Sold 1981 Austin Princess - [expletives removed]

[dollywobbler]

Careful now. You almost ended up with a Cat Battery there.

[stuboy]

everyone needs a cat assitant

[vulgalour]

There's OMGHGF chickens and dogs, I think Binks is OMGFLATBATTERY cat.

 

---

 

The weather decided to be tolerable and I had a helper so I made use of it.  Annoyingly, to get the rear window drop glass in I had to drill out the new rivets for the quarter light bars and re-rivet but other than it being a bit fiddly they went in okay.  Also, the poor condition front window scraper utterly disintegrated.  Happily, there were some spare channel felts in the replacement doors which, when put together with the felts from the old doors gives a full set of felts instead of a mish-mash of newspaper, draught excluder tape and tatty felts.

 

The bonnet crown had been put on with the previous bit of work but here's a picture anyway.  Being an '81 it shouldn't really have one, but then it shouldn't have the front doors or seats it has either... it's still very much in the spirit of a Princess and only the most anoraky of anoraks is going to be bothered by these little details.

 

I didn't put the door cards and furniture back on the passenger side, I want to wait until I've put the glass in the driver's side so everything is properly weather tight first.  I was going to get the driver's side glass in but it rained, started just as I got the electric drill out and pretty much put a stop to proceedings.

 

Jobs to do:

Driver's side glass

Door interior furniture to reinstate

Battery to refit (now charged)

Replacement rear sphere and Hydragas pump up

Handbrake cable to fit (in stock)

Rear brake hose to fit (in stock)

Rear suspension rebound straps to fit (in stock)

Rear brake shoes to fit (in stock)

Radiator leak to plug

Hazard warning switch to wire in (in stock)

Dash to fit - built up as much as it can be off the car, just needs fitting to the dash rails once the hazard switch is wired up

Purchase good part-worn tyres

Locate and fix exhaust blow

Door mirrors to fit (in stock)

 

The weather is the only thing stopping me making better progress and realistically it will probably prevent me from hitting the end of February MoT target./

[vulgalour]

Important progress was made today.  Not only did I get the glass in on the driver's door and the door cards and furniture on three of the doors - door four was thwarted by three missing self-tapping screws and having none suitable in the Pot of Fixings - but I got the charged battery plumbed in.  The dash board also doesn't need a hazard warning plug wiring in after all, for some reason I'd confused it with the fog light switch which is much easier to resolve but I didn't get as far as fitting the dashboard today though it is sat in the car patiently waiting for me to get on with it.

 

 

 

The important thing was this (terrible quality) video.  Click the fuzzy picture to view.

 

 

The big clouds of smoke are the remnants of the oil put down the bores and whatever had got in the wrong place when the head blew, the smoke cleared steadily as the engine was run.  The exhaust is blowing at the downpipe join and I think it's the cause of a very strange squeaking noise that is coming from the same general area.  The engine otherwise seems very healthy with no untoward leaks or noises.

 

To do list:

fit dash board

overhaul brakes - new rear shoes, handbrake cable & brake hose, bleed brake fluid

fix suspension - replacement sphere & Hydragas pump up

fit tyres

fit glass/furniture to one door

fix exhaust blow

fix radiator leak

 

Pretty satisfying what can be done when the weather behaves for a day or two.

[fordperv]

[alf892]

Good result.....there is nothing getting something like this running again to ...er.......fire you up!

[philibusmo]

:common007: :common007: :common007:

 

I couldn't find a smiley which accurately coveys just how happy that update has made me, so the seven upside down spinning things will have to do.

[Ghosty]

[theorganist]

Excellent news, well done.

[Grundig]

Great update, I agree reasonable weather is half the battle for shite fettling progress   

[eddyramrod]

Excellent news!  Well done sir.

[oman5]

Excellent work, you are an autoshite hero. I am so glad that somebody out there cares for these wedges. I always liked em and had 2 back in the day.

[vulgalour]

I think before I fire the car up again I need to sort out that exhaust join, that way I should be able to listen to the engine properly and any more smoke/fumes will go out the back rather than rising up in the way of everything.  It's a wonder the car will run on whatever it is that's left in the tank - probably really stale old 4 star - and the jerry can of fresh unleaded that went in, I reckon once there's a decent amount of fresh fuel in the system and the exhaust is properly attached it'll run a lot better and quieter.

[vulgalour]

I may have done a little victory pose at the top of the drive today.  After clearing some work out of the way and waiting for the driveway to be clear I decided to take a brave pill and get in the red Princess and see if I could get it to move under its own power.

