1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

I'll be honest, the grinder I'm using doesn't have a guard on it. Trouble is, when you fit the guard you can barely get any use out of the disc before it's in the way and it really hampers using a flapwheel, particularly in tight areas. I compensate for that by wearing enough protective gear that I've been mocked for it - usually leather jacket, gauntlets, eye protection, bandana, ear defenders, work trousers and boots - and being very cautious about how I cut. I never force the grinder to do a cut, I let the disc do the work for me and really avoid digging into anything where there's going to be lots of surfaces meeting at the same time on different parts of the disc.

I'm wondering if in this instance it was a minor disc defect since the cut I was making was, for once, on a piece with really good access and it was just a straight cut but something made the disc grab and jump. Looking at the piece I was working on and the disc I can't see what would have caused it, perhaps I had a momentary lapse of focus, I have been burning the candle at both ends lately.

I'm pretty much the same with it, grinder was off as quickly as reflexes allowed, the placement of the slidey button on the side might be annoying for accidentally turning it off in use but brilliant for killing it in a hurry. I bet I'd turned it just a bit too far without realising as I was working along and that's what made it snatch now you've mentioned the 5-7 position

I don't know how you do it then because I find the guard is almost always in the way of what I'm working on. Thinking about it, I don't even know if this grinder has a guard, it's not actually mine.

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To Do list is considerably shorter than it was. Here's an update on that.

Bodywork
- bulkhead mounting point for heater to repair
- rear boot floor seam to clean and repair as necessary
Driver's side
- fit front outer wing
- repair/replace front floor pan
- front subframe mount on heelboard to investigate and repair if required.
- small inner sill repairs to complete
- sill closing panel to buy and attach
- rear lower outer wing/arch area to replace
- boot floor to inner wing section to repair
Passenger side
- repair outer sill under door
- sill closing panel to buy and attach

Mechanical and Electrical
- identify cause of inoperable horn and driver's side indicators. Potentially earth problem and/or dirty connections
- obtain and fit correct battery, current one much too large
- acquire and fit battery clamp (may have a Princess one in stock that suits)
- acquire and fit new tyres
- flush and replace coolant
- bleed brakes

Cosmetic
- repair and retrim door cards
- repair and retrim parcel shelf
- acquire and fit new carpetting
- apply paint where required

Likewise. I foolishly used a guard less grinder with a flap wheel, I thought 'it's only for a second' while I fettled some anti-Luce fasteners to fit right and now I have a funny little dent in the end of my thumb where more skin aught to be. Don't do it, kids.

Bad Vulgalour, no biscuit. Gotcha. (seriously though, safety is important, listen to those people^)

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After what was achieved today I've decided to have a weekend off from the Austin. I've been working flat out to get through as much of the front end as I could in the shortest time and now that's all done I have the luxury of time on my side. The remaining welding can be done at a more sedate pace since none of it will need me to disturb the bits that make the car run, with the exception of disconnecting the battery when welding, of course. The various earth points and wiring stuff was tidied up in the engine bay so, apart from potentially cleaning any less-than-perfect earth points, we're done under here.
20170804-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

More importantly, the wing is fitted. It's a scruffy used panel so it's less than perfect but it's far better than what was there before and was free, so it makes sense to use it. I'm very happy with that, all told. The headlight was reinstalled along with the sidelight unit with clear lens and the grille was refitted. I need to get a couple of bulbs for the sidelight-indicator unit so it matches the other side and we can check all the lights work.
20170804-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20170804-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20170804-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

There's very little to go through now, the boot is mostly empty. Acquired a scrap of funky old carpet that might get repurposed in the car as heel mats or something.
20170804-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I feel pretty happy about the progress over the last couple of weeks. It's a relatively solid little car now in need of just a bit of sill and floor attention. Big thanks to Mike for helping out so much by doing those little jobs and some not-so-little jobs that might have otherwise slowed down the progress. It definitely helped get over the scary hump of work the front end needed.

Pfff, fashion victim. What you need is not a guard, but proper work trousers.

Me? I like it as it is.

But then I enjoy threads that skip around a bit. I never know what's coming next. Besides, that's how mine seem to turn out.

If you split them I may think, "Oh I'll bookmark the Princess and 1100, but not the Rover." Then I'd have missed the whole red/white/gold thing. And that would have been a shame.

It's the whole journey that does it for me.

Feel free to ignore this completely though! 😊

What he said.

darrenh: That's pretty much my thoughts behind considering the split. If I do split the thread - and I'll only do that if feedback is in favour of it - then the Princess will stay here and the Rover and Austin will jump off into their own threads.

Rover - least popular. It's still seen as rather boring and conservative in the styling and performance department which is a bit strange because it sticks out like a sore thumb in the real world. A bigger engine, a turbo and Honda badges might change that but we're not going down that route. It's just my daily driver and proof you can have a cheap old car that's easy to get on with. I doubt a thread on this car would get much attention outside of the owner's club, perhaps in another 10 years or so it would, when there's hardly any left.

Princess - This car is basically me, most people I've met from forums have been because of this car. I'm surprised at the following it has, though perhaps I shouldn't be, it's been a very visible part of my online presence for five years. It's also the most modified and perhaps the most technically interesting of the three with its own unique set of problems and solutions. With interest and values on the rise with them I've noticed the sort of interest it gets is slightly different with a few more of the "you've ruined that" types popping up now that people have started paying a couple of grand for really nice original cars. This one will stay afloat in its own thread, she's got fans.

Austin - The newbie. Possibly the most popular too, going off the feedback over the last few weeks. I'm not really sure why, it's the most horrible of the three cars I've got, and likely the slowest and definitely the least modified. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and it's not all nostalgia driven, even people too young to remember them being on the road like it. Some of this is because people want to know if it's a "big Mini", which I suppose it is. This would probably also stay afloat in its own thread if I did the split.

The biggest concern with splitting the thread is having one of them sink without a trace. Comments, chat and likes all help with motivation when the cars are being irksome and of course being able to share pictures to highlight a problem or a solution can be really beneficial to all concerned.

One thing I would like to do is occasional video posts. I have no idea how to do this, or what equipment and software I need to make something entertaining and informative. I'd also have to get over being video shy, that's why on the short clips I have posted you don't really ever hear me talk.