What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Malcolm Parker]

  There was some coolant water in both the valve chest and some of the ports in the block.

Malcolm - what do you use in your coolant? - that head looks mighty clean.
That is an interesting fuel switch - can you tell us what it is... and if its successful enough to be worth copying?
Peter - looks purposeful looking like that. I like the bonnet detail for the tank filler... does it sit flat on the tank, or is that a padding/waterproofing layer under the bonnet steel?

For coolant I use good old fashioned water which by virtue of an old deed of 1880 we get free of charge in Boltby where I live.
I have tried antifreeze in the past but find that it develops gunge.  I drain the cars down in winter and run the engines for several minutes until steam stops coming out of the radiator cap.    When I drain the water for routine jobs it is generally very clean when it comes out.   The Ricardo head is one of Dave Dyes and is of good quality aluminium.   There was a bit of light corrosion around the top outlet but nothing to worry about after several years use.  I wiped the cylinder head with a cloth dipped in white spirit which removed most of the light carbon deposit in the combustion chambers.  Then I gave the face of the cylinder head a very light sanding with fine emery paper.  The engine runs on an SU and goes very well so the mixture can't be far off.   Whilst I don't want to be changing head gaskets on a regular basis it does give you a chance to see what is going on in the engine.   The tops of the pistons were also very clean for 25 years of running, only needed wiping with the cloth to remove the oily carbon deposit.   I only run the car on Tesco Momentum or equivalent.
The fuel switch is a cheap plumbing fitting off Ebay which cost a couple of quid.  The original fuel tap has a tendency to weep very slightly despite being overhauled.   I like the red handle on the fuel tap as you can see it through the bonnet louvres and can tell if the fuel is on or off.   Credit to Steve Jones for the idea, I have one on the Ulster under scuttle.