Disaster!

[Parazine]

Nice day down here in Wiltshire so took the Chummy out to get some petrol and warm the engine up prior to a pre-season oil change. Car was going well but there was a funny smell of burning; I though it was probably the exhaust, having not run the car since last October. There was also a whining sound.....

Quick check over when filling up with fuel reveals that the end cap of the dynamo is wobbly. Pulled the cap off - end casting has broken! Aaargh!

Drove home slowly with dynamo switched off and pulled it apart in the workshop, appears to have been cracked/broken forever.

   

Sadly, although I have a spare DFL, it doesn't work, most likely due to a a duff armature. I'll probably have to pull it apart to use the casting to repair the Chummy one.

Does anyone have a spare casting in their box of Mag Dynamo bits and pieces??

[Nick Salmon]

Bad luck! There must be something in the air today...

I have just spent the afternoon recovering the Ruby - which, for the first time in about 20 years, totally let me down. I think a timing gear may have broken as there was much spluttering and backfiring followed by a dead engine. A bit of investigation shows me that the distributor spindle is not rotating - merely twitching.  Hey ho. Shall deal with it after a week away on hols.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

The distributor gear is usually first to strip, Nick.

New ones here: https://www.theaustinsevenworkshop.com/p...drive-gear

[Nick Salmon]

Thanks Ruairidh. I shall be delighted if it is that simple!

[David Stepney]

How weird! It must be something to do with the Easter air as I too have had unaccustomed trouble with the car.

This morning, I did a bit of running round in the Seven as it has been such a nice spring day. When I got home and switched the engine off, the ignition warning light stayed on. Investigation showed that the cutout contacts had stuck shut. To be fair, the cutout has been doing one or two strange things recently, with the ignition light coming on and going off again, but always on half charge. On full charge it was fine.
Fortunately, I had a virtually brand new spare CF3 cutout that I acquired some time ago “just in case” and have spent some of the afternoon fitting it. Normal service is now resumed.

The question is now does anyone know of anyone who overhauls electro-mechanical cutouts? I don’t want to go down the route of having some clever electronics fitted. I have a deep (and probably quite irrational) distrust of such things.

[Nick Salmon]

Bad luck David. I blame Putin...

[David Stepney]

Thank you Nick. At least my problem was more easily sorted than either yours or Parazine’s. Both of you have my sympathies.

[john williams]

David, Bernard Bryant; www.classic-spares-electrical.com is the man for vintage electrical repairs.
Tell him jonniejumble [me] put you in touch.
John

[David Stepney]

Thank you John.

[Parazine]

Update:

Managed to get the spare dynamo to work, miracles do happen but it's in a generally poor state. Fitted to the car but needs the wick turning down as it's generating 14A at the moment - a bit too much.

A request thread in the "Wanted" section, can anyone help with DFL parts??