Tommy's A-series Misery - Aggro Tinkering

[Tommyboy12]

6 hours ago, wesacosa said:

sounds like a good home for it, well done and thanks for ensuring it lived on

Is the journalist likely to be writing or blogging about it or is it just part of his private collection?

I'll find out his plans and let you know

[Tommyboy12]

I did some tinkering on the Austin 7 today. I wanted to hook a battery up to see what happens and I wanted to get a list of parts. It's stored at a friend's garage so decided to take another of my fine steers to go to it

First up I hooked up the battery. Straight away various lights jumped into life!

There's some slightly questionable  wiring going on under here but it's just so simple

I did flick the starter cable and it turned over and sounded like it had compression. The horn also burst into life with a press of it!

I also started to seal the cabin up again. The drivers window had fallen off the runner. I had to strip the door car off (wood screws into a wooden door!) then remove the winder before gently lifting the window back into place and sliding the winder mechanism back in.

You may note a random bit of red wire. Turns out the window mechanism won't hold itself up so it seems that's being used to hold the winder in place and stop the window lowering!

Next up I need to fit the passenger quarter light window which I'll do at a later date as I didn't bring the seal I bought.

I have listed some parts I need. It seems the coil is dead and there's something wrong with the distributor shaft as the rotor arm is able to rotate more than it should. It's also missing the starter pull cable. I think I'm going to swap to an electronic ignition and get rid of the points ignition. I also need plenty of service parts. There's also a blown core plug to rectify. Unfortunately the clutch also seems to not exist so I'm going to have to do some reading about the clutch assembly and what might be wrong.

[Weird Car]

1 minute ago, Tommyboy12 said:

I did some tinkering on the Austin 7 today. I wanted to hook a battery up to see what happens and I wanted to get a list of parts. It's stored at a friend's garage so decided to take another of my fine steers to go to it

First up I hooked up the battery. Straight away various lights jumped into life!

There's some slightly questionable  wiring going on under here but it's just so simple

I did flick the starter cable and it turned over and sounded like it had compression. The horn also burst into life with a press of it!

I also started to seal the cabin up again. The drivers window had fallen off the runner. I had to strip the door car off (wood screws into a wooden door!) then remove the winder before gently lifting the window back into place and sliding the winder mechanism back in.

You may note a random bit of red wire. Turns out the window mechanism won't hold itself up so it seems that's being used to hold the winder in place and stop the window lowering!

Next up I need to fit the passenger quarter light window which I'll do at a later date as I didn't bring the seal I bought.

I have listed some parts I need. It seems the coil is dead and there's something wrong with the distributor shaft as the rotor arm is able to rotate more than it should. It's also missing the starter pull cable. I think I'm going to swap to an electronic ignition and get rid of the points ignition. I also need plenty of service parts. There's also a blown core plug to rectify. Unfortunately the clutch also seems to not exist so I'm going to have to do some reading about the clutch assembly and what might be wrong.

Love seeing the VDP getting out and about, I never thought I'd say it but I actually kinda miss it 😆 and of course I love the 7 

[Tommyboy12]

4 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Love seeing the VDP getting out and about, I never thought I'd say it but I actually kinda miss it 😆 and of course I love the 7 

It's getting quite lot of use! I had to change the brake pads the other day but other than that it's been pretty faultless

[Weird Car]

2 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

It's getting quite lot of use! I had to change the brake pads the other day but other than that it's been pretty faultless

It was always a trusty old motor for me apart from the suspension issue I really couldn't fault it 

[Tommyboy12]

Got a bit of time on my 7 this weekend. I wanted to get it 'water tight' today so I fitted the other window that was missing

Started off by doing some woodwork and removing screws and nails to remove the inner panels. The interior is in great condition.

The window seal is a completely different shape to the one that was previously fitted but it doesn't actually 'fit' to the body. It fits round the window then is pinned in place with nails. So that's how it went back in anyway!

I used some balsa wood to prop the window in a few places and allow me to pin the seal and glass in place.

Once pinned in place I could refit the inner panels

The car is now 'water tight' and by that I mean the windows are in place. It's definitely going to let water in through various holes everywhere. Tucked back in the garage for now.

