project 1980 Austin Princess

[captain_70s]

I thought all hydrasag systems worked interdependently front/rear as it helped stop the bouncing you used to get with the hydrolastic systems?

[vulgalour]

Keep up at the back.  I took the interconnecting pipes off ages ago in favour of individualising units, an idea nicked from MG F racers.  A compromise, really, since I've sacrificed some comfort in favour of handling.  It also means if a displacer does fail, you can see immediately which one it is and the car is much more driveable should a displacer fail.  My original pipes had rotted and failed, as they do.  It's not as nice in the back, I'm told, the ride is a little bouncy, but since I'm never in the back I don't care about that.

[MikeKnight]

201902-01.jpg

 

Don't panic!  I haven't run Mike over

 

..... yet.

[MikeKnight]

It's not as nice in the back, I'm told, the ride is a little bouncy, but since I'm never in the back I don't care about that.

 

It's bouncy like "my rear dampers have failed" bouncy would be on traditional strut suspension.

 

Not horrible though, don't get me wrong, it's only unpleasant if you're going over speed bumps or such and then it feels like it's bouncing for about fifteen minutes.

[vulgalour]

End of Week 13.  Late again, this time because I've been unwell.

 

No oil and coolant usage as I've come to expect.

 

The biggest change this time around was fitting the newly rebuilt carburettor.  Initially this was a little frustrating as the float behaved as though it was stuck, initially solved by swapping out the new float for the original.  However, a drive the following day resulted in several failures to proceed with the same sticking float symptoms.  A simple matter of pulling over, letting the excess fuel drain out of its own accord, restarting the car and driving for as long as it would before the needle stuck again.  Tedious, but not particularly dangerous since I was so close to home when it happened on slow roads.  Fortunately, because it was a friend that had rebuilt the carburettor, it meant we could have a chat about the potential issue and both agreed that while nothing looked amiss it did sound like a sticking float or float needle, so he popped some new ones in the post for me and once they arrived, I could remove the carburettor yet again to have a look.

 

 

Initially, nothing appeared amiss at all with the float he'd installed, nor the seat.  Everything was still spotless and free moving.  It wasn't until I got the replacement needles - fluted type, rather than triangular type - that it became apparent that the needle he'd used for the rebuild was ever so slightly off centre.  Honestly, on its own you couldn't really tell, it was only when compared to another needle and in photographs that you could make out the slight deformity.  I took three photographs with the needle resting on each side of the triangular body to show how minor a flaw this was.

 

With the replacement float needle and seat fitted, I also refitted the new float and checked the various measurements before reinstalling on the car.

 

The result was 10 minutes of happy idling followed by a day of trouble-free errand running.  A frustrating problem initially but one that was thankfully easily resolved, it appears. With the new carburettor fitted I can get the car to idle at about 800rpm, the book suggests 750rpm.  If I drop the idle below 800rpm, the engine cuts out so the next suspect item is the distributor which discussion has led to the theory that the advance springs may be weak. Fact is, the car is happy enough at 800rpm idle so, for now, I'm happy to leave it alone.

 

Next on my list is the front wheel bearing, a replacement kit - 2 bearings and an oil seal is required - is £15-20 delivered per side and the workshop manual makes it look like a fairly straightforward job.  I have a couple of complete spare front hubs in my stash and I'll strip one of these to get an idea of how difficult the job might be before digging into the car, at least that way I'll have some idea of how likely it is I'll end up immobilising the car.

 

Since servicing the suspension the car rides much nicer on broken road surfaces and is considerably less bouncy, so I'm glad we did that too.  Fuel economy is I suspect improved, but the figures likely won't show this because of the float needle issue, so I'll have to drive and fuel up a few more times before that becomes apparent.  Certainly the car accelerates much more smoothly now and slightly more rapidly, which is welcome.

[vulgalour]

End of Week 14 report.

As has become something of the norm, there's nothing of any real note to report.  The new carburettor is working a treat and the fuel overflow issue appears to be resolved.  With the milder weather, the car has been starting and running much better.  Hopefully the new wheel bearing kit will arrive soon so I can get that done, I'm not having any real problems with the worn one on the car beyond the noise, so I'm keeping the use and speeds down as much as I sensibly can so I don't make the problem prematurely worse.

