What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Barry Townsend]

Hi John
We've all been there but few have the courage to put their hand up!

[Zetomagneto]

Charles, I agree with what you say, but John is already at 5/16 if he has a failed 1/4 Helicoil.
I too don’t like going oversize more than necessary. So far as helicoils are concerned they do work
but Timeserts are IMHO much better.If your not familiar with them do a google.
Best Wishes Gene

[Parazine]

Timeserts are IMHO much better.

Seem to be mostly available in Metric and American (SAE) threads. 1/4BSF is available but that seems to be the only one that we can use. Interesting alternative though....

[Charles P]

Timeserts, or the "Zeto DIY" version of them, are great if there's space. On an A7 engine that may be a luxury 

C

[Austin in the Shed]

I find helicoils quick,cheap and easy to install on stripped out threads,Even Rolls Royce used to fit them on their older aero engines.
Had to repair the threads on a couple of Mag crankcases,The starter mounts 5/16 BSF standard,both had been tapped out to 3/8" BSF and as Charles says there's not a lot of metal there and opening out bigger I thought would needlessly weaken the area around the top of the bell housing plus the shock when engaging the bacon slicer starter.So I attempted to make some 3/8 to 5/16 bsf reducers ,took 3 attempts,the firsts turning into spirals either in the making or  in the inserting,but did it in the end.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

As others have said, correctly installed Helicoils, perform perfectly in my experience.

They can be tricky in certain circumstances however and I sympathise with the situation John finds himself in.

[Reckless Rat]

You know the saying " if it ain't broke don't mend it" - today's  job was dropping the steering box out of the RP to rectify a sticking gear wheel, made worse by my attempts to take up a bit of slack the other day. Today I cleaned and washed it all out ready to give it the grinding paste treatment tomorrow...

   

I am determined to get it right, so I may be some time, as Capt Oates said.

[Steve Jones]

You've not made a very good job of spray painting your vice white, Bruce!

Steve

[Reckless Rat]

Nice vice though, a Paramo, from Chapeltown, Sheffield where I used to live. Factory been gone a good while, sadly.

[David Stepney]

The latest addition to the Stepney collection of motor vehicles, a Ford Fiesta managed to blot its copybook rather badly during the first week of ownership - in fact the very day that I insured and taxed it on the 1st March! As the Polo is off the road for some much needed TLC and the Fiesta was to be the temporary 'daily driver', for the last three weeks, it has been the Seven that has come to the rescue.



During this month, the little car has covered over 700 trouble-free miles, including a trip up to Caernarvon, running over to Llangynog and back to look after the horses most days and all the general running about that is necessary to life in the Welsh hinterland. It's final trip as a workhorse was to nip (if that is the right word when applied to an Austin Seven) over to Deeside with a friend who had kindly agreed to ferry the Fiesta back from the Ford expert who has sorted the unfathomable mysteries of it's electronic engine management that had caused it to fail in the first place. despite the fact that my friend is quite a big lad (he admits to being 17 stone, but I suspect heavier) and completely filled the front passenger seat of the car, the Seven bowled along quite well averaging slightly more that 30 mph over the whole journey from Bala and back.



Couple of photos whilst on it's travels:-



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The Seven at Cletwr, on the road between Llangynog and Bala


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Taken this morning at the top of the lake, which was millpond smooth.