project 1980 Austin Princess

[Noel Tidybeard]

one can't help but wonder if you were actually witnessing a cell "going down" but not quite gone yet

 

it is amazing what shenanigans can appear with a shonky earth- nissan/renner i'm looking at you here!

[High Jetter]

Dim memory says 063 & 015 were 2 most common. Supplied dry, to Longlife shops, as were barrels of acid. It holed clothes, and the taste still lingers...

[MorrisItalSLX]

A photograph cropped up on the Princess Facebook page that looked familiar.

[vulgalour]

@Noel Tidybeard Failing cell has been suggested elsewhere too.  I don't know enough to know if it really was that but from what folks have described, it does seem likely.  Bloomin earth problems though, what a chore!

 

@MorrisItalSLX That's back in 2011 or so, it's the eBay ad the owner before me saw.  A good example of not judging a book by its cover, you wouldn't know the crap it was hiding given how clean and tidy it seemed to be back then.  Different story now of course, it's pretty decent and looks like an absolute shed.

[Noel Tidybeard]

earth problem i had- nissan primera p12

press brake pedal rear fog telltail glows + it would flash with indicators

- earth pins in rear clusters is about half as big as it really needs (the renner influence!)

[vulgalour]

First thing to do was get a new battery since the one on the car wasn't reliably holding charge.  Alternator was doing its job just fine and putting the zaps out, but the battery wasn't always holding on to them.  Headed out to try and find one in a shop, mixing it with the moderns.

Make way for the ambulance.

Then completely failed to find a battery in a shop anywhere.  Lots of shortages at the time, so it was probably that.  Amusingly, I found exactly the same kind of battery as I removed brand new online, so ordered that and plonked it in instead.

The other issue I'd been having was that the hazards weren't working properly.  Time to inspect the fuses, namely the one for non-ignition accessories.

The fuse I took out looked perfectly fine, if a little less shiny than would be ideal, but I put a fresh one in the socket anyway.  Experience has taught me that sometimes these ceramic style fuses just seem to go bad for some reason.  The problem was mainly that it had got itself stuck with corrosion.

That meant that when you turned the hazards on the interior light flashed and the indicators didn't, a very odd electrical issue that was a proper head scratcher.  Replaced the fuse and the hazards and interior light went back to working properly.  That's not really one I can show in static images so well, so if you really want to see that, go watch the video.  While looking for potential earth problems, I found the secondary main earth had gone rusty again which definitely wouldn't have helped.  Gave it a good scrub and got it back to as not-rusty as I could.  Used a bit of ACF-50 on it too which seems pretty good at keeping moisture, and by extension corrosion, at bay.

With that all sorted, it was time to see how much happier the car would be about starting.  Traditional choke pegs, check it's in neutral, and see if it fires up... which it did basically instantly.  This was a huge improvement on how it had been so I was pretty happy about that.

With the wipers, headlights, heater fan, and brake lights all on the alternator was keeping up with charge properly and while the wipers did slow a little, it was definitely in the realm of normal rather than struggling.

An 8 mile test run later, decided to check the head gasket seam for any issues because previously this had been a short enough run to highlight that. I was pleased to see the areas of concern previously were no longer areas of concern.  Also no bubbles in the expansion bottle so it looks like when I last re-torqued the head bolts down that's all that was required.

I did notice that the heaters had become very effective and the coolant had gone quite brown so I assume there was a blockage somewhere in the system that had cleared through.  The mileage I'd done in this video was about the same as I'd done when the head gasket last went so I was both hopeful I'd fixed the problem, and concerned it might be about to happen.

Finally, even though this video was recorded a year ago, I'm still on the look out for some of these Princess rubber floor mats, front and rear, since I only have the one.  They do occasionally appear, though never in great shape.  If you happen to have one or more of them please do drop me a line.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

that shim is quite annoying isn't it? it makes the mighty O-series sound like a fiesta!

[Noel Tidybeard]

the tailpipe looks about the right grey colour

biscuit/brown= too lean

black/sooty= too rich

 

has the carb got the lift pin on the bottom for gauging mixture strenghth?

