project 1980 Austin Princess

[Eddie Honda]

De man from de MOT, he say YES!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Good God yaw!

[KruJoe]

[oldcars]

Result, well done, lots of hard graft gone into it. Enjoy.

[Banger Kenny]

Congratulations Vulg.

[vulgalour]

It's true, she's now MoT'd and has 6 months tax on.  Next job is insurance, my current insurer (Tesco) can't insure it because it's too old but I sort of expected that.  I'll do a ring around of the usual suspects tomorrow.  Big thanks to Scaryoldcortina again for his patience, fairness and dilligence, highly recommended tester!

 

Mike and I arrived a little early, we'd allowed time for things to go wrong and nothing really did.  Annoyingly, the exhaust started blowing again and the oil filler cap decided to leak everywhere.  Scary was kind enough to clean up and reseal the cap and spotted a small section of sill rail that needed a tiny bit of weld to secure it.  Thanks to the gas analyser he could also get the emissions where they needed to be and the run home the car was much better. Then it was MoT time and it all went far, FAR better than expected.

 

 

Single advisory for an exhaust blow.  I can very much live with that.  I just need to take off the clamp, clean it up and reseal it to fix that.  Not all shiny and happy though, on the way back the filler cap decided to start leaking again and it got bad enough that it was actually quite embarrassing while sat in traffic... the speedo packed in... and a few dashbulbs went out.  It's niggles though and it was really nice to be in the car again even if it was in the passenger seat.  Mike was really happy piloting the car.

 

Look at the state of this now.

 

Oh well.  She's home, she's got tax and MoT on and tomorrow should be insured.  Now I get to enjoy using it again.  It's been a long, long wait but absolutely worth it.

[MarvinsMom]

result!

 

congrats too after all your hard work!

[320touring]

YAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

GO VULG:)

[Felly Magic]

How's your shitemojo now Vulg? I'd call that a win, and tomorrow you can start the post MOT shakedown

[vulgalour]

I've already ordered a new speedo cable and a new headgasket set so I can rebuild the original head and fit that when I fit the electric fuel pump.  That will also do away with the cap and mechanical fuel pump which are the major oil leaks on the engine.  Tomorrow I'll take the clamp to the unit to clean it up and pick up some new dash bulbs which should sort those items out.  Soon as it's insured I'll be going for a drive ANYWHERE because I can

 

I'm really, really happy.  I'm also slightly confused because I've grown that used to the struggle it's difficult to believe I've achieved the goal.

[Felly Magic]

I bet you felt like hugging SOC when he did a Mr Delmonte. It's a mountain climbed, now you can savour the victory, happy wedgemotoring

[Pillock]

Well done, that's a cracking result.

[vulgalour]

Felt like it, but didn't.  Not that I think he'd mind but he was in oily rags and I was wearing my best suit.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Congrats on getting it back on the road. Must feel fantastic finally having it sat back on your drive.

Be ready for your Rover to now start playing silly buggers in protest at having to share the brick paving with a more mature model.

[vulgalour]

It's a bit odd, in all honesty.  Having spent the last three years moving the car from one storage place to another and battling to get it sorted, to now have it sat outside is very, very strange.  It almost feels like I've borrowed it and will have to give it back soon.

[danthecapriman]

Congrats on the much deserved pass! I bet it's great to have it roadworthy again after so long.

Just need to put some miles on the clock now.

[PhilA]

Huzzah! Huzzah I say, with highly polished brass knobs on!

[purplebargeken]

That has brightened my day. Well done, well done indeed.

[DodgeRover]

Congratulations!

[STUNO]

And more congratulations.

[Ghosty]

I'm really, really happy.  I'm also slightly confused because I've grown that used to the struggle it's difficult to believe I've achieved the goal.

 

 

It's like when I got my R8 running properly, it's almost surreal.

 

Congratulations, Vulg. Happy motoring!

[trigger]

Congratulations dude!

[Felly Magic]

Once insured and you are out to play in it, that is when it will start to sink in. We are all chuffed to bits for you, and it's one more wedge on the road

[vulgalour]

I got insurance for less than £100, fully comp. I cannot complain at that! Lancaster, as it happens, this being the first time I've met their age/experience criteria.

 

After getting the insurance sorted out this morning, which was unbelievably easy, I could crack on with the jobs that needed doing. I removed the exhaust clamp that was blowing so I could clean that up at the unit and help Mike bleed the brakes on his Supra. While I was at it I picked up a new compliment of dash bulbs, I haven't fitted those today. On getting home I fitted the cleaned clamp, which is a chore because it's the awkward side, and while I haven't cured the blow it's reduced it to a point that its tolerable now. I *may* have to drop the downpipe and clean the flanges more thoroughly, this exhaust has been a perpetual problem in this area and there's not a great deal you can do about it because of the way it's designed. Mini and Allegro owners will know this problem well.

