Austin A30 Seven

[arceye]

So, this project continues to be slow going, mainly still due to motivating myself coupled to lots of unexpected bills on the modern (DMF, Clutch, Power steering pump, Steering rack ) causing a shortfall in my piggy bank.

But moving slowly is still better than not at all .. anyway,

I did get on with the drivers side wing, more of the same so I didn't bother with photos though it did require more work than the nearside wing. Once I had everything fitting something like I got some paint on the wings and invested in new beading and sidelight plinths, worth noting here that wing beading from Woolies is a fraction of the price of Ebay sellers.

So a pleasant day was spent fully bolting up the wings and fitting beading etc, the brown rusty looking areas behind the headlight holes is actually lashings of cavity wax. I also splashed out the last of my pennies on a new windscreen seal and got that back in.








I've also taken care of painting the inside / bonnet / boot areas, nothing fancy, just a brush job in these areas, I also took the opportunity to drill holes in the inner sill areas and spray masses of cavity wax inside the sills in the hope of better protecting all that work.







The boot needs sweeping out again and another coat to finish



Although I have no photos I've also cleaned and undersealed the underside at the back end and got the petrol tank back on, made a new fuel line running the length of the car from copper pipe to replace the rusty one that was half steel and half rubber hose repairs.

Further work.. I made up a rear section of exhaust to replace the non existent one, this though is just a temporary fix which will be replaced at a later date with a full new system once all the other wrinkles are ironed out.

Oh, and a while back I bought a carpet set, I've been a little under the weather this last few days so I've half fitted that that today along with the front passenger seat as I really couldn't face doing any of the dirty stuff. Pictures of that soon when I've fitted the rest.

Masses left to do, I'm going to order up a seal kit for the master cylinder in the next few days and then I can go over the brakes next.

[JPB]

Damn! That's coming along most impressively. It's rare enough to see a structurally correctly rebuilt A30/35 shell, but to see one that's being restored to this standard in so short a time is rarer still. This is going to be one of the best examples of its type in existence once it's done, beyond a doubt.
Have you considered taking on some similar work for others? Folk will travel to have a good job done before they'll accept a merely satisfactory one by someone close to where they stay..

[rich.]

well done mate!

[vulgalour]

This is coming on a treat, it's always good to read updates from yourself.

[3xpendable]

Lovely job

[gazza82]

Masses left to do, I'm going to order up a seal kit for the master cylinder in the next few days and then I can go over the brakes next.

Quite often the cylinder bores are badly rusted .. doesn't help the master cylinder is under the floor and exposed to the elements plus brake fluids habit of attracting moisture.

The Owners Club do refurbished cylinder with a stainless steel insert (exchange basis I think) and all new seals and that might be a wise move. (You do have to be a member though!)

[JPB]

^^A perfect example of a car club that's worth its subs!

I've fitted a couple of these sleeved master cylinders to A35s for local club folk and the quality of the parts was superb. These came via the club but the stainless inserts are also available from Chicago Rawhide and not too bad a job for anyone with machine shop skills to do, though the bore size and shape is critical as the insert must close up uniformly or it simply wouldn't be safe to use.

[arceye]

Cheers Chaps

Another proper update shortly, I've been having a push to try and get her done to a roadworthy but ongoing project stage but still have some way to go.

I've had the master cylinder apart and cleaned things up / fitted new seals for now but will be back there before too long due to her being a little ridged at the front of the bore. As suggested I'll have to join the club soon and can get an exchange unit then. The original cylinder is currently holding fluids without leaks and operating correctly, so I'm just trying to work through the rest of the system and get it all operational before revisiting that particular component.

I would have joined by now but every time I think I'm getting there with the little car I have to buy something else and so the funds for important things like club membership keep disappearing

Anyway, a full update shortly when I've fitted a few more of the bits I've shelled out £350 or so for in the last couple of weeks

[arceye]

Thought I'd fetch this up to date as I'm away for the weekend and so won't get to achieve all I was hoping for a week or two, but things are coming together.

