project 1980 Austin Princess

[RayMK]

The Saab we have on loan has serious blind spots, and I agree about parking, some fucker in a soft roader parked right on the white line, making getting in a barsteward

 

Yes, they are that wide and parking spaces don't seem to have been changed since the 1990s.  Also, with them being so high, reversing out is tricky because you can't see until halfway out - and other drivers are distracted as they set their satnavs to get home from the supermarket and select music for the trip.

[dozeydustman]

It's nice to hear Princess Vulgarlette is running nicely for you, I can fully sympathise with the HUGE C-pillars having owned a couple of Scimitars which don't have the best visibility for a touring break.

 

Chelsea tractors parking up to the lines is a real bug-bear of mine, especially as parking spaces are the same size if not smaller than 30 years ago, but cars have got wider and taller.

[320touring]

Glad she's doing valuable work !

 

And especially pleased to hear that the Uniroyal tyres are working out - I've always been impressed by them.

 

Re parking - reversing in or the coveted "drive through" is your friend here - I've even got the Burd actively seeking such opportunities.

 

Pity re the sidewinds - we had proper stormy/gusty weather up here last night, and the GSA was happily cutting through the standing water on new tyres and handling the crosswinds despite no power steering.

 

I assume that you're not missing any "undergarment" on the princess that may be in place to distribute sidewinds?

[vulgalour]

I do hunt out the drive-through spots, they're tricky to find.  I reckon the Princess gets blown about because it's fairly slab sided and very lightweight for its size.  It's not as bad as my old Polo was, which was even more slab sided and even lighter on skinnier wheels, so that's something.  I'm probably more sensitive to it because of using the Rover so much over the last few years.  Nothing is missing from underneath, nothing was ever fitted, this is an Undertray Free Zone.

 

At least the Princess is small enough that even if I end up parking like a cock I'm still well within the lines, and that can be very useful if someone in a gigantocar has been unable to figure out how to get their behemoth to fit.  I do feel bad for those folks that have massive cars and make the effort to park nicely, especially if they actually use their gigantic car to move lots of people and things around, it can't be easy.  There are some good drivers and passengers that treat neighbouring vehicles with respect, they deserve to be recognised, not everyone is a selfish entitled prick.

[captain_70s]

 the GSA was happily cutting through the standing water on new tyres and handling the crosswinds despite no power steering.

 

Can confirm, passed me on the motorway like I was standing still...

[vulgalour]

A couple of minor issues today.  The first was that on doing a lights check, the hazard telltale has decided to stop working, even though the hazards themselves function perfectly normally.  Shall have to give the bulb/wiring a wiggle and see whether or not the bulb has blown.  At least it's the easy bulb to get to.

 

The second was that for some distance I was driving with my reversing light on without realising it.  The new switch was not provided with a locking ring and I'd lost the old switch so couldn't swap it over.  As a result, the new switch has self-adjusted into a position where it's permanently on.  Since it's dark and very wet, Mike and I decided to unplug the bulb and sort it out tomorrow, especially since I've since found the old switch so I have the ring to swap over and stop this happening again.

 

Headlight aim is too low.  I had set them at home on the drive but forgot to account for the slight incline of the drive.  An easy enough job to raise them up a bit now that I actually have working adjusters.

 

So realistically, everything is fine.

[SiC]

Both hazard lights and reversing lights are not needed for an MOT on this age car. Just flamboyant extra factory options.

[rovamota]

My 1981 Princess failed its last MoT because of inoperative hazard lights. It was the testers fault for not wiggling the switch correctly.

[SiC]

My 1981 Princess failed its last MoT because of inoperative hazard lights. It was the testers fault for not wiggling the switch correctly.

Take the switch and warning light out. Can't fail if it's not there but can if fitted and not working.

[PhilA]

Had that with fog lights. Two front fitted, one burned (hadn't thought to check them)

 

Fail on MoT. Went in, pulled the plug on the wire, went get pass cert.

 

Strange system

 

 

Phil

[Tadhg Tiogar]

The Saab we have on loan has serious blind spots, ....

 

All modern cars have blindspots, all due to thicker pillars mandated by legislation in the name of, er, safety....

[Heidel_Kakao]

How many MPG's do you get out of this? I am guessing it's less than the Rover?

[vulgalour]

Princess seems to do no worse than 18mpg and no better than about 37mpg.  Rover seems to do no worse than about 28mpg, and no better than about 42mpg.

 

Fuelly averages on both cars (see signature) can be slightly misleading since it reflects what sort of driving I'm doing.  The Princess looks bad at 21mpg at the moment because I've been almost exclusively using it for urban with very little motorway, the Rover has been the other way around.  Also, the Princess has been very broken through a lot of its Fuelly record, so the figures are a bit skewed because of that.

 

Realistcally, I expect about 25mpg average out of the Princess and about 35mpg average out of the Rover for the sort of driving I do.  I don't do enough miles for this to be an issue, really.  With the Princess now in better health and more regular use, I'm hoping the mpg improves a bit, it's been a fairly rocky fuel history for it over the last few years with all the issues.

[vulgalour]

To add to this, since I've just fuelled up, 100% urban over the last 150ish miles has got just shy of 22mpg (21.71mpg).

 

Hazard telltale - now fixed.  Pulled the bulb, tweaked the tines out, plugged the bulb back in and it now works normally.  It's either the bulb or holder that's a bad fit, or both, this seems to have fixed it.

 

Auxilliary belt - squealing.  I thought it was because of the wet weather until I checked and it's gone a little slack.  I'll tighten it tomorrow when I can see what I'm doing, it's probably stretched a little.

