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1955 Austin A30

by Rob McCall

Some Assembly Required...

Well, long time no…… bore I suppose! Since my last update, I have really progressed in the engine department. No more will we be just ambling along with the original 803cc ‘A’ series engine, but we now have a full 948cc engine!!!

The original engine was sound. But the plan was not to use it all along, but in fact to go with a larger 1098cc engine that was pulled from a donor A40 (previously diced!). But this was not to be, not only would we need a new gearbox, but we would have to alter the tunnel and cut into the new floor that had only been welded in that same day. We needed to rethink...

But help was at hand, in the form of fellow Baby Austin owner Dave. Now, Dave is a very ‘relaxed’ guy, to put it short. He laughed in the face of the advice we had been given that the 1098cc engine would tear apart our 803cc box, and not to mention a 948cc box from an A35, if we could get hold of one. And so he agreed to do a straight swap. His 948cc engine from his A35, for our 1098cc engine from our scrapped A40.

The engine swap went reasonably well, we started at about 8.30, and had swapped then by 4.00. With only a few minor mishaps, such as Dave not being able to keep his original metal oil filler cap, but all relatively minor things, on the scale of what was about to happen… We had got the engine suspended in the air (and for anyone that knows about these cars, that’s not the best way to do it!) and my Dad asked Dave for the new engine mounts. When the boot opened, it suddenly went very quiet. Dave had forgotten the engine mounts. But no worries, Dave, being the relaxed person he is, decided not to bother, and was willing to risk driving back to Didsbury on some engine mounts that should have been in a packet reading: "Some Assembly Required!"

But anyway, we had our engine, and he sort of had his. So we took it to pieces only to be greeted with very little wear in most places and minimal anywhere else. We had nothing done to the crank, we however decided to have the block re-bored out to +60 thou of the original diameter which was accompanied by a old-new stock set of +60 pistons. With the help of my Dad, these were weighed, and ground so that they were all to .001 of a gram of each other (along with the con-rods) for that much smoother running.

The Block was now complete, onto the head. This proved to be a saga on its own. We eventually decided to go with a 1275cc head, which has bigger valves for better flow. I then de-burred all of the ports, ready for it to be bolted on. But we had overlooked something, in putting on this new, larger head, and also a Piper Magnum 255HR cam, this made the valves, well, hit the block. So, we had to cut into the block, a recess if you like, that the valves would go into, in the end a 90 thou deep valve shaped hole was cut into the edge of each cylinder.

So that’s it. That’s where we are to date. We have done a bit more on the bodywork, actually having started the filling, sanding and skimming, and we have picked up many more various parts from around the country, literally!!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Dave, without him, I would still be engineless!

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