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monkeytennis & jr: Condenser sounds very likely as we are getting a nice fat spark at the points and a weak yellow-orange flicker at the plugs, you've described precisely what we saw earlier but that I'd failed to describe above. Condensor has moved to top spot on replacement parts now to see if that solves things. Fingers crossed! Sounds very much like the condenser, in that case. And yes, you can get a very random almost-running-but-not-quite condition from a dead condenser - Ben711200's Fiesta had that when I looked at it. |
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djefk
Part of things
Posts: 844
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Mar 22, 2012 13:14:10 GMT
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I've not forgotten the Accuspark system, but if a £6 condenser can get the car moved under her own steam that's certainly much more in my budget than a £30 conversion. The distributor in the picture on the link certainly looks similar to what I have, but I refuse to look at the Princess today for fear of getting my head under the bonnet again and not getting any paying work done for another day in a row.
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Updating my to do list while it's on my mind. Been a long day catching up with non-Princess work.
Bodywork
> Get a quote for and repair the small hole in the driver's floor pan before the end of the year/MoT in September - have a willing welder, but will only get price on proper inspection.
> Cut and polish the existing paint, if possible - now have the materials for most of this.
> Finish painting the C pillars. - have the materials for most of this.
> remove the rear screen and treat any rust
Interior
> fix driver's door window mechanism - part sourced, just need to get the cash together for it.
Engine
> Buy SU carb rebuild/refurb kit (£40ish)
> Buy Accuspark ignition stuff to update current system (£30ish)
> Buy and fit new condenser (£6ish)
> fix blowing seam on exaust
> oil change and new oil filter (no idea when this was last done)
> possibly fit new thrust bearing/clutch kit. (£30ish for clutch kit)
> general health check before committing to any long journeys/regular use - Partially done.
> Distributor O ring needs replacing, source of leak.
> New spark plugs
> New spark leads and HT lead
> Possibly new coil (will decide on further investigation)
The only thing holding me back at the moment is money, or the lack thereof. I do hate it when customers mess me around when it comes to payments.
I eventually went with Performance Direct for insurance, they were offering me the cheapest policy with reasonable fully comp insurance at £170 for the year (£50 deposit, 9 monthly payments). The other insurers wanted the whole payment up front which, at the time, I couldn't afford otherwise I would likely have gone that route.
I have to have the Polo insured at the end of May when it comes to renewal to keep the Princess insurance valid, turns out you can't insure two classics and use them to lower each others policy price, which was a shame. I think the assumption is that one uses the classic as the fair weather toy, not the daily hack, hence the much lower premiums but also that one has a daily hack that's a fair bit younger to do most of the work.
The Polo will go on a supremely low mileage policy and I may revert some of the modifications - back on steel wheels and standard suspension - to bring his policy down and allow me to continue insuring the Princess for cheap. I can get agreed valuation (at no extra cost) on the Princess, but I want to make sure she looks cosmetically that little bit better and that I can get some really nice photographs before going that route as I want the best agreed value I can get for her.
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Mar 23, 2012 17:38:37 GMT
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rev: There's more evidence pointing at the condenser at the moment than at other items and if the manifold gasket has gone, then it's gone all at once with everything else. The plugs were healthy and clean when we first checked them and it's only after we've been trying to get her running that they've become sooty, but even the good plugs only produce a weak spark which again, points at the condenser because we get a big spark at the points... It's so frustrating not being able to just march out and buy a condenser so I can find out if that's what the problem is, but such is the joy of waiting for money to move around bills. ___ Today's update involves paint. The paint on the Princess is a bit of a Stevie Wonder special though you wouldn't know it from 50 yards. For all I was going to be tidying up the roof, I put that off in favour of seeing just how good or bad the paint on the rear quarter was. Crack out some wet and dry paper, cutting compound, polish, polishing machine and a bit of water. First of all, take back the rear quarter above the coach stripe with 1000grit paper. Didn't take very long.   To get a smoother finish, took it back again with some 1500grit. There's a lot of paint on the panel and the very top coat seems to be a different colour. None of the resprayed paint has been flatted back or properly finished.  Eventually (I have no pictures of the progress made) this bit was treated to finishing cutting compound, polish with the machine and polish by hand and came up pretty good. The colour doesn't have a lot of depth and the finish isn't perfect yet, but it's a lot better than it was and should take a coat of lacquer if need be at a later date. Moved on to one of the worst bits of paint on the car which was on the passenger door, again above the coach stripe. Tackled it first with 1000grit.  