What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Greig Smith]

Rekkers take heart that if it was that easy for you to shear off the stud, the same could have happened when pulling hard up one of your Col's and then you could have started to lift the block with potential for snapping more studs and leaving you + 1 RP and a very unimpressed Mrs Rekkers (Can't call her Mrs Rat now can I), at the side of the road for a lengthy period.

Far better that stuff like this happens at home where you can deal with things in a familiar environment.

I agree 100% with Alan, I'd change all the studs as a preventative measure

Aye
Greig

[Reckless Rat]

I think you're right. A new set of studs all round and a teflon gasket I reckon.

[Greig Smith]

Absolutely, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure

In theory if the RP was running well, you should be able to leave the crankcase in place, pop the head & the sump, pull the pistons (marking the big end caps clearly), pull the block, change the studs and replace the block without disturbing the valve adjustment.... of course a light valve grind while the block is on the bench isn't such a bad plan.

I did the the same to the engine in a friend's Ulsteroid a month or so back, very quick & easy to do and you don't have to pull the radiator or deal with the blind spline (Herbert's revenge)

We had it apart, honed the block & had it back together again the next day, welding the exhaust manifold & rebuilding the carb, genny, steering arm, brake pedal etc took a few more days.

I'd be more than happy to oblige, shall I send you my address for the air ticket ?? 

Aye
Greig

[Ian Williams]

As you said Greig an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure, if Reckers is to take the engine out then IMO now is the time to give it a birthday. I may be wrong here but it seems Mr Rat covers a fair mileage so one would expect the engine would benefit from a full freshen up.

[Chris KC]

At times like that Reckless do you curse in French, in English, or perhaps bring the might of both to bear? I sympathise.

As Greig said, if stuff like that is going to happen it's better that it happens in your garage. Deep down you know what to do...

[JonE]

Trying to deconstruct a 3 bearing engine and gearbox. All very good training. Found a 1" section of piston ring in the oil so far....
Two glitches so far. (1) do I use wooden wedges for getting gearbox off? And (2) how does one get the filler tube off to get to the block nut behind it? Was going to bring a propane torch back today...

[Bob Culver]

Working single handed with the radiator and crankcase in place need very young eyes and back.

[Steve kay]

Grasp oil filler tube firmly in the palm of the hand. Revolve anti clockwise. Lift detached filler tube and place on bench.

[Mark McKibbin]

Hedd, How can you repair a turbo (Charger?)with a soldering iron.

---

Another day slowly fitting indicators to my Ulster Rep. In the old days I’d have done it in a day...nowadays I keep getting diverted!

I was going to keep it original and just use hand signals but with the standard of driving round here being what it is, most people would just assume I’m waving at them ?

Worse still I was out the other day and put my hand out for a right hand turn and was promptly overtaken luckily before I turned, hand signals are probably not in the driving test anymore. Indicators are essential, there are people driving that were born this century.

[Chris KC]

Re oil filler tube if it's putting up a fight turn on the 'shaft' not the top or you might separate the two. Wrap a bit of leather (e g. old glove) around it and grip on that with mole grips. Yes a bit of gentle heat on the ally may help.