Hey
Thanks for the comments RDfella, I am not giving up on this engine’s current configuration, not yet, although I recognise your suggestion is the sensible option, but then in the past I have not always chosen the sensible option and I am still as you say, taking stock, also after this morning your suggestion has become a lot easier.
I needed some cheering up after the depressing direction my engine has taken in this thread and I am glad to say I am feeling more positive about my options now.
The guy who sold me the bike lives nearby and he had said he had an A10 engine, I contacted him yesterday and he said come round and help me dig it out of the shed and we will see what it is like. I should say this guy is a real horder with loads of bikes and half done projects, none of the bikes are getting used and some are outside under tarps in the garden. I spent this morning helping him dig out all his A7 and A10 parts from deep in his shed, we laid them out on the grass and we found the almost complete A10 engine and an alloy head I was interested in.
Typical for a compulsive horder, once he saw all the parts and frames laid out he decided he might want to rebuild the A10 and now did not want to sell me the engine or the alloy head (I just know he never will rebuild it). But he is a good guy and let me take some parts and would only take half the money I offered, which would have been very cheap at that price.
See the photo below, I only wanted one crank and one oil pump as a spare but he didn’t want the others. The really good news is I now have a spare pair of crankcases and two crankshafts so this means the retrofit option just got a lot easier.
Cheers
Degsy