Baby Ruby

[taxirod]

This was a lock down build, I brought the car home the day of the 1st lockdown, March 2020.
I wondered if I was being a bit reckless, taking on a new project when maybe I wouldn't have any work for a month or 2.......so I thought.
It turned out we were on UC for 2 years, but the good thing was that I



had plenty of garage time, and the lack of funds simply added another layer of challenge to the project.


The full story of the build is on RnS.

https://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/threads/....552615/unread

I always felt that you couldn't have a hotrod without a V8, but I've actually really enjoyed the Ruby, it's enormous fun in a tiny package, and the stock MGB lump is good for 100 mph, ahem, allegedly, Officer. And is great on economy so I can afford to drive it anywhere and everywhere.

One thing I wasn't happy with though was the rear suspension. When you drive over a bump with the front wheels it's fine, but when the back wheels go over the same bump it's vicious.
I had tried messing about with different spring rates all to no avail. So I told myself that I would deal with this before launching into my new project.

With coil overs removed, and the weight of the vehicle on axle stands, it became obvious that there was only 2" of suspension travel!! Once the weight of the car was on it 1" was taken up, leaving only 1" of real travel left!!!
Hmm, perhaps that's why the ride was harsh.....

[taxirod]

Ive been trying to find a pic of the completed chassis when i built it, but cant find the right pic now.
Basically the suspension retained the stock Ruby quarter elliptical leafs which acted as the bottom 2 bars of a 4 link, the top 2 bars were diagonal. This was great in theory, but since the Ruby is so small, these diagonal bars were very short, resulting in everything binding, and thus only very little travel.

The solution to this was to remove all the rear suspension and have a complete redesign.
I started by removing the old leaf springs, not easy to do, apparently the Austin 7 guys undo all the bolts, tie the axle to a tree and drive away . That wasn't an option for me so I cut the leaf springs with a grinder. Everything under there is very tight for space but somehow I managed it.
Oh yeah before that I removed the fuel tank, better access, shouldnt weld near a tank anyway, also it had developed a slight weep so I dealt with that while it was out.




I just couldn't get the grinder in there to that last leaf but it didn't get in the way of the new suspension.

Which was....



Ladder bars and panhard.
Above is a template of the ladder bars, these were made for me by Johnny, a real nice guy who builds dragsters in his back garden, only 15 minutes from where I live.

(10 of his builds were racing at the HRD just a couple of weeks ago).

At only 19" long these must be among the shortest ever ladder bars, but hey, it's a tiny car and that's what I can fit in.



Due to the ridiculously tight space I had to play with, I came up with a panhard shaped as above. I made a pattern from copper tube (my bender could manage copper tube only) and then I took this to Johnny who made a slightly stronger version!



Here, young Silveah demonstrates just how strong it really is!

Welding upside down underneath a car is not great at the best of times, but with so little space it was a nightmare, but I got there in the end. Finally today I got all the new stuff on properly. Then I had the next nightmare task of getting the fuel tank back in, after that it should have been a simple case of putting the exhaust back on, but I noticed one piece which was breaking away. So I cleaned it up and welded it, not the prettiest bit of welding, but it was a secondhand Mgb exhaust 3 years ago, I may get around to replacing it properly at some time, but for now I blatted it up and bunged it back on!!



This evening I drove it around the block, no fuel leaks now, suspension working OK, but just restricted now by the coil overs which are too short. I'll be ordering some longer stroke coil overs soon.

[v8pop]

A good read that Ian, glad it's a better ride for you mate.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

[taxirod]

Thanks Tim.
Today I decided to get the back wheels up on ramps and make a decision on what coil overs I was going to buy.
With the back of the car jacked up, I took off the handbrake so it eased the placing of the ramps, and.....guess what..... the car then proceeded to roll off the ramps and crash into the garage door, bursting it open!
I felt a bit foolish, but, miraculously, not a scratch on the front of the car!!






I straightened the bent garage door as best I could, it now works OK.

Normally if using ramps I have them facing opposite directions so the car cannot roll off



Like so.
Anyway, I got away with it I suppose. A good reminder to be more careful in future!
After the garage door repair I did order the new coilovers. They will need new mounts building but will finally give me a decent amount of travel. And I can still drive the car meanwhile.

[Happydaze]

Cool little car. Love it! I'd need one for each foot though.

Chris

Sent from my SM-G900F using NSRA mobile app

[STEPSIDEBILL]

Love this little car I’m kinda playing with the newer versions,got another one coming on Wednesday so easily modified.

[taxirod]

Happy daze- thank you
Stepside Bill - I've always had a soft spot for the A30, got an idea in my head of how I would like to do one.
Maybe one day. Yours looks great.

[BadAC]

Love the Ruby Rat, nice write up.

[martin]

Love this little car I’m kinda playing with the newer versions,got another one coming on Wednesday so easily modified.

I used to know someone who had one of these, think it had an MG engine fitted, went like stink, & looked stock.

