Dave Dickinson’s donated front axle and radius arm from an early Austin 7 was delivered, minus a few fittings, enough to allow finalisation of the front wheel hub and front spring designs. Keith Dennison donated a contemporary Browne & Barlow carburettor, missing a choke slide, Donald will make a replacement. The countershaft came back from Alan Young, was dressed with bearings, brackets and parking brake, then fitted to the chassis. Meanwhile attention turned to the engine and gearbox – trial fitting to the chassis revealed a misalignment problem which required stripping out both items and their support bracket so the bracket could be modified to allow sideways gearbox adjustment.
The month ended with discussions on how the engine will be started - there is no provision on the engine itself for a connection from the starting lever, or a starting handle, and any such extension would foul the chassis anyway – so can we start the engine through the gearbox? The gearbox is donated from a motorcycle and the kick-start mechanism is missing, what’s more the remaining half of the start ratchet and the shaft securing thread are heavily damaged. The good news is that there is space to fit a starting handle through a side panel and under the chassis, or do we fit an electric starter, and how does either connect/disconnect to the starting ratchet?