The panel has blobs or blisters on it, like the paint has been applied heavily or there was moisture contamination. On taking it back, the bumps turned into white spots that look like a spray filler or undercoat or both. Took a while to cut through them all and you can just make it out in this picture. I'll have to blend some new paint in here eventually.  Comparison shot fail. In person, it's much clearer which bit has been done but the camera seems to disagree.  This is the two passenger side doors. The front one is a very different colour, slightly greener looking in person, than the rear door which now looks much more like Champagne beige (at least more like the examples I've seen).  Much more polishing and effort later, I have the two bits I started as finished as I can get them. I don't know what paint has been used, but it's clear that it's had a blow over at some point in the past and not a very good one. I'm not sure, but I also think the rear passenger door has had a bump as there's a bit of a wibble where the door handle is and the trailing edge sticks out a bit further than the body. Of course, that could just be standard BL panel gaps.  Not come up too badly, all things considered.     I'm going to work around the car a bit at a time, rectifying the orange peel and blobs as I go. I'll then go back and catch all the bits that need fresh paint and any small dents and the like I find. It'll take a while, but at least it's not costing me anything since I've got the materials sat in the house for the job from when I was working on the Polo. I may need to get a new bonnet on the polisher, getting that brilliant shine on the smooth paint is proving difficult and it's either the paint won't come up because of whatever it is, I need to apply a lacquer coat, or some other reason I'm not aware of. After all, I'm not a pro, I don't know everything.
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Mar 24, 2012 20:05:31 GMT
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On the topic of Accuspark: it's the route I'm likely going in the long term, but in the short term I just don't have the funds to go that route and I needed to see if the condenser really was the route of the problem. So while I'm on the old system at the moment, I won't be when I've got £30ish spare to splurge on an Accuspark or similar system. Today's update can be summed up with this picture.  The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that in the top picture, the Princess is parked slightly differently and that there's no way a tow vehicle could have got her there. Those with some long-term memory still functioning will also recall she's too heavy to push up my driveway so surely that can only mean one thing. That's right, we fixed her! Party at mine later, bring some decent tipple. Dad was pretty awesome and got me a tube of Autosol for the bumpers and brightwork and a new condenser. This should have come to around £15 but for some reason the local auto supplies place (who nearly know me by name now) only charged a tenner... on purpose. Happy days. In a previous update I didn't show shots of the finished throttle cable, here's something to make up for that. Note that the airbox isn't fitted here as we were fiddling with settings and whatnot.  Fray prevention fitted this time.  With a new condenser now ready to be fitted. We took the distributor cap off to find this. The earth cable has very little sheath left and it's routed in such a way that it's free to short out on anything. That can't have helped.  We took out the earth cable, removed the tatty cloth sheath and checked that it was still in good enough condition to be reused.  Once it was wrapped in electrical tape it was reinstated in a tidier way, the condenser fitted and everything put together.  Another attempt to start the car was more convincing, certainly she tried every turn of the key now rather than once every three or four attempts and then not at all. So the initial verdict was that the condenser had been faulty, but that things still weren't right. This is what we saw to begin with. Dad has done some work on this type of engine with an old bright yellow Morris Ital estate he had in the late '80s/early '90s and he set about with his experience to show us how to sort out static timing.  First of all, we lined up to the white marks but if anything this made things worse.  So we consulted the book and using Dad's experience and the wisdom of the BL manual, we ended up here instead. More fiddling, more book consultation and I think this is where we ended up, but we might have moved it further, I haven't got a picture to back up what happened either way, but suffice to say we got it where it needed to be.  The Distributor was relocated with the vacuum chamber at 45 degrees angle to the bottom left and the rotor arm at 1 o'clock. Pushing the distributor into the head turns the rotor arm to between 2:30 and 3:30 precisely as the book instructs. Timing set properly. Suddenly, we were bolting things together and turning the key and, allbeit a little lumpy to begin with before we reset positions of fiddly bits and pieces like the mixture screw on the carb and a tweak of the distributor to get the timing fine tuned, the Princess fired back into life. What glee! Tinged slightly with suspicion as we listened to the engine, sniffed at the exhaust, tried the revs a little bit. All seemed well, the engine sounded smoother and quieter than before, so we risked rolling her back off the drive onto the lane. Still no trouble. So my brother (who was at the helm, he loves his old Austins) pulled her back up the drive with considerably less revs than we'd needed before and with greater ease. No scary smells or noises, no hiccups, no nothing. A bit of procrastination before we decided to take her for a drive. I did take the camera, but there weren't really any photo opportunities of sufficient interest. Decided to head over to an old fashioned classic-friendly MoT and maintenance garage in Whaley village where they have a nice flat forecourt and a friendly owner. Shop was shut up when we got there but it did give me chance to have a proper look underneath. No leaks, no smells, nothing untoward. Car sits level all round and doesn't run on. How odd, she's being reliable. Headed back and opened up the taps a bit, scared some oncoming traffic on the narrow roads and apart from an occasional squeak from the exhaust which I need to reseat, all was well. How rare! Today was a good day to be an Austin Princess owner. Tomorrow... well, we'll have to see. |
