Project “will it go again..?” 1961 Austin Seven Deluxe Restoration

[gs.davies]

The engine looks fantastic installed in the shell! The green engine with black rocker cover is a great look

Yes I’m really pleased with how that turned out. The cover is off a 65 SDL that I broke up years ago. I decided to use it because the one that was in my engine didn’t have drillings for the plates, so was from a later car. I let my cousin clean it up and he had the idea of crackle blacking it, which he did for me. Sets the engine off a treat. I might see if he can do the air box to match…

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[gs.davies]

Two steps forward, one back has been the theme for the past few days.

After a triumphant win with getting the engine and box back in, I had another easy win with the subframe mounting bolts, a job easily completed during a lunch break.

And then the fun began...

Radiator fouling on the lower leading edge of the shroud. And then I remembered that I meant to change over the engine mounts and rad brackets prior to fitting to the shell for the S type on the radiator side to enable clearance to be able to service the fanbelt..

So, I delved into removing the radiator, which was hampered slightly by the fact that the inner wing on that side wasn't completely square (again, lack of dry build and a change of restorer halfway through bodywork having consequences. It wasn't too bad a job, couple of superficial paint scratches on the cowling, I'll add those to the other areas that need a little touch in. Some gentle and controlled violence courtesy of a chunk of 3x2 and a club hammer has now repositioned the lower leading edge of the cowling and so I shouldn't get any further interference between body and radiator.

Then, I noticed something; the car was listing very slightly to one side. It seems that somehow I'd managed to let the spacer plate between the top of the subframe tower on the drivers side drop down behind the tower. So, it was back off with the bolts I'd just got done up, body raised up again, spacer retrieved and put back where it was supposed to be, bolts done back up.

By that time I'd just about had enough of it so retired indoors for a cold beer. Or three.

Gary 1 - 1 Mini

1071Bob is kindly going to modify my lower radiator shroud to accommodate the later set up and today's job involves packing that up and posting off and then thinking about removing the 850's nearside engine mount ready to replace with the later one once it's cleaned and painted. And while I'm at it, I think I'll add a pair of the lower gearbox steadies, something else I'd overlooked in the change of direction from 850 power to a tuned MG 1100 spec motor.

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[gs.davies]

A little bit more progress, nothing staggering, but progress nonetheless.

Had a tidy up in the garage and decided to tackle the fuel tank. I got a 5L can of standard thinners and lobbed it and let it do it's thing for a while. There's not a lot of corrosion in the tank, main problem was the thick layer of varnish at the bottom. After an hour or so of soaking it, sloshing it around every so often, I drained it into a glass container and repeated the process. Apart from taking the paint off where some spilled, it wasn't too bad a job. The stench was pretty rotten so all garage doors left open for a while to vent it out. I've now got 3L or so thinners left over. Sure I'll find a use for that somewhere along the line. The outlet pipe is now nice and free, can blow through it without resistance so I expect fuel will flow without impediment. The filter gauze seems to have survived it's brush with the thinners and so the sediment that is left should stay in the tank.

I put a bit more paint on where the thinners had stripped it and it's now ready for refitting. I've decided not to use the braided fuel pipe from tank to pump and pump to solid pipe - I didn't like the idea of a 1/4 pipe in a sleeve that tends to ride up it when attempting to get it over a 5/16 outlet, to then try and secure it with a clamp that's also got a little sleeve on the end of it. So I'll use plain 1/4 pipe. I found a suitable grommet for the tank outlet through boot floor and I'll back that up with a bit of extra shrink wrap sleeving. I will use the braided stuff in the engine bay though, it does look good.

I also completed the build up of the distributor, points set and gapped, just need to find the engine timing and that's ready to fit.

Finally, I fitted a caliper and pads to the drivers side. It seems that the 7 inch disc brake set up uses a different bolt to attach the caliper to the hub so a set of those are on order - in the meantime they're temporarily fixed with an appropriate length set screw; the 7.5 spec bolt fouls the disc.

Other progress; big thanks to 1071Bob for sorting out the lower radiator shroud, at the weekend I'll hopefully swap the engine mount over for the later type, and get the rad back in and solve the clearance issue at the lower front edge. Demister vent and a pair of seat brackets have been sourced thanks to Tim Wight.

Wiring is almost complete, once I've crimped some terminals onto the battery I can start testing the circuits out.

