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Whilst BMIHT have many records, they don’t have a complete set – some have been lost over the years. There’s no great mystery to that.
You might find a serviceable flywheel and crank by asking Graham Potts, the Club’s recommended supplier of used spares. He has a lot of used Somerset parts.
It might also be worth advertising on the ‘Sales & Wanted’ page on the site – it gets more visitors than the forums.
I’m not aware of any such article on the forums – there is an article in our technical articles about putting a 1,622cc ‘B’ Series engine in an A40 – but not one about disc brakes.
I really wouldn’t consider using E10 fuel in our old cars. It can be damaging to your carburettor and other parts. E5 is a better fuel – higher octane (and more expensive!) but it is effectively the ‘old’ unleaded, with lower amounts of Ethanol.
Hello,
The club no longer supplies new parts, following the death of our longstanding spares secretary Ray Dawes in 2021.
We do recommend https://www.longbridgemotorspares.co.uk/ as our preferred supplier of new spares. The owner, Dave Kingerley is a longstanding club member and will be able to advise whether or not the ball joint rubbers are available as a separate part.
Hello, you can obtain many service parts from Dave Kingerley at Longbridge Motor Spares, and for used parts you could contact Graham Potts. Neither are in the South West of England, but both can arrange delivery. See the ‘Spares‘ page for further details.
If there are specific parts you need, you can advertise on our ‘Sales and Wanted‘ page, or if you contact the magazine editor we can put a ‘wanted’ advert in the next available issue of ‘County Counsel’ – there’s no charge for doing so.
Hello Bruce,
There’s an article by the late Ray Dawes in CC186 that might be of help to you – I’m not sure to be honest. I’ll email you a copy shortly.
Hello John,
The steering on these cars is inevitable heavy – you shouldn’t really expect to be turning the steering wheel unless you are in motion. I sympathise as I have an Austin Sixteen, which has even heavier steering. It also, like yours, has radials – which although a) cheaper than crossplies and b) afford much better road holding, make the steering at parking speeds even heavier.
I keep mine at 35 PSI all round, which helps somewhat.
There is also a needle roller bearing kit that I believe you can fit to A70s (but not sadly to Sixteens), which I’m told makes a big difference, and such kits have certainly been fitted to A40 Somersets and A90 Atlantics in the past. It’s worth talking to Longbridge Motor Spares to see if they do the kits, or failing that, try AH Spares who do them for Austin Healeys (no doubt at a price!).
There are also kits to add electrically-assisted power steering to classic cars. Not cheap, and I wonder if the extra force being put though old steering parts would cause more wear – I have no reports, good or bad about these to rely on.
I’d consider taking the gap up to 25 thou. I believe this has been recommended for electronic ignition due to the more robust spark.
When you reassemble the pump you need to ensure that the diaphragm is under pressure from the spring as you fit it into place. If it’s not under pressure, the pump will suck but not blow.
It sounds like you may have not got the diaphragm under pressure in this case.
If yours have been without oil for some time (and they’re probably leaking), I’d be inclined to get a set of reconditioned ones – see our spares supplier Dave Kingerley – I believe he has them.
Up to you of course, but you’ll now have to replace the welch plug, since it keeps in the oil or grease that keeps the pin lubricated (and keeps out the dirt) – and the manual is clear that the pin should be pulled out, upwards, with a puller.
It’s typically the pins that wear, rather than the bronze bushes, even though the pins are made of harder material on the face of it. The reason is that the pins, if not kept lubricated, will rust and wear away, the rust being softer than the bronze bushes.
Good luck!
There’s a 2-part article on our ‘Tech. Articles’ page about how to fit an A60 engine into an A40 (although an A40 Somerset rather than a Devon).
Personally, I’d stick with the original engine if you can. If you change to a larger, more powerful and significantly heavier engine, as well as the difficulty of shoe-horning it in, you have to think about better brakes, better springs, and better shock absorbers.
You’d also need to tell any insurer about the change, and they too would be likely to ask about improvements to brakes etc. It’s worth remembering that ‘Counties’ cars didn’t have the later ‘B’ series engines – but we often come across visitors to shows etc. who think they did.
Pete
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