project 1980 Austin Princess

[Tayne]

 

 

 

 

Silly question but that photo makes it look as though your new pipe is touching the existing (fuel?) pipe, have you done something to stop chaffage or is it juts the camera angle?

[vulgalour]

Well spotted.  The rubber heater hoses do touch the hydragas line and always have even on the factory set up.  The new repair does run the risk of chafing through the heater hose so the plan is to wrap the hard metal bits on the repair to prevent any damage.  For all the space in the engine bay it's frustrating that a lot of the items run through the same small areas.

[vulgalour]

Today, before work, I had some time to do a bit more on the Princess.  Annoyingly, it had sunk a bit on the passenger side again, fortunately it turned out to be the displacer nut needing an extra quarter turn.  We got it reinflated and had just enough fluid to do that, I'm going to have to get some more in just in case I need to fiddle about with the suspension some more, it could be that displacer union needs a bit of ptfe tape or similar to be fully fluid tight.  The new repair doesn't leak at all.

 

I tried to fit the original air filter box and found it was about 1/8" too deep to go in past the new hydraulic pipe.  I can cut the box down to make it fit, or I can get an aftermarket pancake filter to fit my SU carb, they were used on other British cars so there's some choice there and none of it is too expensive.

 

To get to the bottom of the fuelling issue, I had the carb apart today to see if anything was blocking it. Everything was spotless inside, nothing was stuck, so I put it all back together and plonked it back on the car.  First of all I made a new heat shield out of some aluminium that was donated to the cause to replace the soggy, tattery fibre/asbestos original.

 

 

Yesterday, when we got the car briefly running, the throttle cable stopped working properly.  I hesitate to say it snapped because it's still connected at both ends, but it now sticks and doesn't release properly.  We reckon it's frayed inside the sheath.  I've not had much luck finding replacement cables but had a look on eBay anyway and found there's a good half a dozen out there so ordered one from my favourite NOS supplier, Jolly Good Car Spares which should fit better than the Peugeot one we made fit a few years ago.

 

After reconnecting the battery and the carb another start was attempted and this time fuel was getting through to the engine and it started.  Idle was incredibly rough and the car was behaving badly.  After much running and fettling and checking we got the car to idle almost normally and then noticed the fuel filter isn't getting a lot of fuel through and is very dirty so we suspect a mostly-blocked fuel filter was starving the engine.  A squirt of propellant in the carb intake made the car idle properly and after a few more checks it looks like we've found our suspect.  It's possible the mechanical pump isn't pumping enough but as unlikely as there not being enough fuel in the car to run as it has about three cans of fuel in the tank (about 18 litres).  Fuel sender isn't currently connected so the gauge can't tell me what's in there.

 

I didn't get any further with the lights or anything else, I had to get to work, and I'm now on break to update here before going back to work again.  Now that it starts and runs somewhat reliably (if badly) it's easier to focus on the niggles and eliminate them.  Have a video for your trouble (click the link).

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/volksangyl/Serendipity/2016/th_20161004-03.mp4

[michael1703]

HIF su's are a bit pants for mixture adjustment, they "richen up" ok but don't "lean off" very accurately

[trigger]

I've still got this rear window brake light sat here Vulgalour, you never did tell me if you still wanted it or not?

[vulgalour]

With this carb it's fine when the car is used regularly but as soon as you have to do anything mechanical under the bonnet it acts up.  From experience I've learned to just leave it alone most of the time because it usually fixes itself and when you do take it apart there's never anything to see amiss, just like this time.  There's also the rotten placement of it which means it gets way too hot in high summer and vapour locks, even with the heat shield.

 

Trigger: yes please!  I hadn't seen you shout that it was available, last I knew you were going to remove it but had been enjoying driving your red Rover instead (and who can blame you?).  PM me what you need from me and I'll sort it out with you.

[trigger]

Trigger: yes please!  I hadn't seen you shout that it was available, last I knew you were going to remove it but had been enjoying driving your red Rover instead (and who can blame you?).  PM me what you need from me and I'll sort it out with you.

