What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Austin Nippy]

Hello everyone,
This is not so much "with" my Austin 7 but more "for" after having just returned from buying a complete Nippy engine which I've been looking for over the years since the original one broke a crank many years ago and put it straight through the side of the engine. The subsequent engine has been great for many years and many thousands of miles but has never quite been "right" despite having many of the original parts transferred to it.
Now I just need to find a few days to get the engines swapped over and see if the new engine is as good as I'm hoping for - and maybe even slightly oil tight too? The one in the car has always leaked copious amounts of oil with no obvious source or cure found to date despite many peoples' efforts over the years.
I'll let you know how I get on once things are transferred over...
Best wishes,
Nick

[JonE]

so is this a 'real' crankcase, Nick? How are you going to operate practically re. crank and camshaft?

[Austin Nippy]

so is this a 'real' crankcase, Nick? How are you going to operate practically re. crank and camshaft?

Hi Jon,
It is indeed a "real" crank case. It still has its 1 1/2 inch crank in and has a Paul Bonewell camshaft. There's bigger inlet valves and the block has been ported. It cureently sports a 1 1/8 downdraft SU and has a Supalloy head. 
I intend to put it in as is for now as it's running well. I can then start to "re Nippyfy" it with the correct head and carburettor etc from my existing engine should the mood take me.
It also has another proper sports gearbox attached which apparently works well but is "a bit noisy" according to the seller. I will keep this for now as a second spare and put the original gearbox to the car back on once it has its Super Accessories gears in. I'm currently running my spare Nippy box on the car.
Hopefully that all makes some sort of sense?
Best wishes,
Nick

[Malcolm Parker]

If your sports engine came from Thirsk then I know it well.  It was put together by a friend with meticulous attention to detail.  I saw it running on the test bed and I was very impressed (ie jealous!) of its response and smoothness.

---

Today, having returned from a short break in the Lake District, I decided to have a look at the engine in my RL saloon.  I was on my way to the VSCC hillclimb at Harewood last Saturday when it suddenly developed nasty noises 5 miles from home.   Opening the bonnet there were exhaust gases coming out of the carburettor and everything suggested a problem with a valve to me.  I managed to limp home requiring first gear for some of the hills.
First job today was to remove the tappet chest cover.  Before doing this I took the manifold off complete with carburettor.  There was some coolant water in both the valve chest and some of the ports in the block.
The valves all looked okay (I had forgotten that it had double valve springs) so I checked the block nuts for tightness, all okay.
Next off with the cylinder head, a Ricardo aluminium head fitted to the car in 2016.    This revealed that the head gasket had failed between the exhaust valves of cylinders 2 and 3.  In fact a sizable piece of the gasket was missing.    
There was some water in the bores of cylinders 2 and 3.  Everything was cleaned up, the valves given a light wire brush and a new gasket fitted.       The previous one was a modern copper sandwich type from one of our cherished suppliers but the new one, bought last year, was noticeably heavier and seems to be of better quality.  I gave it a thin smear of Loctite copper silicone each side.  I also sprayed the manifold with Lidl heat resistant black paint (worth getting when they have it).
As you can see from the photos, the cylinder head is stained black where the gasket failed which suggests that the problem is long-standing.      I suspect that the problem may have started when i was on my way to the Centenary Rally back in July 2022.  Driving down in 40 degree heat the radiator overflow became detached and the engine (and me!) got very hot indeed.   The car has gone well since but for the last year has been rather unwilling to start, unusual as over the last twenty-some years it has always started without any bother.
Having fitted the new gasket the engine started without any bother and it sounds like it should do.       Tomorrow I will take it out for a decent run, weather permitting.

[Peter Naulls]

My special has been in a dusty corner at my work since October. Today it came out of hibernation and, with a little fresh petrol it started first time. I had a lovely run home.

   

   

[JonE]

  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?

[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.

[Graham Barker]

My Ruby has run rich ever since I bought it over 3 years ago. It still ran rich after putting a couple of extra washers under  the needle valve. Replacing the needle valve also made no improvement. Today I took out the float and compared it with a float from another carburetor while floating in water. The float on the left in the photo is the one removed from the car. It is a little lower than the other float. So I have now installed the right hand float in the car and will see how that performs. 
  20240616_093000(0).jpg (Size: 105.95 KB / Downloads: 188)

[Steve Jones]

so is this a 'real' crankcase, Nick? How are you going to operate practically re. crank and camshaft?

Hi Jon,
It is indeed a "real" crank case. It still has its 1 1/2 inch crank in and has a Paul Bonewell camshaft. There's bigger inlet valves and the block has been ported. It cureently sports a 1 1/8 downdraft SU and has a Supalloy head. 
I intend to put it in as is for now as it's running well. I can then start to "re Nippyfy" it with the correct head and carburettor etc from my existing engine should the mood take me.
It also has another proper sports gearbox attached which apparently works well but is "a bit noisy" according to the seller. I will keep this for now as a second spare and put the original gearbox to the car back on once it has its Super Accessories gears in. I'm currently running my spare Nippy box on the car.
Hopefully that all makes some sort of sense?
Best wishes,
Nick

If you've bought the engine I think you have (and Malcolm does as well) then I think you have a very good unit that was a bargin price given what it would cost to build one from scratch particularly to that spec and standard. I was with someone yesterday who wanted to buy it but was beaten to it. He was most disapointed.

Steve

[Malcolm Parker]

Today I torqued the cylinder head nuts down to 20 ft/lb, filled the radiator with water and went for a 60 mile scenic drive to Malton and back, dodging the odd cloudburst.  The car is back to its former self, cruising comfortably at 45mph with 50 easily available.   On getting back home I retightened the head nuts whilst the engine was hot.  I was very pleased to see that there was not a drop of oil on either side of the crankcase after some quite hard use.