volkswagen sunbeam s7

[mistert]

hi my father in law has just aquired a volkswagen engined sunbeam s7 and he would like to know if anybody out there has any info on this particulaly about the clutch mechanism ie does it operate like bike or car out of the rear or side of the casing thanks

[sidecar24]

MisterT, I presume you had no replies to this post ?! Did your father-in-law subsequently sell on this bike -- I have just bought a VW engined S7 (POC nnn)........it was sold by VRN Ltd (?) in 2012 and I have just bought it from that owner.....unfortunately it is now 'dismantled into boxes'. I'd be interested to hear anything that you found out about the bike. Did it run when your father-in-law had it ?!

[wetdog]

i think this machine used to belonge to a person in worcester , he was a vmcc member so a add in that mag could bring up some history as he had it for many years attached to a chair , and it looked and worked well .

[Rex]

Any pics available?

[sidecar24]

This is how it looked.........but "in boxes" now:

[Rex]

Nice.  I'd love something like that.

[wetdog]

very nice and not the same one , how has the worm and wheel faired with the extra power ? i can see this being a weak area

[Bomber]

To be fair it was a weak point on the standard bike as I recall

[sidecar24]

The VW engine installed is, I believe, a 1955 1200cc Beetle engine which produces an arm-wrenching 25hp.......exactly the same as the  original Sunbeam 500cc motor does. I'm sure I've read that the Sunbeam worm-drive isn't actually as bad as folklore has come to suggest......and anyway, some gifted engineer from the SOF has produced a v limited number of Ural bevel-drives adapted to fit Sunbeams......and I happen to have one of them !

[Rex]

The bevel drive problem is another Net myth, isn't it? As I understand it if you use the wrong/no oil it soon wears, but that goes for most things.
Should think the Urinal (fitted with some real ball races) bevel would last well though.

[Bomber]

I restored one for a friend about 6 years ago and the drive was fubared, hence the comment.

[wetdog]

its not a bevel , its a worm and wheel underslung and the 1200 vw engine will produce far more power than the sunbeam could dream of , they did ware at an alarming rate and if the oil dropped low more so , 25bhp for the vw sounds about right but for the sunbeam sounds high , i had one for a short while and it was a well built slug ,  a m20 ,vb , m21 , (infact must be one of the slowest 500 ive ever owened)  etc would leave it standing , looks like a nice project and vw parts are easy to come by , never seen the hub conversion you talk of but sounds prommising and worth fitting

[Bomber]

As I recall, I went down to Nottingham and visited Gaggs and they supplied me with a lot of the bits I needed. The two brothers are a right pair of characters and the shop is worth visiting even if just for the crack!

[sidecar24]

I think neat Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer is the SOF oil of choice for the bevel drive. No sulphur to attack the bronze ?

[wetdog]

bronze .. so your sticking with the Archimedes screw , thought you had a bevel conversion . bmw do a great dif and plenty about you might want to look at , the standard worm will suffer i think .