NIPPY OWNERS - a question

[Dennis Nicholas]

To all Nippy owners and please anyone knowing a Nippy owner show them this.

Has anyone else got a Nippy with stays that run from the bulkhead to the top of the radiator cowl/bonnet hinge channel front bracket?

2 lower rods are the stays. Top one is bonnet hinge mount channel.

   

The radiator ends are individually flattened and fit perfectly together - Ignore the 2 slanted vertical rods.
   

The bulkhead ends are bent to enter bulkhead at 90 degrees and are just threaded so a nut and large washer is fitted either side of the bulkhead and thus stay length can be adjusted.
   

The vertical stays (threaded rod allowing adjustable length) are my addition to add extra vertical and side to side support to the cowl/bonnet hinge channel bracket.  At top small extensions have been welded to upper rod and small extensions welded to cow horns to provide fixing points.
   

   

   


The radiator is A30 or 35 and hence it does not fit right up to cowl to provide vertical support as would a proper Nippy radiator hence my wanting the extra support.

The bulkhead to cowl rod ends seem to be professional shaped to fit together and were not done by me but are as fitted when I bought.  My previous nippy EJ 4322, sold in 1968 to provide money to buy my seagoing uniform, also had those rods.  It would seem strange that 2 totally unconnected Nippies would have had 2 owners that made exactly the same rods fitted in exactly the same way/position.
I have yet to find another Nippy with these rods fitted and they are not mentioned in Chris Gould's book and neither had he seen any other one with them (at the last time of talking to him a few years ago).
So Please can anyone solve the mystery of when they were factory fitted (if ever factory fitted) or were these 2 cars just experimental fitted?

Dennis
PS sorry if any purists are offended by the engine. That was my addition....after similar mod to EJ 4322 way back in late 60s inspired after unable to find replacement for broken crank in A7 engine and C.G. telling me about BMC A conversion.

[Chris Garner]

My, that's a bit of heavy engineering attached to such a flimsy front bonnet support bracket!
Never seen anything like it before. Overkill. Totally unnecessary in my opinion.

[Duncan Grimmond]

Although I know little about Nippies I'd agree that that super-meccano structure is on the excessive side of over engineering. A third of what is visible would be adequate unless the engine is so badly mounted and/or balanced that it is shaking the body to pieces IMHO.

[Malcolm Parker]

My thoughts are that you are better allowing things to flex slightly rather than trying to make everything rigid.  If one part of a structure is made rigid, all the strain and flexing will be directed to another part.

[Paul N-M]

Hi Dennis,
Trying to be constructive I would make a few observations. Also I have no idea about your engineering/DIY skills or facilities so I hope I'm not being unfairly critical.

Rad Core: 
I would be more concerned about keeping the rad core well located/supported than the shell. Best not to be rigid, some controled flex should be designed in.

Shell: 
Only needs light tie in. One rod from the bulkhead to its top centre would do if its supported in the usual way at the bottom sides.

Engine: 
1275 A Series and gear box are heavy units, 250 lbs or thereabouts. Thats a lot if added weight so far forward in the chassis for the comparative flimsy A7 front suspension, steering, king pins and brakes to cope with to say nothing of now having arround 65 bhp. Also to make it fit in the space available you have to raise the engine to clear the chassis which raises the C of G considerably again stressing the front end more than std. inducing more body roll.
You may find you have serious understeer as a result.

Engineering detail:
Please ditch the threaded rod. If you need to make up rods for any reason use plain and cut threads as required.
Front engine mount to chassis looks to be secured by one bolt per side onto the forged chassis front. Not sure this is stable enough.

I am speaking from experience here so am very familiar with the issues. I would never fit an A Series engine in the original position for a whole host of reasons. Better and more appropriate would be a Reliant unit. Any build/conversion has to be considdered in the round.

Having said all the above, good luck with the project.

[Ian Williams]

Agree with all the other comments! The twin stay thing probably goes back to some of Jack French suggestions in the 750MC bulletins way back in the 50/60's, Personally I see no reason to need them and they probably add far more stress to other components than they relieve.

