Dicky’s Disastrous Debris - Princess update 22/1/25

[Angrydicky]

Had my maiden voyage and infuriatingly the moment I set off down the road the temperature started to climb. Did about 1/2 a mile and had to stop twice to let it cool down. Bugger. Yes I was told it had an overheating problem but as I couldn’t replicate it on the driveway, I thought maybe it only happened in hot weather. 
The heater has been bypassed so that needs sorting (because of a leaky heater valve according to the previous owner) I’ll chuck a new thermostat in over the weekend and if that doesn’t solve it the radiator will have to come out for a serious flush out.

[SiC]

Owner got rid quick/cheap because it was one of those cursed cars that didn't want to be fixed?

I wonder if it's something like a water way is blocked with crud from being sat so long and wasn't flushed properly during the HG change. 

[Angrydicky]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

Owner got rid quick/cheap because it was one of those cursed cars that didn't want to be fixed?

I wonder if it's something like a water way is blocked with crud from being sat so long and wasn't flushed properly during the HG change. 

Yes, silted up block is a possibility. It’s a weird one because the bottom hose wasn’t really hot at all while the expansion tank was bubbling and the gauge climbing rapidly. 

[High Jetter]

Is the water pump doing it's job?

[Angrydicky]

Just now, High Jetter said:

Is the water pump doing it's job?

I did think this, but all that could possibly stop it pumping is a broken impeller and there’s no nasty noises that would indicate anything untoward there. In fact the engine is very smooth and quiet and there don’t appear to be any problems with it. I will take it off to inspect if I don’t get anywhere with the other stuff.

[High Jetter]

1 minute ago, Angrydicky said:

I did think this, but all that could possibly stop it pumping is a broken impeller and there’s no nasty noises that would indicate anything untoward there. In fact the engine is very smooth and quiet and there don’t appear to be any problems with it. I will take it off to inspect if I don’t get anywhere with the other stuff.

I did see one yonks ago where the shaft had sheared, for no obvious reason. Just one thing to have on your list, anyway.

[Angrydicky]

33 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I did see one yonks ago where the shaft had sheared, for no obvious reason. Just one thing to have on your list, anyway.

That’s interesting, never come across that before but it is possible of course. I might end up removing it while the rad is out. With the grill and rad out of the way it’s not too difficult a job.

We (ACCC members) all helped change the failed pump on a member’s Somerset after it failed on his way to our Autumn rally in 2023, and they arrived on the back of a recovery truck after a very long wait. Some contributed labour(me) others parts, tools and gasket sealer. Got it back up and running and the owner (kneeling in that picture) drove it home 75 odd miles including the Dartford tunnel without missing a beat. He has owned the car over 30 years and lives in Southend (my hometown). Really nice chap and a good friend of mine. I have two of his old vehicles, the 1958 Austin A55 and the 1952 New Hudson Autocycle. I remember seeing 871 BMT a lot as a car-mad child so that car holds a special place in my heart.

 

XEV 323 was my old Somerset, recently sold. 360 mile round trip that weekend from Lincolnshire to Kent to attend that rally. I did the same trip in the Hampshire last year.

Got to drive another Hampshire for the first time.

(mines the very scruffy one with the ‘patina’ look)

 

[lesapandre]

Hampshire looks lovely - those first generation Post - War Austins are so handsome.

The overheating could be a collapsed piece of tubing or something literally stuck in the system somewhere. I'd give everything a good flush and take all the external pipe -work off. Most likely culprit a blocked rad tho.

[plasticvandan]

Normally I would say have the heater plumbed in, extra capacity,but on the Somerset (as opposed to my old Reliants) that shouldn't be needed. I have seen old pumps where the impeller had corroded away to the point of just being a round stump,possible given the age.

Likewise,even if the pump wasn't working,the rad is enormous,and I would have expected a bit of thermo Syphon action before temps started to rise.sounds like an air lock,stat stuck (but it's cold so shouldn't be an issue) or a completely blocked rad. All the usual stuff you already know. I guess with the heater bypassed there may not be much circulation around the back of the head?