Sent from my SM-G770F using NSRA mobile app

[taxirod]

made one side of the garage "clean", and added the pictures gallery


I took up MyGassers suggestion to have a welding curtain which can be pulled across to protect the Ruby while I'm building the Morris 8 next to it. Wouldn't want to damage the paint on the Ruby!



Another little job done recently was to mostly hide the horrible welds on the bonnet. The metal was thin and could only have this series of blob welds.



After.
The stainless was too shiny, I gave it a mist of black to make it less incongruous.

[v8pop]

Fair play Ian, it's not one for shiny is it mate.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

[STEPSIDEBILL]

This has a 1330 and goes along quite well shall we say ��

[taxirod]

Thanks Bill.

My new Gaz coilovers arrived


I need to alter the top and bottom mounts, partly to accommodate the new units and also to get them vertical, they were at an angle before.
After removing the old coilovers I made 4 tabs to make the new top mounts. After tacking one in place, I then realised that it wouldn't clear the top of the shock unit. So I re shaped the remaining 3 like this:



Then I thought I had lost the chuck key for the pillar drill, I reckoned it must have fallen into a sea of junk in the shed, so I started pulling everything out to search for the chuck key.
Then I saw it in my box of drills!! At least it wasn't lost.Note to self: Must buy a spare.

The first bracket was already tacked in place, difficult to remove or to reshape in position. I managed to get the grinder in the space above the axle and create the clearance needed.

It was another struggle to do this work with so little space up there, along with the challenges of welding upside down.
I managed to get the top mounts fully welded in, this allowed me to fit the new coilovers to the new top mounts and the old lower mounts, then dropped car back onto its own wheels, so now I could decide how much I need to change the lower mounts.

This was all done with the fuel tank in there, I cut some boards which I cable tied in front of the tank to protect it from any stray sparks etc.
It took willpower to ignore all the bits on the other project which were looking at me temptingly. Must get the "on the road" car sorted before working on the project!

[mygasser]

good to see more progress mate. remember, at ride height the coilovers should be about 1/3 compessed. so if they have 4 1/2" travel then at ride height they should be 1 1/2" compressed leaving 3" travel remaining.
oh and re the chuck key, paint it bright yellow or white so you can see it easier in a sea of other stuff.
neil.

[v8pop]

Mines on a chain connected to the drill for that sea of stuff reason.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

[taxirod]

Neil - I remember the 1/3 compressed business from when you told me, (see, I DO listen!) But it's good to have it there to refer to.

Thanks both Neil and Tim for chuck key suggestions, these are both helpful, except I've always put it back in its clip, never lost it, and so never bothered with anything sensible like you have suggested!

[taxirod]

I got it all back together and driving again.
Getting the last bolt in to mount the new coilovers was a struggle, so I popped an old 1/2" bolt into the pencil sharpener



I then walloped this in with a hammer to line it all up, then pulled it out and fitted the bolt.



Here's a new bottom mount getting cut out.
No other pics, but where I "walked" on my shoulders to move about while laying on the floor so much, it felt like the skin was wearing away. Anyway, all done now, just had a go round the block, definitely felt better over the bumps.
At one point i thought i was going to have to reroute the handbrake cables but in the end it was ok with a bit of tweaking. I can experiment with the 20 settings on the new Gaz shocks, but otherwise its time to jump back onto the new project.

[taxirod]

Early start for Ruby today, left home 5.15am, went to NEC for classic car show. It was nice to have the Austin in the fast lane all the way (no trailer today) apart from when the occasional 100mph geezer rushes up behind flashing his lights.
We made really good time, pulled off motorway to refuel and buy some food, then, when we were only 15 minutes from NEC the car started to fishtail. Initially I thought that the panhard rod had come off, but it was a rear puncture. I got the spare on, but it's just a space saver tyre, so I wasn't happy to do the 130 miles back on it.
Phoned around, found a tyre place who ordered a new inner tube "it'll be here at 3".
So we carried on to the show, turns out they don't let public in till 10.00am. Left in time to get tyre sorted, and with the proper 185 14 back on, I had renewed confidence in her and came home in the outside lane again. Shame, in the dark I couldn't see the facial expressions on the drivers of the modern cars.



Inside the show, there were a couple pf cars which seemed familiar




So a long day, but quite an enjoyable little adventure for my Austin.
It tickled me to see a 1937 Ruby in the show, I thought to myself " we came here in one 3 years older than that!"

[kapri]

I don't think I've ever told you how much I love this car?! I love a go anywhere / park anywhere beater that hasn't had age forced on it.

Then the fact that it's all British running gear

it doesn't matter HOW it got there , 3 cylinder modern or big V8 ....100mph is 100 mph.

[v8pop]

I don't think I've ever told you how much I love this car?! I love a go anywhere / park anywhere beater that hasn't had age forced on it.

Then the fact that it's all British running gear

it doesn't matter HOW it got there , 3 cylinder modern or big V8 ....100mph is 100 mph.

Well said Kev, it's a cracker.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app