From Tuesday to Thursday I was away in the Pytchley on the PWA7C Cumbria Run. Despite a dire weather forecast before the event, we enjoyed generally glorious weather on the run from Masham to Crooklands near Kendal. The free day on Wednesday was taken up with a visit to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston which has recently become home to the restored Bluebird K7 in which Donald Campbell was killed in 1967. Highly recommended but very poignant.
Around 30 cars took part, mostly Austin 7's and 12's. The Pytchley went very well but the oil consumption is getting to the stage when I need to do something about it. The engine was the first I built back in 1982 and it has seen some service in various cars over the years.
Today I finally succeeded in changing the Cup's gearbox, thanks to a lot of helpful advice from the Bearded Wizard. The previous gearbox kept jumping out of 2nd gear, but fortunately I had acquired one of Andy Bird's close-ratio ones with a sports engine I bought a year ago, so I decided to fit that. The amount of clutter under the Cup's bonnet (brackets, oil filter, etc.) made the task of taking the engine out look rather daunting, but Ruairidh told me that removing the front floor-boards would make it possible to take the gearbox out from inside the car. This all went very well untill we tried to move the gearbox back off the bell housing studs, whereupon it came up against the front chassis cross-member.
Another cry of help to north of the border led to the advice of taking out the engine mounting bolts and jacking up the rear of the engine. This did the trick and the gearbox was successfully removed (after having to take out the passenger's rear floor-board). However, when the replacement gearbox was fitted it turned out that the clutch would not engage... Gearbox out again and measured the clutch levers, the tips of which were too high. Rather than rebuild the clutch we decided on the old trick of fitting a couple of washers on each bell housing stud. This seems to have resulted in a working clutch, so we hope that all will be well to go on the VSCC's Northamptonshire Tour tomorrow (fingers crossed).
The above relatively brief account does not of course include the myriad of tedious and infuriating minor difficulities and irritations which inevitably form part of this sort of mechanical surgery, with which all Austin 7 owners have no doubt also suffered from.
Nothing very exiting, I’m afraid. The little car had not been out for almost a fortnight, so I took it for a ten mile trundle to go and see my friend Gerald and then on to feed the horses. I wanted to see Gerald to organise borrowing his Mitsubishi for tomorrow. Young Leon has bought himself a tatty but running ‘74 Beetle. The only problem is that we have got to go to Great Yarmouth to go and get it and Gerald’s Mitzi is rather faster and more comfortable than our Series 3 Landrover.
The new gearbox is a big improvement and also much quieter. We tried it out on the VSCC's Northamptonshire Tour today, which had a nice turnout of cars, a good scenic route and fine weather. The other Seven was a one-family-from-new Chummy and also went well.
Err-Different......That was my car - in 2012 when I sold it as a non running '32 RN saloon! I'd wondered what had happened to it. I nicknamed it 'The Irish Box' on account of its registration and it lasted 50 miles after I bought it, before a half shaft broke, and further inspection revealed it required a new CWP. The engine generated more smoke than the Red Arrows team and I decided to sell it (at a loss) and buy a more viable RP (Lulu) which is my daily drive.
I shudder to imaging the effect of powerful disc brakes on the slender 1/2" king pins, but at least the car survives and its new owner undoubtedly derives pleasure from it in its present form.
It's the second time this week that I have spotted the registration of a donor car that I've been associated with. WP2652 in a previous post is now an Ulster replica; was a '31 RM saloon 'shed find' that a friend owned in 1971 and introduced (and involved) me to all the pleasures of Austin Sevens.
It's a small world-looking forward to possible PMs.
Bob
