Dicky’s Disastrous Debris - it runs! 25/12/24

58,741 · December 2

Surprised to hear you've sold the Somerset but it sounds like it's gone to a good home. It should make a great first classic, I was really impressed with it when I drove it - the 1489 engine makes it so much more usable than a standard one.

Tractor looks fantastic, I'm mildly jealous of that one!

10,951 · December 2

5 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Surprised to hear you've sold the Somerset but it sounds like it's gone to a good home. It should make a great first classic, I was really impressed with it when I drove it - the 1489 engine makes it so much more usable than a standard one.

Tractor looks fantastic, I'm mildly jealous of that one!

I bumped into the seller of the tractor over the weekend, he apologised for the delay and said it should be delivered some point this week!

1,097 · December 2

Very jealous of the Nuffield. I drove a friend's one recently and it was great fun, I'd seriously love a vintage tractor. Just not quite sure what I'd do with it!

10,951 · December 3

12 hours ago, MarinaJosh said:

Very jealous of the Nuffield. I drove a friend's one recently and it was great fun, I'd seriously love a vintage tractor. Just not quite sure what I'd do with it!

Cheers Josh. You should buy one! I’ve got no use for one either. Just got offered it and thought why not, it’s something a bit different! I have since seen that you can buy PTO driven saw benches which might be worth getting, for cutting up firewood (and possibly losing a limb or two in the process!)

16,800 · December 4

If you have a wood burning stove a log splitter might be a useful too.

10,951 · Tuesday at 08:23

Oh well I didn’t last long without a Somerset in my life, even if I didn’t want another one!

Just minding my own business at home when I had some awful pictures of a Somerset wedged in the back of a garage appear on my WhatsApp, followed by the caption “want a car?”

My mate then rang me and just as I said “not really in the market for another Somerset if I’m honest” he replied saying “it’s free”.

My mate breaks these cars and a club member rang him and asked if he was interested in it to break for spares.

As you can see it is far too good for that fate so he offered me first refusal on it.

I rang the owner and immediately hot footed it down to Bedfordshire in a recovery truck to go and pick it up.

First impressions are it’s pretty good. The bodywork and interior are tidy though not mint, it still has its original plate and it’s very solid and nicely painted underneath. Definitely a much better body than my old one.

The catch is, that the engine is seized. It’s overheated big time and blown the head gasket. The previous owner had already done the head gasket and had the head skimmed and converted to unleaded, now it’s gone again so he got fed up with it. All he ever managed in it was to drive around the block.

Radiator looks to be completely blocked solid so that’s probably the cause of the overheating issues.

I’ll probably chuck a B series in, maybe a 1622 if I can find one.

Anyway, I’ve never had a free car before, and as free cars go it’s pretty good, that’s why I moved quickly on it.

Tuesday at 08:42

That's lovely, well done 👍

ps MGB + Overdrive please

10,951 · Tuesday at 09:15

34 minutes ago, Westbay said:

That's lovely, well done 👍

ps MGB + Overdrive please

Thanks. I would like to retain the column change and original box, due to the length of the overdrive gearbox it’s pretty much out of the question to use in a Somerset as the lever would be right between the seats (which are very close together). It’s quite easy to mate a B series to the original box using the original clutch, flywheel and backplate. Think it needs a couple of extra holes drilling in the backplate.

The 1500/1622 conversion has been done several times before but I only know of one 1800 powered counties car which is an A40 van. I don’t know how much more difficult that is. The hardest bits are modifying the front crossmember and the gearbox crossmember to fit the B series in as it’s about 3” longer or something.

I must admit having that amount of power in a Somerset is tempting!

58,741 · Tuesday at 09:21

Oh wow! That's quite a score there, nice work!

Tuesday at 09:27

10 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

Thanks. I would like to retain the column change and original box, due to the length of the overdrive gearbox it’s pretty much out of the question to use in a Somerset as the lever would be right between the seats (which are very close together). It’s quite easy to mate a B series to the original box using the original clutch, flywheel and backplate. Think it needs a couple of extra holes drilling in the backplate.