 

First issue was a reluctance to start, this is probably down to the ancient fuel still in the system.  Second issue I expected to be clouds of acrid smoke but that's all cleared now, the exhaust is either blowing at the front-to-downpipe join or at the middle join so I'll get the exhaust off and resealed to cure that.  Idle speed is quite high too so the carb needs setting up properly since the rebuild.

 

So....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting back down the drive with only one connected rear brake and front brakes that pumped fluid out the cut hose was interesting. The gear selection is lovely and smooth, the seats are absurdly comfortable and supportive, the power assisted steering is light but not overly so, the brakes surprisingly competent given their current state and the engine has bags of torque.

 

I am delighted at this minor victory, especially since I've been a bit grumpy about my back stopping me doing the other jobs on the car at the moment.

[PhilA]

Huzzah! First drive is always a good feeling, even if it's not quite 100%.

 

Now you can spend the rest of your time on the 80/20 rule.

 

--Phil

[vulgalour]

I hate the 80/20 rule.  I'm very good at the 80 bit but hopeless at the 20 bit.

[fordperv]

excellent, i find that the 1st drive of a project under its own steam is motivating

[Sloth in a bowl]

excellent, i find that the 1st drive of a project under its own steam is motivating

 

Are you suggesting that the radiator will fail imminently?

[vulgalour]

Since someone appears to have turned the skytaps off for a bit I decided to make the most of it.  Back is improving but still not great so I was a little restricted in what I could do; no work on brakes or exhaust today.

 

So I stuck to some cosmetic jobs instead.  I was a little over ambitious and decided to swap the wheel trims for better ones I have in stock.  I only got one side done, my back did not thank me for this job.  I did check the front wheel for play while I was there and found a minimal amount that could just be flex in the perished and slightly flat front tyre rather than anything wrong with the track rod ends or similar.  I'll know better when I drive the car properly.  Car looks better for trims that aren't so grotty at any rate.

 

Cleared out the boot, fitted the spare carpet and spare wheel cover and refitted the tool compartment cover.  I did put a couple of boxes of spares back in but it's a lot tidier than it was with stuff just thrown in there while I was working on the car.  Happier with this at any rate.

 

Refitted the dashboard, finally, including the top rail and the right hand ashtray which is currently keeping the telltale trims safe.  Still to fit is the radio, heater control knobs and to find out if it's an earth and/or fuse issue that's preventing the telltales from lighting up correctly/at all.  It'll be something obvious, it all worked before I took it apart I just need to figure out what's not working now I've put it back together again.  Doesn't the dash look nice now the wood is all sorted though?  I'm pleased with this.

 

Before

 

After

 

My last job was to attempt to refit the rear view mirror into its plinth and change the sun visors for the better ones I had in stock.  Didn't get both sides done, it was just a job too far for me.

[Grundig]

Before & after pics are great motivators - lookin gud  

[vulgalour]

Even though I've put a can of fuel in, and the engine is very willing to attempt to start, it would appear there's not enough fuel or too much air in the fuel lines to actually get the car to fire up.  Never mind, thought I, there are other things to do.  Replaced the missing fuse and the old wiper blades for some less old blades that won't destroy the screen and decided to do a run through the switches and electrical stuff.

 

Dash clocks - don't come to life

Lights - don't work

Seatbelt warning light - ah, now that does work

Indicator - telltale comes on static, but indicators don't work

Foglight - doesn't work

Brake lights - nope

Reversing lights - nada

Wipers - nothing

 

So I've done something wrong somewhere, missed out an earth point, connected part of the dash incorrectly, I don't know and to be perfectly honest I was losing patience with myself and didn't want to take it out on the cars so I put it all away for now.  I'll remove the dash and test the instruments and switches without the dashboard in the way to try and find the problem because this dashboard did work perfectly fine until I took it apart.  I decided not to do the brakes today, I'll either have a go at those later today or tomorrow when it's properly my day off.

[MikeKnight]

It's incredibly easy to miss a connection or an earth point, or catch/snag/snip a wire accidentally on refitting, especially with older and more brittle looms.

 

I'm sure you remember the rants I subjected you to on the phone while doing the dash loom on the Alfa Romeo 105 Bertone Coupe and that was a relatively simple loom.

 

I fucking hate electrics.

[vulgalour]

Okay, today is about as lovely as it ever gets so I decided to have another go at the red Princess to get to the bottom of this issue with the electrics.  Fuses checked, nothing appeared to be amiss, no signs of fuse failure.  Fuses look a bit old, but other than that seem okay so I ticked that off the list.

