1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

weird unions (well probably not, i just need to get out more) looks like primitive V band which are all the rage at the minute

When I was bolting the MR2s engine back together I missed the earth strap off the gearbox. Not even a click when I turned the key. It was only then that I realised how much work Toyota must have done to keep stray earths out of the wiring. And until I read your posts I hadn't even considered things like the throttle cable. I can't imagine the mess you'd get if the starter current went down the throttle cable.

Nice work with the electrics!
Hope you feel better soon.

James

New one on me?

Video should be working okay now.

I've ordered a new one, I can't get the broken tang (that's a good word) to engage properly. Wanted to give it a wash today but I'm just too full of grot so instead measured and ordered some new trim clips for the waist trim that's been off the car for... almost my entire ownership. Oops.

I'm not really in need of anything SU at the moment *touch wood* I'm guessing those are spares from twin SUs too, I'm not sure exactly what's handed and what works in the single SUs. It'll be of use to someone, I'm sure.

---

Gorgeous looking day outside today, I was hopeful I might even get a little paintwork done. Went outside and it's FREEZING. How is it so cold and yet so lovely? Anyway, today I wanted to reinstate the stainless trims I removed shortly after getting the car. The trims were removed in a cosmetic rust-busting exercise back when I thought that was all that was wrong with this car... how wrong I was. Anyway, since I'm now finally at a point where I thought I was starting from when I bought it, I almost have that same excitement of being able to tinker and improve visually without fear of big problems ruining anything.

I'd wisely saved the crusty, rusty old trim clips that I removed all those years ago, against the advice of some who supposedly knew better and told me I wouldn't need them. This was a good thing because it meant I could measure them and compare them against the Marina/Mini clips Bresco are supplying. You can find them here: bresco.com/acatalog/For-8.8mm-moulding-flange-gap.-BL-Marina-wheel-arch-and-Mini.-37151P.html#SID=29

To figure out what size you need, measure the gap between the return flanges on the back of the stainless trim, in the Princess' case that's 8.8mm. The trim clips themselves measure 10mm wide. The difference in size is of course to allow the trim clips to spring into the cavity of the trim and hold everything snug. There's a number of ways you can attach the trim clips to the car, originally mine were held on with rivets and I saw no reason not to repeat this, so out with my trusty old Wilkinson hand rivetter which has been one of my better tool purchases over the years, and some additional tools.
20180225-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

On trying to fit the first rivet I found the nose on my rivet gun was too big and it just pulled the rivet up and out of the hole. I improvised with a tiny nut which served as a perfect spacer. When you install the rivets, the trim clip goes against the car body, then the bobble end of the rivet is inserted into the hole, then the nut spacer, then the gun goes on the long stalk which it grabs and pulls out. Once the rivet is tight enough, the gun automatically snips off the excess rod and the job is jobbed. It's a really neat tool, very satisfying to use.
20180225-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

18 trim clips later, and the trim was installed. I say that... it was a little more difficult. I should perhaps have done this on a warmer day, the trim only really snapped into place once I'd handled them enough to warm up a bit. The new clips are a much tighter fit than the rusty old ones too, so it was hard work to get them sat in place. The very corner trim clip on the C pillar section has had the hole drilled out larger on both sides, I don't know why, so I had to use an extra tiny washer on the back for the rivet to squash against rather than pulling straight through everything. This worked well on the driver's side...
20180225-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

On the passenger side, not so much. As soon as the trim was clipped on it just pinged the trim clip off by pulling the rivet through everything. I guess the head on this rivet didn't squash quite large enough to stay on the right side of the tiny washer. It's secure, just not lined up perfectly on the corner. I'll redo this when it's a warmer day, too cold to be faffing with it today!
20180225-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

It is nice to see the waist trim back on completely now. It has bugged me for a while that those three pieces (C pillar each side, and boot lid) have been missing.
20180225-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Another job I'd put off forever was replacing the spare tyre strap that came with the car. All the while I've had it, the strap has had a pin holding it together which is really good at stabbing you when trying to get the spare out. I've had a new strap since breaking the orange car several years ago, I've just had so many other jobs to resolve, it never got done.
20180225-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

The replacement isn't perished either and seems to fit nicer. It's certainly nice not to get stabbed when you handle it! It was a simple matter of undoing one 13mm bolt that holds the strap to the boot floor, so I've really had no good excuse for putting this off for so long.
20180225-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I bought a NOS speedo cable described as "Un used in box". What arrived was a speedo cable broken exactly the same as mine with grease on each end and witness marks from it being removed from a car at least once. Super. Improvised by using the sat nav and when I got to Tesco in the car today, the mount broke again so I had to improvise even more! This worked surprisingly well. Yes, that is an antique TomTom.
20180225-08 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I'm still doing the "what's that smell/noise/imagined sensation?" thing you do with a car that's new to you. It's performing well enough, all the same. I'll gradually increase my trip distances and frequencies as I get more confident. I dislike not having a working speedometer, that bugs me quite a bit, once my invoices are paid I can get another cable ordered, they mostly seem to be £10-20 when they do crop up. I'll just have to be more cautious if the photograph doesn't show the all-important locking tang.

www.speedograph-richfield.com

Have you tried these folks ?

nice job on that trim and electrical bits....I am beginning to hate crimp connectors and usually end up doing what you did...solder the crimp in place...it holds the wires together while you solder.....then protect everything with tape.

looking good!

JP

If its any comfort to you during your seemingly endless efforts to create a dependable means of transport out of your Princess, I would suggest that the age of the car has very little to do with it!
I'm old enough to remember these and other BL cars from the '70s and early '80s when they were new and the sight of many owners spending their saturdays and sundays reattaching parts that had fallen off during the weeks use. It was a very common scene to see a sea of brown, beige and sludgy green bonnets raised and disgruntled owners grimly struggling with the contents while the "new fangled" Japanese car owners relaxed in the pub or garden safe in the knowledge that their cars would start and work when called on to do so!
It was also a pretty common sight to see Maxis, Princesses etc. trundling down the road with a pretty startling list to port or starboard - so the suspension woes are nothing new either!
I remember my next door neighbour forcing string in between the exterior door handles and bodywork of his 1 week old Maxi to take up the slack and prevent them from wobbling about. The good times of the British motor industry!
So, if its any consolation, your battles are nothing new!