1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

Here's what the engine bay looks like, maybe that'll help you all work it out. I've been too exhausted to even think about working it out myself.

It snowed sideways here for about two minutes. That was probably all we're getting.

I like it, I would remove the wheel trims and run with silver rims and Vauxhall hub caps.... Keep it simple!

same answer, 1.2 8v spi

from memory 16v timing chain version came with 98my facelift

I have no idea where it fits in the fleet. The Princess is my one true love, the Xantia a dependable work horse, the Renault a toy and the Corsa... no idea.

I bought this one on a bit of a whim really, not usually something I can indulge. I knew at the price I got it at that I could get it home and at least make my money back so it's a calculated risk. I wanted to reassess my teenage opinion of the Corsa B and this was an excellent way to do that.

Now I have it I want to give it some love, make it all minty clean and try and get it into a classic show locally. I've been told it does qualify for classic insurance by the previous owner so if I can get a really basic classic policy on it cheap enough I'll do that and pootle about in it for a bit while I tidy it up and make up my mind.

Once I've sorted the cosmetic issues and the brakes out I'll be in a better position to make a decision. Advisories on the last MoT - paint blisters and cracked number plate - were so minor that I reckon I can get a clean sheet on a retest.

A cursory inspection revealed no rot in the usual places, or in any unusual places. It's very solid for a Corsa B, let alone for its miles which is reassuring.  Made a start today on the deep clean and fixing some cosmetic things.  Dashboard didn't need anything, I gave it a wipe over and it was already clean.  The boot was a bit scruffy but a vacuum and a wipe with vinyl cleaner got that smelling nice and looking tidy.







I fixed the first of the door cards, the fabric has done that thing where it lifts in a big blister where your elbow rests and was a bit scruffy.  Careful application of contact adhesive and afterwards some shampoo got it all spruced up nicely.


I made sure to plug the drain tubes back in too so the sunroof drains onto the road now rather than into the boot.


Parcel shelf only needed a light vacuuming to get the dust off.  I'm missing one of the parcel shelf strings and am on the lookout for a replacement, don't really want to buy a whole parcel shelf to replace one string.  Took out the crumbling tax disc holder and inspected the damage on the driver's seat cover which can probably be blind stitched back together saving me the expense of a seat.  Not yet worked out how to remove the gear gaitor, I have a Haynes manual in the post to assist on that score.

Sourced:
sunvisor clips x2
offside mirror casing
door mirror glass x2
OEM wheel trims x4
OEM radio casette

That leaves me with oil, oil filter, air filter, number plate and touch up paint to acquire so I can spend a few days getting everything tip top.

Looking good... That really does look like it is responding well to your thorough cleaning regime! You will have that looking pin-sharp in next to no time I'm sure...

Mk1 Saxos already are emerging as a not-chav car, too old to be desirable by most of them unlike the later roundy headlight jobbies.

Princess update.

Minor update. Only got a couple of hours in on the welding today as the auto-dim mask ran out of power and the other mask is too dark. On the upside, I got some decent progress made today when I changed the wire from .8 to .6, making predictable welds a lot easier to achieve. Just a shame I didn't make the change before I'd been fighting with the thicker wire for quite so long because I reckon that prevented me from finishing this patch off today.

My welding still isn't brilliant, but it's much better than it was and dresses back tidily enough.


The patch is almost completely welded in. I tried out the overlapping stitch technique which I've found very difficult to get on with and reverted to stitches and seams to join them. Trouble with the overlapping stitch technique is that I seem to end up with a selection of tidy welds that have a lot of very small holes in between them which I then find virtually impossible to accurately plug.



So yeah, it's progress. Princess needs to get out of the unit in a few weeks as the space is needed for other cars and work. With that in mind now that I have the welder operating reliably, I'm going to try and squeeze in a couple of hours most days to at least get this corner sorted, once this big patch is in that should be the worst of the job done. I'm going to inspect the underside and do more welding if required, tricky to do with this all being around the jacking point, I'm sure I'll figure it out.

It's me at fault on that technique, I can't seem to keep the welds close enough together reliably. On the few bits I did manage it you do get a really, really nice finish but goodness me it's going to take a lot of practice! I'll keep plodding away, I want this corner finished before February.