1981 Austin Princess - 11/08 - Sold!

[djefk]

When you showed the view into the back of the interior I really wasn't sure about that colour carpet but with the lovely job you've made of the dash it now matches the carpet perfectly so my "chi" is restored on that point.

I still think you're a bit of a nutter though vulg, we love you all the more for it!

[adam73bgt]

That darker wood on the dash works very nicely with the darker carpets and the red bodywork, top work

[Deleted]

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.

[Deleted]

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.

[Rich]

I didn't think these used LHM. I thought it was a kind of antifreeze stuff. No idea why. Learn something new everyday.

[Deleted]

I don't mean LHM, I went and auto-abbreviated there. Mind you, having said that, apparently you can use Citroen LHM for a firmer ride but I don't know how true that is.

[Rich]

Mar 9, 2014 18:30:41 GMT @volksangyl said:

I don't mean LHM, I went and auto-abbreviated there. Mind you, having said that, apparently you can use Citroen LHM for a firmer ride but I don't know how true that is.

LHM is a French abbreviation for hydraulic mineral oil. It's not a 'substitute' word for suspension fluid. I was wondering. I suppose you could substitute it, wonder why it gives a firmer ride though?

[fred]

Just stumbled across this thread, and by the gods, took me back to when I was a kiddywinkle
My dear departed Uncle Len had a beige Princess.
He was a shoe salesman, and I imagine it was his company car, back in 79 or so
I was 10 years old and he took me out in it with ma and pa, and it was the best thing in the world
I lay on the back seat, I think we went to Essington fruit farm, and spent the day picking plums n such
Thank you good buddy for bringing that memory back
I feel the need for a big wedge now

[Deleted]

rich: I found and bought some proper hydragas fluid, which doesn't have the word LHM anywhere near it. I blame my fling with a BX for this confusion and nothing at all to do with me being a derp.

fred: do it do it do it.

[Rich]

Mar 10, 2014 1:47:43 GMT @volksangyl said:

rich: I found and bought some proper hydragas fluid, which doesn't have the word LHM anywhere near it. I blame my fling with a BX for this confusion and nothing at all to do with me being a derp.

fred: do it do it do it.

I had a google, as I was curious. Hydrolastic fluid is for the best part water and alcohol with a few other bits in in small quantities to make it taste like liquid ass. So there you go. In hindsight I'd not ever want to put LHM anywhere near one, being oil based it'd probably do some 'orrible things to the pipes and diaphragms. Looked up the abbreviation for LHM as I know I can never remember it- LHM - Liquide Hydraulique Minérale (French: Hydraulic Mineral Fluid; Citroën)

[minininjarob]

   I had a google, as I was curious. Hydrolastic fluid is for the best part water and alcohol with a few other bits in in small quantities to make it taste like liquid ass

LOL!

I literally spat my lunchtime Scotch Egg at the monitor when I read that, then choked for a while! 

[Deleted]

It's a good description, quite possibly the least pleasant thing I've ever tasted after accidentally getting a mouthful when disconnecting a bit of suspension for the first time even though I'd been warned I'd likely get a face full.

[Smiler]

You got a full facial from a Princess? Now that's something not many people can boast about...

[shedvan]

Mar 12, 2014 12:38:10 GMT minininjarob said:

   I had a google, as I was curious. Hydrolastic fluid is for the best part water and alcohol with a few other bits in in small quantities to make it taste like liquid ass

LOL!

I literally spat my lunchtime Scotch Egg at the monitor when I read that, then choked for a while! 

Scotch Eggs and the Austin Princess? This thread is so chic.

[Deleted]

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 curse word 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.

[adam73bgt]

Sounds like it was just one of those days I'd been reading on the MG forums about some of the new axle straps not having any or as much webbing in them, I hope mine will be fine once I finally get round to fitting them haha

[djefk]

At least you've broken bits that are dirt cheap to replace, keep with it! You're just finding little bits of the car that were bodged by one or two uncaring previous owners. I for one would take the option of buying a car from you any day, seeing the attention to detail and resolve to make things right! Whoever gets this car when you've finished with it is one lucky mother, as is the car itself to have wound up in your hands!

[Deleted]

I know the new owner is going to appreciate the work, happily, and it's actually pretty gratifying to hear your positive opinion of my work, that sort of thing makes it all worthwhile. I wouldn't mind breaking things, but every item I break pushes the usability of the car further away. 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 a bother 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)

[Rich]

With stuff like broken Stubs on low pressure complements, I've over-drilled the remainder of the hole and carefully glued in a piece of pipe that's the right size. I've used plastic washer hose connectors before with one end whittled down to just a tube with no barb and glued them in place..

[Deleted]

I considered doing that, but it was just easier to get a pump for £3. I'll keep the old pump and probably do the repair on it so that I've got a spare. Not sure I CBA to actually do the brakes today, we'll see how I feel if this art block keeps hanging around.