My dad's car cooked itself in 1971 when the owner drove on holiday with the family from Longbridge to Devon with the rad blind up as he tended to run with it most of the time as it was over cooled. Had to pay £25 at a BMC dealer to have the engine rebuilt with new pistons,top end etc while he was on holiday and picked it up at the end of the 2 weeks break and drove it back! 

[Angrydicky]

Update:

Removed the thermostat to check and replace, found it’s been removed by a previous owner (never a good sign)

Removed the rad and ran the hosepipe through it from the top.. Absolutely NOTHING came out of the bottom. Not a drop. Every tube in it must be blocked solid. I have NEVER seen a radiator blocked as badly as this one. It’s been recored at some point too, and externally looks immaculate.

[somewhatfoolish]

At least it's a fairly certain diagnosis, no chasing an intermittent fault. Worth leaving with vinegar in to see if it will shift if the outside of the core is ok.

[Noel Tidybeard]

or cheap cola as mr wobbler did once

[vulgalour]

I had good luck with Steradent (other brands are available) tablets with the Lanchester rad, shifted a surprising amount of gunk out of it.  I wonder if the rad on the Somerset is blocked because of old coolant being left in it so long it's crystalised?

[plasticvandan]

I used the cheapest,nastiest happy shopper coke for unblocking rads,has to be the cheap stuff,bung it up and fill to the top and leave overnight.

[High Jetter]

Fernox will shift a lot of crud, maybe a tad to aggressive though

[Angrydicky]

@reb and anyone else who is interested, here’s the latest from my mate on the Honda PC50 restoration.

He’s painted it himself with aerosols but it looks really nice, he’s rebuilt all the suspension with new bushes and fixed the seized brakes. He reckons the 2600 miles on the clock were genuine as it’s still on its original factory tyres! He would like to replace them but he’s a bit skint as he’s just forked out for a few bits including a new exhaust for it. He’s not intending to use it on the road yet so they will do for the moment.

[reb]

That's looking great! You'd hardly think it was the same machine!

[Angrydicky]

15 minutes ago, reb said:

That's looking great! You'd hardly think it was the same machine!

What makes it more impressive (imo) is it’s virtually all the original parts, he’s on a tight budget so it’s not a chequebook restoration with all new bits. It will never be a minter, he’s derusted the handlebars but they’re far from perfect and there’s a few other bits he’s plated which are obviously pitted. The damage to the mudguards is still there, although he has somehow managed to flat and polish out the damage to the headlight lens.

[BorniteIdentity]

On 15/01/2025 at 20:38, Angrydicky said:

I think I’m starting* to get a reputation as a hoarder who will gladly take on any old rusty shit people want rid of.

So, the Somerset. The carb was pretty well worn out. With these Zeniths the throttle spindle wears, causing air leaks and poor running. The body also distorts when the float chamber screws are over tightened causing fuel leaks. This one was dreadful with a very sloppy spindle, and was pissing out petrol all over the place.

A mate of mine who owed me a favour, happily volunteered the carb from his Somerset spares car he has in his garden. He said it was seized but this is a good sign. If it’s seized solid it can’t be worn out! This turned up and it didn’t take too much effort to strip and free everything off. Built it up with a new gasket set.

Unfortunately at some point the thread for the vac advance had been stripped so I had to fit an insert in there. It’s a standard M6 thread; for some reason Zenith used metric threads on their carbs. I didn’t take any pictures of the repair so you’ll just have to imagine it.

With that back on, it ran so much better. After a bit of fine tuning it now starts easily and will actually idle now whereas before it needed the choke pulled out a bit.

I fixed the non-functioning fuel sender. It was in a right old state, not only was the arm seized and the float full of petrol, but there were a couple of holes in the body which had allowed petrol to seep into the resistor housing. The resistor was broken, first time I’ve seen that.

