project 1980 Austin Princess

[GrumpiusMaximus]

That's absolutely fucking horrible.  And I love it.

[vulgalour]

Super minor tiny update here.  Did a couple of cosmetic things, namely put the gutter and waist trims back on, this helps makes a bit more sense of why the colour is split where it's split and why the A pillar isn't painted black.

The other thing I've done is very quickly splashed some satin black on the driver's side B pillar.  I don't really know why I never got around to doing this since I did the other side.  It's good to have it done now at least.

Fuel filler flap will go back after I've thrown some black paint in the pocket and found some suitable screws/bolts that don't have chewed up heads like the originals.  I'm not sweating the state of the paint that was rollered on since it looks tidier than the patchwork it was in and I can go back and do a better job at any point.  For now, I want to tackle all the other outstanding niggly bits for that sense of accomplishment and motivation boost, something that finally having the rear brakes back together has given me.

 

[vulgalour]

Victory!  I drove it for the first time in FOREVER.

Trouble is, there's a fuelling issue with it.  I did think the tank was empty and the sender had got stuck at half gauge but after putting 10 litres of fuel in it the gauge did move up the requisite amount.  I also can't get it to start without manually priming it and after that it runs fine under load but will gradually lean off and die at idle.

I can hear the pump running, the battery is fully charged, I topped up the dashpot just to be sure, the float in the carb doesn't look to be sticking, I've got no crap in the fuel filter and I can't see any air bubbles appearing in the filter when the car is running.  I do know the fuel in the car is old but it's also now diluted with fresh new fuel so I wouldn't expect that to be the issue in this instance especially since the fuel doesn't smell varnishy and looks nice and clean.  Throttle and choke cables are moving freely and when it is running it's pretty happy.  It's only at idle I'm getting the issue.  I do wonder if it might be drawing air in from somewhere, or if the electric in-tank pump is perhaps weak and on its way out.

When I can get to the back of the garage again I'll have a rummage for the mechanical pump and fit that, see if that solves the issue.  If it does, I'll just run that since I've done that before with no bother and it's a far easier solution than trying to get the pump out of the tank and then seal the tank up afterwards.

[vulgalour]

Okay, I've had another fiddle with this post-work and I'm still a bit confused about what's going on.

I look to be getting a reasonable 13ish volts at the pump so I don't think it's an earth problem.  Sender is also apparently reading properly since the gauge went up when I put more fuel in.

Under load/throttle the engine runs fine, enough fuel gets to the front.  If you come off the throttle the idle returns to a normal level but then drops off until the car eventually stalls as if fuel starved.  To restart, you have to manually prime it because the pump doesn't seem able to force enough fuel up to the carb.

However, if when it's idling the idle speed begins to fall, you can revive it by pumping/feathering the throttle and it will go back to running okay for a bit until the idle drops off again.

Could this be a carb issue?  Or am I missing something else obvious here?

[plasticvandan]

Sticking float needle?

[vulgalour]

Wouldn't be the first time so that's likely.  I'll pull the carb off tomorrow probably and have a look inside and see what's going on.

[captain_70s]

Pulling air at a bad connection somewhere?

[vulgalour]

Also very possible, most likely where the carb mounts to the manifold in fact.  Now you mention it I'm remembering having a similar issue when it ingested/blew out part of the paper gasket a few years ago.

[stuboy]

what happened too the lotus alloys?

[vulgalour]

The Lotus wheels are waiting their turn, just like everything else really.  I always intended to run them considerably more full time than the steels I just never got around to lining it up.  They take an odd tyre size too which complicates matters, especially since there's not a massive choice out there for 14" tyres nowadays.

 

Solved the fuelling issue: dying fuel pump.

Took off the carburettor and it's absolutely spotless inside, everything free moving, all gaskets in great shape.  Car runs fine if I feed fuel directly to the carburettor and ignore the fuel pump.  The one thing that has changed is that I can't feather the throttle to encourage it to run when connected to the fuel pump and this coincides with the pump getting very, very quiet.  I think I fitted that pump about four years ago, maybe five, and I shan't be fitting another in-tank one.  Instead I'll fit either the mechanical pump when I can find it, or a decent electric one either down by the tank under the car, or up at the front in the engine bay.  I know I can draw fuel through the in-tank pump no problem having had to do it before.

It's not that removing the pump/sender is difficult on the Princess, it really isn't, it's just impossible to seal the fuel tank up afterwards due to the sealing ring not being very good.  Custom fuel tank is a bit of a false economy too since the tank doesn't have any other issues at present.

