Sold 1981 Austin Princess - [expletives removed]

[vulgalour]

As far as I'm aware it was only the last year models like this one that got that.  Earlier cars had a plain pad (as on the HL) and earlier still had a formica strip and a moulded BL plughole.

[ayrshirelad]

Excellent work! Makes me feel ashamed on lack of work on my fleet. No excuses just get up and go has gone for some reason or other!. Car looking grt though.

[vulgalour]

You know how I've just finished putting the clean bits on the doors and fitting the door mirrors?  Yeah, gone and undone that today after I was able to source a better set of doors which, while not perfect by a long way, are an improvement over what's on the car.  I got some help in the forum of fellow shiter bub2006 who travelled over on his Honda C90 which is a smart looking thing and was an absolute legend in getting stuck in and saving me masses of time and effort.

 

I took a good number of reference pictures because the doors on the banger car are completely stripped so everything needs transferring across, and I do mean everything.  All the plugs, wires, rubbers, glass, handles... the lot.  If we didn't have to strip the doors down it would have taken significantly less time to sort out.  Even the plastic membranes have been saved.

 

I have no tarp, garage or car cover so I improvised with parcel tape and bin bags in the short term.  Since I'm hoping to do the panel swap tomorrow this is a suitable solution overnight should it rain.

 

This pile of parts looks good, but they're not.  The bonnet, for instance, has a couple of tricky dents and some crusty rust which the banger car doesn't and all the doors are in need of various levels of rust repair.

 

Tomorrow morning I shall call the garage again and let them know I'm heading over.  Hopefully I have enough time to get on with rebuilding and refitting parts and while the car won't look a great deal different it will be a considerable improvement in overall condition.

 

[fordperv]

The picture of binbags taped on doors and no bonnet could be straight from a 90s council estate, for that reason I like it keep up the good work chap, good work bub2006 for giving your time to help

[eddyramrod]

 

 

Calendar shot!

[beko1987]

That's some window tint you've got going there

[bub2006]

Not a bad old girl is my bike,she done me proud! Would have been nice to have a look around your motor but was dropping dark and cold. 26 mile or so in the dark,fog and black ice was hairy at times on a old bike!

[vulgalour]

@bub2006:  We shall have to arrange that for next time we meet up, I'll need a bit of help with the bonnet and boot at least if you're up for that at some point in the future, no rush this time.

 

--

 

Today I am blighted with a stonking headache, I think I may have overdone it a bit the past few days but needs really must given the opportunity the spares car offered.  Last thing Mum and I did last night as Dad hobbled in to get some painkillers and generally do nothing for as long as possible was to drop the bonnet in place to keep the engine bay dry.  Unlike the old bonnet, this one has no rust and only a minor distortion to the passenger side windscreen edge pointy bit that can be sorted with very gentle persuasion.  The previous bonnet had a difficult dent over one wiper arm and another dent in the leading edge along with surface rust and bad paint that would have taken a while to sort, dropping this one on is a much better solution.  I haven't bolted it down, that's a two person job, but it can wait for now.

 

First thing I did this afternoon was drop the bootlid on.  This is so much better than the bootlid that was on it's genuinely pretty remarkable.  There is a small area of surface rust under the lock and that's it, even the trim is in good order.  The paint is a bit flat but otherwise in superb condition overall.  I haven't bolted this down yet but I can probably do this one on my own if I have to, though a second person will make the job a lot easier.

 

Last thing I did before I finally admitted defeat to this headache was to put a door on.  It's only loosely bolted in place with the appropriate shims, has no handle or latch, but it's on.  Plastic cover put over the window hole until I can rebuild it all but will keep the weather out a lot better.

 

The most satisfying thing is the paint colour on these panels.  The banger car is an earlier darker red than the more vibrant hue on the HLS but the colour difference is near enough that the panels don't look that out of place.  It looks like the replacement front wing has been done in the same colour as the replacement panels, which is a stroke of luck.