Fortunately I had a spare Cambridge one in stock, and the Cambridge ones always survive better because they’re mounted in the top of the tank inside the boot, rather than the Somerset which is in the side of the tank under the car and they always get corroded from all the road dirt getting thrown up at it. All it needed was a tweak of the arm to match the bend in the Somerset one and it now works a treat, lovely.

I then got started on the brakes. They were absolutely dreadful, not much pedal and pulling to one side. I found three of the wheel cylinders and the master cylinder were leaking, the other three were seized. The handbrake mechanism on one side was seized solid and I had to resort to a hammer and punch to remove the little actuators from the back of the wheel cylinder. (This should be greased). The linings were contaminated which is a shame as they didn’t look like they had done anything but nonetheless I didn’t want to have to do the job twice so I sent them off to a firm in Norwich called Charles Johnson I’ve used a few times now. Their green lining material is, in my opinion, on par with original asbestos linings in terms of efficiency. They turned them around in only a couple of days so nice and quick too. Shoes aren’t available new for these so relining is the only option.

I stripped the cylinders and sent all the bodies off for resleeving in stainless steel. The previous owner said he had rerubbered them but they had carried on leaking. The bores weren’t great on them.

Having got those back, I then built them all up using new seal kits. I cleaned all the pistons, springs and other bits in my little ultrasonic cleaner and polished up the pistons and handbrake bits on a wire wheel. It all came out quite well.

Got everything back together. Fitted new flexi hoses because they are cheap and the ones on there were incorrect (too long) and over 25 years old. The pipework has all been replaced in copper already so that was fine.

Bled the system using my Sealey VS820 pressure bleeder, a fantastic piece of kit I bought from someone on here, unfortunately I can’t remember who. It fits the reservoir on these Austins and it’s really easy to use, chuck a couple of litres of fluid in it, make sure it’s sealed, pump up to 10psi and you can then open each nipple in turn and it forces all the air out without loads of tedious pedal pumping. These master cylinders are notoriously difficult to bleed conventionally, so this piece of kit is so useful. It’s the third Somerset I’ve used it on now, plus the Hampshire. I really need to invest in the box of different adaptors so I can use it on MOAR cars. Saves loads of time.

I then went around adjusting the brakes and faffing around trying to get the handbrake to work, the problem was that the cable has stretched, I’ve nipped it up to the limit of its adjustment and it’s acceptable now but a few more clicks than I really wanted. 
I’ve had a quick test drive and the brakes are superb, pulling up sharply and in a straight line, so I’m well pleased with that.

Flushed with success, I then fitted my new wing mirrors. Period style Tex mirrors always look good on these cars and it’s a lot safer driving them on the road when you’re not relying solely on the tiny rear view mirror to see behind you.

I got really lucky, I managed to buy a joblot of Somerset spares from a former owner, as well as a lot of other stuff I got a lovely set of nos overriders and nice hubcaps. 
The front overriders were missing and closer inspection revealed the bumper was kinked in the middle and the mounting irons were bent, hence the downward stance.

I bought a set of good used irons, a pair of trafficators and associated mountings, and a few other bits from my mate who does the spares for the Austin counties car club. I asked him if he had a decent front bumper and he replied saying he had a nos one he had recently found in his loft!!! No it wasn’t cheap but still most definitely mates rates when you consider that it would cost around £400 to have one rechromed these days and that’s even if I had a straight one to chrome which I don’t.

Got that fitted back on today and it’s looking good. The bumper irons were a twat to get lined up as they always are, and it needs a couple more bolts. But there’s not a lot left to do on it now. Almost ready for a road test.

Lastly, when I picked this Somerset up I asked the chap if he had any history with it and he told me he would have to send it on as he didn’t know where it was. I chased him up a week later and he said he’d found some photographs of its restoration but nothing else, if I gave him my address he would post them to me.

I was pleased when a few days later, an envelope turned up containing some history, the old green logbook is there, and an old mot and tax disc from 1969 which may have been the last time it was on the road. It’s had a very long term restoration carried out (at different times) three blokes who were all mates, one owned it twice but him and the last but one owner have both since died so unfortunately despite doing all this work they never actually managed to get it on the road. Not properly anyway.

