vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Apr 27, 2024 22:05:32 GMT
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As expected, the fuel pump is leaking oil again now. Not much, it's only just started, but I'll have to pop it off and re-gasket that to see if i can seal it again.
Happily, the other oil leaks seem to have remained fix, so it's not all bad.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Happy days, had a little payment come in so I could order those LED headlights. 10% discount knocked them down to £230 for two pairs, and there was free postage. Brightness - should be much improved helping me see where I'm going much better Aesthetics - indicators and sidelights are incorporated into the headlights, this is a lot tidier than the current set up. Wipers - When I've got all systems running in the rain, my wipers can slow down when I'm stood on the brakes at a junction (heated rear screen, headlights, sidelights, indicators, all five brake lights, heater, blower fan, and the wipers themselves) so hopefully LED units will help out a bit there. They do look to be plug and play so even an idiot like me should be able to fit them and since I already have a digital flasher instead of an old bimetallic one I shouldn't need to worry about flash rates on the indicators. These are the ones I got in the end: www.originalcaferacer.com/product/5-75-monaco-gp-led-headlight-pair-50w-drl-dot-e-marked/I think they'll look okay because while they are black which I didn't exactly want, that should blend in to the black plastic trim on the front of the car. I just hope it doesn't end up looking a bit 'modernised hot rod'.
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Your choice, but I think you would have been better off with the led bulbs I recommended.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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The bulbs were more work (EDIT: by which I mean I'd have to find somewhere to put the sides and indicators after fitting the bulbs for the look I want on the front), hence the decision I made. I want the sides and indicators in the headlight bowls and this seemed the best way to do it in one shot with the least hassle.
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Last Edit: May 3, 2024 14:42:29 GMT by vulgalour
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I'm not doing much in the way of pics and vids lately, cba I'm afraid.
Anyway, had a look at the fuel pump oil leak this afternoon. The phenolic spacer is well bonded to the cambox, that side isn't leaking which is great so I left that alone. The pump side, on the other hand, was leaking because the paper gasket had failed. Cut and fit a new cork gasket then went for a test run and it seems to be leak free now. I don't think it will last very long, it never normally does. I'm hoping the cork is just that bit more flexible than the paper, and obviously a little thicker, so should take up any variances. A go over with a sanding block didn't highlight any particularly egregrious surface deviations so I just have to keep trying. Next attempt at sealing will be cork gasket and goop if this one fails.
Happily, the oil filler tube gasket has proven successful and I'm getting no oil from there and while there is oil residue on the belts side, I'm not seeing any new appearing from any particular spot. I think I'm getting close to the point where I can just degrease everything and keep an eye on things now. There's also less spots of oil appearing on the drive when I park up, so that's good too.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Hey I did some photos for once so let's do an update on today's adventure. Recently I found a little hole in the floor under the pedals, I'm pretty sure this is down to my leaking windscreen seal and a big chunk of underseal that had fallen off on the outside of the car... and my general neglect while I was working on other cars before pressing the Princess back into daily duties. Got it up on an axle stand so I could pop the wheel off and clean up the area. I completely failed to get any before photos, I just wanted to get this job done. Working in footwells is not my idea of fun, nor is welding upside down on the drive. There had been a larger repair done to this area well before I got the car so that was done at least 12 years ago, probably nearer to 30 which is when the car was restored in the '90s. For the most part, that repair is holding up just fine so I left it alone, the issue is where water has been sitting inside the car from the leaking windscreen seal, and the missing underseal on the outside I didn't know about. Some chopping and grinding and rust treater later and it was no longer a hole nor was it rusty. Had a bit of an explore of the rest of the inner arch and found some flaking paint and surface rust, a couple of localised bits of rot that need welding up, and not much more than that. Picking battles again with this one, I only really had an afternoon available so decided to leave the welding that requires partial dismantling of the suspension alone for the time being. While I had the car in the air I went over the sill repair, caught any pinholes that appeared after grinding off the welds, and just gave things a