Joined: Aug 2022 Posts: 93 Threads: 18
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Location: Switzerland
Car type: 29 RF/29 B/29 AE/32 EA rep./34 AVH
Hi folks
I'm currently having some difficulties with our road traffic office. They want me to drive at a maximum of 30 km/h (that's 18 mph) (sic!) because the front and rear brakes are not coupled. This is as unbelievable as it is ridiculous. Imagine a shipload of expletives here...
As this requirement is hardly feasible in practice, because I don't want to be a rolling obstacle any more than necessary, I'm thinking about converting the brakes. Now my question is, is it difficult to upgrade the brakes to the coupled system? Or is it relatively easy? Is this perhaps even a common method and has been done by many of you?
If someone could explain to me how to proceed in this case, I would be very grateful.
Thank you.
Oliver
Joined: Mar 2015 Posts: 5,442 Threads: 231
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Location: Scotchland
Export cars had a mixture of the uncoupled hand brake and the coupled system, resulting in two sets of brake cables at the front.
I have photos of this system on file, somewhere - I will post them up when I find them.
You should be able to clamp an arm to the centre of the brake cross shaft that carries the 2nd front brake cable.
Joined: Aug 2022 Posts: 93 Threads: 18
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Location: Switzerland
Car type: 29 RF/29 B/29 AE/32 EA rep./34 AVH
Thank you, David! Of course it's ridiculous. So ridiculous that my blood pressure is still somewhere around 500... And of course I'm already working on it. Especially since I'm a club member in Switzerland and I have friends in the SMVC.
Sevens drive all over the world without any restrictions, but apparently that's not possible in Switzerland. Brakes use to work different here, you know?
However, there are actually many vehicles that are subject to a 30 km/h limit, in most cases these are cars that only have rear brakes, for example a 1914 Ford T Speedster or a Salmson racing car. A friend with a '27 Chummy also has this limit. But he doesn't care, he still drives as fast as he can.
I'll call the management there tomorrow, or I'll drive there myself if necessary. After some research on the Internet, I suspect that this regulation has something to do with tractors and trailers, and is being misused here for passenger cars. He should show me the exact wording of this regulation, then I will think about how I can challenge it legally.
Someone will get to know me.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 926 Threads: 22
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Location: Near Cambridge, UK
Car type: 1928 tourer (mag type), short chassis Gould Ulster
The conversion on my 1928 car was done by fitting an early long chassis cross-shaft, with brake cables arranged in the appropriate way 1933 style. The chassis cross member behind the gearbox has the front part only of the fore and aft chassis member from a 1933 style chassis holding the centre bearing of the cross shaft. Using 1.25" wide drums and shoes footbrake efficiency regularly exceeded 80% in the days when I was getting the car tested.
Joined: Aug 2022 Posts: 93 Threads: 18
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0
Location: Switzerland
Car type: 29 RF/29 B/29 AE/32 EA rep./34 AVH
I got a message from the SMVC. It's really so: Austin Sevens with uncoupled brakes are limited to 30 km/h by law in Switzerland. This goes back to a regulation from 1914 that was introduced because of the many steep roads.
Now I need to do the conversion. Fortunately I have a friend here who already did this in the past. I will meet with him on Saturday to learn about how it needs to be done.
Thank you all for your answers.
