Austin 7 Trials Special

[Steve Jones]

Hi Steve, do you mean how deep is the seat base? If so it’s about 4 inches, but compresses to very little when sat on, cheers Peter

No, what I'm after is the distance front to back of the visible part of the seat base. In the photo, the front of that base looks to project well forward of the lower edge of the steering wheel. If that is the case then reducing that width may well help your problem. 

Steve

[Pjkpjk]

Hi Steve, the seat base is roughly 18 inches and does go under the wheel, however my legs at that point are not resting on the seat base so really not making any difference,I still think a slightly smaller wheel would be my best bet, and if a Healey 3000 boss will fit that would be the easiest solution as my skills wouldn’t stretch to fabricating such as Paul has,although Simons suggestion is precisely what I thought when I first looked at the car,thanks again Peter

[bystander]

Looks like the car already has a Ruby steering wheel fitted, so that's my suggestion out the window!

[Howard Wright]

Hi Peter

I think Simon’s idea is your best bet. Altering the wedge under the steering box is not that difficult a job and whilst fiddly doesn’t mean finding bosses and smaller steering wheels.

Cheers

Howard

[Nick Lettington]

Forgive me for asking, but doesn't the brake lever pivot make it rather difficult to do the wedge thing as it fixes through the side of the chassis rail.

[Steve Jones]

No, the pivot passes through the side of the wedge. It means the connecting rod sits higher and sometimes allowance has to be made in the floor.

Steve

[Pjkpjk]

Cheers Howard and Nick, I think the idea of canting the steering column is the best, as said it was discussed with the PO before buying, I don’t know about the brake pedal, but this car has already been altered with the addition of moggy thou hydraulics so it may be a bit easier.As said I have driven the car today,and managed it, so I only need a small amount of movement for it to be ok,as I’d like to be able o complete a trial and not need a chiropractor.The best bit is I really enjoyed my 5 miles around Carlisle,and from the look of most people so did the bods I passed discounting all Audi drivers of course, who obviously thought I was a very blue bollard, cheers Peter

["Slack Alice" Simon]

Yes, the brake pedal (if using the original set-up) goes through the wedge.

I welded an extra strip downwards from the wedge, with a hole in it so I could bolt it through the old brake pivot hole.

This gives a three point mounting which helps support the column on its wedge and saves the body strut under the dash from doing a lot of work.

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If you only need a small amount:  my first go at this involved making a wedge from 6mm ali which was in effect a thick washer on the main wedge's rear mount, between wedge and chassis.

I think this gave me about an extra inch or so under the wheel, which was all I needed at that time, and was crude but reasonably solid because of my third bolt as described.

[Ian Williams]

Now I can see a picture your problem is immediately apparent the seat is way too high, the builder has put the seat above the propshaft so you will be sitting several inches above where you need to. As a result the car will be rather hard to drive unless you are very short, take a look at something like a Nippy or Ulster to understand how things would be better arranged. Sorry no easy answer here as far as I can see.

[Reckless Rat]

I think Ian has hit the nail smack on the head here. Rather than buggering about with the steering wheel, you need to sort out the seat base. A new bit of floor and propshaft tunnel should be a good starting point.