Practically Classics Forum

Sorry to hear about the problems - and impressed by the amount of work you have done. Just checked the forecast - looks like a nice day tomorrow so get out there and do some more - it's either work on the car or fall asleep in front of TV stuffed full of Christmas Pud

Mike

Tomorrow I'm getting the suspension arms reset on the HL because with three up and a boot of shopping I found my rear tyres scrub on the arches. It's one of those jobs I've just not got around to doing because of other Stuff and since they don't rub when it's just me in the car it's normally not an issue.

Tried to reset the rear suspension on the HL and found I couldn't as both pivot shafts are seized. However, I did manage to raise the problem side by about an inch which has reduced the rubbing. If I'm careful about how I load people and things into the car I can eliminate the rubbing entirely and since it's usually just me in the car it normally never rubs. So, I'll be getting it booked into a garage to see if they can reset the suspension arms as I haven't the tools or means to do it at home. Hope it's not going to be a really expensive job, I've hardly ever used garages for work as the vast majority of works I've found ways to DIY. I've also put a small tray of rice in the driver's footwell in the HL to combat the condensation issue I've been getting while the weather is damp. So far it seems to be doing the trick and the car is staying nice and dry. It's sad that I don't even have a garage to put my car in.

Today's plans of working on the HLS haven't happened for it is blowing a gale. Instead I wanted to work out what's left to do and leave myself a little list.

Braking System
> Handbrake cable - new one purchased last night, delivery sometime early January.
> New rear shoes - very cheap, just haven't got around to purchasing them yet.
> New front hose - passenger side looks cracked, should be replaced.
> Rear hose - passenger side was cut through. Some stubborn fixings to undo so I can fit the new one I have in stock.
> Brake fluid & nipples - likely to break at least one bleed nipple and the system will need fully bleeding.

Suspension
> Rear sphere - Have a replacement, as previously mentioned it's an engineering/garage job to get it put in the trailing arm on the car.
> Hydragas reset - Need to get the system pumped up again. About £50 from flat.
> Pivot shafts - Need to unseize so trim level can be reset properly. Need to do this on the HL too. incorrect trim level results in an effectively saggy, undersprung rear end. This is another garage job, I haven't the tools/means to do it at home.

Engine
> Timing belt - fit. I hate putting these things on, they fight all the way.
> Coolant - Ready to go in, system to be flushed before we top up properly. No coolant/water in the engine presently.
> Oil - Change required, new filter too. Oil obtained, filter to acquire.
> Radiator - May have leaks, not sure yet. Could need to be replaced/re-cored.
> Carburettor - small O-ring required for internals, otherwise in very good order.
> Manifold - gasket to refit before bolting to head.
> Fuel lines - may need to replace a couple of rubber hoses between pump and carb.
> Battery - second hand from Deatons. Good nearly new battery £15-20 usually.
> Spark plugs - need four, the three I had have disappeared.

Interior
> Front seats - to bolt down.
> Rear seats - back to swap and bolt down.
> Parcel shelf - to retrim
> C pillar trims - replacements to modify to accept courtesy lights before fitting.
> Carpet - sill trims to fit.
> Door cards - passenger side to clean, front passenger card needs fabric re-gluing.
> Dashboard - to finish rebuilding before fitting.
> Centre console - to screw down.
> Rear view mirror - to refit.
> Door seals - full set of replacement seals to fit. Good seals from this car to go into spares box.

Miscellany
> Tyres - wheels to be swapped with ones taken from HL.
> Headlights - check adjustment.
> Mirrors - fit replacement door mirrors, several in stock.
> Sills - check condition thoroughly, repair if required. No obvious damage apparent on initial inspections.
> Track rod ends - check for play before MoT. Budget for replacements.
> Radio - test and connect if working.


I can get a fair bit off this list when I've got a couple of decent days weather-wise. Ideally I'd have the car in a garage and three or four people to put all hands to the pump, I could get all of the above done in a day then. As it is, I reckon it'll be a few more weeks until it's all resolved.

Passenger door cards came off yesterday. The front one had got damp at some point in the past and this had unglued the edge of the velour so I reglued that with some multi-purpose glue from Wilkinsons and clamped it with about 412 clothes pegs for an hour or two so I could get it ready for cleaning, which it needs rather badly. It's otherwise in pretty good order and if the drivers side is anything to go by it will clean up nicely. If I'd tried to clean this before regluing I ran the risk of stretching the fabric or ungluing it further.




The rear door card this side was black with grease in places, from the state of the original interior it looks like this is where the animal/s were sleeping that were using the car as a kennel. I've already given this one go over with the shampoo which has lifted the majority of the dirt but it will need shampooing again at least once before going back in the car. The vinyl needs some red overspray removing from the top back edge.


Removed all the door fixings and gave those a clean up too. The grab handles were black with grease which happily came off very easily with the Astonish brand engine degreaser. I found one of the window winder spacers was snapped so I've glued that back together and once the door cards are fully cleaned they can be put back in the car.


While in Wilkinsons buying sundry supplies, Dad spotted this handy device which should allow me to refit the chrome trim I removed from the HL and the trim that's fallen off the HLS but is still with the car. Next thing I'll need to purchase are relevant trim clips to rivet to the body through the existing trim holes.


Most importantly I got the timing belt on with Dad's help as it was a little warmer today. The belt didn't put up so much of a fight and while it was hard work getting it fitted, it did at least go on.


With that in place the distributor could also go on and the timing get set accordingly. Engine moves freely with everything connected so I think we'll be okay when we fire up.


If I'd had a helper to get the manifold connected I could have got the carb fitted, borrowed plugs and battery from the HL and filled the coolant so that we could have seen whether or not the engine will run after I've had it to bits. Instead, that's going to have to wait for another day now.

I had to change crank oil seal on mine, and hardest part was getting the crank pulley off, it eventually took heat, big hammer and 2 pry bars to get it off, once I finally got that off, nice easy job swapping seal and fitting new belt.

Happily, removing the crank pulley was pretty easy on this one, probably because of the copious amounts of oil leaking from behind it lubricating everything quite so well

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Pulling out the relevant parts of my recent list, here's an update on that.

Engine
> Timing belt - fit. I hate putting these things on, they fight all the way.
> Manifold - gasket to refit before bolting to head.
> Fuel lines - may need to replace a couple of rubber hoses between pump and carb.
> Spark plugs - need four, the three I had have disappeared.

Interior
> Door cards - passenger side to clean, front passenger card needs fabric re-gluing.
> Dashboard - to finish rebuilding before fitting.



The timing belt did get fitted on a marginally warmer day with some of Dad's experience and likewise Dad provided a vital third hand to get the manifold and gasket all plumbed in satisfactorily. I then bolted up the carb - well, 3 out of 4 nuts since one made a bid for freedom and I've not fished it out from under the car yet - after which the air filter box could be fitted, the broken cold air feed pipe trimmed down so that fits too now.

Engine bay is looking a bit better filled now.


With everything connected that could be I could find out just what was missing. This lead me to head over to Autosupplies to pick up everything I needed. Annoyingly I forgot to get the O-ring for the carb innards, but I can pick one of those up tomorrow when I get a battery from the local scrappy.


For just under £30 I got myself 4 spark plugs, a vacuum retard hose, some new jubilee clips, new 6mm fuel hose, 4 blind grommets to stop both cars belt covers from rattling (will make a small hole in them to fit tightly), an in-line fuel filter and some tie wraps to reroute the fuel overflow pipe from the carb since there doesn't appear to be one fitted and I don't fancy fuel going directly onto the exhaust.

I might not have got the car fired up today, but I certainly got a massive way of the way closer. I just hope that when we fire up the engine I'll have a working video recorder so that I might share the joy.

It would appear my ball joints have worn out, a problem that has become more apparent since doing the head gasket and restoring a good amount of power, torque and efficiency to the engine. I've had a read through the manual and tried to find info online but as usual, information is fairly scarce. It would also appear that replacing ball joints is not a job you usually have to do on a Princess so I'll chalk that one up as yet another odd thing this car has thrown at me. I wouldn't mind, but I've just spent a pile of money and effort sorting the engine and the suspension out so I could do without this.

Symptoms - Car pulls right when accelerating from a standstill or at anything more than gradual pace. Car pulls left when decelerating (but not braking).

I'd put this down to the additional torque from the engine, but it's gradually getting worse and having passed the wheel to my brother he concurs that it's very much like the Fords he's driven that have needed ball joints replacing. There's no bangs or squeaks, knocks or rattles, just this abnormal pulling behaviour. There's no play in the steering and the tracking is good, there's no other untoward sensations to hint at any other problem.

My theory is that by fixing various bits on the car it's put stress on a weaker component which has caused it to fail as it now has to work properly, this seems to be the theme of pushing a neglected car back into service.

Has anyone out there done ball joints on one of these cars? The book makes it seem like an intimidating job of special tools and internet prices for ball joints ranges from £7-£60 each and when you need four to do the job that could be very expensive indeed.

Feeling a bit disappointed about it, really, but I'll get it done. I'm just after a bit of advice from those with experience.

Have you got a half decent pry bar so you can jack the car up and lever against all the ball joints to check which one(s) are failing?

It's something I shall be checking, but over on another forum it's been suggested that it could also be worn out suspension bushes. This does tie in with me having to replace just about all the rubber items on this car and from what I'm learning seems plausible as the item at fault rather than the ball joints because everything else feels pretty snug. Bushes appear to be cheaper to replace than ball joints and less difficult so I'm thinking it's likely better to do those first and if the problem remains then I'll do the ball joints if I have to.

Bushes would be most likely! Steering swivel ball joints worn enough to cause this sort of symptom would most likely have dropped out before now.
The other - less likely but seen in AVG99T, my Pageant Blue 1800 [one of the last OHVs] as well as a black Ambassador I once had presenting at work with the same trouble - thing that can do this is a simple bit of wear in either an inner track rod end or the nylon thrust button that it runs against. Reason it causes diving in different directions between acceleration and overrun conditions is that the tracking in these is meant to be set toeing out by a very small amount as per most FWD cars so, once there's wear at one end (could even be an outer TRE but you'd have spotted wear there as that would prevent the usual castor action on lock in the direction of the worn one), then that end will pull to the opposite side under acceleration, so left for a worn right one as that wheel tries to toe in where it should be pulling from toe out to parallel and to the worn side on the overrun as it'll toe out more than the small amount specified, so taking the car off in the other direction. Rack buttons are cheap, especially if you have access to a lathe and some free turning nylon bar of around 3/4" in OD. Inner TREs are common to a few other cars of the time but wear is taken up by the button so all that would need would be a polish if the nylon part has already worn away, but you'd have noticed that amount of wear.

I favour the idea of an oil soaked bush though, start looking at those and check for rack wear while you're in about at it.