Web Forum for Singer Cars

Good day to all,
I'm now in the process of going through the engine of my 1952 4AD, the last great unknown adventure of my restoration. I have two engines that both have major problems, so the goal is to piece one together that will serve me well. I was simply wondering what avenues are available concerning parts? I do know that Bill Haverly in England and Kip Motors have some parts. Bill is in the process of recovering from an illness, and Kip seems to be a little pricey! I was just wondering what other sources are out there for things like pistons, rings, bearings, valves and whatever?
Thanks for the help!!!!!
Fred

Hi Fred .. have been buying rings, bearings, timing chains etc from Auto Surplus , Melbourne, Australia .. their web site is www.autosurplus.com.au , and email address is sales@autosurplus.com.au,.. I found a chap by the name of Reg very helpful and he went out of his way to source oversize bearings and rings for me ..
Good luck..
Stephen

I have been using Egge engine parts in California for years. They had stainless steel valves for my 1930 Indian in stock!

Dave

Be sure to magnaflux the crank on the 4AD engine as I have run across 3 of mine that have cracks around the #1 journel.

BRG

Thanks for all the great information guys, things are starting to come together and I'm now fairly sure all the pieces to the puzzle are out there.

I'll have hard seats put under the valves and at least one cylinder will have to be sleeved, from what I understand these shouldn't be a problem. It remains to be seen exactly what else I'll have to replace.

Thanks again, I need all the help I can get!
Fred

If you have to sleeve one cylinder, you may be better off sleeving all four. That way, you may keep from having to source oversize pistons and/or rings and having a mismatch for the next person to have to figure out. Just a thought....

Best of Luck,
Mark Thompson

Hi,

Australian Company JP Pistons seems to be fabricating pistons for a wide range of vintage and classic cars, including the 1500cc Singer engine on our 4AD's. They have also pistons for earlier Singer models.

Their website is http://www.jp.com.au/JPPistons.html and the 4AD piston part number is JP 0224

SM 1500, Roadster, 4AD, SMX
1949-53
JP 0224
1497cc/1506cc, OHC

Since they fabricate the pistons from scratch, I assume they are able to do various oversizes as well.

I do not have personal experience on the company or their pricing, but maybe someone else on this forum has.

Regards,
Pekka

Hey Mark,
I’ll be dropping off the disassembled engine to the machinist within the next few days. I mentioned this very thing to him, thinking the right thing would be to sleeve all four. Since I’ll probably have to buy a set of pistons anyway, his thought was to sleeve the one very corroded cylinder (had been full of water for a very long time), and either buy a standard or 1 over set of pistons whichever the other three cylinders would require, and machine the sleeve to match. Once he measures everything, we’ll have more information as to what the options are. I think he has a good reason for not doing more than necessary, probably block integrity. It’s a real shame that the one cylinder got corroded as bad as it did, the rest of the engine is in fairly good condition from what I can tell. It took some major work to get that piston out; fortunately I think that I got it out without damaging the block any further! The original engine that was in the car had a broken block at one time, it probably froze. Someone had cut out the broken section from the right side of the block and welded in a 6”x6” steel plug. I actually was able to run the engine when I purchased it 3 years ago. When it ran, I noticed water droplets mysteriously forming on the side of the block. After removing a quarter inch of gray epoxy, I uncovered the problem. Coolant was oozing through the weld, or cracks in the weld. Anyway, the pistons in this original engine might be salvageable, but unlikely. Since it’s down all the way, I want to make sure we do the right thing! No need to fudge it at this point!
Thanks for the input! If anyone has suggestions, please fire away!
Fred

Hey Pekka,
Per Stephen’s recommendations, I contacted Reg Dunn at Auto Surplus in Australia and he says: “We have the following oversizes available in Pistons & Rings for the 4AD . +020, +030, +040 & +060. as well as Standard Bore.” They quote the best price yet at A$520.00 per set plus shipping. Reg says that they have other engine parts also. They probably get them from JP Pistons.
Thanks,
Fred

Hey Guys,
Here are a few pictures of my issues! The original engine with the repaired block, and the spare engine that #3 cylinder looks more like something you would find in the Titanic engine room.

Fred,

Having recently rebuilt an engine for Frank Gump for his 4AD (which is in Germany now). I did get JP pistons and they were fine. check on you tube under Singer engine fire-up. My Rube Goldberg engine test stand is to die for!!!

On the sleeving I hope the machinist will use a lipped sleeve. IE so the sleeve will not slip down from the top of the cylinder! Nasty things tend to happen if this occurs.

NASOC does have the timing chains and limited sizes on the rod bearings. One tip for the mains is the MG crank is .001" bigger than the Singer and all the rest of the dimensions are the same. So the fall back to MG bearings of a certain engine could be used.

BRG

Hi Fred .. just goes to show how prices have risen since I did my 4AD motor in 2010, the conrod -30 and main bearings -30 cost me $335 au plus freight from Auto surplus, ( your freight would be a lot more than mine) and the pistons made from scratch by JP pistons were jp 1999 specials 4 off at $858 total .. all aussie dollars.
Good luck with the restoration, if you were not so far a way and freight so expensive, I would ship a good block to you, as I have a few.
Stephen