project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

It is raining and miserable here and the school run time so it's the perfect time to take the Princess out so I can get something supplies.  I'm 99% sure the occasional chuntering is stale fuel, with a few miles on fresh fuel, the chuntering has pretty much stopped even on a damp day like today.  Earthing problem definitely resolved for I had all the things on and the throttle cable stayed nice and cool.  Mirrors are less than great in these conditions, but not terrible now I've almost got them set where they need to be.  It is a little too easy to speed now that the car is so quiet, my usual audio reference points have all gone and the interior fan motor drowns out any potential references I might have, being the loudest thing in the cabin.  Do have to drive with the driver's window cracked open a little because of the leaking windscreen seal but the aerodynamics of the car are such that I don' t get wet and it isn't uncomfortable.

 

Long and short of it is today has given me another confidence boost with the car.  If it can handle with stop-start traffic and miserable weather without embarrassing me, then it's probably fine.

[dozeydustman]

Bullying, fiddling with phones, shouting out the window, tailgating, razzing the tits off your car in ever gear...  Calm down, dear!

 

 

I would say that's an exception as opposed to the rule. The nearer London you get, the standards of driving drop, certainly.

[vulgalour]

We figured it's actually more to do with population density.  1 in 10 being a moron isn't so bad in the wilderness of Wales, but in the heavily build up bits of the South East, it hits a sort of critical mass where it feels like nice drivers are the exception rather than the rule.

[SiC]

 

 

We figured it's actually more to do with population density. 1 in 10 being a moron isn't so bad in the wilderness of Wales, but in the heavily build up bits of the South East, it hits a sort of critical mass where it feels like nice drivers are the exception rather than the rule.

100%. The more people driving, the less fun it is to drive yourself. Living in Bristol for 14 years has made me loose my mojo for driving. After the accident on Saturday it's made me want to move out.

 

We went on holiday to West Wales (Lampeter area) the other week and the roads around there reminded me of my love of driving again. Shouldn't really choose where to live based on how fun it is to drive, but it did sway me!

[Ghosty]

Same reason I try to avoid motorways, especially smart ones. Theres no fun, it just makes me anxious.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Same reason I try to avoid the South. Theres no fun, it just makes me anxious.

[Angrydicky]

Driving anywhere inside the M25 is a nightmare of being tailgated, cut up and pulled out in front of. Everyone's in a massive rush and no one gives you an inch. My girlfriend lives in Southall (near Heathrow) and I hate driving around there.

 

Essex (outside the M25) is pretty good in my experience, Kent is somewhere between the two.

 

Norfolk? People just drive way, way too fast (apart from the farmers in their tractors, naturally)

[egg]

Kent is variable

 

Herne Bay = sedate suited to egg style driving

Medway = drive fast everywhere

Maidstone/Canterbury = doesn't matter, you're doing 2 miles an hour anyway

[dozeydustman]

The M25 anywhere is pretty much horrific, the section between J30 for Lakeside at Thurrock and Heathrow via the Dartford Crossing & Clackett Lane is usually dire in both directions. It has got much worse since they removed the hard shoulders, widened it to 4 lanes and made it a smart motorway, so if someone breaks down, the nearest refuge bay is normally half a mile either way so the carriageway gets blocked.

 

The M20 is normally reasonable but has absolutely no scenery so makes for a dull drive. The bit around Maidstone can be awful with its split sections.

 

Worst road I've driven on for aggressive driving and general arseholes on the road is the A34.

 

But we digress and going a bit OT from the post.

 

I'm happy to see the princess is now behaving for you Mr Vulgalour.

[Rocket88]

Do not let it get anywhere near the M4...you [and it] will die of boredom.

[vulgalour]

Little job done today.  After the throttle cable wanted to be an earth strap it still worked, but wasn't exactly the smoothest operation.  To remove the cable you have to pull the cable out of the sheath so you can unclip it from the pedal, it's a bit wierd but fairly easy once you know how it works.  The old cable had warped a bit, presumably from the heat of serving as an earth cable, and wasn't particularly bendy.

20180313-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

New one fitted, cable adjusted properly at the carburettor end and smooth accelerator restored.

