December 1978
DORSET
AUSTIN SEVEN CLUB
Let’s begin this month by
wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a good Austin New Year. At our
November meeting we had an excellent sound film and slide
show. The film by Dave Delaney showed the main
Austin events of the year with good
coverage of our own Weymouth run. Many thanks are due to Dave not only for
taking the films but also for coming all the way from Portland in his recently
restored '32 box which incidentally has two 8' x 4' sheets of steel in it!
We were glad to welcome Ian
Nelson from the 750 Central London group who was visiting relations in
Bournemouth. I think Ian was pleasantly surprised to see twenty-four members at
the Nags Head for our club night. There were some good slides on show and Huw Evans
put in a nice low chassis model. Also a welcome to new member Alan Wiseman from
Ringwood who has a '33 box which he is restoring.
Richard Cowell rang up with
details of what seems to be a cheap Ruby for somebody (see For Sale section) it
seems a pity that we do not have someone waiting for a car at present.
The club has purchased a
Banda electric duplicator for £50. It is the current model and thanks are due
to John Page for the negotiations. We hope this will make us independent and
save us using the services of sch . . . . . who has kindly arranged our printing over the
last two years.
Finally, do not forget to
send your subs. (This will be your last newsletter if you have not renewed)
If you have not already done so, please send your cheque/P.O. to Lawrence
Rideal. Also, let us have plenty of support for our Social and Skittles night
at the 'Monmouth Ash' at Verwood on Saturday, 13th January.
GRAND SOCIAL EVENING
On Saturday, 13th January we are again holding our
Social Evening in the skittle alley at the Monmouth Ash at Verwood at 8 pm.
This is the big "get together" of the DA7C calendar so please bring
your wife/girlfriend/friends along.
Come and enjoy a friendly game and chat together
with Chicken in the Basket all for £1.30 each. There will be a Raffle during
the evening. Please let our Social Sec. Glyn Llewellyn have your money and
details on the enclosed form. If you do not know the way (it’s the same as last year!) Please
telephone either Glyn or Bernard.
Please support this evening and make it a success
again.
This Month’s Meeting Thursday, 21st December,
Christmas Noggin & Natter at the Nags Head. with the added attraction of a
wind-up gramophone concours. Bring your 'wind-up' and one favourite period
record.
2.
This Month’s Committee meeting Thursday, 4th January, Mariners Rest, West Moors, 8.15 pm.
FOR SALE
Richard Cowell rang to say
he has seen a '37 Ruby for sale five miles from Gloucester. It is
fairly sound but has no rad. and the interior is original. It is behind a
garage and belongs to a Mr. Savage at Lea 344, the price £100, sounds a
bargain.
Part I
ANOTHER
EXCELLENT ARTICLE "PINCHED” FROM
THE MIDLANDS A7C NEWSLETTER
TECHNICAL
TOPICS
This Series of articles is
designed to assist the Austin Seven owner who has little experience of 'do it
yourself' maintenance but who, with a little direction, is quite capable of
wielding a set of spanners and a screwdriver in a business-like manner to
effect the necessary adjustments and replacements as they fall due. It does not
set out to instruct in the art of carving lumps from the bronze ornamental
cannon in the front garden and reworking them into early diff. carriers or
Ricardo type cylinder heads. This is best left to the experts, we shall
concentrate on diagnosis and adjustment, dismantling, replacement and
re-assembly, with perhaps a few simple modifications thrown in.
This first article deals
with the diagnosis of a number of engine noises and vibrations encountered by
most of us from time to time.
A surprising number of
Sevenists hearing a low-toned knocking noise or rumble from the engine
immediately suspect big-end or main-bearing troubles and straightway proceed to
remove the engine from the chassis and commence a major strip-down. Half a day
later the engine is strewn all over the garage floor and the puzzled owner is
wondering just what IS wrong with the bearings. The answer could quite easily
be nothing, since several defects set up very similar types of noise. These
include worn timing gears, end float in the dynamo and end float in the
crankshaft.
So, before breaking the
seals on the shiny new socket set you had for your birthday, you should apply a
couple of simple tests in an effort to eliminate some of these.
Slack timing-wheels on a
coil engine can be tested for as follows: - slacken off the fan-belt so that
there is no pressure on the top pulley, then with the engine idling, hold the
fan with one hand and with the other press the two sides of the fan belt
together to put a load on the camshaft pulley. If the noise decreases
considerably the timing wheels are worn. Replacement can be made without
removing the engine. Use only matched sets (although at a pinch unmatched sets
can be used if carefully lapped together). A set includes the dynamo gear as
well.
Part II of this article will appear in the January
newsletter.