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It's nice to see the pictures are back on here...
So, how are things in the world of that most fantatic of BL wedges? I do hope all is fine and dandy?!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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jonw
Part of things
Can open a Mouse with a File
Posts: 768
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Great updates. I'd agree that your fuelling problem sounds like the float needle. Check the fuel filter as I've had the same caused by fine grit betting into the carbs and stopping the float needle seating.
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Suzuki SV650R The good
Triumph T20 The Bad
BMW G650GS The Ugly
Matchless G12CSR The Smokey
Toyota Hybrid One pint or Two?
Ingredients of this post
Spam
Drunken Rambling of author
Bad spelling
Drunken ramblings of inner voices
Occasional pointless comments
Vile beef trimming they won't even use in stock cubes
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right well it's the RR meet tonight in a short while so I'm not going to make a post just yet, but be happy to know adventures with the Princess are still pretty flawless. Snapshots later this week... and a new arrival.
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Time for an overdue Princess update, I think. What with my bandwidth getting exceeded on Photobucket, and then my PC imploding on itself, it's not the easiest thing to sort out. However, I'm borrowing a PC to make this and other posts and have my bandwidth back so we'll see how we go. Unfortunately, I can't show you the door bottoms after stripping them back and digging out lots of filler as those pictures are stuck in my PC for the time being, but I can show you what it looks like after I've painted them with red oxide of the non-porous variety.  Surprisingly, the majority of the wobbles and bubbles in the paint was down to excessive application of filler and fibreglass, with the exception of the trailing corner of the driver's door, there's a lot of good metal and some good repairs to all four doors. Certainly, they don't need replacing they just need unpicking, cleaning and rebuilding. I'm off to a local fabricator to get a quote on these repairs who is willing to do the work fairly cheaply because I've done most of the prep and don't need him to paint it all when repaired as I can do that myself. I did get one job done though. Since getting the car, the window regulator in the driver's door has had a couple of stripped teeth and didn't work properly. I finally had enough of it and had a stick welder to hand, this one in fact.  It's actually quite a good welder, but I think the best description I've heard is that "it's like trying to spoon hot butter into a badger's  ". After I'd built up enough good weld to have the rough shape of the teeth I started with masking tape templates to find out what needed building up more or not at all. Someone with more experience could have probably done this much faster, but I was on the whole enjoying the process.  Eventually, I had the rough shape and I used the masking tape on the unused part of the teeth to get a good template, transferred it to my welded patch and used the cutting disc to slot the valleys for the teeth.  Then it was a case of carefully reprofiling all the teeth until it worked again. Now the window goes up and down properly, I think one tooth is slightly wrongly profiled but not by enough to cause any hindrance to the regulator operation. The passenger window has started to show symptoms of stripping a tooth as well so I'll likely have to do that side eventually too. Biggest problem with updating the blog on the Princess is that nothing is really going wrong to need fixing. I've got rid of handling issues with the suspension being sorted out, the brakes now work properly including the handbrake which is very good indeed. It's like having a totally different car to the one I picked up all those months ago and I've just been enjoying using her every day. Annoyingly, I did get a parking ticket and while I did try to contest unfortunately the law means I was in the wrong without knowing it, so that's me £35 down on that one which I could do without.  There are some minor issues, it is an old car after all. My fuel guage, since getting the tank up to half full recently, decided that occasionally it should tell me I have no fuel and then be fine again. I'm guessing this is an earth or sender issue but I keep track of how much fuel has been put in and how many miles I should have so I'm not worrying too much. Twice, I've flicked the headlight switch and only had sidelights, but a dab of the brake pedal makes the switch work again. This is probably another earth problem but I can't replicate the fault to be able to reliably trace the issue. Back of the gearbox appears to be leaking a little bit of oil, it looks like the rubber grommet/bush that the lower selector rod goes into has worn. It's a difficult one to trace because everything is just covered in oil under there but I'm not losing a significant quantity to worry about it. In good news, the clutch release bearing has gone quiet, and while the clutch is heavy it's not worryingly so. At the same time the CRB went quiet, so did the engine and she runs and sounds a lot smoother and quieter. The gearbox makes a healthy and pleasing Austin whine, the exhaust doesn't blow and the engine has that faint sort of chuffling noise that a healthy O series is blessed with. Overall, Princess ownership is a happy, happy thing. Just wish I had more money/better weather to get the cosmetics sorted to match the mechanical side of things. Finally, the BX has gone due to terminal rot (sad times) and I've replaced it with a 29 year old soft top VW, because that's sensible. There will be a thread on the Golf when it gets here next Tuesday.  |
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Last Edit: Jul 2, 2013 16:10:34 GMT by Deleted
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you cannot post a pic of a golf with loads of other mk2 golfs around it and not post more info about the golfs owner!  MORE INFO NEEDED! |
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I can and I have  He's a Mk1 Golf specialist, he works on other cars too, but they're his main thing. He bought this one primarily for a few bits on it I don't want and I'm taking some bits he doesn't want but I do in return. The car is DIRT cheap but seems to be in really good order so it would be silly not to buy it. Most things Mk1 Golf you might need he probably has. |
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Bodyshops are sometimes quite frustrating with older cars. Since my brother and I had dropped his Rover off at one place - who ended up dicking him around and not doing the work - we visited a few other businesses to see if anyone would take the Princess doors on. The general opinion was that it wasn't worth it and they wouldn't touch it with a curse word stick which did take me by surprise a bit and I was all ready to go back to the DIY plan.
