1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

[grifterkid]

Sept 30, 2014 17:59:13 GMT vulgalour said:

I'm really happy with this...

And so you should be, it looks wonderful...

With regards to the rear number plate can a Rover 75 or Jag' X-type one be fettled to fit...?! Obviously if you can get a perfect sized one custom made then that'd be best but it's just a thought...

I cannot wait to see more Princess action but that Xantia is looking pretty slick right now!

[vulgalour]

grifter: Rover 75 plate is almost big enough, but the wrong profile by quite a margin on the sides. Cheers for the compliment too.


Some new niggles to report, the first being a blown bulb in the dash and the second being a fuel gauge that can't decide whether I have quarter of a tank or reserve only. I'll deal with it later. In the meantime I've decided to sort out the front number plate so I stay legal, I had this idea of using Velcro screwed to the front bumper like so.



Then apply to the number plate, couldn't remove the sticky tape as it was too well stuck.


et voila! Best of all it stays on and I can remove it to clean behind it. Yes, I am that sad.


Hunt for a custom oversized rear plate was fruitless as the plate needs to be very large. It's not the height but the width that's the issue, it's bigger than a Range Rover Sport rear plate! It did give me a superb accidental photo opportunity when looking for a parking space near Motorcool though.


Got back to the unit and gave her a much needed wash after applying my new Fido Dido stickers. The roof was grey with dirt.




The big annoyance is that I have tree pollen stuck to the paint again so I'm going to have to spend a while with the polishing compounds again to get this sorted. Most of it came off, but where the paint had only been polished a little bit the pollen has stuck like the proverbial to a bed covering.


Happy times otherwise though. Really pleased with how the car is looking and driving, you wouldn't know it had been laid up any more than overnight.

[vulgalour]

So I finally got the top coat on the dashboard done.


All about the details too. It bugged me that the insert here didn't match the dashboard, so I've rectified that with some careful masking, making it blend into the dash a lot better.


I've got to remove the dashboard from the car anyway to do the welding at the front and to investigate to see if I can find out what's going on with the water-in-the-vents randomness I get that I've never got to the bottom of.


Today, gave the Xantia it's first proper clean since moving up here. After being sat around getting covered in workshop dust, tree pollen and other detritus it was looking pretty rubbish. The quick wash it had made it look cleaner, but not clean enough so I spent 2 hours getting as much of the ingrained muck as I could off, it's now everyday-clean, but needs more work to be as clean as I want it.

I've got to get some touch up paint and rectify a lot of the minor paint issues on the car. A full respray is pointless because the paint is overall in very good condition, just needs some careful touching in. things like the stonechips on the leading edge of the bonnet.


This scratch on the front wing has been touched in before, but not as well as I'd like. Pretty glaring this one, and one that people point out to me more often than I'd like.


Fido Dido! Properly 90s wagon now.


You can just make out the wibble in this rear quarter. This is one of those bits of damage that keeps needing going over a few more times, the white makes it difficult to see the damage until the light hits it just so and then it jumps out very badly.


There's some dents on this front door too, but everytime I try and find them they disappear. I always seem to see them just as I walk past the car and they jump out badly. There's a similar dent on the rear door on the same side. Nuisance to repair, I may see if one of those dent-be-gone places can do it so I don't have to worry about the painting side of things. You can't even see the dents in this picture anyway, but you can see how well the paint comes up.


The roof panel is finally uniformly shiny. Needs more work yet to be as good as it ought to be, you can feel it's not quite as glossy as it could be, but at least bugs and dust just slide off now so it shouldn't attract tree pollen.


Lovely and clean, two hours later. Glass is one of the things that really makes or breaks a clean car, I like it so clean you can't see it or the sun shines off it blindingly. This glass is perfect now.




Rear number plate looks horrible, I absolutely must sort that out.

[VIP]

Vulgalour, you're holding out on us, this must have been a busy weekend for you.

[darrenh]

spots tow ball, strokes chin

[79cord]

It has a certain Princess aura to some details like the frt wheel arches too.
You could buy & cut some reflective yellow vinyl to go on another panel behind the number plate?

