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aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
As many of you know, the Austin A-30 was really the first car to have the "new" A-series engine that BMC and British Leyland built for almost 50 years.
The first A-series engines were of 803 cc size and have a bore and stroke to mimic the bigger 1200 cc engine in the A-40 Austin (this 1200 cc engine was the early version of the B-series engine that would eventually end up in the MGB and many other English cars).
There is a delightful story on the Austin A30-A35 Owners Site about testing these A-series engines on the Continent in two protype Austin A30s
You can find much of it (and lots of other neat bits of Brit-car history) ~HERE~ :
(click on Prototype Testing)
Below is an edited excerpt from the link above:
<span style="font-style: italic">"Throughout the road tests on the Continent, the oil consumption on Austin A30 prototype #LOP855 was excessive at 1200mpg. There was a leakage from the front sump cork and from the region of the tappet cover but the amount of smoke emitted from the exhaust suggested that the bulk of the oil was consumed in the engine. Inspection of the engine later showed that the oil control rings and their grooves had worn more than expected and that the gaps in the oil control rings were rather excessive as were the piston skirt clearances.
Timing chain rattle was found to be excessive on #LOP854 and quite bad on #LOP855. Final inspection showed a massive slackness in the mains but the noises ceased to be due to misalignment of the camshaft sprocket and crankshaft sprocket, causing side contact of the chain on the teeth of the sprockets."</span>
The first A-series engines were of 803 cc size and have a bore and stroke to mimic the bigger 1200 cc engine in the A-40 Austin (this 1200 cc engine was the early version of the B-series engine that would eventually end up in the MGB and many other English cars).
There is a delightful story on the Austin A30-A35 Owners Site about testing these A-series engines on the Continent in two protype Austin A30s
You can find much of it (and lots of other neat bits of Brit-car history) ~HERE~ :
(click on Prototype Testing)
Below is an edited excerpt from the link above:
<span style="font-style: italic">"Throughout the road tests on the Continent, the oil consumption on Austin A30 prototype #LOP855 was excessive at 1200mpg. There was a leakage from the front sump cork and from the region of the tappet cover but the amount of smoke emitted from the exhaust suggested that the bulk of the oil was consumed in the engine. Inspection of the engine later showed that the oil control rings and their grooves had worn more than expected and that the gaps in the oil control rings were rather excessive as were the piston skirt clearances.
Timing chain rattle was found to be excessive on #LOP854 and quite bad on #LOP855. Final inspection showed a massive slackness in the mains but the noises ceased to be due to misalignment of the camshaft sprocket and crankshaft sprocket, causing side contact of the chain on the teeth of the sprockets."</span>