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Feb 21, 2012 21:20:51 GMT
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How easy it would be to just drop some bullet mirrors on, and how bad it would look if I did! It's tough actually deciding what's best, I must choose mirrors wisely otherwise they'll spoil the lines of the car, the MGB ones are at least similar to what's already on and as you point out, plentiful and cheap. I just think it would be better to have something nicer on there, and a set of swept-back armed mirrors with square heads mounted mid way down the wings would really, really float my boat.
The roof and the boot top are going brown as well to match but the A pillars will mostly stay beige with the brown stopping at the line where the roof is welded on in the factory. B pillars are eventually going satin black to match the door frames, but I'm leaving the old vinyl on there for now as there's no problems I can see with it at present.
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Feb 21, 2012 22:58:31 GMT
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That door panel came up pukka mate  I like the rear pillar, from a few feet it will look just like a vynal roof ;D |
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R.I.P photobucket
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Feb 21, 2012 23:05:51 GMT
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If all goes according to plan, the roof will look just like the vinyl tops from a few feet, but get closer and it'll explode with 70s inspired detail courtesy of Mr Slacker. I'm so monumentally impatient about getting that bit done, why aren't my money trees growing?
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Feb 22, 2012 11:06:30 GMT
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That Princess reminds me of my first car which was a 1976 Austin Allegro- especially the interior!
I have a suggestion on the rear pillars, spray them with a few coats of anti stone chip paint and then leave for a while untill the stone chip is almost dry. press the remaining vinyl (outisde down) onto the soft stone chip coat and you should get the texture of the vinyl on the stone chip. Then paint brown as before. Will look even more like a vinyl roof. Or just leave the stonechip coat and paint brown, if the texturing doesn't work.
As for the doors on your car, I would be surprised that when you eventually remove the filler if they are not full of rust and holes at the bottom. Unless you can do the metalwork yourself it would cost several times the value of the whole car to get all four doors repaired properly and painted as I expect door bottoms will be unavailable and will have to be fabricated and that takes time and money.
Just enjoy the car as it is and leave the doors for now!
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Feb 22, 2012 14:10:41 GMT
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That's actually a really good idea for the fake vinyl, I like that. Not for this car though, I'm committed to the smooth and shiny, but it's certainly something worth trying on something else at a later date I think.
This car, much like the Polo, will have more money spent on her than she'll ever be worth. I don't do the work to get my money back, I do the work because I want the car to be as good as it can be while I own it. For now, I'm leaving the doors alone, but eventually I'll clean them up one at a time and get them repaired one at a time. I can save money by doing the paint myself but if I never get them repaired they'll only get worse and the rot will spread, which I don't want.
As with the Polo, this one's a keeper unless something terrible happens.
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Feb 22, 2012 14:24:42 GMT
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Good plan! To stop or at least slow the doors getting any worse, put some waxoyl, or at the very least old engine oil inside the doors. Will go some way to slowing the rusting inside. The doors will be much worse inside than out.
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Feb 22, 2012 15:22:11 GMT
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Someone has already been at the car with waxoyl, the wings and the sills have been pumped full but I think they forgot about the doors. I'll know for definite when I investigate the driver's door so that I can fix the window that doesn't wind up but does wind down.
