project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

PVD:  If there is an air leak as well I'm not sure where it is, I couldn't find one.  The choke was more to control the revs since it was going up and down so it was a case of pulling that in and out to keep it going since it was an easier way to raise and drop the revs than trying to do it with the foot pedal.  It felt more like someone was getting the distributor and turning it left and right at random than an air leak, one of those issues where it would be easier to describe in person than in text.  Your experience of failing condensers does describe pretty much exactly what's happened.  The spark itself is variable in quality and colour, which again would hint at a condenser issue, I think?  It doesn't seem like an earthing issue this time, for once.

[PhilA]

I was wondering why Cars dont just use regular high quality high voltage capacitors these days?

 

(ie why do cars still use a capacitor desgined 50 years ago )

Because money. The paper ones in a little metal can are cheaper to mass produce than polyester film, because polyester film requires some tightly controlled manufacturing procedures. The older style ones can be made with a spatula and some newspaper by the local children of whatever developing country you pick as cheapest to make it this week.

 

Phil

[Asimo]

This is the sort of capacitor I'd use if I had a car without electronic ignition.

 

 

The smaller one is designed for " snubbing" duties, ie absorbing switching spikes in motor control equipment etc, the larger is from a cheap microwave oven. Both rated at 2kV.

A few car "condensers" I measured once were in the region of 300nF but I have not found any hard information on what capacitance is actually required; it will be a function of both the particular coil and the maximum number of sparks per second.

 

Anyway, back to the Princess. The rebuilt carb. will sort it I'm sure, clean fuel and healthy sparks permitting.

[PhilA]

They are technically tuned to the coil but anything from about 0.5 to 1uF will work adequately.

 

Phil

[Zelandeth]

Worth remembering before saying "air leak" is that a lean mixture requires a stronger spark than a rich one...hence how manually richening it up a bit with the choke probably was enough to keep it going.

 

I had issues with the Saab once due to a dodgy rotor arm (incorrect part in the Intermotor catalogue) which lead to the car running perfect when cold, but cutting out *exactly* like there was a fuel starvation issue as it warmed up.  Took me a fluffing age to figure that one out - especially as adjusting the idle mixture did make it try to run better.

 

I only worked it out because I happened to stumble across an old rotor arm in the boot and was at a total loss as to what else to try so stuck that on...and the car proceeded to run perfectly.

 

So yeah, a knackered condenser causing a poor spark and damage to the points could indeed give symptoms similar to a major air leak I'd think.

[Squire_Dawson]

.18 to .23 microfarad apparently.

[PhilA]

That's an easy value to get in high voltage/low ESR film

 

If it makes you feel better you could stuff one inside a tin condenser can

 

 

Phil

[LightBulbFun]

That's an easy value to get in high voltage/low ESR film

 

If it makes you feel better you could stuff one inside a tin condenser can

 

 

Phil

 

thats what im thinking, and surprised it aint the norm in car circles?

 

pretty much what everyone and their dog does these days when it comes to valve/vacuum tube radios/TVs at least...

[vulgalour]

We have reached the end of week 5.

 

This week began with the installation of an Accuspark Stealth electronic ignition kit to replace the condenser that failed the previous week.

 

 

Initially I had set everything by ear and got things close so I could use the car until Mike brought the relevant tools home to set the timing and idle correctly.  The Princess doesn't have a rev gauge, so it's necessary to set it with a tool, like this strobe thing from Snap-on that Mike's had for years.  The boot of the Rover does make a very good tool table, it's just the right height and size.

 

 

Since doing that, the car starts no better or worse than usual.  It does, however, drive much smoother with no hesitation.  In retaliation, the choke cable has decided that it doesn't always want to lock so I have now had to employ the 1980s staple of a wooden clothes peg for certain choke pull positions.

 

The other job that was almost completed was the bottom section of the rear wing that had rotted out.  It's a difficult profile to replicate so I made do with a section of the old front wing I replaced to give me the rough shape I required.  I'm not as happy with the repair as I could be, it's not my tidiest work.  That said, once filler and proper paint is applied, you'll never know.  I ran out of time to do any more work on the inner arch cleaning and repair work so that will have to wait for another day.

 

Coolant - no noticable consumption

Oil - no noticable consumption

[320touring]

Good update:)

[dozeydustman]

This is good news Mr Vulgalour sir. Hopefully the Sparkrite setup will outlive the car, or your ownership of it at least.

[Zelandeth]

Guessing this is data you already have on hand, but seemed worth a quick post of it anyhow in case it contains anything useful.

 

 

 

[Rocket88]

This is good news Mr Vulgalour sir. Hopefully the Sparkrite setup will outlive the car, or your ownership of it at least.

