I am seeking an original magneto engined bonnet for a 1928 car. 
   Any help in acquiring one would be greatly appreciated.

Just wondering if anyone can suggest what I have here precisely? (i.e. other than 'a windscreen', that is!)

   
   

Looks like an A7 screen upper section to me though I couldn't say which one.
The rest looks neatly fabricated as if for a special, but perhaps a one-off rather than Speedex, Ashley, Hamblin etc?

Due to an increasing quantity of oil escaping from the rear hubs I took the decisions to pull out my differential and strip it down.  The quantity of oil was not massive, but it was annoying as it ended up on the rims and dangerous as it was coating the brake drums. 
 
A few things;
 
Firstly, I was surprised to find no evidence of the inner seals.  The cups and washers were all there but no sign of a felt seal or a more modern lip seal, the adjusters are the basic type with no oil return spiral.  Interestingly the axel tube was oily but certainly not swimming in oil as I thought would be the case. The car has done at least 750km since I last checked the diff oil level and it still seemed pretty good when pulled it down.  I’ll be putting new lip seals back in but my takeaway lesson is that in my diff at least the oil does not readily want to move from the differential to the axel tubes. 
 
Upon stripping the unit down, I found that the axels were in poor condition with cracks and flogged keyways.  Lesson two, keep an eye on the retaining bolts and make sure they are nipped up tight, mine had obviously had some movement. 
 
Next I found missing paper seals between the inner and outer hubs but a good glob of silicone.  When re-installing I’ll be putting in a paper seal with a smear of Permatex or similar. I had considered taking the wheel nuts off and lapping the inner hub to the outer hub but not sure if that’s really necessary if the inner seals are working as planned.  Any thoughts from those experienced?
 
The tapers inside the hubs were extensively pitted and thus needed a lot of lapping to get a sound fit of the hub to the axle.  Using a coarse lapping paste I spent about 30 minutes trying to get a decent surface but the pitting was so widespread and deep that I was a long way from getting the homogenous result I was looking for.  To speed things up I attached the hub removal tool and spun it with a drill (see below).  I used a small screw driver to provide a linkage between the drill and the hub, if I’d had a spare ½ UNC and lathe I’d have made a more professional connection.  I lapped in both directions and continually stopped to remove paste from the keyway and deposit it back on the shaft.
 
My question is this; will lapping in the above manner cause issues later?  I have heard from people a lot more experienced than me that the lapping should be done with small side to side movements keeping the keyways semi-aligned, i.e, when lapping the movement should be no more than say 45 degrees from the final location.  But I’ve also seen tapered joints lapped on lathes.
 
Any thoughts would be well received.

I hope to be driving the Austin a bit more next year and want to sort out a practical tool kit to carry with me.

In the past I've ended up with a ridiculous number of tools because I can always foresee circumstances when they might be necessary but realistically I'm not going to be changing half shafts or dropping the sump at the side of the road so I need to sort out what's really necessary to cope with the more likely issues.

Also, apart from spare plugs and possibly CB points what spares do you normally carry bearing in mind I don't actually have much in the way of spares so would probably have to buy them.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

John.

Hi,
Is there anywhere in the world where I can get a pair of tapered front wheel bearings for the 6" drums on my 1925 Chummy?
I'm in New Zealand and if I can't get them I'm considering getting some made.
Does anyonme know the exact angle of the taper?

HI All,
Would like to know what year the Austin turned into a Bear and began Hibernating for 9 to 10 months of the year,
This could be a case for the AA on Old age Abuse Darwin would be in his element,
But that's not the end we then go to fairy Tails that this mechanical animal will shrink if it gets rained on or turn into a pumpkin if out after dark
what I would like to suggest as the animal is in the twilight of its life take it out and about, if it breaks an axel or crank or wobbles all over the road and the brakes are not good it can be Fixed and at the very least has had a great time,
And so will you.

Have A laugh no cost
Colin
NZ

Hi All

I've just taken the engine out of the RK, preparing to fit a reconditioned gearbox soon to be collected from Andy Bird (thanks Andy!).

I managed to fit Nyloc nuts on the fabric coupling when I last put the propshaft on but I'm not happy with the limited amount of nylon being held by the bolt and the fact the nuts are very close to the handbrake ratchet and adjuster. I find the complex tab washer and split pin arrangement a bit cumbersome.

I'm wondering if using the original half nuts with thread lock is acceptable?  What does everyone use here?

Cheers

Howard

I've done a visit to the Austin ledgers a few months back and it was free to access them and easy to do with a pre-planned slot. I need to go back but it's a long way to Warwickshire. Are others planning on visits to look at the museum (paying visit) or the '29-31 car details on archive file... who might be interested in forming a small group to gather information on behalf of the others occasionally? When I went last time I had a few cars to look up/check for others and it didn't take long before I got on with what I was visiting for.

Mentioning it here in the hope that there are others doing research - or those closer who might be interested in seeing what the archives offer.

I have always thought of the Chassis nosepiece as a forging- but see it regularly called a casting - is there any Longbridge factory specification available ?

A couple of "Austin Special, Ulster green " on eBay. Both in Italy, now available in UK contact Cara direct, both BIN of £5258.00 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-7-Gree...:rk:3:pf:0

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-7-Spec...:rk:4:pf:0

looking a bit sus to me...