Other than that I get in and drive wherever I need to go, whenever I want to go there, and the Princess does it.

[MGSven]

Hi

When you do the wheel bearings have a close look at the drive shaft uj boots, When you have it all apart changing these is all the much easier. And it is easy to damage them dismatling the bearing assy. Don't ask how I know!

 

Good luck

 

Sven

ex many Princesses

[vulgalour]

I already have a pair of boots to go on, somewhere, just in case.  I suspected this might end up being an issue.  Now, just to figure out where Somewhere Safe was this time.

[vulgalour]

End of Week 16 - Unidentified noise finally identified when wheel bearing play was found. At the same time, it was discovered one of the CV boots (on the opposite side to the problem wheel bearing) had split. Parts ordered.

End of Week 17 - couldn't undo the hub nuts because they're on far too tight for any of the tools and people I have access to. For the first time ever I've had to book the car in at a garage to have work done and, since the MoT is due at the start of April anyway, decided to get it all done in one go. Car was dropped off on Thursday and I've been without personal transport since.

I don't know whether or not to regard this as the end of the 6 month experiment. We've done four months and this is the only thing I haven't been able to sort out myself. It's also the sort of repair job even much newer cars require, so it's not like it's a strange Princess-specific failure, or even an old-car-specific failure.

I'll keep logging the weekly reports (when I remember) until the six months are up and then do a review, assess things on balance at the end of it.

[320touring]

Assess it why?

 

You'll still be keeping the blahhdy thing;)

 

It's done well, certainly more reliable than a Clio 172

[dozeydustman]

I think Vulgalour means the viability of using the car as a daily for ever & ever amen, while when the BX is finished, which will be daily car & whch would be weekend plaything,

[vulgalour]

Yes, that.  I'm not getting rid, but the experiment was to see if I could live with the Princess as my only car, back when I foolishly thought just one car would be enough.

[320touring]

Yes, that. I'm not getting rid, but the experiment was to see if I could live with the Princess as my only car, back when I foolishly thought just one car would be enough.

You are a chap like myself - the number of dailies needed is only constrained by the number of days in the time period selected;)

 

I'd forgotten about the BX..

 

That and the princess = difficult decision every day before you go out the door!

[LightBulbFun]

 

End of Week 16 - Unidentified noise finally identified when wheel bearing play was found. At the same time, it was discovered one of the CV boots (on the opposite side to the problem wheel bearing) had split. Parts ordered.

End of Week 17 - couldn't undo the hub nuts because they're on far too tight for any of the tools and people I have access to. For the first time ever I've had to book the car in at a garage to have work done and, since the MoT is due at the start of April anyway, decided to get it all done in one go. Car was dropped off on Thursday and I've been without personal transport since.

 

I don't know whether or not to regard this as the end of the 6 month experiment. We've done four months and this is the only thing I haven't been able to sort out myself. It's also the sort of repair job even much newer cars require, so it's not like it's a strange Princess-specific failure, or even an old-car-specific failure.

 

I'll keep logging the weekly reports (when I remember) until the six months are up and then do a review, assess things on balance at the end of it.

 

 

its been very interesting and fun reading your blog of it all

 

it shows that it is possible to daily a vintage car without the world coming to an end

[vulgalour]

End of week 18.

 

Oof.  This week.  As I reported previously, the Princess was booked into an actual garage to have the repairs done and the MoT, since I couldn't do the former due to the hub nuts being way too tight, and could do the latter because I'm not an MoT tester.

 

The hub nuts I really genuinely wouldn't have stood a chance with.  The passenger side one came off eventually so that the wheel bearing and CV boot that side could be done.  The driver's side, however, put up much more of a fight and took some tools out along the way.  Annoyingly, of the two wheel bearing kits I'd bought only one was correct, and since there's nothing wrong with the driver's side bearing, it made no sense to damage it if possible since it was only boot replacement on the driver's side that was required.  Fortunately, the garage knew what they were about and drilled the castle nut off after acquiring a suitable direct replacement castle nut and then the job went okay.  This side will need a lower ball joint replacing, there's enough play in it to warrant an advisory, not enough for a fail, and had the part been more readily available it would have been done along with the rest.  Instead, I need to track one down, which I'll do in due course.

