What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Alan]

Yes, me too.

[Nigel Ricardo]

Painting the garage floor with Screwfix own brand floor paint (very good), a bit of a pain as I have to move everything, wait for the floor to dry (24 hours ) and put everything back where it was and repeat on next section, its taken 1 week so far!

[Steve Jones]

Stripped a 3 speed gearbox this afternoon as the start of building it back into a C/R version. Yes, it was cold but I always heat the casing by putting it in front of an electric fan heater for 30 minutes. That warmed it and the garage up and I confess to leaving the heater on whilst I took the gearbox apart. When I emerged at about 4.30pm, everything outside was frozen!

Steve

[Douglas Alderson]

Painting the garage floor with Screwfix own brand floor paint (very good), a bit of a pain as I have to move everything, wait for the floor to dry (24 hours ) and put everything back where it was and repeat on next section, its taken 1 week so far!

Re painting the floor are you heating the garage or just letting the air blow through to dry the floor, also is this on concrete or a ready painted floor.  Sorry for all the questions but I was planning to do the same but thought the weather was too bad and was going to wait until the summer.  But from what you have said may be a busy Christmas.

[Dave Wortley]

Yesterday I went to the scrapyard with A7 cranks (all cracked) plus a very damaged 1930 crankcase which the owner put on display in his office. He appreciates old bits and has a stock of stuff people bring in. Could be the wrong job for a sentimentalist.

[David.H]

Successfully started the "new" AD Chummy, which I think may be finding it's return to it's homeland a bit of a shock after California! Drove it round the block to a friendly neighbour's empty garage and was delighted to find how briskly (a relative term!) it went....It also stopped had enough oil pressure, charged and steered ok. A result! I will now set about rewiring....one bit at a time!

[jansens]

I've been pondering how I can get the engine into my special when the time comes. Bit tricky by myself and although I do have a chain block and suitable beam maneuvering the car under it is a pain. I looked at getting a little engine crane but they are 1. expensive (over NZ$300 or so), 2, a pain to store and 3, not much use for anything else. I figure an Austin 7 engine and gearbox isn't THAT heavy so some sort of frame I can hang the chain from would do it.

Then I saw these little scaffolds at the local Bunnings for NZ$250 (and $50 delivery). It's rated for 224kg and give a 1.25m height lift.



Now it's wide enough to drive the Austin under it (and the MGB too actually). All I needed to do was 'fix' the height. The holes for the platform only go so far up but it was easy enough to drill new ones at the top of the legs with the step drill (extremely handy tool to have those).



So after modifying the thing into a rolling health and safety violation I ended up with this:



Now I wouldn't want to stand on it up that high but I think if I cut a small hole in the wooden floor and lay across a piece of steel rebar I can hang the chain block under the platform from the bar and then easily lift and drop the engine in. I was wondering if I need a chain or rope or something across the legs at the bottom to stop them splaying out but I don't think that's going to be necessary at all. It's actually quite sturdy.

It fits neatly against the wall, sliding over the top of my sandblasting cabinet when not used and it provides extra storage on top of it. And of course I can still use it as mobile scaffolding for jobs about the house.

Simon

[Chris Garner]

Motored down to the supermarket yesterday in the Top Hat. Waiting at the traffic lights I became aware of someone trying to attract my attention. There next to the car were two rather lovely blonde ladies in jogging outfits, waving and smiling. On my return I caught up with them, and giving them a few toots of the Rist's, was again rewarded by waves and laughter.
Should I ditch the car and take up jogging?...perhaps not!

[Michael D]

Chris..... you should've offered these jolly joggers a ride.....

[AllAlloyCup]

On Thursday helped the Moose, move hoose, along with its workbenches.
Looking forward to seeing Colin’s mean machine,
in hill climb action in 2019.