project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

Progress!

I have mentioned, and will continue to mention, that I'm bad with numbers.  Always have been, probably always will be.  Mathematics is a foreign and very frustrating language to me and what others find simple I find incredibly difficult.  I persist out of necessity.  With that in mind I hope you'll cut me some slack when I tell you how I got on today.

I have some spare shims, an okay bench grinder (that hasn't got a bench to bolt it to at the moment, so that's fun), some very strong magnets, and a stubborness to try and get to the bottom of this valve shimming nonsense so I can put it behind me and never think of it ever again.  Because of a failure with numbers, I went through and rechecked all of the gaps today on every valve, and remeasured every shim.  Happily, what I was doing wrong before was consistent and I can at least read feeler gauges properly, so the gaps I hadn't changed the shims in remained exactly as they were.

• 2.526mm shim giving .30mm gap
• 2.550mm shim giving .30mm gap
• 2.552mm shim giving .30mm gap
• 2.028mm shim giving .45mm gap
• 2.518mm shim giving .30mm gap
• 2.014mm shim giving .55mm gap
• 2.524mm shim giving .30mm gap
• 2.508mm shim giving .30mm gap

The good news there is that #6 now actually has a gap, even though it's quite a large one, so it definitely just needed a thinner shim.  Unfortunately, I found it pretty much impossible to not take too much material off a shim to get it to the correct size so rather than burn through all the shims I've got since I won't be using shaved down ones unless I have to anyway, I decided to only sacrifice two to get a measurement on 4 and 6, which are the only incorrect gaps.

The thing that tipped me off that I'd done something wrong was when I was looking at available shim sizes.  The shims in the Princess are apparently the same size as those in Triumph Stag and TR7, so I've a couple of leads on replacement shims now that I didn't have before, one of those leads is in Wisconsin, of all places.  I'm not really sure why I was reading the micrometer incorrectly the first attempts on this because I do know how to read one correctly, I do know how they work, I can only assumed I was getting frustrated and number-blind, I do make some monumentally daft mistakes when I've been trying to do anything with numbers for more than about an hour.  You can imagine what hell doing my self assessment tax return can be for me.

To illustrate, here is a shim I'd previously measured as being 4.3mm thick.  It is not 4.3mm thick.

On the micrometer, there's two sets of numbers.  The set to the left are full and half millimeters, full on top and half on the bottom.  The set of numbers to the right are hundredths.  You adjust the micrometer by turning the part the numbers on the right are on, which moves up the shaft the numbers on the left are on, blanking out numbers until you get your measurement.  I'm not sure how to explain what I did wrong without a picture, so here's a picture.

So, with that sorted out and every shim remeasured as above, I can now at least shop for the correct shim a little easier.

4 needs the gap created by the 2.028mm shim reducing by .15mm.  Add .15mm to 2.028mm and it gives you 2.178mm.  There's a 0.03mm tolerance larger or smaller permitted.  So the new shim should be 2.148mm to 2.208mm thick.

6 needs the gap created by the 2.014mm shim reducing by .25mm.  Add .25mm to 2.014mm and it gives you 2.265mm.  There's a 0.03mm tolerance larger or small permitted.  So the new shim should be 2.235mm to 2.295mm thick.

That is, providing my maths is correct.  If it is, I'm pretty much 2 shims away from having the Princess running... before I have to do it all again when I check the clearances after a few hundred miles which... yay... great joy.

[vulgalour]

Addendum.

So apparently I'm reading the micrometer wrong again because of course I am.

Not all bad though, right, because I've got all the numbers written down so I just need to maths them correctly.

2 .5 26mm (2.76mm) shim giving .30mm gap
2 .5 50mm (??) shim giving .30mm gap
2 .5 22mm (2.72mm)shim giving .30mm gap
2 .0 28mm (2.28mm) shim giving .45mm gap
2 .5 18mm (2.68mm) shim giving .30mm gap
2 .0 14mm (2.14mm) shim giving .55mm gap
2 .5 24mm (2.74mm) shim giving .30mm gap
2 .5 08mm (2.58mm) shim giving .30mm gap

Nope, still confused on 2, not sure how I've read 50 since there isn't a 50, maybe it was 49?  Not that it matters, that shim is well within tolerance.