[vulgalour]

I love that appalling pink Xantia, and all its many guises for there have been many. Also, I've seen the yellow vinyl behind the plate thing before and it looks tacky, not for me in this instance. If I can get hold of a suitably sized piece of sheet and reflective vinyl for the plate I want, Motorcool have said they'll put the letters on and make me a legal oversize plate, so I have a couple of avenues to investigate on suppliers to see if I can do that instead.

It's difficult trying to explain why I'm being so picky about the number plates, everyone was telling me to just put bolts through the front plate and I could not (and still can't) convince them of why it had to be a fixing-free look. This car is all in the details, when I'm done you won't even know it's modified from stock... and one day I'll get some three-spoke alloys to really finish off the look.

[dodgerover]

Just buy a normal piece of perspex and cut to the required shape then apply suitable vinyl cut letters and reflective backing, its not going to be BS marked but to be honest as long as you choose a sensible or standard font and the correct size who really cares, I've never seen anybody check for markings on number plates at MOT time as long as they looked correct.

[dubbelduwwel]

One of the most attractive cars on this forum!
(My soft spot for Citroën helps! My first one was a '75 Club!)

[vulgalour]

I like you, dubbel, you can stay.

dodgerover, that's basically what Motorcool are going to do for me, but with the BS and whatever marks on it.

[stevek]

I'm liking the direction your taking with the Xantia, but please don't get too distracted from the Princess!

The Synergy wheel trims work well but are these worth a Photoshop?...

...sorry what was I saying about distractions

-Steve-

[Ian]

I Have done the same thing in the past with Velcro for a front number plate, I used external Velcro from B&Q on my old MR2 and it held on a speeds in excess of the national speed limit with no problems at all.

Those Nothelle Classics as Steve K has put would look very nice, and in keeping with the theme. I hope you manage to sort the rear plate out, after that we need some pictures with the suspension dropped!

[vulgalour]

I would like some Nothelles very much. I have never, ever, ever found a set for sale.

I'm not being distracted from the Princess though, I just can't do anything on her at the moment. Until the welding is done I can't really do anything else, and with the unit currently full of customer cars I just have to wait my turn. It'll happen though, there'll be a good couple of weeks of me just welding and welding and welding, I'm sure of it. Then I can focus on the mechanical stuff and maybe even some cosmetic stuff. I doubt the Princess will see the road again this side of 2015, unfortunately, I can't see where the time and resources are going to come from to achieve it at this point.

[MaxN]

As others have said, this thread and its predecessors are one of my favourite threads on here.

I borrowed a Xantia once to move some belongings form 'up north' to Hampshire, I did several trips and by the time it was time to return it to its owner, I really did not want to give it back. There was something special about it. I love what you are doing to yours....

As for Princesses, my old neighbour had a metallic blue once from new in about 1978/79 I think. From memory it was an HLS. He kept that car way into his retirement. I last saw him and the car in 2005 I think. I remember that it barely fit inside a standard sized garage at the time. I was a wonderful thing....

[vulgalour]

Throw away your coils, embrace the sphere! or something.

Today the Xantia made an unpleasant grabby manoeuvre in the clutch department, this is a job I've been putting off for the better part of 2000 miles so I've done well to last as long as I have. Rather than chance it further I forked out as much as I could on a replacement kit and when it arrives I have the joy* of performing what I'm told is a six hour job that involves a lot of swearing. I'll do the LHM at the same time, six litres of that arrived recently so I could clean the system through and hopefully resolve the brakes and occasional suspension hardness.

The MoT is due near the end of November so it'll be nice to get these jobs done ahead of that and it should drive even nicer than it does now. Amazingly, I've never done a clutch change before either, so I might as well get in at the deep end.

[blackpopracing]

Ha-ha, have fun!
You will love it.......not!

Like childbirth it will seem wonderful after your knuckles heal up

[vulgalour]

That sounds worryingly like the voice of experience there.

[blackpopracing]

Not on Citroens but clutches in general. None (except MKII Cavaliar) are easy.
If you have use of the 4 post lift it will be infinitely easier.

[vulgalour]

Sadly no access to a four post, but I do have access to and use of a scissor lift very similar to this:



Still better than doing it on the floor, or axle stands.

[georgeb]

Oct 15, 2014 19:49:46 GMT vulgalour said:

Still better than doing it on the floor, or axle stands.

Having done a LR Series 2A clutch on the gravel of a pub car park and CV joints on a Subaru at the same location, I can only agree with your sentiment!