Still to do is reassemble the carburettors - AC Dodd has rebushed the throttle bodies so they're ready to go.

Hoping to push the starter button sometime in the next fortnight. On track for Blyton so it would seem...

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[timmy201]

With the fuel tank to pump hose - I found on mine both ends were 5/16” OD, so getting some ethanol resistant hose in 5/16” ID was the best option I found

[gs.davies]

With unwelcome news that yet again, my January to December work contract for an American maker of cars has been terminated early, it appears that I have time on my hands. Fortunately, I've got most of the parts I need in stock to get this thing running and until the cash runs out or the time runs out, whichever comes first, I can carry on with this rebuild unbothered by Uncle Henry's spreadsheets, PowerPoints and WebEx meetings.

Over the past couple of weeks, carburettors have been the recipient of much cursing and headscratching; I bought these carburettors from a member here many years ago, and have finally got round to having the bodies rebushed by AC Dodd. On a particularly cold day last week, John and I set to putting the carbs back together with a view to getting them fitted on the car. The car and the carbs had several alternative plans..

Firstly, between us, we seemed unable to get the jet on one of the carbs properly centred and no matter what we did, the piston would stick fast when the jet bearing was nipped up tight. Eventually I pulled another jet bearing from another carburettor, removed all the spring loading from the jet tube (mixture adjuster and the jet feed tube) and had another go. That seemed to solve the problem. Then it was dashpots that didn't want to enable a smooth piston. Some further cleaning inside the dashpots with thinners (I knew there'd be a use for that reeking, stinking 5l can of toxic filth) and some more careful reassembly has seen them right, and now, even with the jet wound up to the bridge, I can achieve that satisfying 'clunk' as the piston meets the bridge. They fall at ALMOST the same rate, but out of the remaining funds, I've added a new pair of blue springs to the list, along with a pair of M needles. Unless anyone has a viable tested alternative for what is basically an MG1100 engine with a 997 spec cam running on E10??

Next up, the car really didn't want a pair of carbs cluttering it's underbonnet space up. It seems that one of the spacers with the carbs had been milled thinner than the other, so another carb was robbed of it's spacer and that was measured and compared, found to be good, cleaned up and fitted. And then the throttle return spring and the centre pipe of the Maniflow Freeflow were in direct and unyielding competition for the same airspace. So, longer heatsheild bolts were dug up (and to annoy the rivet enthusiast, the best I could do was metric...), additional nuts placed between the heat shields and the return bridge to create clearance and once again, manifold and carburettor were happy. Then the 850's fuel pipe got into a row with the front float bowl, and further head scratching was done in that field, the bibles of Parnell and Taylor were consulted, AKD manuals looked at, conversations had with fellow Mini folks here before the realisation that a master cylinder seating plate should be used on the nearside to locate the fuel pipe closer to the radiator and therefore away from the float bowl. Roleseyboy had the right article and it's now awaiting a lick of black paint before fitting.

Left to do is establishing the initial settings for jets, synchronisation of throttle mechanism and fast idle before FINALLY fitting the damn things..

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[gs.davies]

Another source of annoyance was the radiator. I'd decided to avoid skinned knuckles, paint damage, bent fins and all that other associated hassle by fitting the engine from underneath, complete with cooling system attached...

I'd forgot that I needed to something about the clearance between the 1098's damped crank pulley and the lower radiator shroud. Whilst there WAS running clearance, refitting a fanbelt without removing the radiator would have been impossible. Also, I had a problem where the inner wing was fouling on the leading edge of the radiator at the bottom.

Investigations on this theme pointed to a solution, albeit, a fiddly one;

- Remove radiator
- change lower shroud for an S one
- swap engine mount for the S and later Mini type.

I'd previously written about the modification 1071S Bob did on the lower shroud and John had sorted me out an engine mount bracket, nicely reconditioned too. I painted up a shroud to engine mount bracket (the one with the bend in it) and then contemplated the in-situ swap of that engine mount.. I didn't really fancy it - the sump is full of oil, studs that run through gasket would need disturbing and this was soon going to get messy, very quickly. I decided to trial fit the radiator with the 850 mount and the S shroud bracket, after all, there was running clearance before but I hadn't got to the bottom of the fouling against the inner wing. I was lucky. It worked. And I discovered something else.. the reason the radiator was fouling was because I'd failed to fit the washers that compress the lower bracket grommets... A nice hot coffee later and I tackled refitting the radiator - success. It now clears the inner wing, the fan belt can be serviced without radiator removal, all that's left to do is refit the final couple of shroud to radiator screws and the cooling system is back up and running.