 

I did say in my Rover thread that it's off and waiting for you, you probably missed it, It's just two wires and the light part pivots in the body so you can adjust the angle, PM me your address and I'll get it on the post for you.

[Noel Tidybeard]

maybe you need the plenum off a s-series or a turbot o-series which will enable the use of the remote air filter unit

[vulgalour]

It's easier than that, the SU on the Princess is an HIF44 and there's aftermarket pancake and cone filters available for that because it's the same as Minis.  I need to check the mounting plate on the aftermarket ones is definitely the same as that on the Princess before I buy anything, but I can get a good aftermarket bit of kit for just £20 to solve the problem.  Everyone* knows a replacement air filter is going to give me a good 15bhp boost too so I'm practically fitting a turbot.

[vulgalour]

Another little bit of time spent on the Princess today.  First job was acquiring a fistful of bulbs and a couple of fuel filters.  The rear end now has the full compliment of bulbs with the exception of the fog lights which I didn't have time to fit today.  When I took the old fuel filter off the flow through it was quite poor and it was quite dirty, fitting the new one absolutely transformed how the car ran.

 

The car is now back to idling normally and even ran off the choke.  The timing still needs fiddling a little bit to be perfect, or at least as good as it used to be, but it's much closer now.  I've ordered throttle cable which should be here by Monday next week which will then allow me to drive the car and the suspension didn't sink overnight so I feel confident that the hydragas leak is cured.

 

Now I'm really down to niggles on the car.  Our neighbouring mechanic had a look at the strange telescopic type play in the steering column.  He suspects a worn bearing in the column so I can at least focus a bit better on where the problem might be now.  I've got to resolve that for the MoT as it was one of the items it did fail on despite never having been advised previously nor having changed.  The other item to attend to are the oil leaks.  The first means an oil change, which is okay as it's ready for one, and is coming from this crusty looking blanking plate on the gearbox/sump side.  I'm going to get all of this area cleaned up first to check it is this plate that's leaking and not something else making it look like it's this plate.  I suspect it has a rubber bonded back that has failed, there's a similar blanking plate usually fitted where my mechanical pump lives.

 

Speaking of the mechanical fuel pump, that's leaking again.  The leak is the bottom edge where the rubber spacer meets the engine which then fills up the little well underneath and oil soaks into the manifold creating a lot of unpleasant smoke.

 

To cure the known top end oil leaks - distributor O ring, rocker cover filler cap, fuel pump - I'm going to change the rocker cover.  All the elements that are leaking go into the rocker cover and at the moment I'm using the early one from the spare head I had rather than the later one on my original head, this is mainly because I couldn't undo the bolts on the old head at the time so couldn't swap it over.  Since everything that's leaking needs to be disturbed to swap the rocker cover it makes sense to do both at the same time and hopefully eliminate it all in one go.

 

I'm not fiddling about with the headlights until my new halogens arrive, there's no point making the connectors for the sealed beams work if I'm going to end up chopping them off for new connectors for the halogens.  Since I'm not sure what wiring and plugs are in the halogen kit I've decided to hold fire.  The clutch has shut up completely, and the flasher relay now works without clicking furiously.  Horns are still deader than dead.

 

Overall, it's coming together nicely right now and I'm down to just having to do niggles and cosmetic work which makes me feel far more comfortable with the car as a whole.  When the new throttle cable arrives life gets easier still as I can move the car about again and even get it transported home for the last few jobs if I want to.  That said, I'm that close to MoT status I reckon I'm just going to book an MoT when I'm at the point I feel confident it stands a chance of passing and drive it home whatever the result.

[Asimo]

The cam cover (no rockers in an O series) actually carries the camshaft bearings - so replacing it may not be a trivial job like it is on a B series engine.

The plastic spacer under the fuel pump is notorious for causing oil leaks on all sorts of engines. The more the nuts are tightened, the more the spacer distorts and the more it leaks. New spacer required!

If it's the O ring on the distributor that is causing it to leak then it will still leak on a different cam cover won't it?