[vulgalour]

I have put the mechanical fuel pump Somewhere Safe and as a result, cannot find it.  Decided to order a new one and the required spacer block which was only £21 delivered.  Problem solved, no need to do any wiring, and I know it's a reliable set up.  I also know it takes a bit longer to crank on first start since there's no electric prime, and it's prone to weeping a little oil, but I'm okay with that if it means getting the car mobile again.  I might get someone to fit an electric external pump in the future.

[vulgalour]

It's alive!  The Sherpa mechanical pump was just the ticket and it doesn't appear to be weeping any oil from the mating surfaces.

Now I can finish the other rear brake, bleed the whole system, and probably give the car a really thorough clean which it's well overdue for.

[High Jetter]

Welcome back, mojo!

[vulgalour]

The Princess is set to become my only car again (the Lanchester doesn't count, it's a special case) and I'm okay with this.  It's mostly sorted and while it still has problems none of them are insurmountable.  I'm going through a period of rationalisation with cars and life in general to try and get things under control again.  There's some big changes been happening behind the scenes and coming up in the near future and I need to streamline everything a lot more.  Most of all, I've got to pick which projects actually matter and get some of them finished, give myself some breathing room so I'm not constantly working.

Some of you will be muttering variations of "I could have told you that." and yeah... well... you're not wrong.

I'm a chronic workaholic, always have been, and I'm sure there's some deep seated social and psychological reasons for it.  Anyway, what this means is I take too much on all the damned time and by the time I realise what I've done I'm totally overwhelmed.  This year I've been making a concerted effort to say no to new projects, to actually finish stuff I've got waiting and... it's working.  I'm actually getting through stuff and it's a very strange sensation.  I'm not even replacing completed projects with new ones, I'm just picking up the next thing that's been waiting to be done.

This is why there hasn't been the progress I would have liked on the Princess since the last update as I've been focused entirely on 'finishing' the Maestro so it can be sold.  It's also why progress on the Lanchester has halted, I haven't given up on it I just needed to not think about it so I could get the Maestro done.  That and I got flu, which didn't help with any progress.

Where that leaves us with this particular update is that I'm going to be switching my attention from the Maestro to the Princess basically this weekend.  What I need to do on the Maestro is being held up by waiting for parts orders so it makes sense to shift attention to the Princess.  I've got the rear brakes to finish (a lot easier now I've done one side and have the parts to do the other to match, and they do currently work again), the front seat bases to finish putting together (which I might do this weekend), a bit of welding (an outer sill, some wheel arch repairs), and a general service.  I'm sure to find some other jobs along the way.  I'm not worrying about big stuff like paint, I have a potential lead on that which I'm hoping comes to something in the next year or two, we'll just have to see how things pan out since it's a bit wibbly wobbly on how it might happen.  What I really have to do is focus on the important jobs and not get distracted by the fun jobs I'd rather be doing.

Finally, the biggest issue I'm facing with everything currently is my career.  Being a full time artist - and now Youtuber, although that's not proving to be the successful venture I'd hoped - has its challenges and my workaholic tendencies are both a blessing for putting in the hours and a curse for setting up too many things to commit to.  As a result, I have too many projects across too many themes and they're all doing about as well as each other and now I have to decide which one or more to kill so the others can thrive.  The way I'm dealing with that is the same as the cars; no more projects until I've finished the current ones.

I don't like change, it's a faff, and I've got rather more change happening now than I'd like.  If I keep the Princess that's one constant I can use as an anchor point and hopefully keep me focused to sort all the other mess out.  Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

[Marshall2810]

Hope everything is OK with you and you feel a weight off when you do move things on. What I've found most recently with my project is that there are always people out there that can help. I enjoy the project management side as much as the fettling side so sometimes its good to step back and get some perspective. All the best 

[vulgalour]

Progress!  Today I got the seat bases repaired and the new foam installed.  They are now very comfortable seats, firm without being hard, squishy without being saggy.  It is a job I do not care to do again, installing the seat base springs was a two person task and cost me the skin off a knuckle.

I'll chuck some pics up in the future when I've done the video editing and whatnot from today's exploits.

Next on the hit list is the rear brake drum I haven't rebuilt yet.  After that probably do the covers for the rear lights inside the boot and the new boot carpet, both of which I have materials for and would tidy it up.  Always good to balance out jobs you don't like with ones you do, even if the ones you do like aren't as important.

[vulgalour]

Longer ago than I care to admit to, the driver's side seat base diaphragm failed just as I was pulling onto the drive.  There were as far as I'm aware two different types of Princess seat diaphragm, one being more like MGs and Triumphs use being one big square of rubber with hooks all round, and the other like this.  Typically, the big square rubber one is still available in various sizes while the hessian and bonded rubber straps like mine isn't.  The seat frame bases appear to be made differently too, I don't believe my seats have the provision for the extra hooks needed for the rubber square type so I had to find a way to recreate this.

