1961 Austin Se7en

[AustinSe7en]

Had a quick trial rub on the rear chrome surround with a bit of steel wool and duck oil.....looks like they will clean up nicely.

[AustinSe7en]

Front windows look good - no chips.
Got one catch that the pin is stuck in, hopefully I can free that one off.
But unfortunately one catch has the bottom broken off.
Could be worse I guess, but now I’ve got to find one of those.
It’s the near side rear one if anyone knows of one for sale anywhere? I’ve stuck a request in the Wanted section.

[AustinSe7en]

Well, what can I say but Wow!!! Picked up the front seats from the Trimmer today and he has done an absolutely outstanding job!
Original covers, new internals and just the red sections replaced on the bases. He even “rebuilt” the piping!

Once the rear seat padding arrives he has the same job to do on the rears

[Fanfaniracing]

Crazy how good the Seats look now!

[AustinSe7en]

Crazy how good the Seats look now!

I know! Can’t wait to sit in them!!
Mind you, I am equally amazed as to how well the thirty odd years of filth cleaned off before I sent them off to be stripped down!
There are a few discolourations and stains here and there, and I could just have bought a new set of covers, but I kind of like the fact that they have survived for so long.
A bit of genuine patina

[Old English White]

SO much better than buying new covers! They look GREAT

[Fanfaniracing]

New Covers look great but Never as good as original's!
Good job!

[AustinSe7en]

Thank you all for your comments!
Hopefully this weekend I will be mostly playing with my engine!!

[AustinSe7en]

So now some fun stuff!
I changed the 850cc for a 998cc with a remote change box back in the tail end of the 80’s.
The engine was rebuilt by Richard Longman engineering and from what I can remember it came back as a 1014cc with a GT2 head and some form of camshaft!?! Wish I had kept the invoice now.
It’s only done about 8,000 mikes since then and ran sweet as a nut so I had no intention of doing much but a clean up and some paint. However......once you get on the net and see all the lovely goodies you can buy off the shelf now, it’s hard to control yourself!!
I thoroughly plugged all holes and orifices, and had the whole assembly soda blasted. Whilst it was away, I decided I would at least change the clutch, water pump and any exterior gaskets I could just in case it sprung a leak at a later date!
Then thought I might as well pull the head off and give it a decoke too. Just as well I did, because despite my best efforts when I pulled the head off no. 1 piston had a nice little mound of soda sitting on it!!

[AustinSe7en]

Head stripped, decoked and reassembled.
Had to go and borrow a valve grinding stick, mine was too big!!
After a bit of jiggery pokery, managed to extract the rather deteriorated bypass tube.

[AustinSe7en]

Bought a knackered old magic wand gearbox to have a go at swapping the diff housing over to revert back to the original style stick, all be it on a four synchro box.
The differential was absolutely hanging!! Never seen anything so worn - as you can see by the state of the gearbox casing!
So it’s been replaced with a cross pin item, and a new set of bearings.

[AustinSe7en]

Diff housing swap has worked “on the bench” just hope it lasts on the road!

[AustinSe7en]

Lightweight flywheel, uprated clutch and diaphragm.

[AustinSe7en]

Fitted a set of “standard” 1.3 roller rockers - not wanting to muck up Mr Longman’s set-up!

[AustinSe7en]

Reverse primed the oil pump and spun the engine up with the starter to make sure I still have oil pressure after it’s been stood drained for a while. All good!
So it’s time to drop it back into the subframe.
Problem is, my engine hoist has given up the ghost!!!
So a little improvisation is required.....

[roger mcnab]

hi nescessity ? is the mother of invention
cheers roger mcnab

[timmy201]

My engine crane also was no good after a couple of years in storage. I think most of the oil had leaked out as I stored it all on a rack horizontally - I added some tool jack hydraulic oil and all good after that

[AustinSe7en]

I think my crane was probably 30 years old!
But a top up made no difference. Barely use it these days, so it will sit in the corner....until I need one again!!
Well, the ramp trick worked a treat, all be it a little less manoeuvreable!!

[Rubber Sprung]

I think your fan is on back to front .

[AustinSe7en]

I think your fan is on back to front .

OH No!!!
Thought I was being clever assembling it all on the subframe before putting it in the car!
Now I’ve STILL got to struggle in situ with my nicely painted radiator!!!
Thanks for pointing it out.