 

Tools broken, new parts fitted, car back together, all good.  MoT passed with an advisory on the aforementioned ball joint and a little play in the steering column top bushing/bearing which again, is an advisory rather than a fail and unlikely to get worse.  I'll replace the problem part when I can find out where to get one.  All that done I could get a lift over and drive the car home.  My next job would be brakes since I had a verbal advisory - wasn't serious enough to warrant an MoT advisory, but I do like to know about things that might be a problem soon so I can address them in plenty of time, keeps the car in the best health possible that way and focuses my attentions on what needs it - on one front disc which was a bit off, but not bad enough that it could be considered dangerous.

 

Set off home and all was well at first.  Then the brakes started to feel very odd.  When the work had been done, since the calipers had to come off to do the boot, the usual thing of resetting the pistons etc. was done before reassembly and it seems this highlighted a problem I didn't know about, or rather, did know about but couldn't pinpoint.  I've never done any work on the front brakes other than bleeding them in all the years I've owned this car but recently I've been having a sort of thumping sensation through the pedal that we thought was the worn out wheel bearing, since the two things happened about the same time.  Here's a video to explain in full:

 

NOTE: Fixed the video with a re-upload.

 

Mostly it's a video of interest to me because I never see myself driving my car, for obvious reasons.  Anyway, after a while the brakes felt very strange, the thumping had gone but they just didn't feel right.  Sometimes they'd work really well, sometimes it felt like they weren't doing anything, after a few miles I pulled over, we called the garage and took it back to find out what was wrong.  A quick look underneath showed a very hot disc which was also obviously warped.

 

Presumably, resetting the caliper meant it was working properly but the disc was already warped, unknown to me, so it just made matters worse very quickly after a few miles.  Because the garage wasn't really open today, only for me to collect the car, it couldn't be fixed and since I had broken down, I called the AA.  Rarely for me I lost my temper on the phone.  AA wanted to send someone out to investigate the problem before recovering me, even though they wouldn't repair the car at the roadside and even though it was already diagnosed.  That seemed a waste of time but fine, whatever.  Then, because I was on the street outside the garage where we'd inspected the problem they determined I was 'at a place of repair' and wouldn't recover me home.  The parts I needed to fix the car were at home, not on the street outside the garage.  I had, or thought I had, suitable cover to choose to be taken to a place of repair or home.  But because of some daftness with terms and conditions, they flat out refused to recover the car.  Great.  Suffice to say I've dropped them like a hot stone because over the years I've been with them I've called them out 3 times, of those only once was I recovered (head gasket failure) and they wouldn't dolly the car because they didn't believe it weighed as little as it did so they faffed around with relay instead, which took FOREVER.  I'll just use whatever my insurance offers, because it can't be worse and it's way cheaper.  So much for the fourth emergency service.

 

Anyway, the car was left at the garage, the parts will be collected/delivered to fix the brakes - fortunately I have spare discs so I don't need to fork out for new ones - and once fixed it'll come home.  I'm surprisingly not angry about this, it's a thing that happened, fortunately I was with friends that could keep the car safe and get me home safe, and it'll sort.

 

On the plus side, since fitting the new carburettor the emissions look very good, and overall the car is behaving itself so apart from this minor annoyance, we're still good.

[vulgalour]

So, because I copy-paste to various fora the aforementioned garage is of course ScaryOldCortina's place and he is, of course, sorting this terrible old boat out for me in exchange for some pictures of the queen.  Top bloke, as those that have met him and used his services already know, so if you're stuck for shite fettling in the North East, he's the one to call.  I don't trust very many people with my cars, but SoC I'd trust with any of them.

[Rod/b]

Love the blue effect on the rear cam, it looks like the opening sequence to the Sweeney.

[MikeKnight]

Considering what your car looks like in a rear view mirror, I'm going to start calling it "the floaty menacer".

