vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Success! Mike and I went to the unit today and did some more fault finding on the Princess. The last thing on the circuit that uses fuse #5, the seatbelt stalks, were checked and found not to be the problem. So, Mike had another look in the fuse box and noticed a small piece of metal that was loose on the fuse side which we hadn't spotted before. Turns out, an old piece of blown fuse had been rattling around in the fuse box and shorting them out. It was well hidden as it looked like part of the fuse holders and the box had been inspected several times and this was completed missed. With the loose bit out, the fuses stayed intact until the horn was tried and then we found one of the horns had failed and it blew the horn fuse, looks like it was shorting out internally.  Horns removed, nice fresh fuses installed, and one of the captive bolts for the original horns sheared off the battery tray without any real force being applied. That can't have been helping the horns out.  No bother, I had some twin-tone, MoT friendly air horns to fit which once tested were found to be perfectly fine. Installed quite neatly in the big empty space behind the passenger headlights. The sound of these Italian made horns suits the Princess much more than the factory snails too.  All systems checked, fuses fine, everything normal, we could get on with reinstalling the interior. Only got as far as reconnecting and refitting the centre console when Mike asked if maybe it would be best to run the wires for the speakers I want to install now while everything is out of the car before we finish installation. Sounds sensible to me, since I'm not in a rush to get things done.  The boot compartment could finally get tidied out, the spare wheel put back in its place and all of that cleaned up. Was nice to finally see this all empty and tidy again, it's been a while. I've yet to construct the new trim boards, that's a job for the summer I think.  I sorted out the latch component I'd got wrong, cleaned up the mechanism and gave it some fresh grease and now the boot latch works better than it ever has all the while I've owned the car. Mike helped me put the boot lid back on the car and, astonishingly, I got the latch to work perfectly on the first try. Panel alignment is not the Princess' strong point and it looks like the hinge bolt holes need easing out a little so I can get a slightly snugger fit. The previous restorer's solution to this issue was to load the panels with filler and I don't want to go down that route. I'm really pleased with how much cleaner the back end looks in uniform colour now. Still lots and lots of bodywork finishing and paint to do, I'm just happy it's tidier than it was.  Finally, a little gift arrived from a nearby island in the form of this nice chunky grille badge. Not normally my sort of thing but it really does look at home on the Princess. Had a little trouble with one of the bolts that hold it on so I'll need to fettle that a bit before this is a permanent arrangement. I like it.  MoT list update: > tune the carb > identify insecure CV joint fail from previous MoT > make hazard switch work - DONE> identify why fuse #5 is blowing - DONE> connect fog lights - DONE> connect number plate lights - DONE> stick number plates on - DONE> make the indicator lights work - DONE> pump up the suspension - DONE> fit the new tyres - DONE> fit a new washer jet pump - DONE> find the loose steering component - DONE |
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Last Edit: Mar 4, 2017 18:16:34 GMT by vulgalour
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Well done. Perseverance has paid off!
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Would've been nice if I'd found it BEFORE taking the car entirely apart though XD It's been good in a way, I at least know all my wiring is good and de-bodged now which I otherwise wouldn't have, so I have that peace of mind.
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Excellent news, really happy to hear you found it at last.
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told you it would be a DOH! moment when you found it!
Glad it's fixed at last.
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Yay - Well done !
