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Austin Seven Information


Bruce Nunnally

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My Late Father also left his Austin Seven (Austin 7) collection. All the Austins Sevens are now For Sale:

UPDATED:

  • 1934 American Austin VIN 3757017 a green sedan
  • 1930 American Austin Sedan turned Pick Up VIN 071230340436
  • 1938 English Austin Seven VIN 266434 a red convertible with body 266434

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  • 1930 American Austin Sedan turned Pick Up VIN 071230340436



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  • 1938 English Austin Seven LHD VIN 266434 a red convertible with body 266434


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  • 1934 Amer American Austin VIN 3757017 a green sedan


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I believe there are some additional engine parts and accessories as well. The cars are located in Camden, AR. Available for viewing by appointment. Inquiries welcome.

Craig's list ad: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/cto/4420182516.html

Bruce

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Planning a trip to AR to take a lot more pics of the Austins Saturday.

Bill Spear sent me tips, hints, and info on where to look for more identifying info, and how to tell English Austin from American Austin:

Yes..they are different...the American engine is a "mirror image" of the English one so its manifolds, intake and exhaust side are the opposite of the English one...I suppose your Dad could have put an English motor in an American Car, but not likely...so, look at the engine of the Green one and it should be the opposite of the red, Presumably English Opal...

your note seems to indicate that maybe He did put an English engine in an American car since those numbers are not American ones...Im trying to remember which side the carb is on...I am almost sure that if you open the green hood the way it is in the picture it will have the carb and manifolds on that side...if it is an English one they would be on the other side...also the serial number as preciously described should start with a letter like M or L and be about five digits on an american car...send me pics when you get down there and I can help you out better

Bruce

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My thinking is that the exhaust will be on the passenger side to make more room for the steering gear and the operating mechanism for the pedals, particular the clutch pedal. So, on an American car with left-hand-drive, the exhaust will be on the right, and on an English car with right-hand-drive, the exhaust will be on the left.

Flat-head engines were rarely flow-through engines so the carburetor will be on the same side as the exhaust, usually with the carburetor sitting on a heat riser housing bolted to a matching part of the exhaust manifold. Even OHV in-line engines were usually done that way until the 1949 V8 revolution begun by Cadillac and Oldsmobile. Flathead V8 engines were usually not flow-through, with the notable exception of the Ford V8 line, because either the intake or the exhaust would have to cross over between the cylinders; this was the reason that nearly all flathead Ford V8 engines have cracked heads. The only cure is an aluminum head such as the Edelbrock.

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-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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That sounds right on why the engines are mirrored. More discussion on these on this page by Bill Spears

https://wmspear.com/Bantam/aumtr.html

And the linked page at the bottom there.

Bruce

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That amazing little 750cc flathead four had two main bearings, dual row ball bearing in the front and cylindrical roller bearing in the rear. This has obvious advantages in very low frictional loss at any RPM but major disadvantages in vibration damping, particularly longitudinally but also torsionally. Its low compression ratio of 5:1 and limited output of 58 hp probably meant that it never exceeded 3,000 RPM or so. For reference, modern 750cc motorcycle engines have a red-line of about 10,000 RPM and outputs of about 150 hp, but they have three or even five main bearings, which are plain bearings, and intricate precision balancing and vibration damping mechanisms.

There is no mention of where the thrust bearing is, but it's probably in the dual row ball bearing front main, because ball bearings can take some thrust force.

An odd feature of early engines was putting the generator rotor on the distributor shaft between the cam gear and the distributor on early models. In most American engines designed for low RPM, the generator rotation rate is higher than the crankshaft rotation rate, so this feature shows that this engine was intended to be run at high RPM most of the time. So, it probably spent most of its life between 2,500 RPM and 3,500 RPM.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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Yes. Think 18 hp gross for the Austin, not 58, but same idea otherwise. These were cars that were better than walking, or motorcycle sidecars, but from an era of 20 mph speed limits.

Bruce

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Another amazing fact about these engines is that a daunting list of racers, including Stirling Moss and Stirling Chapman, cut their teeth racing cars using this motor, and that it was all aluminum and weighted only 148 pounds "with all accessories" which I suppose doesn't mean the transmission but would include the flywheel and damper, carburetor and intake manifold, exhaust manifold, etc. This engine was appropriated for the original BMW and Jaguar cars when these companies started production. And, its successor company, Bantam, designed and built the first Jeep, of which they made 2765 in 1940, half of which went to the UK and some on to the Soviet Union - but the DoD liked Ford and the Continental 2.2 liter engine offered by Willis so the American Bantam blueprints were offered up to Willis and Ford for the follow-on production.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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More detailed pics (100+) on the Google+ Album here:

https://plus.google.com/111669618335209044868/posts/g6fjcn9qoK4

To view, click on the link, then click on one of the images there, and it will take you to the album where

you can use on screen buttons to navigate.

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Bruce

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The Red Austin Seven Convertible: 1938 Austin "Opal" 2 seat tourer

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Previous seller wrote: This is a left hand drive 1938 Austin 7. Restoration started in early 90s but never finished.

Body was taken off frame, motor, trans, rear end were all gone through and needed nothing.

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I believe my Dad had this car repainted after he got it in 2006.

Bruce

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The Green Austin sedan:

The green one is definitely an American Austin...given the slanted louvers on the hood sides, I would say a 34

Bruce

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There are two types of engines shown, the red car with the earlier engine with the generator between the engine and the distributor, and the rest with the belt-driven generator. The earlier engine was apparently hand-crank started, but some of the later engines had what appeared to be an electric starter; lots of cars in the 1930's did this and kept a hand crank in the tool kit with the jack. In slide #113, there is a cast iron exposed cylinder flathead block that doesn't look like an Austin; it may be a Ford Model T. In an earlier photo of a box of parts, there are two visible Model T spark coils with their buzzers missing, so there apparently are some Model T parts in the mix.

