Building a Special Body

[Ian Williams]

Still not 100% finished, I have a bit more work to do finishing tacking the covers to the frames and sorting out how much stuffing I want in the Squabs. I need them to be comfortable but not too high and most certainly not looking like an over stuffed victorian armchair! I have also had a cheeky comment from a friend about my use of modern square head screws attaching the aluminium to the wooden seat bases, fear not dear friends these are temporary because they were what I had to hand and will have been replaced with period style slot head screws before all is finished. 
And just in case anyone is wondering the leather is attached with cut tacks not modern staples!   
Sadly for those concerned about such things there is some foam in the seats, I could not find a supply of horse hair here, so although the flutes have cotton wadding there is some foam below. 

   
   

[Ian Williams]

I have finally found time to do some work on my own car again and have got the chassis modifications complete. The nose piece is boxed in the same way as the we did on the Joss Campbell special, the main rails are boxed with extensions to buttress the crossmember's, the central stiffer has been extended and repeated to provide mounting for the sill's, stressed under tray, and support the floor either side of the removable transmission tunnel. I have altered the damper mounting bracket position moving them up inside the undertray line and backwards allowing the damper arm's to be shortened by just over an inch, there is another fixed arm copied in design from that used in a Hartford type damper. The whole thing is fixed together with hundreds of hot rivet's and I have attempted to keep the weight of the additions to a minimum, all up as you see it in these pictures the weight is 66lbs according to my scales. 

           

[Howard Wright]

Hi Ian

This is inspirational stuff for us special builders. 

The chassis will be very strong and stiff.  What do you plan for the end result, trials or racing?

The seats are a work of art!

Cheers

Howard

[Ian Williams]

Thanks Howard, when I embarked on this rebuild I was still recovering from the accident and had full intention of racing it again, I am not so sure I will do that now.

[Tony Press]

With your brilliant Austin Seven building skills it would be a worry if risked yourself racing again ! (from a confirmed coward)

Cheers, Tony P.

[Ian Williams]

In a fast special is well worth making modifications to the rear dampers by adding a fixed and moving arm, with my car I have also shortened the arms and lifted the damper mounting bracket so it is flush with the underside of the chassis. The rear extensions were altered boxed and braced, I modified a Ruby type bracket to fit into the extensions, cut additional moving arms from 2mm steel which were spot welded to a shortened Ruby arm, the additional fixed plate is copied from a hartford design. The result is to my mind pleasingly authentic in appearance as well as achieving the desired improvements, pictures should explain.
               

[JonE]

That is really interesting, as only last night I was reading the green book and scratching my head about HOW "one extra moving arm and one static arm" could be achieved in practice! (Was it in the Birkett advice? haven't got it to hand...) For the rest of us with more standard pre Ruby fittings, is there an easy way without the bespoke metalwork, Ian? And would it be worthwhile in the same way as the front damper securing that is seen to benefit all?

[Ian Williams]

Hi Jon, however you do it there will need to be some bespoke metalwork made, its not hard, my parts were done with only a jigsaw file and drill. Yes I have access to a spot welder but that was a convenience rather than necessity, parts can be riveted or brazed together if need be. In my opinion most Austin 7's are under damped at the rear so yes I believe improvements to handling could be obtained, however without strengthening the crossmember bracket on earlier chassis you are asking for problems with cracking. This is one of the reasons Austin used the coil spring arrangement on their own design damper to stop owner's over tightening them. If there were interest I would not be that difficult for us to have a small run of components similar to my arrangement but using std length ruby arms laser cut here and supplied as a kit.

[Jamie]

I have looked at the pictures and description of this modification a couple of times, but I have to confess that I do not see how it works. Can you explain which bit is fixed, which moves and how it improves handling, please?

Thank you.

Jamie.

[goodwoodweirdo]

Hi Ian

Really fantastic work, I'm  a novice and recent owner of a special...

Can I ask your thoughts on 7 chassis ?  the car of your friend you only  stiffened the nose piece, this car you go much further and stiffen the lateral.. is it purely down to driving requirements ?

Can I ask what your preference would be for a fast road, hill climb car and why ? maybe I need start a new thread, sorry if this is already covered else where..

Kindest regards
Matt