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1993 Rover 220 Coupe
1972 MG Midget
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Here is a little update on the little car. The main problem identified is that I wasn't setting things up on the compression stroke. I'd got so confused with all the information thrown at me I'd got muddled. This is now resolved, it is now set up on the compression stroke. The other problem is that the valve clearances had tightened up and were not letting the valves operate properly. I haven't got my feeler gauges at home so I set them to as near as I could without. I will reset these properly. Sorting those two issues out in turn showed me that the distributor drive cog was in fact in 180 degrees out. When I put it in with the engine out of the car I'd actually done it right so it had to go back to how it was. I had definitely been overthinking this bit! With that back in properly the rotor arm now points at #1 when it should. Here is a little video demonstrating what it's doing. The video is a bit crappy, apparently I used a potato instead of a camera. You can see it's not quite right. My understanding is that this is down to incorrect valve clearances. Three of four bangs are going down the exhaust like they should, one is coming back through the carburettor, hence the little plume of flames. I'm hoping when I set the valve clearances properly, all the bangs will go down the exhaust and the car will run. That is what I'm going to try and I will see what happens. One thing I did do was compare my brand new early R5 radiator with my old late R6 radiator properly. I knew the new rad probably would fit as I'd seen videos of cars running with them fitted. It's surprising how similar they are in size and should be able to be modified to fit without too much grief.  Both hoses line up exactly, the temperature sender looks to be the same (didn't have a big enough spanner/socket to find out exactly) and the only issue really is having the one long bolt sticking out the bottom that I need to chop off or drop in the bolt hole it lines up with. To fix to the 6 I'll make some little clamp type brackets for the top and bolt it securely in that way.   It's not much, but it's progress at least. When I've got tools and time next week I'll do a bit more, hopefully even get it running properly. |
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343 
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Don't get me started on fuel prices, the irony is that it dropped to about a quid a litre when I had all but one of my cars off the road. Now I'm getting really close to having my charger and el camino up and running, it's starting to climb again.
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1968 Dodge Charger
1985 Chevrolet Camaro
1993 Toyota Hilux Surf
2001 Ford Mondeo
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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The Princess is broken again. I'd made a start on reinstalling the interior, which was coming along quite well. Stopped before putting the front passenger seat and dashboard in so we could make sure it was all working properly. Mike had already installed the relay for the horns this morning, which was nice of him.  Got the bootlid lined up as well as I could. This still needs a lot more work, the alignment is terrible. It's as good as I can seem to get it for now and I don't want to make the bolt adjustment holes any bigger if I can help it. The boot lid appears to be slightly deformed in the middle and may well be on the corners too. It still fits better than the green one did. I guess the acres of filler in the back end really were necessary to make it look halfway okay.  Had a look through the radios I'd got and ended up using the most battered of the lot (not shown), an old brown Panasonic radio-cassette deck because it was the most functional of the lot. I may get one of these internally modernised, I don't know.  Then the fun and games began. Before screwing the dashboard in fully we wanted to test it so we wouldn't have to get it all out again. Things checked out okay at first and then it started blowing fuse #5 again. After a process of elimination we ended up plugging my spare dashboard in which didn't blow the fuse. A little more elimination and the issue appears to be with the printed flexible circuitboard on the dashboard (the blue one) whereas the spare seems okay (the gold one). This is especially annoying. There's no obvious sign of damage of any sort.   The other irritation is that the car now won't idle either. It has fuel in and all systems are normal but now it's decided it won't idle. Oh, and one of my newly fitted tyres had gone flat, I was warned it might because of the condition of the rims but it's not the one that was leaking before. So the Princess is back in the bad books again. |
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As fuse 5 covers interior lamps/boot lamp/hazard switch/lighter/seat belts warning switches then I would check the warning lights in the dash for those items.
Try removing all bulbs from the dash and see if it still blows.
Tyres going down - often cured by driving the car, my pop has a rear tyre that goes flat when stored but is fine if I drive it regurlarly.
Idle jet blocked - needs cleaning.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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We gradually dismantled the dash to find the problem, removing and refitting and isolating to find the thing that caused the issue. As soon as the circuit ribbon became part of the circuit, the fuse went, isolate that and there's no problem. Seems sensible that it's therefore the ribbon, especially when the ribbon on the spare doesn't do the same thing.
For tyres, I just put the spare on, it's a shame it's newer and a different make to the others but not the end of the world, it's what a spare's for after all.
