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+--- Thread: Single seater (/showthread.php?tid=4103)
RE: Single seater - Malcolm Parker - 26-10-2020
Good advice from Austin in the Shed. Building something similar to Moose should be possible by most people with a modicum of engineering ability and will not cost a fortune, unless you want to spend mega bucks on a fancy engine. But would you need to? If you just want a bit of fun doing Bert Hadley events or similar 30bhp in a 6 cwt car is all you need. If it's wet you will probably win your class!
I would hate you to start a complicated build and in three or four years time be £20K plus out of pocket and still have a half built car. Life's too short, get something built and start having some fun! Don't dismiss going down the route of a very basic Ulsteroid, all things considered they take some beating.
RE: Single seater - Mike Costigan - 26-10-2020
The cockpit of White Rabbit, in period and as it is now:
White Rabbit Marcus Chambers.jpg (Size: 112.6 KB / Downloads: 470)
white rabbit.jpg (Size: 120.79 KB / Downloads: 471)
RE: Single seater - Terrytuned - 26-10-2020
Drawing of Single Seater project I started in 1998 finally finished in 2000 an offset axle was beyond my budget at the time, you need a very skilled body builder to turn an outline drawing into a three dimensional body and we made changes along the way both constructional and practical. Fortunately I was working with a friend doing his mechanical work who had these skills, see attached show description. Terry.
RE: Single seater - weluvtrainz - 26-10-2020
Luckily I’m quite an experienced self restorer having previously owned small chassis Triumphs and have race engineering friends. The only issue that restricts me is my location on the Isle of Wight, so having a general idea on what basic dimensions have been used by others would be helpful thanks.
Hiya, definitely not wanting to go the works route at all! Definitely something more traditional looking with the standard radiator shell only in lowered single seat form. I’ll be doing all the templates for the body tubing and will have them bent up my mate who builds Pro Karts. All the other assembly and fabrication I can do at home. I’m not even looking to enter any competitions just have something appropriate looking for my interests and drive locally.
Thanks for the replies so far??
Beautiful work?? Fortunately I’ll be working alongside experienced fabricators and race engineers. We’ve done cafe racer conversions and many restorations between us before. This project has been on my mind for many years with a lot of books read and information researched but it’s only now that an appropriate vehicle has become available due to the break down of a friendship. As I said earlier this won’t ever be a competition car, I just don’t have the time or the budget but it would be nice to have something different to attend local car gatherings and shows.
Regards
RE: Single seater - Greig Smith - 26-10-2020
Neil if you intend to drive the car locally then rather build a road going 2 seater.... the uses for a single seater are a bit limited
For what it's worth, our build cost around 5500 quid in parts & engineering only, no own labour included and we did it in just under 9 months working a whole Christmas, then weekends & public holidays. OK Dad had the SWB chassis and quite a lot of the bits one needs to rummage in sheds for. We bought a job lot of 7 stuff from a bloke who had Ulster aspirations, including a Phoenix crank, close ratio 4 speed box & 4 wheels with new tyres. I still have the boxed LWB chassis from that lot. The Phoenix crank gave us the unburstable bottom end to run the blower he bought 40+ years ago for what is now the equivalent of 4.40p. I bent up the tubes for the body frame using wheel rims of different diameter, 21" Model A, then 19" Austin; 18 & 16" Austin, a 15" Alfa Giulietta & finally a 13" modern rim. I had the body made & the bloke made a pigs ear of it, so I took it away & via questions & You Tube taught myself the rudiments of working with aluminium - fabulous stuff.
https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?tid=757&pid=6446&highlight=supercharged+single+seater#pid6446
The offset was done by deciding where the torque tube needed to be mounted, dividing that into where the diff was centralized gave us 200mm which was cut out the left & welded into the right tube. A good end side shaft was cut off at 200mm & the end re-made. The good end was then added onto a damaged end shaft thus lengthening it by 200mm. My incredibly talented Engineering friend did the welding & he reported that the metal was of superb quality & welded very easily.
The motor & box were positioned in the chassis to allow the brake & clutch pedals to be operated within the confines of the body lines & the throttle was fitted into a bulge on the side of the aluminium skin. I have to wear skinny race shoes to find all 3 pedals.
It was a fantastic Father & Son project and we had huge fun building it. we took the 750 Bulletins & tried to incorporate as many of the '50's period mods as possible, so the Forest double oil jet conversion & extra hold downs on the block, which was bolted down from under the crank case rather than rely on studs only, etc etc. The only concessions to modern technology are the electric fans and electric water pump - one of the drawbacks to driving the blower off the nose of the crank is the drive occupies space as does the return fuel pipe, hence the radiator needs to be rather small & I now need to circulate the coolant via a pump and utilise a large stainless scuttle tank for extra cooling capacity.
Aye
Greig
RE: Single seater - weluvtrainz - 26-10-2020
Cheers for this, this just what I wanted as so far your car has been the biggest influence on what I intend to build. The history behind this project goes back to when my grandad and I were restoring our first Triumph Spitfire into somewhat of a (visual at least) works car replica with the intention to attend our regular shows. But I always hankered over something more of his era as he was a former race mechanic cars and bikes and as a youngster had cycled to Donnington in the 1930s to see the Silver Arrows race! A Triumph Spitfire was all I could afford to do then and it was very rough indeed, the only original panels that remained where the front bulkhead propshaft tunnel and rear deck! Unfortunately a fortnight after finishing the car after 7 years I span on a diesel soaked roundabout in the rain! Sob story over but since leaving Triumphs behind we’ve had MX5s and my wife now has her dream car of a MK1 MB SLK but she has no interest or intention of ever travelling in the Austin! The other thing to note is that once I’m back on the mainland I’m close to both Goodwood and Brooklands so this is another drive behind this project. Thanks again.
NEIL
RE: Single seater - Greig Smith - 27-10-2020
Neil I tried to send you a private message but you have disabled PM's - send me an email at P4Cabrio 'a-t' gmail.com and I'll send you some large resolution pictures of the offset rear axle & the chassis set-up of our car
In a nutshell there were 3 factors which led to the offset build:
1.) I wanted to reduce frontal area on the car
2.) It seemed like a good idea at the time
3.) My incredibly talented Engineering mate Steven said yes he could cut & weld the diff including the long & short side shafts
Aye
Greig
RE: Single seater - Reckless Rat - 27-10-2020
Greig, can you show us how you managed the offset of the engine/ gearbox relative to the chassis please. I'm trying to visualise how it's done but can't get my head around it.
RE: Single seater - Austin in the Shed - 27-10-2020
If I had the time I'd like to build a vintage special along the lines of Ms Bacfire,the car Rob Beck built but with a Ford model A engine.ie parallel chassis rails 1/4 elliptics front and rear and chain drive,using as many 7 bits as possible.Apart from bodywork shouldn't be too expensive.
RE: Single seater - Malcolm Parker - 27-10-2020
Mrs Bacfire is a wonderful special, built using mostly Austin 7 parts with a huge V twin engine that was designed for leading cyclists around the velodromes in France. The beauty of it is that the majority of the Austin 7 parts used were knackered and most of us would have taken them to the tip. As a Yorkshireman I admire this philosophy.
I think something similar with a lusty Model A engine would be a bit too hairy for me.
A special built from truly redundant components scores much more highly in my book than one made by vandalising a restorable or complete car.