 

If it ever stops raining I'll get the reverse switch and headlight alignment sorted.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

You're a bloody hero for trying this.  They were bad enough when new...!

[vulgalour]

- Auxilliary belt. Retensioned using a couple of 13mm spanners.  Charging improved and screechy belt noise gone, predictably.

- Headlights aim.  Improved by adjusting the aim higher.  I'm not entirely happy with where the headlights are pointing so I will get a local garage to set them properly for me in the MoT bay rather than make a best guess.

- Reverse light switch.  Reinstalled the old switch.  Reason being, the new switch has collapsed internally (broken spring?) which is the actual reason the reverse light wouldn't turn off.  The old switch actually works perfectly fine, the problem wasn't with it, the problem was with the broken wire which we have resolved.  The new switch managed to last all of about 30 miles, which is frankly rubbish.

 

[vulgalour]

This week has seen me do less miles than usual, but on faster roads, and with two other people in the car.  The Princess certainly felt more at home plodding down the A19 and A66 than it does pottering about town and kept up perfectly well with modern traffic.  I have noticed that the occasions of people pulling out on me in everyday driving is reduced drastically compared to the Rover, it does still happen of course, but with much less frequency.  I feel more visible and as a result, safer, in the Princess than I do in the Rover.

 

Occasional Misfire -   Only when the car isn't up to temperature, and only when under load/putting your foot down.  At idle it's perfectly normal, and once warmed up it behaves perfectly normally.  I shall go through the various ignition components and check all the settings are as they should be, my suspicion is that the timing or a gap is slightly off somewhere for winter conditions, especially since this was last checked in more clement weather and has only become an issue now that we're starting to get sub-zero temperatures.

[PhilA]

Does the Princess have a summer/winter adjustable intake position on the air filter, or is it thermostatically controlled?

 

Phil

[SiC]

Reminds me of the ado16. None of the advanced automatic thermostatic nonsense here.

 

[vulgalour]

There's a flap on the air intake that's supposed to automatically decide to be open or shut, the foam that seals it has long since dessicated, so I imagine that won't be helping matters.  It works much like a bimetallic relay, just larger.

[PhilA]

Those little vacuum motors tend to be moderately reliable, and some foam padding missing won't have much of an effect (probably find it's there to stop the flap vibrating).

 

I found timing being a bit off and the intake temperature getting stuck on hot caused some unreliable engine characteristics. The valve that opens to control the flap motor had failed, in my case.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

If you go around a left hand bend quick enough, the flap does go ting-ting-ting-ting.  There's no vacuum motor or valve, it seems to be purely heat-powered.  The air box has a spout inside of which is the flap.  There's two outlets on the flap, one goes to a box around the exhaust manifold, the other goes to the fresh/cold air intake.  I suppose I could just disconnect the cold air intake pipe to reduce just how much cold air is getting fed to the air box and see if that improves matters, or cable tie some cardboard to the grille as a rudimentary muff.

[dollywobbler]

To think - everyone is taking their hat's off to you, and they probably haven't driven it! I have, so my hat is exceedingly well doffed in your direction. Very doffed indeed.

[vulgalour]

Well... when you drove it the poor thing got a bit of stage fright, it's better now.  Mostly.

[PhilA]

Aha, strange contraption then. Very BL.

 

I think you're in the correct direction though. Check the timing etc.

 

 

Phil

[timolloyd]

Sometimes I wonder how much things like misfires at cold are actually normal, except we've forgotten what its like to have ‘normal’ cars and are too used to the consistency of fuel injection

[PhilA]

Pop snap cough back through the carb is normal enough for a cold engine in a cold environment.

 

However, some are more prone to it due to wear or age.

 

I believe that is "character", and can usually be adjusted out though.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

If it were a more regular occurance, this occasional misfire-when-cold thing would bother me but I think it is more a character thing, like you both suggest.  I do think this is what I missed with the Rover, its reliability and ability to iron out these idiosyncracies one of it's greatest features and yet also its greatest flaw for me as an owner.  I prefer a vehicle that feels.. well, not alive, but as though it's mine.  The sort of car where I know how to drive it, and which of its little noises and quirks are fine and which are to be worried about.  Anyone can get in my Rover and drive it, piece of piss, Princess not so much.  You've got to be a particular sort of person to be able to drive the Princess, and indeed to want to, and that's the way I like it.

[Noel Tidybeard]

i don't even think its a misfire more of a cold cough- my mini only needed 1/2 a choke to start and then about 1/4 for a while the it would run pretty well with only an occasional "primus pump" of choke for harder acceleration untill fully warm

[vulgalour]

That's pretty much exactly it.  A case of TADTS, most likely.

 

I'm sticking to a weekly check regime, and it being Sunday that marks the end of Week 2.

 

Coolant - no apparent loss

Oil - no apparent loss

Wheel arches hosed out, bottom half of car hosed down, including sills and under the front and rear valance.

Corrosion check - no noticeable advancement except for one area.  On hosing out the rear inner arches it looks like at some point this week I lost a chunk of old underseal and it's revealed some rust I was unaware of.

 

 

The upper circle marks where there's a small hole and some heavy pitting.  The lower circle isn't crumbly, but does look like it might be flakey rust or a crack.  Thankfully the area is easy to access and repair.  I should be able to repair this area without disabling the car for more than a few hours so when I get the next opportunity to do so I will clean this up and sort it out.  I'll also clean all the old underseal out of this inner arch and redo it.  Once I know it's solid, I'll do the other side too and that should see us good for a while longer.