I did buy an accuspark electronic dizzy but didn't have time to fit it this time. I'll try and get it fitted and hopefully get the car started over Christmas.

[Tommyboy12]

Some slightly more modern tinkering today. I fitted an android auto slave board and decoder to my existing head unit in my Porsche. Required disassembly of the head unit but it cleverly used existing mounting points to fit the slave board on top of the motherboard inside the original case with no cutting or modifying required.

I primarily wanted to do it this way because it retains all the trip computer and steering wheel controls if done this way instead of swapping to a modern double din which loses that.

The only disadvantage is the screen is a bit low resolution but it's easy enough to operate still.

[Tommyboy12]

I poked at the ignition system today on the Austin 7.

New electronic distributor fitted, new coil and new HT leads which I had to make up myself. The old HT leads were so brittle they kept their shape and order when I removed them and the cap. The timing is a bit alien to me. It's marks on the flywheel and you have to set it at TDC based on that. However, theres no marks on anything around the flywheel to compare to the TDC mark on the flywheel so it's a bit of a guess.

I cut all the leads nice and neat. I have new spark plugs but haven't fitted them yet as I wanted to see if the originals were ok.

I then poured a bit of petrol in the bowl to see if it would start. It coughed a few times which was promising but nothing more than weakly coughing for a few rotations before it quit. I am grateful to hear something from it though as it means there's spark. Unfortunately removing the bowl made the flexi hose turn to dust so I now need to replace what I think is a 1/4 BSP hose based on measuring and these markings.

[Tommyboy12]

New year, new* suspension. Unfortunately the Aggro went all lopsided again over Christmas. During HMCs ownership it had a new pipe on the drivers side but clearly the passenger one needed doing too as it went down. It holed underneath but unfortunately when I replaced that section it sprang another leak under the subframe so I ended having to replace that section too.

Now however it has plenty of new pipe and no leak!

 

[Tommyboy12]

More Austin 7 work today.

Started by taking off and rebuilding the carb. All new seals and washers including a few cork ones which surprised me. I've also converted the inlet to run on standard 6mm rubber hose.

I then tried to rebuild the fuel pump but unfortunately upon closer inspection there multiple things wrong with. The lobe for the cam is worn. The mechanism in the pump has slop in it and the top hat bolt thread is stripped. Based on this and the fact you can't buy them anymore i've decided I'm going to convert to an electric pump like the earlier cars. Technically it's all repairable. It needs a new spring, a blob of weld on the cam lobe and the top hat of the pump drilling and tapping to the next size. But it's not something I have the inclination to do when a 6V pump can be had for £18.

This was me failing to fit the new diaphragm before realising there was so much slop that it wouldn't stay in place.

Then things got a bit drastic. The core plug on the front of the engine had a hole in it and I couldn't quite get at it with the radiator in place. So I took it off. Four bolts and the whole lot came out.

At the same time I thought we might as well flush the block. Good thing I did because all manner of silt and crud came out. I'll be plugging it up and filling it full dishwasher tablets at some point to try to dissolve everything else.

Then I thought well it needs a new screen so that came out too. It looks better in the pic than here but the blackened area on the glass is the failed laminate and it's near impossible to see out of. So it's being replaced. A local glass company has offered to cut me something and it screws into the car so it was an easy removal.

So I've ended with much less car than I started with...

[Matty]

Car looks happy about it though Tom

🤣

[Tommyboy12]

It looked a bit more happy at the start of the day 😅

It has been moved from an unheated prefab garage to a big double garage and is rubbing shoulders with a Caterham build at the moment

[Matty]

28 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

It looked a bit more happy at the start of the day 😅

It has been moved from an unheated prefab garage to a big double garage and is rubbing shoulders with a Caterham build at the moment

Bet its a joy to work on. I stripped drivers door down on my mk6 fiesta after work on friday. Everything out the door including the loom and the glass (?!?) just to get a window regulator out. Christ knows what an actual modern car would be like.

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Bet its a joy to work on. I stripped drivers door down on my mk6 fiesta after work on friday. Everything out the door including the loom and the glass (?!?) just to get a window regulator out. Christ knows what an actual modern car would be like.

