Austin Seven Damaged Block (Number 267087)

Ever wonder what happened to block number 267087?

Lucky owner Ian Jones

Photographs Bruce White

Ian has owned this spare block for many years. A few years ago after a hot Adelaide summer he discover the block in two bits! The theory of what happened is as follows..... The block was previously used as part of an Austin Seven marine conversion using salt water for cooling. At some stage it had been sleeved (most likely after salt water was found in the bores?). Over time, the corrosion expanded between the case iron and the steel sleeves. And the result is as shown, the cast iron was weaker than the steel liners and BANG.