January 2019 – A Fresh Start

The 1:3 scale rear spring assembly compared to the plummer block.
The 1:3 scale rear spring assembly compared to the plummer block.

The festivities are behind us and work on the Skeoch picks up on several fronts. Patterson Engineering cut and folded rear spring supports from supplied .DWF & .pdf drawings, the parts are now with Jas P. Wilson for welding. The main gearbox pinion was taken to Alan Young Engineering for precision metrology before machining of transmission components. A visit to spoked wheel maker and restorer, Barrie Brown of Glenrothes, allowed progress to be made in the design and sourcing of wheel parts. A Dalbeattie Rotary offer of a substantial donation to the Skeoch project expedited the detail design of suspension and running gear, and a visit from Jas P Wilson finalised the specification and procurement of various medium carbon & alloy steel shafts which were later donated to the project by Gillian Wilson’s Log Shed. A visit to Tom Parker (of Parker and Patterson) provided an insight to the suitability of an early Austin 7 front axle for our project, and we are pursuing several leads to find one.

Meanwhile the car chassis was stripped right back to bare frames for painting and is being slowly re-assembled; work also started on rebuilding the Precision engine and the Burman gearbox. A 3D print of a 1/3rd scale assembly of the rear nearside spring assembly provided an insight to the topography of the non-rotating rear suspension (chassis, spring, plummer block and radius arm). The photo (Photo 20190131d) compares the scale model with an actual plummer block. This 3D print has fuelled a discussion about the practicality and desirability of making one or more full 1/3rd scale models - an interesting development!