04-12-2024, 01:33 PM
Thanks Reckless, as you say they are similar enough that I believe it's the original block.
Frustratingly this project has had to take a bit of a quick change of direction. The scoundrel of a seller has lied to me. I viewed the car in a riverside workshop in Pontypridd a couple of weeks ago (you can probably see where this is going...) and was happy with the condition, turned the engine over on the starting handle with no plugs in saw the pistons going up and down and the engine internals looking clean. I checked the oil etc which all looked good.
The car was due to be delivered to me on the weekend when storm Bert hit, but the seller called to say he would be delayed due to the weather, perfectly understandable. I saw the scale of flooding in Pontypridd on the news, and messaged the seller who confirmed he had moved the car to his house away from the river and not to worry. Sadly I have now discovered that this was a lie.
Parenting and work had meant I'd not given it more than a cursory glance for a few days after it was delivered, but Saturday I had time to have a proper go over the car. When I mentioned in the first post that the engine had no compression, that was because I turned it over on the handle, as delivered with the spark plugs in, and it turned easily, too easily. Looking more closely I could see that the cotter pin for the starting handle had been removed, and so it was slipping on the shaft. Pulling the spark plugs revealed an engine full to the top with water. The seller had clearly the cotter that to avoid me turning it over before he left and discovering the water. There was also a tell tale layer of silt visible when removing the plywood covering the boot floor. Clearly the car had sat in the flood water.
After much gnashing of teeth, frustration and feeling of disappointment from being duped, I started to move forward. I figured there was no point trying to contact the seller, he'd spun a web of lies over several days and was clearly aware of what he'd done. It was my word against his, and all that would happen if I confronted him is anger and stress. Sometimes it's just not worth it.
The silver lining is that as this car was partially dismantled already and missing most of the interior, there was a lot less for water to damage than would be the case for most cars (though conversely, this is exactly the fact that allowed the seller to deceive me). The fact that the Austin chassis is not boxed in means theres no trapped silt there, likewise the simple body construction makes for minimal cavities to trap water and silt. The main urgent task was to get the water out of the moving parts ASAP before any corrosion could set in.
So Saturday night, as soon as the kids were asleep, I got to it. I have to say that (so far...) they are such nice vehicles to work on. It's all so simple and also clearly designed to be taken apart and worked on.
I drained several gallons of water from the crank case, before finally some oil came out too. Any claims of accidentally leaving it out in the rain with the spark plugs out, or similar, would be countered by having a gearbox and rear axle also full to the brim with water.
After draining the worst out I started unbolting parts from the engine to make it a smaller more manageable thing to lift. Pulling the cylinder head, and wiping it down to remove the oil & water mix, revealed the nice clean piston tops I'd seen when first viewing the car. They are +30 and the bores look fine. Not amazing, it's clearly done some miles since the rebore, but it looks like it'll do a few more yet to me.
I could see the start of corrosion forming already with some rusty coloured water collecting in some of the ports. So clearly time is of the essence here.
With that in mind by 11pm I'd got the engine and gearbox out and sat in my shed. I pulled the sump and wiped out all the water and gunge I could. Everything got a liberal dosing of WD40 and it will sit there for a bit now and wait it's turn. The shed is nice and dry and I've been leaving the heater running in the day to help dry out any moisture I can.
Rear axle was next, and Monday I had a day off work, so was able to get right to it. I was slightly puzzled initially about how to remove the rear springs from the axle, but there's so much great information out there, I'd soon found articles from various Austin 7 clubs (and this forum) explaining the process and pitfalls, and had removed it by the end of the afternoon.
That means the only mechanical part left on the car with any ability to hold water is the front hubs, and steering box. I'm fast running out of space, so these will just have to wait a bit till I've got some of the other components cleaned up. Hopefully no major harm with be done, but worst case the bearings are available and it should only be a matter of a couple of months, so not expecting any serious deep corrosion in that time.
With the engine and gearbox stabilised as best I could, I decided to start the proper strip down and clean up with the axle. Pulling it apart it was clear the water had got everywhere, up into the torque tube and through all the bearings.
That said after a rinse in white spirit, dry out and re-lube with Castol D, the bearings all feel good to me, and the crown wheel and pinion all look in remarkable condition to me. I have decided to leave it there and not split the differential further. Happy to be advised otherwise though?
The only signs of wear or damage I can see is to the hub taper on the right hand half shaft. It's a bit gouged and worn, I'm hoping that with a bit of lapping it'll be ok for now! The brake cams also feel a bit loose in the backing plate to me, though I don't know 7s, and am basing this on my knowledge of motorcycle brakes? So I think new bushes would be a good idea to tighten this up.
I can see I've got a mix of differential oil seals, one rubber lip and one flat, and theres signs of oil making it past the felt, so I'll change them both now. I'll also make the upgrade to sealed rear wheel bearings. So I've placed an order for (hopefully...) all the bits I need to sort the rear axle from A7workshop.
Again compared to working on my BSA, the support and parts available for the 7 is astounding! To find several sources, documenting every roadblock I came up against was so helpful, and I was all set to start turning up various bushes and making lock washers, but when they are just a few pounds each and available on the shelf, it just makes sense to buy them!