 

Smashing - looks like it was very local to me.  I must have driven by that fella's house in Biggleswade over a thousand times.  Small world. 

Keep up the good work; it's very therapeutic just reading it!

[Angrydicky]

Back to the Somerset…

Took the Princess over to Boston this morning with the Somerset radiator in the boot. On arrival, I was just getting it out when the owner came out. “Oooh a Princess, and that’s from an Austin Somerset” he announced.

As it turned out, not only did he know exactly what the radiator was from, but he actually had a recored unit on the shelf ready to go! He said it had been in stock a long time but should be good, he leak and flow tested it while I watched, which was interesting to see, and pronounced it as excellent. He took my old rad in PX, he said if they’ve been recored before he cleans them out and sells them on, sometimes he has to take the tanks off and rod out the tubes if they’re that bad, which my old one probably was.

Got home, fitted it and a new thermostat, and took it for a drive…

And it’s absolutely brilliant. The new radiator has a perfect flow, the temp gauge stays rock steady in the middle when up to temperature and I did about 20 miles without incident. Stopped for some more super unleaded as well.

It drives very well, despite being on crossplies the steering is quite precise. The column gears are a bit sticky due to lack of use, first can be difficult to engage, and occasionally it tries to go into reverse when you go for second. I have greased all the bits I can see but maybe it’s sticking somewhere else. There is an annoying, occasional clutch snatch when moving off from rest but I’m hoping that’s due to rust on the flywheel and will clear with use, it seems to be becoming less frequent anyway.

Theres a few minor issues, all the door seals are missing, so I’ve got to get some. The heater was bypassed due to a leaking valve, I fitted new hoses and piped it up correctly, there was indeed a very slow drip from the seal but after a good run it stopped leaking so that’s good, got heat out of it due to the ram effect, but the motor doesn’t work, it’s either partially seized or has a bad connection as it’s trying to fire up. Also all the hot air trunking from blower to cabin is missing.

The handbrake was pretty useless, due to a stretched cable, I didn’t fancy my chances of finding a good used one so I fitted a spacer on the adjustment rod to give me a bit more adjustment, which worked perfectly and now it’s locked up on 5 clicks which for an umbrella type handbrake is very good.

I’ve still got to reinstate the missing trafficators, fit the white wing piping on the back to match the front and take the steering wheel and reposition it in the correct place. I also want to buy a decent, proper red carpet set from Coverdale, to replace the green household carpet in there.

It’s cost me a bit, once I’ve paid for the carpet set it’ll owe me around a grand but considering it’s now a £3-3.5k car I’m quite pleased with that. I could have done the repairs on the cheap but I thought it was worth sorting it out properly.

[Angrydicky]

21 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Smashing - looks like it was very local to me.  I must have driven by that fella's house in Biggleswade over a thousand times.  Small world. 

Keep up the good work; it's very therapeutic just reading it!

Cheers Dan, I thought it was from your neck of the woods. I picked it up from someone else in Biggleswade and looking at the old logbook it moved from London to St.Neots in 1966 and then to Bedford, then Biggleswade. It hasn’t moved far in the last 60 years!

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

As it turned out, not only did he know exactly what the radiator was from, but he actually had a recored unit on the shelf ready to go!

What are the odds? Well played.

[PhilA]

Re the radiator, possibly it was leaking before, the block was chock full of sealers and crap. Recore then allowed a large volume of flow and it all just immediately blocked the new rad core?

Given that, might be worthwhile pulling the head and rodding the block, a good chance to change the core plugs also?

[Angrydicky]

Over Christmas I gave the Princess a brake overhaul. I had stripped the brakes down a while ago after I noticed a binding caliper on one side. Although the previous owner had fitted new wheel cylinders and shoes on the back (and handbrake cables) all he’d done at the front was fit new pads.