Its easy to work on but it's a lot of wood and wood screws. Plus many years of bodge repairs. My favourite so far has been discovering that virtually every screw/bolt is finger tight at best.

[comfortablynumb]

12 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

virtually every screw

But are they brass? 🤔

[Tommyboy12]

59 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

But are they brass? 🤔

Depends if it's been had at by someone already! There's quite a lot of zinc plated posidrive screws too 😅

But a lot of then are original brass, plenty of square nuts. Whitworth and BSF.

[Somerset Suffolk]

21 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Started by taking off and rebuilding the carb. All new seals and washers including a few cork ones which surprised me. I've also converted the inlet to run on standard 6mm rubber hose.

@Tommyboy12  apologies if this teaching granny to suck eggs, but on the HS2 carbs on my MGA, the cork seals normally have to soaked in oil before fitting - unfortunately  this doesn't seem to make any difference with modern fuel and how often I used the MGA and they still leaked like a bastard - in the end I fitted Teflon seals on the jet glands   - looks like an SU carb (Skinners Union or Sodden Useless)  on your 7 rather than a Zenith ? 

"For some years now I have been using a substitute jet seal. It is possible to install two Teflon O-rings in place of each jet seal (8 O-rings required for 2 carbs). The Teflon O-rings allow free sliding from the git-go and should never leak for the life of the engine, or at least until the brass throttle shafts wear out and need replacement at about 100,000 miles."

 

https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/carbs/cb106.htm   from  the legend that is Barney ....

Love an Austin 7 !

cheers Matt 

[Tommyboy12]

21 minutes ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

@Tommyboy12  apologies if this teaching granny to suck eggs, but on the HS2 carbs on my MGA, the cork seals normally have to soaked in oil before fitting - unfortunately  this doesn't seem to make any difference with modern fuel and how often I used the MGA and they still leaked like a bastard - in the end I fitted Teflon seals on the jet glands   - looks like an SU carb (Skinners Union or Sodden Useless)  on your 7 rather than a Zenith ? 

"For some years now I have been using a substitute jet seal. It is possible to install two Teflon O-rings in place of each jet seal (8 O-rings required for 2 carbs). The Teflon O-rings allow free sliding from the git-go and should never leak for the life of the engine, or at least until the brass throttle shafts wear out and need replacement at about 100,000 miles."

 

https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/carbs/cb106.htm   from  the legend that is Barney ....

Love an Austin 7 !

cheers Matt 

I did note the cork seals yes. They were soaked for a while before fitting but I may revisit with teflon o-rings. Thanks for the tip!

[Somerset Suffolk]

3 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

I did note the cork seals yes. They were soaked for a while before fitting but I may revisit with teflon o-rings. Thanks for the tip!

hopefully the cork seals will do the trick 👍

[Tommyboy12]

Did some more suspension fettling on the Aggro.

Then took it out for a drive . It's not a bad old thing.

[Matty]

And looks just like i remember them. Tatty but still doing a job.

My Grandad Jack had a 1500 series 2 in that orange (blaize?) when i was quite small but already car obsessed. It was the first thing in our family with a 5 speed box. I can vividly remember the giddy excitement of sitting next to him on the bypass as he said "brace yourself our Matthew, im going into 5th" 🤣

Happy days. I was 45 last week but it still feels like yesterday.

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

And looks just like i remember them. Tatty but still doing a job.

My Grandad Jack had a 1500 series 2 in that orange (blaize?) when i was quite small but already car obsessed. It was the first thing in our family with a 5 speed box. I can vividly remember the giddy excitement of sitting next to him on the bypass as he said "brace yourself our Matthew, im going into 5th" 🤣

Happy days. I was 45 last week but it still feels like yesterday.

Five forward gears?? How decadent! I have to settle for 4 slushy automatic forward gears and the world's most absent reverse 😅

[Six-cylinder]

4 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Five forward gears?? How decadent! I have to settle for 4 slushy automatic forward gears and the world's most absent reverse 😅

Most Automatic cars from the 1970's only had 3 gears so you are still ahead. 

