project 1980 Austin Princess

[Morgan84]

Does this now mean she is staying with you,and not being re-homed ? I hope if she is staying you manage to get her back as you want her and enjoy driving her again

 

Are you going to leave the 'donor' Princess for now until funds are more favorable ?

[rml2345]

This hasn't half been a roller coaster VA, but I'm glad the Princess is home.

Look forward to the mending whenever it happens

[flat4alfa]

There you go then, a little over a ton like fiat4alfa said

Cheers Trogger

 

Who's this fiat4alfa?

 

Must be an imposter!

[vulgalour]

@IainL: Not half!

 

@Des: yes please as I'll still need it.

 

@Morgan84: She is indeed staying home, Steve that I'm buying the Maestro off was the deciding factor in me keeping her and he's a certifiable BL nut and a top bloke. The donor Princess is indeed going to have to be temporarily abandoned in favour of seeing what I can do with what I've got, though I still hope to make use of it in the future as it has some very useful parts like a decent interior and better bumpers.

 

@rml245: The mendinating was going to start tonight, but my brother has borrowed all the tools to fix his new Saxo after the Skoda completely crapped out on him recently and had to be scrapped.

 

Oh, and everyone that has seen the Princess since getting her back that saw her before she went away thinks she looks straighter so we suspect some work might have been done, possibly when they were assessing the extent of the damage. I know she was looked upon with fondness by some of the bodyshop guys at Pentagon and I have a suspicion that she has been enjoyed while there, just little things about the interior, stuff that you can't really point out to anyone that doesn't know the car as intimately as I do. I've had so much more support than condemnation for my decision to save her that really I doubt things will go any other way. The advantage now is that I can take my time a bit. Mechanically, with the exception of the gearbox, she's feels and sounds fantastic so I have to focus more on the cosmetic than anything else.

 

I'm itching to get started, but I need to be patient and get things together financially first, besides which I'm going to have a new car that'll need a bloody good clean out and fettle first and with the winter setting in, it's not ideal paint and bodywork weather so things are mostly going into hibernation for a few weeks/months.

[Cheggers]

I know I've played devils advocate/ jonah in this thread, but well done Volksy - I'm sure you'll get it back on the road soon

[Morgan84]

What happened to the Felicia ? I know you almost cleaned it to death but surely that would have frightened it into a new life

[KruJoe]

That one is a car for his brother "Chompy Snake" on here.

 

VAlbert, I'm glad you've decided to stick with this Princess. It's clearly the right thing to do. Please don't loose momentum and interest in it, make a point of doing at least something on it every weekend. You know she'll be worth it in the end.

[vulgalour]

@Morgan: The Felicia suffered fatal cascade failure of many components including injector, brake caliper, brake hose, CV boots and joints, rear suspension collapsing and myriad other things in very short order. My brother has been working 60+ hours per week and just didn't have the time or to spend on the Skoda outside of his working hours and it sadly fell to bits mechanically around him, for all his best intentions. He's replaced it with a Citroen Saxo Furio that's in much better order for the money he got from scrapping the Skoda. He found it tough to part with the car, but it really was the right thing to do, sad though it is.

 

@KruJoe: It's frustrating at the minute. Because of the mess that was Monday I lost a day's work and being agency I don't get paid if I don't work so I'm doing 10 hour days Tues-Fri to make up for it which, with my commute, leaves no time for tinkering, much less energy. I had another errand to run tonight and I've only just sat down now after getting everything ready for the rest of the week workwise, so removing bits of Princess to get on with repairs is going to have to wait another day again. Too tired to be cross about it.

[Morgan84]

Sounds like the rear spring cups were corroded - seen them rust before

[AnthonyG]

Good to hear the car will live on and well done for persevering with it - like most who have commented, I probably would have given up on the car.

 

Sounds like the bodyshop people were on your side as well, which must have helped.

[vulgalour]

I'm sure you'd like an update with pictures in it, so that's just what this is.

Remember this?


Veh sad. Not to worry, as you know, I got her home and tucked up warm and safe in the garage. I did have issues selecting reverse and it turns out the issue was me, not the car, because for some reason I thought reverse was at the opposite end of the 'box to what it is. Problem solved there very easily, herpaderp. I've not been able to devote masses of time to the Princess while she's been at home, what with the new arrival in the form of Steve the Maestro but I have done some work on her. First thing I did was straighten out the kink in the bonnet, which was actually very easy to do without any tools. The dent in the leading edge is a bit trickier as it's double skinned, but I did find out today that a neighbour has a dent-puller and really this bonnet looks salvagable now I've started working on it.


I also checked the panel gaps, just because.