The 1500/1622 conversion has been done several times before but I only know of one 1800 powered counties car which is an A40 van. I don’t know how much more difficult that is. The hardest bits are modifying the front crossmember and the gearbox crossmember to fit the B series in as it’s about 3” longer or something.

I must admit having that amount of power in a Somerset is tempting!

Apologies, forgot they were column change ...

13,040 · Tuesday at 09:36

Nice one, it couldn't have gone to a better home. What a great early Christmas present!

Good luck with it.

10,951 · Wednesday at 19:13

Well bugger me with a fish fork. After a couple of hours spannering yesterday this old crate was up and running!

I whipped the plugs out first and tried turning the engine on the handle. It was indeed locked up. I then rocked the car in gear, just to see what would happen and after a few attempts the engine freed off! I tried turning it again and did a few full revolutions with the handle, there were no nasty noises or tight spots so at least the bottom end seemed ok, there were no broken conrods or anything like that.
With the engine free, I put a battery on it to see what worked. And that was everything except one headlight and the fuel gauge, which the previous owner told me about. I’m pretty sure the only thing stopping the engine turning was the starter as it jammed up again and we had to rock it once more. But since then, and with the addition of the very powerful big Bosch battery from the Hampshire, it’s been ok. A bit noisy but it does work ok. Needs a good strip, clean and lube I reckon.

Spinning the engine over on the starter with the plugs out allowed me to quickly get a healthy oil pressure on the gauge. I then did a compression test. The results were: 125, 125, 130, 0.

Bugger, looks like it is indeed the head gasket. But wait a minute, could it just be a valve stuck? I whipped the rocker cover off and admired the very clean rocker shaft and springs. Turning the engine on the handle again revealed a stuck inlet valve on no. 4 cylinder, but I could see it was actually closing slowly of its own accord. The sort of thing that would almost certainly sort itself out with a bit of use. I don’t know how long it’s been standing but the last fella bought it in 2017 and I reckon it must have been at least five years since it last ran.
I jacked up the back end and drained about 2 gallons of very stale petrol out of the tank, however, it was quite clean. Put a gallon of fresh in there.

Took the float bowl off the carb, expecting it to be full of the usual rust but it was actually very clean, it even had traces of lead from the old four star petrol in there. I removed all the jets and blew through them, two very fine ones were blocked.

Put it back together, then took the fuel pipe off the carb and manually primed the pump to flush all the old petrol through.

Then I checked for a spark. Got a very healthy spark on one cylinder, so put the plugs and leads back in and gave it a whirl.
After a few churns it started coughing, I gave it a bit more choke and it fired up and actually didn’t sound too bad!!

I had a quick drive up and down the driveway in it. It seems pretty good. It was a bit awkward for me to drive as I’m a lanky 6 footer and I couldn’t get the drivers seat back far enough due to the mechanism being seized. The carb is leaking petrol and it’s reluctant to idle (probably connected) the valve clearances are way too big and it’s got the wrong spark plugs in. The brakes are binding. The column change was a bit sticky and it kept trying to go into reverse when I went for 2nd, but that seems to have freed off as it’s fine now. It didn’t even overheat, but the clogged radiator does need sorting, also I need to reinstate the heater which has been bypassed for some reason. If the matrix leaks I can get another used one cheaply.

Now I know it’s worth doing, I’ll give it a service and grease up, sort out the issues and it should be back on the road very soon indeed.

Chuffed to bits with this one.

16,800 · Wednesday at 20:21

Winnar. There isn't a prize for Luckiest Shiter of the Year(old autoshite section), but if there was you've just won it.

19,246 · Wednesday at 20:27

talk about Christmas miracles! Awesome stuff

10,475 · Wednesday at 21:38

Sounds really well. Smooth as silk.

18,223 · Wednesday at 23:23

It 'sits' very nicely. Looks a really decent car and very tidy. Great fun!

22,007 · Wednesday at 23:48

Good to see the car with an appropriate custodian - what a barg though!

Great work with the recommissioning so far.

10,951 · Friday at 08:27

Some more pictures including some of the interior. I’ve cleaned up the steering wheel and it’s come up quite nicely.
The top of the dash is the only original paint I’ve found so far. I think it’s Windsor Grey which was one of Austin’s commemorative Coronation colours.