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Mar 25, 2012 21:00:03 GMT
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Today I headed out to collect a run for Mister Bunny and to see some friends for a meal over in Sheffield. This was a good plan. Spent an hour or so quickly washing the car and reinstating the bottom half of the dash after we'd removed it for doing the throttle cable. This in turn tidied up some of the wiring since it now sits out of sight a bit better. Then headed over to the petrol station and dropped a tenner in the tank, was told by the cashier that she was admiring my car... must be something about people in Clowne, that's the second time I've had a compliment at that petrol station. Headed home to get a few supplies and then off out onto the Motorway. All was well, no issues apparent, but I wasn't being complacent. This is a Princess, I was expecting trouble, but I wasn't expecting when it struck. 80mph overtaking in the fast lane of the M1 suddenly the engine pops and farts and I lose quite a bit of power, the fuel pump makes some untoward sounds and I feel like I'm driving on one cylinder. I ease off and make my way to the slow lane with the engine gradually popping and farting less and picking up the lost cylinders. For safety's sake I pull into the nearest service station and ring my Dad, whose phone is engaged. I pop the bonnet, have a look and a smell and a listen but nothing at all is amiss. Get back in and fire her up and there's no problems, it's as though the incident never happened. I press on, not exactly fearless but more determined that this will not stop me enjoying my day out. When I rejoin the motorway I stick to a more sedate speed range of 56-72mph and do a bit of streamlining behind lorries to save petrol because I'm both tight and poor and the problem does not resurface. If I put my foot down a bit the engine responds smoothly and healthily, if I back of I get a likewise positive feedback. Very, very odd. I eventually reach my destination and manage to parallel park in a gap just the right size on one of Sheffield's infamous narrow and steep roads. Cup of coffee and a chinwag and we decided to load up and go collect the rabbit run. Get in the car, turn the key... doesn't fire. Try some more and manage to flood it. Hop out and consider calling the break down people, think better of it and call Dad. It's worth pointing out that the engine was getting fuel, and wasn't behaving like it did before we did all the work, it was just like she didn't want to catch. Dad couldn't help this once so in desperation I popped the distributor cap off and sanded the slightly dull looking rotor arm and contacts inside the distributor cap. Put it all back together and tried again and she started. Left the car running for fear she'd stop if I changed anything and rang Dad to tell him disaster averted. Dad said it might be condensation in the cap or a hairline crack, but that it still seemed a bit odd. So, we headed off to get the rabbit run, which was a couple of inches too long to go in the boot. Just as well I'd taken my roof rack then. Allowed me to get some excellent shots of the Princess loaded up, just like she might have been in her youth.    All loaded up, bit of a chinwag with some other friends I've not seen for ages and we get in to set off. Turn the key, one aborted attempt to fire and then nothing. Off with the distributor cap again, but there's no obvious wear. I use the sandpaper anyway, just in case, put everything back together and get in and she fires up grudgingly at first as though she's only on three cylinders but then perfectly fine. We set off and I'm getting very wary now and worrying about getting home, but I press on regardless, there's not much I can do about it. We arrive back at the first friend's place for pie related noms which is thoroughly enjoyable. I even found something old and red to keep the Princess company.  I was dubious when it came time to setting off home that the car would work at all. By now it was dark and a bit nippy so it was with some trepidation I got in. I did notice more old tin had joined the party.  So I sat down, I put the key in the ignition and expected to fail. What I didn't expect was for the Princess to fire up straight away with no issues, no popping or farting, no misfiring, nothing. She was fine and sporting no issues whatsoever. Cautiously I pulled away and nothing was wrong. I got all the way back home without incident in comfort and some sort of style. So what was all the fuss about earlier? I have no idea, I'm thoroughly perplexed and I suspect I've got an electric gremlin that I'll evict as more service parts are updated and corrected. Best of all, I did 55 miles today on just under £10 of fuel, even with a rabbit run on the roof, so my mpgs are pretty healthy too. What a peculiar day. |
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Mar 25, 2012 21:26:56 GMT
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The starting sounds eletrical - possibly a breaking-down kinglead (the HT lead between cap and coil), since you disturbed it every time you took the 'cap off.
