Tommy's A-series Misery - Normal service resumes. Austin 7 work continues

[IronStar]

On 10/04/2026 at 10:52, Tommyboy12 said:

I drove my white Mini to work yesterday. I popped a head gasket on the way home

 

Mine is still sitting dead 7 months later. 0 mojo from anyone to replace it again. 
Absolutely abhorrent parts quality. 🫤

[EightMegs]

My Carina II's head gasket blew in the same place, but it just caused an intermittent misfire when hot for a few months before it finally broke through into the water jacket (the Toyota A engine has siamesed cylinders with no water jacket at that point) and I showered the car behind me in a cloud of steam on my way home from work and the neighbours came out to ask if it was on fire when I parked up.

[M'coli]

On 10/04/2026 at 09:52, Tommyboy12 said:

I drove my white Mini to work yesterday. I popped a head gasket on the way home which was frustrating... First boot full I gave it joining the motorway and it went. Thankfully it went on the way home and not the way to work! I got home eventually and spent the evening changing it.

<snip>

 

However the head looked good after a cleaning. It does look like it's been suffering some blowby on all the cylinders but it measured flat and the fire rings look healthy.

 

 

I'd say that would benefit from a skim, it looks like it's been blowing across 1 & 2 for some time.

[Tommyboy12]

3 hours ago, M&#x27;coli said:

I'd say that would benefit from a skim, it looks like it's been blowing across 1 & 2 for some time.

It did have a skim when I built it. I've slapped another gasket on so will see how it goes but if it goes again it's definitely getting skimmed 

[Tommyboy12]

I got the water pump out the Allegro at last! I'm sure it'll go again...

Unfortunately though I bought the wrong pump. It physically fits but the pulley clashes with the pump body. Turns out there's two types of pump...

You can see where it kicks in and creates space for the pulley on the broken pump

So I've bought another water pump which looks to be correct (I hope)

[EyesWeldedShut]

[Tommyboy12]

More Austin 7 progress last night. The cleaned out fuel tank was reinstalled after lines were blown through.

I also acquired a rear bumper which was missing and that's started to be reinstalled

I've also now wired in the fuel pump to the ignition so it switches on with it. Fused directly to the ingnition is fine right? Right...?

The wheels were also removed in preparation for me getting the new tyres mounted which I am going to try myself until I fail abysmally and have to pay someone to do it.

Next up I need to get the sheared stud out the water manifold and then I can reassemble the cooling system. Before that though I want to replace the engine mounts and replace the exhaust before access gets challenging because of the radiator.

Currently the exhaust is being hung with welding wire while I wait on a new hanger. It doesn't seem to have the right exhaust as the curve for the axle tube is in the wrong place but I'm going to go with it as it is.

Progress is being made! Good thing seeing as it's only eleven weeks until I am supposed to be driving it to France...

[Tommyboy12]

More work on the 7 last night.

We finished off fitting the rear bumper. I just need a bracket for my number plate then that's done.

I also set about getting the snapped stud out of the water jacket. This time I went for maximum heat on the welder and welded a big nut to it and out it came!

It didn't pull the threads out with it which is a nice bonus

I gave the block a good blow out with the air line. It's still full of chunks although the worst of it is gone now. I plan to fill the block with something that's good at chewing up rust to help remove the last of it but it's definitely much better. This big chunk came out with one of the first puffs of air.

I also fitted a new core plugs at the front of the engine after I'd cleared it out.

Finally I tackled the engine mounts which are unique to the late Ruby car. This car shouldn't have them but the engine is a late one so it does. They were mostly held together with hopes and dreams so out with the old.

And in with the fancy new ones.

I did discover the the old bolts were all different on every corner and not very tight but at least that made them easy to get out.

The exhaust was taken back off to assist in changing the engine mounts but I've bought a new hanger so intending to fit that next time. I also went round and adjusted all the brake cables to take out the slack. I did pull the drums to check the shoes and they looked brand new (and made of asbestos) so they were checked for free movement then left well alone. The brakes won't be great. But they'll be as good as they can be

[RayMK]

8 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

More work on the 7 last night.

We finished off fitting the rear bumper. I just need a bracket for my number plate then that's done.

I also set about getting the snapped stud out of the water jacket. This time I went for maximum heat on the welder and welded a big nut to it and out it came!

It didn't pull the threads out with it which is a nice bonus

I gave the block a good blow out with the air line. It's still full of chunks although the worst of it is gone now. I plan to fill the block with something that's good at chewing up rust to help remove the last of it but it's definitely much better. This big chunk came out with one of the first puffs of air.

I also fitted a new core plugs at the front of the engine after I'd cleared it out.

