project 1980 Austin Princess

[LC Torana]

For giggles, clip a jump lead from - on the battery to a good ground on the car body. That's quick and simple. You own a BL car so you can't say you don't have jump leads...

 

This.  But make it permanent.  What I recommend is to leave the existing battery wiring alone, but install a second battery grounding wire from B -ve to the body, preferably near to where the headlights and horn are grounded.

 

Why to there?  Because nearly all the really high-current systems in your car (starter, alternator, ignition) are grounded to the engine block.  The highest-current systems grounded to the body, on the other hand, are the headlights, horn and brake lights, which is why this mostly manifests itself when the lights are on.  So an extra ground wire to where the headlights are earthed is what's needed.

 

The root cause?  Rust.  You could take the battery tray out and clean it up and make better electrical contact, but I'd go with the extra wire,  as you're still fighting every panel joint between there and the headlights.

[vulgalour]

That theory is the most common offered so we're going to try what Phil suggested with jump leads first as a test.  Then a better/second/more earth strap to help the system out.  Annoyingly, the earth point for horns and headlights is on the opposite side of the car to the battery *but* the horn and headlights are both on brand new earth points made in the inner wing with brand new connectors, there hasn't yet been time for rust to do the usual on those points.  The other earth points for the earth strap have also been cleaned previously and the battery tray and coolant bottle support have both been cleaned and repainted very recently.

 

Hoping to have some free time tomorrow to tinker properly, see if we can get to the bottom of this.

[LC Torana]

Is it possible to put a flexible ground wire from the block to the headlight ground, on that side of the motor?  Is there a suitable bracket?  Save you running a long lead right around the bulkhead.

[PhilA]

Ding! Ben

Seconded

[vulgalour]

Don't get too excited, this earth problem only appeared after doing the clutch change, and was perfectly fine before, and even though everything went back cleaner (not painted, since it's all aluminium) and nothing was left over so I wouldn't be pointing the finger at the repainted bracket since I didn't have the earth problem when that was repainted something like a few months ago.

[PhilA]

Yes, but if we get excited and point and that turns out to be right, then you get to drive the damn thing!

 

We have our reasons

 

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

Not a big update today, but a good one.  I'm not very well so I'm sat here bundled up in warm things and shall be having a lovely fresh mug of coffee shortly as a reward for today's efforts.

 

First thing we did was investigate the earth problem.  After testing with the multimeter and a spare jump lead cable (good call those that suggested it), we found that the issue was simply a bad earth in general.  By fitting a second more substantial cable earth to a cleaned up earth point, all systems operated optimally.  This was a pleasantly easy fix.  The battery tray/overflow bottle bracket wasn't part of the problem, the problem seems to be the old braided earth strap just isn't working very well at all anymore.

20180221-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Next was to remove the dashboard.  Annoyingly, this was going quite smoothly until the little release clip for the speedo cable snapped clean off.  I might have to buy yet another one of these, the grey plastic end on them seems incredibly fragile.  Even more annoying since this one had absolutely nothing wrong with it.  I might be able to jerry rig something up to keep it locked in place using the old piece that broke off and some tape or something until I can get a replacement, we'll see.  If need be I'll set the sat nav up so I don't end up  accidentally speeding if the cable won't plug back in.

20180221-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I was hoping to get a few more miles on the car before taking the dashboard out to check that the test wiring worked.  I'm going to have to be happy enough with the short time testing it we have managed because one problem with the lack of illumination in the dash was a wire that hadn't crimped properly.

20180221-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Mike went through all the wires and soldered them, then wrapped them, to keep it all safe and secure.  On retesting two bulbs still weren't illuminating even though the circuits and the bulbs tested okay.  Specifically, main beam tell tale and right hand cluster illumination.

20180221-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Hmm... one of the ongoing issues I've had with every old car is having to wiggle bulbs to make them work... 

20180221-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

BINGO!  So, electrical problems are now resolved.  All I have to do is apply a small amount of foil tape to the bulbs to take up the slack in the holders and we should then have full dashboard illumination.  The carburettor had the squelch pot topped up but the float still seems to be stuck, if I were feeling better I would have tackled that today.  Likewise the bulbs and dashboard refitting.  To be honest I was feeling too grotty to do more and didn't want to break something due to be fuzzy headed so called it quits.

