That vandalised Ambassador...

[omegod]

Is there not a scrapyard in or around St Helens with a couple of Ambassadors in? There was a thread somewhere on here but the title escapes me, i think some one like Mr Bollox or Nigel Bickle managed to get a side window for an almost extinct 80's Seat.

I seem to remember it was full of 80's chod, Wades may have been the name.

Maybe try Balby motor spares at doncaster?

Yep indeedy there is it's in Warrington, I'm hoping to get down there in the next week or so as I've promised to get the other window for bollox's SEAT, both ambassadors were pretty grim but might yield some bit's,

 

ooh found the pics and ones only got a bloody sunroof in it !!! 

 

I'm happy to get your bit's and post them up to you

 

[sierraman]

Both are missing the calipers I see, now clutching the discs of a Capri no doubt.

[Lankytim]

Both are missing the calipers I see, now clutching the discs of a Capri no doubt.

 

Yeah, in 1990. bet those Capri's are both long dead too.

[Sir Snipes]

I totally forgot nicking Calipers off of a Princess as an upgrade was once "a thing"!

[trigger]

The 4 pot calipers used to be worth big bucks to the rally boyz.

[sierraman]

That and Sierra 2.3 Diesel diffs.

 

Great thread, did any of the hatch conversions of the princess survive?

[anonymous user]

That and Sierra 2.3 Diesel diffs.

 

Great thread, did any of the hatch conversions of the princess survive?

I'm sure one appeared in the eBay tat thread not long ago (on car and classic) at an ambitious price, not sure if it was in this country

[MarvinsMom]

yes, there is a white one in Holland which has recently been up for sale on CarandClassic, (drat, got beaten to it!!)

 

whether or not any uk cars are left, i dunno......

[rovamota]

There is a Princess hatch in the UK (a russett brown 2200 HLS) but it was involved in an accident quite a few years ago and is currently in bits in a garage. Having seen the car and the owner of it last year I'm afraid it's unlikely to be back on the road anytime soon or in the future and it's not for sale, either. 

[rovamota]

An update.

 

Not good news on the cylinder head front. Before the engineering firm skimmed the head they water-pressure tested it. It apparently leaks like a sieve around one of the valve seats, so there's obviously a crack in it although it's difficult to spot. They are confident it could be welded but as we've got a spare head, albeit of unknown provenance and functionality, to use modern parlance, we'll clean that up and use that instead.

 

We have also been supplied with lots of parts from various sources to complete the recommissioning. The amount of help we've had from people supplying parts to get this car back on the road has been tremendous. Thanks to everyone who made the effort.

 

However, sourcing parts for the sunroof is still a problem at the moment, but a Facebook contact has told me that he has a rotten Ambassador sunroof from a car that's being restored, though I don't know if we will be able to use any parts from it as a Montego sunroof is replacing it and they have to make sure all of the mechanism is the same. Fingers crossed.

 

The rusty sunroof that may yield us some parts. Then again, it may not...

 

 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

A mate of mine had a Torcars hatchback conversion of a 1977 Special Six Automatic in the late eighties. He used it as a tow car to tow a racing Mini but bit ended ups in LC Hughes scrapyard around 1990.

[alcyonecorporation]

There's RHD Torcars Prinny estate that survives in this country.

 

It's in a horrible state, but it's in a large garage now, deteriorating at a slower rate than it did previously.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Epic Fred, the Ambassador is a British icon ☺

[rovamota]

Well after spending 5 hours fitting the spare cylinder head on Saturday and finally getting the plug leads the right way around we got XPJ running. 

Sounds fine with no odd noises though there is a lot of steam but we suspect the exhaust system is very wet and it's burning off.

 

 

However, our joy was short lived as after 10 minutes it cut out and refused to start again. We have spark and we have fuel so we're pointing a finger at the ASU...

 

This morning it started first time though the idle speed was very high and the only way we could slow it was by turning the distributor. I switched it off and left it for a few minutes but then it wouldn't start again on the key. The only way it would start is by continuously cranking it over and opening the throttle right up, where it then spluttered into life.

 

I was sure that the ASU was the culprit so I took it apart, cleaned it and put it back together. Turned the key and it started first time and settled to a nice 850 rpm idle and revved freely on the throttle so all seems well. The water in the exhaust seems to have evaporated away as the exhaust emissions are clear now. I even got to take for a quick drive and it's ok, 

 

 

We still have the issue of the sunroof to sort, though but it's not far off an MoT.

 

I did take a QUITE few photos but somehow managed to delete most of them.

