A New Austin Seven Owner

[Turboseven412]

Hi all, 

I've finally succumbed to one of my stranger desires and purchased an Austin 7, it was for sale just a few miles away in the northern town I live in which is rare enough, and I couldn't say no!
It's a 1934 box saloon, not sure if its an RN or RP I will have to do more research.  It runs well enough and can be driven (with care) however its becoming apparent there are a myriad of issues some easy some not so easy but the 30 or so miles I have driven it have been a real joy, despite the terrifying handling.
Previous owner has fitted a stereo system powered by an aux battery under the passenger seat....meaning I can drive around listening to the Ink Spots and pretending its the 1930s again....ahhh so good.

Ill try and share a picture soon.  

I've owned and restored a couple of classic cars over the years, but nothing older than 1971.  So this car is absolutely unlike anything I've ever owned and worked on before.  Examining the steering and suspension setup has left me absolutely baffled.  I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good manual that I can read to get me up to scratch with the basics?

I must sincerely apologise in advance for the many stupid questions I will be asking on this forum.

Kind regards, 

Chris

[Reckless Rat]

If its 1934 its an RP. The RNs finished late 1932. You need a copy of the red book by Doug Woodrow entitled the Austin Seven Manual. Available from the family or our cherished suppliers. It's not cheap but beware of overpriced versions on that auction site and elsewhere

[Chris KC]

Welcome aboard.
Add "Austin Seven Specials" (Bill Williams) and "The 750 Companion" to your reading list. 
Between them they offer a pretty good grounding in the basics, though you may have to pick and choose which advice to follow.

[Mike Costigan]

And no question is stupid; we've all learned, sometimes the hard way. Just ask, someone has been there before you!

[Howard Wright]

Hi

Welcome to the forum and to A7 ownership.

If you look down the list of threads in the main page of the forum then ‘New Ruby Owner- an introduction’ was started in July of this year. It is probably several pages down but use the search engine above.

Whilst it refers to the Ruby most of the advice will apply equally to your car. There is an exhaustive list of publications etc posted by Tony Griffiths a regular contributor.

I did try and put in a hyperlink but unfortunately it won’t paste!

Cheers

Howard

[Andy Bennett]

Where are you Chris as I met a chap yesterday from down the road who had a 34 RP and sold it a few months ago?
If it is you and you are still local to him then you are likely local to me too?
Andy

[Turboseven412]

Hi Andy, I'm in Carlisle, bought the car from a fella called John

---

Thanks for all the replies, I'll give A7 components a call tomorrow about the red book for starters - it may be the priciest manual I've bought but I'm sure its well worth it!
I've been reading some excellent technical articles on the A7 Club website and others, theres a handy how to on overhauling the steering box which I think will come in very handy

[John Cornforth]

Hi Turboseven

A quick note on the suspension etc. The front axle beam uses a transverse leaf spring clamped to the chassis at its centre, with a short shackle link at each end. The axle is held in the fore-aft direction by "radius arms" which run back to a single ball-and-cup fixing. These arms also resist axle twist when braking. The shock absorber uses two arms and a set of round friction discs with a single central bolt.

The rear axle uses a pair of quarter elliptic leaf springs anchored into the ends of the chassis. The prop shaft ends ahead of the axle, drive then runs through a short shaft enclosed by a "torque tube" with a ball and socket mounting. This gives some additional location fore and aft. Again, friction dampers are used with one each side.

Steering is via a worm drive gearbox with a drop arm. This pushes and pulls on a fore-aft link tube which connects to a steering arm on the offside hub. The nearside hub connects to the offside via a sideways tube or track rod. The ends are threaded to set the toe-in. The steering is quite direct, not many turns lock-to-lock as these cars only weigh 600 kg.

Even when everything is reconditioned to remove wear, the handling still takes some familiarisation !

Many of the original Austin owners handbooks have been scanned and are available online. Here's an example: https://archive.a7ca.org/wp-content/uplo...7_1182.pdf

[Turboseven412]

Thanks for the help John, I was having a look under the car today and I noticed that there is a bit of play in either ends of the steering rod between the steering box and offside hub, fore-aft link tube as you called it.  On closer inspection I think there is some sort of spring in there at either end which allows the wheels to move left and right a bit independent of the steering box, is that correct?

That owners handbook is excellent, I'd say that's probably more detailed than a Haynes manual is today for a modern car.

[David Stepney]

Welcome to our happy band of Sevenists. Austin Sevens are not difficult but they do have their little quirks, so I reiterate Mike's comment that there are no stupid questions. If baffled by ant aspect of ownership, then please ask.

If your car is a '34 RP, then it should have synchro on third and to and little rubber top hat mountings under the feet of the engine. My own car is a year earlier and has the 'crash 4 speed box and solid engine mountings.

Doug Woodrow's excellent repair manual is a 'must' and, if you are in need of a handbook, I have one for a '34 car in my bookcase.

Yes, the car's handling takes a bit of getting used to. The front suspension setup is prone to being camber sensitive and they bump steer. it is imperative that the steering and suspension joints are in good condition, so check the kingpins (the cotters that secure them to the axle are like bicycle cotters and need to be checked for tightness frequently), the steering connections, the front spring shackles and the balljoint where the radius arms attach to the chassis. If these items are in good order, the car should behave reasonably well.

Just one more thing:- because of the rear suspension design, they suffer from roll oversteer. As the car leans into a bend, the outer spring tends to push the rear axle back slightly, whilst the inside spring does the opposite as it extends downwards. Its a bit unnerving until one gets used to it, but once you have learned to manage this quirk, its surprising how you can get a wriggle on (at least for an Austin Seven) on bendy roads.