What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Tony Griffiths]

Speaking to somebody at the Stonehurst gathering at the weekend about his Ruby brake lights being impossible to fix fired me up to get ours working (instead of always on, never on or coming on and off according to their mood). The original and tiny pressed-steel clip fastened to the brake rod could not be tightened, so I replaced it with a small but robust wire type, as shown. Unfortunately, not having an original spring - or the correct switch - meant some experimentation which failed, as it proved impossible to balance the pull-on spring with the pull-off one inside the switch. Finally, at Stonehurst, I found an original switch with a strong internal spring. After messing about trying to get the new switch working, I finally realised what was making the problem worse. The angle of the pull-on spring added so much friction to the switch's actuating rod that it just would not pull off. So, armed with some 6 mm rod, I made a new "U" bolt for the clip and made one end so long that it enabled the spring (trapped between two nuts) to be brought directly in line with the switch - and the brake lights now work correctly.