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

[Costafortune]

I bent a radius arm once, came around a bend too fast and clipped the NSR wheel against the kerb. I had to fit a small wheel spacer until I could fix it properly.

[gs.davies]

Still getting some good use out of LFF, been running occasionally to work and apart from a problem with the fuel pump (and the ever increasing thirst for oil) it's going well.

I had the driver's seat re-stuffed at a local trimmer and now it's almost a comfortable place to sit. Only problem is the proximity to the pedals is now poor, given that there's actually some padding in the squab, so I'll have to drill out the rivets from the mounting brackets and see if I can fit a pair of extenders. The car's got the 'normal' brackets but not the three position ones.

I also set about trying to get the paint to shine, and eventually set about it with T-Cut and a polisher. It's started to come up alright, but still some work to do.

The 202 head is still in progress, hopefully get that fitted up with the PCV manifold soon and do a comp test before and after to see if the bottom end is alright.

Whilst at IMM, MINI interviewed me and a number of other folks about us and our cars - here's what they published..

https://www.mini.com/en_MS/home/people/ ... 023-2.html

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[gs.davies]

Starting to get on with some of the planned improvements for this year now that it's not quite so freezing in the garage.

The fuel pump has been giving me all sorts of grief. Despite being adjusted correctly (as far as I can tell anyway), it's failed once too often on the road, requiring more than a few thumps to get it going again, and whilst I was going to fit a facet style cube, I ended up deciding to fit a Hardi pump. More to follow on this once it arrives.

In the pipeline is a Keith Calver Stage three head to replace the 295. I suspect the 295 has got some dodgy valve guides judging by the amount of oil burned on the overrun and apparently, the KC head will be better for power than the 295. When the engine's apart, I'll have another look at cam timing and recalculate the CR. It'll have to do for this year, but I'm planning on a gearbox rebuild next year and that might be a good time to consider the KC pistons and this new wonder cam that I'm hearing has shown a 105% increase in output on a 1098...

However, the inside of this car isn't a particularly nice place to be. In the rush to get it running for IMM last year, and owing to an ongoing lack of funds, the interior was literally slung into place more or less as it was when I ran it in the 90's. There's no soundproofing, and at the moment, no front door cards, tatty old carpets and loose bits of brightwork, which makes it very noisy inside.

I picked up a NOS Newton carpet set at Bingley for a good price and that's going to be fitted. I'll be using Dodomat Duo on the floor and depending how much is left, in the doors, rear quarters and roof too. It's a butyl based sandwich of butyl, aluminium sheet for resonance deadening and this is topped with a closed cell non-moisture absorbing foam on the top. I'm hoping that this fitted all the way up the toe board and bulk head will drastically reduce the current racket inside the car and provide a nice surface for the carpets.

I picked up a pair of Microcell Contour 6 seats last summer and thanks to Harvey Rogers, collected them from him at Bingley. They were in fair condition, requiring re-webbing and a new seat cushion on one side. My trimmer has for some reason added extra foam behind the backrest which isn't required and will be removed. I started to clean these up last night as it looks like someone's painted them with a substance that a bit like a sticky creosote. Eventually I resorted to white spirit and the sticky residue has started to lift, revealing what appears to be very good clean vinyl underneath. There's a few nicks here and there, mainly on the back cover and a fag burn or two to attend to, but they're coming along nicely.

I do need a pair of subframes - funds are tight and whilst I've love to eventually get some replica frames made up and use MGB runners, for now, I'm on the lookout for a pair of generic subframes and I'll make them fit, can always upgrade to the correct frame later. If anyone's got some frames and runners going spare, let me know.

Finally, I'm back on the trail of steering wheels. I bought a nice 13 inch flat Moto Lita a while ago and recently got what was advertised as a Moto Lita Boss. It wasn't, it was an Astrali one, so some drilling is required to get it to accept the nine holes and I'll have to drill a new locating hole for the horn push. The old Mk1 wheel is pretty crusty so will be retired for now.

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[gs.davies]

Took the car out for a spin a few days ago after fiddling around with the carbs and I'd forgot to put the airbag back on. I've been puzzling over the very slow throttle response for a while and it wasn't until I opened the throttle up that I a, realised I'd left the air filters off, and b, that even with the filters off, it took a relatively long time for the intake roar to start, sort of a delayed reaction. It never felt like it got to wide open throttle.