Finally I tackled the engine mounts which are unique to the late Ruby car. This car shouldn't have them but the engine is a late one so it does. They were mostly held together with hopes and dreams so out with the old.

And in with the fancy new ones.

I did discover the the old bolts were all different on every corner and not very tight but at least that made them easy to get out.

The exhaust was taken back off to assist in changing the engine mounts but I've bought a new hanger so intending to fit that next time. I also went round and adjusted all the brake cables to take out the slack. I did pull the drums to check the shoes and they looked brand new (and made of asbestos) so they were checked for free movement then left well alone. The brakes won't be great. But they'll be as good as they can be

Dad's '33 A7 box saloon engine was solidly mounted to the chassis.  This effectively limited cruising speed to 30mph unless you booked an appointment for new fillings after a trip.  Power* may also have been a factor.  Brakes were adequate when almost everything else cruised at 30-40mph and had a similarly leisurely attitude to slowing down.  Getting them adjusted on the rods was always a game, taking a few attempts before the brakes pulled up all square.  I noticed your A7 has friction dampers on the rear quarter elliptics.  I can't remember ours having any.  Just relied on the rust between leaves 😀.  Well done getting that cooling manifold fixing out.  They are similar on my Reliant sidevalve engine.  I rub an art 4b pencil on the threads in the hope that the graphite reduces the risk of the threads seizing.  Must get the Reliant out to see if I can still drive it, assuming it's feeling cooperative.     

[Tommyboy12]

This has upgraded Bowdenex brakes too so it should pull up a little* quicker than standard rods and cables. It's basically a bike brake cable on steroids but anything is better than rods.

I got the tyres off the wheels this afternoon.

I never want to remove tyres with tyre spoons again. The sidewalls were rock hard so it took some serious effort.

Three of the wheels were fine just a bit of surface rust.

Unfortunately one of them was completely toasted. Rotten bead strip and I holed it with the spoon. To be honest the hole is inconsequential given that the bead is rotten. This wheel is destined to hang as a wall piece instead and I'm on the hunt for another wheel.

The tyres were comically old.

I've painted up the inner rim of the three good wheels. I'll paint the wheels the outside if have time before my trip. Unfortunately with my ham fisted attempts to use spoons I did chip the already chipped paint a few times.

So if anyone has a 19" Austin 7 wheel let me know 😅

[RayMK]

@Tommyboy12 There appears to be a few options for A7  19" wheels but 2nd hand ones in useable condition are quite pricey (e.g. below).  Are yours the open centre type or closed centre?  Apparently the spoke arrangement is not the same on each type.  Various places in the UK can  build new wheels of course at an even higher cost and one brand new wheel might make you want 2 or 4.  I assume the spare has long since gone AWOL.  I'd even consider a fully stressed* repair of your rusty one using JB weld with wire reinforcement pushed around the hollow bead and used as a filler over areas that look very thin,  provided that the mounting areas on the rim are strong enough for the spokes.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157524342156?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&ff=11&gbraid=0AAAAADA7Q_LOvldBEyDxuYPNsUKxV4VOf&loc_physical_ms=1007175&adtype=pla&customid=CjwKCAjwtIfPBhAzEiwAv9RTJp6NtkHdd3GVFxUde0eMpV8MsoAQnW6XWmhB-ec4pVFa6NjO7RPuRxoC4psQAvD_BwE&gclid=CjwKCAjwtIfPBhAzEiwAv9RTJp6NtkHdd3GVFxUde0eMpV8MsoAQnW6XWmhB-ec4pVFa6NjO7RPuRxoC4psQAvD_BwE

[Tommyboy12]

Had a bit of fun at Rustival this weekend. Took the Mini in a convoy with our local club.

We had this lovely yellow Visa in convoy too which some of you may recognise if you've been to FoTU the last few years.

And the club parked up at the show

A couple of my favourites from the show including an appearance of my old Reliant Rialto which has reportedly not had a single fault!

 

[GeorgeB]

41 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

 

 

Those three make my prefect garage.

[Matty]

1 hour ago, GeorgeB said:

Those three make my prefect garage.

Worse choices etc etc

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, GeorgeB said:

Those three make my prefect garage.

Make room for a VDP 4l R tho

[Tommyboy12]

The VDP lives once more.

After the water pump debacle I bought another correctly shaped water pump. However this time it was a different bolt pattern to the pulley. The pulley is 3 bolt, the pump had two 4 bolt patterns 🙄

One bolt hole lined up at least

I just drilled the pulley to match the pump. The bolts were also smaller than the original so I had to go fishing in my stock of random bolts.

And the pump now fitted properly back in the car

I also spotted a bolt hanging out the starter motor for the solenoid lever which I tightened back up.