 

 

If Mr Vulg has fitted Sparkrite it'll never move again..............

[dozeydustman]

Never had any problems with electronic ignitions kits replacing points IME. Used both Sparkrite & Lumenition on my Scimitars, Lumenition was the better of the two though.

 

Points are good if you can get good quality ones. Just like most things now replacement parts are made to a price, not a standard.

[vulgalour]

End of week 6.  I'm a little late on this, meant to do it yesterday and got somewhat distracted by a French car.

Coolant - no noticeable loss
Oil - Put about 200ml in to keep it above the minimum on the dipstick

It's been a productive week.  Finally got the front arch liners fitted, which is a less than pleasant job.  They do catch on the tyre sometimes on full lock, but only a little so I'm not terribly concerned, they probably just need massaging into the arch a little more, or an extra fixing putting in.



The sills and rear inner arches got a nice fresh coat of underseal.




The whole car looked a lot smarter for that and it should help keep rust and stone chips at bay.  I tried out a different local fuel station which I probably won't use again because it's incredibly small and cramped.  Made for an okay fuel up snapshot, all the same.




Ticked over another little milestone this week too, having now reached 77k.



My attention then turned to the rear suspension displacers.  All of the spares I've got have seized pivot shafts.  This is a common Princess problem and unfortunately, the only way to get them out is to sacrifice the trailing arms.  I did take the one liberated displacer to a local machine shop, along with a complete trailing arm assembly, and even they couldn't get the pivot shaft out.  Fortunately they did free the stub of pivot shaft from the one displacer that had already been cut out of a trailing arm so I do now at least have one usable spare.



Mike and I then refitted the stonechip guard trims to the sills.  It's held on with polyurethane sealant and button head screws rather than the rubber seal and rivets the car came to me with.  It helps make the car look just that bit more finished and should protect the doors from stone chips.  I doubt there will be a problem using sealant rather than rubber trim.




The Princess continues to behave really rather well and to do everything I need.  Motoring has become somewhat uneventful, happily, so I've been able to focus on less essential jobs and just enjoy using the car for its intended purpose.

[vulgalour]

End of week 7, another 70 miles under the tyres, and absolutely nothing to report.

 

Sorry, that was a bit boring.

[captain_70s]

Sorry, that was a bit boring.

 

0/10, disliked, unsubscribed. Almost as dull as my Acclaim.

[PhilA]

Liked because so far so good. Intended purpose and all that.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

End of week 8, only about 30 miles done this time, which is a light week even for me.

 

The only thing of note was doing a cold start video because everyone knows how unreliable old cars are when it snows (statement may contain some sarcasm).

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

End of Week 9.

 

Another week down and I'm afraid it's another boring report.  All systems normal.

In fact, the only thing of note is that the Princess had to jump start the Rover whose battery had gone flat due to me only using it to do 30 miles in 2 months.



Had to jump start the Rover again today because for the first time in 8 years of car ownership and driving I managed to flatten the battery by leaving the headlights on.  Ironically, the Rover does have a buzzer to remind you when the headlights are on, only it doesn't always buzz.

[Asimo]

Low miles in January - may I suggest a good long "Italian tune-up" drive?

Get the oil properly hot, air everything through, de-glaze the brakes......

[SiC]

Got a date for moving house yet?

[vulgalour]

Asimo:  I have nowhere to drive to at this time of year so the cars tend to sit about not doing much.  It's not as fun to just go for a drive as it was when I first started driving, so I'm not even motivated to do that.  It's all rather depressing.

 

SiC: hahahahaha moving house.  hahah. Hah.  No.  It's turned into a rather trying debacle.  It's now at the point where we're looking at houses that were dismissed as unsuitable a year ago and honestly, I've just sort of accepted it could be another year or two before we find something.

[vulgalour]

End of Week 10 (a bit late again).

Very little to report.  I've not used the car a great deal this week, in part because of the snow and in part because I've had nowhere to go.

Fuel economy is slightly up.  Since fitting the electronic ignition, on the advice from a racing friend, I switched to fuelling up only at the local Shell garage instead of supermarkets.  I was dubious about this since I was of the opinion that fuel is fuel.  However, I've noticed a very slight decrease in fuel consumption and slightly smoother running since doing it, enough that the slightly higher cost is offset.

My driving habits are very stunted lately, having nowhere other than local errands to go to has meant I'm in urban territory for fuel consumption which is around 22-23mpg.  That is quite an improvement over the 19-20mpg I was getting before replacing the ignition components and switching to Shell for fuel, so I'm not dissatisfied with it, and it's perfectly within range for the book figures.