Lack of go after sustained high-speed/load sounds a little like fuel starvation to me - sometimes there's enough fuel flow available for 50-60mpg, but not quite enough for 80. It'll be fine for a while, until the level in the float chamber drops drastically - and then it'll be fine again for a while once re-filled. However, I'd concentrate on the ignition/starting issues initially: you might find that this problem magically vanishes once that's all reliable.
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Mar 25, 2012 21:34:35 GMT
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Got to love BL cars for their ornery nature! Just part of the experience... With some good luck and a following wind you may get to the bottom of the problem while you work through your service list, its effectively being recommissioned after all. There's a good article on good practise in this months Classics Monthly - worth a nerfarious browse! |
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Mar 25, 2012 21:41:37 GMT
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jr: It felt a lot like fuel starvation too, quite scary at first because I dropped speed like I was standing on the brakes and the fuel pump was rattling away like there was nothing in it until I was down to about 50-60 and it picked up like normal. Dad's on the lookout for a correct pump for me which I'm hoping will resolve this. Ignition is my main concern at the moment, and I'd not thought that disturbing the cap could mean the HT lead is a bit dead, that does make sense. The good thing is that the engine, underneath the niggles, pulls like a train and is giving me no cause for concern, if I hadn't reversed into a grass verge and dislodged my exhaust she'd perform even better, I'm sure.
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Mar 25, 2012 22:59:18 GMT
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Is the hole in the filler cap clear to stop it building up a vacuum in the tank as the petrol level drops, that will cause a loss of power like you describe.
Can't really remember the tank breather arrangement on the Princess but its worth looking at, a quick check is to take off the cap after a hard run, if air wooshes in it's blocked..
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Mar 25, 2012 23:21:31 GMT
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I had not thought about that, but it might make sense. When I put petrol in the cap had vacuumed somewhat and on removal, did suck in a bit of air. I'll check in daylight, I wouldn't have thought to look at that.
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To Do List update again, mainly for my own reference really.
Bodywork
> Get a quote for and repair the small hole in the driver's floor pan before the end of the year/MoT in September - have a willing welder, but will only get price on proper inspection.
> Cut and polish the existing paint - made a start.
> Finish painting the C pillars. - have the materials for most of this.
> remove the rear screen and treat any rust
Interior
> fix driver's door window mechanism - part sourced, just need to get the cash together for it.
> find a better brown steering wheel
Engine
> Buy SU carb rebuild/refurb kit (£40ish)
> Buy Accuspark ignition stuff to update current system (£30ish)
> fix blowing exaust
> full oil change (6 litres) and new oil filter (£30-50ish)
> possibly fit new thrust bearing/clutch kit. (£30ish for clutch kit)
> Distributor O ring needs replacing, source of minor leak.
> New spark plugs
> New spark leads and HT lead
> Possibly new coil
> Possibly new fuel pump
> Possibly new distributor cap
Misc
> Tracking (not showing signs of being off, but would be reassuring to get done)
> Wheel balancing (lost a weight on one wheel)
> Buy new bushes for selector box to eliminate unwanted movement
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Hopefully today's exploits will continue to entertain. I wasn't planning to use the car for a while, but a job came up that only I could help with since I'm the only one with a roofrack/car suitably shaped. But first, some other things. I like some of the tat this car came with like the silly No Smoking sign on the dash and the Fasten Your Seatbelts sticker that was originally on the glovebox, but I only got around to reinstating the latter recently and the former is firmly attached to the dash I doubt I'll ever remove it.  My job was to collect some lengths of wood and a door that was formerly a cat run that my Dad had built about 14 years ago, but which was now surplus to requirement. My brother is repurposing the wood and door as a Guinea Pig run for their rescue concern (19 piggies and counting). The wood was too long to go in the boot of my Dad's Lexus, there was no way it would fit in my housemate's 107 and my brother is still looking for a car. So I was the only one available with a car and a roof rack that could do the job. Now I know I shouldn't be doing treks and things until I have everything sorted, but family is family and the petrol was being paid for so that was that. At my parent's we got use of their hosepipe jetwash thingy to clean out my arches because I've found it surprisingly difficult to locate a garage with a jetwash locally, so it wasn't an entirely wasted journey. Princess was behaving herself too. Popped the bonnet to check the oil because it appeared low in Sheffield but is now back to normal... that's an odd thing none of us understand but I'll be doing an oil and filter change anyway pretty soon so it's not a big issue. Dad informs me that what I thought was just general greb on the distributor cap is actually more likely a lot of Easy Start. Probably connected to the somewhat whimsical attitude the Princess has towards starting first turn of the key.  