When I took the brake master cylinder off I noticed it had been weeping for some time, but fortunately I’d just caught it before it breached the servo seal and started filling up the servo. The clutch master cylinder wasn’t leaking, surprisingly, but it was full of black sludge so it was only a matter of time. It had a broken spring inside it too.

I stripped the cylinders down and had them resleeved in stainless and rebuilt. I bit the bullet and forked out for a set of stainless steel pistons for the calipers. These are only available as they’ve been remade to cater for the OMG OSF YO market which use Princess calipers on escorts and stuff like that. I bought them and a good quality seal kit from Bigg red.

The slave cylinder was the very last nos one in captivity I purchased back in the summer and fitted with a new genuine kit.

Please ignore that dreadful fuel pump installation, the previous owner put it there as a backup in case the in tank pump failed to proceed. He said he had trouble with it randomly cutting out but I’ve done 1500 miles and it’s been fine, also the engine bay pump doesn’t seem to even be working as far as I can tell!

Reassembled with new flexis all round and bled the brakes. There is an interesting bleeding procedure as there’s three nipples per caliper, but I followed the instructions in the Haynes and it’s quite straightforward.

With the Princess back on the road I hadn’t intended to use it until the Spring but I managed to clobber the downpipe on the Rover crossing a ford in the Lincolnshire Wolds that probably should have been traversed by 4x4s only, and it finished off the fragile joint between the cat and the downpipe which has been an advisory for the last four mots!

So while that’s been off the road waiting for parts I’ve been using the Princess for work etc. There’s no salt on the roads I’m driving on but a hell of a lot of mud so the poor thing is getting very dirty, I’ll give it a good old wash at the weekend and get all the mud out of the arches etc.

I did take it to the first Langrick classic meet of the year on Sunday, not many old cars there but a few hardy souls turned out.

Theres not much letting the Princess down now, it runs and drives very well but unfortunately the heater doesn’t work and neither does the heated screen. So a bit grim to use in the winter.

The fuel gauge is also very erratic so I’m just topping it up every 100 miles or so and zeroing the trip meter afterwards.

[vulgalour]

your heated screen and heater *might* be down to an iffy fuse connection.  The connection for the fuses is crap, Every now and then I have to give mine a twiddle just to get the connection back, especially if the car has been stood a bit. 

You don't happen to have a lead on wiper blades do you?  I've been unable to find replacement side-peg ones that are compatible and the plastic adaptors I've been moving from one wiper set to another finally broke up on me.

[Angrydicky]

9 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

your heated screen and heater *might* be down to an iffy fuse connection.  The connection for the fuses is crap, Every now and then I have to give mine a twiddle just to get the connection back, especially if the car has been stood a bit. 

You don't happen to have a lead on wiper blades do you?  I've been unable to find replacement side-peg ones that are compatible and the plastic adaptors I've been moving from one wiper set to another finally broke up on me.

Good call; that might be the problem with the heated screen. Most of the switches in that little panel to the right of the steering wheel no longer worked when I got the car, lots of bad connections. As it was the summer at the time I didn’t bother looking at the screen!

The heater blower works but it just blows cold air. The controls were all seized as well but I did have them freed off and did have a bit of warm air but again that was back in the summer and now there’s nothing. I suspect a clogged matrix, the radiator was also clogged and the previous owner had it recored.

I’m in the same boat regarding wiper blades. The fella in the owners club just keeps telling me his supplier has no stock currently and he keeps chasing but no joy. It’s a bit of a weird profile as I tried putting a replacement insert in and that was far too thin. One of my blades is falling apart and I really need to sort this out soonish. 
 

 

[vulgalour]

I did consider modifying the original arms with hook ends off another set, just never got around to it because other things kept getting ahead of it.  Another thing that might be the cause with the heater (although unlikely now I think about it because the direction dial should push hot air up to the screen anyway) is the connecting rod for the centre vents has a habit of dropping off the back of the handle, I usually have to reattach mine once a year.  Use is the best thing with the switches, they seem so prone to getting damp into the connections and not working when the car is stood about even when the car is kept indoors.