Frustratingly this project has had to take a bit of a quick change of direction. The scoundrel of a seller has lied to me. I viewed the car in a riverside workshop in Pontypridd a couple of weeks ago (you can probably see where this is going...) and was happy with the condition, turned the engine over on the starting handle with no plugs in saw the pistons going up and down and the engine internals looking clean. I checked the oil etc which all looked good.
The car was due to be delivered to me on the weekend when storm Bert hit, but the seller called to say he would be delayed due to the weather, perfectly understandable. I saw the scale of flooding in Pontypridd on the news, and messaged the seller who confirmed he had moved the car to his house away from the river and not to worry. Sadly I have now discovered that this was a lie.
Parenting and work had meant I'd not given it more than a cursory glance for a few days after it was delivered, but Saturday I had time to have a proper go over the car. When I mentioned in the first post that the engine had no compression, that was because I turned it over on the handle, as delivered with the spark plugs in, and it turned easily, too easily. Looking more closely I could see that the cotter pin for the starting handle had been removed, and so it was slipping on the shaft. Pulling the spark plugs revealed an engine full to the top with water. The seller had clearly the cotter that to avoid me turning it over before he left and discovering the water. There was also a tell tale layer of silt visible when removing the plywood covering the boot floor. Clearly the car had sat in the flood water.
After much gnashing of teeth, frustration and feeling of disappointment from being duped, I started to move forward. I figured there was no point trying to contact the seller, he'd spun a web of lies over several days and was clearly aware of what he'd done. It was my word against his, and all that would happen if I confronted him is anger and stress. Sometimes it's just not worth it.
The silver lining is that as this car was partially dismantled already and missing most of the interior, there was a lot less for water to damage than would be the case for most cars (though conversely, this is exactly the fact that allowed the seller to deceive me). The fact that the Austin chassis is not boxed in means theres no trapped silt there, likewise the simple body construction makes for minimal cavities to trap water and silt. The main urgent task was to get the water out of the moving parts ASAP before any corrosion could set in.
So Saturday night, as soon as the kids were asleep, I got to it. I have to say that (so far...) they are such nice vehicles to work on. It's all so simple and also clearly designed to be taken apart and worked on.
I drained several gallons of water from the crank case, before finally some oil came out too. Any claims of accidentally leaving it out in the rain with the spark plugs out, or similar, would be countered by having a gearbox and rear axle also full to the brim with water.
After draining the worst out I started unbolting parts from the engine to make it a smaller more manageable thing to lift. Pulling the cylinder head, and wiping it down to remove the oil & water mix, revealed the nice clean piston tops I'd seen when first viewing the car. They are +30 and the bores look fine. Not amazing, it's clearly done some miles since the rebore, but it looks like it'll do a few more yet to me.
I could see the start of corrosion forming already with some rusty coloured water collecting in some of the ports. So clearly time is of the essence here.
With that in mind by 11pm I'd got the engine and gearbox out and sat in my shed. I pulled the sump and wiped out all the water and gunge I could. Everything got a liberal dosing of WD40 and it will sit there for a bit now and wait it's turn. The shed is nice and dry and I've been leaving the heater running in the day to help dry out any moisture I can.
Rear axle was next, and Monday I had a day off work, so was able to get right to it. I was slightly puzzled initially about how to remove the rear springs from the axle, but there's so much great information out there, I'd soon found articles from various Austin 7 clubs (and this forum) explaining the process and pitfalls, and had removed it by the end of the afternoon.
That means the only mechanical part left on the car with any ability to hold water is the front hubs, and steering box. I'm fast running out of space, so these will just have to wait a bit till I've got some of the other components cleaned up. Hopefully no major harm with be done, but worst case the bearings are available and it should only be a matter of a couple of months, so not expecting any serious deep corrosion in that time.
With the engine and gearbox stabilised as best I could, I decided to start the proper strip down and clean up with the axle. Pulling it apart it was clear the water had got everywhere, up into the torque tube and through all the bearings.
That said after a rinse in white spirit, dry out and re-lube with Castol D, the bearings all feel good to me, and the crown wheel and pinion all look in remarkable condition to me. I have decided to leave it there and not split the differential further. Happy to be advised otherwise though?
The only signs of wear or damage I can see is to the hub taper on the right hand half shaft. It's a bit gouged and worn, I'm hoping that with a bit of lapping it'll be ok for now! The brake cams also feel a bit loose in the backing plate to me, though I don't know 7s, and am basing this on my knowledge of motorcycle brakes? So I think new bushes would be a good idea to tighten this up.
I can see I've got a mix of differential oil seals, one rubber lip and one flat, and theres signs of oil making it past the felt, so I'll change them both now. I'll also make the upgrade to sealed rear wheel bearings. So I've placed an order for (hopefully...) all the bits I need to sort the rear axle from A7workshop.
Again compared to working on my BSA, the support and parts available for the 7 is astounding! To find several sources, documenting every roadblock I came up against was so helpful, and I was all set to start turning up various bushes and making lock washers, but when they are just a few pounds each and available on the shelf, it just makes sense to buy them!