[vulgalour]

It's not far off on the exhaust, it's just a whiff rich but the fuel economy is about where it needs to be so in the end I just left it where it was.  I don't think this carb has the lift pin, I don't recall it from the last dealings with it, it's a pretty basic thing.  I've had a right job getting shims for this engine, they're a specific size, the last ones I ordered came via a friend in the US because I couldn't find anyone in the UK doing the diameter and thickness I needed.  Can't remember what thickness it was now, but I think they're 32mm diameter?  I'd have to check.

[Noel Tidybeard]

just found this

https://www.howacarworks.com/fuel-systems/adjusting-an-su-carburettor

[vulgalour]

That looks like a guide for an HS4 or HS6, more commonly found on Triumphs.  Princess uses an HIF44 which is a different layout and a more compact unit.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Don't know if you need it, but here's a guide to HiF tuning

Tuning - General - SU Carburetters

[vulgalour]

Been a while, here's a short video.

Watch me try and destroy a breaker bar.

[Noel Tidybeard]

i estimate those wheel nuts to be torqued to 12 ugga duggas! 😲

[vulgalour]

Yeah, this was a bit much.

[vulgalour]

So relieved that the rear arch repair panel, an item I've been after for pretty much my entire ownership of this car, is actually a really good fit. 

Not sure when I'll be doing the bodywork on the Princess, I need to get Maestro and Lanchester jobs out of the way first.  I do now have a front wing for the driver's side, a front arch repair panel for the passenger side, a full outer sill for whichever side it is I need it (I can't be bothered to go to the garage and check), and this rear arch panel.  That addresses all the remaining rust areas I'm aware of.

The only thing really stopping me using the Princess at the moment is the rear brakes and I'm just stretched too thin financially to get the tools/pay a person for the moment.  It'll sort, Princess isn't getting any worse where it is and is in no danger of going anywhere, it just has to wait a bit longer.

[vulgalour]

BOOM! Painted (mostly).

I will not be taking feedback at this time

 

Seriously though, it's been getting me down that the Princess has been on the backburner for so long.  That coupled with the occasional door knock asking if it's for sale/scrap... yeah, not a great vibe.  Yesterday it got a wash for the first time in months.  Today it got painted (apart from the rear panel because it was too much effort to remove the lights and number plate).  It is not a good paint job, and what you see there is fresh off the rollers.  I'm using arguably the wrong kind of paint even though it's perfectly fit for purpose, and I was very lazy on prep and masking due to a lack of materials and funds to acquire more materials.

Do you know what though, none of that matters.  I feel way happier when I see the Princess now even though I know there's still a bunch of work to do.  I love the black and pink colour scheme and will be sticking with it and I reckon the rear end will look even better when it's black instead of red, those big Galaxie lights should really stand out well.  Sometimes you just have to do a thing for yourself.  You don't have to do it well, or right, or expensively, you just need to do it.  I feel more motivated to do something on the Princess now than I have in months.

[Zelandeth]

I quite like that colour scheme actually.

Only thing I'd probably do if it were mine would be include the windscreen pillars in the black.  I think that would just tie things together a bit more, and help draw the eye to the line that swoops down from the windscreen base into the door glass.

Obviously your car so feel absolutely free to ignore that!

[vulgalour]

The reason I haven't done the A pillar is that there's a chrome trim that goes on the gutter that meets a chrome trim at the door which breaks the flow of black, obviously said trim isn't fitted at the moment.  If the gutter stopped at the top of the windscreen instead of going all the way to the bottom of the glass then I'd absolutely black the A pillars so we got a floating roof look.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

That's absolutely fucking horrible.  And I love it.

[vulgalour]

Super minor tiny update here.  Did a couple of cosmetic things, namely put the gutter and waist trims back on, this helps makes a bit more sense of why the colour is split where it's split and why the A pillar isn't painted black.

The other thing I've done is very quickly splashed some satin black on the driver's side B pillar.  I don't really know why I never got around to doing this since I did the other side.  It's good to have it done now at least.

Fuel filler flap will go back after I've thrown some black paint in the pocket and found some suitable screws/bolts that don't have chewed up heads like the originals.  I'm not sweating the state of the paint that was rollered on since it looks tidier than the patchwork it was in and I can go back and do a better job at any point.  For now, I want to tackle all the other outstanding niggly bits for that sense of accomplishment and motivation boost, something that finally having the rear brakes back together has given me.

