I have been working on an early Chummy this week (Chassis 5XXX) and yesterday set up the 6" brakes so I could lock the rear wheels on half pedal - I tried to film this momentous achievement but as I was driving all you could see in the footage was the running board and tarmac.

My friend (I only have one) is coming tomorrow and I will ask him to film my enormous skid mark!!!

nice one R, Austin seven brakes ARE up to the task at hand IF they are set up correctly.

Location: NZ

Some of the outlandish claims made are quite astonishing! Where on earth did you find a friend R???

Location: Devon

Money talks Palmer - get back to spring pin butcherism you monster!

I'm happy to support R's claim (because I was able to lock the back wheels on the '25 Chummy once owned) only because I renewed everything - repeat everything - with new 6" brake bits in the restoration. Cheers, Bill from Rent-a-friend.

Location: Somewhat South of Sandy

Nice to see you back Bill.

Location: NZ

Thank you for your support and shared elation Bill

Charles,

the coupled system on the Ulster and the Pearl have always provided excellent braking after I set them up 94000 miles and 43000 miles ago respectively. The last long tour in the Pearl was five up with a trailer driving to Switzerland and back, the only adjustment needed over the month long holiday was one turn on the brake pedal rod wing nut.

Last year we were returning (again, 5 up with camping trailer) from a weekend in the mountains near Pitlochry, a run of about 400 miles at the point of the incident, when a deer jumped a fence and stopped right in front of us - I slammed the brakes on and squealed to an emergency stop very quickly. The Seven behind - only two up - could not stop sufficiently quickly and shot past us on the verge. The deer was unharmed and ran off!

Front axle and spring wear is usually the culprit when experiencing difficulty in setting up the system - I seem to recall also that you have a hatred of the currently available adjustable front brake cables due to the way they look and have set up your own system instead.

After 50 years of ownership this is the first time that the aforementioned Chummy has ever stopped properly - the owner is delighted.

Good luck in getting your own car to stop.

Its about time that someone trumpeted the merits of standard Austin Seven brakes. I'm sure that Seven brakes got a poor reputation in the 50's when the standard of maintenance was lack lustre and the 'cure' was Bowdenex or hydraulic. Today they are as good as the sum of the parts used and the person assembling them. Roll on the day when we see the last of non standard brakes. I will exclude the Bordelo system to couple brakes as this was a contemporary modification.

That's a close relation of the jig for adjusting Citroen 2CV brake shoes.
I think it wouldn't be difficult to make based on a discarded brake drum centre.

My method is much cruder. After fitting new linings remove the brake drums frequently and file away the shiny bits on the linings. Keep going until uniformly shiny.
More time consuming but it works.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

What a useful tool. I could make one. Thanks Ruairidh

Instead of an adjusting slot I drilled a hole off centre in the pin and tapped it 1/4 BSF. Seems less effort for the same effect. For Bristol Club members, there are plenty of potentially scrap brake drums in the spares shed as a source of raw material.
Ron

Hi Ruairidh,

Re-- your photos of the brake adjusting tool---How does it work?

Regards Ralph

Location: Hull

Hi Ralph,

remove the brake drum and place it over the hub.

You can use it first to check the shoes are straight by lowering the rod down until it touches the lining surface, then you rotate and check for high spots (which you remove), it works very well.

With regard to that super tool willie At austin reproduction parts has a similar set up on his hub tightening tool so you get two tools in one its a great tool for tightening up hubs as well (no more bent screwdrivers)
Bob

Location: Surrey

Yes, I have several tools like that as well Bob, they are made from the remains of broken front wheel carriers (where the centre has detached) and a long bar, you just open them up a bit so they fit over the hub and weld a flat bar to them. Mine sit under the back seats and have been used many time by others on runs etc. very useful tool and simple to make.

I have seen others where an old drum is used with a long bar welded to it - you need to remove the drum to fit this (or turn it over) - but it is simple and cheap to do for sure - but not so easy to carry in the car.

Even simpler is a post '31 wheel with the centre removed of course.

Getting shoes to bed fully is a problem with cars now little used. I have found a good deal of fitting of the linings or the steel ends of Girling shoes necessary to get an immediate uniform contact. Linings a bit precious to file away (and NOS asbestos).
Despite all parts in good order and the soft linings of the time and much experiment I never persuaded RP original brakes to be very effective. Girling conversion reasonable although apparent more to passengers than driver.
System leverage is increased with well worn shoes which allow the cam to rotate to a large angle. So Girlings work better adjusted loose.
Recorded performance covers a wide range.

The Companion records some resonable stopping distances.
1929 chummy 95% from 25 mph (e&oe!)
1931 sports 60% from 30 mph
1931 63%
1932 RP? 72% !!
1936 Dec 74% (presumably Girling)

Other contemporary roadtests, from the Brooklands books
Motor 1930 Swallow 2 str 52% from 30 mph
Motor 1930 sports 70%
Motor 1931 RN 46%
The mid 1930s brakes drew wry mention, and for most models figures were discreetly not included in road test results.
Autocar 1936 74% (semi Girling)
Practical Motorist 1936 81%

I suspect the better figures were obtained with full pressure on the handbrake as well.

Modern cars may exceed 100%.

The current legal requirement here, based on International practice, is, in effect, 50%...laden! As with 40 ton trucks.

Bob Culver

Location: Auckland

I have a small dash mounted Tapley brake meter in my 1929 Fabric Saloon with split braking. It has indicators which show when braking exceeds 30%, 55% and 65%. I don't know how accurate it is.
My car, with not yet fully bedded linings, triggers the 30% on both foot and handbrake when either used alone and 55% with quite a lot of tyre squeal when used together.
That means front or back alone is between 30 and 55%, using both is between 55% & 65%.
Perfectly adequate braking but tends to lock the back wheels using just the footbrake downhill, so care is needed.

I expect some improvement as the linings bed in fully.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

Very useful Forum thread and although it took me a few minutes to work out how it worked Ruairidh (like the spelling of you first name !), you've illustrated a terrific tool that every A7 home should have. However, in all this I don't think we can overlook the fact that the material brake linings are made from has vastly improved over recent years. No doubt this benefit will be reflected in increased wear but it's worth it. James

James - don.t be concerned about R's spelling of his name. I've known him since he was four and I still have trouble remembering it. Cheers, Bill in Oz

There is an excellent garage at Gattonside near Melrose. They are friendly, helpful and understand old cars, so I decided to get an MoT done on my fabric saloon. It seems to me a good idea to have someone else look it over just in case there's something I've missed.
Regrettably they couldn't do it because the Austin is too narrow to fit over their MoT approved pit. The proprietor was very disappointed as he wanted to get one of his mechanics to do the job for the experience of testing a vintage car.
However he put it on the rolling road brake tester for me.
The result totally supported Ruairidh's original statement.
Each side front (hand) brake tested one at a time gave the same reading and locked. Tested together they were well within 5% of each other gradually applied all the way up to lock.
I think the rolling road flatters Austin front brakes slightly because with no momentum the axle doesn't shift back. I expect the result is not quite so good on the road.
The rear brakes were as I expected.
The near-side comes on first and as more pressure is applied to the pedal the offside gradually catches up and overtakes it. Both brakes give an excellent reading.
The offside will lock but the nearside won't. I've never been able to get the nearside as good as the offside. As I adjust it more to the nearside the pedal travel gets longer and the floor is reached before the N/S will lock.
I think I should look at the cross shaft when I have the time.
However the outcome was that the brakes are well up to modern car MoT standard.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders