Bore wear, engine wear.

[Chris KC]

I would suggest don't start it unless you plan to drive it somewhere.

That's what I thought at first. But starting it for one minute means one minute of cold running, only. Starting and driving for half an hour means a full ten minutes of cold running plus 20 minutes of hot running. That seems to be far more likely to cause serious wear.

I meant leave it alone unless you plan to use the car. Mine regularly stands idle for a while with no ill effects. Wear happens every time you start the engine but that's inevitable. Plenty of owners use their A7's throughout the winter months without any issue.

When you do drive, wait till the engine is properly warm before attempting any heroics. And don't forget that water temperature and oil temperature are completely unrelated (especially if you use straight engine oil). 

There's a guy up the road who keeps a very expensive car in a lock-up next to my house, he's been through a string of different marques. Never drives them anywhere as far as I can tell, but diligently comes down every week or two, starts the engine and revs it in his garage for 5 minutes (presumably on full choke). Some day I will explain to him not only how irritating he is, but how much damage he is doing to his car; but he doesn't strike me as the listening type.

A very good point, Chris. I have a gauge on the radiator cap which shows the water gets up to temperature after perhaps five miles running, but it takes fifteen miles before the oil is up to running temperature and the engine is giving its best.

...and considerably longer if you use a deep sump.

[John Cornforth]

Hi Andrew

Here's how I have coped with over-wintering for the last 19 years:

Autumn - Change oil, check tank is about half full of super unleaded and put dust sheet over car
Winter - Charge battery occasionally
Spring - Take off dust sheet, start up and drive

Works for me !

[Charles P]

The solution to this "slow to warm up" problem is to fit a supercharger.
Never fails to warm up quickly, even on a frosty morning.
An additional benefit is that after parking overnight the petrol in the inlet system and bore evaporates, leaving the 2 stroke oil behind, which is ideal for bore lubrication on cold starts.

I shall now wait for the wholesale adoption of my modification!

C

[Nick Turley]

If you're not using it, why start it ?

A good turnover by hand is good.

[Bob Culver]

The tradition of regularly running idle cars was primarily to restore the battery. Not so necessary with low maintenance batteries and many Seven owners have/should have a smart charger anyway.
Removing the plugs, squirting in a little oil aiming for the valve seats, and turning over is certainly prudent. There is no suction to draw petrol. Do not leave the plugs out as let damp air in.
The filter gauze in a Seven must be intact, well fitted at the edges. There is no pump intake filter to capture any carbon flakes. It is vital that no cork chips or silicon blobs detach from the sump gasket.

[Steve kay]

So before the reassembled engine leaves the workshop to allow the Ruby to resume whizzing, are you suggesting that I should fit a blower? 

Contributing to the debate, having a temperature gauge gives an indication of how quickly the very small volume of coolant can change temperature. My Ruby, with clean waterways and a very good radiator from the nice young man in Ludlow, never comes near to actually boiling, even when exploring old hill climbs. In the winter, taking the fan belt off keeps it at a reasonable working temperature. Oil certainly takes longer to warm up, a journey that has a nearby destination always needs a longish diversion to make sure everything is properly warmed up. There have been entire choruses of warnings of the dangers of firing up just to charge the battery, or leaving on tick over for five minutes in the cold weather. It would seem to me that the machine should either see regular use all year round, or else be put to bed, with battery disconnected if there is no master switch, and basic storage prep.

[Ray White]

The solution to this "slow to warm up" problem is to fit a supercharger.
Never fails to warm up quickly, even on a frosty morning.
An additional benefit is that after parking overnight the petrol in the inlet system and bore evaporates, leaving the 2 stroke oil behind, which is ideal for bore lubrication on cold starts.

I shall now wait for the wholesale adoption of my modification!

C

An excellent idea.  I have fitted a blower to the 1949 MG TC I am rebuilding. I look forward to reaping the benefits.

 ( Trundles, my 1930 Austin Swallow,  will not be trembling in her size 3 1/2 boots because she knows I lover her too much . )

[Bob Culver]

The ancient practice of warming cars up at idle before proceeding was discredited decades ago. Especially bad with pressure fed cars which toss little oil at idle (demonstarted by cars with worn gudgeons which rattle until momentarily revved). As bore wear is/was largely related to time cold it was found better to get underway and hasten warming of the cyl walls.
Between 1940 and 1957 my car wore .010 taper in 60,000 miles, typical of the time.
Even in the late 1960s cyl wear was much greater than moderns, but quite a lot of short cold running . By comparison my 1964 Minx .004 taper max in 170,000 despite long oil changes and non exotic oil. and a lot of blow by. Moderns typically less still.

[Austin in the Shed]

How much of the bore wear would be attributable to the unsurfaced roads or lack of air filter,Bob ?

[Bob Culver]

The car had been rebored at 40,000 so presumably early wear was similarly considerable. Car has the token export filter and whilst these are impacted by a lot of dust from the fan dunno how much would have been swallowed without it. Some claim such filters merely meter out the dust. Really need a shield. Car was driven extensively on metal but there was little traffic and did not get into the fast protracted close following which occurs now, and is the bane of the more interesting club runs.
It is ironic that in the late 1920s when almost all out of town roads here were unsealed, all cars had open up draught carbs drawing from low down.