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1981 Austin Princess - [expletives removed]


vulgalour

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As you have all gathered by now, the Princess has passed its MOT! I'll be picking it up tomorrow morning, and I think I might just drive it to work. It's 36 miles there and back, which is two more than I have managed successfully so far so might be a bit of an adventure.

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Good news! It's finally been defeated. Many advisories?

Advisory items

001 Vehicle is fucking horrible [6.5.2b]

 

002 Wasp nest above sun visor [9.6.2b.C]

 

003 Interior exudes a stench of death [6.9.B.3]

 

004 Please do not ever bring this back here again

 

I don't actually know what advisories there are, I'm off to go walk down to pick it up in a minute.

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I must admit I really want a princess.

 

Theres one on the Isle of Wight between Sandown and the crossroads to Wroxall thats been there as long as I can remember.

 

I moved to the mainland over a year ago and am still informed its still there rotting away.

 

Great thread sir it make you think that anything is possible if you put your mind to it

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I must admit I really want a princess.

 

Theres one on the Isle of Wight between Sandown and the crossroads to Wroxall thats been there as long as I can remember.

 

I moved to the mainland over a year ago and am still informed its still there rotting away.

 

Great thread sir it make you think that anything is possible if you put your mind to it

 

Pretty sure this perfect example* of the breed is for sale should you offer in excess of £50

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The advisories were a slightly rusty rear brake pipe, a rear wheel bearing having a little play, an oil leak and a minor exhaust leak.

Here it was about 30 minutes before it was taken the MOT station as the headlamp had been taken to dry out - with it back in I took it for a quick spin around town to make sure it was all functioning approximately as it should and then dropped it off.

EAmXBnF.jpg

 

The drive to work went superbly, I even managed to overtake a Daihatsu Terios and Citroen Berlingo that were hardly keeping up with continental drift, although this Princess is really rather slow, at least compared to the Lancia and the Supra that I have been driving recently. The drive back went just as well and if anything it seemed to be getting better with use. Once up to speed I could keep it rowing along quite well ad was belting along nicely back home. This was in the dark at about half 8 and this car has the best headlamps I have ever experienced with the power of a thousand suns.

 

Today I took it to have the tracking done as I could tell it was more than a little out as the steering is pretty approximate and when trying to go in a straight line it wonders all over the road like a drunk. I pulled up and slammed the door, at which point a wet fart noise came from the car. Not thinking too much about it I wondered in, gave them the keys and let them know about the switch to start the electricity. I then set off to go get a haircut, turned to look at it and noticed that the passenger side was quite a lot lower than I remembered. DAMN THIS CAR AND ITS COMPONENTS THAT ARE MADE OF FAIL, even if it as quite funny.

 

I got my keys back, giving the guys at ATS a good laugh at the rubbishness of it and went back home to investigate.

EyPlma6.jpg

On jacking it up a large puddle of green appeared under the car from the front and I started getting flashbacks of Citroen XM ownership.

JemHfoK.jpg

This made it pretty clear that it was the front hydragas displacer at fault so I set to removing it, which apart from the top ball joint being pretty well ceased into the top arm was surprisingly easy. One knackered hydragas displacer- a split in the diaphragm by the looks of things, now just to find another one to replace it with.

y6L6Itk.jpg

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