1958 Austin A35 - the family heirloom...

[smn159]

bigothunter said:

smn159 said:

I put a 3.9 diff into the A35 van that I had and it went very well. As above, the original was woefully under geared

Which engine did you have?

948 I think - was 20 years ago though! Used it as a daily and it was a brilliant thing

[bigothunter]

smn159 said:

bigothunter said:

smn159 said:

I put a 3.9 diff into the A35 van that I had and it went very well. As above, the original was woefully under geared

Which engine did you have?

948 I think - was 20 years ago though! Used it as a daily and it was a brilliant thing

Tad overgeared at a small expense in performance. But a great cruiser.

[Ambleton]

Happy to be corrected but I think most vans had the 55bhp 1098 engine rather than the 34bhp 948....

[smn159]

bigothunter said:

smn159 said:

bigothunter said:

smn159 said:

I put a 3.9 diff into the A35 van that I had and it went very well. As above, the original was woefully under geared

Which engine did you have?

948 I think - was 20 years ago though! Used it as a daily and it was a brilliant thing

Tad overgeared at a small expense in performance. But a great cruiser.

Yes, I remember being concerned before fitting that it would be too much, but it felt absolutely right when I drove it. Used to drive it from West London down to Southampton fairly regularly with no issues at all - must have been nuts!

[smn159]

Ambleton said:

Happy to be corrected but I think most vans had the 55bhp 1098 engine rather than the 34bhp 948....

You may well be right and it had the 1098 - it was a Countryman converted from a van

Explains why it went so well with the 3.9 too

[bigothunter]

smn159 said:

Ambleton said:

Happy to be corrected but I think most vans had the 55bhp 1098 engine rather than the 34bhp 948....

You may well be right and it had the 1098 - it was a Countryman converted from a van

Explains why it went so well with the 3.9 too

Had to resort to wiki for this data

Vans & Countrymans
Van & Countryman, AV5 & AP5: 138,356
Van AV6: 13,222
Countryman AP6: 74
Van AV8 (1098cc): 45,685
Van AV8 (848cc): 14,230

Engines
1956–62 - 948 cc A-Series I4, 34 hp (25 kW) at 4,750 rpm and 50 lb·ft (68 Nm) at 2,000 rpm
1962–66 - 1,098 cc A-Series I4, 55 hp (41 kW) at 5,500 rpm and 61 lb·ft (83 Nm) at 2,500 rpm (van)
1963–68 - 848 cc A-Series I4, 34 hp (25 kW) at 5500rpm and 44 lb·ft (60 N·m) at 2,900rpm (van)

So most A35 vans had 948 engines. 1098 engine was fitted to vans only from 1962 to 1966. The 848 engine derived from transverse Mini unit is intriguing. Has some power output as earlier 948 engine.

3.9 diff behind a 1098 engine would be ideal

[Ambleton]

10 days and counting...

Another evening in the garage, another update

First job was to hoik the engine outta the way. With the back of the gearbox supported on the axle stand I wrapped a towstrap around the front and hooped it over my shoulders.

Whilst lifting with my legs my wife (who I dragged kicking and screaming into the garage for 5mins) moved the jack out of the way and replaced it with a little dolly I made a few years back out of some 25mm MDF and some castor's. It's come in really handy, from moving a washing machine, garden planters, now an engine. I could then wheel it off out of the way. Even for a small engine and box I could barely lift it, and one end was supported on the axle stand. (And it's missing the head and dynamo). It's certainly no 30kg aluminium Vtwin that's for sure!



I then started to clean up some of the many years of crus and gunk and oil. Engine bay is actually pretty rust free. Leaky engines/boxes seem to have done a good job of preserving the metal.

I've got some pretty serious degreaser on the go too and seems to be doing a good job. Really I need to wheel it outside and jet the jetwash on it at some point.







I got fed up of firing crud everywhere and made my way to the inside.

Seats out, carpet out, clutch and brake pedal out, seat brackets off, A pillar trim and centre mirror out, LH door card off and managed to get the dash about half out before my wife called me on for a shower and bed time

The floor represents a bit of a patchwork quilt...






The door glazing rail and bottom clip is on a bit of a way
The bottom of the door inner is also very holey but forgot to take a pic, will get one tomorrow.







Imagine doing this work to a modern car! I'd still be removing plastic trim clips from the arch liners and floor covers now!

[bigothunter]

Ambleton said:

Even for a small engine and box I could barely lift it, and one end was supported on the axle stand. (And it's missing the head and dynamo). It's certainly no 30kg aluminium Vtwin that's for sure!

Boat anchor

[Ambleton]

bigothunter said:

Boat anchor

You're not wrong! Very big and heavy for only 34bhp!