 

Still, it's progress.  Easy to sort out now, I hope.

[Eddie Honda]

Liked, except for this.

 

Next was to remove the dashboard.  Annoyingly, this was going quite smoothly until the little release clip for the speedo cable snapped clean off.  I might have to buy yet another one of these, the grey plastic end on them seems incredibly fragile.  Even more annoying since this one had absolutely nothing wrong with it.  I might be able to jerry rig something up to keep it locked in place using the old piece that broke off and some tape or something until I can get a replacement, we'll see.  If need be I'll set the sat nav up so I don't end up  accidentally speeding if the cable won't plug back in.

 

Done it myself before with these stupid Smiths click things. What was wrong with the old-style proper knurled threaded collar? Yeah, yeah, beancounters.

[Rod/b]

Now you’ve said that, it’s almost certainly going to FTP in a novel and complicated manner within a week. I reckon the roof will fall off or something.

[320touring]

Good progress on the earthing issue, and restoring hallucinations to the dashboard:)

 

Re Speedo cable, no worries as it's too cool to go fast!

[PhilA]

My speedo cable broke like that too. It's currently held in place by the fact the cable can't go anywhere when wedged against the instrument binnacle.

 

It creates an amusing* click and makes the needle wobble.

 

Just drive by the revs instead.

 

 

Phil

[plasticvandan]

Reliants used the same cable from 73 onwards,and I used to have the same problem,but not on the old stock ones! Mind you you do have that cable on and off an awful lot!

[vulgalour]

Hopefully this will be the last time it's off in some time!  Stupid dashboard.

[vulgalour]

I'm still full of grot, so I shall keep this brief.

 

20180222-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The Good

- all dashboard illumination works correctly

- all fan speeds have corrected themselves and work correctly

- new fan comes on and goes off as it should with the in-radiator temperature switch

- old fan override works with the new fan, should I need it to

- exhaust is a bit quieter now we've had some heat in the system

- coolant operating temperature optimal in traffic and at speed

 

The Bad

- speedo cable doesn't work, a replacement will be ordered

- 3 rear bulbs have stopped working, probably the holders or the bulbs needing a wiggle again

 

The... other stuff

- I'm pretty good at guessing my speed based on engine tone and gear selected

 

Mike took a video with his dashcam.  Princess looks pretty smart on the road and also like absolutely nothing else.

[RayMK]

Much better news, well done!

 

Why does the video clip stall with this message? I'm in the UK.

 

[vulgalour]

Not sure why it's coming up for you, but the same message came up for a US friend.  I think it's because the radio is on in Mike's car.  Shame,  the first song in the vid was Queen - Don't Stop Me Now, which was highly appropriate.

[Christine]

Seems only a few years since   Freddie Mercury passed away . ..

 

.It's 26 years   

[vulgalour]

 

Got a message from Youtubes and it is a copyright thing so I'm re-editing the vid to deal with that and then it should be viewable.

[vulgalour]

Video should be working now, all being well.

[Talbot]

Got a message from Youtubes and it is a copyright thin

Youtube are utter pedants for this. Most* other video hosting platforms don't worry about this sort of thing.

[vulgalour]

I'm okay with it, in theory, since creators at all levels of success have their work stolen and used without permission.  There are certain circumstances that are less difficult to police properly.  Use of the songs in this video was not deliberate, it was incidental to what was happening and background noise *however* it was also very clear and easy to hear so in this instance I don't think implementation of copyright infringement was unfair.  We consume so much media in our day to day lives we often forget someone, somewhere, created it.

 

The difficulty comes with setting boundaries on fair use.  Further down the line, a video like this would be a great snapshot of 'days gone by' and the music on the radio is very much part of that, to eliminate it is to eliminate part of what life was like.  Additionally, my video wasn't posted for profit so again, I'd consider the radio fair use in this instance, but perhaps that's cancelled out by Youtube potentially profiting somehow from it.

