What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Steve Jones]

Would you expect anything other, Charles. However my etch priner is grey.

Steve

[Malcolm Parker]

Looks better than new, Steve.

Look forward to seeing the Ulster back in action.

[geoffharrison]

Will see you at VSCC Curborough 2025 with the new colour scheme Steve .
I think we may have to invest in FIA spec balaclavas next year according the latest MSUK updates - more expense !
Geoff.,

[Steve Jones]

Yes, I saw that too, Geoff. I wear one already as I find it makes my helmet more comfortable. At the end of a hot and sweaty day it's also easier to fit a balaclava in the washer than it is a helmet. Can see a problem for some, though, particularly those with open face hats.

Steve

[Charles P]

Will see you at VSCC Curborough 2025 with the new colour scheme Steve .
I think we may have to invest in FIA spec balaclavas next year according the latest MSUK updates - more expense !
Geoff.,

Bother. I hadn't spotted that. You can trust Motorsport UK to add cost to a hobby. They really are the enemy of grassroots motorsport. 
I do wonder what substantiated risk they are trying to mitigate when applying these rules to open pre-war cars? 

Charles

[Steve kay]

Meanwhile, to make sport more accessible, the ACU have removed the age cap for day licences. Thus a full and somewhat expensive medical is no longer required, but to enter a hillclimb and sprint the entry fee and £20 day licence  is what a “senior” competitor will now need. So if you have a Brough with Seven engine, the combination that an uncle built in his shed from Ariel and Austin Seven parts, or indeed a product of Pickerlseigh Rd before they began to use excessive wheels, Loton Park, Curboruogh and Shelsley  await!

[Reckless Rat]

Reasonable enough weather here today in Rekkersland, around 10°C, roads dry and no salt about so I thought I'd get the "Tacot" out and give it a run to charge the battery up a bit. It's not been run for several weeks so I had to hand crank it. There was just enough charge to light the ignition, but not enough to spin the engine on the starter., With full choke held on with a spring clamp it fired up on the third swing - the SU usually needs a few turns to prime itself.

And away we went. It took to the end of the valley for the oil pressure gauge to start to drop off the pin, but by the time I had climbed the hill out of Les Mages to Saint Ambroix the engine was fully warm and running nicely. The advantage with moving over to LED lighting is that you can turn down the 3rd brush on the dynamo to reduce the output, but the down side is that even on "winter" setting you only get a 2-3amp charge. However this is usually enough after a 20 mile round trip to bring the battery back up to normal.

I did my usual run out to St André de Cruzières to say hello to the Peugeot pick-up (still there) but this time I did it in the reverse direction. This entailed a long climb up out of St Ambroix, through St Brès to the Gard/Ardèche border, where I turn off the main road at the top of the hill to drop down into Saint André. It tops off at about 350m or thereabouts and the old girl did it all in top gear. I was well impressed.

Same coming home. It pulled all the way up the hill out of St Ambroix in top gear, (which before an engine rebuild was a long and slow slog in 3rd) cresting the rise at between 35 and 40mph. (on the speedo). Happy days!

Now back in its garage, sheeted over until the next time.

[Dave Mann]

Went for lunch at the Red Lion in Litton, my usual route is along Summer Cross from Hargate Hall to Tideswell a narrow, with passing places road and steep hills both down and up. Because of work on the railway bridges in Millers Dale that route is closed resulting in a lot more traffic along Summer Cross and just as I got onto the steep climb the main jet became blocked and progress ground to a stop, it couldn't have happened in a better place. I started to clear the jet with cars squeezing past when a SUV appeared and it's driver insisted on towing me to a wider part of the road. I blew the main jet clear and went to set off but whatever was in the jet hadn't come out and promptly blocked the jet again so I proceeded to the pub using the choke to keep going. After an enjoyable lunch I had a successful second attempt at clearing the jet. The return trip was without incident apart from having a load of cars stuck behind me.

[Reckless Rat]

Those of you that know me, are aware that I can be tighter than a submarine's window. Now today's report isn't really anything to do with Austin Sevens, but I was at least standing next to it this afternoon when I did an oil & filter change on the Ark Royal. I'm not really able any more to crawl under cars because I get vertigo, and to get to the oil sump plug on the Merc would mean putting the car on the ramps and then getting underneath to remove the undertray. Fortunately the oil filter is on the top of the engine next to the diesel pump and easily accessible (once the plastic engine cover is removed). Whilst browsing on t'Amazon I spotted a very reasonably priced 12v pump, set up to do oil changes by sucking the contents up through the dipstick tube. I guess I will be able to use the equipment next time I do the Seven, but via the oil filler pipe.

The pump worked fine. It's probably not as speedy as what you'd find in a franchised garage, but for 20€ (£16.66) I wasn't expecting much. It did the job nevertheless and I completed the task for the princely sum of 75€ (£62.50), which included buying the pump, an oil filter cartridge and 6 litres of MB approved 100% synthetic 5W30 oil. The Uber Barge is now service interval free for the next 20,000km. That would have been a £400 job at a Merc dealer, and I reset the service lights too while I was at it (the handbook tells me how).

I've uploaded a short video of the pump in action (13 secs) - here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/qSAQ5Ea484I?feature=share

[David Stepney]

P
Finally got round to stripping the block from the engine and delivering it to the engineers for a rebore.

Won’t be ready until into the new year, though.

Sorry, I don’t know how to rotate the picture through 90 degrees, so you will all have to lie down to see it.