But what you have shown is a treasure trove of Austin parts.

The crankshaft shows provision for a center main bearing but I didn't see a crankcase view that told me what the main bearing arrangement is. In fact, I didn't see cylinders in the views of disassembled blocks either, which tells me that they were removable, quite possibly screw-in from the bottom.

Most of the engines have stud-mounted heads, which is a good thing because the head studs are used for mounting casual items like the battery ground cable or the coil mount. One head had head bolts but still had the battery ground cable under a head bolt. For use in the real world, I would want studs, tempered washers that go on top of any accessory mount, and keep at-hand a snap-over torque wrench set at the head stud specification for even casual work under the hood.

Someone more experienced in teardown of classic engines may be able to tell more than I can. I don't understand the oiling scheme, such as where the piston cooling oil comes from, the connecting rod lubrication, or the cam lubrication. I didn't see anything that seems to show main bearing mounts, other than holes at the ends of bare crankcases. There appears to be an oil pump that provides lubrication for the main bearings and cam bearings, because there is what looks like an oil fitting on a crankcase in several photos.

You have enough parts there to get new "drawings" by CAT scans of just about all of the parts, which can then be formatted for use by CNC shops. A good CNC shop will be able to make the CAT scans and provide the data that their machines can read, and will let you have the data if you pay for the CAT scans. This will make any part available by refabrication at a reasonable cost. If you specify the alloy and the shape in CNC input format for a part, you can have a new part in a few days. As a by-product of such capability, you can have an aluminum head with a 7:1 compression ratio too. With the drawings, matching other parts with existing or modified standard parts such as valves and exhaust manifolds becomes doable. Given the tubing diagram and the bolt hole positions, and the intake manifold mounting specification, a new header can be welded up.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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Dad had a great deal of documentation - shop manuals and reference books as well as club newsletters.

I counted six engines or powertrains in addition to the 3 in the cars. Dad purchased parts from multiple US and UK distributors back in 06-07.

Hopefully the American Bantam guys will feel free to join the conversation here as well. Registration here at CaddyInfo is free. Where it asks for Cadillac model just fill in "Austin" and model.

Bruce

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The Green Austin American appears to be a 1935 model.

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...the hood sides are "flat" there is no raised panel around the louvers. 1930-32 have horizontal louvers, 1933-mid 1934 have a raised rectangle with vertical louvers. Late 1934 (at end of production) louvers are on flat side panel and are at angle to match windshield slope.

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One of Dad's info books had printed photos in the front pocket I scanned in; they appear to be of the red convertible during restoration with previous owner.

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More information! What appears to be a beam axle front suspension with leaf spring and drag links, and what may be a Scott-Russell linkage to help control lateral position. The steering appears to be via a single link to the driver's side trailing arm; there is a tie rod between the trailing arms that implements an Ackermann geometry. This is quite sophisticated for the early to middle 1930's.

There is a long extension to the front, possibly for the hand crank, as there seems to be no electric starter on this model; its the early engine with the generator between the engine and the distributor. It's not coaxial with the crankshaft, but with the starter axis, so it may drive a gear to the crankshaft or even the flywheel instead of the crankshaft directly; the gear reduction will avoid the rare but notable arm-breaking kick-back problem of the Model T hand crank. With a Kettering ignition (points and condenser) it should start easily with the proper choke setting and no spark advance.

I can't tell whether the 2:1 on the generator/distributor shaft is on the crank gear or on the distributor, which is another 90 degrees from this shaft. Since the generator needs the RPM, I suspect that the gear reduction is at the distributor gear end. If there is an oil pump and it runs from this shaft, it has the added advantage of a simpler oil pump.

The intake, carburetor, and exhaust are on the right hand side, as one would want on a left-hand-drive car.

Hey, I think I see a starter solenoid in a photo of the top of the engine in post #9 above. And, maybe, in the last photo above, the extension under the radiator seems to stop at the front of the engine, with a starter housing visible at the rear of the engine.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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For the original Seven the inventor of pieced it together and got it to work with the 'know-betters' standing back and shaking their heads. Then he went on to sell 271K of them in multiple countries.

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This drawing (zoomable on google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/

shows exterior paint and striping specs for the 1938-1941 Bantam (Heritage Press, 1966). Photo as the drawing is too large to scan.

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  • 1 month later...

Planning a trip to Camden to visit the Austins on Saturday, 5/31. Still hoping to sell the whole lot, but also sorting through the paperwork to price each piece individually if not.

Link to Google+ Album with photos: https://plus.google.com/111669618335209044868/posts/g6fjcn9qoK4

Bruce

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The Green Sedan is confirmed as a 1934 American Austin Coupe, vehicle id 375-7017

Previous ad from seller before Dad bought it in 2008 has this detail:

1934 Austin Coupe. Good body. Garaged most of the past 32 years. Has a rebuilt engine, starter, generator, radiator, gas tank, steering, and new windshield. (...). Pics on request.

Green 1934 American Austin Coupe pics:

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Bruce

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I have updated the first post to show the correct information for the 3 Austins:

  • 1934 American American Austin VIN 3757017 would be the green sedan as shown on previous title

  • 1930 American Austin Pick Up VIN 071230340436 would be the sedan turned pickup as shown on registration

  • 1938 English Austin Seven VIN 266434 must be the red convertible as it is body 266434

Bruce

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