EOM 610 - 1939 Austin Ruby ARR

Do this car still exist?.

This is a rather unusual quest.

By way of background to this post, Rubies have always been one of my favourite models of Austin Seven, especially in Mk2 form. Unfortunately, I have never found an example that I could afford - even when limiting my search to a car in need of some repair or a part-finished restoration. Because of this, I have contented myself collecting information and memorabilia relating to Ruby models and which brings me back to the subject of my quest. Just recently I spotted a beautiful faux-leather presentation folder on a well-known auction website containing  information specific to a 1939 Austin Ruby car carrying the registration EOM 610. The seller very kindly offered to sell me the folder for the cost of postage as she explained that she had no wish to see it end up in landfill.

The touching thing about this item is that it appears to have been bought and prepared by a Mum for her son Nigel on the occasion of his 21st birthday in February 1993.  Clearly the car must have been a treasured possession at that time (so not that long ago in Austin Seven years!) and which leads me to hope that the car might have survived, despite its non-inclusion on the current DVLA database. Perhaps the car was a restoration that was never completed and therefore never put back-on-the road and in which case could still be languishing in a garage somewhere?. If so, it would be nice to re-unite the car with part of its history. From my experience it is not uncommon for a car to become separated from its paperwork.  The clues I have about the car so far are obviously its Birmingham registration together with the knowledge that the folder was found when clearing out the contents of a rented garage in Stratford-upon-Avon. Perhaps the car had lived in the Birmingham area since new?. Perhaps somebody may recall a Ruby with this registration from around 1993 owned by a young gentleman called Nigel?.

It would be fascinating to discover if the car does still exist - another survivor confirmed.

My name is Colin and my tel.no is 07847 506 311 or cjt2020@outlook.com

I am currently putting together a new engine that will initially go in the Pytchley but could end up in the single seater.    The bottom end has a splash fed Hadley crank and rods.  The cam is an unknown quantity but came from Reg Nice.  It is a very nice piece of machining and is a standard cam that has had 0.050" ground off the base circles.  The block is the one that was on my Reliant cranked pressure fed engine.   It has Honda pistons and large inlet valves.   The cam followers are flattened to 3/4" radius and the valve springs, as far as I know are from an Austin Maxi.  I remember the engine being done by Andy Hastings and Walt Wheaton back in the late 1990's and they said that Maxi valve springs were as good as double valve springs.  To my mind the valve springs are very strong and I am wondering whether they will be suitable given that I am now using a high lift camshaft.   I am thinking about the effect on the block holding down studs and the valve heads.   Would I be better using standard valve springs?

I'm searching for a locking ring for the angular contact bearings on a '31/32 banjo axle torque tube. I gather there are both left and right had threaded variants out there - am after LH Thread.
Mine has been removed by a gorilla with a large hammer and a chisel at some point in its life, and won't be going back in....

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be appreciated.

Hi all,

I have a coil engine (with modern voltage regulator) but using an earlier magneto type SM3 switch panel.

I am having to use the same switch for both the dynamo and ignition coil which seems to work ok. However, if you cut the ignition at fast idle with the dynamo charging, the current just feeds into the coil and keeps running - not great for safety or the dynamo!

What is the best way to both deactivate and isolate the dynamo? Should both the field current and feed to the battery be cut or can you just break the field circuit and rely on the cut-out/regulator diode to prevent current flowing back from the battery?

I'm thinking of adding a relay(s) to allow the ignition switch to isolate multiple but separated circuits which seems like the best solution. Any thoughts? Before anyone suggests just fitting the correct switch panel - I did have one fitted but wanted the early panel with silver ammeter to match the rest of the silver faced instruments on my dash...

Hello chaps, 

I recent purchased a couple of double front shocks for my seven build, 

The upper is supposed to be from pigsty (which I'm not sure looking at the welding)
The Lower Oxford 7's


My question would be, what if any would be the advantage of using one over the other when looking at the pivot and lever of each. Which would be more advantage for fast road / racing use ? 



   

Many thanks in advance and I look forward to reading your comments..