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Feb 22, 2012 18:42:01 GMT
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Just lately I can't seem to help myself for working on the Princess. I feel very enthused about it, possibly because the jobs aren't quite as involved as with the Polo and it's mostly just cleaning. Following on from yesterday where the two front outer bolts on the front seats were seized and I was worried that the captive nuts had gone nasty, I've had some progress. Last thing yesterday I doused the bolts with a good amount of WD40 in the hope it would soak in overnight and magically free them off. After tightening and loosening the driver's side bolt a few times with the 6mm allen key it came loose easily and the seat was out, hurrah! The passenger side required some persuasion with a multipurpose tool, a 6mm allen key and a few swear words but it too came free eventually. No apparent damage, just the end of the bolts had got a bit rusty. The bolts are getting copper greased before going back in those holes, I'm likely going to be taking these out again when I can afford a new carpet and I don't want a two day ballache of a job again.  I then remembered to get a snap of the ICE (lol). PYE tape deck fastened to the right of the steering column and wired to the speakers on the parcel shelf. It needs new belts.   I don't know what make these are. I may be keeping them but putting new cones in, the passenger side speaker doesn't work very well.  Front seats out, it was time to remove the carpet. This meant removing the centre consoles.  Following the book instructions, as I couldn't see any fastenings and didn't want to risk breaking difficult to source parts, I pried off the trim from the rear console.  This then exposes the four screws, which are the longest screws in the world, that hold the console in place.  Two at the back obscured by the seat belt stalks.  Two at the front, obscured by the console itself. Great job BL.  Then the front console to remove. Couldn't find anything for this in the book but I found three screws. One screw is at the gear lever side, right at the bottom.  The other two are at each side, hidden crudely with two carpet tabs.  All free, carpet could come out... well the front half could come out. The back half is held in still with the seatbelt mounting bracket and those bolts have also seized so a dose of WD40 and leave them until tomorrow when I'll have another crack at them.  Front carpet and soundproofing lifted to find that unsurprisingly, the driver's side footwell has a patch welded in. The work has been done well and looks solid, but I'll clean it up, rust treat and repaint it before refitting everything just to keep it solid.  Passenger side looks unmolested, which is good. A couple of tiny blebs I'll deal with, but overall nothing of concern.  When we picked up the seats we'd put out of the way in the kitchen to put them back in the car, some money fell out. Only one of the old 10 pence pieces, sadly, from 1977.  I was disappointed to find that there is still no sign of the cassette for this case that was on the parcel shelf.  I guess tomorrow I'll be cleaning again. |
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barrett
Part of things
Plastic cars with metal doors BEST
Posts: 390
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Feb 22, 2012 19:10:24 GMT
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LEYLAND PRINCESS: BREAK EVERY RULE
I'm enjoying this, glad to see you getting instantly stuck in
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Somebody find me a Watling. £££ waiting! (Seriously, I want a Watling. Help me plzzzzz)
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MonzaPhil
Posted a lot
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought
Posts: 2,456
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Feb 22, 2012 19:43:35 GMT
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Keep up the good work! Can I just recommend Plusgas for freeing stuff off, I find it much better than WD.....
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This is now a clicky linky!  |
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Feb 22, 2012 20:14:56 GMT
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always entertaining to read when work and updates are this often, well done to you sir !
I had a few "oooh" while I was going through the pages. the big hex and M5 retaining bolt on your window winder is exactly the same setup on my 1984 "ninety" landrover, guessing thats a leyland thing but might be useful for parts
also I had a very robust through-the-spokes steering lock with brand name "eagle claw" back in the 1990s. personally I cant think why youd have an emergency number for anti burst door locks ?
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Last Edit: Feb 22, 2012 20:15:27 GMT by darrenh
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Feb 22, 2012 21:15:59 GMT
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...and that is what I meant by "Old people grime". My first Bluebird had a blue dash under the brown. Took days of cleaning to get it all out. I can still remember the smell. I am going to describe something to you. I am guessing that most of us in our 30s or later at some point will have had a soft toy with a vinyl paw or tummy - toy bears, or beaver's tails or something. There was a particular quality to soft-toy vinyl, and I want you to remember it. When I was helping out at the garage, a Mk IV Escort came in. A blue "Bonus", with equally blue velourish seats. It had belonged to an elderly gentleman, the like of which had hair like a Tunisian pimp, SO much Brylcreme and Grecian 2000 you'd swear there was more oil in his hair than the entire car lot. We needed to valet it. A Mk IV Escort was an easy sale in 2000, particularly one as clean as this one was externally. The steering wheel... you know when you get that greasy substance on the stalks and wheel? Imagine if that were never cleaned off for 12 years. The seat... the telltale dark black streak on the right hand of the squab, a lifetime's nasal extractions wiped absent-mindedly... And finally. The headrest. I have never seen anything like it. Remember that vinyl paw-material? The velour headrest had a patch of dark brown... something... that resembled those vinyl paws. As we considered how to clean it, it cracked, like stretching chocolate chewing gum. It didn't flake off. It recongealed. We tried all manner of cleaning products, even the TFR concentrate for stripping the lacquer o... I mean, cleaning... wheels. Eventually we burned it. The car was sold without headrests. I have never experienced anything like it, nor do I wish to. The nailbrush and cleaner trick I've used loads of times, really satisfying job. Works on the coverings on valve radios too. Also this thread is making me want a Princess, an ambition my gf is on board with. HELP! |
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Feb 22, 2012 21:29:14 GMT
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MonzaPhil: I don't think I have never heard of Plusgas before, I shall keep an eye out for it in the future as my tin of WD40 is only going to last so long. darrenh: Can just imagine it, you're door has burst open while you're flying down the M5 and you've got enough charge in your mobile brick to call the number to get help, terylene tie flapping in the wind. @richardtk: That's just... wow. I feel lucky now. There is (or was, probably still is) a sandglow Princess similar spec to mine for sale in Peterborough for £600, if you're really interested in one.