 

Another run through everything to find no changes, as expected, and then a broggle around to try and find anything hanging loose or amiss to no avail.  Out with the dashboard then to find out what's amiss.  I'd already disconnected the fog light switch to see if it was the problem, but I don't think it is.  This method I've seen on a couple of Princess looms now so I'm guessing it's the standard dealership/BL way of doing it.

 

Nothing visually amiss behind the clocks, no damage that I can see and everything plugged where it should be.

 

I think this extra feed with a fuse holder is for the radio, I can't remember exactly.

 

On the beige Princess, as annotated here, the blue wire with a fuse holder is the earth for the indicators.  On the beige car, there is no fuse holder just a bare wire that earths via a screw into the dash, don't judge me it was like this when I bought the car and I found it when the old PYE tape deck was removed for servicing.  On the red car, there's nothing anywhere to plug into this fuse holder, it just sort of floats around so I have no idea what to do with it.

 

Behind the radio there's a multiplug with matchsticks stuck in some of the holes.  Again, no idea but that's how it is.

 

When I removed the dash there was very little resistance with the speedo cable so I gave it a bit of a tug to try and take up the slack... didn't go exactly as expected as there was zero resistance and it just sort of unspooled into the footwell.

 

 

 

Much easier to sort that with the dashboard out and I've ordered a replacement which was only £10.  Glad I found this now rather than when everything was together.  So those fuses then.  Because by now I could find nothing amiss, nothing unplugged, no oddness at all.  Purely out of frustration I tried spinning the fuses and then found one had corroded through in such a way you couldn't see it had blown.  Sometimes the corroded ends would make a contact, sometimes they wouldn't.  Guess what, that fuse controls all the dashboard stuff too.

 

Swapped it with another fuse in the box and hey presto working wipers!

 

Rather than risking the other fuses doing the same I've pulled the lot and will acquire some new ones and some spares to keep with the car.  I'm not disappointed I pulled the dash apart again to sort this only to find it was a blown fuse because it meant I found the speedo cable and now have the car prepared to put the new one in easier.

 

Last thing for today was finding a couple of bottles of cider vinegar in the back of the pantry so I've put the stubborn bit of the spare sphere in soak for 24-48 hours to try and get the rust to free off, I've seen other people get pretty good results with rusted together components.

 

I think I'm going to buy some LHM next and get one of my contacts to come out and pump up the car far enough to free the jack at the front.  I'm going to be making another attempt at freeing off all the pivot shafts again, I think the beige one is a bit freer than it was now because the back end has stopped sinking after some fairly vigourous use before the water pump conked out on me.

[vulgalour]

More lovely weather means I want to make more effort to get the red Princess MoT ready and make up for lost time.  However, I'm beginning to feel like this car is fighting me, all little things but it's annoying when you're so close to being sorted to feel so far away from being ready.

 

Started small, put the brand new fuses in and a couple of spares in the holder in the fuse box lid.

 

Then decided to do the speedometer cable because that should be straightforward.  I hadn't counted on the cable connector being in a horrible location or that it would be plastered in lithium grease making this the most unpleasant and difficult Princess job I've had to do so far.  For refitting there was no way to see what I was doing and the fine thread meant cross-threading was a very real risk, but I prevailed and got it fitted.

 

Found that the other end plugged much better to the dash and didn't feel as insecure as the old cable so replacement was wise I reckon.

 

Dropped the dash into place after this but didn't screw it down, I wanted to find out what would and wouldn't work.  I now have working hazards but not on the passenger side indicators (but weirdly the side repeater that side does work), choke telltale works, handbrake light works, seatbelt light works.  I've been told the random blue wire is the factory earth for the  foglights but it won't reach the switch on the loom so I'll be getting creative with connectors and whatever and Dad's expertise in electrics to resolve this.  I'm fairly confident the issue with the dash and the lights is now just down to a lack of proper earth and once resolved all will be well.

 

Next to resolve the lack of firing.  Sucked the air out of the fuel line, got a mouthful of varnish-flavoured fuel for my trouble.  Pump is working, carb is working, but there's barely any fuel so I reckon I need to put a few more gallons in to resolve this.  No visible leaks or wetness on fuel lines or tank so I don't think there's a problem there.  What fuel is in the tank is no longer cloudy but is still a horrible colour and odour.

