Ulster/EA Sports build

[merlinart]

The LWB chassis is 6" longer than the SWB, 6 3" and 6 9"

Yes I meant 6" not 3".

I need to study differences in columns etc. I'm new to A7s as you can tell! I've got loads of books on the subject plus the Woodrow manual so nee to study it all as I dismantle.

regards

Arthur

[Phil Kingdom]

Hi Arthur,
Yes I used a wedge to lower the steering column, my son has a cast aluminum one, but rather than pinch his I made a one out of steel to similar dimensions, not a hard job and I feel happier with it than the aluminum one, and also the angle of the steering column left and right can be corrected back to its normal position


  Steering wedge..jpg (Size: 183.92 KB / Downloads: 264)


This is how I did the gearbox mounting, it is made from 2 inch angle iron machined down on one side to chassis height, in the centre of the mount an extension plate was welded on to bolt the original Reliant mounting onto. The whole assembly bolts onto a small section of cut down 2 inch angle that rests ion the chassis lip and bolts though the side of the chassis rail.


  Gearbox mount..jpg (Size: 152.02 KB / Downloads: 250)

[merlinart]

Hi Arthur,
Yes I used a wedge to lower the steering column, my son has a cast aluminum one, but rather than pinch his I made a one out of steel to similar dimensions, not a hard job and I feel happier with it than the aluminum one, and also the angle of the steering column left and right can be corrected back to its normal position




This is how I did the gearbox mounting, it is made from 2 inch angle iron machined down on one side to chassis height, in the centre of the mount an extension plate was welded on to bolt the original Reliant mounting onto. The whole assembly bolts onto a small section of cut down 2 inch angle that rests ion the chassis lip and bolts though the side of the chassis rail.

Hi Phil

Many thanks for posting those photos, very helpful. I can see the original rear mounting point for the A7 engine clearly. Did you utilise the A7 engine front mounting points for the front Reliant engine mounts? If you have any photos perhaps you wouldn't mind also emailing them to me if possible to art@spitfireart.com

I took the engine/gearbox/prop/torque tube out of my chassis yesterday, took about 2 hours, so I was pleased. I then cut a temporary blanking plate to bolt over the open diff. Things become much clearer now!

regards

Arthur 

[Phil Kingdom]

Yes, The original mounting point is shown, I did at first make a small platform to mount the wedge level with the starter motor but this put the brake rod to far out of alignment. I removed the original engine mounting pins and used the bolt hole to bolt down the fabricated mounts with an additional bolt at the other end. You will find the fabricated mounts have to be different sizes to get the engine to sit central between the rails, it is advisable to make the mounts slotted as this allows a bit of wiggle room with the rubber mounts that are all standard Reliant items.
If you are going to use the original handbrake set up it will have to be moved back as it now fouls the gearbox, this I did by making a copy of the moving parts of the handbrake mechanism or you could use a cut down handbrake, bolting it in its original position and then make a reinforcing plate and bolting the original handbrake to that mounted further back along the channel and joined by an adjustable linkage. Another problem I had was the length of the clutch cable, I fabricated a pedal box but to get the pedal to sit in the right position I had make a tube that that fitted onto the cable hole on the plate at the gearbox end and the cable outer fits in the other end of the tube by shortening the tube I can adjust where the pedal will eventually end up when the seating is sorted out. Another couple of little jobs to sort out are the exhaust down pipe, this will have to be fabricated so as to clear the chassis rail and the prop shaft shortened and balanced. I will take some photos for you over the weekend.