03-04-2023, 10:50 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2023, 10:51 AM by David Stepney.)
Dave, I would echo what both Chris and Howard have said. When I had my engine to bits, now some two and a half years ago, I found that some butcher had been at my sump bolts and two of them had been drilled and tapped to take a couple pf 5/16 BSF bolts, whilst several others had been strained so that they 'slipped' when tightening. I helicoiled all the damaged ones, including the ones that had been drilled out. Cherished suppliers can supply oversized sump bolts.The job is much easier to do with the crankcase upside down on the bench. At well past my 70th birthday, I wouldn't fancy doing it on my back!
Personally, I have used a standard thick paper gasket from one of the cherished suppliers, well greased both sides, bolts in good condition with their attendant oval washers done up to a good nip - nothing more. Yes, my engine does leak a bit of oil (mostly from one corner of the block to crankcase gasket); getting an Austin Seven engine to be oil tight is a bit of an impossibility, but unless the oil leak(s) is (are) of Torrey Canyon proportions, I would leave well alone. My own car does about 250 miles per pint, which I can live with.
Hope this helps.
Personally, I have used a standard thick paper gasket from one of the cherished suppliers, well greased both sides, bolts in good condition with their attendant oval washers done up to a good nip - nothing more. Yes, my engine does leak a bit of oil (mostly from one corner of the block to crankcase gasket); getting an Austin Seven engine to be oil tight is a bit of an impossibility, but unless the oil leak(s) is (are) of Torrey Canyon proportions, I would leave well alone. My own car does about 250 miles per pint, which I can live with.
Hope this helps.