The Princess and imbalance | First test drive!
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- Опубликовано: 26 мар 2023
- The Austin 2200 Princess found in a tent May 2022 is now ready for the first real test drive! Will the suspension work? how is the brakes? will the engine stay at running temp?
So many unknowns when a car is reborn.
#bmc #britishcars
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There's nothing quite like the first drive of a car you saved from the crusher. All those hours of work and frustration pay off. What's even better than that is when the car is still on the road 10 years later.
That looks so comfortable - I had an example of its predecessor - a Morris 1800 Landcrab. Loved that car - I lived at the top of a steep hill and when it snowed and cars struggled to climb it my 1800 went up no problem - it have the impression it would drive up the gable end wall of a house. It was the 80's and 70's stuff was cheap and plentiful here in the UK - I burned my way through so many cars I should have kept but of course there was no hind sight then........FIAT's 127. 128, Citroen 2cv's and Dyanes and a GS Special - old Minis, a Land Crab, Cortina, Mazda 1000, Chrysler Alpine........ I first got married in 1984 so grew up and bought a new Uno - all the stuff beforehand was packed into just 3 years ha ha ha ha
Mostly if there is an inbalance in braking force between left and right side this comes from the flexible brake hoses. Change them for new ones, most likely the issue is resolved. Other issues can be the brake balancer if fitted or present. Due to bleeding this can move too and cause inbalance in braking force. Good work by the way!
I had a 2200 hls manual. The seats were extremely comfortable. You could change gear without taking your elbow off the arm rest . Also had a 18-22 Morris before that . Loved them both.
Lovely. My grandfather had a Princess, an 1800 I recall. It was a metallic burnt orange colour and I remember getting in the back to go to his boat. He took his oars with him to row out to the mooring but the oars had to be loaded through a rear door window I think, I remember them between the front seats.
The Princess followed an Austin 1800 which was before my time and was itself followed by a Maestro 1.6. I remember him being very disappointed in the Maestro suspension, finding the front bump-stops all too easily on the country roads here in SW Scotland.
A fitting year to have resurrected this car, its designer, and that of the Metro, Harris Mann died in August.
It's cool to see the Princess being closer to being back on the road, it's rare to find one in the UK let alone elsewhere in world!
I think only a small handfull is left here now
The interior appears to be in very good condition and the engine runs smoothly. It's a shame that the 2200 was never sold here in Finland. You've done a great job getting Princess back on the road! 👍
Interior is in really good condition! its pretty impressive actually. :)
Great love it! Sadly in Germany the Greens implemented a BABVVO law FOR ALL COMBUSTION VEHICLES FROM 2024! According to what has been said, this means that every combustion engine is only used for commuter trips and certified transport trips. The TEBBVO, the Federal Transport Tourism Emission Restriction Ordinance, then applies to commercial vehicles!
In case of interest the price for the 2200 HLS aut as per 1/4 1976 was DKR 84.988, - incl the aut transmission (DKR 7.040)..
Topspeed 167 km/h
0-100 km/h = 14.0 sec !
So, - the main focus was not to be fast, - but smooth !
Hi, the Automatic gearbox sucks quite a bit of power from the engine so maybe that is why you do not feel the power from the 2.2 ltrs. Many thanks, enjoy all your uploads. From Nr Liverpool UK.
As a kid I remember the Princess's radical shape difference to other cars on the road and loved it. Thank you for this great video.
Another old beast back on the road. Great work man. Those chairs look very comfortable. Definitely chairs, not seats! 😉
I am happy for you that the car runs good. To stay happy, you better raise your headrest to a way higher position. Top head is top headrest. I always like it to see such older cars on the road. 👍
Most Excellent! Thanks for sharing! Touch wood and fingers crossed it goes straight through the MOT 👍
Such a cool car. Love it.... and Helnæs is a magical place.
Sikke en fantastisk video, den tager mig tilbage til bagsædet.
Absolutely marvelous video! What a fantastic car the Princess is. You've done a wonderful job there. Oh - and the scenery was amazing too. Love it.
So wonderful to see the old beast out on the road!
They were meant as the executive model with the six cylinder and auto box, as opposed to the1800 manual for the plebs. My father was in the pleb range, as was I.
With the running hot, check to see if the fans come on when they are meant to because princess 2's love a thermistor switch in the radiator.
Happy motoring sir.
Yea this is the top of the range! :D
I am going to check the fan soon.. :)
Ian and dawn Kennedy offer a service in the uk to replace the nitrogen in the hydragas suspension units
yes! :)
It’s great to see the Princess on the road and hear how much you enjoy driving it😁
I had one of those back in the 1990's only had it for a few weeks as I was unable to afford to keep it or cover the cost of Repairing it...Really nice to drive but thirsty Beast of an Engine.
I felt Small inside the Huge 💺...Not a car to drive Tired.
I used to call it the land Ship because of how big it felt driving around the back roads of Dublin.
Can you explain how the "testing number plates" work in Denmark please? A dedicated video would be really interesting
A great video, it is brilliant to see another one that is similar to mine.
Wow! Thanks for testdrive video and driving us around town! The interior looks so comfy and calming in this car :). All the shades of brown-ish- Love it! And the armrest is a great feature too! Come on Princess! Get that MOT! ;D
Lovely just lovely, brings back so many good memories... Like when the gear selector on our manual Princess, the pin fell out and my dad had to drive back from our nans on the A12 in 4th gear. We had the luck as all the lights were green apart from one. So he turned left went up to the roundabout came back down on the slip road and we continued all the way home. That was fun! Ours did not have the arm rests in the front seats. So that looks so cool.
haha! :D
Great to see it on the road, can hear those noisy tappets but the ride seem very smooth, the 2200 engine is an old slugger of engine, a proper touring long distance car, too expensive to do town runs only. I am familiar with the engine gearbox combo as i had it in the earlier Landcrab 1800/2200 series car. My princesses were O series 1700/2000 but my favourite was the B series 1800cc.
What country are we in?
The steering wheel is on the wrong side for the UK. Yet he speaks about the MOT [Ministry of Transport] test.
Anyway, it is a remarkably beautiful car - especially in that colour.
Oh ... ... ... Denmark.
They were brilliant cars. Its just that nobody bought them.
Congrats 👍🏼🍺
What a fantastic machine! SO good to see all your hard work pay off. Even if it still needs work, well done for getting this special car back on the roads and hopefully in daily use once again! :)
Just love the princess especially the 2200. Unfortunately yet another case of BLMC snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Our designers and engineers were excellent but the management and unions were anything but. Great video 👍
That testing road looks so epic.
Great stuff Seppo. The auto box seems to suit the car. Love the big armchair seats and armrests. Love the Wedge.
Yea its a good match... really low ratio though!
My late dad had a 2200 HLS great car like a limo to drive so comfy. The only issues he had was power steering leak but other than that proved to be reliable.
Hi Seppo. I think you'll enjoy this video on RUclips, the guy has fitted a rev counter to his Princess !
Search `Agatha Meets Ep.1 Austin Princess & Austin Ambassador' 4.51
About 24 comments down the guy speaks about his mods to the car, the rev counter has come off of a Series 3 Allegro or Ital ......
Nice. Seems pretty good. The auto was a bit sluggish compared to the manual box. Great job.
Det interiør er bare så 70’er lækkert! Turen du kører er jo nærmest knallert-ruten!
Totalt! gid min rex havde det samme sæde!
Great to see the princess lift up her skirts and have a run about. Nice!
It's great to see it back on the road
How good to see it up and running. I'm afraid I always hated the thin plastic steering wheel rims BL used. I drove a friends Allegro now and again and the steering wheel instantly put me off...I was OK with the quartic wheel on the Allegro, but the thin rim....Nooo! I hope you get the brakes sorted out soon. I agree, they need bedding in then perhaps re checking. It's just a matter of usage and time. I love the causeway you are driving across, beautiful !
Thanks for the test drive, the engine sounds awesome and the auto transmission gear changes sound more refined than I expected but then I believe it's a Borg Warner unit with it's own lube oil (not an Automotive Products one). The car really suits you size wise and those seats look so comfortable.
The part where you put your foot down was great 11:43, a Tachometer would have been a nice instrument to have instead of the clock !
Thanks so much for your efforts.
yup Borg Warner it is! :) really low gear ratio!
@@SeasideGarage Yes a modern Aisin 4 speed with torque converter lock up would be better but it is what it is haha.
Just noticed that Aisin started as a joint venture with BorgWarner in 1969, they were then called Aisin-Warner until the joint venture was terminated in 1987.
@@SeasideGarage The 2200 is rated 110 bhp btw Seppo.
On gettin gin the car, it certainly has all the BL squeaks, creaks and groans they all seemed to have from the factory, the one I remember most being commn through the cars I experienced being the interior doorhandles, they ALWAYS had the same squeak when pening the doors with them, whether Metro, Montego, Maestro, Marina, SD1, etc., lot of Ms in that lineup there... :P
Not sure if the cooling system is equipped with a viscose clutch fan, perhaps it’s slipping. Marginal water pump circulation a low RPM maybe, or missing shrouds??? Stunning scenery BTW. Cheers 👍
Its an electric fan... but it might not kick in, have to check that.. :)
Great video and good to see the Princess back on the road. The 2200 isn't quick, especially automatic versions but smooth..
The engines always run pretty warm so you have to check the cooking fan cuts in ..
cooking fan haha
@@Martindyna haha... Spelling!
Going to check the cooking fan for sure! ;)
When they where new the 2200 autos where really quite a nice car to drive let down by a really crappy plasticy interior that had more squeaks and rattles than a maternity ward
Safari Princess.......... 😄😉 ...Modernize the brakes, suspension, etc.
Its a cool car.
The issue with that the car gets really warm when its running and you're standing stil...
Have you tried to flush the coolant in front?
I had a Skoda pickup once were thats a standard issue, i solved it with an electric coolant fan from Biltema and an extra sensor on one of the hoses so it would start at a sertain temp so it for sure wouldnt boil for me... Mayby its a solution for you also?
Or just an electric coolant fan with a switch. ❤
The classic way of dealing with overheating was, of course, to turn the heater full on with the fan. On a hot day this meant opening all the windows too! I had an overheating Skoda Favorit that used to do that, especially if you'd just come off a motorway into city traffic. That had an electric fan as I recall, though once the fan motor got so hot it melted the centre of the plastic fan!
So what's the MOT rules for driving a car on the road without a current pass? In the UK we can only use the car to drive straight to a pre-booked MOT test. Also, given the age of the Princess, does it still require an MOT test? Here in the UK there has been a 40-year+ exemption in place for quite a few years, so a car older than 40 doesn't require an MOT certificate.
You can choose what kind of testing plate you need... This allowed test drives. :)
It's so weird weeing a left hand drive BL car!
I know
Its so ugly and so fun at the same time. I would drive it.
And wonderful!
@@SeasideGarage is it any fun?
@@AndreasLarsson95 Very!
Yeah, brakes are just the worst. I can't test them precisely, the car feels fine for me, but come to the inspection station and it's all over the place.
I managed to get by just adjusting the rear drums and handbrake thankfully, but no way can I touch the fronts. Gonna save up and just buy whole new calipers and rubber hoses since one has a broken bleed screw and I asked around and brand new calipers cost about as much as a rebuild kit.
Yea I would love a brake tester bench/dyno! :D