[timmy201]

I had all the same issues fitting twin HS2 with a freeflow manifold, the fuel pipe to fuel bowl, and the same with a 1100 damper on the std rad bracket. The last time I had it apart to swap the water pump I got it all back together before realising I forgot the fan belt

I started with M needles on my 1100, then tried AH2 and then ended up with HV3.

[gs.davies]

I had all the same issues fitting twin HS2 with a freeflow manifold, the fuel pipe to fuel bowl, and the same with a 1100 damper on the std rad bracket. The last time I had it apart to swap the water pump I got it all back together before realising I forgot the fan belt

I started with M needles on my 1100, then tried AH2 and then ended up with HV3.

Interesting on the needles. Did you work that out by a rolling road? Which springs did you use?

[timmy201]

I had all the same issues fitting twin HS2 with a freeflow manifold, the fuel pipe to fuel bowl, and the same with a 1100 damper on the std rad bracket. The last time I had it apart to swap the water pump I got it all back together before realising I forgot the fan belt

I started with M needles on my 1100, then tried AH2 and then ended up with HV3.

Interesting on the needles. Did you work that out by a rolling road? Which springs did you use?

I was using an innovate o2 sensor to measure the air fuel ratio. For whatever reason I found the Cooper S needles much too lean at low loads

The springs were blue, but I did get some yellows to try but never made it that far. I’ve almost finished the next set of twin HS2 and hoping to try them soon

[gs.davies]

Right, there's been some more progress, not as much as hoped but most of the days are now spent trying to find work...

I've been fiddling about with the electrics, bring each circuit up carefully and debugging as I go. Things working so far;

Fuel pump, tail lights, indicators (after MiniSpares replaced a faulty flasher unit, and I presume this will be a regular feature!), wiper motor, heater and rheostat (and working a lot better than ever too)

Things NOT working; Main beam and dipped headlamps - odd behaviour from the switch, suspect the dipper and or the main switch is at fault.

Still to wire up and improve - horn needs a couple of leads making up to connect to main loom and the pigtails for the main lights are too short for my liking with very insecure and unsatisfactory bullet connectors.

I also made up a loom to run across the driver's side cant rail to provide a live feed for a heated rear screen, a rear fog lamp and a wiper motor. Only once I'd taped up the loom though, did I have a thought that a reverse lamp would have been a good idea too.. I also included a couple of stereo cables to connect up some speakers. Whilst it'd be completely appropriate to put a 60's style radio in here, and I do have one, I've decided to relive 1994 again and I'll be looking out for a Pye CCE550 head unit and some Goodmans shelf speakers, so it's like the last time I drove it again.

Good to see lights lighting up and indicators flashing.

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[gs.davies]

I've also started making the best of the trim available to me; being pragmatic given the funding situation is my only option now and so some stuff will just have to be reused.

There were some tears in the headlining, so I patched them with some offcuts of cream crackle from behind and some glue. The headliner had been fitted with a non standard interior light, which was also placed off centre. I decided to keep it and as I have a loom that has provision for an interior light, I wired it up. It'll eventually be controlled by the switch that controls the parcel shelf light as the car doesn't have door switches.

I also replaced the piece of cream crackle that goes beneath the rear window, cleaned up the C panel pieces and glued them all into place.

The floor now has the four drain bungs replaced at the front, sealed in with tiger seal. I need to source bungs now for the steering rack centraliser and the four holes in the rear seat pan.

I gave the old carpets a hoover and laid the Rear piece in position. It's really past it's best, but I'll have another go with some carpet cleaner and see if can be brought up any better. Front underlay was actually rotten, but the actual carpet will go again. At a later date, the car will get a retrim anyway.

I also fitted the rear screen, but seem to have got too much of the cream crackle outside the rubber. A bit of careful tidying up with a Stanley blade needed before I attempt to fit the chrome lock strip.

With front and rear screens in, it's really looking like a car again. Just the drivers side glass to get back into the frame so I can fit that up and then it's the unenviable task of fitting the front sliding windows. I discovered that the drivers side metal strip has been bent, I presume this happened when the car got vandalised many years ago when it was languishing in a council estate lock up. I was quite lucky that worse didn't happen really - I had a piece of gas pipe in there which I used to get extra leverage on hub bolts etc. Someone had used it to demolish the driver's door skin, really caving it in.. fortunately they left the rest of the car alone. The metal strips are being replaced with new MiniSpares stainless ones.