20180313-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

[Felly Magic]

I hope the smiles are there as you waft along in your slice of cheese. Mmmmm, wedgy

[vulgalour]

Today marks the first day that I trust the car so much I didn't open the bonnet on getting home "to have a look, just in case".  I wonder what's going to break tomorrow?

[vulgalour]

Princess is still being the daily. Every outing seems to improve things and flush even more tiny silver birch tree seeds out of the air vents. We've been out in good weather and bad and it just gets on with the job of being a car, allbeit a little slower than others until its warmed up a bit. I am hoping to start the cosmetic fettling if we ever get Spring, it keeps being too cold for painting.  Not gone anywhere today, I'm staying indoors where it's nice and warm and dry.  I suspect the Princess would like to do that too, but it can't, so tough.
20180317-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

[vulgalour]

Let's fix an oil leak today.  I know Princesses are supposed to have oil leaks as part of their total loss oil rust prevention system, but I've swapped that out for underseal and welding on this car which seems to be working better for me so far.

 

In all seriousness, the only oil leak I was aware of since doing the big clutch work and selector rod seals was from the spade connector end of the oil pressure switch.  I'd bought a replacement switch online for a mere £4.44 delivered, it's a fairly common part on a lot of vehicles, it seems.  If you want to make life easier, remove the belts from the engine first.  I find this isn't necessary if you're careful and you can thread a 14mm open ended spanner into the gap to get to the adaptor that screws into the oil filter housing thing.

20180320-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

With patience, it unscrews and then you can remove the adaptor with the sender still in it.  Be sure to disconnect from the loom at the other end, of course.  You will find the oil in the filter comes out when you do this which is unavoidable because of the way things are designed.  The oil hasn't been in very long and is already looking quite dark so I'll be doing another oil change later this year I suspect.

20180320-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

With the adaptor removed, pop it in a vice to make the next bit easier.  I actually find it easier to do this way rather than trying to hold the adaptor on the car and unscrew the sender from it because of access.  The sender is a 24mm spanner job.  Here I've already fitted the new one, with the old one resting in the vice gap since the thread is thinner than the adaptor, obviously.

20180320-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Refitting the adaptor is quite fiddly but providing you take care and don't force anything, you're not going to risk damaging any threads.  I cleaned off the spilled oil with some degreaser and did the errands for the day, including sticking some fuel in.  I was surprised to see I've done over 50 miles since the last fuel up, I really didn't think I'd done that much running about over the last few days.  On getting home I had a look and there are no oil leaks.  The wetness here is water, rather than oil.

20180320-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

20180320-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I'm happy with that.  The new switch works too, which I was sure to check, and I've kept the old one in a labelled box, in case of emergencies.  Perhaps a little superstition too, since I'm convinced that every time I dispose of something functional but less than perfect I end up needing it and cannot get one.

[vulgalour]

I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a sweet spot with this car at the moment.  The oil leak has stayed fixed and the engine is actually drying out so it could well be there isn't another leak to worry about.  I've also found myself looking for excuses to go out in it - today's was screenwash, even though I hadn't run out and had enough for a few more weeks yet, really - because the experience of driving it is generally so positive.  The reaction of total randoms puts a smile on my face every time I go out in it.  Some people know what it is, lots don't, and generally it's met with surprise and smiles rather than jeers.

 

Even better, the more I'm using it the better it's getting.  Whether that's the car actually getting better as everything settles back in or me adjusting to it I'm not sure, but I do know it's not a car that likes to be left idle.  Use it every day and it's usually perfectly happy.  Leave it alone for a week or two and it can be a chore.

 

Oh yeah, and the MoT is on Monday.

[plasticvandan]

use makes things better

[320touring]

Tremendous:)

[Felly Magic]

Good luck with the MOT and glad you are at a current winner status with the wedge

[vulgalour]

Oh no, FTP!

 

Pulling into the unit I lost power as if I was in the wrong gear, it was very odd, and on pulling into the yard the car just DIED.  After it being so good for the last couple of weeks this was both mortifying and completely expected!  Popped the bonnet, had a look, and whenever you had it idling there would be fuel pouring out of the carb overfuel until it just... died.  Some application of a hammer to the carb got it to stop overflowing for a bit but it would quickly start again.  I just wanted to get it into the unit to pull apart suspected culprits and we made it with hammers and patience, having to push the last foot or so because it wouldn't even idle.  At least the car had the good grace to die at the unit which I was where pre-MoT stuff was being checked since it's the only day I have free until the MoT now.

