Jump to content

1980 Austin Princess


vulgalour

Recommended Posts

On 6/21/2020 at 8:03 PM, vulgalour said:

These are intended for motorbikes, I got the largest I could fit in the available space.  

202006-41.thumb.jpg.7dd09f1bd28f9f4946816b59d09149ba.jpg

I fitted some side repeaters as indicators on my MK1 Fiesta, under the grille. You could see the glow but not the actual lamp.

MOT tester raised his eyebrows but said nothing, I did have to be careful turning right at roundabouts...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

I've got side-repeaters as well (even though you don't technically need them pre-85) and they're more visible than the stock indicators from the side anyway.  It'll be fine, and if it's not, I can always move them.

H2 headlight bulbs push-fitted in those very 90's oval Ford side-repeaters are remarkably visible when used as indicators.

 

They also melt if you leave them on for too long. Minor irritating side-effect. What's the limitation on the size for the front behind the grille? The passenger side bracketry?

 

 

--Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could get a light that's about four times the size of the one in there at the moment, I just might have to remove the radiator to do it because of the physics of wiggling it and the fixings into the gap.  Not a big deal.  These indicators I bought should be plenty large and bright enough, they're at least as large as the MG units currently fitted.  If they don't work I can get square trailer lights and mount them on an L bracket behind the grille, they'd just be more visible when off and I fancied them being as invisible as possible when off hence the route I've gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Right then, tools I have been waiting on have arrived so let's see if we can get the Princess tuned up.  A strobe light and some extra checking of the cambelt showed that all is good in that area.  Which was nice.

202007-01.thumb.jpg.6658a976743e58bc9ce9df0894e0e101.jpg

I also picked up one of these very cheap digital tachometers on the recommendation of online reviews and.... I'm less thrilled about this.  I mean, I didn't expect a lot but I expected a slightly greater degree of accuracy than it offered.  The book wants the idle on the Princess to be set to 750rpm and I would hazard a guess that it's in the 750-850rpm range compared to the last time it was running and set up before I smashed all the valves.  This little doodad reckons the engine is only doing about 325-350rpm and if I wind the idle screw all the way in I can't get it to go to any more than 485rpm.  My guess is that the tachometer is actually reading 50% of what the actual rpm is and I'm basing that on knowing what this engine sounds like at other rpms at idle, not an exact science, but near enough.  Anyway, if my assumption is correct that means the car is timed about where it should be.  A finer tune with better tools would yield better results, obviously.

202007-02.thumb.jpg.4f929dd3dd3b88b28d6e65fe3c2303cf.jpg

Then I noticed there was a bit of moisture at the head gasket seam.  Not too worrying, the car has been run up to temperature a few times now so I was expecting to have to retorque the head bolts.  I retorqued all the head bolts and these areas stayed dry afterwards.  No smell of exhaust in the coolant, no mixing of fluids that I can see so I don't believe this is a problem.

202007-03.thumb.jpg.b3312ffd9a501f9d1cb9b86bbf1c4749.jpg

202007-04.thumb.jpg.96674566873a03065b4f40e40be873bb.jpg

After going through all those checks the hunting isn't there now, which is good, but the car is running incredibly rich.  The last time I had the car running it was running about right, smell-wise, and I hadn't altered anything between then and now, so I'm not sure why it's running rich.  I did try fiddling with the carb settings to lean off the mixture and bring the idle up to compensate but I couldn't get a happy balance at all so just put it back to where I started.  When I say it's running rich, it's putting smoke out of the exhaust that isn't oil.  Applying some throttle clears it but as soon as it goes back to idle it's super rich again.

Technically the car runs, I could use it (once insured and taxed anew), but it's going to go through fuel like its going out of fashion at the moment and that won't do it any good at all.  I'm going to leave it alone for a bit and come back to it later, check all the fluids and settings and whatnot when its cold and see if I can spot anything amiss.  On the positive side, it started up really easily every time I asked it to, so at least there's some sort of reliability there.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shall give the pulley blob a go.  As for the belt alignment, that's how it is on this car, always has been too judging by the cleaner wear marks on the components, never caused a problem before so I assume it's normal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to tell if that's actually in use there or just set up for the photo - but if that's the same as the tach I used to have (vanished when lent to a friend), it needs a clean white dot/stripe to see and be pointed at the crankshaft pulley directly.

The one I used to have seemed reasonably accurate, the main gripe I had with it (aside from the fact it ate batteries while turned off) was that the resolution was only to the nearest 25rpm and the update rate was only about 2Hz.  It did the job though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't remember whose car or what car, years ago now, a mate had a belt that was badly aligned and chewed belts for fun. Turns out he had the alternator/dynamo mounted the wrong side of the brackets, so ran new belts off alignment, over tensioned, caused stretching, cba to retension to stop squealing, belts jumped off... 

