This is an extract from a letter I wrote to an Austin Seven pal of mine. I thought it would be of interest.
A couple of weeks back I went on the Wye Valley Wander with the Hereford Austin Seven Club. It was starting at Whitchurch and ending at Chepstow. Blimey I thought, that’s a long way. It turned out there is a Whitchurch just south of Ross in Wye, so that’s OK. The start point is a mile away from where Jamie my nephew lives, so I invited himself or his wife to come along. Katie his wife elected to come. So I set off in cold dank mist, only to discover that the wiper motor didn’t. A pity as its rubbish at clearing away rain, but rather good at wiping away mist, so I have to manually operate it as I buzzed along the M50. It was a quick fix when I got to Jamie’s, drop off cover, clean contact and reassemble. Naturally the wipers were no longer needed after that. We mustered and set off first for Tintern, and thence to Chepstow. As a non A7 I was tail end Charlie.
Th end of day saw us all headed back to Symonds Yat for a cream tea. During the day I mentioned to Katie that I usually drove the car expecting the brakes not to work. Of course they work very well but can succumb to fade. Dropping down the steep incline to the tea room, I thought that the brake pedal was not in the position I expected it to be. Brakes still were working well. Having parked up I popped the bonnet to look at the brake reservoir, oops empty. Katie phoned Jamie and got him to bring some brake fluid (funny that the other A7s don’t carry spare brake fluid!). I topped it up but pedal still felt rotten. I decided to head off home while there was some daylight left. However it was dull enough to need lights, and lo and behold - no headlights. Grrr. Anyhow thinking about it, I remembered that this had happened before and it was a wire off the light switch. And so it was again so with wire restored I set off again. By this time the brake pedal felt better than it ever had, so that was good.
So disappointing that the Singer gave 3 separate faults that day. No Austin Sevens misbehaved. The following morning I put the car up on stands and dropped wheels and drums off. Curiously every wheel cylinder was wet behind the rubber boots, but no spillage on to the linings. I am not sure why I have lost so much fluid. The lining on the shoes are already sufficiently worn that one wheel does not adjust properly. I am biting the bullet. The shoes are despatched for relining. Stephen Butler who I bought the car off, owns a business which specialises in relining brake shoes - commercials usually. Now I don’t want to risk my nice new linings being contaminated. I have in the past re-rubbered all the wheel cylinders and to be fair the cylinders are not that good. I have located a company that will sell me some newly manufactured ones, at a price. I could have gone for resleeving elsewhere, but the pistons are horrible, maybe I might do that anyway on the ones I take off and sell them. At least it will be a job done, and properly. Finally a couple weeks ago the flasher unit failed so that’s another replacement.
Today the new cylinders have arrived, they look lovely. I ordered them just over a week ago and they had to be manufactured for me. Its not cheap at over £100 a corner, but brakes are worth cutting financial corners. I have also attempted to show the worn cylinder and piston. I did re-rubber the cylinders two years ago, so they have failed quite quickly. Tomorrow i should be able to fit them, but I haven't got the shows back.
Cheers
Roly