 

That cause?  Collapsed fuel filter.  This filter hadn't looked too bad last time I'd looked under the bonnet and certainly hadn't caused issues so it wasn't on my priority list for jobs to do.  Bought the last one in stock at the local motorfactors and replacement of that was nice and straightforward.

20180324-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

on removing the carburettor, it was clear that it the float needle was stuck and the bowl was full of orangey sediment from the filter itself.  This was confirmed when refitting everything and running the car showed the new filter to be lovely and clear and free of any sediment at all, so it's most likely not a fuel tank issue.  Took a little while to clean the carburettor out and the car was a bit recalcitrant to start again, but once it had primed properly it idled perfectly happily.  Look at this mess.  The whole carb was full of this stuff.

20180324-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Unfortunately that ate rather more in to the time I did have than I wanted and nixxed the plans to get the welding work done I wanted to.  With the clocks going forward and the trip to get Rover stuff tomorrow, I had to be super careful with how much time I used and my personal energy levels.  Work has had me pretty flat out lately and I don't want to burn out on non-work stuff if I can help it,  deadlines are pretty important to me like that.  The other thing that needed sorting for MoT was securing the rear suspension hoses which proved a little trickier in practice than theory.  We went with the best solution that prevented itself to us so the cables aren't flopping about but are secured in a way that they won't get overstretched when the suspension is in use.

 

As an aside, I really need a rear bump stop if anyone has one.  I've had zero joy through the club or online finding one and I don't have spares.  As far as I know they're not shared with other BL cars either and are a unique slotted and curved shape to accommodate the displacer unit.

20180324-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

There simply wasn't time to weld up the 'sharp edges' at the back of the car so I went with the temporary default instead.

20180324-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

She's as MoT ready as she can be now.  Lights all tested fine, brakes are as good as I can get them without a rolling road thingy to double check, wipers are good, washer jets are aimed correctly now, etc.  If we fail, we fail, but we should pass.

[SiC]

Take those carbs off and rebuild them at home in the warm?

[vulgalour]

Not much point.  The carb (singular) I've got sweats through the body so it's probably knackered anyway.  I've got a spare of unknown quality off the orange car I parted out a few years ago that I keep meaning to get professionally cleaned and then rebuild it myself with a kit since there's not a lot to replace.  I'll also need a new choke cable because the old one has frayed at the end and there's absolutely no way it will go back through the hole on the the carb.  I know this from experience.

 

It works, that's what matters.  The only thing causing an issue really was bits of dissolving fuel filter which has now been eliminated from the system.

[dave21478]

Might i suggest that filter is a wee bit small for a relatively large engine? Thats size is often fitted to lawn mowers and stuff...it wont really restrict the flow during normal use but the small surface area of the filter paper will clog quickly.

 

There are larger unversal ones like what you have, or something like a Quinton Hazell QFF0303, which is my go-to inline filter for pez engines.

[vulgalour]

I used to have a larger drum type one on there that was much better until it wore out, of course. I just bought what was available today.

[junkyarddog]

A dab of superglue is helpful on that last few MM of cables to stop them fraying.

[vulgalour]

Bit late for that.  The end of the choke cable looks like a pile of spaghetti.

[PhilA]

Looks like you might benefit from a fuel filter with a sediment bowl.

 

 

http://www.classicpartsusa.com/product/FUEL-D_1953/1953_Truck_Parts_Carburetor_Items?gclid=CjwKCAjw7tfVBRB0EiwAiSYGM8InkE7MFD0zD9_nD_kStmXm7p_pAen1V5QF_XbvmC4wmx82CH2RChoCm6YQAvD_BwE

 

$25, also have the advantage you can stick a strong rare earth magnet on the bottom of the filter and it'll grab anything ferrous too.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

A comedy of errors has meant the MoT is rebooked for Thursday.  No problems with the car, just a few unfortunate events at the garage we were heading to.  Never mind, gives me more time to get worked up about potentially failing so it feels more like a proper MoT.

[dozeydustman]

GLWTMoT

[vulgalour]

Oh good, there's the pre-MoT nerves I was missing!  Was beginning to think I'd got complacent and over-confident there.