To do this week (if it ever stops pouring with rain..) is to complete the electrics, fit one more fuel Flexi, hang the exhaust, bleed brakes and clutch and see if it starts..

Blyton is still in sight, and it's booked on a rolling road the day before. And then it's Italy, new job or not..

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[gs.davies]

I'm sticking with points, I'm using distributor doctor rotor arm, points and condenser.

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Engine bay is looking good - finally got the damn carbs on, cleared the manifold and used a brake/clutch master plate to relocate the fuel pipe out of the way. Still very tight with heater pipes, fuel pipes., heat shields and washer bottle all fighting for the same space though.

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Comedy ride height. Still lists a bit on the front nearside though. Think that the fact the cone was compressed for an extended period of time may not be helping..

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A right old mishmash of carpet types - this is the toeboard piece - appears to be Veltone, the rest of the carpet set is probably some budget stuff from the early 90's. Closely matches with Coverdales' Blenheim set in claret

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Old, new, borrowed and fleck.. Original C pillar trim, new bit of Crackle under window and a used but nice condition bit of Newton's fleck for the parcel shelf. The XR3 cloth parcel shelf had to be sacrificed to let in a couple of repairs to the rear seat back. More pic of the interior to follow once I've got it all together.

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[bpirie1000]

Loving your work here.

Motivating me when i cant seam to make any progress on my fleet..

Thanks...

[roger mcnab]

hi
it is looking good the other day i called on a old friend and he was showing me his car collection he had a very nice mini clubman gt a pair of scimaters
a rover sdi a couple of triumph 2500 and a nota fang with rear mounted cooper s engine all these were in great condition he was a mechanic at bmc in the sydney works
he also has a austin 1800 uteand was able to give me a carbon thrust bearing for me to copy for the v8 mini that is slowly emerging from the ashes it was not burnt just a figure of speech
cheers roger

[gs.davies]

Well, yesterday was a big day.

We dry fitted the exhaust and discovered that the pipe Maniflow made for me to clear the solenoid was wrong. And then further discovered that with some careful fitting, the Maniflow exhaust fitted just fine.

The last fuel pipe was made up, a small argument was had with a carburettor that decided to wet itself from the float bowl all down the back of the engine thanks to a poorly fitted jet tube, and controls were hooked up.

Electricity was connected up. Fuel pumped. Bowls filled. Spark was confirmed. The old starter button was pressed….


Nothing.


Absolutely nothing.


The starter button is on its way out it seems. There’s no continuity when it’s tightened in place, but if it’s left loose, it works just fine. Another part to be replaced.

Ignition was switched on, choke was applied, the starter was engaged. The engine span. It coughed. It refused to start. Timing out 180 degrees. It was corrected.

And then, a short blast on the button and it fired into life. A subdued burble happened from the tailpipe. Coolant circulated, the heater matrix bled itself out.

We managed to run it for about ten minutes with it quite happily running at a fast idle until the coolant was hot. A few tweaks here and there, the heater tap was leaking until I nipped it down some more. Mixture was played with a little.

And the we noticed the puddle. A nasty oily mess on the front end of the engine. We aborted the cam running in process to investigate. Prolific amounts of oil issuing forth from around the timing chain cover. We ran it up again and observed; oil pulsing out like a severed artery. Oil light not illuminated and still oil flowed to the valve gear. We managed the twenty minutes to get the cam run in but heads were scratched over the oil leak.

I suspect the oil gallery plug is leaking and so I’ll have to remove the radiator over the next few days and investigate.

Other things noticed;

No charge from dynamo, just 3 volts or so present at the D terminal so despite it having new brushes, I presume it’s kaput.

There’s also a possible leak in the radiator header that needs further investigation.

The front carb appears to doing very little; lifting the piston on the lift pin makes absolutely no difference to the running, whereas lifting the piston on the rear one has a noticeable effect. I’m presuming that despite a careful set up, they’re absolutely Miles apart in terms of synchronicity. Which is fun..

Getting the car to Blyton is now touch and go, and the increasingly ambitious run to Italy for IMM is just that; increasingly ambitious

Any thoughts on the oil leak situation? Is the oil
Gallery plug fixable in situ?

