I can see what you mean but are you really going to expose that little car to all weathers? Maybe a shield to reduce exposure would be more appropriate than trying to do a complete bearing seal, that or gaters on the shaft. Nice interesting project though.

regards Martin

Hi Geoff, forgive me if my theory is wrong, as I know nothing about your Austin 7 or any cars of this period that may be similar. However, in your video you say you have one bearing that moves smoothly and one that you can only move if you wedge the two halves apart. These look like self aligning bearings to me, maybe afore runner to a plummer block ball bearing, where the bearing swivels in the housing and therefore allows easy lining with a mating bearing, just in the same manner as your brake shaft. My point is, that these should not swivel easily as you need the shaft to rotate in the bearing and not drag it round. I'm guessing that the one you say moves smoothly has at some time seized up and has made the bearing turn in its housing and over time has worn the swivelling action to a point where you can move it with your fingers.

Of course I maybe totally wrong, but I've dealt with many different types of self aligning bearings in my day job and none move as easily as the one you show.

Regards Nick.

I think you are right Nick, Oubailie, can you not make a leather pouch (ooh er missus) that will tie round the shaft and enclose the bearings, the movement is limited, and if you only want to keep the muck and weather out of it, it should be fine. 2CV again, I made some for the knife edges on the suspension, filled them with grease and tied them round with a leather thong (here we go again) worked like a charm, and when I had to change a spring box three years later, the knife edges were like the day I put them in.

Phil

OuBallie,

A friend of mine repairs and restores Austin Sevens, builds replicas and manufactures new parts for them. If you need any advice, you could always give him a try. His details are Ian Tillman, http://www.oxfordshiresevens.co.uk or 07743 263791.

Regards,

James.

Hi OuBallie, looks like u may b able to use a CVJ gaiter, (Constant Velocity Joint) these are available in singles thru flee bay…..

the ones I use are a back silicone rubber, about £7.00, cuttable for different size shafts…as it happen these fits the majority of cars from 1960 to date……I've been fitting these for 5 years and never had a failure……

On my old car, 1928 Citroen C4, I use a st/st strapping clip, to look smart instead of the usual plastic tie clip to fix them in place….

hope this helps….any more info PM me …..Clogs…….

Hello Geoff

As the rotation of the shaft is only a few degrees, how about using bonded rubber bushes, the sort that have outer and inner steel sleeves bonded to the rubber. These can be flexible in torsion but radially stiff. Just an idea.

Jim

Fascinating!

my dad had an old Austin 7 Ruby.

no one has yet commented upon upgrading the brakes themselves from the original design. i gather this is nowadays quite common.

cheers,

julian

Phil

I've taken hydraulic conversions back to what Austin intended myself, and I would be interested in what you think of my idea for the uncoupled vintage brakes. (Described on martynlnutland.com under the drop down 'Engineering&#39.

Of course, the fundamental point is that safety is all, and although you are correct when you say that a perfectly maintained and adjusted system on the later Austin Sevens can cope with modern traffic it depends rather heavily on skills many modern motorists do not have. I.e. a finally honed sense of anticipation and use of the gears in slowing (actually frowned upon these days by the experts) etc.

That said we do need to recognise that the Austin Seven braking system is notoriously poor. Some would say, virtually non-existent; but that is a bit of an exaggeration! Swerve don't stop, eh?

All the best.

Martyn

Delighted you liked the site.

Good question about chassis twist. My chassis are circa 1926. I've assumed that because there is no physical connection at all between the front and rear brakes what twist there is, aft of the mid-point of the car, deflects the cross-shaft without too much harm other than to the stability of the braking. Maybe that is why the brackets and the wrapped bush that support the shaft are so flimsy – to allow some movement.

I did nothing to the original cross-shaft because I didn't want to make an irreversible modification. The shaft is only a steel tube and I obtained a shorter one so it would fit between the chassis rails but not pass through the brackets. It's the steel spigots that are contained in the brackets on the new bronze bushes that now have a wall thickness of about 2.5 mm. The other end of the spigots is 'up the tube' by about 30 mm. How far is governed by the location of an anchor pin that is located on the right side of the shaft and passes through it. This is to hold the one end of the shaft return spring. The other end simply bears on the channel of the chassis cross-member. I secured the spigots in the tube with bolts. I wanted to use taper pins but didn't get that right! The other difference in my 'design' is that the brake actuating levers are now on the outer ends of the spigots, clamped there with a pinch bolt. Formerly, of course, they would have been attached by the same means to the outer ends of the cross-shaft.

All the best and thanks again for the kind comment about the site.

Martyn