I'm also aware of this bit of chemical metalwork which, while not pretty, certainly shows no sign of causing problems. It's low priority at the moment but is going to be up for replacement eventually.  Some research was done and it was found that my fuel pump is for much smaller 1100 and 1300 engines, which would go some way to explaining the conking out on the motorway issue I had.  Nothing else is really amiss under the bonnet, everything is as it is and the Princess is as un/reliable as ever. I'll just plod along and replace bits as and when, we'll get there. Light or no use until stuff is sorted though. I turned my attention instead to the speakers which I now know are a pair PYE ones to match the tape deck. The one on the left has been updated, the one on the right original.  After cleaning the interior, the speakers no longer stuck to the parcel shelf and knocked their covers off from sliding around. Eventually we unplugged them and I set them aside for sorting out which I've now done. One of the paper cones was fine, but the other isn't and no longer works.  Stripped it all down. Checked that these are the same 4ohm rating as the Panasonic replacements.  Offered up the new speakers to find they're a bit deeper and foul the casing.   But since the casing is plastic the locating legs have some movement, so I just screwed the speaker down and hoped it would fit... which it did.  Then I had to undo it all because you can't get to the spade connectors for the wiring.  Relocated, job done.  You know what, I don't even think you'd know these were modified unless you picked them up and turned them over. I'm very pleased about that.  There was a pleasant happenstance when in Bolsover (had to get a few bits from the shop) when I managed to park next to the fanciful Micra - we call it the Moocra - with a cow theme. It's a great little car precisely because it's so daft and the only car I'll allow to have those ridiculous eye lashes on.   That was my day. Didn't get any proper work done though >.> |
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Today I have mostly been melting. It has been a glorious day and Mister Bunny has thoroughly enjoyed taking possession of his new office. I do find that if I rub my face on things, the same rule of "This is mine now" doesn't apply.    So that was the gaffer happy, which meant I could turn my attention, eventually, to the Princess. But to be honest, I just felt all mnyeh today so there was much flopping around and doing very little and watching Mister Bunny being a rubbish mower. First of all, we must go to yesterday. I've discovered that the Princess' reluctance to start on occasion can be resolved by just continual trying of the key and sometimes all the revs. So yesterday I tootled down to Dad's to talk engines (he's LOVING the Austin and I can't say I blame him, it's a great car to work on). I think I need to replace the engine/gearbox mounts, it might help reduce some of the interior mirror vibration and dashboard squeaks at idle.     We then looked at the wiring bodge for the fuel pump and tried to decypher the labels. Eventually, we did figure out what does what and it can all be safely and sensibly removed and reverted to something like factory again.  I've mentioned previously that Dad used to have a bright yellow Morris Ital estate. That Ital had the same 1700 O series that my Princess does and ran a mechanical fuel pump. My Princess has a blanking plate where a mechanical fuel pump can go and a new mechanical pump is only £20 delivered, as well as having none of the interference issues of the electric version and pumping more fuel the faster the cam rotates, effectively. Off with the blanking plate to check if there's a lobe in the right place. Without flash.  And with flash. My camera is a useful tool for seeing the bits that are hard to see at times, this being a case in point.  There is a cam where needed, the mechanical pump bolts straight on and all that's needed is to cut a little bit of soundproofing away from the underside of the bonnet (in theory) so it should be a good, O series suitable, fix.Originally, the Princess ran on an in-tank fuel pump but since I can't seem to find these new and I don't particularly want to disturb it for fear of ending up with a leaky tank, I'm leaving well alone for now. The original pump is located thus.  Attention then turned to the fuel cap which we weren't sure of the workiness of. Turns out it's fine, but it's good to know how these things work. This is the back of the cap.  Inside is a ballbearing and a pivoting valve which we discovered is actually fine. My previous fears of the tank vacuuming a bit are unfounded, what it's doing is normal as far as we can tell.  So on to today. On starting the car to move her a bit on the drive to be easier to work on there was a rather loud backfire on starting. We looked under the bonnet and found that the fuel drain hose from the carb had burst along what looks like an old split. The hoses are on my in-head replacement list, they just got moved up a bit now. My picture of it is gone, but that hose is now replaced with a brand new clear reinforced hose.  While we were looking at hoses, we cut off the squashed bit of overflow pipe from the coolant bottle and rerouted it in a less stressed and easy path so the green pipe won't get squashed again. Must remove the red paint from that lid or buy a replacement, looks scruffy.  We then noticed (well, I had noticed it before but not really registered it) the lack of jubilee clip on one of the radiator hoses. It was steaming a bit.  Dad gave it a bit of a prod and water came out.  So we put a new jubilee clip on that too. This hose will get replaced once I've bought a new length of suitable hose.  To stop this entry being too long, I'm going to stop here and update in a tick with bodywork we did today. |