[Tommyboy12]

More Seven tinkering today.

I fitted the electric fuel pump and blanking plate to convert from my broken mechanical fuel pump. It's not in the ideal place but it's the only place that it fits. I still need to wire it in but I am more concerned about the engine at this point

I also removed the water inlet manifold from the drivers side of the engine. Unfortunately I snapped a stud which is a very common issue as it passes through alloy manifold, through the coolant, and screws into the iron block. Also I found this... Which is the exact reason I took it off in the first place.

Things then got more drastic. It won't run more than a few pathetic puffs and after a compression test I found that cylinder pressures were 90, 40, 90, 80. Cylinder two was very low and it didn't change with oil. Taking the head off revealed the inlet valve isn't closing properly. So I'm going to remove the valves and lap them, then reset the valve gaps.

Hopefully with a strong spark (I did manage to electrocute myself with it today), decent compression and a rebuilt carb it should fire straight into life.

I also need to drill and replace a couple of studs which I'm not looking forward to. One of the inlet manifold bolts was already snapped (the one in the middle) and when I tried to remove it snapped inside the block. Great.

[RayMK]

@Tommyboy12: My Reliant Regal MKVI engine has many similarities to a Ruby's unit for obvious reasons.  Reliant derived their version to have the same basic layout but with many detail differences, resulting in relatively few parts being interchangeable with A7 units.  The head has the most visible difference from the A7 because the distributer drive is taken off the camshaft, placing the dizzy in a more conventional orientation at the front left of the engine, the coolant outlet from the head is nearer the centre of the head and the dynamo is also more conventionally located, driven by the fan belt.  

When I bought my Regal in 1992 it was running poorly and the whole car needed a lot of refurbishment except for the chassis which was in excellent condition.  A few valves suffered from intermittent sticking caused by deposits on their stems which were binding in the valve guides.  As the 99000 mile engine was very tired and needed a rebore, I had the valves replaced if they could not be restored to 'factory' and all valve guides replaced with new.  A few subsequent teething problems were cured by finding a NOS carb of the correct type, after which it started and ran beautifully.  A new ethanol compatible diaphragm in the fuel pump more recently seems to have cured the vapour locking type symptoms as well, presumably because fuel pressure has been restored to 3-5psi.  I'm running an original, 2nd hand, Ford sidevalve 'sit up and beg' radiator which has very similar dimensions to the original Reliant unit which burst beyond economic repair but has proved fine with the thermo-syphon set-up.  It copes with continuous cruising at 55mph (GPS) and stays cooler in stop-start traffic.  All of the water galleries in the engine needed descaling but standard blue antifreeze with inhibitor has minimised any further clogging problems, particularly in the alloy top and side coolant castings.  

You've done a lot of engine work on previous cars so you'll soon have the Ruby purring noisily like they all do 😁.  Mine sits behind the front wheel mostly in the car rather than under the bonnet - yours may be a bit quieter in the cab but I get the benefit* of direct heating from the engine despite the lack of a heater.

[comfortablynumb]

I'm having flashbacks to the reliant @Tommyboy12🥺, with that coolant jacket

[Tommyboy12]

4 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

I'm having flashbacks to the reliant @Tommyboy12🥺, with that coolant jacket

That's exactly what I said as I pulled it off!

Nothing I haven't done before it's just slightly different in that it's a side valve. Arguably it makes it easier though!

I've ordered a side valve spring compressor and some additional parts. Hoping to get the valves out and look at lapping them next weekend.

[M'coli]

On 24/01/2026 at 18:55, Tommyboy12 said:

Five forward gears?? How decadent! I have to settle for 4 slushy automatic forward gears and the world's most absent reverse 😅

Lotus bought the gear cluster and stuck it in a different casing and used it in the Elite/Eclat.

[Tommyboy12]

Flat glass has it's advantages. My new laminated windscreen has arrived freshly cut from the glaziers for the grand sum of £55!

 

[tooSavvy]

The guys who swapped my Panda screen [bullet hole in MOT zone] did say reversing it would do....

🙄 .... 😁

🚙💨