Javelin Restoration - Project B

[Tony Fearn]

Nice to see Joe.

I'll bet he can't wait to come up and help.

Perhaps if he's under the rusty old Jav a lot he might need some safety spex.

Tony.

[Forumadmin]

1. Protect yourself: eyes, lungs, ears, hands, feet. and nipples if you are Jack.
2. Protect the cars: zips scratch, dust and grinders pit paint and glass, be aware do not pass over the car anything that might dent or scratch, give the car space, watch out behind you.
3. Protect the environment: grinders and welding cause fires, oil and chemicals affect soil, keep lids on solvents
4. Be aware: that many tools are dangerous if not used correctly, not only for the user but others around them. Put tools down in a safe place when not using them or away where you found them or, if Jack was using them last, where they should be! If something looks like it is missing, ask. If you break something put, it on the shopping list. Do not take short cuts. Think about what could happen; because one day it will.
5. Be aware: that many jobs have potential dangers if something breaks, you slip or something else happens. Plan for that and double up on safety. It will become second nature. Ask yourself 'what if' many times before starting a job.

We are not constrained by a health and safety mentality; so we must be aware.

[Chris Spencer]

But just in case it does go pear shaped - Chris is a fully qualified first aider and also trained in fast water rescue - (For when Jack floods us out of the workshop)

[Jack]

But just in case it does go pear shaped - Chris is a fully qualified first aider and also trained in fast water rescue - (For when Jack floods us out of the workshop)

I have got my Bronze Swimming Badge, and have a World Record for Underwater Ironing (no kidding!) as well as being able to translate "Northern" into English. It's a talent those from Birmingham posess as a consolation for the accent.

Chris - is there a slow water rescue, where you have a cup of tea and think about it for a bit before meandering over to assist?

Apologies to the team for missing this weekend in the garage. I am making up for it by taking Wednesday afternoons off work for a couple of weeks to make progress on the car, and because without my support Saracens might not have beaten Leicester yesterday in one of the tightest games of the season. 2 points off the top of the table! I wasn't very popular in my Saracens shirt in a stand with 10,000 Leicester fans. Especially not popular when they missed a sitter to lose the game in the last seconds.

Jack.

[Forumadmin]

Do not worry Jack a huge amount of work went on in your absence!

We started with some civil engineering planning of the garage reconstruction.

Then the floor, seats, some window glass, a lot of the trim around the rear, the rear wing, and the massive speaker circa 1960 were removed by Chris. Joe finished off stripping the bits off all the doors. Sharon and Amy completed the second fitting of the SC hood pattern and the car cover pattern. Keith investigated the front hubs and found space to store all the bits coming off the car.

Your job this week is to get the new wood and metal work into the hood frame ready for the final fitting of the hood pattern.

We are at the exec on Saturday but plan a day of work on Sunday.

[Chris Spencer]

Has keith stated - a lot of work was achieved - After drilling the heads out of the countersunk setscrews retaining the plywood foor panel and a little leverage out came the main floor panel - this in turn revealed yet more tin worm infested holes to the offside chassis rail this time just to the top of the B post out rigger - unless we want to install distortion to the car this will have to be cut out and have new metal welded in before the car is mounted to the turner. The rear seat , parcel shelf, trim to the offside rear D post, rear quarter glass, rear window were all removed - marked and photographed as required before being stored. I also took plenty of images as the trim came out in order to help the reassembly process. The offside rear wing was also removed - this is a little behond saving with all the front leading edge where it meets the rear door in a very sorry state.

In removing the wing more rust / holes / tinworm was exposed to the rear of the D post but nothing that can not be sorted - the remains of the front windscreen was also removed - this had shattered at some stage during the cars storage - the old brittle rubber having to be cut away from the aperture due the volume of sealer that had been applied at some stage - I was careful to recover the lower chrome trim but this already had been damaged at some stage and the upper one was already missing so we need to aquire another set from somewhere. We had a good clean up before leaving - filling at least one rubbish bin with the debris /rust that falls away when undertaking this type of work - I think that the workshop vac was not far from full either - Keith will post some of the images over the next few days to give you all some idea of what we have let ourselves into - more next time.

