New Ruby owner - an introduction

[Ruby728]

Hi!

I've just bought a 1936 Ruby and I'm looking forward to getting involved in the forum! This is my first Austin 7.

It seems pretty good so far, definitely usable and even quite nice. I certainly won't be restoring it, but I plan to repair the minor faults it has. They should all be pretty simple when I really look into it. I'm not asking for answers here, but if anyone has any particular thoughts, I welcome ideas from those with more experience of these cars.

They include:

• Carb adjustment. The idle setting needs constant fiddling to keep it running when you come to a stop or to get it to actually move without bogging and stalling. If the plunger is pushed all the way in, it will sometimes idle but it'll start to stall as soon as it's under load.
  
• Battery drain. I left the battery plugged in overnight and it was completely flat the next morning. So far, I'm just disconnecting it when I leave it. 
  
• Small coolant leak. Maybe from the bottom of the radiator by the hose there. Nothing major
  
• Oil drips. Seems to drip off the sump plug mostly, but I think it's just coming from all around the sump
  
• Wiper - motor seems to run fine, but only moves the arm about half an inch. Also the wiper is parked hanging down the screen
  
• Fuel gauge is permanently on empty.
  
• Speedometer is very inaccurate - reading about a third higher than it should. When it shows 40, that's a true 30, for example.
  

But overall, not much to complain about! I am really enjoying the car so far and really want to make the most of the weather and enjoy it.

I will have plenty of questions as I go. My car is not exactly a concours one, but it's in lovely condition and I'm looking forward to getting to know it better and hopefully contribute to the forum when I have a bit more experience.

Thanks for reading!