 

This has set my timetable back a little bit on getting the car running, but I reckon it's worth it.  Where else was I going to get so much stuff for free?

[overrun]

You can bolt a bonnet on without help, if you stick a couple of rags down to prevent the hinge end from gouging the scuttle etc. as you bolt it up.

[vulgalour]

Have you tried to manhandle a Princess bonnet solo?  It weighs about as much as Ed Pickles and is approximately the same size.

[bub2006]

Ill lend a hand. Probably next week now though as short on fuel till next week mate

[vulgalour]

Works for me.  I mainly need assistance with the bonnet and the boot, they're the tricky ones to do solo.  The doors aren't so bad to fit once they've been stripped down and they're going to be easier to build up once they're on the car so I'm happy to take my time rather than having to rush like we did to get everything moved.

 

One thing I'm wanting to source is fresh window guide felts, the banger car had the felts and scrapers removed well before I got to it unfortunately and the felts on the HLS aren't actually complete.  I'm guessing they're a universal fit item and I can get them from other cars if I went to a scrapyard and they had something old-ish in, which Deatons normally does.

[bub2006]

Just let me know when and ill try sort something out mate

[overrun]

Have you tried to manhandle a Princess bonnet solo?  It weighs about as much as Ed Pickles and is approximately the same size.

Eat your greens, man!

[michael1703]

Bonnet fitting:

 

Put rags on the scuttle,get your bolts close to hand,pick bonnet up above head and rest on your head,lower down slowly and rest it on the rags and then stick the bonnet prop up and carefully attach hinges

[vulgalour]

There is no bonnet prop and the rams are fucked.  The bonnet lining is made of fibreglass, I don't want that on my head.  I will get bub2006 or someone to help instead, last time he tried to do the bonnet solo it tried to kill him.

[dugong]

Bonnet fitting:

 

Put rags on the scuttle,get your bolts close to hand,pick bonnet up above head and rest on your head,lower down slowly and rest it on the rags and then stick the bonnet prop up and carefully attach hinges

Amazon fitting:

 

Do the above and drop bonnet on head for good measure. 

[dugong]

There is no bonnet prop and the rams are fucked.  The bonnet lining is made of fibreglass, I don't want that on my head.  I will get bub2006 or someone to help instead, last time he tried to do the bonnet solo it tried to kill him.

Wear an old hoodie?

[vulgalour]

I don't own a hoodie, old or otherwise.  I am not allowing to crush any of my trilbies either.

[bub2006]

Kill me? That princess tried to eat me alive

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The panels look like Damask red.

[vulgalour]

Bit more progress today before it got really bitingly cold, from here on it gets fairly easy.  First up got the boot bolted down and put the spare radiator I liberated from the banger car in the boot.  Everything seems to line up first try, panel gaps are good and the lock works.  The keys and the user manual folder thingy I forgot all arrived in the post today, usefully.

 

Tightened up the bolts on the rear door this side and found that it needs adjusting quite a bit to get it to sit properly.  The doors are attached with six nuts and the only adjustment is in the thickness of the shim and the slotted holes in one of the top shim plates.  I'll figure it out, but for now the back door sits too low at the arch edge by a smidge.  There's no latch or handle fitted yet but even without them in place I can see it's wrong.  Front door, on the other hand, dropped on perfectly.  I decided against swapping this door with the slightly worse one on the beige car because it's a lot of work to strip them down and get the lock barrels and glass swapped over, I'll just repair the door on the beige one instead because it's easier.

 

 

Got both doors fitted the other side too which still have handles and latches fitted.  The rear door bolted up lovely and works perfectly fine with no adjustment required.

 

Front door has the same issue as the rear door on the other side and sits slightly too low preventing the latch from fully engaging.

 

I bagged the window holes to finish off today.  Thankfully, the previous plastic doors I'd made had kept the weather out of the car completely so these should do the trick until I get the glass back in.

