I am just in the process of carrying out repairs on my Nippy chassis ahead of sending it for blasting.
Unfortunately my car didn't come with an exhaust or any brackets so I am just trying to work out which holes in the rear cross member are original and which have been added at a later date.
As I understand it the two diagonal holes are original and meant for an exhaust bracket, that leaves for oblong shaped hole on the bottom which I'm not sure about. Similarly there is another hole on the bottom rail which is a mystery. When I bought the car, this was used to hold a crude non original bracket, possibly for an exhaust. It is a rather clean cut hole so I was wondering if this might be original but perhaps intended for a petrol pipe or wiring bracket?
19-04-2025, 07:54 AM (This post was last modified: 19-04-2025, 07:55 AM by Reckless Rat.)
Looking at images on line it appears that the Nippy exhaust is bang straight under the car with a straight tailpipe to the rear. The silencer probably has a flat bracket on one end to mount onto the cross member, like the RP saloon. It doesn't go through the cross member like some systems, although I might be talking cobblers as I'm only guessing.
I think that's a photo of a LHD Nippy so the exhaust downpipe is a bit different to miss all the steering gear. Chris Goulds Guide to the Austin 65 and Nippy has some sketches of the brackets (see page 65). I've also sent you a PM.
19-04-2025, 10:06 AM (This post was last modified: 19-04-2025, 10:37 AM by wild_willy.
Edit Reason: Added info
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The 2 angled holes are used for the second exhaust mount. I used a mount which is very close to the original Nippy from an MGA. this only required 2 holes to be re drilled in the mount to match the original holes in the rear cross member.
Chris Gould's book on the Nippy has details of each of the 3 mounting brackets.
Pics of my other mounts
Matthew i don't think the holes your pics show are the correct ones for the exhaust mount.
(19-04-2025, 09:50 AM)Scarlet O'Hara Wrote: I think that's a photo of a LHD Nippy so the exhaust downpipe is a bit different to miss all the steering gear. Chris Goulds Guide to the Austin 65 and Nippy has some sketches of the brackets (see page 65). I've also sent you a PM.
No, definitely a RHD car - you can see the steering column bracket with starter button located beneath the right-hand glove pocket.
Matthew, the cluster of three holes on the vertical face in your top photo is for the brake cable guide(s) - Chris Gould's book includes a scale drawing if you don't have them.
I don't know how the original exhaust mounted, but FWIW here's a pic of mine.
I observe two holes above it - same as yours - which leads me to suppose all three holes are original - but perhaps it's not the original exhaust mounting arrangement.
If those photographs are of your chassis Matthew it looks like a light soda blast is all you need, rather than the harsher alternatives…sorry if I’m teaching you to suck eggs!
I'd have to agree with Mike, even the windscreen wiper is on the right side but I just think the "photo" doesn't look right. The clamp doesn't seem to go around the column, the bracket looks too long and the steering wheel looks to be too far back from the scuttle. But hay, it's not worth arguing about, lets just say we'll agree to disagree. If you've got a copy of Chris's book have a look near the front, there's a very similar good quality photo showing a Type65 with a scuttle mounter rear view mirror which would be total useless if it was a RHD car.
Thanks for your replies and all the information, it is very helpful.
Its interesting how every car seems to have slightly different configurations but I suppose that comes with the passage of time and replace parts.
If I have intrepreted things correctly, I think the general consenous is that the two diagonal holes are correct for the rear cross member exhaust bracket, so the two holes on the bottom of the cross member are non original. I'll get those welded up.
It's good to know that similar examples of brackets exist, I'll see if I can fabricate some to the original designs.
Chris KC - yes sadly the original brake cable guides have had to come off, they were too weak and partly corroded so I've fabricated some new ones that I just need to rivet back on.
Ivor - I understand what you are saying, I haven't really decided on the final blast media. This is probably one of the better parts of the chassis, there are bits of deeper pitting that would benefit from a slight harsher treatment.