general tidy. I've got a full outer sill to go on this side when I have time so I didn't go nuts. Inside wasn't too bad, bit blurry for the photo because it had got to that point in the job. This did end up being a much larger repair than I was expecting, there was a lot of overlapping panels and sealant going on here which I think had exacerbated things. Passenger side didn't have the same problem, although it was a bit damp from the recent downpours. I took out the foam sound proofing panels from the front of the car since they are definitely holding on to water, the red carpet barely holds on to any water at all so that can stay for now since I hate driving around with no carpets in the car. Annoyingly, it wasn't until after I had put all my tools away and was refitting the carpet that the light caught what turned out to be a tiny hole in the middle of the passenger floor pan so I'll have to come back and sort that out, it's so small you could probably drill it and fit a bung to repair it. A break to let things cool down and whatnot, flatting off of the repairs, and then a nice dose of primer and seam sealer on both sides to keep the weather out and the rust at bay. Actually ended up looking a lot better than I was expecting. Finished it all off with some top coat and a spritz of underseal, forgot to photograph that, and let the underseal cure a bit before letting it down off the jack. That's when the jacking point - which has always looked pretty mangled on this corner but never offered a problem - decided to make some awful crunching noises, try and push up through the floor and generally give me The Fear. Found another point to jack from and all was well so I could investigate. It looks like the seam between the jacking point and the inner sill has partially failed, hidden by a very thick layer of factory underseal. There's also been a repair to the floor over the jacking point which might have been me, I'm not sure, and that still looks perfectly sound. I'll have to pull the carpet back again and have a bit of an explore, it'll either just need a quick line of stitch weld or for the jacking point to be removed and straightened, the floor likewise, and the whole lot put back together again. There's no obvious holes or rust so it's a bit of an odd one. I'm tempted to take a few days off work since May is always super quiet and just do as much welding as I can to deal with all these niggly little bits in one go before work gets busy again. We shall see. For now I'm just happy the big hole in the floor is now a big steel patch.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Small update here.
That weird deadspot issue has totally gone. It must have been the air in the clutch hydraulics, it's the only thing that's changed since bleeding it out and I simply can't get the car to repeat the deadspot issue at all.
Recently I brimmed the tank for the first time in ages. New problem is that it is definitely dragging some rubbish through from the tank. I do have a filter before the pump so I'll swap that out, it's probably clogged. Over the years I've had periods where a red sandy sediment (not rust) has been pulled through from the tank so it's probably flushed a bit more of whatever that is out.
Oil leak from the fuel pump appears to be solved too, the cork gasket has thus far done the trick. Normally it would have at least started weeping by now and it isn't yet.
There's been a bit of a delay delivering my new headlights because of bank holiday so I'm still waiting on those arriving.
I've not done a list in a while, so here's where we're at on that:
Windscreen - order and fit (maybe order it next month if things go to plan). Already have a new seal to fit at the same time. Roof - paint when new windscreen is fitted. Front Driver's Inner Wing - small repairs to driver's side Front Driver's Outer Wing - media blast and paint NOS wing before fitting Front Passenger Wheel Arch - cut out rot, fit repair panel Rear Passenger Wheel Arch - cut out rot, fit repair panel Driver's Outer Sill - fit NOS outer sill Driver's Front Jacking Point - straighten, weld, and otherwise sort out Passenger Front Floor Pan - weld small hole Passenger Front Door - repair, paint, and fit spare door Driver's Front Door Hinge - determine what's worn and repair/replace it. Probably the top hinge pin. Suspension - Full regas of all units. Ideally find someone to remake the interconnecting pipes too, tricky since I have no template to work from. Rear Passenger Axle Mount - replace metalastic bushing Steering Rack - replace boots Headlights - Fit new LED units when they arrive Valve Shims - adjust to correct values General Service - We are due an oil and coolant change this year, perhaps a little past due now. ICE - fit head unit, speakers, and aerial. Still fancy twin electric aerials on the rear wings. Spoiler - repair crack in fibreglass spoiler and then get it painted Boot - make and fit interior trim panels for boot lid and boot interior Protection - cavity wax all the things, underseal all the things MoT - I'm exempt, and taking full advantage while I've got other things going on in my life right now. I would prefer to have an MoT all the same, just so I can be sure I've not missed anything daft. Profit? - unlikely.