With the recent closure of my local Austin Service and Repair Shop,
does anyone know of a suitable service & repair shop around Cheltenham,Winchcombe, Tewkesbury,
Area 
Regards Smiley.

Hi All

Just a little reminder that today is the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs’,  ‘Drive it Day’. 

I’m hoping to get out this afternoon but I’ve had a few set backs. 

Firstly the van just cut out on Thursday, just a few hundred yards from home and despite lots of roadside checks had to be towed back (by me using my A frame).  it was only yesterday that I finally found the culprit…the coil. I had thought that coils gave a bit of warning when they were about to fail but this one just packed up.

Secondly the change of wheels from 19” to 18” on my Special has been fraught with difficulties. On another thread I described the need for spacers (18” wheels with 4 x 18 Longstones are bigger than 19” wheels with 3.5” Mitas tyres). But I also needed to change the mudguards, which has kept me occupied for most of last week.

Anyway one or other or the RK will be out this afternoon.

Enjoy the day

Cheers

Howard

As many of you will know, I have recently  had a rebore with new pistons and a general top end overhaul, mainly to cure what I thought was a little end rattle. coming back from Wrexham last Tuesday, and after about 250 miles running, the noise started again. 

To explain, although I recognise that it is notoriously difficult to  diagnose a noise that one hasn't heard, it sounds exactly like a tin butterfly trapped inside the engine that is most apparent on light throttle and on the change from run to overrun - exactly where one would expect a big end noise to be but (at least to my ears) lighter than I would expect.

Accordingly, today I took the sump off and carefully checked that all was well inside. Removing the sump and gauze showed no sign of debris. Indeed they were as clean as when I assembled the engine. I checked that the gudgeon pin pinch bolts were tight and then dismantled the big ends in turn. The bearing surfaces were smooth with no signs of scoring or metal flaking. All the bearings seemed to be well covered in oil. I checked the crank pins. All were round to within 3 thou and, again showed no signs of scoring or discernible wear. I then checked the radial clearances and found all of them to be less than 2 thou. I reassembled the bottom end most carefully, making sure that the oil passages in the crank were clear and that both oil jets were unobstructed. (Not that I thought they were, as the oil pressure is about 3 lbs at 30 mph hot, but its best to check). I made sure that the bearing caps were the right way round (they are all marked anyway) and that the big end bolts were correctly seated and the nuts done up to 20 ft lbs torque. I checked everything several times, just in case I had missed anything, as all seemed to be as it should. 

I have just got back from a 20 mile test run and my tin butterfly is still there when the engine is up to temperature. Oil pressure is just off the stop on tickover and about 3 lbs at 30 mph hot.

What have I missed?

Hi all, I have an anticlockwise 2:1 chronometric tachometer and a matching speedo ("Smiths" on the faces, but made in India nonetheless) and I'm intending to used them in my Special. Has anyone else done this? -- particularly the speedo. Speedos are a black art for me, I literally have no idea about ratios or anything, whether or not there is a fixed ratio for speedos. How does one match up a speedo swap otherwise?

Also, does anyone offer a tacho drive conversion from under the distributer?

Two years ago I started a thread about an occasional misfire on my Ruby. To cut a long story short I spent countless weekends trying to solve it without success. The problem gradually worsened over the course of a couple of hundred miles and it became evident it was popping back through the carb (or possibly backfiring but I don't think so). 

The story was interrupted by a garage build and it became evident when we got the car back home that the block was cracked. It is now all back together with another block and pistons and ran well for the first 20 miles or so. Now the popping is back, albeit only occasionally.

Before the block was replaced I swapped the following parts (one at a time):
coil;
condensor;
points;
rotor arm;
distributor cap and leads;
plugs;
carb;

I also added an earth wire to the distributor base, cleaned out the pump, blew back through the fuel line to the tank and cleaned out the tank.

Before the block was changed it was evident that one cylinder occasionally had low compression so I reamed the valve guides and re-ground the valves. It made no difference. The new block has new guides, one suspect cam follower (and the valves) changed and the other followers visually checked for cracks. The compression is fairly even (110, 110, 106, 110) and is consistent over several checks.

I'm running out of things to check, as well as patience. Any ideas?