However, we went to see if the guy I'm buying the Golf from was about to organise some extra details for collection day and happened to get talking to the other businesses as said chap was out. One of the bodyshops works with one of the fabricators and after discussing what was needed and showing what I'd dug out of the doors and what needed repairing I finally got someone willing to do the work.
At first, they were unsure I'd be happy with the quote, I think a lot of people still think Princesses are 1990s money and owners don't want to spend the money on them. It was agreed that while only about the bottom 2" of the doors was damaged by rust, the bottom 6" were damaged by previous rust repairs and panel warp so that's what would need replacing. The fabricator on site was willing to make some door bottom skins for the bodyshop to use and they'll rebuild the inner frames and repair the skins on all four doors at £50 a door which I thought was quite reasonable.
I'll have to do the paint and finishing work, but that's good because I'd prefer to see the repair naked so I know what's been done properly. Each door will need to be removed from the car, stripped down and delivered to the bodyshop but that gives me the opportunity to sort things like the worn hinge pin on the driver's door and to get nice fresh paint on each door before they go back on the car.
Additionally, the work I'd already done on the front end was to my favour and the bodyshop guy said he could repair the damage on my front wing and make it look presentable for £120, all in and in primer ready for paint. Bearing in mind a replacement metal wing is usually £150 before fitting and paint I thought that was also very reasonable and was very happy. I didn't get a quote for the front valance, but he thinks it will be able to be straightened out a bit better and I'm guessing that'll be another £120-200 since it does need a fair bit of work to get right.
So £320 for all four doors and the damaged wing, plus paint and materials at about another £50 or so (painting the whole panel, rather than just the repairs) should see things shipshape and add value and extra life to the old girl. Just got to get sorting this Golf out the way first and then I can start sinking money into the Princess properly again.
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Sounds pretty reasonable for the bodywork, result  |
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Nice one...!!!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,998
Club RR Member Number: 35
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Sounds a cracking quote and nice to see someone willing to take it on for you too (you wouldn't think it would be hard to get people to take on paid work would you).
Are you still planning on painting it purple soon?
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Purple paint will be done probably next year at the current pace. I've got the important mechanical things sorted and got her to the point of being a reliable daily driver which was my most important goal. I can just get in and go whenever I want to and I trust the car to take me hundreds of miles without worry now which I didn't when I first got her.
Presently, I'm getting the various bits of rust and damage dealt with - all four door bottoms, front wing, front valance, possibly the sills but I've not stripped them back yet to find out - and will be getting her freshly cleaned and undersealed before winter as the old underseal is now shot.
Once all the welding is done I can then start on the paint side of things. I might give that peel-off vinyl paint stuff a try to smarten her up in the meantime as it'll be a good cheap way of getting her looking tidier, just peel it off as I work around the car with fresh paint. Interior will come later still most likely as that's in pretty good order.
Overall, I think it'll take about 5 years to get her looking as good as I want to, but that's for fresh paint, interior retrim and engine rebuild, she'll essentially be a new car at that point. It's all money that's holding me up, everytime I clear a bill another one appears out of nowhere like the parking ticket, or more recently a surprise bill of £100 from HM Revenue which hasn't got a reason attached to it which I could do without. But we shall see what happens, I'm now back at work a bit more properly and should be taking new stuff on in the near future so hopefully my income will begin to improve properly soon along with my health which is happily getting better week on week.