[Rod/b]

That’s what i once called a particularly unflushable stool. Coincidentally.

[vulgalour]

Addendum to the Week 18 update.

 

 

Got the call from the garage to collect the car.  A test run had been done to make sure the brakes were behaving properly and all systems seemed good.  A good run back of about 40 miles or so.  After a few miles it was very clear the brakes were indeed much improved so I decided to see just how much the Princess really would let me put the hammer down once we got onto faster roads.  It was quite blowy on the A1M so it was a bit of a handful at 70mph, and clearly the car is happier in the 55-65mph bracket so I dropped down to that after a short time. It also became clear that the driver's side front wheel bearing will need replacing soon, at higher speeds it's just started to make the same sorts of noises the passenger side one had.  It would have been done at the same time as the other one had the kit I bought not been incorrect, so I'll order a new kit and DIY now I stand a chance of getting the hub nut off.  There's also a slight vibration at 70mph that feels like one wheel is slightly out of balance, which is either that or the wheel bearing that I'll need to replace.

 

Certainly, no real causes for concern on the way home and it was nice to be able to drive it again.  One quirk I didn't realise the car even had was when it was mentioned it was a bit awkward about going from second to third gear, sometimes requiring a double de-clutch.  I paid attention to my own gear changes on the way home and it turns out I automatically knock the car briefly into neutral when going from second to third, because it you try and force it straight from one to the other, it doesn't want to.  I tended to have issues going from third to second, turns out I don't automatically drop into neutral between the two when I do that.  I'm not really sure what could be causing this, perhaps something synchromesh related, but it's not a problem for me and certainly not something that makes the car dangerous in any way, so I'll leave it as is.

 

The used spare discs I had were perfectly servicable once skimmed.  I would still like to overhaul all of the front brake components and get them in the best health all the same, I just have a bit more breathing space on that now since it's £150 minimum to get the parts needed to do it all.  Once shown the disc that was causing the problem, it was very easy to see the issue and clear that it was indeed warped as well as having a small piece missing just at the point of the warp.

 

 

It's nice to have that sorted properly and it gives me a bit of education on what a warped disc feels like to drive with, and what it looks like, should it happen again.

[vulgalour]

You can now see the Princess in action, rubbing shoulders with all those ordinary modern cars and whatnot.

 

[vulgalour]

End of Week 19 report.

Not a lot to report, the most exciting thing I did this week was vacuum the cabin and order parts.  I've got new front brake discs and pads, I'm going to rebuild the spare calipers so they're good as new, a pair of lower ball joints are on their way and a new wheel bearing kit is heading over for the driver's side which has started grumbling.

I had a trip to York to do today, about 120 mile round trip, and while I trust the Princess could do it I didn't want to tempt fate with that grumbling wheel bearing given the distance and the higher speeds I'd be travelling at so I chickened out and got a lift in the housemate's Range Rover.  This turned out to be a good idea as I wasn't feeling too well on the way home so it was nice not to have to do the driving.

The trip to York was to collect a few interior bits for the BX and if I'm feeling better tomorrow, I'll be working on that for a little bit.  Princess is still doing my regular duties, I'm just avoiding any sort of 50mph+ long drives until I've done the wheel bearing.

[vulgalour]

End of Week 20 Report

 

Coolant - no noticeable usage

Oil - 400ml required.  This is likely down to the motorway mileage done recently, does tend to consume a bit when doing higher speeds.

 

This week some goodies arrived.  New brake pads, new discs, pair of lower ball joints, and a correct wheel bearing kit.  Delivered, this was around £120, so a fairly big spend by my standards.  The discs are one of the most expensive items to acquire, and one of the most needed.

 

I also had a look at cleaning up my spare gear selector box.  The one on the car has had a bolt in place of one of the pins all the while I've owned it and you need to periodically tighten said bolt if you want to keep gear selection.  I was hoping I could simply clean down the spare and swap it over.

 

 

Here you can see the pins that push into the casing.  These are used to locate the bayonet-slot cup that holds the gear level ball and spring in place.  The pins had a reputation for snapping off and while it's not terribly difficult to put another pin in, most folks seem to have bodged whatever they had to hand in there instead.