It's not far out really, I feel more and more confident the more I look at what's actually damaged. Pictures like this make it look far worse than it really is.




And pictures like this make it look more obvious what's happened.


Anyway, got the bumper removed, straightened it a bit while it was on the car so I could get at the bolts. The bumper isn't kinked, the chrome isn't cracked or split and it will straighten, as will the brackets. I've put it safe for now.


I then took all these bits off. The grille is actually repairable, but the headlight surrounds are borderline. I have got all the black bits ready to go back on and Des was kind enough to supply a passenger side indicator/sidelight unit so I'm only missing one piece (and a number plate) for the face of the car now.


With all that off I could see more clearly what's been damaged.


The bottom corner where the wing meets the valance has been pushed in, but the headlights haven't, they've just been readjusted and pushed back something near straight without any effort because the adjusters are fubarred anyway. I did notice the headlight bracket on the crashed side is a new one as the black primer hadn't been keyed for the beige paint which has just flaked off. The central support for the slam panel to valance is bent which has pulled things in and down, this too can be straightened and pull everything true again. The deformed wing is only like that because of the bottom corner where I hit the corner of the van's chunky bumper.


I reckon with a puller tool most of this will go back to how it ought to be, it's really not that bad at all. I haven't quite got enough strength to pull it all back into shape myself, but I did manage to get things a little straighter. The wing may be salvagable, but it has rotted out on the bottom edge so I may be as well replacing it anyway as it'll likely be as difficult to repair the original as it would be to put a new one on.

Until I have better tools, this is as far as I can get on this job now. I'm confident that the damage is reversible and with some patience and hammers followed up with more patience and paint, that I can get this tip top again. It's also nice to have an old car that's happy to start first time, every time. I'm feeling very positive about the old girl, I think once I have the next month or so out of the way I can start rebuilding this front end without actually spending that much cash on parts. Most of the work needs time and effort, something you guys know I'm willing to spend on the Princess.

[Split_Pin]

Good work on that, pretty sure a Porta-Power will sort out what human strength cannot.

 

Look forward to more updates on the Princess

[Morgan84]

Things start looking a lot better once you strip off the broken or twisted bits;hopefully you will have her back on the road in the new year,and will get to enjoy driving her once more.Is the plan to repair,and get back on the road as soon as practically and financially possible,or will she get her new colour as well before hitting the road ?

[vulgalour]

I want to get the oil leak on the fuel pump sorted, wheels refurbished, new tyres fitted and get the suspension pumped up at the least before hitting the road again. I'd prefer to get the paint finished too since it does all need doing. I'm happy enough to keep her off the road for up to a year so that I can focus on getting everything fixed, in all honesty. I view this more as an opportunity than a setback.

[Shep Shepherd]

Glad to see that you're making some headway

[Morgan84]

In a way ( twisted kind of way ) the accident has had a positive effect;perhaps had this not happened,then you might not now be the owner of a Ledbury. At least you still have transport,which will still need maintaining of course,but now you can take your time on the Princess,and get her just as you want her

[Black_GT]

Nice one, happy to see the some progress on the Princess! A bit of luck the bumper's repairable too.

[vulgalour]

Not a lot has been happening of late. 2012 is finally over and can hopefully be forgotten, what an appalling 12 months it was!

 

The plan, as it stands, is to get her in for an MoT as soon as I can. I've had plenty of time to assess the damage and, looking at what's good and what isn't, I only need to work through a few items to get her booked in.

 

The shortlist is:

- Straighten the bent stuff

- Align the headlights

- Reseal the one leaking tyre... again

- Resolve the minor oil leak... again

- Sort out the tracking

- Paint any bare metal

- Weld any MoT-failing holes

- Locate replacement drivers side indicator/sidelight unit

- Purchase new front number plate

 

To regroup I've sold much of what I own, given much of the rest away and moved back in to my parents spare room. It's not a great situation, and I'm not on my own. As odd as it may seem, keeping the Princess is important, it's a possession I can use to focus on and keep myself feeling positive, a goal to reach towards.

 

I'm realistic to the fact that things could get worse still for me, that I might have to sell the Maestro and of course the Princess, but I hope it doesn't come to that, things are stable at the moment, I'm just working on getting them to improve once more.

 

So, on with the positive vibes, and looking forward to this weekend when I should have everything together (weather permitting, as always) to get to work on bending and bolting the old beige bus into shape again.

 

I'm excited and I'm scared about what 2013 has to offer, but I'm hopeful that it's going to be an improvement on 2012.

[michael t]

I really hope 2013 turns out better for you, and remember, it is just a car, your own personal finances, enjoyment etc are more important

[Angrydicky]

Good luck with it Angyl, I look forward to seeing it back on the road.

