1968 Austin Princess Vanden Plas: Sill'd

Yeah I think in most places it will come up alright, I will just leave the small rusing sections as I think it adds to the feel.

looks like a nice project!
mine was in a barn since 1970! here it is just cleaned
unfortunatly its since sat in my garage for last 2 years, ran sweet as a nut tho

Nice. "Quintessential". Keeping it the same colour?

I always though you could keep a Jersey reg, guess I was wrong

--Phil

Top find! Just a thorough clean up and you're 95% there. This looks seriously rot free for a car with a rep from rampant rot!

I would love the 1300GT version of this!

Do love this Nathan!

Rysz.

Cheers Guys.

Well its update time, seeing as I got a weekend on the ol'Girl.

Have any of you ever rescued a car and noticed that even though its been standing for such a long time it seems to want to come back to life and get pressed into action?

Well the little Princess did just that, nothing gave us real grief.

9am Saturday morning, myself and a old friend decided to see if we could get the little motor running (not expecting to get far TBH). First off we thought it best to try and turn it over by hand, so plugs removed and a quick twist, to our shock it turned over. EXCELLENT. Then before we tried to crank it we checked oil levels etc, which were fine and the oil was very clean.

Noticing that the Plugs and leads were probably the originals I thought I would raid the stocks for some new ones (Keep lots for the MG's), bung a battery on and gave it a whirl. Again to our shock it turned over perfectly but no jungle juice was coming through. Like the MGB these cars have a electronic fuel pump so instead of messing about with the old unit I replaced it with a MGB item (slightly larger) again from the said "Stocks".

Turned the car to ignition and the usual ticking of the pump commenced, let that prime and tried again. Literally 2-3 turns of the motor and BOOM she was alive, the motor sounds amazing no tappet noises and no knocks either. RESULT.

Seeing as the car did not give us any issues and it was only 10:30, we thought what the hell lets get it moving. I was told the brake shoes were removed so I knew the foot brake was a no-go. However the rear shoes were sitting in the car, promptly these were fitted and adjusted up, then a quick rolling brake test then off for a drive round the garden.

So in the space of half a day we had it running and driving, it seems to have drawn alot of attention too with neighbours and random passersby coming up the drive to talk to me about it.

Next on the list is replace the discs as these are rusted up (look to have been new as there is no ridges so even a possible skim?), replace the sill and MOT it I think.

Ahh also what made me grin especially due to the fact I know how bad BL wiring is ALL THE ELECTRICS WORKED!!!! not messing was needed.

Pictures (a Video of the first run around the garden is uploading now).



Taken moments after the bonnet was first opened.

Underside looks worse in the photos, all rust is surface only and seems totally solid. I will clean all this off and paint then shutz.


With the beast!

Great that it sprang into life so easily! I seriously want one. Maybe when my other cars are done I'll look into it... about 2045 then... ;D

The wood and leather look to be in good nick as well, good job because it costs serious money to get them redone.
Amazingly sound body work as well, needs to get back on the road ASAP.

UPDATE: Solid

Its been a while since I updated this thread, mainly due to the Capri deciding it did not like its coreplugs (yes it was full of antifreeze, it just decided to pop 2 of them).

As of the weekend just gone I have managed to get the car that bit closer to hitting the road.

First off driving a Automatic with NO brakes even on my garden is no fun (when I say NO brakes that includes the handbrake), so this was the first to get sorted. All the flexi pipes were blocked up with crud so these were whipped off and blown through and the whole system bled. WHOOHOOO Brakes!!

Next on the list was the Sill, ive had the pattern part on the Austin shelf since before Xmas so I thought it was about time this got fitted. As with all Sill replacements I tackled the job expecting the Inner sill/Floor sections to be shafted.

Old & New


Rotten sections


Jacking point was dead for sure



Old sill off and ready for inner sill and tub inspection.

I don't know if the picture shows the state of the inner sections very well, but to say it is MINT would be an understatement! The Inner sill had the factory paint on it and NO rust at all. The only section that had some surface rust was on the Jacking point renforcer, so my guess is that the hole you see in the second shot was caused by incorrect jacking and thus over time rusted.

The level of or lack of rust/surface rust really does shock me each time I work on the car. Anyway I thought it would be best to lap a layer of Zinc primer on the inner sill as an extra level of protection before the sill was knitted on.



Then it was time for the new sill to be attached.


I then slapped a bit of Hammerite paint on just to stop and rust until I get onto the bodywork (After the MOT).

The sill replacement took about 2 hours so I then looked at the electrics, everything works now apart from the Dynamo. This seems to be totally dead and after stripping it down the whole inside is corroded. I was dreading the costs of a new one but pleasantly suprised that my local motor factors can get them in for £40 inc VAT BONUS.

Its going to take a week for that to arrive so I decided to refit the fuel pump (was dragging on the floor), and fit new gaskets to the float chambers.

So I reckon it wont be long before she hits the road once more.

Cheers.

Nathan