 

One thing I noticed on my spare was that the base plate had been whacked from the side.  I'm not entirely sure how you'd manage to do this other than perhaps hitting it with forklift arms when moving the car around, so perhaps that's what happened.

 

Unfortunately, when I finally cut through the thick layer of gunk on the casing I found that it's very badly damaged with several cracks.  It's realistically beyond repair and certainly not suitable for swapping with my original so I'll just have to look at getting the original repaired properly with a new pin when I have an opportunity to take it all apart.

 

The other thing I wanted to find was a new steering column bush.  Thankfully, Beiderbecke of the www.leylandprincess.co.uk club had the part number available (along with those goodies at the start of the post) and I've since learned the same bush is used on a variety of BL stuff and is still readily and cheaply available.  I can get the bottom bush too.  This was an advisory on the MoT and I'd like it not to be on the next one so I'll get some new replacements since they're only a couple of quid.  Fortunately my spare steering column helped me see what parts I needed without taking my car apart.

 

Today, I tackled the wheel bearing that couldn't be done at the garage because one of the kits I'd bought was wrong.  I'd been told the job is fairly easy and it is, especially when the garage has already undone everything and put it back together again, so it was really about as pleasant as any job with your head in a wheel arch can get.

 

The most difficult part was getting the old oil seals out, the rest of the job was very straightforward.  The old bearings felt a little bit gritty once removed and the noise it had been making made it clear it was ready to be done.

 

I would have liked to do the ball joints next but I didn't have a socket that was the correct size, all the imperial and metric sockets I had access to were just a little too big, or just a little too small, so I'll have to go and buy a socket just for this job.  That's fine, more tools is good.  Instead, I turned my attention to the spare front hubs and removed the calipers ready to rebuild them.  I noticed that the caliper on the car that was on the warped disc is sticking a little as suspected, so the new brakes are going to sort that out before it becomes a bigger problem any time soon.  The front flexi hoses looked in reasonable condition so I'm hoping I don't need to replace those since I'm not sure I've got a set of fronts, just rears.  I noticed that one of the spare calipers looks to have barely used pads in and one caliper is much cleaner and newer looking so I wonder if the car they came off had brake work just before it came off the road in the 90s.  Don't worry, I won't be re-using the old pads, it's merely an observation.

 

The drive home revealed all the bearing noise is now gone.  Now the loudest thing is the noisy speedo cable, (I have been given a suggestion on how to improve that which I'll be trying soon), the tyres, and the wind noise from the driver's door window seal, so I'm getting down the list.  I even found the reason for the tyre rubbing on the arch liner, which is that the liner had cracked around one of the fixing screws and the screw had fallen out, so the liner isn't sitting as far back in the arch as it should.  There's always jobs to do, they're just not big scary jobs any more.

[captain_70s]

 Now the loudest thing is the noisy speedo cable, 

All the cars on my fleet have a rattling speedo cable. 

 

Infuriating, but also to much hassle for me to bother fixing so I just turn the radio up.

[vulgalour]

It was suggested I fit a rubber O ring under the collar that screws into the gearbox to take out the slop that causes the rattle so I'm going to give that a go.  If it works, it's an easy fix for you too, maybe.  I don't have a radio to turn up and I can only put up with my own singing for so long.

[Angrydicky]

FYI when rebuilding the calipers, someone on ebay is selling new remanufactured stainless steel pistons for reasonable money. The advantage of having something commonly fitted to sought after Fords, I guess.

[vulgalour]

I'm hoping I don't have to invest in them, I'm hoping my existing pistons are okay.  I've spent quite enough money this month already and even though the stainless ones aren't megabucks, when you need 8 it quickly adds up.

[Rocket88]

A suggestion ref speedometer.......buy a gps one, fillet the guts out of both it and your speedo, and swap over.............sender can be placed discreetly on top of the dashboard...peace and quiet returns.......

[vulgalour]

That seems like an awful lot of work and expense if a single O-ring can resolve it.  Meant to do that today and completely forgot, as it happens.

[Rocket88]

Fair enough.........