Project “will it go again..?” 1961 Austin Seven Deluxe Restoration

[gs.davies]

The good chaps at Classic and Sports Cars Essex have struck up again after a workshop move and a fresh injection of fuel from me (cash)

Yet more Tyneside welding all up the inside of the a panel on the near side. Hopefully the front end will be in better shape soon. I suppose this is how some of these cars were kept alive back in the day and at some stage, this might have counted as 'restoration'!

Chopping it all out and replacing with m-machine panels.







In other news the engine spec is coming together;
1098 with a NOS set of BMC high compression Pistons
Minisport ST-948 cam
12G295 (sourced at blyton) now skimmed 75 thou
Maniflow twin box system (also sourced at Blyton)
Original Cooper Freeflow (need to work how to join to exhaust)
Twin HS2's - manifold needed as the manifold they're on is from an ADO16

Hope to get the block and crank into a machine shop over the weekend (weather as per the long haired colonel being favourable..)

[gs.davies]

High time for an update - there's been a lot of progress on the shell, lots of persuading panels to fit apparently. I'll let the pictures do the talking;









Some big repairs carried out to the A Post and A Panels prior to refitting the inner wing...

[gs.davies]

Similar work on the driver's side...

[gs.davies]

Getting it back looking like a car again..

[gs.davies]

[gs.davies]

The replacement M-Machine rear wings finish on the horizontal, underneath the rear window. Not the ideal place to join, so Mick added an extension to the repair panel so he could get back to the factory join for the outer wing (and if I've heard correctly swore a little for a while too..)

[gs.davies]

Some localised repairs to the wheel housing..



A little bit of grot to attend to on the rear panel..



Need another couple of ashtray holders which may have to be modified to include the screw holes for the companion bin lights.



Fresh metal



Repeat the process for the other side



It's come a long way since it looked like this;

[gs.davies]

At some point, I'll need to get these refurbed..

[mk1]

Great progress!

[gs.davies]

Had a rather depressing evening in the garage starting to clean up the remainder of the rear suspension.

Chiselling off baked on layers of grease and road filth to get down to some metal to start cleaning up wasn't fun. All pretty standard stuff - corroded and pitted radius arm pins, rusty backplates, seized up cylinders.

I'm looking forward the point where I can spend some time putting nice clean, serviceable parts back together.

Any thoughts on simply replacing the pins in the radius arms leaving the existing bush and bearing in place?

[mk1]

If the pins are rusty its a false economy not replacing the bush & bearing. I would NEVER reuse a bush or bearing that has had a rusty pin running in it.

[Daz1968]

The kits from mini spares are very cheap, they include pins, bearings, bushes, nuts, seals and tube. Not really worth buying just pins. Only thing is as they are so cheap I am unsure what quality is like as have only had them in a short time. Only thing I would advise is to reuse your old steel tube rather than the new plastic one and also use old rubber seals as I have no confidence in the new ones.

[gs.davies]

The problem is reaming the new bush without the right tool. I'm up for having a go at fixing these before getting some recon ones. But what tool to use?

[Andrew1967]

I'd agree with using the steel tubes (if you can get them out intact), or get hold of some NOS ones and DEFINITELY use the old rubber dust/grease seals.

It's pretty easy to knock the old bush out without the correct tools. The bearing can be a bit trickier but still possible. I did both of mine from start to finish in about 2 hours.

Whereabouts are you ?

I have the correct reamer here in Norfolk and would be happy to ream out the bushes for you.

Regrettably I will not lend it out as it's just too useful to risk loss or damage.

Thinking about it, has your car got the welded radius arms ? Not sure if they are all the same, but my '60 has bronze bushes both ends.

[gs.davies]

I'm in Maldon, Essex. Was in Norfolk a few weeks ago. Could be a nice drive out if you fancy doing these for me.

[gs.davies]

I don't think these are original. They both have a needle roller at one end and one of hem had the intermediate handbrake quadrant arrangement with the clevis and split pin.

[Andrew1967]

PM sent Gary

[gs.davies]

Rear wings got some attention today. Really feels like it's finally starting to come together now.

[814CWE]

looking good gary.


rich.

[Andrew1967]

Nice work there