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Feb 22, 2012 22:00:03 GMT
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I need a self-shifter. I have found one. This may end badly. It's maroon, a colour my Grandma would argue was "red" when I insisted that I wanted red things as a kid.
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Feb 22, 2012 23:20:20 GMT
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I am very very jealous. I so desperatly want an Austin Princess with every last fibre of my being despite my head and all those around me saying it is a stupid idea.
Fancy a swap for a running but not quite MOT worthy Cressida?
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Feb 22, 2012 23:45:54 GMT
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Hmm... Cressida for Princess.... the popular kids would like me for it, but I have a feeling I'd be on the losing end of that swap so I'll politely decline  As above, I know a chap that's selling one, and only £600. |
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I can't get my art mojo on at all tonight, I just keep staring at blank paper with pencil in hand, so I'm putting that aside for tomorrow. Trying to figure out what to do I could feel the dirty vinyl from the Princess taunting me, so I had to clean it. That's something productive with my time, right? The centre consoles didn't look as bad as everything else at a quick glance, but the water after I'd done said otherwise. First job was to dismantle and remove the cigarette lighter from the rear console.  That shows up a fair amount of greb at least.  As does this, just general scaffs and crumbs and stuff. I'm wondering how best to reinstate the chrome trim on this that's rubbed off in places, must've been done the same way as Matchbox car wheels originally.  This is the front console and is a fair bit cleaner, possibly because when I picked up the car it was stuff full of tissues that I promptly binned.  After much scrubbing in very soapy water, a thorough dry and then a final going over with the old Autoglym, they've come up better than I expected. They don't smell funny either, so that's another step towards a fresh cabin.  Cleaned the cubby in the front console inside and out. I don't know what it was for originally, it's too big to be an ashtray, but it is a useful place to put stuff. When I got the car it was full of all sorts of screws and bolts and bits of wire.   Pleased with that. The carpet got a vacuum as well, but it made no discernible difference to the colour, only seemed to pull lots of sand and dust out and fluff up the pile a bit. Once I get some shampoo for the shampoo-vacuum thing I'll clean the carpet more properly. |
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hey angyl ive got the cd of that tina cassette case you found if you want a copy let me know lol  Loving the princess btw,glad its all going well  |
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1984 Subaru GLF Hatch
1983 Skoda 120LE Super estelle
1977 Subaru DL Wagon
1978 Datsun 120Y Coupe
1995 Skoda favorit estate
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Can you get applique, like gold leaf, but chrome? The finish was probably a vacuum thing originally.
Given your skills, chrome model paint would probably be the easiest fix.
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Feb 23, 2012 12:31:47 GMT
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I am going to describe something to you. Ah yes. Seen that in velour, and no, it's not possible to remove, from what I can tell. Chewing gum, baby vomit, poo and sweaty hair are some of the things that.. just don't come out and make the fabric look like the pavement in front of a cash machine. --Phil |
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As above, I know a chap that's selling one, and only £600.