 

It's amazing how quickly projects come together if you just manage a little bit every day.

[vulgalour]

2013: so far, so good.

This morning we had the Princess A-framed over to the new residence and installed in her new place of rest. The plan was then to get some other errands sorted and assess the works ready to undertake tomorrow, but instead we all got too itchy fingered about it and got on with the job at hand.

Between the three of us, my Dad, Brother and I all have some experience of bodywork repair and some little knowledge of physics, so a plan was hatched that involved the Maestro, a ratchet strap and careful application of hammers and knowledge. We could only spend about 2 hours, but we did get a lot closer to sorted in that time.

First of all, we wanted to get the slam panel something like straight again and the easiest way to do this was to try and get that central support straightened. Rigged up the ratchet strap to the tie-down loops under the back of the Maestro and carefully ratcheted it up.


It did take a while until we couldn't get more tension on the strap, and it wasn't enough to get it right. So we very carefully used the strength of the Maestro to pull this part straighter and, with a satisfying *pwong*, much of the damage was undone.


It was then a case of assessing where bits were pushed back and where they weren't and ratcheting them forwards or leaving them put. This is one of those things you learn through experience more than anything and while it looks like we're about to pull on the middle of the slam panel here, we decided on different, stronger locations that rectified much of the damage and pulled the radiator closer to the angle it should be.


A trial fit of the new grille after much bashing and pulling saw that things were getting closer. This was quite an important thing to check as the grille is known to be good and I don't have another undamaged car here to compare mine to. All a case of working with what I have. It's not too far off either, once things on the bottom edge are pulled forwards again. Much of the metal on this section is fairly thin and not massively structural so it's fairly easy to manipulate, and to over-manipulate if you're not careful.





Next up was to tackle the bonnet which is quite badly bent. This can probably be repaired, but may well end up getting replaced as it'll likely never look right. The V dented into it was fouling everything and needed to be straightened out so that we could get the bonnet to close properly now that the slam panel was where it needed to be. I can't really demonstrate how we know everything is mostly where it needs to be, but suffice to say it's where it needs to be to sort out bonnet operation. Here's some hammer action.




After yet more fettling, and much less ratchet strap action, all was ready to try to close the bonnet. It took a few attempts to fine tune things but as you can see, it's already looking better even with the bonnet up.


Now for the happy moment, the bonnet closed properly and able to be opened on the release pull. Okay, so it's still bent up at the corners and has an ugly dent in the middle, but that's not too important right now.


This corner still needs some work, we haven't straightened the headlight bracket fully yet, but it's a big improvement on what it was and the big fold in the wing has almost completely gone, so much so that I can probably get the panel beaten straight again with some care.


Finally, a comparison picture.


Eventually, I plan to replace much of the sheet metal on the front with properly straight stuff, but for now I'm more concerned with obtaining an MoT and making things look presentable if a little battered. I think we're heading towards that goal rather nicely at the moment.

[purplebargeken]

Bloody brilliant news VA!

 

Did similar work with a mate's Escrote van and a forklift truck in place of a Maestro - worked out just dandy in the end. Hate creases in wings though.

[Split_Pin]

That's a remarkable difference between before and after.

 

Good on you for keeping the faith. I'm looking forward to seeing the letters "M-O-T" in the thread title.

[Alexg]

I love the erm, 'rustic' way you've gone about sorting this. Truly excellent.

[vulgalour]

I'm a proper Autoshiter, I do things the Autoshite way. I'd've used a tractor if I had one to hand, but beggers can't be choosers.

 

I've gained a target to aim towards* to get the Princess taxed and MoT'd: Austin Morris day at Brooklands. It's a three hour drive and at the start of March but will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Princess club and of course, Austins and Morrises. I'm hoping I'll be road legal and able to afford the petrol to make the journey while the Princess will still look like a bit of a bruiser just to give some contrast to the shiny-shinies that'll be there.

 

 

 

*it's an unrealistic target, but meh.

[purplebargeken]

Using a Maestro to fix a Princess will go down in Autoshite lore! Marvellous work!

[ashmicro]

Using a Maestro to fix a Princess will go down in Autoshite lore! Marvellous work!

 

Absolutely! Well done indeed.

[TimothyClaypole]

Are those headlights specific?

[RoadworkUK]

Super smashing excellent. Myself and several others at a friendly Essex Mercedes dealership toasted to your progress with coffee from the showroom vending machine.

[vulgalour]

@Timothy: They are not, and surprisingly the headlights and adjusters aren't actually broken, just a bit bent on the bracketry. They still function perfectly fine on all settings, which was comedic on the drive home from the MoT station after the crash in the pissing rain.