Finally I fitted an all important tape deck for my roadtrip to the Netherlands. The LW/MW radio isn't going to cut it on the continent but I have a large collection of tapes.

Definitely* roadtrip ready* now! Which is good because it's in a couple of weeks!

[Weird Car]

11 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

The VDP lives once more.

After the water pump debacle I bought another correctly shaped water pump. However this time it was a different bolt pattern to the pulley. The pulley is 3 bolt, the pump had two 4 bolt patterns 🙄

One bolt hole lined up at least

I just drilled the pulley to match the pump. The bolts were also smaller than the original so I had to go fishing in my stock of random bolts.

And the pump now fitted properly back in the car

I also spotted a bolt hanging out the starter motor for the solenoid lever which I tightened back up.

Finally I fitted an all important tape deck for my roadtrip to the Netherlands. The LW/MW radio isn't going to cut it on the continent but I have a large collection of tapes.

Definitely* roadtrip ready* now! Which is good because it's in a couple of weeks!

Can’t wait to buy this back off of you, it’s gonna be like a brand new car with all these creature comforts 🤣

 

also nice to see you’ve added to my sticker collection to hide the horrible wood 

[Tommyboy12]

Austin 7 update. I picked up the spare from the garage where it's being stored and set about removing the tyre which is actually the 'newest' looking of the tyres which is why I left it as a spare. That being said I'd rather have four new tyres on good wheels. I removed the tyre myself to check the wheel and paint the inside. Turns out this was actually the cleanest of the lot and didn't need much painting.

I then took the wheels and tyres down to the local garage and had my new tyres fitted with new bands and inner tubes.

They're now ready to fit to the car.

I also sourced some bolts for the water manifold. Luckily I have a local fastener specialist and I just took in the manifold and removed snapped stud and asked for replacements. He measured them up as BSF thread and found some of the correct length and some fibre washers to minimise leaks.

This means the cooling system can now also go back together too!

I'm hoping this weekend I can get the exhaust back on, cooling system rebuilt and tyres on. Then it's nearly there!

I also added the rusted wheel to my garage wall art.

I have soured a couple of additional wheels to be able to have a spare. These are a different design to my wheels and aren't 'correct' for my 7s model. But they were £25 for the pair so I'm not complaining.

[Tommyboy12]

Big progress on the Austin 7 today!

First I refit the exhaust with new bolts, gasket and hanger. It had a ground strap on it originally. I have fitted another at the other end of the engine but thought I'd refit this one anyway. Eagle eyed will notice the fan belt has been refitted too.

And hung at the back using a universal bracket from Halfrauds using and existing clamp. It's not got a lot of hang but it should be fine as it can at least move.

Next up I fitted the wheels which looks great!

Four shiny new boots.

Unfortunately one of the inner tubes was pinched and had a hole. I've brought it home this evening and will perform a repair on it and take it back to the car. It's basically a bike inner tube so a patch repair should be adequate. They also only run at 26psi so it's hardly under stress.

Next up I finished the rear number plate/bumper. The number plate light will need to come off to fit the spare as there's not enough spare cable to go round the wheel so I will have to go through it. No biggy.

Next up the water jacket! The new bolts fit thankfully! I drowned the threads in marine grease which Matt had laying around. Should hopefully mean it comes back out at some point. Hopefully not any time soon!

Then on with the radiator.

It's starting to look like a car again. I fitted a new rad hose, although I reused the top hose temporarily. I do have a new hose but the old one looked ok.

We rolled it outside and brimmed it with water to check for leaks. Thankfully the water manifold and the core plug held. Unfortunately, the radiator more closely resembles a collander. It leaks from at least three points, one of which is between the header tank and core. It's potentially salvageable but at this point I'm going to source a replacement, either a second hand unit or a recore, depends on cost.

I did also take this opportunity to start it with the exhaust fitted. First the pump was primed. Unfortunately the pump is overpowering the float needle so that needs addressing with a regulator. It fired nearly straight up after some timing adjust and it's like a sewing machine up front. Lovely and quiet with no bangs, grumbles or rattles. It idled while we checked for more leaks.

So it's back in the garage awaiting the last few jobs! Just need to sort a repair the passenger foot board (it's rusted and separated from the front wing), a replacement radiator, refit the bonnet, adjust the clutch and tune it! Then it's ready* for the road!

I'm super happy with progress today!

Also my radiator mascot is amazing. It was amongst the spares. Any guesses?

[Matty]

All mint this Tom. And im going soda syphon for the rad mascot.

[Tommyboy12]

2 minutes ago, Matty said:

All mint this Tom. And im going soda syphon for the rad mascot.

10 points to you!

[Matty]

3 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

10 points to you!

