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<\/a>The Special’s LWB A7 Chassis<\/p><\/div>\n
All the chassis parts for the A7 Special have now arrived so the now rustless Chummy will take a breather. \u00a0There is a rolling chassis where before there was a pile junk, some would say I now have a rolling pile of junk.<\/p>\n
There are three things on an Austin Seven that could be seen as drawbacks, low power, poor brakes and a tendency the fall over when cornered.\u00a0 I like thousands before me are going to have a crack at eliminating most of these on the Special and lessen them on the Chummy.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Difference between original and flattened rear spring<\/p><\/div>\n
First off, the rear quarter elliptics have been flattened this lowers the car but also stops the rear steering that comes with the spring’s effective length changing as you corner.\u00a0 The front suspension also now sports a flattened spring, a bowed axle and separate shockers, all these changes (except the shocks) mess up the caster angle so I\u2019m waiting for some lowered ends that will be attached to the radius rods that in turn may have to be shortened but before that I need to install the engine and gearbox to see what their weight does to the whole equation.<\/p>\n
Any student of Bugatti or Lancia mechanical brakes will be bemused by the terrible geometry of the Austin brake system but given that it was only Herbert and his young offsider that designed the car in a very short time it is a remarkable job for it’s day, however given its long production run you would have thought that a little more “design” could have crept into the braking system over its life.<\/p>\n Corroded scrap from A7 brazed to a new strip brazed to another new strip<\/p><\/div>\n On another subject, I have been at many car shows and have often seen people demonstrating welding aluminium on old Coke cans and have always been tempted to buy the product but thought it was all down to the skill of the operator.\u00a0 The chummy has some aluminium panel damage so I have bought some of these magic brazing rods from eBay, the stuff works because it melts at around 370\u00b0 and Aluminium melts at around 600\u00b0 so it can be done without blowing holes, they claim it\u2019s stronger than the aluminium also you can do it with propane or Map gas.\u00a0 The picture shows my first attempt so I will need some practice before the main gig.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My new year\u2019s resolution of getting an Austin\u00a0on the road by December is looking less likely as I didn\u2019t realise the impact of cold weather on my productivity, never mind it will happen just not by December All the chassis … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carcrank.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/IMG_20170715_145628-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>While I am waiting for that to happen I\u2019m coming to grips with the brakes which had been converted to hydraulic in such a way that the chance of stopping would have been purely accidental.\u00a0 Needless to say, they have been consigned to the ever-growing scrap heap and replacement late model \u201cSemi Girling\u201d mechanical units installed.\u00a0 These improved brakes were supposed to cope with the later model Austin 7\u2019s which were quite heavy so on the Special they should be good? \u00a0Better? We will see.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carcrank.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/IMG_20170705_141619-300x225.jpg\")
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