Might not be the same on yours.... 

Just saying worth a look ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, if you want to know engine / crankshaft RPM, the reflective stuff goes on the crankshaft pulley. If that is difficult, put the tape on the CAMshaft pulley and double the RPM reading the Tacho gives you for to give you engine / crankshaft RPM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is what I have done.  I tried painting a blob of white paint on the pulley but the tachometer couldn't see it so I used the reflective tape which stuck very well to the paint, much better than to the pulley, and that worked just fine.

202007-05.thumb.jpg.a12eff7b39d7fe39fd3c650d4cf2c9e7.jpg

I can confirm rpm is approximately 800.  Although the book wants it at 750, I've never managed to get this engine to idle that low, it seems happiest at 800.  I did check fast idle too, and forgot to write it down so I don't remember what that was, only that it was in range.  Checked the fluids, the dashpot, the bolts on the cam cover (one needed tightening a little more), the head bolts, and anything else that looked like it might affect running and it's now running fine.  It's still running a little richer than I'd like, though not as rich as last attempt, even though I haven't adjusted that at all.  I'm wondering if this is mostly down to the old fuel now because once the car is up to temperature and driving on the private test track it's actually perfectly fine.

Sadly, the Colortune kit I was given is the wrong size for my engine, I need one with much longer and narrower threads to the spark plug inserts, so I couldn't use that to see what was actually happening so I've just tweaked things until I've found a happy balance, working from the base line provided in the book where possible.  I am happy that the car fires up willingly on every attempt, it holds temperature at 3/4 gauge reliably once warm and isn't making any noises or smells it ought not to.  The valves are a little noisier than I'd like still, though they are quietening down compared to when I'd first fitted the new valves and shims, so that's something.

I reckon the car just needs to be driven a bit now, so once I find an insurance policy I'm happy with I'll get it insured and taxed, hopefully this month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would suspect that the fuel has gone all weird if it's been sat a good while.

The ethanol in it starts to separate out around the 3 month mark. Might be best to use a non ethanol super (shell do one iirc) if the car isn't to be used for extended periods.

After a 9 month idle spell the bike fuel had gone all weird and started to separate, smoked like hell and stunk rich really bad. Have to wonder if that is the same issue you are having because ethanol additive fuels are SHIT. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That sounds very similar to what's happening here so yeah, it's probably the old fuel that's at least 6 months old now.  I had started using super, which helped with the running on issue I'd had, not sure what the nearest station has in stock though being BP rather than a supermarket they probably have something super-like on tap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Victory!

202007-06.thumb.jpg.0aae6e2c6c8f324684e0cfe9d2e83e75.jpg

Stuck a tenner of fresh fuel in it, which seemed to help on the way back home.  Also inflated the tyres since they were all down at 21psi which is a bit low even for a Princess.  It's a bit low on oil since the gear change is just a little notchy once its warmed up so I'll have to top that up when I get hold of some oil on my next outing.  Still, it's nice to get out in it and I had forgotten just how much people stare at it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And we're off the road again.  Tried to go to get some oil since it was low and I didn't have any in stock and managed to get about half a mile before selecting gears became pretty much impossible.  When I had to turn around I had to resort to turning the car off, selecting a gear, and starting it in gear.  Thinking it was low oil causing the problem - it was still registering on the dipstick - partner took me to get some and we topped it up when we got back.  Still no dice.  Adjusted the bodge-bolt that replaces one of the pins on the gear lever selector ball which tightened up the gearchange, but still couldn't get the car in gear and it was getting worse.   Re-checked the fluid level in the clutch reservoir and it's where it should be, attempted to bleed the system and no air came out but it was clear the clutch slave cylinder is not operating properly, the arm barely moves and now the gear selection is so poor that I can't actually select any gears.

There's a couple of new cylinders on eBay at the moment, Lockheed 4253-311 is the part number.  This is what's on my car so it's what I stick to, even though every listing I've found inside and outside of eBay has it listed for the 2200 and I've been unable to find any listing for the 1700/2000 specifically.  Due to financial constraints, caused by things like insuring and taxing the car yesterday, I haven't got the spare funds for a new cylinder so I've ordered a rebuild kit which has a ridiculously long delivery time on it because of course it does.  Urgh.  We shall just have to see whether or not the rebuild succeeds.  Will have to order some new fluid too, of course, since I don't have any of that in stock either and didn't know I needed to get any when we went to get the oil.

What a fun day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...