[Austin Nippy]

Hi Dennis (and everyone else). My Nippy certainly has never had anything like this to locate the radiator and bulkhead together. There's just a single strip to the radiator top onto which the bonnet is attached which seems to be like every other Nippy I've ever seen.
Best wishes to everyone for a great 2022!
Nick

[Ian Williams]

PS Supporting Paul's comments, I would add that I once raced against and A7 special with an A series engine, I absolutely wiped the floor with him! It appeared not to corner at all well and I actually managed to lap him by the end of the race, he had an independent front suspension setup which may have been part of the problem, but no doubt all that weight at the front was the major issue.

[Dennis Nicholas]

Thanks for all replies so far.
Perhaps some more information will make things about this special clearer/more palatable to some.
The car has been in use with a 948 BMC A engine since the 1970s.  It's main use was for reliable day to day use at reasonable modern speed including long distance and with capability of carrying 2 large suitcases. Prior to retirement I was at sea and occasional trips to distant refit ports required the luggage space e.g. SW England to Newcastle in NE England (some 400 odd miles) and the reliable speed for the distance. It had no engine when I got it and the flooring around gearbox area had already been badly butchered
It has a Big 7 front axle so the larger king pins and the usual hydraulic brakes conversion (Morris Minor derived).  15 inch wheels for it's daily use and 19 for MCC trials.
I do not race it or do the boy racer thing on the road with pushing it when cornering so "oversteer" has never been an issue, though I do not just hang about.
The cow horns are attached as standard (2 bolts into chassis nose and the ones fixing side body panels. Again no problems experienced there.
The 948 engine had one piston brake it's top ring and a 40,000 mile 1275 engine was available at a very reasonable price...+ BMC boxes were becoming scarce so the 1275 with the then conversion kit for the Toyota 5 speed box was very attractive......very good box and lower revs cruising.
The 948 was higher than I would have liked but not a bother.  With the 1275 I have modified the sump so that the engine sits lower.
The radiator has its own mounting frame which is attached to the radiator via the original's flat sheet steel mounting bent round to suite so an amount of flex available. You will see a flat strip running across the back of the core at the height of the wing/headlight stays.....this is welded to a further strip at 90 degrees at each end to provide stronger fixing points and cross bracing so the cowl does not take all the strain and crack like they usually do.  This cross member and mounting frame forming one unit is bolted to the lower cowl mounting points and again over the years has proven to work even with the spirited trials outings there being no further damage to the already badly cracked cowl.  I now have a nice new chromed cowl so do not want it suffering the usual stress......I think there is enough give in the various constructions to allow enough flexing.

The bonnet hinge channel joins the cowl via that bracket at that end so most of the fairly heavy weight of the bonnet is taken on that top bit of the cowl and my old cowl was beginning to crack at the bracket mounting area.  The standard A7 radiator has a felt packing on the top and to some extent supports the cowl....but as you can see no support from the A35 rad. hence the desire for some vertical support.  Agree threaded rod not too pretty but I sometimes find it difficult to start a thread in plain bar so that it runs at 90 deg. to axis.....ok I know it would only be for a short distance....but 4 less jobs when ready made is available.
A reliable 12V system with alternator is really reassuring.
Prior to first build of Nippy my wife's mark 1 Ruby was pressed into action when I was away from home doing a course and I used it every other weekend to do the 200  mile home and 200 mile trip back.....I was young and in love.  The Nippy would have given more love time at home  .

Ian W....your experienced highly skilled racing and his poorer ability?     How often do you run your racer with luggage over long distances?  My first Nippy (road going only) had the Bowden twin spring IFS (Made in Devon)....transformed the handling to make driving it a more pleasurable experience.

Paul NM.... very welcome points.  I think you will see most of the points were dealt with in my extended comments above.
My skills/DIY abilities are probably higher than average but not of a highly skilled engineer standard.  I have a smallish lathe but rather worn so not much use for accurate parts work....besides I am only learning as I go along.  Lots of good things to learn on this forum, though a bit more "how I did it" would be useful at times.

I do like a bit of over engineering....usually lasts longer......and the extra weight is easily taken care of by the engine size.
Another bonus of this rebuild will be the fan 2 speed heater........no I will not be fitting air cooling compressor!

I have just been curious about the twin rods.  The ends at the cowl were so professionally finished and exact copies on both my Nipples a strange coincidence if 2 people did exactly the same thing so I wondered how many, if any, other Nippies were like it and what dates...just historic curiosity.

Happy new year to all.

Dennis