What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Nick Lettington]

   

Yesterday... Deep in the Essex countryside...

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Splendid!

[Michael D]

               

   



here's an update on the SU on my Rosengart.
Yesterday at last we had some time to test drive the car with the new ALR 30 degree inlet + exhaust manifolds cum SU. ’t was some 8 degrees Centigrade but sunny so the Missus donned a warm coat and gloves to share the drive with me….. She kinda liked it. A lot
Mind you....The exhaust manifold is a bespoke item that’s not available off any shelf…. 



I’ll post some more pics separately hopefully showing the space they take up.
The top of the float chamber is approx 14 cms above the engine’s head. 
The intake ram pipe just fits within the space underneath / inside the bonnet; it lines up more or less with the left front chassis member
We’ve measured the entire arrangement protrudes appoximately 20 to 22,5 cms ‘sideways’ from the engine block
[font=system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont,


Testing this was a mixed-emotion experience ; it pulls okay in 1st and 2nd (even though not quite as lively as I had hoped for) reaching revs that to my ears sounded like more or less the max advisable (fitting a small OS tachometer to the dash is one of the next jobs on the list) but when finding 3rd gear (which is still a bit of a struggle as the ‘3rd gate’ is a bit hard to find) there is a huge drop in revs and no ‘pull’ whatsoever, the car taking ages to ‘accellerate’ (i.e. Crawl) beyond the speed attained in 2nd gear. 
Yes I did replenish the scuttle mounted fuel tank to over 3/4 so that should be of no influence; fuel supply should have been sufficient.
Judging by the little farts firing back now and then from the exhaust when double declutching the mixture is rich enough.. (may be a tad too rich???)
No fuel pump has been fitted as yet as the one I had arranged is a bit too bulky to fit together with the Malpassi filter king cum pressure regulator as there just is not enough space under the Bonnet 
So I’ll have to settle for a small Facet style 6 v pump instead.
Nevertheless I’m puzzled; Is it customary with these 3 speed boxes that 3rd is such a long one that the engine will hardly pull after shifting up from 2nd or is it me losing too much momentum finding 3rd gear as the Missus so kindly suggested ….. 
I've had it confirmed that there's quite a gap between 2nd and 3rd but that there's nigh to no discernible acceleration in 3rd seems a bit odd... so if anyone has a spare 4 speed gearbox lingering around that 'll fit my LR4N2.... drop me a message and make me an offer I can't refuse[/font]

[JonE]

Beautiful car. Is there anyone else that has a similar model you can speak to. Presuming its steel, it looks a lot, lot weightier-built than say an alloy chummy with similar low compression engine and 3 speed box?

[Chris KC]

here's an update on the SU on my Rosengart.
Yesterday at last we had some time to test drive the car with the new ALR 30 degree inlet + exhaust manifolds cum SU. ’t was some 8 degrees Centigrade but sunny so the Missus donned a warm coat and gloves to share the drive with me….. She kinda liked it. A lot
Mind you....The exhaust manifold is a bespoke item that’s not available off any shelf…. 

I’ll post some more pics separately hopefully showing the space they take up.
The top of the float chamber is approx 14 cms above the engine’s head. 
The intake ram pipe just fits within the space underneath / inside the bonnet; it lines up more or less with the left front chassis member
We’ve measured the entire arrangement protrudes appoximately 20 to 22,5 cms ‘sideways’ from the engine block
[font=system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont,

Testing this was a mixed-emotion experience ; it pulls okay in 1st and 2nd (even though not quite as lively as I had hoped for) reaching revs that to my ears sounded like more or less the max advisable (fitting a small OS tachometer to the dash is one of the next jobs on the list) but when finding 3rd gear (which is still a bit of a struggle as the ‘3rd gate’ is a bit hard to find) there is a huge drop in revs and no ‘pull’ whatsoever, the car taking ages to ‘accellerate’ (i.e. Crawl) beyond the speed attained in 2nd gear. 
Yes I did replenish the scuttle mounted fuel tank to over 3/4 so that should be of no influence; fuel supply should have been sufficient.
Judging by the little farts firing back now and then from the exhaust when double declutching the mixture is rich enough.. (may be a tad too rich???)
No fuel pump has been fitted as yet as the one I had arranged is a bit too bulky to fit together with the Malpassi filter king cum pressure regulator as there just is not enough space under the Bonnet 
So I’ll have to settle for a small Facet style 6 v pump instead.
Nevertheless I’m puzzled; Is it customary with these 3 speed boxes that 3rd is such a long one that the engine will hardly pull after shifting up from 2nd or is it me losing too much momentum finding 3rd gear as the Missus so kindly suggested ….. 
I've had it confirmed that there's quite a gap between 2nd and 3rd but that there's nigh to no discernible acceleration in 3rd seems a bit odd... so if anyone has a spare 4 speed gearbox lingering around that 'll fit my LR4N2.... drop me a message and make me an offer I can't refuse[/font]

Yes to the above Michael, but I'm just wondering have you checked your points gap / timing?