 

Good, that's a few things ticked and to resolve.  I topped up the washer bottle to test it, assumed it was good and put screenwash in and then found it was leaking.  Tested anyway and found the washer pump works well and I've got one washer jet of the four to unblock.  Removed the bottle no bother and decanted the contents into another container so it wasn't wasted, found it was leaking where the bracket fits and has been fixed previously with body filler and chewing gum, ffs.  Tried to remove the washer jet pipe and instead of cutting it free as I've done before, I gave it a bit of a tug and a wiggle and it broke.

 

Well done me.  I should have stopped at this point, but I didn't.  Instead I checked the front end to find what appears to be reasonable (if slightly surface rusty) discs and a good amount of meat left on the pads, the brakes were surprisingly good when it was rolled off the trailer and when I drove it up and down the drive so this is reassuring.

 

Then I checked the track rod end and I now know why the tread on half of two tyres is completely gone.  That's another £20 for TREs and £15-30 for tracking to budget for.

 

Back wheels off, car up on axle stands because I now have an improvised jack handle so I can, and every intention to "just quickly replace the rebound straps".

 

There's a clip and a roll pin at the top and one on the trailing arm.  Top ones were a bugger to shift but they went eventually with a combination of screwdrivers, pliers, hammer, WD40 and swearing.

 

Thump, thump, tweak, tweak, pin comes loose and... oh.

 

Well it's only a little hole, maybe the other side will be better.

 

Never mind, it's just a little bit of welding, the corrosion isn't seriously advanced even though it's likely an MoT fail area.  I'll put the straps on anyway and deal with it later.  Went pretty smoothly, let the strap take the weight of the trailing arm by lowering the jack carefully and BANG.

 

FFS.

 

 

Downed tools.  I'm not touching anything else on this car today, for fear I break something expensive.  The straps are brand new rather than NOS and I'm really, really annoyed about them breaking like that.  On closer inspection it turns out no strengthening webbing had been moulded into the rubber on the bottom eyelet so as soon as it took the weight of the trailing arm, the strength of the suspension just pulled the roll pin straight through the rubber as though it was made of Brie.  I bought the straps so long ago that I can't even return them.

 

I'll keep plugging away, I'll try and sort the brakes out tomorrow, I didn't get that far today.  I don't think this one will be ready in time to go in for an MoT at the same time as the beige one and I'm concerned that I might not meet the mid-May deadline now.

[catsinthewelder]

We all have days like that,  I have lots of them. At least you haven't broken anything irreplaceable.

 

I'd try sending those straps back if you can remember where they came from, they are not fit for use so normal warranty periods don't apply.

[Skizzer]

What Catwelder said. Massive progress being made here, on several fronts at once - keep the faith!

[vulgalour]

I literally CBA to find out from whom those straps came.  I've sourced proper ones from a man that knows what he's talking about for £8 each, I just need £16 to purchase them with... well, £32 as the beige Princess could do with a pair too.

[vulgalour]

Having cleaned up the washer bottle I can repair it with a dribble of resin or glue or similar, it's a smaller hole than the bad repair made it look which is nice.

 

MoT shopping list:

Rebound straps - £16 a pair

Track rod ends - £20 a pair

Tracking - £15-30 (depends where I take it and how much of an arse it is to sort)

Washer pump - £2.95

Suspension sphere (if I can't salvage the good one I have) - £40+

Tyres (part worns) and balancing x5 - £150ish (I can avoid this by just swapping wheels with the other Princess, of course)

[nigel bickle]

If you put another gallon in ,and it still wont run, I'd suggest that the short rubber flexi adjacent the fuel tank (connecting it to the long metal pipe) is cracked. Usually impossible to see in situ, it will have several small splits which suck in air rather than pull fuel.

 

I've had this issue on so many old recommissioned cars that I replace it as routine now. Foul job, but if you don't do it -it'll always be a worry.

 

However, to help diagnose, attach a full(ish) fuel can to the pump inlet, disconnect the carb outlet and suck through, so that the pump is now immersed. Re-attach the pipe and car should run, fairly normally.

 

You'll feel so much better about it when it runs. Makes life so much easier

[MikeKnight]

I see what you were talking about with the washer bottle now. It's very easy to do that, especially with older plastic.

 

I managed to do that three time on the Honda while replacing the complicated vacuum pipe system. Thankfully most of them glued back on. Unfortunately the ones that won't glue on are on the vacuum pump and the wax controller stat, but the car doesn't seem to care and runs fine. I don't think the vacuum system has ever worked and the PO probably statically set the carbs up, so I'm not touching them with someone else's shitty stick.