# 1/3 Scale Austin Seven Engine



## Rob.Barrett (Dec 5, 2012)

Hi All,

Progress so far on the cylinder head. It's made from two bits (to give a water jacket) which are dowelled together with 18 dowels.

Rob


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## MuellerNick (Dec 5, 2012)

That looks very promising!


Nick


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## Jasonb (Dec 5, 2012)

Thats a nice start to a project, is the head cast or carved from solid?

I'll be following this one haveing rebuilt a 1928 Swallow with my brother a few years back from a pile of bits.

J


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## compspecial (Dec 5, 2012)

Looks like a beautiful casting, Rob hard to believe they got away with two main bearings though, must've been a very springy crankshaft!
Stew


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## MuellerNick (Dec 5, 2012)

> Looks like a beautiful casting,



My bet is: This ain't a casting.
I see some hints that it is milled. And doweling it together out of two parts is just an other hint.


Nick


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## sunworksco (Dec 5, 2012)

Very nice project !


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## Rob.Barrett (Dec 5, 2012)

That's right Nick, it's made of two bit of machined plate, a lot of dowels and some fancy glue.


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## idahoan (Dec 5, 2012)

That's a nice piece of work; I will be looking forward to more updates on this project.

Dave


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## sunworksco (Dec 5, 2012)

Can something like this be hard silver soldered ?


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## Jasonb (Dec 6, 2012)

Not when its been made out of alluminium like that one.

I can be done with silver solder if made from cast iron, Mike Sayers well known Bently engine is has the block soldered from 11 parts. Its a bit more involved than usual silver soldering needing preheat, driving off the carbon and the right flux.


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## sunworksco (Dec 6, 2012)

What if it was machined from 304L stainless steel ?


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## Jasonb (Dec 6, 2012)

Yes with the right flux to remove the oxide of chromium though hacking it out of CI will be a lot easier going than stainless.

J


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## pgp001 (Dec 6, 2012)

I will be watching this build with great interest, I have an Austin 7 myself and know all about building and modifying full size engines.
I have often thought a model of my own car would be an interesting project some day, but thinking about it is as far as I have got.

My car



Phil


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## kuhncw (Dec 7, 2012)

That is a very nice piece of machine work.  Do you have any photos of the two parts before they were joined, that you would post?

Regards,

Chuck







Rob.Barrett said:


> That's right Nick, it's made of two bit of machined plate, a lot of dowels and some fancy glue.


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## Niceonetidy (Dec 7, 2012)

very nice indeed


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## Rob.Barrett (Jan 16, 2013)

Thanks for the comments.
Here's the water outlet manifold.


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## moanaman (Jan 16, 2013)

compspecial said:


> Looks like a beautiful casting, Rob hard to believe they got away with two main bearings though, must've been a very springy crankshaft!
> Stew


The 2 bearing motor was used a lot for racing in the 750cc class.  Reason for this is that crank  ran in roller bearings.  Yes they snapped very easily.  You can purchase a crank now that has been machined from a billet.  Expensive but seems to last a lot longer. 

About 1930 Austin changed the crankshaft to a 3 bearing white metal but these were not favoured by the race crowd  as it has more friction than the 2 bearing roller crank.

Rob you have done a great job on the head.  Next step is to make a twin OHC version.  (just kidding)]


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## Rob.Barrett (Feb 5, 2013)

Progress so far on the cylinder block. It's machined from a solid block of 2014 T6 with wet cast iron liners. There are a lot of plugged cross drillings for the additional water ways.

Regards,
Rob


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## Maxine (Feb 5, 2013)

Absolutely beautiful work.  Very inspiring to look at.  Thanks for posting!


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## aonemarine (Feb 5, 2013)

That's awsome!!  I assume your using cnc??


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## metalmad (Feb 6, 2013)

Top Stuff Rob!
Pete


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## RManley (Feb 6, 2013)

Amazing work.  This is going to be a really nice looking engine when its finished, shame most of the detail will be hidden away inside.
I just hope that you have a 1/3 scale austin racer planned to put in into...

Rob.


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## stevehuckss396 (Feb 6, 2013)

Hard to judge the size of the part. Next time you take photos can you get a shot of it in your hand or next to a soda can?  Everything looks great so far!


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## pgp001 (Feb 6, 2013)

moanaman said:


> The 2 bearing motor was used a lot for racing in the 750cc class.  Reason for this is that crank  ran in roller bearings.  Yes they snapped very easily.  You can purchase a crank now that has been machined from a billet.  Expensive but seems to last a lot longer.
> 
> About 1930 Austin changed the crankshaft to a 3 bearing white metal but these were not favoured by the race crowd  as it has more friction than the 2 bearing roller crank.
> 
> Rob you have done a great job on the head.  Next step is to make a twin OHC version.  (just kidding)]



The three bearing crank came a bit later than you suggest, mid 30's.

