The advantage I find with using a solid wire is that stranded wire when trapped by the fastening bolt on the starter switch tends to unravel. This makes it hard to then rethread after removal for any purpose. I use 2mm piano wire, model shops are a good source of this sort of material. I have in the past tried to solder the cut end of bicycle brake stranded wire without success or it gets too large to pass throught the captive bolt on the switch.

My RP also has the same arrangement of washer and spring below the pull knob

Location: Sunny Cotswolds

I'd suggest you need to adjust the height of your seat somewhat!

Steve

Location: North Yorkshire

Oooh, Matron!

Location: South of France, always.

That made me laugh

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Australia.

ironically, the car I drove yesterday had had the entire floor built above battery level, in order to give a flat floor for car camping in the 1950s. And excellent reverse facing rear seats with proper footwel, in a short chassis!

Thanks for other thoughts! Who supplies good reasonably priced cables with an S or 'Start' on. Nothing much on ebay short of £20. (I do want a nice looking knob.)

The starter button, and the choke button in my RP are both plain bakelite/plastic as seen here. There's no "start" engraving"

Location: South of France, always.

After making the comment I couldn't resist above, perhaps something more helpful.

The cables are pretty easy to obtain with a inappropriate 'handle'. I use these: http://www.beal.org.uk/automotive/vehicle-cables-locking-wire/control-cable/prod_3086.html. However, look round your local B&Q or whatever at the various cupboard door handles. I've used a nice cast brass handle as a choke knob and it looks the part. They tend to be threaded M3. If you cut the plastic handle off the cable above, the exposed metal rod is 3mm dia. Thread it M3 and off you go.

As to Bowden type cable fraying, try fitting a short length of shrink sleeve over the exposed end and it'll hold the strands together.

Steve

Location: North Yorkshire

Hi Jack. Long time no see. Hope all is well. I see you had difficulty soldering bike brake cable. Me too. Despite cleaning it with emery the solder just drops right off. Does anyone have a method for getting solder to take?

Location: North Herts

Intersting! Ive always had a phobia about tap and die sets, nodding knowingly but not having a clue. What is the minimum kit i would get away with for doing such a task??

Tap & die sets are available on that well known auction site and elsewhere, but they are not of "professional" quality although they are serviceable for DIY. However it depends what threads you need to tap or die. Austin threads tend to be BSW or BSF, later cars may have UNF threads and modern ones have Metric. To cover the lot you'll need three sets and possibly a fourth if you want to do BA stuff....

I have a small Metric set which does for most things (non Austin) and if I need to do anything on the car it's sometimes cheaper just to buy a single tap or die to do the specific job. Unless you're doing this type of job regularly it's difficult to justify the cost of fully tooling up.

Location: South of France, always.

Wreckers,
What is that do-dab below the steering wheel? Looks interesting.

Jack/Nick,
You need to braze the ends of the wire, or make absolutely sure that each strand is operating theatre clean.

Geoff - Glad to did the Carport roof yesterday, as today is too windy.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Do you mean the "doofer" between the wheel and the column clamp? It's the dip switch. Not original, but not that far off. It's actually one for a motor cycle as it also has a horn push on it (not wired up)

see here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REPLICA-UNIVERSAL-CHROME-HORN-AND-DIP-SWITCH-BSA-NORTON-TRIUMPH-/131439230813?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e9a637f5d

This is an original one (photo courtesy of Sandy):

Location: South of France, always.

Thanks RR.
That looks like a good alternative to the foot operated one on the Ruby.
The family's '65 Chevy had a foot operated dip switch, with my '72 Cortina GT having a foot operated windscreen washer/wiper button.
Wish I had all my old cars now, never at the time thinking they would one day become sought-after.
Wonder how many 'moderns' will?

Where the heck did the W come from in my last post?

Geoff - Can only surmise that eye, brain and fingers failed to talk to each other.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk