project 1972 Vanden Plas Princess 1300 - The Forum Bike VP

[MiniMinorMk3]

2 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

As a kid we were told that Applejack was  specially commissioned by Appleyard* by one of the guys that work there. We believed him.
The Allegro colour that sticks with me is an Orange (Google suggests 'sunfire' or 'sunset' as possibilities but I an not that sure myself). I had a gig driving a 1300 estate badermatic (whooo!) for an elderly owner in our village who wouldn't go further than the paper shop if driving himself. As a 17 year old, getting paid to drive? Happy days.

* Leeds based (I think) chain of car dealerships who had a branch in Ayr.
 

The orange on an Allegro 3 would have been Vermilion.

Here's one I owned earlier.

[MiniMinorMk3]

15 hours ago, camryv6 said:

What about painting it Sand and Sable like a baby Rolls Royce ?

A similar colour combo was used on the Adam Adamant Mini.

 

As you have dark blue seats now then maybe the Rolls-Royce scheme of Silver Mink over Seychelles Blue would be suitable

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

Applejack a close second…

Admittedly, that does look more period appropriate.

[MorrisItalSLX]

You could of course go with a colour from the Leyland Australia range.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I suggest Plum Loco with stripes in Hairy Lime or just one of them.

That will make it stand out.

Plum Loco

 

Hairy Lime

[barefoot]

Can I just do a quick 'plus one' on a vinyl roof. They are ideal for cars without central locking as you can just chuck the keys over to the fair wife with not a care in the world. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

9 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Here's one I owned earlier.

That's the colour I recall - can you get a model 1300 Super, auto estate? That was the 'beast' I had the honour of driving

[Wibble]

10 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I might have a dash for a Princess in one of my lock ups. I'll go and have a look this week and see if it a 1300 version and not an Allegro version.

Please do, before @SiC sends me to an early grave🤣

[SiC]

Went out for a spin this evening with Mrs SiC. Didn't take any side of the road pictures as I forgot.

Interesting driving it and reminds me of my manual 1100. Just as slow (maybe slower...) but also at 40mph it's already in top gear and it's screaming it's head off at 50mph. Definitely 30-40mph is the engines comfortable zone. 60mph sounds like you're thrashing the guts out of it and takes quite a bit of time to get there. It's all good practice and experience for if/when I get an Austin 7.

I wonder if it might need a bit of a tune up and ignition timing checking. I did stick the timing gun on mostly to check idle rpm. Interestingly I got 950rpm on plug leads 2,3,4 but on plug lead 1 I got flicking between 1900 and 3400 at idle. Which suggests that cylinder one isn't firing quite right/consistently and confusing the gun. Maybe this is connected to the stumble at idle. 

Other things I noticed is that the revs drop right back when pulling up at a junction/traffic lights. Almost to the point where it stalls. I wonder if there is one of those silly poppet valves on the throttle flap that always causes grief. (I don't think there is a waxstat from memory)

The low idle on occasion I think is what causes some of the shifting issues into reverse. When manoeuvring around on the drive, I noticed oil pressure dropping to 25psi on the gauge. Given this should be regulated down from 100-150psi, it suggests the pressure is very low and possibly because the revs are dropping too low. No rev counter so I have no idea what it's actually at. Revving it up soon gets the pressure back to ~75psi on the gauge - so the pump and bearings must be reasonable. Just too low revs on occasion. Worse case it might just need a SU carb service/rebuild kit. 

Also finally got Mrs SiC driving it. Wasn't far (only a few miles) but she drove it just fine. Picture was when we were nearly home - I wasn't allowed to take one when we were further out !

You can see the concentration/fear on her face 😆

No idea why as I don't care too much if she did break it. But she fears that she will. 

[SiC]

21 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

BMC colours, brighter the better?  

Snapdragon surely...

 

15 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

Applejack a close second…

I do like both of these colours especially yellow. However Mrs SiC pointed out they won't paint over very well on a blue base! Plan is to key the existing paint and flatten to a consistent finish. Then paint over that. 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

but also at 40mph it's already in top gear and it's screaming it's head off at 50mph. Definitely 30-40mph is the engines comfortable zone. 60mph sounds like you're thrashing the guts out of it and takes quite a bit of time to get there

It's a long time ago, but my recollection is cruising 55 to 65, maybe relating to single or twin carbs. Screaming at 50 suggests a bearing issue- input shaft perhaps?

[tooSavvy]

7 hours ago, High Jetter said:

It's a long time ago, but my recollection is cruising 55 to 65, maybe relating to single or twin carbs. Screaming at 50 suggests a bearing issue- input shaft perhaps?

.... I assume this is the box in sump 🤔

🚙💨

[High Jetter]

I forgot this was an auto...

[Fabergé Greggs]

A quick reminder that the ADO16 I bought from @BeEP was perfect in every way, especially colour. 

[Andyrew]

Excellent to see Mrs SiC is getting involved 

 

 

[N Dentressangle]

If you do have any gearbox issues, the experts JPAT are only round the corner from you in Langford:

https://www.jpat.co.uk/contact.html

Think this is more than I ever wanted to know:

https://members.tripod.com/austin_america/id72.html

[SiC]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

If you do have any gearbox issues, the experts JPAT are only round the corner from you in Langford:

https://www.jpat.co.uk/contact.html

Think this is more than I ever wanted to know:

https://members.tripod.com/austin_america/id72.html

I forgot to say on here but I have a source on a 40k auto engine with gearbox that I can have for £75. Just need to figure how to lift up and dump into a car from Basingstoke to here. (Plus Mrs SiC isn't too happy with the idea of a third A-Series engine in the garden)

[MiniMinorMk3]

16 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

That's the colour I recall - can you get a model 1300 Super, auto estate? That was the 'beast' I had the honour of driving

Not a model one.

[Mally]

30 minutes ago, SiC said:

I forgot to say on here but I have a source on a 40k auto engine with gearbox that I can have for £75. Just need to figure how to lift up and dump into a car from Basingstoke to here. (Plus Mrs SiC isn't too happy with the idea of a third A-Series engine in the garden)

Buy it at that price. Hire a trailer if you have a tow ball on anything. Otherwise hire a van, but watch out for oil spillage.

 You need an engine shed.

[vulgalour]

For the leather repair, superglue is your friend on a tiny tear like that.  Start at the point furthest from the stitching and careful dot and hold the tear, try and get the glue on the torn fibrous bits rather than the nice face of the leather.  Needle and thread will likely cause the tear to get worse.  Ideally you'd take the cover off and put a bridging patch in from the back but that's a lot of work for such a tiny bit.

[MiniMinorMk3]

5 hours ago, tooSavvy said:

.... I assume this is the box in sump 🤔

🚙💨

The boxes used on rear drive BMC products had the three speed mentioned above. 

The Mini and ADO 16 cars had a four speed box.

 

 

There's a good write up about the AP 4-speed here. This is from the Austin Memories web site which is not secure, so you might get a warning when clicking on the link.

Mini-1100 AP Automatic Gearbox

 

My mothers first car was a Mini 1000 Auto. It was always amusing hearing the car go up the road and changing gear really quickly.

[N Dentressangle]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

I forgot to say on here but I have a source on a 40k auto engine with gearbox that I can have for £75. Just need to figure how to lift up and dump into a car from Basingstoke to here. (Plus Mrs SiC isn't too happy with the idea of a third A-Series engine in the garden)

I have an engine crane and a trailer...

[N Dentressangle]

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The boxes used on rear drive BMC products had the three speed mentioned above. 

The Mini and ADO 16 cars had a four speed box.

 

 

There's a good write up about the AP 4-speed here. This is from the Austin Memories web site which is not secure, so you might get a warning when clicking on the link.

Mini-1100 AP Automatic Gearbox

 

My mothers first car was a Mini 1000 Auto. It was always amusing hearing the car go up the road and changing gear really quickly.

Interesting.

That would suggest the auto should lower revving at speed with its 3.27 diff.

[tooSavvy]

2 hours ago, Mally said:

Buy it at that price.

 You need an engine shed.

Aye 😉

🚙💨

[Six-cylinder]

21 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Interesting.

That would suggest the auto should lower revving at speed with its 3.27 diff.

The handbook for my 1968 Morris 1300 Mk2 says overall gearing for the manual 3.65:1 and 3.76:1 for the Automatic so not much in it.

I can't find an exact data match to my manual Morris 1300 to be sure of the mph per 1,000 rpm, but 16.7 mph/1000rpm seems to be a common one. That makes sense peak power 5,250 rpm and listed top speed 88mph. I cruise at 60/65 mph and it seems happy at that.

[colino]

Isn't this Trafalgar blue?

[SiC]

Bit of an update. One that should have written a while ago but simply not had the time or energy to sit down and write it. 

I gave the replacement seats a good clean and also looked at how bad the seat membrane was.

It was knackered.

Foam was alright though 

Replacing the seat membrane involves pulling the seat apart and I didn't really want to do that while risking damaging the seat material.

Instead I shoved some upholstery foam in with a bit of wood to provide support.

Which ended up with a comical amount of bugle in the middle.

Taking the wood out made the bugle less of an issue but just less hardness to the seat. Tbh it's just fine and stops the original foam from bottoming out.

I then took the old ones out. These had actually a membrane in decent condition. But trying to get this out and fitted into the old would almost certainly be a massive fight without disassembling the replacement seats. Plus the membranes have lost a lot of their elasticity anyway.

Old seats fabric is knackered. I've put them on Facebook and on here if anyone wants them. No interest so far, so unfortunately they look destined to the tip.

Removing the seats is pretty straightforward. Four bolts - two front, two back. Driver's side has seat runner extenders on. Iirc Andyrew put these in as his mate he went to Scotland with was too tall for the full back position.

I also took some time to give the carpet a good hoover.

I was rushing to put the new ones in as my in-laws were arriving and I knew my FiL would want to have a go in it (he's insured on my classics). In the event, I didn't get it done in time.

After they left, things escalated quite quickly. 

I removed the seats again and ....

[SiC]

... decided to rip out the entire headlining and shoulders up of soft trims.

You can see the half arsed factory paint job where they didn't bother doing all the ceiling and other covered areas.

Rear view mirror was only the slightly fiddly bit of hard trim piece to remove. After a bit of fiddling I found I needed to remove this cover first and then the mirror could be pulled off.

I need replacement interior lights. The plastic chrome has completely buggered on all three. I did try chrome spray which has taken it from 1/10 to 2/10 and still looks shite.

The ceiling board I tried really hard to keep intact but it unfortunately snapped when trying to get it through the door aperture. Officially it should be removed through the rear window but sod trying to replace a window seal especially with modern rubber quality.

The top headlining was filthy. We did attempt to clean this with a Vax spot wash but all it achieved was loosening the adhesive between the two. 

I was fearful after that the backing material might have been asbestos. However it burnt pretty easily so I assume not? Felt like rockwool type material and itchy as fuck on the skin.

The side trims give an idea of how knackered the headlining was. I think a combination of moisture and mould deteriorated it. Definitely not worth trying to repair as there was nothing worth saving apart from the backing board.

This is the primary reason I did this job. Knowing replacing it would substantially improve the niceness inside the car. 

[Mrs6C]

The tear in the seat looks to be in the vinyl part of the seat cover rather than the leather part, so you may be able to use a bit of vinyl or vinyl patch, tucked in underneath and glued on both sides. You might do one side first and let it dry, then pull the two sides together and glue under the second one. A strip of duct tape on top should hold the sides together under tension, once they are pulled into position.

[Matty]

I'd like to propose an arrangement whereby I sell you one of my cars. You keep it for 6 months and repair every fault then I buy it back. Any interest in this offer Si, just let me know 😁