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Been trundling around no bother today when I could smell fuel sometimes. That could have been all sorts of things really, Scunthorpe has a fair few filling stations and industrial zones and whatnot so I just put it down to Someone Else and carried on until I could park up. Took some pics when I got home of the carnage, I forgot the Princess does this. Yeah. Well that goes to show the paint I bought is not only nowhere near the quality I was expecting, it's also not fuel resistant. Can't really do much of anything about this until its dried out now. The cause I'm not entirely certain because it only happens when I brim the tank and it's a hot day, which is why I don't normally brim the tank. Maybe modern fuel pumps have the cut off trigger a bit higher in the neck of the fuel tank than they did when the Princess was new, allowing it to be technically overfilled? Maybe there's an issue with my filler cap (it never leaks any other time, only under these specific circumstances)? Maybe I shouldn't brim the tank. Easy fix at least, just need to let this dry out, scrape/sand off the ruined paint, and redo it in something fuel resistant instead. On the plus side I now know the easy way to get this paint off the car should it turnout to be a sanding pad clogger when we prep for proper paint in the near future.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,092
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 11, 2024 12:54:20 GMT
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I've got a job interview tomorrow, it's a round trip of about 60 miles, so today I wanted to make sure I did all my pre-roadtrip checks. I know 60 miles isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, I just wanted to be certain I was as prepared as I could be. Popped the wheel trims off and checked the tire pressures and found the passenger side was a few PSI low so topped that up, also check the wheel nuts since it's been a while and a couple needed a tiny tweak. Checked the spare tyre too and that needed 10PSI putting in, I normally forget to check the spare so I'm proud of myself for that one. Checked the oil and the consumption has reduced dramatically since sealing up the oil filler tube properly, unsurprisingly. Only needed a little dribble to bring it to the full line rather than a couple of glugs (these are very accurate measurements). Coolant, brake fluid, and clutch fluid all exactly where they should be. Topped up the screen wash as that was quite low. Then on to actual fixes, first up was replacing the fuel filter since some red sediment had been pulled through from the tank and the filter was looking pretty grubby. Next up was to do the leaking fuel pump gasket. The cork gasket did hold for about 50 miles before starting to weep, and then leak, so that's better than I've had before from a plain gasket. You can just see where the oil pools in the cambox casting under the fuel pump, when enough oil gets in there it overflows on to the exhaust manifold and stinks so it's not my favourite thing. With the gasket removed you can see that oil leaks past it on both sides below the bolt line. There is good compression of the gasket and it is conforming well to the surfaces which don't appear to be significantly warped after having sanded things, it just isn't quite good enough on its own to seal everything up. I left the fuel pump draining the oil out so it was as dry as possible before reinstalling. The phenolic spacer is still firmly bonded to the cambox and isn't leaking so I left that alone. Weapon of choice for resealing is some Wurth red sealant which I'm told is supposed to be good for this sort of application since it's got good plasticity and I suspect part of the problem with this leak is that the vibration of the pump is breaking the seal with paper and cork gaskets so it needs a bit of help. Also cut a new gasket even though I could probably have re-used the one I had in there before, it's such a tiny gasket and I've got material it made no sense to penny pinch by reusing the old one that might leak again. That needs to be left alone for at least 30 minutes, which is why I'm typing this up while I wait since there's an errand I want to run but I can't while I'm waiting for the goop to set. I did a couple of small jobs, one of which was adjusting the striker on the driver's front door so that closes a bit better now, another was adding a dab of glue to the back of the velcro strip holding my carpet down since the self-adhesive on the velcro had failed. I also fixed my flaps. Whenever the weather gets warm the steel rod comes out of the plastic socket that operates the flap, pretty much every year without fail on this one. I should fit something to the end of the steel rod so it can't pop out really. I didn't this time, just relocated everything and put it back together so I can actually have some fresh air to the face again. Only other thing I want to do today is clean off that fuel-damaged paint and redo it in some fresh, something I can do once the goop has set and I can go get some black paint since I'm all out.
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Last Edit: May 11, 2024 12:57:41 GMT by vulgalour
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