Carb broggling will happen. I swear it's only doing this to wind me up. It's working too XD
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Phil H
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,448
Club RR Member Number: 133
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On an SU, it's the same jet that does everything so could just be a bit of muck found its way in there. Did that vintage of SU have the horrible poppet valve butterfly? I'm thinking more likely an air leak though. I'm assuming it will run with a bit of choke applied?
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The other problem is that the valve clearances had tightened up and were not letting the valves operate properly. although to pull any fuel in it has to be consuming some air, are the valve clearances ok ? i accept all major chocolate based biscuits  |
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Last Edit: Mar 7, 2017 12:44:17 GMT by darrenh
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Phil H : I reckon it's just a bit sticky from lack of use and me running it dry of fuel by accident. As BPR said, it's likely a blocked jet or similar. Choke makes absolutely no difference, it's more like it catches and then has nothing to run on, which would be more indicative of a fuelling issue. Easy enough to sort. darrenh : See, the mistake I made was *assuming* they were okay. Also I got super confused with all the info and didn't understand all of it. Still, we're on the right track now. Here, have some biscuits. 
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uuuugh the ones in the middle are my favourites. sainsburys sell a similar type called Bahlsen Leibniz  |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Rover MoT happened today. Drove over to scaryoldcortina since he's weird old car friendly and willing to let me see what's going on underneath the Rover. End result?  BIG FAT PASS Advisories on: 1 - exhaust back box - I took a replacement with me but it wasn't even close to fitting so we couldn't do that. 2 - Suspension bush worn (see below) 3 - Rear tyre is really old and curse word - I sort of did know about this, it's the ancient spare, I was planning on fitting new tyres in a few weeks when I thought the MoT was due. This wouldn't have been on here if the MoT was due when I thought it was, rather than when it really was. So all in all, that's quite a result. My suspicion that the headlight aim was low was sort of right too as the passenger side one was and would only just come up to the height needed for a pass as the adjusters are a bit seized. Emissions highlighted that I really need a catalytic converter on it too, but again that's on my shopping list and will get done at the same time as the backbox. I did think the head gasket failure would have took the cat with it, I just haven't the means to check that myself. For that rear bush, the play has only just started and it's one of the rear suspension items I didn't do when the back end was renewed as I'd run out of money and they were okay at the time. By next MoT it may still only be an advisory but I'd rather it be right before then. I want MoT #3 to be a clean sheet if possible. Here is the bush, handily pointed out by scaryoldcortina.  Other than that, the underside is still remarkably clean, I was expecting to see some problems surfacing but it's all nice under there. Well, as nice as the underside of a daily driver gets, at any rate. I've only put on about 3,000 miles this year too, it's not a huge amount, and mostly the same the year before. I've not been out visiting people or shows or that sort of thing which has kept the mileage down, that and it having a couple of periods of being in bits while I used another car. |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Congrats. Keep on at this pace and you'll have all 3 MOT'd and ready to go in June.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,277
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Fingers crossed! Princess next, hopefully later this month. Shall have to see how this dash repairs goes.
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Congrats on the MOT - another hurdle passed  We then started tracing the items for fuse #5. It controls interior lights, door switches, cigar lighters, boot light and hazards. This all points to a problem with one of the backlight bulbs in the instrument cluster, or the circuit wiring between the instruments backlights. The bulbs at the rear of the instrument cluster will be a mix, some will be backlighting (for night use), others will be the warning lights (oil, ignition, etc). Suggest you remove* all the backlight bulbs from your problem cluster and plug it in - the bug could be as simple as a bulb with an internal fault - if the fuse doesn't blow just put the bulbs back in 1 at a time until you find the problem. if the fuse does blow, the problem is the circuit wiring between the backlight bulbs (short circuit? trapped wire?). * Try to keep track of which bulb came out of which hole (so you don't put a problem bulb back in a different circuit and move the problem somewhere else!) Keep the faith  |
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