Tell me theyre redeemable 🤣

[Weird Car]

23 minutes ago, Matty said:

Tell me theyre redeemable 🤣

No but if you collect enough you rank up 😆

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

All mint this Tom. And im going soda syphon for the rad mascot.

Yup, would be cool if it was also a manual pressure relief valve!

[Tommyboy12]

Its road trip month! This month I have three road trips taking place!

Firstly, over the May bank holiday I took a 800 mile road trip round Cornwall in my '83 Mini with a couple of friends.

This weekend coming (8-10th May)I am driving my Aggro with 30 other fellow lunatics to Louwman's Toyota World in the Netherlands which all in will be another 800+ miles.

Lastly, in the last week of May, I am driving 2,000 miles to Poland and back in my '83 Mini to join the International Mini Meet at Leszno which is north of Wroclaw.

Its going to be an epic month!

As the May bank holiday has already occured a bit of a download of my trip to Cornwall.

On Friday we left home for our drive down to St. Austell. First stop was to meet a friend at Hopwood Services on the M42 where we proceeded to rejoin the motorway in the wrong direction. On our way down south we stopped at Re:Fuel near Tiverton. Ill be honest I wasnt overly impressed with the place. IT was just a gravel car park with some car tyres laying around. Hopefully the locals thing its a better Cars & Coffee place than I experienced.

 

We then continued our journey south to our digs for the weekend. It took us a total of 7 hours including a lengthy stop at Re:Fuel which considering the satnav stated 6 hours I was pretty happy with.

 

 

We had to pop out for dinner. Where better than the tiny town of Mevagissy for fish and chips by the harbour?

 

 

On Saturday we took ourselves around a few places and visited Bodmin and Boscastle including a cream tea (obviously!)

 

 

We also took a drive out to Edgecumbe and Boswinger for no childish reasons at all. However, I did get this amazing calendar-worthy shot.

 

 

Next up, the whole reason we drove to Cornwall in the first place, the Cornish Mini Club Riviera Run! This show takes place from Friday to Tuesday including an 80 mile convoy drive on the Sunday. Unfortunately the weather wasnt great on Sunday with a lot of cloud and patchy rain. During the run it absolutely hammered it down a couple of times as we got towards Newquay but it was still a great run out.

 

The show itself.

 

 

Some shots from the convoy run. The Moke behind us had no roof! He was drowned by the end of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few cool cars from the show including a turbocharged Peugeot V6-powered pick up!

 

 

 

 

On Monday we took a trip to the Eden Project, we went there last year for the Riviera Run but tickets last a year and ours was on its last day of validity so we thought we would go again. Its a cool place but its way too expensive for what is effectively a greenhouse.

 

On the way home we also took a minor* detour (an extra 90 minutes on an already 5.5 hour drive) to pick up a pair of radiators for the Austin 7. They were £60 for the pair which was much cheaper than the £400-1200 I was quoted for a recore on my unit. They were untested but for the price I was willing to take a risk. Thankfully having tested them since the radiator on the left is hole free so will be going in the car! Unfortunately the one on the left has a few pin holes so isnt much use.

 

 

And back home!

 

 

Starting from Friday at 5am I will be giving live updates on the road trip with the Aggro!

[garellikatia]

@Tommyboy12 thats some going

 800 miles!! Was you not knackered?

. I'm looking forward to seeing your poland trip. I took my mini to Blyton park at the weekend. Its surprising how tiring it can get driving an old mini. Mind you my final drive is 3.75 and straight cut doesn't make it pleasant screeching at 5000rpm on the Motorway 😂.  

 

[Tommyboy12]

5 hours ago, garellikatia said:

@Tommyboy12 thats some going

 800 miles!! Was you not knackered?

. I'm looking forward to seeing your poland trip. I took my mini to Blyton park at the weekend. Its surprising how tiring it can get driving an old mini. Mind you my final drive is 3.75 and straight cut doesn't make it pleasant screeching at 5000rpm on the Motorway 😂.  

 

I don't mind it to be honest! I've done a 1500 mile trip in my Mini before round the NC500. I've been doing a lot in the gym recently which has really helped with managing my back 😅

I deliberately built it with a 2.9 diff so 70mph is a tickle over 3500rpm.

[Tommyboy12]

Tonight's test run before the Netherlands of the Aggro to the local club meet went well. The car has a very slight hesitation but holds speed fine. I've got time to look at it tomorrow and suspect it's the points which I gapped the other day and may have been over zealous with the gap.

It's pictured here with another car Netherlands trip car. A Visa Club with a mighty 652cc twin cylinder engine!

While I'm here have a few other pictures from the meet.

[High Jetter]

Ooh, Alvis?

[Tommyboy12]

9 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Ooh, Alvis?

Yes! It was lovely and made a great noise!