Hi Martin,

Just a quick point, and hope it helps.

The rear oil thrower is one of the most important parts of the engine.

Its good to get it the correct way round.

But more important is what it's there for.

The thrower traps between the bearing and the flywheel.

If it traps to soon the flywheel will come look in use.

If it doesn't trap then the rear bearing will be free to spin on the rear main.

Which is why so many cranks are undersize on the rear main bearing.

Lap your flywheel in carefully. And get the interfearance correct.

Tony.

Location: Huncote on the pig

The original fit tolerance is very small. The blueprint which appeared in post Crankshaft a year ago shows 0 to + .00025. According info kindly provided by Tony Press, in 1964 tolerance for a standard bearing was -.0003 to +.0002, so some bearings may never have been tight (except due unmounted out of round). Currently 0 to - .0004.

Many cranks have had bearings fitted many times. In my car at least 7. As I have encountered with other makes, lazy “mechanics” may have eased the shaft slightly to simplify assembly/disassembly.

And with an easy fit it only takes a metal chip to briefly lodge sometime down the ages to trigger spinning.

The few throwers I have seen were plain. Needed stretching slightly to grip shaft. A thin neoprene washer/gasket could be inserted.

As a matter of interest, what is exact finished dia of Phoenix journals? Are they reground after nitriding? Or just polished?

And on a different tack, the groove in thrust surface of timing gear is the main oil supply to the timing gears.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Thanks, everyone, for the advice and suggestions.

The rear main situation is now sorted.

After much thought, I decided to turn about 0.004" off the back of the camshaft gear hub and that now has a couple of thou clearance from the bearing face.

Unfortunately, in playing around with this, I let the rollers from the camshaft centre bearing drop out. Fitting the little sods was bad enough with the camshaft out of the engine, but with it in, it's proving almost impossible. Any helpful suggestions?

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

It's one of the great pleasures of Austin seven engine building.
Copious quantities of grease might stick them in. Or, you could find an old outer race, cut in in half and use that. Tied together with a bit of wire it will retain the rollers and push out of the way as the cam is fitted.

Martin. You'll have to take it out again.

Cam and grease in the freezer. Stick the rollers on with the cold grease then put an elastic band round them. Then refit

Location: not north wales any more

Quite a few people have asked me about progress on the rebuild of the scrap-bin engine.

Paying work has taken up most of my "spare time" recently, but we've made some progress. The main engine assembly has been completed; it turns over on the starter and has pretty reasonable compression.

The moment of truth is almost here. If I can arrange a quiet weekend, I shall sort out and fit a set of serviceable ancillaries and then.........?????

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

Hi Martin

I see the new engine has solid engine mounts. Is this as the rest of your fleet?
Some claim notably more harsh although I found with thin rubber washers added, much the same.
A problem is that any mods raise the engine relative to the radiator.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Hi Bob.

I specifically wanted to build an early '33 engine and actually swapped a rubber-mounted crankcase for this one.

I have to admit that the rubber-mounted variety is more user-friendly. Years ago, I made the mistake of improvising this on my solid-mounted RP, only to find that the engine had almost completely detached itself from the chassis half-way up the motorway between Worcester and Birmingham!

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

The Frankenstein engine lives!

We finally got everything together this afternoon and attempted a start.

We hoped to record a few pops and splutters. What actually happened was not quite what we expected!

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to upload a video to the Forum, but it can be seen on our Facebook page, Martin Prior and Son's Motor Works.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

This should work for the video Martin...


https://www.facebook.com/1473477006309584/videos/1873511362972811/

Great stuff ! See Video/Facebook for more extensive comment.

Location: Ferring, Worthing, West Sussex

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

well considering that has no exhaust yet, that's pretty darn good, isn't it?!

Location: NZ

The Frankenstein engine is now running very nicely, smoothly and with good compression.

The issue I'm having is very low (even by A7 standards)oil pressure. The pump is just about lifting oil into the gallery, but that's about it. I'm getting possibly 1/2psi cold.

With the oil pressure gauge pipe disconnected, a pathetic dribble weeps out.

Before I launch into major dismantling, what might I have missed?

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

Hi Martin, if you have cut your own gasget for the pump to c/case joint.....did you punch out the hole for the oil gallery as well as the obvious one for the two bolts, easy to miss, but hope you haven't ! I,m sure you have put the vanes in the correct way round with chamfer at the top. If you have fitted new vanes did you carefully check they didn't stick when pushed right in? I had this a few months ago and on checking found one of the vanes was .007 tapered this was enough for it to stick in on a complete revolution. IanM

Thanks, Ian and Charles.

I think that I can rule out the gasket, which definitely had enough holes. The dribble of oil would seem to confirm this.

The vanes COULD be the wrong way up. I was interrupted just as I was about to insert them last Saturday and I may have lost track of what I was doing. I'd have thought that even if they are incorrectly fitted there'd be a bit more pressure with a cold engine...........or maybe not?

I was hoping that someone might suggest the pressure relief valve! During the same interruption I mislaid my carefully-cleaned ball and spring and quickly grabbed a set from another junk engine. By then, I was in a hurry and may well not have checked and cleaned them very thoroughly. I think that's where I'll start.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

Similar issue recently turned out to be an early rear camshaft bearing in a late crankcase - all pressure lost past the 1/8" gap...

Engine had run like that for many years apparently.

Thanks, Ruairidh. I think I'm probably OK on that one. Presumably there's a different part number. Where would the 1/8" gap be?

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

The difference is the external diameter of the bush, a hard one to spot if installed as the outwardly they are identical.

Another recent problem was the oil gallery behind the pressure relief valve totally blocked with gunge.

Only worth considering the above if you are certain the pressure relief ball is seated correctly and pump vanes installed corrrectly.

Thanks, Ruairidh.

I should be OK on the rear camshaft bearing. That came out of a '34 engine (with some difficulty) and was a nice snug fit going into the current crankcase.

The crankcase had been pretty thoroughly cleaned and all of the oil passages appeared to be clear.

As soon as customers permit, I'll take a look at the relief valve. Hopefully, that'll be where the problem lies. I certainly hope so, as the sump is now well sealed to the crankcase and completely leak free. I really don't want to have to take it off again!

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

The gauge is ok?

I have never had an air bubble in the pipe to the gauge but I suppose it could happen....

Simon

Location: On a hill in Wiltshire

Thanks, Simon. The gauge is an unknown. I'd primed the gallery and the gauge pipe with oil before starting the engine to minimise the risk of air locks. Because I wasn't getting a reading, I disconnected the pipe at the engine, and almost nothing came out, so it definitely looks like a lack of circulation.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

We have oil pressure!

I checked the relief valve, but no joy there.

Off with the sump and the oil pump base and was greeted with the sight of a lovely pair of chamfered vanes. Bugger. Turned them round, put the whole lot together and immediately clocked at least 10psi.

What an idiot.

The interruption that led to this cock-up was a scam phone call from some overseas crook improbably calling himself "William". I am happy to say that I was quite spectacularly rude to him.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E" not a "T".

Well done Martin, I suppose it warrants a trip to the pub for a well earned pint.