 

[vulgalour]

Victory!  I drove it for the first time in FOREVER.

Trouble is, there's a fuelling issue with it.  I did think the tank was empty and the sender had got stuck at half gauge but after putting 10 litres of fuel in it the gauge did move up the requisite amount.  I also can't get it to start without manually priming it and after that it runs fine under load but will gradually lean off and die at idle.

I can hear the pump running, the battery is fully charged, I topped up the dashpot just to be sure, the float in the carb doesn't look to be sticking, I've got no crap in the fuel filter and I can't see any air bubbles appearing in the filter when the car is running.  I do know the fuel in the car is old but it's also now diluted with fresh new fuel so I wouldn't expect that to be the issue in this instance especially since the fuel doesn't smell varnishy and looks nice and clean.  Throttle and choke cables are moving freely and when it is running it's pretty happy.  It's only at idle I'm getting the issue.  I do wonder if it might be drawing air in from somewhere, or if the electric in-tank pump is perhaps weak and on its way out.

When I can get to the back of the garage again I'll have a rummage for the mechanical pump and fit that, see if that solves the issue.  If it does, I'll just run that since I've done that before with no bother and it's a far easier solution than trying to get the pump out of the tank and then seal the tank up afterwards.

[vulgalour]

Okay, I've had another fiddle with this post-work and I'm still a bit confused about what's going on.

I look to be getting a reasonable 13ish volts at the pump so I don't think it's an earth problem.  Sender is also apparently reading properly since the gauge went up when I put more fuel in.

Under load/throttle the engine runs fine, enough fuel gets to the front.  If you come off the throttle the idle returns to a normal level but then drops off until the car eventually stalls as if fuel starved.  To restart, you have to manually prime it because the pump doesn't seem able to force enough fuel up to the carb.

However, if when it's idling the idle speed begins to fall, you can revive it by pumping/feathering the throttle and it will go back to running okay for a bit until the idle drops off again.

Could this be a carb issue?  Or am I missing something else obvious here?

[plasticvandan]

Sticking float needle?

[vulgalour]

Wouldn't be the first time so that's likely.  I'll pull the carb off tomorrow probably and have a look inside and see what's going on.

[captain_70s]

Pulling air at a bad connection somewhere?

[vulgalour]

Also very possible, most likely where the carb mounts to the manifold in fact.  Now you mention it I'm remembering having a similar issue when it ingested/blew out part of the paper gasket a few years ago.

[stuboy]

what happened too the lotus alloys?

[vulgalour]

The Lotus wheels are waiting their turn, just like everything else really.  I always intended to run them considerably more full time than the steels I just never got around to lining it up.  They take an odd tyre size too which complicates matters, especially since there's not a massive choice out there for 14" tyres nowadays.

 

Solved the fuelling issue: dying fuel pump.

Took off the carburettor and it's absolutely spotless inside, everything free moving, all gaskets in great shape.  Car runs fine if I feed fuel directly to the carburettor and ignore the fuel pump.  The one thing that has changed is that I can't feather the throttle to encourage it to run when connected to the fuel pump and this coincides with the pump getting very, very quiet.  I think I fitted that pump about four years ago, maybe five, and I shan't be fitting another in-tank one.  Instead I'll fit either the mechanical pump when I can find it, or a decent electric one either down by the tank under the car, or up at the front in the engine bay.  I know I can draw fuel through the in-tank pump no problem having had to do it before.

It's not that removing the pump/sender is difficult on the Princess, it really isn't, it's just impossible to seal the fuel tank up afterwards due to the sealing ring not being very good.  Custom fuel tank is a bit of a false economy too since the tank doesn't have any other issues at present.

[vulgalour]

I have put the mechanical fuel pump Somewhere Safe and as a result, cannot find it.  Decided to order a new one and the required spacer block which was only £21 delivered.  Problem solved, no need to do any wiring, and I know it's a reliable set up.  I also know it takes a bit longer to crank on first start since there's no electric prime, and it's prone to weeping a little oil, but I'm okay with that if it means getting the car mobile again.  I might get someone to fit an electric external pump in the future.