Austin Ten Drivers Club

Hello all I'm new here and have a problem.

My everyday daily car and absolute love Austin Ten Cambridge has broken down.

On the way to the petrol station last night I lost about 60% to 70% of my power.

And she was running lumpy

I was luckily pretty close to home so managed to limp home in second gear.

I'll need to cycle to work till the weekend it would seem. Hopefully I can sort this out without to much trouble... As I do rely on this car to get around it is my daily.

I'm hoping nothing has gone majorly wrong as she has been running marvellously everyday and was running well on the way to work and home From work today.

It would appear I do not have all the compressions 2 I think.

It is very easy to turn over with the fan blades (not much resistance except in one or 2 spots)

So I suspect the gasket has blown between 2 cylinders.

I'm not getting any bubbling in the radiator or sign of water in the oil.

Also my Cambridge is from March 1938 with the old flyaway handbrake the head is magnetic thus cast iron rather than aluminium.

I'm guessing I need the older round water hole head gasket rather than the oval water hole one?

Also do you know anyone who is selling the old asbestos head gaskets?

Best regards

Delia

Delia
You will need the later oval-hole gasket: 1G618 item 002 in the Club Spares. Many of these cars (including mine) have been fitted with a post-war iron head. The water holes line up with those in the block of the 38/39 model. A good feature of these cylinder heads is that they have a stick-y-out bit at each corner to assist with removing them. Likely you will find the gasket has blown between Nos 1 & 2 or 3 & 4 cylinders.

It is now illegal to sell or use asbestos head gaskets. The Club and other suppliers have to use some other material instead. Despite what some claim I do not think the modern ones are inherently less reliable than the asbestos filled ones were.

There is a Club Technical Sheet No 15 Cylinder Heads which covers removal and fitting head gaskets that you can download from the members area of the website under Technical Documents.

Hi,
Peter is 100% right. However, I do have very good second hand original Payen gaskets from engines I dismantled in the past which are surplus to my needs. If you are interested, please message me on this site Phil_Taylor with your address and I will post one or two to you free of charge. These are the 38-47 oval holed ones ref 197. (No offence if you want to pay for Club new ones.)
I had a few gaskets go after engine rebuilding until a fellow member told me in the 70s to re-tighten the head nuts regularly over the first 500 miles.
If you are going to the National, I could take one with me?
Cheers
Phil

Hi there!

Turns out my Cambridge dose indeed have the older round water whole engine with the low compression head.

Was speaking to the previous owner about it.

She has blown a head gasket on him before.

She is an early 38 car so it was likely.


Phil that is a very kind offer! Though do you have any of the old round hole ones?

Best regards.

Delia

Hi, Sorry, no round hole ones. Just off to National rally
Cheers
Phil