[vulgalour]

Finally, a break in the weather!  That meant I could get on with sorting out the doors.  All the doors open and shut properly, the two awkward ones could probably do with some fine adjustment as you do have to slam them a bit to make them shut properly, but they go in the holes and stay there.

 

Panel gaps on this side are much better too, almost even all the way top to bottom.  It's as good as I can get it on my own and it's good enough.

 

Other side sorted too, much better fit achieved here.

 

Fitted the two catches on the driver's side and the door handles I previously couldn't fathom just dropped on no issue this time around, weirdly.  Refitted the various rods and clips as needed and actually have quite a few spare plastic plugs and clips now which I'm sure will come in handy in the future.  Locks work, handles work, it's all good.

 

Rear door quarter lights refitted which were surprisingly easy, though I did learn it's easier to fit the door top trim before fitting the quarter lights.  Quarter light bars had fresh rivets put in, first time I've done that and very easy it was too, I highly recommend the Wilkinson's hand rivet gun for this job and it was £8 well spent I think.

 

After a spot of lunch I went out again with the intention of fitting more of the doors up but the weather had changed and it was bitterly cold and threatening to rain so instead I took the opportunity of neighbour's son being available to help bolt the bonnet on and removed the carburettor so I can rebuild and clean that inside later tonight/this week.  Bonnet needs a bit of fine adjustment to be perfect but it's perfectly functional as is.

 

I'd run out of bin bags and tape so I used cling film to wrap the window holes up as a temporary measure until I can get someone to help refit the door glass.

 

I wanted to get a few interior jobs done but there isn't enough light to work in with the doors on the car shut so that's going to have to wait a bit.  I still feel as though I'm on target for an end of February MoT attempt.

[mat_the_cat]

there isn't enough light to work in with the doors on the car shut

 

Headtorch! I use one loads during the winter months, as otherwise the only daylight would be at weekends. And the chances of getting a dry day in Wales which coincides with a weekend is slim to nil...

[vulgalour]

I hate headtorches, they really annoy me when I'm using them.  I'll just wait until the sun comes out again tomorrow or something.

[phil_lihp]

 

it's good enough

 

If you're aiming for an authentic restoration of a BL product, this phrase is essential, especially when lining up body panels.

 

Looking forward to seeing this make its way to an MOT centre soon, can't be much left to do now.

[vulgalour]

Once I've rebuilt the carb I should be able to move the car under its own power.  Brakes aren't up to much at the moment but I've got everything to sort that out.  Suspension likewise isn't up to much because I nabbed that spare sphere but I'm planning to take it off the beige car and swap it back onto this one so it has a full compliment.  If the sphere on the beige car goes again I'll deal with it when I have to, I do have access to another spare should I need it.

 

What else... rad leak, bolt the passenger seat down, put the door glass in and door cards on and rebuild the dash and centre console and that's about it really.  Oh, and stop the exhaust blowing.  I want to get an MoT on it by the end of this month if at all possible so I can actually use it before heading over to Wales in it, I don't want Shitefest to be the maiden voyage, I'm not quite that mental.

[vulgalour]

Just finished sorting out the carb ready to refit tomorrow.  New base plate seal, float valve and float valve needle fitted, the float seems to move a bit more freely now.  Hopefully this will resolve the chronic flooding issue.

[vulgalour]

Got the rebuilt carb back on the car and had enough power in the battery to turn it over and show that it wasn't flooding petrol straight out of the air filter so I think I've resolved that issue with the new float valve needle.  Binks the cat made sure to check I was doing everything correctly.

 

It's progress at any rate.  Wheelie bin bags have kept the cabin dry and I think it's basically bolt stuff together stage now which goes fairly rapidly when the weather holds.

[fordperv]

It's getting there now, I giggled at quality inspection cat, if only bl had those on the production lines the cars would've been better put together