I then went back over the changes that had been made to the carbs, and why and realised that I'd been using a combination of M needles and Red Springs, along with engine oil for the damper. Back in the garage prior to refitting the filters, I had a go at lifting the pistons through the mouth of the carb. quite a lot of resistance, probably more than a WOT on a 1098 can actually lift.

So, I thought I'd try the blue springs again, this time with some 30SAE oil that I have knocking about. a significantly better throttle response and willingness to get moving. In fact, so much improvement that it now will happily rev out and push the needle round the gauge with a lot more urgency.

Next on this particular chapter will be the fitting of an AFR gauge so I can get a better understanding of exactly what's happening fuelling wise. I suspect the Calver Stage 3 head will exacerbate what I think is a bit of overly lean condition on pick up and acceleration. I'll also swap the oil out again for a 20W as per the correct SU specs.

[Joel Welsh 4769VU]

Your progress is inspiring... and depressing at the same time! Lol

I feel so inadequate that i haven't touched my car in months.

Keep up the amazing work.

[gs.davies]

Your progress is inspiring... and depressing at the same time! Lol

I feel so inadequate that i haven't touched my car in months.

Keep up the amazing work.

Thanks Joel. I’ve found this forum to be a great source of inspiration to get my car going, and it’ll often sit for months with nothing going on so just paying it forward really.

As long as it’s never a chore it stays enjoyable.

[gs.davies]

My mother in law has hired a skip and my Mrs was keen on the idea of filling the skip with as much crap as possible. I took the opportunity to sling the old carpets into it to spur me on to fit the new set. Today, I’d had enough of driving around in a bare steel mini.

I set to with laying down some sound deadening, raiding the curse cabinet for new expletives with trying to fit some of this stuff up into the toeboard. In fact, sticking the carpet underlay up there is akin to fitting a master clevis pin, blindfolded, in the dark, drunk, and securing the pin with superglue. Lots of superglue.

Anyway, I got most of the of carpet down, downed tools for a cuppa and started sodding about with seats.

I picked up a pair of Paddy Hopkirk Alpines a few weeks back, and wanted to see how they’d look. The covers are shot (handy typo there…) but might be nice. The microcells are much nicer though.

The dodomat has made quite a significant difference, next stop for this stuff is the rear seat pan and roof.

Should have this finished shortly and then it’s on to a head swap.

See you at Blyton.

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[gs.davies]

Been a while since I updated this thread, few steps forward, few step back.

I’ve been struggling to get the car to contain its oil, myriad places it’s been escaping;

Sump plug, it’s a taper threaded one, doesn’t accept a copper washer so I changed the oil and used a little dab of medium strength threadlock. No more leaks there.

I also swapped over to a non breather rocker cover, the old one was warped and would seal no matter what I did, so I refitted it, little smear of Dow Corning 732, no more leaks there.

But still it piddled, dribbled and spewed. Lacking time I spoke with a local specialist who agreed to have a look at it. Since then, of course I couldn’t help but investigate further, and with a trip to Blyton looming, which is a pretty sizeable run from Essex I had some eureka moments.

It would appear that my cam bearing has been inserted back to front. My thinking is that this is causing flooding of the tappet chests, overwhelming the drain holes and then subsequently affecting breathing, which in turn is then building pressure in the crankcase and forcing oil out past whichever seals feel like yielding. The only breathing on the engine is from the tappet chest, which if my theory is correct has a wall of between it and the main crankcase. However, as the car went to Italy and back like this, it’ll get nursed up to Blyton this weekend and back and then I’ll have to pull the engine. This will then lead to a further investigation of the cam and the timing; it’s a MiniSport CA2 (which is a 997 grind). This was supposed to be timed in at 110, which just so happened to be where it sat dot to dot. Having spoken with Keith Calver about this cam he reckons it really should be at 106 degrees, so when it’s out, I’ll either time to that and see if that gives the car the urge it seems to be missing, or I’ll swap to something better. Probably a Piper 255 or Keith Calver 997.

There’s also a close ratio box in view, and so I’ll get that built up, modified to take the wand change and that’ll get rid of my nervousness about the box. It wasn’t ever really properly rebuilt, more like recommissioned, and it’s got a bit noisy since it’s ordeal to and from Italy last year.

The majority of the interior has now been looked at, determined that “it’ll go again”, cleaned and shoved back in. I’ve also gone through the interior using dodomat and that’s significantly improved the noise levels in there. Doors shut with a nice thud now, and will only get better when I get round to adding more.