It was not the friction that caused a problem, but the fact that to squeeze the centre bearing in, the designers had to pinch metal from other areas to make space.
The centre bearing was a split shell type, once these start to wear and the crank flexes, then they are even weaker than the two bearing type and breakages were common.
I have a modern two bearing Phoenix crank in mine. it weighs 1½ times what the original Austin one does due to beefed up webs.

Phil

PS Fantastic work on the model engine by the way.


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## Rob.Barrett (Feb 7, 2013)

Here it is with the head on and a pencil for scale.

Rob


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## Swisswack (Feb 7, 2013)

This is art!!!!


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## stevehuckss396 (Feb 7, 2013)

Damn that's cool!


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## canadianhorsepower (Feb 7, 2013)

Wow thats some nice work. at this size and beside a pencil
are you building a gas powered pencil charpenerRof}


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## dreeves (Feb 7, 2013)

All I can say is wow 

Dave


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## capin (Feb 7, 2013)

Unbelieveable !!!  Truly a class act. Brian


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## ozzie46 (Feb 7, 2013)

Truly beautiful work!!!th_confused0052th_confused0052


  Ron


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## Art K (Feb 7, 2013)

Hey Rob,
This engine is wonderful, I even sent the link to my boss who is into British cars and has a 32 or 36 MG don't remember what year.
Art


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## agmachado (Feb 7, 2013)

Very nice job!!!

Cheers,

Alexandre


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## e.picler (Feb 8, 2013)

Hello Rob.
I have no words to express my admiration for this work, you are really an artist.
I`m inpressed with the details (date codes PN and son on) I wish to have at least a small percent of yor metal work machining skills.
Just for curiosity. Are you using any CNC help? Did you produced any drawing of this project.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

Edi


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## vcutajar (Feb 8, 2013)

Rob

Words fail me.  Inspiring.

Vince


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## Chummy (Feb 17, 2013)

It was suggested you make the Twin Cam engine next - someone's beaten you to it here in England, the complete car, and it makes a fantastic noise when running!!!


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## Art K (Feb 18, 2013)

Rob,

My bosses car is a 31, direct competitor of the Austin 7.

Art


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## Rob.Barrett (Apr 24, 2013)

Just completed the valve gear.


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## Woodster (Apr 24, 2013)

Awesome!!!  
That's all there is to say.


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## pgp001 (Apr 24, 2013)

Smashing job there Rob.

Will you be including the 1/3 scale oil leak between the block and crankcase as per most full size engines ?;D

Phil


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## stevehuckss396 (Apr 24, 2013)

Simply awesome work!!


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## Rob.Barrett (Jun 4, 2013)

Hi,

Some pictures of the water inlet manifold and valve chest cover.

Rob


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## Rivergypsy (Jun 4, 2013)

Just to check, you're not the R.Barret that worked at the Cav Labs in the mid 90's are you?


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## Rob.Barrett (Jun 4, 2013)

No, that's not me.


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## ShedBoy (Jun 4, 2013)

Amazing detail on such a tiny engine.

Brock


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## Septic (Jun 4, 2013)

The Seven is without doubt one of the true heroes of British motoring and its great to see it depicted so beautifully.


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## idahoan (Jun 4, 2013)

Wow it just keeps getting better!

Thanks for the update.

Dave


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## metalmad (Jun 5, 2013)

Just Lovely, A real work of Art!
Pete


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## sunworksco (Jun 6, 2013)

It will be great to hear it run.


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## Rob.Barrett (Sep 1, 2013)

Exhaust / inlet manifold machined from a single solid - with a bit of weld.

Rob.


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## stevehuckss396 (Sep 1, 2013)

Masterpiece!


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## idahoan (Sep 1, 2013)

Beautiful!

It sure would be nice to see some of the steps you went through to create this little masterpiece??

Dave


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## Davewild (Sep 1, 2013)

Absolutely beautiful, love it.

Dave


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## Gurus (Sep 13, 2013)

I'll be watching your progress.
That's a wonderful engine,i like


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## MrTin (Sep 15, 2013)

Beautiful work on a very familiar engine to me. I grew up with Austin 7s. My father built 3 Specials. I was nearly born in the last one, my Uncle built one with my childish help and now I have one myself, albeit with a Sunbeam 928cc engine as I can't now afford the silly prices asked for A7 engine stuff!

May I ask if you used CAD/CNC methods and how on Earth you got the casting codes into the model?

MrTin


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## Rob.Barrett (Sep 15, 2013)

Many thanks for the comments.
Yes MrTim, I do have a small CNC Mill and old Myford lathe.

I'm just preparing the model to show at the Midland Model Engineering Show here in the UK. I've gone for a sort of exploded view with some of the components held by very long studs so you can see the inner workings.

Regards,
Rob


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## ShopShoe (Sep 16, 2013)

Rob,

It's so interesting to see a different approach to display. And such detail paid to the interior of your engine as well. I can envision a large group of viewers around your table at the show.

Best of luck.