If I can get the rest of the interior and dash/wiring out today, I have a few more mechanical bits to get off (rear anti roll bar being one), then I can wheel the car out into the daylight and attack it with the jet washer.

[rovermorris999]

bigothunter said:

Boat anchor

Coincidentally I have just read a book about the author Arthur Ransome where he described regularly using engine blocks as anchors for mooring buoys, common practice in the past and presumably the source of the phrase?

[Chunkychucky]

bigothunter said:

smn159 said:

Ambleton said:

Happy to be corrected but I think most vans had the 55bhp 1098 engine rather than the 34bhp 948....

You may well be right and it had the 1098 - it was a Countryman converted from a van

Explains why it went so well with the 3.9 too

3.9 diff behind a 1098 1380 engine would be ideal

FTFY

Great to see more updates OP, a good amount of knowledge being pooled here in the thread - no mean feat given the car is a way off even running and being driven yet! Brings back good memories seeing the bodywork being restored, my father and I had to go at mine with a bolster chisel, lump hammer and angle grinder (angle grinders tbf, I think 2 died through the process) - clumps of filler everywhere

[Ambleton]

Chunkychucky said:

FTFY

Great to see more updates OP, a good amount of knowledge being pooled here in the thread - no mean feat given the car is a way off even running and being driven yet! Brings back good memories seeing the bodywork being restored, my father and I had to go at mine with a bolster chisel, lump hammer and angle grinder (angle grinders tbf, I think 2 died through the process) - clumps of filler everywhere

Just arranging for my welder friend to come over to have a look before I start ordering repair panels!

I'd REALLY like to get her running by next summer if I can. Maybe not "finished", but running.

[CKY]

At least one thing you won't have to worry about is test driving the car 'round the block' once you have it running - tax and MOT exemption can be handy sometimes!

[Ambleton]

CKY said:

At least one thing you won't have to worry about is test driving the car 'round the block' once you have it running - tax and MOT exemption can be handy sometimes!

Damn right - will allow a much more painless shakedown and test period! That's the biggest killer with building a kit/special. Unless you have a big bit of private land available or are pretty naughty there's not a lot you can do!

[Ambleton]

I was having a rummage around some photos the other day and found this one of my wife in front of the car - probably from about 1996 (at around 7years old)



And here's another in the same location (village hall playing field) in 2016 @ our wedding



Also found this behind the dashboard last night...

Edited by Ambleton on Thursday 24th August 12:33

[Jhonno]

Love this thread, looking forward to the progress and lots of welding shots!

[TheDoggingFather]

Great project, my brother had a black '59 A35 as his first car, which ended up with a tuned 1098 with a 997 Cooper Cam and 998 Cooper head, which went quite well, and he had an A30 which was modified too, I can't remember the details of that. Many moons before I was born my dad had an A35 too.

I slipped past baby ownership into the clutches of Minis, and can concur, that something close to an MG Metro spec engine, decent head, cam and HIF 44 carb, does go rather well, going further is limited gains for ever-increasing costs. I know when my brother modded his, the stumbling block was limited exhaust options, but I believe Maniflow offers stuff off the shelf thanks to Goodwood and the like.

bigothunter said:

The 848 engine derived from transverse Mini unit is intriguing.

I believe the 848 was specifically added at the request of the RAC. I can only assume they didn't want their drivers going crazy with the dizzying power of the 1098

[Mr Tidy]

Ambleton said:

I was having a rummage around some photos the other day and found this one of my wife in front of the car - probably from about 1996 (at around 7years old)

What a great thread - I love those photos.

[Huff]

Mr Tidy said:

What a great thread - I love those photos.

Exactly this - v much looking forward to how this rebuild plays-out. Esp becos I admire the OP's builds so far, so much

Such personal, history, family of Readers' cars' restorations I find /very/ much more interesting than, well, everything else. 30-mumble hp in a car loved forever by three+ generations, hoping to preserve it for maybe a fourth? YES.
& the parallel, long-running Member in Good Standing thread about a pre-war Morris 8 - amongst others - moves me likewise. Deep joy.



'I have only £150K to spend - >600hp: grey, grey & grey or black over black over black..? NO!! That's a fashion problem; - not a pistonhead problem.

[Ambleton]

Ah you're all too kind, I'm just trying to do my bit. Not exactly to preserve, but to ensure that essentially a member of the family doesn't get left behind to rot unloved. It's been really sad watching the little A return to the earth ever since I've known my OH (met in 2011)

Part of me feels bad that I didn't/couldn't take it on sooner than I have, but hopefully I'm making up for that now and she'll come good in the end <3

I'll post some photos up tomorrow of all the books/documentation I have too and highlight a few crackers.

In the meantime I'm writing up this evening's progress so watch this space!