Other than that, over the last 10 weeks I've noticed a marked improvement in the braking efficiency and with the various bits of welding I've done the interior of the car is staying much drier.  Regular use, as expected, agrees very much with this car.  I am looking forward to warmer weather, all the same, if for no other reason than it will be easier to keep the car clean.

[PhilA]

Same happens here; fuel is not fuel.

 

Differing blends of chemicals to balance and artificially increase the octane rating behave differently. Modern engines with computerized ignition, knock sensing and oxygen sensors can get around these changes but a carbureted engine with weight/vacuum balanced timing is very much at the whim of a cheaper blend of fuel.

 

Phil

[dozeydustman]

I fully agree with the supermarket fuel being a bit pants, Vulg. If I fill up at Sainsbury's the Saab is really smokey and difficult to start in these colder conditions (though I think it needs new glow plugs) and economy is high 30s-low 40s so I normally fill up at the Texaco up the road - the one where I got some iffy fuel just under a year ago. Not so much smoke, runs nicer & easier to start, MPGs up to mid 40s most of the time.

 

Might be worth a try with super unleaded or V-power and seeing if that improves things further, especially if you go for a longer run and/or you get any pinking

[vulgalour]

Looks like I forgot my end of Week 11 update here too.  That's okay, nothing happened.

 

Princess Update end of Week 12:

All systems normal, as usual, with one exception. A peculiar wubwubwub noise and a vibration through the passenger floor, an occasional vibration through the brake pedal under heavy breaking.

Today being the first day of Week 13 means the following are identified as part of this week, rather than last week. The peculiar noise and vibration could be a failing wheel bearing as there is some slight play in the passenger front one and the noise is localised there. The other peculiar thing it did was on setting off home today, the starter motor decided to drag after the car had started, and then behaved normally once I got moving, I'll keep an eye on that and hopefully it won't require replacement or another rebuild and was just a random occurence. I'm not superstitious, but this is Week 13 of the experiment so...

[vulgalour]

 

Don't panic!  I haven't run Mike over, the suspension hasn't broken, we just decided to give it a check.  We'd both noticed the rear passenger side sometimes seemed to be sitting a little lower, by maybe an eighth of an inch, if that.  I'm a firm believer in doing my best to do preventative maintenance if I can so the bills can be kept low and big repairs avoided.  So, Mike got out the dalek and started by flushing the displacer on that corner.  The fluid that came out was green, but had some brown-ish sediment in it.  Reinflated back to the requisite pressure with fresh fluid and it seems fine.  The other corners were done as well and while the driver's side was very clean, the passenger side fluid was noticeably dirtier.  We're putting it down to being the side that does the most work, what with it being curb side, so it's likely just flushed more stuff around inside.

 

It's about the right sort of timescale and mileage to do a check after the last service on the suspension anyway and we found it had all settled out a bit lower than it should.  Reinflating all four corners to the requisite pressure has improved the ride and appears to have levelled the car out again, so we're hoping it was just that things had settled from use and needed a refresh.  Certainly something to keep an eye on, other things keep getting in the way of me affording to get a set of displacers regassed, though that is on my shopping list for the future.

 

While Mike was doing the suspension, I was sorting out the rebuilt carburettor that a friend had done for me.  This was originally so covered in grime and muck I wasn't entirely sure it was salvagable, but after replacing basically every part that can wear out, it was returned to me as good as new.  Perhaps even a little too nice!  Certainly made the rest of the engine look like it could do with a clean.

 

The only issue was the float wasn't set quite right and rather than faffing taking the carb on and off (which is incredibly annoying because of where it's located), I cheated and took the new float out and refitted the old one which is set correctly.  Ideally I was going to fit this new carb and set it up at my friend's place, which would have made things easier, but after weeks of clashing schedules it was determined to post it out to me. At some point I'll either swap the new float in set to the correct height, or I'll totally forget and leave it as it is.

 

 

One annoying thing I noticed on cleaning the car recently is that the paint around the side repeater on one side is lifting.  I have no idea why, it's not doing it anywhere else, I'll just have to clean it back and repaint it.

 

Everything sorted, we could go home.  I was having an issue with the throttle not being very responsive, which was a little strange.  Disconnected the throttle cable and held the engine end while Mike operated the pedal end and the cable sorted itself out.  Not sure how, but it seemed to have got bound up inside the sheath somehow.  Once reconnected, normal throttle was returned.  With the suspension serviced and the new carb, the car rides much nicer and accelerates much better.  The occasional hunting/flutter thing that it would do is gone, and there's no hesitation setting off.  I will of course monitor things over the next few miles to see if things stay like this, but initial signs are promising.

[320touring]

This is turning into a lovely thing!

[SiC]

Have you lost the front to rear hydro connection pipes? Or did these never have them?