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Second part of the update, concerning bodywork. Due to my long term wrist injury I'm not confident at all with electric drills, my sporadic tendency to involuntarily let go of things or for my hand to cramp means they're quite a dangerous thing to use lately, I'm really hoping this is something that goes away eventually. So I gave Dad the drill so he could remove the rivets holding the trim clips on the driver's C pillar. This pillar has been letting the side down since I removed the vinyl, but I've not had chance to do much about it.  With that all tidied and as much of the scraps of vinyl removed as possible we could move on to other things. Tomorrow, providing the weather continues to be nice, I'll be preparing this panel for paint. Later still, I'll be getting someone to help remove the rear screen and do any remedial work required underneath, as well as removing the last remains of the vinyl trim. This is not something I want to do on my own and ideally will be something I do once I have both a spare screen and some new chrome insert trim to finish the job off smartly. The next job was to get the boot ready to be painted to match the C pillars. Learning from the side trims, we carefully prised the plastic end caps off and then tried to slide the aluminium trim free. However, no matter what we did, the trim wouldn't budge, so I risked getting a screwdriver and prising the trim free of the clips. This is risky, because it could bend the trim, but as it turns out the trim clips were so rusty they broke and deformed rather easily, having got stuck partially to the shiny trim.  Eventually, after some rather nailbiting firm-but-gentle persuasion, we got the boot lid trim free without damaging or bending it.  Looks like it needed off too, rust was just setting in unseen.  Next to remove that vinyl. This was surprisingly difficult, as we started to get an edge to lift it behaved a lot like it was metal. That was odd, why would a vinyl trim behave like metal? We opened the boot and tried to pry it from the back, eventually freeing it in one clean sheet because...  ... it actually is metal! Looks like pressed tin plate painted to look like vinyl. Only British Leyland would have a real wood dashboard and an imitation vinyl exterior trim! With the trim free, we could assess for damage.  A lot of dirt, some surface rust around the original trim clips and a bit of rubbing to the top part of the bootlid that hadn't rusted yet. In addition, a fair amount of road muck trapped.  Overall, not too bad. I wouldn't have liked to have left that for more than a couple of years though, the tin worm could have really bitten in here. I gave it a quick wash to better assess what I had.  What become clear very quickly was that the rear quarter and door I'd worked on before is down to the original paint because on the boot lid the paint under the trim matches, but where the trim wasn't it's the weird, slightly green and very shiny paint.   The Princess is a bit heavy, we know that, but she seems intent on recreating Continental Drift in miniature with my driveway.   Tomorrow, I hope to get the driver's side C pillar and boot lid top keyed back, rust treated and primed. If I'm really lucky I'll also get some metallic top coat on which should really smarten the back end up a lot. Sometimes I think all these jobs I'm doing point at a bad car but really, it's a lot of niggles and general maintenance that's gone unobserved for so long that it's adds up to one big job. Take the interior as a prime example, I could just have thrown it away and started again but by spending three weeks cleaning it I now have a respectable, habitable interior that while not perfect, is certainly good enough for me until I can afford to spend a lot of money retrimming in there sympathetically. What has caught me off guard is just how much I'm enjoying this car. I knew I'd like her, but I never expected to like her this much or to be having so much fun driving and working on her. Even the increase in mpg over the Polo, the clunky wide-gated gearbox and impossible rear visibility doesn't bother me. I think that the best I can say is that she has a certain je ne sais quoi. |
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mrj
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,662
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Mar 29, 2012 18:09:17 GMT
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great progress, i always had (and still have) a soft spot for the Princess/Ambassador , it looks like a hatchback version of the Ro80 or K70 .... shame they are hard to find over here ....
