Austin Seven
Matt’s Seven progresses apace thanks to expert help and advice.
We’ve got a problem, Matt’. It wasn’t the phone call I was hoping to receive from Steve Smith of Vibration Free engineering soon after dropping my Seven engine’s internals at his Bicester workshop
(PC, August 2021). With the crankshaft balanced, Steve had fitted my flywheel to its tapered end and watched as it revealed itself to be severely out of true. A diagnostic tap from master Seven fettler Ian Tillman at Oxfordshire Sevens emitted a dull thud. My flywheel was cracked.
Thankfully, Ian was able to source a good replacement from his stock of spares that rang like a bell when tapped with the same hitting stick. Ian’s apprentice James Maybley, who is training through the Heritage Skills Academy at Bicester Heritage, transferred the new clutch linings I’d so lovingly riveted to the cracked flywheel just days before onto the replacement while Ian explained to me that removing around 7mm from the circumference of the flywheel in front of the starter ring gear would lighten the flywheel sufficiently to give me significantly improved acceleration without jeopardising the ability of the engine to idle smoothly. Back up the road at Vibration Free, Steve mounted the flywheel to his lathe and set about removing this material before re-mounting the now lightened flywheel to the back of my crank and dynamically balancing it to within 0.01g. With this last piece of the jigsaw completed, I was able to collect all of the components, meaning I now have the task of carefully assembling into what should be a smooth running, long lived and powerful engine.
Keep your cool
While the engine internals were away in Bicester, I turned my attention to the question of cooling the car. The chrome radiator cowl which forms the focal point of the front of the car is a modified ‘tall’ cowl from an early Thirties Austin Seven Saloon that I’d picked up at Beaulieu a few years ago and had been shortened to ‘Ulster’ height by PC’S master welding alchemist Theo Gillam, who had managed to successfully TIG weld the brass cowl back together after I’d removed 1.75 inches from its centre.
I had sourced a damaged saloon radiator from another Seven owner after appealing on a discussion group, the core of which I was able to cut a section from to mount it in the modified cowl before measuring the required finished height. The bayonet fitting for the filler cap on the top tank was damaged, however, I learned that the brass neck of an old fashioned metal jerry can was the same thread
as a screw-type Seven cap. The A47 autojumble provided me with a donor can for just £5, which gave up its filler neck in order to complete the kit of parts.
I knew I would need an expert to take over from here, and could think of no one better than Mauricio Freitas at Ready Rads in Birmingham. A true petrol head with a palpable passion for classics, he built the radiator for PC’S Austin Westminster estate project as well as my Morris Minor Convertible, so I knew the quality of his work would be exemplary. I parcelled up the top and bottom tanks, new filler neck and a sketch of dimensions and sent them to his workshop.
Core blimey!
I had considered fitting an original type honeycomb core, which is one of the services Ready Rads are able to offer, but the cost of the core plus the radiator’s vulnerability right at the front of the car lead me in the direction of a modern core that was soon expertly soldered between the tanks (which themselves received a fair amount of repair work to ensure they will be leak-free for many years to come). The new filler neck was soldered in place, and the overflow pipe was reinstated before the radiator was finished with a coat of satin black paint. Mauricio was even kind enough to deliver it himself to the PC workshop while on a family day out. Now that’s what I call service!
It might seem like I’ve taken a back seat this month, leaving the hard work in the hands of specialists, however I have been busy with the car, too. Dad and I spent another day with cardboard, tweaking and fettling our design, sweetening curves and ensuring the lines flow all the way from dashboard to tail. I also started cutting aluminium and, using a stake and a curved metal forming plate from Contour Academy, followed their online training video to form a 90-degree flange along the curved edge of the floor panels to which the side panels will eventually mount. More next time… ■ matt.tomkins@practicalclassics.co.uk