[vulgalour]

Ah, I didn't know that about the camshaft bearings, that's a nuisance.  The plastic (well, it seems more like hard rubber) spacer has always leaked from brand new, no matter what I've done with it.  The distributor O ring is can only be got to by removing it and since it goes in through the cam cover that's why I was going to replace that when I replaced the cam cover.

[plasticvandan]

Much man love here

[vulgalour]

Another short amount of fettling.  Getting some niggles out of the way and making things a bit more complete now.  The new halogen lights arrived and I'm quite pleased with them.  They're not a far cry from the sealed beams in the way they look and the domed lenses are glass rather than plastic.  There is a slight modification required for the inner light plug only to make them work fully.  We at least got the outer lights working as they ought and narrowed the headlight issue down to the passenger side connectors to the bulbs themselves.

 

The passenger side door handles and interior trim was reinstated which tidies up a lot of the car interior and generally makes life easier.

 

 

Door handles look nice in original chrome so I'm not going to paint them.

 

You will have noticed another addition at the rear in that picture, that being the rear fog lights are now attached.  They take a specific bulb type which I didn't have in stock and now just need wiring up.  One almost touches the exhaust tail pipe which would be a problem if I weren't planning to change the tailpipe anyway so I don't need to worry about that.

 

In the boot, the wiring is tidying up nicely.  Chompy has removed all the old chock blocks and twisted wires and bodge, replacing it with proper connectors that just need a bit of heat applying to the heatshrink to effect a fully tidy repair.  The loom will be re-wrapped to make it even tidier and afterwards I'll be boarding out the boot to hide all the work.

 

 

 

Haven't done any of the other things, it got very cold and my back got very sore so I decided to be sensible and call it quits on the car for today.

[Felly Magic]

Holy smokes, this is getting very close to MOT time

[vulgalour]

Very close indeed!

 

Sort electrical gremlins - mostly switch and connector cleaning now

Exhaust blow - the usual sodding place

Fuel pump oil leak to resolve

Arch return lips to trim a little so they don't rub the tyres.

Steering rack play to resolve - probably a pinch bolt not pinching enough

Throttle cable to fit when it arrives

 

Er... that's it?  Not much at all really.

[Craig the Princess]

That sounds very close indeed

[mouseflakes]

When I first saw this, I honestly thought you were trying a new striped paint scheme...
 

[320touring]

Excellent progress! Really coming on leaps and bounds:)

 

quick question- Could the fogs not be mounted in the lower rear panel, or the rear lights partitioned to include them? The ones fitted completely change the super smooth suaveativity of the rear end. All only my opinion mind:)

[vulgalour]

They could.  I may end up putting them in little boxes like the number plate.  For now they're as they are, and I've only fitted them because legally I have to have them, otherwise I'd've left them off.

[320touring]

They could. I may end up putting them in little boxes like the number plate. For now they're as they are, and I've only fitted them because legally I have to have them, otherwise I'd've left them off.

good stuff, knew they had to be fitted for the ole MoT:)

[vulgalour]

If it was first registered before the 1st of April 1980 it wouldn't need them.  I was going to put the fogs in the inner light clusters but the units aren't well designed for it.  It's nae bother, they don't look terrible and indeed look better in person than the photographs suggest.

[Ghosty]

I like the rear fogs! Because they're not in the 'bulk' of the car, they don't interfere with the really clean design going on there. I think it'd be a shame to have them mounted further up.

[fordperv]

get it tested then remove them, fut them back on for the next m.o.t rinse and repeat

[purplebargeken]

They look fine where they are tbh. I quite liked the stripey look

 

I can almost taste the MOT now. 

[Forty-two]

That's come a long way since I last looked.

 

Looking good

[Ghosty]

I've thought of a name for this style of car.

 

SHAKOTAN

 

VAC-O-TAN

[Noel Tidybeard]

are you having quad dipped beam as well as quad mains? that would sepently thow some light down the road

 

iirc the esprit did this^^^ and leyland roadtrain

[PhilA]

MoT fail.

 

You're only allowed one dipped beam per side. You can have multiple high beams so long as they are symmetrical.

 

Phil

[fordperv]

I've thought of a name for this style of car.

 

SHAKOTAN

 

VULG-O-TAN

ftfy