[Greig Smith]

I tested our supercharged single seater this weekend, had a faulty plug giving a misfire, had to richen the mixture a couple of times, I hope the pistons and plugs are happier with this mixture, I half expected the nut to fall off the bottom of the SU carb feeding the blower.

As the road outside my house has tree roots growing under the tarmac which make fast runs impossible despite the urging of the neighbours, we took it out to a quiet country road with a wide shoulder. A few more plug changes and another 3 flats down on the SU mixture and she was pulling just under 80mph. Happy with that, now to try and get the front wheels balanced... Gets a bit 'choppy' over 70mph.

I gave it a little welly in the gears and also when doing U turns for return runs. The good news is that the welded sideshafts on the offset diff were up to the task, the better news is that the blower feeds the power in low down and the rear tyres will slide a bit in the U turns. No untoward vibrations or 'orrible noises, all the oily bits stayed on the inside and apart from jumping out of 1st and 4th.... Urg that's a box out job, she runs very well. The straight cut gears on the blower put up a good whine... It's intoxicating !!!

Back in the garage now, we depart on Friday with both A7 race cars for the Historic Grand Prix in East London, South Africa, the re-inactment of the 1934 Grand Prix. I'll take lots of pictures

It's a tough life out here in the Colonies

Aye
Greig

[Michael D]

Beautiful car. Is there anyone else that has a similar model you can speak to. Presuming its steel, it looks a lot, lot weightier-built than say an alloy chummy with similar low compression engine and 3 speed box?

Kerb weight is approx. 650 kilo's.....(and I'm some. 95...). don't know about chummy's.....

---

here's an update on the SU on my Rosengart.
Yesterday at last we had some time to test drive the car with the new ALR 30 degree inlet + exhaust manifolds cum SU. ’t was some 8 degrees Centigrade but sunny so the Missus donned a warm coat and gloves to share the drive with me….. She kinda liked it. A lot
Mind you....The exhaust manifold is a bespoke item that’s not available off any shelf…. 

I’ll post some more pics separately hopefully showing the space they take up.
The top of the float chamber is approx 14 cms above the engine’s head. 
The intake ram pipe just fits within the space underneath / inside the bonnet; it lines up more or less with the left front chassis member
We’ve measured the entire arrangement protrudes appoximately 20 to 22,5 cms ‘sideways’ from the engine block
[font=system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont,

Testing this was a mixed-emotion experience ; it pulls okay in 1st and 2nd (even though not quite as lively as I had hoped for) reaching revs that to my ears sounded like more or less the max advisable (fitting a small OS tachometer to the dash is one of the next jobs on the list) but when finding 3rd gear (which is still a bit of a struggle as the ‘3rd gate’ is a bit hard to find) there is a huge drop in revs and no ‘pull’ whatsoever, the car taking ages to ‘accellerate’ (i.e. Crawl) beyond the speed attained in 2nd gear. 
Yes I did replenish the scuttle mounted fuel tank to over 3/4 so that should be of no influence; fuel supply should have been sufficient.
Judging by the little farts firing back now and then from the exhaust when double declutching the mixture is rich enough.. (may be a tad too rich???)
No fuel pump has been fitted as yet as the one I had arranged is a bit too bulky to fit together with the Malpassi filter king cum pressure regulator as there just is not enough space under the Bonnet 
So I’ll have to settle for a small Facet style 6 v pump instead.
Nevertheless I’m puzzled; Is it customary with these 3 speed boxes that 3rd is such a long one that the engine will hardly pull after shifting up from 2nd or is it me losing too much momentum finding 3rd gear as the Missus so kindly suggested ….. 
I've had it confirmed that there's quite a gap between 2nd and 3rd but that there's nigh to no discernible acceleration in 3rd seems a bit odd... so if anyone has a spare 4 speed gearbox lingering around that 'll fit my LR4N2.... drop me a message and make me an offer I can't refuse[/font]

Yes to the above Michael, but I'm just wondering have you checked your points gap / timing?

Actually Chris.... the thought about advance / retard timing has crossed my mind (any more concrete suggestions for me after changing the Solex carb to the SU thingy?) ; points gap should'v e been on the spot but we'll have to look into that as well...

[Reckless Rat]

Dear Friends
When replying to a post it is much easier on the eye and the post total to click on the black button "new reply" rather than using the quick reply at the bottom of the page. This avoids the repetition of a post already made.

Happy Monday from frosty France.

[Peter Naulls]

A rather frosty commute to work this morning. Lovely scenery and all went well until I hit a patch of freezing fog; I have driven Sevens in all sorts of weather over the last 30 years but this took me completely by surprise, the ice forming in sheets on the windscreen as fast as I tried to remove it. Very unpleasant but judging by the speed of the oncoming cars the moderns were suffering just as badly.

   

   

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Literally, cool!