 

I then had to run the car up to temperature to bake the exhaust paste which also meant moving it. Found a little memento from last night on the garage door, there was an awful lot of oil getting leaked onto the exhaust and the car was in desperate need of an Italian Tune Up so I expect there'll be more of this as I work through the niggles. Not a speck left today, thankfully, the exhaust seems quite clean.

 

I knew getting the car warmed up was going to result in the cap leaking. Just to be certain it was the cap and to prevent it spraying the oil all over the engine bay again, I taped an old square of flanneling over the cap to see what would happen.

 

 

 

 

As soon as the car was up to temperature, oil was just steadily flowing out from under the flanneling. At least that confirmed the source of the leak. Until I resolve this I can't use the car, it's just too noxious and the plumes it makes out of the grille and edge of the bonnet is just asking for a pull, I need to sort it. The caps are NLA and while they look similar to the one on the A and B series engines, they're much larger. I know this because I bought a B cap to try and it just falls in the hole.

 

The oil smoke gets much worse than this.

 

I took the cap off to find out how it was leaking. I had thought it was coming through the plastic body of the cap but on unscrewing the cap, the O-ring stayed stuck to the engine and it was clear the oil was finding its way between the top of the O-ring and the cap's casing. That, at least, should be easy to resolve by using more sealant above the O-ring as well as below. You can see just how the whole underside of the cap, both inside and outside of the oil filler hole, is covered in oil here.

 

There was enough nice weather to make a start on cleaning the worst of the oil spray and storage grime out of the engine bay and its starting to look somewhat respectable in there now. I'll fully resolve the oil cap leak by rebuilding the original head and refitting it since it's the later type that doesn't have an oil filler in the top, relying instead on the longer filler pipe that is still attached to the block of my car (red cap to the left of the distributor).

 

So I don't make a mess of the block paving, which is a bit of a nuisance to clean, I've parked the Princess on the gravel for the time being. I did go for a tiny little drive around the houses, which was fun, I just can't do anything meaningful until it stops spewing oil out. It's about as different as it can be to the Rover, it's quite startling getting out of one and into the other. It feels a bit more real today, still surprising and weird that this car is actually fully road legal and still mine, but at least a bit more real.

 

[Rocket88]

Not familiar with these lumps, but could the oil leaking past the cap be caused by excess back pressure...........do these have a breather system, it could be blocked?

Congrats on all your hard work, I'd have set fire to it months ago!

[vulgalour]

I don't think it's a back pressure issue, I think it's because of the oil cap O-ring being old and hard and just not sealing.  Because the cam is under the cap it throws the oil up at it and it just seems to be that the oil is finding a way to get out instead of draining back down into the engine rather than it being blasted out.  The cap doesn't jiggle about or anything like I'd expect it to if there was a lot of pressure going on.

 

I think there is a catch can/breather thingy on the back of the block next to the fuel pump.  I've never investigated it so it is probably worthwhile me doing that as it could well be blocked.

[Eddie Honda]

The caps are NLA and while they look similar to the one on the A and B series engines, they're much larger. I know this because I bought a B cap to try and it just falls in the hole.

Tis a GFE6005 for the later O-series? :

 

 

cheaper here:

 

 

You need not have bought a B cap to try: "NOTE :Not suitable for the 1.7 or 2 litre O-Series Diesel engines fitted from 1978 onwards."

 

It must be a GFE600x?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

There was an excellent bodge on Mini exhausts where the cheap shit aftermarket downpipes wouldn't seal against the manifold. So clean it up, jack the exhaust against the manifold and then a strip of coke can about 25mm wide around the joint with a smear of paste - then fit the clamp on top and do it up tight. That used to work wonders.

 

On Minis etc, a missing lower exhaust to engine bracket would cause havoc.

[twosmoke300]

Please put the cambelt cover in before a stone or a finger gets in there and ruins your day . !

 

 

Great news on getting the old girl back on the road -might motivate me to get my bike done - but prob not

[vulgalour]

Eddie:  That's the correct cap for my car as standard, but my engine isn't standard in an odd way.  It's a 1980 block with a 1979 head, so I have two oil filler caps rather than just one.  The red mushroom type as you list there is perfectly fine on mine, it's the black one that's wrong, and they're not interchangeable.

 

Rev:  tried that, didn't work.  I ended up getting a pair of chunky cast Mini brackets to replace the original flimsy Princess ones, paired with the Princess clamp shells which can seal the exhaust.  It's just difficult to get it on the first attempt and I'm annoyed I didn't quite get it seated right.

 

Twosmoke:  I'll be doing that when I swap back to the 1980 head, there's no bracket to hold the cam cover on this 1979 head.

 

Refitting the original 1980 head will fix all the problems, I'm just waiting on my gasket kit order arriving really, and I want the original head tested and skimmed if necessary.  At least swapping the head is an easy job.