Tommy's A-series Misery - How many times can you break down in 12 miles?

[Tickman]

Some things are more important than a trip.

[Supernaut]

36 minutes ago, Tickman said:

Some things are more important than a trip.

What he said.

I was at a show on Sunday and was reminded of you, @Tommyboy12 by this little gem.

I stood there for a good 5 minutes thinking "there's a turbo, and an intercooler crammed in there, blowing through the SU carb?!" 

Madness.

[Tommyboy12]

24 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

What he said.

I was at a show on Sunday and was reminded of you, @Tommyboy12 by this little gem.

I stood there for a good 5 minutes thinking "there's a turbo, and an intercooler crammed in there, blowing through the SU carb?!" 

Madness.

Ooof. Its got the bagsport fabrications side manifold by the looks of it. Side mounted turbo over the flywheel housing. Ive been contemplating converting to this setup as it offers better, more modern turbos plus I might want to be a total chav and have a screamer pipe out the bonnet...

I love the fact it looks completely standard on the outside apart from the wheels.

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Tickman said:

Some things are more important than a trip.

100% agree. It was never a question of whether I should cancel or not. I was absolutely going to cancel when we found out but im not going to let it dampen the desire to do a road trip in a near 100 year old car.

[Tickman]

We have no doubt about your sanity levels when it comes to utterly daft roadtrips perfectly sensibly use of your car.

[Supernaut]

And here I am, convincing myself that a cars and coffees event 40 miles away is "too far" to take the series one Land Rover...

I am weak!

[sharley17194]

On 30/06/2026 at 09:30, Tommyboy12 said:

100% agree. It was never a question of whether I should cancel or not. I was absolutely going to cancel when we found out but im not going to let it dampen the desire to do a road trip in a near 100 year old car.

just gives me longer to fix mine! 

[Tommyboy12]

So I am back from the family funeral now and spent last night tinkering on the Austin 7. I pulled the tank off and it was full of crud as suspected. I gave it a good hose down and rolled some gravel around it for an hour until my arms became very tired and bolted it back onto the car. I have however ordered a tank sealing kit and fully intend to take the tank back off (it takes longer to drain it than physically remove it) to seal the tank up. Problem being that although I washed it out and filled it with gravel, it is actually a baffled tank, which surprised me somewhat given its age, so i suspect that some of the areas I couldnt reach are still full of shite.

I gave it a run round the outskirts of the village for about 10 miles and it didnt give me any issues so im hoping that has resolved it. I did notice however that I lost water during my drive round.  I didnt check it beforehand so have no idea how much I have lost but it didnt give any signs of overheating like bubbling or steam so I am wondering if I am losing it somewhere. Something to investigate at least.

I did manage to fix the speedo too! I got up to a heady 45mph yesterday. It didnt have a lot more to give but it cruised quite nicely at that speed. I have read that standard cruise is 40-45mph anyway and it happily sits at that now so the engine is clearly in reasonable health.

[Tommyboy12]

Last night I discovered how many times it's possible to break down in a 12 mile trip!

I fully prepped the AC before setting off on my epic adventure!

My epic 12 mile adventure was to the local club meet and it was going so well for 4.5 miles!

Then it didn't...

Fuel line blocked again!

Then it did it again a mile later...

So then I swapped to the 'auxiliary' tank to save me cleaning the lines again.

Unfortunately that didn't help and I was on the road side again at 9.7 miles. My forever patient partner had been following me up to this point as I wasnt 100% confident I was going to make it.

This time it was unfortunately a bit more terminal. I snapped a fitting on the fuel line while trying to remove it and wasn't carrying a spare...

I did break down in a nice spot though. Calendar photo?

So the cavalry was called!

And the princess did indeed make it to the ball!

Where I found a few familiar cars... @wesacosa Might like this one...

The Panda has been sold and bought by another member of the club and it's been treated to some bumper reconditioning and a deep deep polish. It's looking great! It's also had a raft of other new parts fitted too although it currently has a few light-based electrical gremlins.

It's always nice to see my old Reliant too. I don't regret selling it but it was definitely a great car

Plenty of fantastic chod as usual. This shot could be straight out of the 80s.

The MG Metro is a stunning car. It's been in a few magazines and is completely original and unrestored.

Plenty of other great cars present too

I will diagnose the 7 at some point but I'm preoccupied this weekend. I suspect it's the fuel pump also being problematic although I will be cleaning the tank again too.

[wesacosa]

thanks for sharing those pics, the Panda looks fabulous. I'm thrilled it's living its best life and I'm sure @spartacusand @Mrs Spart would be too 

I'm sure the current owner probably knows but most times the earth hedgehog is to blame. I did remake a lot of those earths but worthwhile checking again if he hasn't already 

[Mr Livered]

I don't like rods, but I'll make an exception for that yellow one, which is fabulous. But the star of the show (present company excepted, obviously) might have to be that gorgeous Metro.

Thank you for going to such lengths to get us those photos!

[Tommyboy12]

4 hours ago, wesacosa said:

thanks for sharing those pics, the Panda looks fabulous. I'm thrilled it's living its best life and I'm sure @spartacusand @Mrs Spart would be too 

I'm sure the current owner probably knows but most times the earth hedgehog is to blame. I did remake a lot of those earths but worthwhile checking again if he hasn't already 

I know theyre already on it. Its getting a lot of TLC at the moment which is really nice to see

[Zelandeth]

If that fitting already had fatigue issue you might have been pulling air in there from the start.  Hopefully not too difficult a fix.

[Tommyboy12]

2 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

If that fitting already had fatigue issue you might have been pulling air in there from the start.  Hopefully not too difficult a fix.

Frustratingly it was one of the fittings I bought. The barb was wafer thin and snapped in my hand while trying to pull the fuel line off it.