[vulgalour]

After all that, we acquired some shims and they'll be here when they are, what with things being the way they are in the world.  Nearly there.

[Rocket88]

You are not alone in the numerate dyslexia department.............

[vulgalour]

Solidarity!

[vulgalour]

The new thing arrived....

Yeah.  That's less than ideal.

It's repairable at least, it's just annoying.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 5/18/2020 at 4:33 PM, vulgalour said:

In oily news, the tools I needed for the head rebuild arrived.  If I'm really lucky, the shims I have in both the heads I already own will have the correct sizes for the clearances when I lap the new valves in.  Not getting my hopes up on that one.  Special camshaft clamping tool and an old fashioned mechanical metric micrometer rather than a modern digital jobby.  I'm unlikely to use a micrometer that often so it made sense to me to go for one that didn't need batteries.

 

 that's not your crometer that's my crometer! ?

[vulgalour]

omg, Noel.  OMG.  That's a @MikeKnight level dad joke!

[Noel Tidybeard]

might one suggest using a digital caliper as well to at least get a base figure they arent that inaccurate really and plenty cheaps at aldi or diddle-de-de

[Noel Tidybeard]

7 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

omg, Noel.  OMG.  That's a @MikeKnight level dad joke!

it just never gets old! ?

[vulgalour]

Important arrivals for the Princess today then.  The shims I needed arrived from a friend in the States, bizarrely it was cheaper and easier to get the shims I needed sent over from one of his local suppliers than it was to try and get the size I needed in the UK.  Fingers very crossed these are correct since they're the only thing stopping me putting the engine together.

The other thing to arrived was a ridiculous impulse purchase I don't need and wasn't looking for.  Too good an opportunity to pass up since it's unlikely I'll ever find another one, I've certainly never seen one before.  Listed as a NOS Unipart accessory GLZ260.

Just mocked up with tape for now, I'm waiting on some new drill bits arriving so I can actually put the holes in for it to be mounted.  The whole thing is made of fibreglass with some steel brackets bonded in so it's both lightweight and fairly strong, which is ideal for the application.  It's just the right amount of 80s tat for what I'm doing with the car and I'll be keeping it satin black rather than repainting it beige.  The best thing about the way it fits is that it clearly is designed for the Princess rear end, the profiles all follow the shapes of the car properly and I really appreciate that.

The original boot badges will be removed, they look out of place with the spoiler on there.  Now, if I can only find a proper Autoplas rear window louvre that someone is willing to part with, they did make them for the Princess after all.

[phil_lihp]

That actually works really well, it could not have gone to a better Princess owner.  

[vulgalour]

For those wondering, it doesn't fit further up the bootlid.  The car gets narrower as you go further up, as cars are wont to do, so none of the shapes of the spoiler line up.  We took some pics in between rain showers to demonstrate.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

4 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

For those wondering, it doesn't fit further up the bootlid.  The car gets narrower as you go further up, as cars are wont to do, so none of the shapes of the spoiler line up.  We took some pics in between rain showers to demonstrate.

....

This position actually looks more plausible even if, as you wrote, it's actually too wide at that point.

[vulgalour]

It's not just that it's too wide, all the profiles are wrong if you put it at the top and it just doesn't make much sense with the shape of the rest of the car.  If I could stand further away from the car and get a picture of the whole thing in one shot I'd be able to demonstrate better, at the moment that's a little tricky.  It's going at the bottom of the boot at any rate since that's where I like it.

[Jon]

Pointed here from the grin thread where I first saw you post up the spoiler. I never knew such a thing existed - a Unipart aftermarket spoiler for the Princess! Being Unipart, that's pretty much a factory accessory, isn't it? Unless I'm mistaking the Unipart/BL relationship as the same as Ford/Motorcraft. Either way, this should become a thing.

Can't say I've seen a Princess with a rear louvre over here and they seemed to be a common accessory back in the day in NZ. Happy to keep an eye out, though!

[danthecapriman]

Very cool! I have never seen one of those before for a Princess either. It’ll go well with window louvres, if you can find one.

[vulgalour]

I've only ever seen 2 louvres.  The first was on a car in the UK, and the louvre was painted brown to match the vinyl roof.  The second was on a car in the Netherlands.  I've never seen one for sale separately.

