice that the tolerances I'd allowed in the cardboard version were probably a little tight for the metal version so I'm hoping I don't have too much trouble getting everything as smartly finished as I want.

[vulgalour]

Ah ha!
 

 

 

 
 
Needs some fine adjustment to be properly finished like the bolt holes for the indicators enlarging slightly so I can fit them but otherwise it went remarkably smoothly today.  I'm very happy with how this looks.  I've a few options for the front number plate location, all of them are very easy, and a good amount of finishing work with filler to get it all looking as it ought.
 
Driver's side wing needs that repair section letting in and the headlight alignment sorting out which are comparatively easy jobs to getting the front end tidied up.  Next I'll either finished the rear light bucket or the passenger outer sill replacement.
 
Can't do anything about the suspension until I find someone local to make me at least one suspension pipe and since disturbing everything the front corner is so low now that the tyre rubs on the inner arch when properly inflated.
 
But hey, it's progress, and good progress at that!

[Parky]

That looks mega, Stance Yo!

 

Are you losing any cooling / ventilation with the new style of valance? Can't really remember what the old one looked like (apart from a bit bent)