1980 Austin Princess - 18/09 - Welding progress

purple velvet metallic is a mid 70's ford colour most often seen on 1300E escort & 2000E cortina.
black tulip was a dark purple BL 70's colour.

I can't go any lower, not sensibly, I'd never get over any bumps with the current engine and box set up.

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Today, my recently acquired mirrors turned up for the Princess a good week ahead of when I expected them to. My theory was with them being such a bargain, if they turned out to be good I'd fund them by selling the long necked chrome jobbies I was going to fit instead. Originally I wanted to mount them on the door, but I just couldn't see anything so on the wings they went. I prefer wing mirrors anyway. First job was to find out where the mirrors sat on the car so I could see them, this meant dismantling them a bit and then taping them to the bodywork. Using a bit of gaffer rolled up on itself seats the mirror onto the bodywork and a bit of tape holds them in the desired location. Bonnet clearance was tight on the trial fit, but I could open and close it without bumping anything, I wanted things to fit quite snug.


This allowed me to mark one mirror location, then measure the other wing so they both sit in the same place and drill the holes. Unfortunately, I had to enlarge the windscreen side holes a little on both sides because they fouled the bonnet by about a millimetre. The holes were giving a good coat of rust preventative to tide me over until I repaint/replace/repair the wings.




Dad popped out to see what I was up to, which was really useful for getting the mirrors bolted in place properly and checking clearances as I could do the heavy work and dad could do the light work of holding the mirrors in place. I think they really suit the car.






Visibility is even better than the original Tex door mirrors and once I move the passenger wiper properly I'll have full visibility out of the mirror on that side. The mirrors are both tinted, the driver's side more so than the passenger which will come in handy on motorways at night, and they have convex glass which gives me an excellent field of vision. My only problem is that whenever I get behind the wheel I get these little markers appear above pedestrians.

Nice touch, think I have pair of similar mirrors in my shed along with torpedo and Merc 114 mirrors which have all been on my car at some point. Amazing how many pairs or set of things you buy for your car before you decide what you want

On those mirrors, I've done some research and found a little bit of information out.

The mirrors are normally a satin black plastic case and were produced in the 70s by the Spanish company Reguvis. This particular model is the Sprint but wasn't a strong seller and as a result is not that well known or widely available. Original condition mirrors seem to go for about £30 a pair whether they're the plastic bodied ones like mine or the aluminium bodied ones that were also available.

I paid about a fiver for this pair and they have been poorly repainted in a purple (that I quite like) which could easily be removed to return them to the original condition. I'm not sure what I'm doing with them on that score, body coloured, satin black or chromed/polished would all work equally well with the rest of the planned changes for the car.

In other news, I'm going to have to fork out for a rebuild kit on the carb. Intermittently, it's throwing fuel out of the carb now that I've replaced all the old fuel pipes, sometimes in large enough quantities for me to be concerned about its location over the exhaust manifold. This is one of those jobs I was going to do eventually but not immediately as the carb wasn't giving me any real problems once it was set up but now it's been bumped up the list.

Other than that, there are no pressing concerns. An oil change wouldn't go amiss, neither would another coolant flush, and I'd like to get the suspension pumped up to where it should be as it has dropped further since my accident last year, the change in ride was noticeable on my trek to the MoT station, feeling a lot harder but not firmer, rather like when conventional suspension has minimal damping and soft springs, not a great sensation. But then it is effectively lowered nearly 2" at the front and 3" at the back thanks to hydro-sag so handling and comfort is going to end compromised at that.

Gonna look awesome!

Few things to report now. I've ordered the replacement part for the carb that will hopefully resolve my over-fuelling issue and at £6.50 it seemed rude not to. I also contacted Adrian Flux to chase up my quote with them as nobody else could come close; instead of £1000 to insure the BX, they quoted £730 for the BX and the Princess with the bonus of unlimited mileage and commuting and 60 day European travel cover. Obviously, I'm going for that as it's super cheap and a decent policy.

Buoyed up by some good news for once I decided it was high time the Princess got some attention, she's been very patient with me. The main job on my mind was to reconnect the bottom vents on the dash and relocate the wire that gets in the way of the blower speed slider. That didn't happen because I was SHAMED into cleaning the Princess who was looking decidedly down at heel.

Oh, and I put my nodding tiger back in, this time with some blu-tak under his paws to keep him from scooting around. If nothing else, he's creepy enough to stop people tailgating me.


Today I outdid myself on the cleaning and got the vacuum cleaner into the engine bay to suck out some detritus that was difficult to pick out. I have never done this before, it must have looked very strange to anyone watching. But she scrubbed up well and while the bonnet drank about a quart of polish it does at least look that bit tidier and feel that bit smoother every time I do clean it. I love this car, but not in a wanting-to-marry-it kind of way, I'm not that weird.


Problems next, obviously. Paint lift is happening all over the shop, it's worse on the bits of the car that are handled regularly, like the driver's door handle.


It's popping up in other places too, like the rear door handle on the same side.


Looks like someone has opened a door into me at some point too, I'm not sure when that would be, but the paint is lifting in a big sheet here and I'm loathe to prod at it. It's not so evident in the photograph, but water can get under the paint and that's only going to help it lift more. Disappointing.


I still haven't dealt with this door. I will, when I've got a working drill again and can clean it up properly. There's quite a lot of filler here, I'm not sure how much door corner is actually left.


More paint lift, this time at the bottom of the passenger A pillar. It's lifting all along the edge of the windscreen rubber which is itself disintegrating steadily.


Clearly, I didn't do a good enough rust-removal job on this pillar. I'll go back over it again, but this was the worst visible bit of rust on the car when I bought it and is much better than it might have been had I left the vinyl on.


That rear screen really is going to have to come out and I'm dreading it. Rear screens and rubbers aren't exactly commonplace, but more rust bubbles are appearing along this edge and I know it'll need doing sooner rather than later.


Finally, my dashboard let me know that while most of the telltales had responded well to my fix last year, the sidelight telltale decided it didn't like being all nice and has come unglued. I'll just redo this and put it back in the dash, quick and easy job.


In other, happier news, I've determined that I'm going to get some Mumford style murals applied to the flanks and dashboard insert eventually, I've got some ideas but until they're more concrete that's all I'm saying on the subject.

I used Kurust. If applied, removed and applied it does tend to deal very well with any rust apart from heavily pitted areas. The purple wing, which was completely stripped of paint, treated, stripped and treated again before getting several coats of primer followed by several coats of celly has stood up remarkably well compared to the acrylic on the C pillar.

I wasn't really that thrilled with the C pillar work, the paint particularly was like water and as you know I'm not a fan of spray painting due to the mess of it all. Ideally, I'd like to remove the rear window, repair the rust and repaint the C pillars in beige celly properly but it'll have to wait in the short term.

I'm wondering if it's worth peeling the loose paint off to prevent it from trapping dirt and moisture and causing more rust, I'm not sure what the best course of action is in my situation. I've got to focus on getting mechanical stuff done - oil change, brakes bled, new rear shoes, carb service &c. - before the cosmetic things and while I don't mind the shed-look I've got going on at the moment I don't want it to be the long term outlook.

Of the panels on the car, I reckon the rear window and the rear passenger door are the two areas in need of the most attention and will probably get said attention soonest to stop them deteriorating further. All a case of having the time and the money to do it well at the moment.

Is it best to leave the peely paint alone, or should I try and pick off the loose stuff and protect the surface beneath with fresh paint so it gets no worse?

The "tinkling flap" (Oo'er Missus) had a foam ring on it when new keep up with the fettling

YES to the nodding tiger...!!!!!!!!!!!!!