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- 1971 VW 1600 TL Fastback
- 1978 Passat GLS Variant
- 1980 Audi 100 5E
- 1981 VW aircooled panel van (sold)
- 1983 VW Jetta Mk.I
- 1984 VW Polo Coupé
- 1984 VW Passat hatchback
- 1987 VW Passat Variant
- 1987 VW Passat hatchback
- 1988 VW T25
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Mar 29, 2012 19:40:07 GMT
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I think I got lucky, in all honesty, they're not usually the easiest car to find over here. I don't know how popular they were on the continent but I don't expect they sold in big numbers. ____ Spent more time than I meant to on today's job, and not as much time as I needed to. Progress, however, has been made. I decided that I should make use of the materials I have and get cracking on making the back end of the Princess look a bit more presentable, I've not been that pleased about driving around with one manky C pillar and after removing the trim yesterday, I knew the boot needed treating sooner rather than later. First job was to tackle the worst of the overspray on the roof from the bad masking I'd done previously. The whole roof is getting cut and polished anyway with a few stone chips needing some new paint blending in at the same time. The paint I haven't removed will likely get painted over or cut back further when I do this bit properly. I was going to sort it out today, but I didn't have enough daylight.  There was then the long - much longer than expected - job of cleaning off the glue from the driver's side C pillar. Eventually, with the help of a craft knife, paper scraper and turps I did get there, but this ate up a lot of time. I gave the whole thing a flatting back with some wet and dry paper and buzzed a couple of trouble spots with the wire brush to clean them up.  The boot lid was given the same treatment.   Then that was treated to some Kurust. Reassuringly, there wasn't a huge amount of rust here, just some surface squiggles.  Alarmingly, when I was cleaning out the loose crud from this corner of the window seal, the tool I was using disappeared into a hole. I think that the corner of the rail the rubber attaches to may well have rotted away, probably from water getting stuck in there thanks to the vinyl trim I removed. I don't have the funds to rectify the rust hiding under here so, much as it annoys me, its going to have to wait and I'll just keep an eye on it.  In the meantime, I cleaned it out the best I could and put a good splodge of Kurust in the gap in the hope that it will slow things down a bit so it's not as bad when I do repair this bit.  While I had a bit of Kurust left in the pot, I dumped some in the gutters too. The gutter rails have been brush painted before and some rust staining is showing, the Kurust will put a stop to that and I'll deal with it properly when I sort out the paint on the roof.  This little yellow gadget is excellent. No more spray-can finger cramp for me! I've had it ages, I can't even remember where I bought it, but if you find one get it, life with aerosol cans is a lot easier.  This is the nearest thing to a ball gown this Princess will ever wear. Took a while to get everything masked up, as it always does, and I ran out of masking tape. But I got the boot lid and C pillar with two coats of red oxide and mostly smooth enough for top coat. There's a few niggles still to rectify, but overall it looked smarter.   Time really was getting on at this point so I had to get a waterproof coat on the red oxide. I don't like rushing a job like this, but equally I didn't want to leave the primer exposed to the elements to absorb moisture and feed the tin worms.    Oops, missed a bit.  It looks a bit stripey, but at least it's waterproof and a lot smarter than it was.  The colour split follows the line of the original panels and will be finished off with the original trim I removed, repainted to match accordingly.  Still need to spend a few more days cutting back the paint, applying more coats and then properly lacquering and polishing it, but I'm much happier with how things look now.   There's a lot of paint to sort out on this car, so many little bodges to put right. With the beige on the rest of the car, I'm going to get it looking smart and just blend in any bits that go through to bare metal or undercoat rather than going for a full respray. I like the idea of letting her show her age a bit but in a cherished rather than neglected way. Eventually, I'll probably get a proper respray done, but that's massively low priority. |
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Mar 30, 2012 10:29:16 GMT
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I think that looks tremendous sir, and that's just after one coat... When you've built the layers up and given it a damn good buffing that will look spot on! I must say as a fan of all things 70's a vinyl roof is a bit of a must but the horrors they can hide can very well cost any owner dearly (and can also claim the life of an old motor!)... What you've done is a safe, sensible, yet damn good looking (it works so well) alternative and I doff my cap to you... This is such a nice car and it's getting well looked after to boot...  I cannot wait to see more updates... |
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Mar 30, 2012 23:13:59 GMT