I managed to find some of the right sort of rubber webbing and had some leftover hessian from work on the Lanchester.  Combined with some very strong contact adhesive I hoped this would be a simple recreation.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a strong enough bond between the hessian and the rubber.  I then used a PU adhesive/sealant which was stronger and still not strong enough.  Rather than chasing a solution down that route I looked at alternatives and realised I only needed horizontal springs or webbing of some sort and then a method to keep them evenly spaced.

Some hunting online found Parker Knoll style seat springs and a standard size was suitable for the Princess seat bases.  I had some good strong fabric that I could make a panel with channels for the springs to go into and I built up a seat diaphragm with that.  It worked really well except that I ended up sitting quite a lot lower in the car since the springs gave the foam less support.  It was an adequate solution and I moved on to other things until recently when I ordered some medium density foam to go between the diaphragm and the seat foam.  This solved the sitting-too-low issue and firmed the seats up to be more like the HLS trim versions so they're a lot more comfortable now.

Best of all the extra foam has taken out the saggy look of the front seat bases, a common issue with HL seats.  The passenger seat back foam is still pretty good but the driver's one is definitely getting tired now and would benefit from being redone.  That, however, is a job for another day since taking the seat back covers off is a bit of a nightmare and not something I want to venture in to until it's more necessary.

[vulgalour]

As you'll have read elsewhere, the Maestro is gone to pastures new and that means this has to be my only car again.  We've done this before, several times, so I know I can do it again.  I've some small jobs to do that I planned to crack on with this weekend anyway so updates will be happening here soon once more.  I'm at the mercy of the weather because like last time this was my only car, I've decided to do this right at the end of the year when the weather is getting worse, because I'm a very smart person that way.

Fortunately there isn't really money to spend, it's just time, and with the Maestro gone I do now have more time than I did so I'm hoping some concerted effort over the next few weeks will see me through all the jobs I need to do. I shall, as always, keep you posted.

[vulgalour]

Doing a work hours shuffle since the weekend is set to be dreadful and today is lovely.  Let's crack on with the rear brake on the driver's side.  Good news is I don't actually have to do anything, everything is still in good shape, plenty of meat on the shoes still, wheel cylinder operating normally with no leaks so I'm going to let sleeping dogs lie here.  I am putting some fresh paint on the outer drum since I have it off and I might as well, other than that, nothing to do here.  Great joy!

In less good news I found some welding to attend to that I was totally unaware of.  The seam where the inner sill meets the floor has split and it was only visible when I put the axle stand under the axle.  Jacking under the jacking point didn't make this visible.  It looks like when I did the weld here ages ago (with a welding machine that was inducing The Rage more often than it was co-operating) it looks like I didn't get very good penetration at all.  It's not been like this long, there's barely even any surface rust.  An easy fix at least, cleaning it back is the hardest bit because of access.  I've cleaned back what I can and I'll have to put the car on its wheels to weld this so that the gap is closed up properly.  New welding machine won't have a problem with this repair and I am a better welder now than I was then so it should go okay.

Speaking of welding, I also learned that  the sill on this side is actually really solid and only needs the pinch weld section repaired in small areas so I'm not going to pull the whole thing off when I can just do a few small localised repairs instead.  The axle tube mount this side is also still in really good shape so I can leave that alone too.  More wins than loses today so far, so I'm happy.

[vulgalour]

Welding all done and dusted, brake drum on, test drive completed.  Aside from one stupid thing where I had a terrible banging noise that turned out to be one front wheel having loose wheel nuts (not sure why I put the hub cap on and didn't tighten them up, silly of me), no drama at all.  Brakes seem to work just fine, though they are very different feeling to the Maestro so I have to re-learn how this car stops since they're not as grabby and the pedal has a much shorter travel than the Maestro.  They also require a good bit more physical force as the Maestro brakes seem to be more heavily assisted.  Steering is a bit heavier than I remember though not unmanagable.  It's still just as stinky, in a 70s car way, as it ever was.  That gentle blend of exhaust fumes, burning oil, velour and vinyl that sort of clings to you like an unwelcome hug.  Haven't noticed any new bangs or creaks or smells and it just seems happy to start, drive, and stop like An Car.  I honestly expected it to be more of a nuisance since it's sat idle for such a long time.

Only other item of note is that the tyres were slightly flat spotted, but that cleared up pretty quickly so I've no worries there.  The glass is filthy on the inside so I shall need to give the whole car a thorough clean really, evict the snails from the boot shut, that sort of thing.  Overall, not a bad thing really and now I've only the one car to really focus on I should get through what needs doing pretty rapidly because there's really not a great deal to do beyond the cosmetic.

