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Re: Austin 7 Special

James, what a gobsmackingly excellent project. Love the idea of the engine slewed across and the prop down one side - brilliant. Have you ever driven with one of those sv Reliant gearboxes? Mine from 1956, which I drove in 1970, was a very agricultural non-synchro box - possibly strong but certainly not slick. AND NO SYNCHROMESH.

Re: Austin 7 Special

HI, James I made those comments because your first post came up as By Frank Hernandez Please Accept my Apology If that's not the case
ColinHHt87G

Re: Austin 7 Special

James
Well I'm at the stage of my build where I need some geometry settings and feedback.

Having built a couple of race cars both with live axle and independent, I don't understand why the Austin 7 does not use a pan-hard rod or similar.

My understanding is the movement on a standard rear end can invoke oversteer due to its movement.

I am intending to fit a pan hard rod to handle this.

Also I'm about to install trailing arms both back and front, when I look at most specials, the rear springs anchor the axle from effectively underneath, I then see a trailing arm being mounted as close as possible to this point? "Underneath"

This I don't understand, I unless I can understand why not intend to mount the trailing arm on the top of the axle sandwiching it between the spring and arm, this way it's held and will stay in position rather than being a "flappy tongue" out the back relying on the torque tube to maintain position.

I admit I need to dry cycle the movement to make sure the torque tube will work as designed.

Moving onto the front, I guess at this stage the castor angle should be around 5.3 degrees, now I can achieve this by varying my tubes attached to to the upper and lower stub axle mounts, I'm using a Tube Sports Axle, obviously when I pull the upper mount back, 5.3 this is about 3/4" kick from top to bottom there is no real allowance on the spring mount or the shackles to achieve this?

Camber is set via the axle and stubs, how about "tow" I'm guessing we are towing in? .5 or 1.0 degree?

Any thoughts on the above would be greatly received.

Thanks

James


Re the arms, useful on the rear if you have installed droplinks, otherwise I found no noticeable effect apart from when sprinting. In that case you can angle them up towards the front so that they jack the car up off the line.
I haven't a clue as to why I have been mistaken for you.I'm me for sure.

Re: Austin 7 Special

WOW! Seeing how you built your Cosworth Super Seven from scratch I am keen to follow your build of the Austin special.

Location: Derby

Re: Austin 7 Special

Hi James, A few ideas to put in the mix re trailing arms on rear .
Cut off the chassis just forward of the front of the springs and reposition to the outside until they are running parallel to the centre line of the car this will also mean altering the brackets on the diff,
doing this will enable you to fit a trailing arm above the spring out of the way of the drive shaft.
the trailing arm needs to be mounted about 5 to 6 inches above the bottom of the spring were it comes out of the chassis and the diff end the same height above the centre of the spring eye.
You will need adjustment on the trailing & Chassis bracket
also the drive shaft will need a universal at the diff end because it will rock the diff a small amount.
Colin

Re: Austin 7 Special

Hi Colin

Thanks for the ideas, I'm going to have a good go at it starting tonight, I also have a few ideas, At the moment the difference between the back and front is about 4" I can get the front up by 1" so that leaves around 3" to drop on the back, my springs could come down maybe 2" and by the time I'm sitting in it should be about level.

Throughout the build I have tried to maintain the 1938 authenticity of the car, By recycling as many parts as I can. As much as I have added stiffness to the chassis it is still the original shape. I will be welding in some plates on the bottom of the chassis rails to complete a box section.

I am well aware that by adding an ARB and stiffer shocks will do nothing if the chassis still twists.

I will keep the updates coming.

Cheers

James

Re: Austin 7 Special

Hi Andrew

Glad you like the project, I have not tried the gearbox on a running car so I await the first drive with anticipation!

I have a later reliant gearbox that I'm sure could be mated if it is that bad.

I'm sure the complete experience will be eye opening.

Thanks

Re: Austin 7 Special

HI JAMES

Re stiffness of chassie try fitting a full length Tophat section the same depth as the cross members also box the cross members,this gives a stiffer end result and you still have the original shape.

Colin

Re: Austin 7 Special

Now here is a man who is not at all affected by-

"DVLA New Rules which are going to affect us all"


Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne.

Re: Austin 7 Special

I used a Watts Linkage when I was building my special.

Re: Austin 7 Special

What was Frank talking about? It made no sense to me.

Re: Austin 7 Special

It did to me. I should take the trouble to understand. There are some people on this forum who really know what they are talking about. Frank is one of them.

Re: Austin 7 Special

Lol. My Special has a 1960 County Council issued chassis number, and is according to the V5 a car assembmed from parts not all by the same manufacturer!

No problems

Re: Austin 7 Special

Some updates


http://www.facebook.com/LotusSportster7/posts/881173482000162