Gary

[Joel Welsh 4769VU]

Ugh... sorry to hear about your leak.
I have nothing to offer on it.

But i wanted to say that ive enjoyed watching your progress- and am amazed at how much work you've accomplished in short time!

Very well done, and makes me feel like such a slacker. Lol.

[gs.davies]

Ugh... sorry to hear about your leak.
I have nothing to offer on it.

But i wanted to say that ive enjoyed watching your progress- and am amazed at how much work you've accomplished in short time!

Very well done, and makes me feel like such a slacker. Lol.

Thanks Joel, much appreciated. I have to say though, on speed of progress, this thread is now over ten years old .

There has been a hive of activity lately, driven mainly by the challenge of getting it to IMM and Blyton.

[Joel Welsh 4769VU]

There has been a hive of activity lately, driven mainly by the challenge of getting it to IMM and Blyton.

There has been! Yourself and a couple other member's threads i watch- seem to accomplish major project leaps in short bursts.

I used to be the guy that would help friends replace complete vw beetle floorpans in one day.
We'd pull, and rebuild motors in an afternoon.

Now,

I work 4-10 hr days with a 45 min commute each way. I have fri- sun off normally... but the wife plans her "work" for me around that. Lol

Add a week to a month for part order deliveries, and most of my project time is just waiting to... project.

I'm still amazed.

[gs.davies]

Thanks, the fact I’m not working at the moment (not my choice) does mean I have free time and my wife can’t really complain as this car has been in bits since before we met 27 years ago.

I dare say I’ll have many tasks to do round the house once this thing is on the road.

Anyway, I couldn’t face pulling a rad today so I thoughts I’d debug a few things.

1. We thought the rad header tank was leaking. It wasn’t. A loose hose clip on the top hose. Nipped up, sorted.

2. No charge. 3v on D terminal didn’t seem right to me but some reading suggested that was typical. I connected a test bulb over D and F on the dynamo and ran the engine. As the revs rose the bulb glowed nice and bright. So, a dodgy regulator and cut out. I pulled it apart, checked the mechanical clearances and rectified and then cleaned the contacts. Reassembled, still nothing. Pulled it out, tried another one, nothing. Cursing and about to consider raiding another saving pot for a dynamator, I noticed that I’d left the D and F wires off the dynamo… first control box put back in place and wires connected up… I was greeted with the pleasing sight of an IGN light that extinguished as soon as the revs picked up. Checked battery voltage with the revs up - 13.5V. Seems alright to me.

Emboldened, I bled the clutch next. Restarted the engine, tentatively selected a gear. It’s a four sync box and it snuck into 1,2,3,4 and R cleanly. It even moves under its own steam with a nice smooth clutch action and mid pedal bite point. Lovely.

Now feeling slightly invincible, I turned my attention to the brakes, fluid happily flowing out of the rear bleed nipples. And out of the union between the brake switch and the left to right brake pipe. Yes, that one. The sod that’s right under the bloody clutch housing…

At this point with brake fluid all over the floor, dribbling off the subframe and a Tupperware full of oil that had pumped out of what I am certain is the oil Gallery, I decided the contents of the fridge were due a visit.

Beer in hand I shut the garage door.

Tomorrow, it’s back to the war of attrition. Nip up that leaky pipe and then pull the rad.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

Blyton looking iffy now.

[gs.davies]

Well, today was a very interesting day.

I eventually decided on a shit or bust strategy with the oil
Gallery. Oil was getting to the valve gear so clearly the oil feed to number one wasn’t blocked. I ran it for a minute or two , dry and no oil leaking. I decided to put a good dollop of tiger seal over the end of the gallery drilling and I put the radiator back in, filled it with water and decided to move on

I then went back to basics on the carbs, following the SU instructions from the technical part of this site. With the carbs set to factory spec, timing at 6 degrees BTDC, and a vac pipe connected, it sprang into life. Carbs appear balanced and I dialled the idle down before putting the air cleaner back on.

Then I got brave. I went out in it. Just round the corner for a splash of petrol but it went there and back.

Tracking is miles off and the exhaust needs sealing up, few other small jobs to do under neath so I’ve asked a local garage to sort that out.

Next up is to finish the glazing, get a handbrake working and button a load of loose ends up before heading out to run it in properly.

The end of this journey is in sight and the start of some road trips await.

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