What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Tony Griffiths]

An in the Peak District (in the summer) - it's nearly always Goldilocks:

[Dave Mann]

    I've finally cleaned most of the rust from the Rusty Relic (except the doors), mounted it on a chassis and squared the body up.

[Bob Culver]

Hi Dave
Incredibly you have squared the body so the hallmark droop of the doors is gone. What was the trick? Diagonal pushing of the door aperture? Raising the rear? Lifting the A pillars? For the general degree of rust it is surprising the door bottoms (lower quarter!) of doors not perforated. Or have these been patched before?
The RN/RP is nicely proportioned, retains the vintage look, is usefully roomy in the back, and the immense doors make entry easier than many cars 40 years later.

[Chris KC]

Nice Dave!

[Dave Mann]

Basically raising the rear of the body, you can just see a temporary wood prop in the the rear. Diagonal pushing of the door aperture isn't possible the OS A post isn't attached to the roof. Amazingly the door skins are very sound just need new frames, I've e mailed Martin Prior but have received no answer so presume he is on holiday. Of all the Seven saloon doors the RN is the least prone to corrosion and easiest to repair. The dark patch on the scuttle side is the original light royal blue paint.

[Chris KC]

Finally scratched an itch I've had for a while and tried making my own distributor advance springs.
Will doubtless have to experiment a bit but initial attempts have at least returned a bit of tension to the set-up.

   

[bob46320]

They certainly look professional.

[Chris KC]

Thanks Bob. Worth pinching my finger in the pliers then...

[Reckless Rat]

Now that the "Canicule" is settling down, it's a bracing 34°C here in Rekkersland so I decided to take the RP out for a run to get a few more miles on it following the rebuild. Traffic was quite heavy:



but I managed to get as far as Barjac to take in the lavender fields:



A round trip of 40 miles which brings total mileage since refit to 150 and time for oil change n°2.

[bob46320]

I like the window notices - what does it say "Running in, Please pass" or "Just wait until the engine has run in, then you won't pass me" In French of course !!