26-09-2018, 09:59 AM
I'm in Wellington, NZ. The car is a special so it doesn't have to be original, just period Austin 7.
I managed to flatten out the bushes on the lathe but not how you'd think. Was too big to fit in my tiny chuck so instead I mounted the shaft in the lathe and cut a disc of wet and dry to slide over the shaft onto the boss at the end and taped it in place. With that through the cluster and chucked up in the lathe I could spin it while holding the gears still and it sanded down the bush back to flat. Worked very well.
I put it back in the box with no gasket and bolted it in place and measured the end float at 30 thou. I did look at trying to get the bush out but could see now easy way to do it (heat and trying to tap it out with a bit of wooden dowel didn't work). I think I would have to make a puller somehow, maybe a piece of 10mm square steel turned on the lathe so the ends are the same radius as the inside of the cluster but bigger than the inner diameter of the bush. I could thread an 8mm hole in it then use a bolt and a piece of pipe as a spacer against the gear to pull the bush out. I can then fit a suitable shim under the bush head and push it back home.
I should really get in touch with Andrew Bird about a set of close ratios before I go too much further.
Simon
I managed to flatten out the bushes on the lathe but not how you'd think. Was too big to fit in my tiny chuck so instead I mounted the shaft in the lathe and cut a disc of wet and dry to slide over the shaft onto the boss at the end and taped it in place. With that through the cluster and chucked up in the lathe I could spin it while holding the gears still and it sanded down the bush back to flat. Worked very well.
I put it back in the box with no gasket and bolted it in place and measured the end float at 30 thou. I did look at trying to get the bush out but could see now easy way to do it (heat and trying to tap it out with a bit of wooden dowel didn't work). I think I would have to make a puller somehow, maybe a piece of 10mm square steel turned on the lathe so the ends are the same radius as the inside of the cluster but bigger than the inner diameter of the bush. I could thread an 8mm hole in it then use a bolt and a piece of pipe as a spacer against the gear to pull the bush out. I can then fit a suitable shim under the bush head and push it back home.
I should really get in touch with Andrew Bird about a set of close ratios before I go too much further.
Simon