[Jack]

No big news today, but more progress with research and other stuff.

I do have to share amusing quote of the day though.

Keith: "Don't worry, I trust you"

This was literally 5 seconds before he got hit right in the hand by a whacking great sledge hammer, being wielded by me. Sorry Keith. In my defence you should know that nobody can be trusted with a sledge hammer in their hands, especially me. I had to work very hard not to laugh a bit from the sheer irony of your earlier comment. You didn't seem to be laughing so much.

Hopefully his trip to Bruiseville Tenessee won't be a long one. I'm sure we'll be hearing about it for a while.

Jack.

[NoelStokoe]

I have been in correspondence with Team Project B via email regarding this Javelins history etc, which is a very interesting car. All I can sa is that I think his will turn out to be a great project, and I connot wait to see the end result!
Noel Stokoe

[Jack]

More work going on in the garage today, Chris and Keith spending a lot of time removing trim and other parts from the car, we are being very methodical about what is coming off and what box it is going into.

We are gathering a huge amount of information, hopefully we will be in a position to share the information with the club at the rally in May - given the Gerald Palmer focus it seems particularly appropriate that one of the significant Javelins from Jowett history is there - and may also jog some memories for members that may remember it being on the road and have information of their own to share.

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Another work session this afternoon - the offside doors were removed, along with the bonnet and followed by the offside front wing - although this required some heat on the rusty captive nuts around the front edges in order to release them. The remaining offside trim was removed followed with the inner bulkhead fittings, heater box with a little help from Amy, windscreen wiper rack, demister vents & pipes, remaining controls (the clocks / switchgear had already been removed by Keith) - The rear wiring harness was removed and with some help from Keith (recovering from manflu) the remaining wiring harness was removed from the front - the sound deading from the bulkhead came out - while Keith removed some of the odds around the engine bay. Well that is just about all of the trim to the offside removed along with all of the panels on this side - just requires the nearside panels and few bits of trim on that side. The oily bits are down to Jack & Joe - supervised by Keith, prior to the suspension / axles being removed - more next time.

[Forumadmin]

We are all away this weekend so no work will be done on either car.

[Chris Spencer]

Long trek today - I had off day from the day job and did quite a few hundred miles collecting various bits - one of the main reasons for my trip to the end of world - ok Wales then - was to collect a e bay purchase that was made a few months ago - in the shape of a little used spot welder and stud welder - this is a proffesional piece of kit that costs several thousand pounds new - after a bit of careful bidding it came home for shade under £400 !! - it should be in action this weekend putting some strength back into the Javelin chassis.

[Forumadmin]

Before Jack and Amy arrived Joe had scraped and wire brushed the petrol tank and spare wheel carrier free of the mud and rust. I continued moving all the innards up to the cellar so that now the SC can be reversed out of the garage ready for its run to Goodwood next weekend for the soft top breakfast club.

I took Joe for a ride in the SA and started work on fixing the little jobs on the list left over from last season.

I fitted an electric hoist for the garage door so that now Amy does not have to struggle to open it.

I assembled the old collection of steel and also that which I had bought this week, so that Chris can play with the welding kit today. Abbey steel in Stevenage were very helpful as one of the staff was into classic Jags and Morgans (His daughter is chairperson of the Morgan club).

During the week the tree outside the garage was felled giving us some more space and more security in that it cannot now fall on our precious cars.

[Jack]

Update - WE HAVE A V5! We are legal!

After a lot of research, contact with a number of authorities on Jowett history, we have been able to establish the history of the car and its correct registration.

All will be revealed soon enough, but we have now got the paperwork we need to take Option 1.

Jack.

[Forumadmin]

Long day planned on Sunday with Chris coming around to watch F1 at around 8 in the morning. I still have to fit the refurbished 30 VIg carbs to Jen's Jav, having found the aly spacers eventually. All the new welding kit has arrived as well, gloves, filler rods, torch nozzles, tungsten tips, welding magnet, tin snips... so no excuse to progress. There are also some jobs lined up for Joe!