[2flags]

Glad to see you are using this car again. I remember these when they were new. Always a very under-rated car. Much better than the Cortina in my opinion. Very roomy and comfortable. They rode very well as well. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

chuck a couple of extra psi's in the front tyres for that pas feelng😁

[vulgalour]

tbf, I haven't checked the psi so they probably are low.  Also, the Princess has stupidly low psi as standard, something daft like 24 rear and 26 front from memory.  I tend to run it at 28-30 so it's not a total blancmange.

[captain_70s]

The Dolly has 24psi specced in the handbook.

This is essentially useless as modern tyre construction means tyres now have a softer sidewall. I run at 30psi.

Amazing what a difference it makes to the steering weight as well.

[vulgalour]

That's surprising, I always imagined the Dolly would have much higher psi than that as standard.

[captain_70s]

22 front, 24 rear. Even on the Sprint!

Much discussion on the Dolly forum, as those pressures make the car pretty crap to drive but deviation could invalidate your insurance.

I suppose the compromise would be a set of period correct Pirelli Cinturato tyres from Longstone at £120 a corner...

[vulgalour]

Things are not off to the best start here.

First time using my insurer's breakdown cover.  It could definitely have gone better.  Fortunately for me they sent a very nice recovery driver who was incredibly easy on the eye and had me homeward bound in no time.  That is, after I'd done waiting for THREE HOURS in a retail car park.  Longest quick trip to the shop ever.  Seriously, I only went out on a five minute errand for some household bits and bobs.

Safely docked we trundled the ridiculously short distance home - seriously, it would have been quicker for me to walk home, find the spare part I needed and walk back - and then unloaded the car ready for me to sort it out in daylight.

The FTP itself was a really stupid one.  I drove the car with absolutely zero issues, had driven it yesterday, and had been moving it about on the driveway with nary a problem.  Got back in to set off for the next part of my mission and *click*.  I knew that it was either a bad earth or a stuck starter solenoid.  The dash lights etc. were all still fine, I just didn't have enough power to get the engine to crank over.  Weird.  A few attempts to start and some further investigation led to a whisp of smoke off the throttle cable.  Definitely a bad earth then since a few years ago it did that to me due to a bad earth cable and the next earthing route on this car after that is apparently the throttle cable.

I did get the earth points cleaned up to a point that it dealt with the poor earthing situation but by then the damage was done.  I now had a throttle cable that was jammed in the sheathing due to melted plastic parts.  I did free the cable off but in the process damaged the sheathing so that now the throttle just jammed on and wouldn't return, rendering the car unsafe to drive.  Couldn't bodge it either, I didn't have the right things with me even though I did have lots of things with me.  The one thing I needed was a replacement throttle cable and that's the one thing I wasn't carrying today.

The really weird thing is I didn't stress about it.  I got bored, and rather worried that my phone battery - which I was going to put on charge when I got home, typically - was almost expired by the time recovery arrived.  Other than that, I seem to be pretty chill about the whole experience.  One person stopped to ask if he could help, several people stopped to ask me what the car actually was, a couple of people complimented the colour (thanks, Barbie!) so it wasn't as terrible as it could be.

I have taken down details for the private company that runs the car park.  Parking limit there is three hours and I reckon I exceeded that by the time we left so they may send me a fine because parking companies.  I've kept proofs and took photos of the fact I was actually broken down, just in case.

Tell you what though, it really is a comfy place to be broken down, could have even had a little nap if I wanted to.

[grogee]

16 hours ago, vulgalour said:

The really weird thing is I didn't stress about it.  I got bored,

I felt the same on my last FTP. Just gave into it and let it wash over me. Cars gonna car, as our American friends don't say. 

The biggest stress was how to get it 'home' if the AA couldn't fix it because we were in temp accommodation at the time. 

Luckily he did get it going and it turned out to have run out of fuel; the Rennow electrics had lied about there being some juice in the tank. 

[ETCHY]

On 01/11/2023 at 23:45, vulgalour said:

tbf, I haven't checked the psi so they probably are low.  Also, the Princess has stupidly low psi as standard, something daft like 24 rear and 26 front from memory.  I tend to run it at 28-30 so it's not a total blancmange.

The tyre pressures were stupidly low as BL used having a narrowish rim & the flexing of the tyre sidewalls as an aid to having a softer ride.
I remember reading it in an old Autocar I think.

[colino]

Not to hex you, but if the accelerator goes on old school stuff it's quick and easy to disconnect the choke cable and substitute for the accelerator and enjoy (limited) hand throttle fun.  If you're even closer to home, just tweak up the idle speed and drive it like that.