--ShopShoe


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## johnny1320 (Sep 16, 2013)

Beautiful work, can't wait to see it finished!


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## jwcnc1911 (Sep 16, 2013)

It looks like some one polished an original and stuck it in a scifi movie shrinking machine.  This is the most accurate scale model I think I've ever seen!

Are you planning on selling your drawings, or castings or anything?


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## Niceonetidy (Sep 24, 2013)

Rob,

I'm going to the midlands exhibition, I'm looking forward to viewing your fine work,

Cheers,

Colin


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## ShedBoy (Sep 24, 2013)

Beautiful engine and I really like the display.

Brock


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## Rob.Barrett (May 1, 2014)

Hi All,

 It's been a while since my last post. Here are some pictures of the distributor. I finished it (apart from cutting the gear) the other day and to my amazement it actually works!

 Regards,
 Rob


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## Niceonetidy (May 1, 2014)

Absolutely wonderful
,


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## stevehuckss396 (May 1, 2014)

Great job!


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## Rob.Barrett (Apr 18, 2015)

It's taken a while but here's the camshaft. It's made in bits as the two I made as solids either bent when heat treated or broke when I tried to straighten it after it bent during heat treatment.

Rob


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## gbritnell (Apr 18, 2015)

Fantastic work on your engine! The detail is incredible. I would like to know how you cut your helical gears. 
gbritnell


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## Brian40 (Apr 18, 2015)

Hi Rob 
 Regarding the front camshaft bearing ,It has a vertical hole drilled right through the bearing the lower hole is fed from the oil pump and the top hole takes the locating screw for the bearing. this causes a oil leak that is often blamed on the cylinder joint because the oil runs around the edge of the joint an runs down the rear of the engine . 
 if you drill the holes separately. and don't drill the top one all the way through so the square headed screw that locates it has not oil pressure under it you will have a good chance of getting an oil tight engine. also take care with the fit of the bearing in the case as oil travels' around the outside of bearing to leak out of the locating screw.

Brian.


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## 110samec (Apr 18, 2015)

Absolutely beautiful work!


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## James6605 (Apr 19, 2015)

Your work is an inspiration mate. Beautiful.


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## Rob.Barrett (Apr 19, 2015)

Hi gbritnell. I cheated on the gear and bought a gear blank from HPC Gears here in the UK and then machined the center to look like it does.

Thanks for the advice Brian, great idea, I'll do just that when I drill / mill the location hole.

Rob


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## Rob.Barrett (May 27, 2016)

Here are some pictures of the flywheel and clutch and the crankcase.

Kind regards,
Rob


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## stevehuckss396 (May 27, 2016)

Beautiful  work !

Everything looks great..


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## idahoan (May 27, 2016)

Still an amazing project and workmanship!

Thanks for the update.

Dave


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## RManley (May 31, 2016)

Stunning gold medal work.  Can't wait to see more of it - but don't rush it


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## Rob.Barrett (Jul 6, 2018)

Been too busy to post anything recently. I've been putting off doing the crankshaft by doing other bits. Here are some pictures.


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## ShopShoe (Jul 6, 2018)

This whole project is absolutely beautiful. IE: Saw the distributor, noticed the LUCAS nameplate, saw it was engraved or stamped like an original. The level of detail on the whole build is incredible.

Rob.Barrett, you must have a superhuman (or supernatural?) level of patience and an attention span that is off the scale.

Thank You for sharing this project with us.

--ShopShoe


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## bouch (Jul 6, 2018)

Just found this thread.  Simply stunning work.


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## Cymro77 (Jul 6, 2018)

Rob.Barrett said:


> Here it is with the head on and a pencil for scale.
> 
> Rob
> 
> ...


Wow!! absolutely incredible!  Will be following along,  'twill befascinating to see how  you achieve  electronics and carburation.  Are you using CNC?


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## bobden72 (Jul 6, 2018)

Rob.Barrett said:


> Hi All,
> Great work keep it up.
> 
> 
> ...


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## JC54 (Jul 6, 2018)

How do you class this scale of expertise? Leonardo, Rembrandt, Isaac Newton, Einstein, Henry Ford,,, Eat your hearts out. Absolutely Brilliant.


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## karolh (Jul 7, 2018)

Wow, viewing these posts and pictures of your work have left me dumbstruck. Absolutely outstanding work...a real touch of  genius here.


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## nj111 (Jul 21, 2018)

Your whittle v8 was stunning and this is another level way beyond that! Please do keep the updates coming !


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## Jamie Barton (Jul 21, 2018)

Amazing level of detail. I think there is more work and complexity in your distributor alone than I've ever put into an entire engine. That is a masterpiece in the making.


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## Lotus-14 (Jul 21, 2018)

Wonderful and beautiful work!
I have the prototype 1950(?) Rochdale Bodied Austin 7 that won its class at Silverstone back in the day. I've thought about making a 1/12 model of it. I don't intend that the engine run, but your work has given me incentive.
Regards,
Tim


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