What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[jansens]

I got the dynamo backlash down to 3 thou and also machined up some slotted bolts to hold it on. Am going to make up a pointer and make a TDC mark on the front of the engine since I realised it will be impossible to look down on the flywheel when the engine is in the car to see what the timing is doing. Am more interested to see what the timing jitter is like at idle when everything is running.

Simon

[Chris KC]

I got the dynamo backlash down to 3 thou and also machined up some slotted bolts to hold it on. Am going to make up a pointer and make a TDC mark on the front of the engine since I realised it will be impossible to look down on the flywheel when the engine is in the car to see what the timing is doing. Am more interested to see what the timing jitter is like at idle when everything is running.

Simon

Simon, what did you do to limit the backlash? New gears?
I had a go at plotting my ignition advance curve before Christmas; I made a cardboard 'protractor' with the angles marked off and stuck it to the back of the block behind the flywheel, then observed the movement of the TDC mark with a strobe light. Of course you can do the same at the front of the engine but angles will be /2 so a little harder to read. I got a cheap rev counter off eBay, the sort which winds around a plug lead and costs about a fiver. This enables advance to be plotted against rpm.
It was pretty steady around idle, but by the time I got to 5000rpm the mark was jumping around within a band of about 5 degrees... I'll be interested to hear how you get on. I'm using essentially standard (well worn) A7 bits by the way - DK4A.

[jansens]

I took a little off the bottom of the dynamo housing on a linisher to bring the gears closer into mesh. My feeler gauges wouldn't fit into the gaps so I cut thin strips of shim metal and used needle nosed pliers to wiggle them in between the teeth to check the clearance. Before I started it was over 10 thou. It took 4 or 5 goes of taking a little off, reassembling it all and checking to get it right.

I was going to make a little toothed pointer thing with the teeth 5 or 10 degrees apart and have a corresponding mark for TDC on the fan pulley. Similar to how they do the timing marks on the MGB. Need to make sure the pointer goes the right direction I guess!

Simon

[Roger Goldthorpe]

In prepping the Liege for the Clee Hills Trial I found the off side rear indicator bulb had blown.
It was a beautiful sunny morning so out came the RP for a trip to the local motor shop and take advantage of the weather. In the few seconds between locking up the house and getting into the RP we were engulfed in a blizzard!  
Bulb bought I called at the filling station for petrol. As often happens someone drifted across to have a chat with the opening “That’s the coolest car I’ve seen today” my reply “ It may look cool but it’s freezing driving it this morning.”
The journey home was in bright sunshine but the build up of ice didn’t shift from the screen. The cold however must have suited the RP as it ran exceptionally well on the 30 mile round trip.

[Dave Mann]

There I was in the right hand of a three lane dual carriageway ready to take the third exit at a traffic light controlled roundabout doing 35 mph and my foot off the go pedal practising “Das Auto im Schwung halten” as the lights were on red. I had a nice big gap in front and this Merc ambles over from the left lane and tries to fit on the same bit of road as me. Some rapid evasive action saved the day. After stopping The Merc driver comes out and accuses me of accelerating to close the gap, in A Seven! He soon shut up when the driver behind said she witnessed it all. I think I'll invest in a dash cam.

[jansens]

I filled my trousers with gearbox oil.

I was reassembling my clutch without the double spring and new mousetrap springs and decided to do the mod Russell mentioned earlier in the thread while the gearbox was out. That is to add a bolt to the end of the clutch pedal shaft so you can hold it with a spanner in the car to adjust the clutch pedal position.

I didn't want to take it all apart to drill and tap the shaft on the lathe (the sensible way) since those taper pins holding the levers in place don't look like the thing to disturb. So I looked at doing it with the shaft in the box. I picked it up and carried it over to the pillar drill to see if there was any way I could mount it there to drill it. Started the trip with the gearbox full of oil, finished up with my trousers full of it!  I'd forgotten I had filled it already and with no lever in place it all fell out!

Pillar drill wouldn't work anyway so (after changing trousers) I realised you can slide the shaft far enough over into the box so the shaft drops into the casing leaving a hole. I machined up a little top hat shaped thing to fit in the hole as a drilling guide. With that in the box I could drill a pilot hole that I then slowly enlarged that going up drill sizes until I could tap it out for a 1/4 BSW bolt. I used an old oil pan bolt since it has a deep head.



Even with the guide I ended up slightly off centre (I blame a blunt drill bit!) but the bolt in there works well. I did it up tight with red loctite so that's not coming out!



With that done I was able to bolt the box back on the engine. The new mousetrap springs don't seem anywhere near as strong as the old ones and I was able to fit them no trouble, possibly since having done it before I now know how. The seems to be doing the job though. With just the standard clutch springs the clutch is FAR easier to depress. I can do it by hand now whereas with the double springs it was a struggle even with leg power. And now it has that odd Austin 7 on/off feel to it again which I know is correct.

Will be interesting to see when it's in the car again.

Simon

[bob46320]

I was chugging up a steepish hill in second gear this PM, when I lost all power and 'coasted' into the verge with the engine ticking over. Looked at the ammeter - OK, Oil pressure - OK, sounds - OK. Ah Ha!! foot slipped off the accelerator - Idiot.

[squeak]

I was chugging up a steepish hill in second gear this PM, when I lost all power and 'coasted' into the verge with the engine ticking over.  Looked at the ammeter - OK, Oil pressure - OK,  sounds - OK.  Ah Ha!!  foot slipped off the accelerator - Idiot.

So funny, you must be making this up!

[nrzam]

   
APJ273 in the summertime

I had my first topless trip in a sunny Aberdeenshire with my AJ tourer since Ruairidh did a complete rebuild of the engine. The engine is so much more responsive and willing with a lovely sound which is definitely best appreciated without the roof!

Thanks for a great job Ruairidh. 

Ian

[Dave Wortley]

Simon, I overdid the removal of metal of dynamo housing 2 years ago on my RN. There was still backlash all the way round but obviously not enough as 150 metres from home there was an awful din from the front of the engine. I freewheeled down the hill back home and found half a dozen cam/crank gear teeth in the bottom of the timg case. Fortunately no pthe damage

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Sorry, should say "timing " and "other" Fat finger syndrome.