I also got round to fixing the non-counting odometer and the over reading speedo. Far from being the NOS this unit was claimed to be, it appears that the cog that advances the numbers was on backwards and so the pawl, worn out by the way, couldn’t engage and drag the numbers round. Turned that around and put a better pawl lever in and now it works. I also recalibrated the needle by moving it back against the drag cup a few degrees, checked against GPS and it’s now pretty accurate and it’s nice to see the miles advancing again. That hasn’t happened since the old unit gave up in Germany.

Finally I’ve been sodding about with seats. I managed to fit a Contour Six tonight, but the driving position is dreadful; seat is too far reclined back, steering wheel is off to the left and I’m sat in the door bin. I presume this isn’t normal with these seats. Any ideas, let me know.

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[gs.davies]

On the subject of the cam bearing, I found this pic of the build..

No notch showing,

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[gs.davies]

Blyton 2024..

Well, despite the various mechanical maladies and oil related oozings, LFF had a successful trip to and from Blyton. Having changed the oil and thread locked the sump plug to stop it dribbling oil there, I decided to get a bit scientific about oil usage, made all the easier now I've finally got an operational odometer. Having established that it was a pint or so betwixt MIN and MAX on the dipstick I took a 5l can of Millers finest with me and decanted a litre of it into a fresh, graded bottle with which I' planned to top up the levels.

I also managed to get the Microcell contour 6's fitted prior to setting off, and apart from needing a couple of planks of wood under the frames to correct a ridiculous driving position, they turned out to be supremely comfortable.

Heading North from home in Maldon, picking up John along the way, we wended our way up through the most beautiful North Essex Countryside in glorious spring sunshine, a gentle breeze ventilating the cabin through opened sliding windows and rear quarter windows. Just as well they were open, as closed, they don't really seal.. After spending a short time on the A120, we got onto the B184 and passed through the village of Great Easton where stands a magnificent Rolls Royce garage. The pretty chocolate box market towns of Thaxted and Saffron Walden soon also passed, along with the magnificent Audley End before we joined the A11 for a little while heading towards Newmarket. Navigation was done with a map and a bit of pre-thought out route planning. I'm finding more and more that having screens and digital devices continually demanding my attention or trying to tell me something massively unimportant is becoming really tiresome and distracting from the pleasure of simply driving and holding good conversation. LFF was quite happy at 60 to 65 MPH where it seems to be very much on cam. The sound deadening, now also partially added to the inside of the roof along with two layers of underfelt for the carpet on top of sound deadening made it actually rather quiet in the cabin. The car is geared up with a 3.2:1 final drive, putting 70mph pretty much bang on 4000 rpm. In fact, apart from wind noise and a squeak that is emanating from the adjustable runners for the seats (tweaking required there), the gearstick making a racket was about the only in cabin noise irritant. I will try the 'top hat type lower arm bush' cure for this noise soon.

We headed onto the A142, passing Soham before skirting Ely, the cathedral spires clearly in view on our approach and then onwards past March and Chatteris towards Wisbech. Traffic was light, and in fact, almost non-existent, and very good time was being made. From there we joined the A17 at Long Sutton and headed towards Sleaford on more traffic free roads, the flatlands of Linconshire bathed in late afternoon sunshine, the dimming sun casting longer shadows onto the neatly ploughed fields such that they looked like an expressionist painting. Car continued forward, lazy 1100 happily dragging us along at speeds between 50 and 60 mph, fuel gauge estimating all sorts of scenarios going on in the tank, never full, usually somewhere around half, or was it empty, or a quarter maybe? We carried on until just outside Lincoln, RAF Waddington on our left, and a new, also empty, Eastern bypass to the city of Lincoln was navigated before we started seeing signs for Scunthorpe and Gainsborough along the A15. A huge meeting of trucks was taking place at the Lincoln Showground and we wondered if there were truck-type fellows, much like John and myself and others on this forum, peering at grubby boxes of bits and pieces, looking for those elusive rare parts which might just make one's ERF into a cafe trucker..

Eventually we arrived at a petrol station in Gainsborough and decided that we'd chanced our arms enough playing chicken with the fuel gauge. I'd done something like 190 miles from home, wheels moving forward almost continually for the past four hours thanks to the absolute lack of traffic and so I brimmed the tank. Calculations arrived at 47mpg and dipping the oil was inconclusive. As we only had ten more miles or so until our overnight in the village of Haxey, we decided to wait until the morning to check that out.

If you've read my ramblings here in the past, you might remember that I am rather partial to a curry; I'm pleased to report that unlike all of the poor French people, the folk of Haxey are blessed with a splendid Indian restaurant inside one of their FOUR pubs. The Loco is a big pub and I'd recommend Saffron Indian Restaurant if anyone is planning going on a long run to Blyton. The Loco has rooms, and whilst it advertised 'parking', beware, this is on road only. Luckily I checked and was able to switch the booking to the pub next door, The Duke William. Rooms there were comfortable and reasonably priced, and so after rather too much beer, a chat about god knows what with a local who went by the name of 'Snake' and a belly full of Jalfrezi we turned in.

Next morning, with a light to moderate hangover, I lifted the bonnet and dipped the oil. It was just above the Minimum and so I refilled it using 450ml from the bottle until the level returned to Max. At that point it had covered 268 miles at a fairly gentle pace, using 1.7ml per mile. We set off for Blyton, and had a bloody splendid day. Thanks to several forum members, I was able to collect a gearbox and some inside door handles, a close ratio laygear and input gear as well as a new thrust washer (sorry, I had completely forgot about that purchase!) and some new belts in a fetching shade of grey. Along with a few little bargains off the traders and from Tim Ward and various bits John had bought, the trip home was in a MUCH heavier car! Blyton was a great day, probably the best yet I think, and maybe next year, maybe, I'll get LFF on the track.

The way home was interesting.. John needed to go via Daventry which was 'sort of on the way..' to collect yet more parts, because LFF had literally acres of room remaining on top of the stuff on the back seat and the headlining, and the route saw us on much faster roads, A45, M1, A5, A14, M11 where the speed was closer to 65-70 and of course, traffic was seen with at least two hold ups on the way. Fuel consumption was a little heavier on the way home too, some of the hills around Daventry, laden with a gearbox in the boot were hard work, the engine is lazy and whilst it'll pull slowly up a hill and maintain a speed, accelerating isn't something it's interested in. Generally it's an engine that isn't at all keen to rev out, and I'm attributing that largely to the camshaft, which I suspect is poorly timed. More to follow on that topic.

I arrived home close on 10pm to find my wife had enjoyed a takeaway curry and was miffed to discover that there wasn't any left for me. What a cheek! Sadly, we'd not left enough time to stop for a decent meal on the way home, replenishing with crisps and nuts and a lovely, lovely pint of Hook Norton Old Hooky in the village of Charwelton, just outside Daventry.

Next morning, checking the levels again (an interim top up of 300ml had been done at the fuel stop on the way home) and once again oil was on minimum, requiring a full 550ml to restore to maximum again.

Total miles travelled: 475
Total oil consumed: 1.3 litres

The engine's not a smoker, it ran nicely all the way there and back, good colour on plugs, no fouling and I therefore suspect that at least half of that 1.3 litres is now down the back of the engine somewhere, leaking from driveshaft seals, tappet chest covers and the head gasket rocker feed. I suspect that some is getting burned too. Later this summer when I've built the 1128 box, with a three sync magic wand diff housing with a close ratio gearset the engine will come out to swap the box over, sort out the incorrectly installed cam bearing and maybe fit a better cam, or at least retime the one I've got. Rings and valve guide seals also up for inspection at that point and then I can assess matters again. I guess the only other thing is the technology of the rings on 60's 1098 pistons, perhaps modern piston rings will seal better and control oil consumption better. I'd be interested to hear what sort of oil consumption others are seeing on their (not incontinent) 1098 engines. Let me know.

Verdict on the microcells; I really don't know HOW John and I managed to get it to Italy and back on the original collapsing back breakers without a shred of sound proofing in there. In fact, I think I'll have to do such a journey again to compare. They're superb and well worth the extended effort in steaming off whatever nasty substance a previous custodian of them had chosen to slather all over them.

From the 'will it go again? project' that's all for now.

Resting up in Charwelton

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Another year, another sticker..