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I'm trying to keep any mods subtle, as close to a factory look as possible unlike the Polo. Getting rid of the vinyl was a must, as I thought it might be on this one given the damage. I think I've caught it early enough, even though it's given me remedial work to do. Thanks to the old wrist injury my hand has been spazzing out like an octopus hugging an electric eel so I've not been able to do much of anything today. However, my inability to work doesn't stop me from getting stuff done on the Princess! Queue my Dad and my brother, who seem to have caught the BL bug. Today's update is about fuel. The first bit was to put the in-tank additive lead pill things into the tank. I've had so much conflicting info about whether or not my engine runs on unleaded I thought rather than risk it, I'd go with the advice that these things actually help. Good for 100,000 miles or 10 years, whichever comes first and since I'm unlikely to top 6k a year I'm guessing it'll be renewed in 10 years time.  Then, to fit the new fuel pump Dad bought for me (did I mention my Dad is awesome?) we had to take a trip out to Rimmer Brothers (RB) in Lincoln to get a spacer, not to mention having an opportunity to quizz the staff about what bits I can get for the Princess (turns out, not a huge amount). Ribs were tickled and jokes were made, thankfully not being able to take the beige bus too seriously usually results in pretty excellent customer service. I did want to go to RB in the Princess but with the reliability issue and the lack of petrol - not to mention lack of funds and lack of places to buy petrol, the station next to RB sold out while we were in there! - we took the Lexus instead. There are few finer sensations than driving past queues of fuel panic-buyers in a 4ltr V8 with plenty of fuel in the tank. Part bought, plan to return for some poly bushes for the gearbox, we headed home and saw station after station with 'no fuel', 'no diesel' and 'no petrol' boards out. Some of the bigger stations like Sainsburys and Tescos had professionally printed boards, but the smaller chains mostly had marker pen on paper ones instead, I'm sure some sort of commentary about money and business was evident with this. So, as a refresher, this is where my old too-small pump was fitted, an upgrade part for things like Morris Minors, Morris 1100s and MG Midgets. Not only is the pump too small, and conks out when any sort of demand is put upon it, when we removed it we found out it was mounted upside-down. Well done!  The new pump was not recommended online, it was found through some lateral thinking and research and confirmed suitable by RB. There's a blanking plate on the head of the Princess version of the O series where a mechanical pump is fitted on the Ital. We could find no reason against fitting a mechanical pump which was cheaper and easier to source than an in tank pump (as originally fitted) and plenty of reasons to get rid of the inadequate pump fitted by someone in the past.  Smart thing it is too. We got a thick rubber mount for it from RB which spaces the pump correctly. The pump is operated by a lobe on the camshaft which means the more the cam spins the more fuel is pumped. Two longer bolts were got to secure everything and it all bolted in tidily. There's a (factory) hole in the soundproofing that gives clearance for the pump too and nothing fouls anything. This seems like a rather good idea.  Once everything was bolted up, the blue pump removed, we decided to have a go at starting her. Bear in mind since getting her I've had starting issues, normally having to wait for the fuel pump to go quiet and the sit turning the key for a long time before anything happened. Additionally, it was cold so I wasn't hopeful much good would happen. We can but experiment with these things, and Dad was confident in his research so we turned the key and instantly, this happened (clicky video). Note the exhaust is blowing at the downpipe, we need to drop, clean and reseal the whole system.  I was amazed. The engine has lost the occasional pop and fart, the noise of the old electric pump is obviously gone. The engine revs more freely and shakes less. We turned her off, turned the key and she started first attempt. We let her get a bit of temperature in the engine, turned her off, waited for things to cool down, turned the key and she fired first time. It was... miraculous. Suddenly, I had a reliable first-turn-of-the-key start. After some looking and listening we finally understood what was causing the problem even though it had been staring us in the face for a while. The previous upside-down electric pump was not only under capacity but had been air locking, which was giving inconsistent fuel feed to the engine, thus causing a lot of the poor running. Thanks go to Dad for doing the spanner work, and my brother for lending an extra pair of hands when needed. I couldn't really do anything other than watch and learn. I'll be getting some fresh fuel hose to replace the old stuff to both smarten things up and replace worn old parts. Here's an updated To Do List: Bodywork > Get a quote for and repair the small hole in the driver's floor pan before the end of the year/MoT in September - have a willing welder, but will only get price on proper inspection. > Cut and polish the existing paint - made a start. > Finish painting the C pillars. - Base top coats all round, more coats and work required to finish. > remove the rear screen and treat any rust Interior > fix driver's door window mechanism - part sourced, just need to get the cash together for it. > find a better brown steering wheel Engine > Buy SU carb parts required (about £25ish) > Buy Accuspark ignition stuff to update current system (£30ish) > fix blowing exaust > full oil change (6 litres) and new oil filter (£30-50ish) > possibly fit new thrust bearing/clutch kit. (£30ish for clutch kit) > Distributor O ring needs replacing, source of minor leak. > New spark plugs > New spark leads and HT lead > Possibly new coil > Possibly new distributor cap Misc > Tracking (not showing signs of being off, but would be reassuring to get done) > Wheel balancing (lost a weight on one wheel) > Buy new bushes for selector box to eliminate unwanted movement (Rimmer Brothers probably have a suitable item, about £3-5 each in poly) |
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