Austin Seven Special - Ron Ackroyd

(Files in PDF Format)

This fantastic Austin Seven special has been designed and built by Ron Ackroyd in New Zealand. Ron has kindly prepared some *"PDF" files of the project.

*To view these files you require an Adobe PDF viewer on your system. Most users will have this software installed. If you require this software, a link to the Adobe site is provided at the bottom of this page.

Drawings of the Special

The first drawing is the layout of my special, it was drawn in the style of the Grass Hopper with the dimensions altered to suit my body ( arms

and legs etc). The chassis is a 34 Ruby with flattened springs and a reshaped front axle. The steering column is raked and the front shocks

rearranged.

Crankshaft Details

The second drawing is the pressure fed crank setup. I drilled out the crank with an electric drill and a variety of long series drills.  The

lip seal arrangement is a version of the style used by Alan Cardwell from the Melbourne club. I added the sealed bearing to keep the shaft

extension concentric with the lip seal. I have an over bored oil pump and the engine gives 25 psi when warm.

Ron's First Test Drive

The last photograph is quite new, taken on the January 1st, 2002. I had my first drive and was very pleased with the whole thing so far.

You will remember some recent discussion in the "Question and Answer Forum" on this site about front shocks, mine are modified rear shocks with a 1.5 " o.d. rubber bush. The steering is fantastic, no wander at all and at this earlier stage seems great for road use.

Here is a photograph of how the project started. This photograph was taken on day one, the 8th June 96.

In the beginning.....

Ron Ackroyd