I just hope I can still afford to go and see an old friend down in Maidstone next weekend, a healthy 400ish round trip which I'm sure the Princess will eat up happily... and if not I'll have my AA card with me just in case XD
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Great progress, the regulator repair is inspiring, of all my years working on older cars i'd never have thought to build the worn out section up with weld then grind it back again to form teeth Plans for it sound great, 400 miles should be a breeze  |
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold  86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold |
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Nice work on repairing the window reg, I hope the addition of the Golf doesn't slow progress on the Princess. Cars that have been parked on grass a long worry me, they tend to dissolve!
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Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
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Jul 21, 2013 16:52:50 GMT
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I was asked why there haven't been any updates on my build thread and the simple fact of the matter is that there's been nothing to update with. In fact, the only incident I've had to report is that during the very hot weather the dash pot on the carb had got hotter than the engine and I was experiencing some vapour lock when setting off from car parks. To counteract this, I just need to park the car in the shade when the temperature is 30C or above. Now the weather has dropped to 25C and below I'm not getting any issues at all. It seems unfair not to offer a visual update though, so I went for a bit of a jolly to see if I could find new things to put the Princess in front of and photograph. This is Staveley Hall, one time home to the Frecheville family but now just Council admin offices which is quite sad. I shan't bore you with a history lesson, but Staveley does have some interesting bits and pieces for those that might care to look, particularly Staveley Hall, the adjacent parish church and the Chantry on the High Street.  I'm just going to pretend this is my house for now.  The aforementioned church. Back in the '40s (if memory serves, might be a bit earlier) there was a big old greenhouse on this bit of lawn joined to the side of the hall. That's long gone now.   This is probably my favourite of the set.  Then I went to Poolsbrook Park which was created from waste land connected to the local collieries in the past few years. I've never been to this park for some reason, but it's really rather nice.  In it's day, the Princess was comparable in size to a Cortina, so it seems about right that it's comparable now to a Mondeo.   Didn't half get some funny looks though. I have a new annoying question from people that don't know what the car is: "Why'd you call your car 'Princess', what is it?", this is usually asked by the under-30 age group. Also, it is not an Ambassador, cretins. |
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Last Edit: Jul 21, 2013 17:01:50 GMT by Deleted
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Jul 21, 2013 18:10:51 GMT
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Great pics , hate to see nice old buildings going to ruin, quite a lot around my town going to waste. Always thought the Princess was aimed more at the Executive market in it's day, more Granada/Vauxhall Royale size than Cortina. Funny i seen a nice MK5 Cortina the other day and it almost looked small, neat and compact compared to the bloated modern Corsa that was passing it  |
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold |
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Jul 24, 2013 23:31:59 GMT
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"Why'd you call your car 'Princess' Classic! |
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Jul 31, 2013 11:38:53 GMT
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Recently I found that the Princess no longer does a measly 18mpg round town. I thought this was something I was just going to have to tolerate but no, recently I achieved:
26.1mpg
I'd say that's quite an improvement! Measured from full tank to full tank rather than previous miles and petrol consumed estimates. I wasn't going all out for fuel saving with my driving or any of that, so I suspect with the tweaks to my own driving style and the regular maintenance and use of the car is to blame for this change. It's the only news I have, and it's not very exciting, but she's just become one of those cars of late.
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Hot weather + full tank of fuel + slight incline of the drive =  Bumhats. It's okay, I didn't want that paint anyway, or the underseal... Not gone back to bare metal thankfully but I've had to park the car on the flat at least until I use up some petrol as it's overflowing out of the filler neck when it gets really warm. But hey, I know the petrol tank doesn't leak if the fuel has expanded enough to come out the filler neck. I also know that if I'm going to keep it brimmed I have to be careful where I park on a hot day! So pleased I found out about this before the car got repainted fully. |
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,975
Club RR Member Number: 58
Member is Online
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haha the same thing happened with my MGB when the last bout of hot weather was about 70's BL stuff just don't like full tanks (or their own paintwork.. I've still not fixed mine properly after the petrol thinned it  ) |
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I had a woman follow me to college once when i had the mini just to tell me it was curse word fuel out every time i went round a corner.
Which would account for why it dropped so quick when i filled it up. Still only ever did 25mpg at best, which was terrible as a student but i use it as a marker now which makes lots of non sensible cars much less of a problem to buy now!
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MORE INFO NEEDED!
He's a Mk1 Golf specialist, he works on other cars too, but they're his main thing. He bought this one primarily for a few bits on it I don't want and I'm taking some bits he doesn't want but I do in return. The car is DIRT cheap but seems to be in really good order so it would be silly not to buy it. Most things Mk1 Golf you might need he probably has.
)