The new carpet has gone in along with the seats and door cards, I'm hoping in the future to recover the door cards and possibly recolour the seats but these are unnecessary jobs in comparison to those needed to get the old lady mobile again, so this is how she will stay for the foreseeable.





I've also fitted the lights and got all the electrics working so that's a much needed job done, two issues stored for the future now being I have used my last two sealed beam units and I bought Wipac plastic headlamp bowls which are a tight fit in the light apertures and seem to make the headlamps sit a little low to the wing tops, again something to be re visited in the future though nothing to stop the car from being used so they can be added to the "snagging" list. For now I need to get her mobile so I can make sure their are no hidden nasties with things like the gearbox or axle. She wasn't fit to do more than move her about slowly when she came so although all seems well in these departments I can't be sure just yet.





I then decided to get onto the brakes, hoping as she has had recentish pipes and hoses things might not be too bad, well, so far I have replaced the rear brake cable that was rather rusty and frayed then re sealed the master cylinder, which as mentioned in my last post is yet another thing on my growing list of bits and pieces to revisit later, it wasn't too bad at all really but just not quite good enough in my opinion to leave for the long term.

Anyways, here she is after a little love

Good enough at least in order to go over the rest of the brake system and to shake the car down on local roads.



I've also re-sealed the rear brake frame cylinder that operates the rather old fashioned even by 1950's standards mechanical rear braking system. That went better and the cylinder seemed a perfect candidate for a re seal so at least that hasn't caused further troubles.

Happy with this I thought I'd pull the drums off to see how things were in there, well unfortunately she bit me again with a scene that suggested she'd been a little to close to the Braer oil tanker spill.

So, off with the hubs then

This was the less leaky side but still too greasy



and the drivers side



So, more parts ordered, new hub seals and I figured I may as well be prudent and replace the wheel bearings seeing as they need drifting out to replace the seals, so while I waited for parts I took the chance to finish under-sealing and wax oyling of the underside body.

I also spent a little time getting the engine running after her lay up, and discovered my battery is now under par, she really does seem to be a little reluctant to enter active service again.

While waiting I also pulled a tire off one of the rear wheels and cleaned / painted it



Four new tyres arrived from Blackcircles today so that is more work waiting to be done. I have valves in both sizes so even if one or two of the wheels have the larger valve hole all should go ok there.

Anyway, a few bits arrived yesterday



hub seals, rear wheel bearings, a few wheel nuts due to fact that a couple were missing when I got her, a rearview mirror stalk with glass clamp (I broke the original stalk while hamfistedly fitting a mirror off something else as I didn't have the clamp ) , I also got a new set of HT leads and an oil filter.

A new battery also arrived



So back to work

New bearings and seals fitted to hubs





I had a bit of a panic trying to find out where the large o ring seal went before finding out it was used on later hubs and not on mine.

New brake shoes on



And I have now fitted the passenger side hub and halfshaft back in situ but thats as far as I am today.

Oh, I also splashed out on the correct wiper arms and blades along with wiper grommets for the scuttle



And I have new number plates on order, the original pyramoid type it was wearing a few years ago have been parted from her sadly, but I have bit the bullet and at least order pressed ones with correct sized 3.5" digits.

Right I'm feeling quite faint from all that spending still being a Lancashire lad at heart and I haven't even pulled the front drums off yet....

I shall update again when I've got the rear brakes finished and know what the front ones hold in store.

[Luxobarge]

Great stuff arceye, relly enjoying this.

Give me a nudge when you do the interior uphostery, our Minor was in similar condition (or a bit worse) when we got it, and I restored it by replacing some torn covers and re-colouring the rest - I used a colouring kit from Furniture Clinic, they were really helpful and it worked a treat - I have a blow-by-blow forum blog thread somewhere, I'll dig it out and it'll show you how it's done. It came out virtually perfect, I was sceptical about "painting" vinyl at first, but believe me it really does work. I did it about 8 years ago and it still looks factory fresh. Ours are even more or less the same colour as yours too!

Well done mate and keep the updates coming, great job.

Cheers!