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John piloting LFF during the parade lap

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The most glorious curry and an novel way of serving a tandoori roti

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Microcells finally cleaned and installed

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[wantafaster1]

Great write up

[Roselan1]

Your friend's advice on "relentless incrementalism" is spot on. Restoring your Rover P4 bit by bit can turn what seems like a daunting project into a manageable and rewarding journey. Given the car's history and the care you've already shown, there's no reason why you can't get it back on the road. Each small step you take will bring you closer to driving it again. Your detailed account of the car's past and current state shows your dedication—it's clear you have the passion and knowledge to see this restoration through. Best of luck! Looking forward to seeing the progress

[gs.davies]

I finally got tired of trying to find time to attend to the leaking oil situation and I handed the car over to Ted Sparrow at Team C Racing up near Ipswich.

The cars been there whilst Ted washed the block down and got it up in the air to have a proper look. Turns out that the front tappet chest cover was leaking very badly. As it’s a manifolds off job to get to it and do it properly, I took the opportunity to get him to fit the PCV valve and manifold. It’s now looking more and more like a 998 Cooper under the bonnet, definitely long past this being an ‘850’!

I picked it up this morning, topped it off with oil and gave it the beans back along the A12. Where once there was a pong on overrun after running fast for a while, there’s now nothing. Well, it’s not exactly febreze in there but it doesn’t stink of fumes and leaking oil and oil mist.

On the way back, it was a somewhat spirited drive, and I passed a very nice looking Red Innocenti, left hand drive on a P reg plate which I think had been to the IMM, possibly landed this morning in Harwich. Can’t recall the last time I saw another classic mini on the road!

Initial appearances are good, there’s not a puddle under the car but we’ll see how it fares after 300 or so miles to and from Beaulieu. Hopefully things will settle down and i can become a classic car owner who has the time to polish the thing!

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[gs.davies]

A few updates on LFF..

I was booked into an AC Dodd tuning session organised by my local club (Essex Mini Club) but despite Ted's best efforts, my engine was continuing to use oil, just not dropping it all over the place any more. I still suspect the head has something to do with this, but in the absence of any time I took it for a leak down test (thanks rolesyboy for organising that). The results weren't particularly good

• No 1 40% leak everywhere

• No 2 14% leak rings

• No 3 20% leak ring

• No 4 16% rings and exhaust

Number one plug has also shown signs of oil burning in the past too, little white specs and occasionally oily/fuelly when checked.

And so a plan of action has been hatched;

Because it's still running, just using oil at a rate of about 200 miles to the pint, I'll keep it going for now, and if I get time, will pull the head to inspect the valves, valve guide seals and the head gasket, and reassemble. That may improve matters a little, but given the other issues I need to put right including a backwards cam bearing, iffy cam timing, a noisy gearbox and final drive, the medium term plan involves a new engine.

John has dug up an A plus block that's on standard, will go nicely to 1293, a clean SPI cylinder head (which may in fact have come from my old SPi..) to which a larger inlet valve will be fitted, we'll opening out the heater outlet and maybe do some cleaning up of the ports, I've got some 21253 pistons on order and will commence a build of this engine over the winter, funds permitting. Cam-wise, I'm thinking of the MiniSpares EVO1, re-using the 1 3/4 Maniflow twin box system with an injection LCB (so as to enable an AFR to be fitted) and reusing the twin HS2. I'm aiming for a car that will drive smoothly and quickly and handle long motorway runs with ease - my experience of the 1098 (albeit I now know it was somewhat crippled by compression losses) was that it was good at speed but was a bit out of it's depth in the Alps. I am planning a visit to Turin next year and wanted a fair bit more poke to make that run as comfortable as possible. What experiences do other folks have of engines with that spec?

Gearbox wise, I have gathered enough bits to build an 1128 Remote box (and yes, I think it's time a hole was cut in the tunnel for it) with a CR first motion and laygear, and I'll retain the 3.2:1 Final Drive ratio as per the SPi Cooper. Obviously, this will also now require S brakes up front and a widening of the rear track to suit. I also have some 1.5 degree neg camber bottom arms and adjustable tie rods to fit at the front and some adjustable camber and track brackets for the rear, so a suspension overhaul and set up is on the cards too. What shocks are recommended? At the moment it's on the standard KYBs from minispares and is a bit floaty..

Is a verto clutch compatible with an a series gearbox? Seem to recall that these drive nicer with less judder than the traditional mini type.

[gs.davies]

Ten years ago yesterday (12 September 2014), LFF was dragged out of my garage and sent off metalwork. I am chuffed to bits that today it's been featured in MiniWorld Magazine.

I did mention in the magazine interview that folks on this forum have played a part in getting it resurrected, but I'll say again, THANKS to all that have encouraged, offered parts, expertise and advice.

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