[Christine]

Spoiler looks fantastic.  Imagine if that was a Ford RS item you could retire!  

[Noel Tidybeard]

the black rear panel on the greeen car looks sexxxxy

[mitsisigma01]

2 hours ago, vulgalour said:

For those wondering, it doesn't fit further up the bootlid.  The car gets narrower as you go further up, as cars are wont to do, so none of the shapes of the spoiler line up.  We took some pics in between rain showers to demonstrate.

Perfect, beer shelf height

[MikeKnight]

On 6/10/2020 at 2:10 PM, vulgalour said:

omg, Noel.  OMG.  That's a @MikeKnight level dad joke!

[MikeKnight]

Oh and you probably realise this already but if you drill the boot/wings to fit the spoiler for gods sake don't make the mistake I did years ago of not sealing it from the other side.

Boot full of water isn't fun.

[vulgalour]

I needn't worry about that, BL designed these boot lids to fill with water from the trim holes at the top and then, when they had enough water inside, the bottom lip rots out to let it all escape.

[PhilA]

For those of us who don't like numbers, there are tools for that. Best investment in a tool I have ever made.

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

That spoiler is proper Schrodinger's cat territory, both terrible and fantastic at the same time.

[MikeKnight]

Looking closer at it, I'm assuming it's designed purely to be drilled and fitted to the boot, because I had a hilarious mental image of fitting it to the wings too.. then realising you can't open the boot anymore.

[vulgalour]

Some progress today since the weather was pleasant enough and I had some time spare.  First up was to have a rummage in my nicely organised salvaged fixings for some nuts and washers, the spoiler didn't come with any.  As luck would have it, I had the perfect nuts and a set of both plain and spring washers.  The plain washers are probably sufficient on their own really.

Then I cut up the box the spoiler came in to make a template for drilling the holes.  Since there's all sorts of unexpected curves going on, having a nice flat template made getting things marked out much easier.  I was quite optimistic about fitting this today since I now have a chuck key for my drill and nice new drill bits...

Then I found that we don't have an extension long enough to get from the plug socket nearest the Princess to the Princess.  In fact, we don't even have a combination of extensions to do it.  So that put paid to that job.  Oh well, what's next?  I suppose we should have a look at putting the engine together.  Big thanks to these folks, over in America, and my friend out there that was kind enough to source and send the shims I needed.  Happily, the measurements were correct and now all of the valve clearances are within the .30mm tolerance required.

Threw some assembly lube about the place and shoved bolts in holes and all that good stuff and suddenly it was looking very promising.

There were just a few hiccups along the way.  After fitting the shims I did check the camshaft rotates freely by hand, I also checked it with the proper gasket and end plate fitted, and am confident this is now good to go.  After doing that, I put the head bolts in and went to grab my torque wrench, only what I'd remembered as a torque wrench was actually an old ratchet drive and it turns out I don't actually have a torque wrench.  That's a teensy bit of an oversight when you're trying to put a head back on.  Never mind, there's other things could be done.  The comically over-engineered hose clamps I'd bought went on fine to replace two of the incredibly poor quality clamps fitted and then I found I'd ordered the wrong size for the other two, so I need to order some more.

Not to worry, at least the metal spiralised hose I got for the hot air feed to the air box was actually correct, unlike the too-narrow cold air hose.

The small bit of hose I needed for the vacuum feed to the brake servo was also correct, happily, if a bit of a fight to fit.

Disappointing then that the cambelt I ordered long enough ago that I can't return it was actually an auxiliary belt.  On the plus side, I do have a nice new auxiliary belt to fit now and while there's nothing obviously wrong with the old one, I might as well throw a new one on if I'm doing the cambelt.

The engine is at least in one piece now, and so far so good.  I need to order myself a couple of hose clamps, a correct cambelt, and a torque wrench.  A timing light wouldn't go amiss either since I don't have one.  I'm going to hold off until I get the repair quote back for the BX's injection pump, just in case that ends up being more expensive than expected. Progress is progress, all the same, and I'm feeling happier for getting things back together a bit more.

 

[High Jetter]

Old ratchet drive + old spring balance = makeshift torque wrench (though some more maths would be involved)

[vulgalour]

No more maths!