There are lots more pics on the Photobucket if your interested

You obviously have a number of other issues to deal with, but I have found A7 engines very tolerant of bore wear. I have sucessfully got away with putting together several hack engines by simply honing, often quite badly worn bores then fitting new rings. Results have been suprisingly good and reasonably long lived.

Location: New Zealand

Ian, James and Ian

Thanks for the information.

I was a surprised to see we still had standard pistons, i expected to see at least +40 fitted. Their is no lip at tops of bores,

Location: Suffolk

Hi, I think I should try to clarify the situation. The Ruby engine smoked quite a lot (I Know, I was following) and was clearly pressurizing the crankcase also there was a significant amount of oil loss, we assume this was from the joint between the crankcase and block. However the situation is not as clear cut as it might have been, the engine filler is a home made device that does not fit so to get the car home we put a plastic bag over it and that prevented the crankcase from breathing to make matters worse the tappet chest cover has been made from a flat plate and has no holes in it so again no breathing. Once we got it home we removed the plugs, no 2,3,and 4 all looked ok with only no 1 looking oily and after cleaning the tank out we ran it again for a while without the plastic bag on the oil filler but with the unvented tappet chest cover, removing the plugs for a 2nd inspection showed that no 1 and 2 were now very oily so we decided to pull the head to investigate, the bore look very good but there was a lot of oil in the crown of no1.
So here are our questions.
1) Do Austin 7's chuff a lot from the crankcase filler?
2) Would blocking the tappet chest cover vent holes make a drastic difference to the crankcase pressure?
3) How much bore wear can a std set of rings compensate for?

Perhaps all with 3 bearing cranks should carry some sort of heavy band tourniquet. I have had no involvement with the engines, but the support for the centre bearing appears dubious even by 1923 standards. Based on experience with other makes, if a crankcase is not really rigid crank problems always threaten, although crank shape and finish has huge influence.
The oil pockets are quite different from the 2 brg but appear no more ideal. The shells sport only one drilling and no trench. I have often wondered if this hole functions as an inlet or exit, possibly to vent entrapped air. I ran my car with no drilling and no ill effects although seldom exceeded 4,000 rpm. Relieved areas near parting line, as most shells, not clearly evident in photos.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Good going until it all went bang Leon!

What car does your friend have? I like the look of it a lot.

We came up to the West of Toulouse and I know many of the place you came through from other A7 trips.

Sorry to hear of the CC demise - a good A7 Engine will carry you happily on another similar route - maybe not quite at 70mph but near enough. In 1999 I drove the Ulster from Bilbao to Glasgow in 6 days following a Riley 9 Special, a lot of fun. Our foreheads were black and engrained with road dirt, oil and bugs - despite almost constant attempts neither of us were able to secure a female passenger at any stage on the journey!

Good luck with the new engine build and don't be put off by the 3 bearing engine, my own experience of these is that if they are correctly set up they are one of the best A7 engines. I have many, many broken cranks in the "bin" only two are three bearing all the rest are 2.

Ruairidh

Awkward car is a Standard Avon special (1931 I think) running a Model A with a Riley over head valve conversion, if this wrong I expect Awkward will correct me.

The CC engine is now in my cellar half built up with a new block, I have removed the seven engine this morning and i am hoping to get it fully build up ready for the end of September for The 750MC meeting at snetterton (spectating only)

Good luck - that is a very neat engine and I really like the Standard Avon.