 

Annoyingly, when Youtube algorithms suggest things I might like I'm now getting quite a few of those bizarre machine-generated nursery song videos, I suspect it's the word "Princess" that's done it.

[SiC]

The music thing is checked automatically by YouTube. It used to be that white noise would confuse it too and trigger a copyright warning.

 

I've been getting a lot of adverts for bras since I've been looking at Triumphs...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

That’s a bizarre illusion - the rear facing camera suggests you’re not in a rush, whereas the front one gives the impression you’re driving like you stole it!

[vulgalour]

Something to do with the lenses in the dashcam, front one is a fish-eye and the rear one is a zoom.

 

I'm feeling much better today so I'm going to attempt to give it a bath and then, if we can find which safe place we put the rivets, I'll get the side trim reinstated that I took off shortly after getting the car back when I thought my only problems were going to be rust related.

[vulgalour]

Gorgeous looking day outside today, I was hopeful I might even get a little paintwork done.  Went outside and it's FREEZING.  How is it so cold and yet so lovely?  Anyway, today I wanted to reinstate the stainless trims I removed shortly after getting the car.  The trims were removed in a cosmetic rust-busting exercise back when I thought that was all that was wrong with this car... how wrong I was.  Anyway, since I'm now finally at a point where I thought I was starting from when I bought it, I almost have that same excitement of being able to tinker and improve visually without fear of big problems ruining anything.

 

I'd wisely saved the crusty, rusty  old trim clips that I removed all those years ago, against the advice of some who supposedly knew better and told me I wouldn't need them.  This was a good thing because it meant I could measure them and compare them against the Marina/Mini clips Bresco are supplying.  You can find them here: http://bresco.com/acatalog/For-8.8mm-moulding-flange-gap.-BL-Marina-wheel-arch-and-Mini.-37151P.html#SID=29

 

To figure out what size you need, measure the gap between the return flanges on the back of the stainless trim, in the Princess' case that's 8.8mm.  The trim clips themselves measure 10mm wide.  The difference in size is of course to allow the trim clips to spring into the cavity of the trim and hold everything snug.  There's a number of ways you can attach the trim clips to the car, originally mine were held on with rivets and I saw no reason not to repeat this, so out with my trusty old Wilkinson hand rivetter which has been one of my better tool purchases over the years, and some additional tools.

20180225-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

 

On trying to fit the first rivet I found the nose on my rivet gun was too big and it just pulled the rivet up and out of the hole.  I improvised with a tiny nut which served as a perfect spacer.  When you install the rivets, the trim clip goes against the car body, then the bobble end of the rivet is inserted into the hole, then the nut spacer, then the gun goes on the long stalk which it grabs and pulls out.  Once the rivet is tight enough, the gun automatically snips off the excess rod and the job is jobbed.  It's a really neat tool, very satisfying to use.

20180225-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

18 trim clips later, and the trim was installed.  I say that...  it was a little more difficult.  I should perhaps have done this on a warmer day, the trim only really snapped into place once I'd handled them enough to warm up a bit.  The new clips are a much tighter fit than the rusty old ones too, so it was hard work to get them sat in place.  The very corner trim clip on the C pillar section has had the hole drilled out larger on both sides, I don't know why, so I had to use an extra tiny washer on the back for the rivet to squash against rather than pulling straight through everything. This worked well on the driver's side...

20180225-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

On the passenger side, not so much.  As soon as the trim was clipped on it just pinged the trim clip off by pulling the rivet through everything.  I guess the head on this rivet didn't squash quite large enough to stay on the right side of the tiny washer.  It's secure, just not lined up perfectly on the corner.  I'll redo this when it's a warmer day, too cold to be faffing with it today!

20180225-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

It is nice to see the waist trim back on completely now.  It has bugged me for a while that those three pieces (C pillar each side, and boot lid) have been missing.

20180225-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Another job I'd put off forever was replacing the spare tyre strap that came with the car.  All the while I've had it, the strap has had a pin holding it together which is really good at stabbing you when trying to get the spare out.  I've had a new strap since breaking the orange car several years ago, I've just had so many other jobs to resolve, it never got done.