 

 

 

 

[Squire_Dawson]

Good progress. Be careful about running it for short times especially in winter as it won't warm up properly; although my Talbot exhaust looked like a recent part the tailpipe had fallen off due to rust, I suspect due to being shuffled about. Would the windscreen/window seals of the scrap cars be worth taking aswell?

[Guest Hooli]

ASU? Auto-choke?

[rovamota]

ASU. Automatic Start Unit. Screen rubbers aren't usually worth saving as they are usually perished.

[rovamota]

We did a video so I hope this works.

 

https://www.facebook.com/131378263625471/videos/1193374094092544/

 

It sounds a lot better than when we first got it...

 

https://www.facebook.com/131378263625471/videos/1164188093677811/

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Those ASU things are nonsense. I replaced the carb on mine (whichever carb has the ASU fitted) with an ordinary HIF from a metro, obv swapping the needle and jet over. Had to do a bit of faffing with the linkage to make it work in a twin-carb set up though.

[Vince70]

My fathers Vanden plas Ambassador was always breaking down due to that ASU thing and he went through a few of them while he had the car which wasn't cheap. Also a mate of his also had the same problem with his Ambassador HLS.

 

I think the fix at the time was to bin the twin carbs and put a single carb with a choke off a more basic model, my minds a bit muddy now as it was a long time ago when he had his but I think there was also manual choke conversion kit about at the time he looked into.

[rovamota]

The ASU was also fitted to the Rover SD1 2000. Only the Ambassador VP and later HLS were fitted with twin carbs to give the car more oomph. Replacing the twin carbs with a single carb was a pretty drastic and rather unnecessary modification. You'd lose 9 bhp for a start and as the Ambo was a heavy car it needed all the bhp it could get. An aftermarket manual choke modification was available for them.

[Asimo]

Another vote for the ASU being rubbish, used to stay in the start mode sometimes resulting in catastrophic fuel consumption.

My Ambassador was an A plate, a lowly model, L or HL 2 litre auto with twin carbs.

Wonder if the extra carb. was to go with the automatic option or if it was just BL using what they had to build the last few?

[adw1977]

My Ambassador was an A plate, a lowly model, L or HL 2 litre auto with twin carbs.

Wonder if the extra carb. was to go with the automatic option or if it was just BL using what they had to build the last few?

 

Must have been a HL, there was never a 2.0 L (although you could have a 1.7L auto if you were a masochist).

Late 2.0 HL models did have the twin carbs:

0273/in/album-72157643328249664/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/1365219

(Jan 1984 brochure)

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Must have been a HL, there was never a 2.0 L (although you could have a 1.7L auto if you were a masochist).

Late 2.0 HL models did have the twin carbs:

0273/in/album-72157643328249664/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/1365219Ambassador HL Jan 84.jpg

(Jan 1984 brochure)

I can confirm that the 1.7 L Auto was the slowest car ever. I had a rental from Kennings in Baker St. for a couple of weeks when I was 18. I was excited because they had only just been released and no one had seen one yet, people stopped in traffic ago ask me about it! But it was desperately slow, especially when loaded to the roof with exhibition stand shit. Admittedly it could carry almost as much as my usual Cortina Crusader or Sierra estate hire cars.

[AnthonyG]

Only just caught with this, what an epic save! 

 

Well done gents.

 

If I had any Ambassador parts they would be yours now, but I don't!

[rovamota]

Here's a video we made last year - the day we collected the last Ambassador...

 

https://www.facebook.com/131378263625471/videos/1078868712209750/

[rovamota]

Well we're not far off getting the VP up for its first MoT for six years, the only jobs are to fit the rear view mirror and replace the wiper blades. Once that's done we can tax and insure it and use the thing whilst we sort out the cosmetics. I did try the tape player yesterday and the Hot Chocolate tape I found sounds fine, but it needs an aerial.

 

The sunroof is still an issue and although we have 'fitted' it it's not in properly. Other jobs include renewing the roof lining and refitting it as well as sorting the bright trim around the screens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The engine is sweet and the cylinder head that I had sitting under my bench for 10 years for the 'you never know' situation has come good.

 

 

Can't wait to start using it.

[worldofceri]

Looks great.  Well done for bringing it back from the brink.  Top photo looks like it could have been taken in about 1987!  

[Guest Lord Sward]

Could you not buy a Britax aftermarket roof and fit that in lieu of the factory fit steel item?

[DSdriver]

I have some bright weatherstrip filler i can donate to the project. Drop me a pm if you need it.