1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

got me all exited now, can't wait to hear it running.

heat often softens the glue which holds the headlamp lens on, try putting one in an oven on a low heat (obviously remove any plastic fittings fist!)

Update time again. The upper ball joints arrived and I collected some 6mm fuel hose and a pair of wiper blades the other day. Today is not the day I fit those though.


I did figure out where the long bar goes and in so doing where the missing bumper iron bolt was.


An attempt was made to fit the sump-to-bellhousing stiffener brackets with the engine in situ. Because of the size of my hands this proved impossible so I shall be lifting the engine out just far enough to bolt the brackets on before putting it back in again. Not too difficult a job really. Here's an idea of access and visibility.


What I really wanted to do today was some welding, specifically gutter repairs. They hadn't got any worse since I applied the seam sealer a year ago but they also hadn't got any better. They were fragile for most of the length so I decided to get rid of the perforated rusty bits. Easiest way to do this was to fold them down against the bodyshell lip/platform the roof is spotwelded to and take a flapwheel to the edge to trim off the old gutters.




The A pillar gutters were still in really good shape so I left those alone. The roof still had lots of spot welds holding it down too.


Well, apart from the middle third where the gutters had practically disappeared.


This is all that's left of them.


I was originally going to tidy up the surfaces and make up some new gutters, welding them in carefully as per factory. Then I thought sod it, lets do this the easier way. There's that much work involved in replacing the gutters I deemed it pointless so instead decided to deseam the Renault. A section at a time I ground back the gutter ledge until it was not quite flush with the roof skin, then tacked the two pieces together before moving to the next part so the whole roof didn't just spring off. Then, taking my time so things didn't get too hot and having just two small fires when stray welder sparks hit a dust sheet, I seam welded the join.




After going back a couple of times to address any pinholes where I'd missed, it was deemed ready for filler. A lot of the big roof dent this side came out with the heat of welding, which was useful. A skim of filler was applied to smooth out the weld line. The roof skin surprisingly didn't warp, I suspect this is down to the brace that runs on the other side keeping the shape.




I'll finish sanding the filler another day. For now I'm happy the rust is gone and the car doesn't look that bad for being de-guttered. If I want to fit gutters in the future I can do so with ready made sections spot welded to the edge that is currently smoothed out. I tidied up the A pillar bit of guttering with the old damaged stainless trim cut down to suit.


Other items of note are that the door mirror was found to be adjustable and perfectly functional and I refitted all of the side trim. I do need some more side trim clips, the ones on the car are very fragile and not really good enough to hold the trim on the car at speed.

I'll likely not be working on Peugeot 206 again until Tuesday when my new clutch cable and brake pads are due to arrive. I'll turn my attention to getting the brackets fitted, the new brake parts on and the new ball joints in so the car can go back on his wheels again.

yes, they're the stiffeners mentioned in the update.

+1 on the gutters, my mx5 hardtop has no gutters and it's a pain in the ass when it's wet as soon as you open the door the water runs onto the seat.

How often do you think, realistically, I'm going to drive this thing in the rain?

When I've de-seamed Mini's in the past, I've welded in "supporting" panels on the inside of the seam to add strength. I was told this is necessary and the normal way to go about this as the metal on the curve of the roof immediately next to the seam is stretched very thin as part of the pressing of the panel.

just a thought..

Mike and I hauled the engine and gearbox out of the engine bay again so we could fit those stiffener brackets that go from the engine mounts to the bellhousing. This was a chore and I wish I'd known what they were before the engine went in the car. What's more, with brackets fitted it's nearly impossible to put the nut on the bottom of the driver's side engine mount because access is something that happens to other cars. Had to remove the bonnet, gear lever brace and steering column to get the engine and gearbox out as well as putting the lifting straps on in such a way that they cleared the locations we needed to fit the stiffener brackets. This was not a particularly fun job.




That done, a bit of info on the headlights. They are handed and have very specific fittings, not at all what I'm used to seeing.


On the outer side at the top there's a spring that the tab that makes the lights handed sits in.


On the inner side at the bottom is a clip of sorts that holds the bracket that doesn't have an adjuster in it.


Frustratingly, the two headlight mounting brackets are mirrored, which is why I can't use the spare headlights I've got in this hole.


So, I decided that I'd take the wire wheel to the passenger side bowl to see if it could be cleaned up to be repaired. Results were less than satisfactory and I stopped almost as soon as I'd started.


What I did notice is that the brackets that make these lights handed are just spot welded on. With care I can very likely remove them from the above bowl as they're in much better shape than the rest of the unit. I can them convert one of my spare drivers side headlights to a passenger side one. Since the brackets aren't fixed to the actual reflector bowl but the decorative surround I don't need to worry about damaging the silvering either as it shan't matter.

With that out the way I turned my attention to the ball joints. This was to be another horrible job. Started on the driver's side and learned by trial and error how best to remove the two rivets holding the ball joint in place. The third fastener was a captive bolt, the nut for which came undone surprisingly easily. After some effort with spinny tools and hammers, the old ball joint was off.


On fitting the new one, before I'd even finished tightening it, one of the bolts sheared.


Never mind, I found another suitable bolt and nut and had the lower ball joint all buttoned up and ready to go.


The upper ball joint put up more of a fight, this one has three rivets holding it in. I was thwarted in my attempt to fit the new ball joint because the upper collar I need to remove is also spot welded to the upper arm and to be honest I just hadn't the patience to deal with that. I had been at the unit at this point for six hours, much longer than intended, most of which was faffing about getting the engine in and out again. Here's one dead old upper ball joint.


In other news, I found and reinstated the factory jack. I'd hidden it under the back seat.


Got the gear linkage properly secured and fitted the throttle return spring. I think the throttle cable needs replacing, it's not only frayed but has a habit of sticking when you've pressed the pedal down because the cable doesn't move smoothly in the sheath. I also fitted the two tiny pieces of new fuel hose needed, I just haven't put clamps on yet as I couldn't find them.


Can anyone tell me what this is and where it goes? With it sat on top of the air filter the wire is pretty much at maximum extension so I assume it must go on or near the carburettor, I just can't find anywhere it looks to fit. Seems to be some sort of sensor.


Tried out the seating position properly today and the gear change. I like the latter but not so much the former, the pedals and steering wheel are very offset which has caused me problems with cars in the past. I might get on with it, I might not, I shan't be driving the car enough for it to cause me the problems the Maestro did.


The only thing that's jammed on the dashboard is what I assume is the heater control which is stuck on RED. I haven't attempted to force it for fear of breaking it, it's jammed so firmly it's like it's been bolted down. The choke pull works, it could just do with a little fresh grease to make it smoother to operate.

Good point, well made. Would have probably been easier to tighten up the nuts too >.>