20180225-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

The replacement isn't perished either and seems to fit nicer.  It's certainly nice not to get stabbed when you handle it!  It was a simple matter of undoing one 13mm bolt that holds the strap to the boot floor, so I've really had no good excuse for putting this off for so long.

20180225-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I bought a NOS speedo cable described as "Un used in box".  What arrived was a speedo cable broken exactly the same as mine with grease on each end and witness marks from it being removed from a car at least once. Super.  Improvised by using the sat nav and when I got to Tesco in the car today, the mount broke again so I had to improvise even more!  This worked surprisingly well.  Yes, that is an antique TomTom.

20180225-08 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I'm still doing the "what's that smell/noise/imagined sensation?" thing you do with a car that's new to you.  It's performing well enough, all the same.  I'll gradually increase my trip distances and frequencies as I get more confident.  I dislike not having a working speedometer, that bugs me quite a bit, once my invoices are paid I can get another cable ordered, they mostly seem to be £10-20 when they do crop up.  I'll just have to be more cautious if the photograph doesn't show the all-important locking tang.

[Felly Magic]

Steady progress there Vulg. Shame about that speedo cable. Some people are just utter asshats

[vulgalour]

Seller has actually been pretty reasonable about it so far.  Refund in progress.  Everyone makes mistakes I suppose.

 

----

 

Day... 2 or 3 of using it daily now and things are steadily improving, which is nice.  Dashboard controls have all woken up properly now, heater is lovely and toasty and the interior is staying nice and dry, this is all good stuff.

 

Driver's door is still annoying me, there's definitely a knack to it.  The hinge pins I have might not be the ones I need to replace though since it looks like it might be the skinny pins that have play, not the fat ones.  I'm hoping to get the door off this weekend to investigate properly since it will be easier to investigate the hinge with the door removed.

 

I suspect the car is running a little lean.  We did have to adjust things to compensate for the cone filter and I haven't adjusted it back and even though it has been very cold today, a little choke was needed all the time to stop the car being chuntery at idle.  It could also just be stale fuel, I put some fresh in today and that did seem to perk things up a bit so before I fiddle with things too much I'm going to work on waking the systems up instead.

 

On my way back home today, setting off from a junction briskly (because it's one where you have to) the boot decided to fly open.  Queue flashing of lights from person behind me and me pulling into a layby to shut the boot again.  It isn't the first time the Princess has done this, last time it did it with a boot full of shopping.  Normally locking the boot stops it doing it, but the boot was locked this time so I guess it needs further adjustment somewhere.

 

I also noticed on pulling into our street that there was what sounded like a slightly grumbly disc or front pad.  The brakes didn't feel particularly broken or off in any way so I'm wondering if it's just a little surface rust or similar from the car being stood a while, or maybe some dirt.   I couldn't see anything readily apparent, nothing is hot and the car isn't pulling to one side under  braking, but I'll get the wheel off and have a look at some point soon.  I've never actually done anything with the front brakes on this car (other than bleeding them for routine maintenance) as I've never needed to, but they've never offered cause for concern before.

 

It is a harder car to live with than the Rover, that much is for sure.  There are some benefits, people generally give me space where in the Rover they can bully a bit and the Princess is big enough that I never feel particularly vulnerable.  The only exception is parking, the Princess is a tough old thing to haul in and out of supermarket parking spaces, especially with the lack of power steering, so low speed maneuvers have to be done slowly and with effort, especially so since it has a gigantic turning circle.  Not everyone has patience with this.  It's also weird getting used to first for only setting off and second for pretty much everything else, the gearing is very oddly spaced compared to more modern stuff and definitely aimed more at motorway loping than stop-start traffic.  I'd like a fifth gear.

 

Overall I'm happy enough.  I'm not sure how many miles exactly I've done since getting everything working again because of the duff speedo, I'd guess it's about 60 or so by now.

[SiC]

Is there no over drive? Were they an option at the time?

[vulgalour]

Four speed manual or 3 speed automatic the only options.  For a luxury car it's pretty scant on extras.

[SiC]

I guess it's possibly because it's FWD and not easy/possible to fit O/D. Also 5 speeds were still a bit of a novelty and no doubt BL had no box they could find/afford to mass produce and cram in there.