Javelin Restoration - Project B

[Forumadmin]

Garage floor now painted.




So getting there.
Electrics at the weekend.

[Chris Spencer]

& shelves built & walls / ceiling painted & two post ramp positioned ready for final fixing - just the rest of the original workshop to sort once this one is completed !!!

[Forumadmin]

Chris practicing for the Royal opening of the Jowett Health and Beauty Salon. No doubt he will tell us what he was trying to explain to Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.

[p.p.]

the potho image - i cane not open it.....no pic
peter

[Chris Spencer]

Peter - Log in to the gallery first then come back to Jowett talk and you will be able to view the image

For others that might be interested, Princess Anne visited and opened my latest restoration project which is a navigational waterway / canal lock which had lain derelict for about 100 years - In the image Keith posted I am explaining the nature of works that were required to sympathetically restore the lock.

links are provided below for anyone who wishes to be distracted further

http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/pages/pos ... 83.php?p=5
http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/pages/pos ... ge-388.php
http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/pages/pos ... te-390.php

[p.p.]

thanks chris
the "Jowett Health and Beauty Salon" will be a outstanding Place !!!!!!!!!!!

peter

[Chris Spencer]

Back to the new workshop extension - Keith & myself spent Saturday afternoon carrying out the final assembly on the new 2 post lift - it now just requires filling with hydraulic oil and connecting to the electricity and we have another box ticked.

[Chris Spencer]

More progress - Keith has found time over the past week to install the new power cable feed from the house to the workshop and configure / mount the consumer unit, today we dug out the small area between the old workshop floor and the new workshop floor - now that the sheets had been removed from what was the old workshop wall (which is now inside the new workshop) we could concrete between the two areas and make good. The concrete threshold under the old workshop door was removed and made good with concrete - so this is now flush. The old door is being retained and this will become the door into the paint shop area once the new partitions are built.

Joe helped clear the broken concrete out of the workshop and utilised it to fill the wheel ruts in on the track up to the workshop. He also helped with moving the recently acquired spares stash of several engines - these got placed neatly under the newly built shelves.

The old workshop roof (now covered over by the new workshop roof but at a greater height) was cut back in order to provide clearance for the cars when on the new two post lift. Keith helped out by mixing concrete / making tea / moving the benches into the new workshop and finding new homes for lots of things - even finding things he did not know that he had whilst also finding things that he knew he had but were in the wrong place.

Jack was sort of AWOL but in fairness was finishing the new roof on his garage that is getting filled up quickly with Jowett parts.

[Amy]

Well, after a great weekend in Essen with Peter Pfister and the rest of the gang, I'm sure we'll see some photos shortly, but progress on the cars and garage and the lack of weekends between now and the rally in June was a frequent topic of conversation.

Tonight I decided to grab the bull by the horns and cross some things off the list. First up was a bit of tidying up, ready for work to start.

After the floor was swept, and I'd managed to find my tools again, it was time to get going on the SA Jupiter again, after several months of neglect (the last time we really did anything was shortly after Keith's birthday when his shiny new steering wheel went on to replace the cracked and broken one he'd been using for at least the last 10 years, maybe more)

Tomorrow Keith is having some retirement party with work, so I will be free to get on with things The letterbox boot is coming out now the seat has been removed, which should be fairly straightforward, and we'll see if I can't make some progress on the gauges hanging off the dashboard, or at least measure up and come up with a plan (before Keith tells me he's already worked it out, and is then overruled) for how to neaten things up a bit.

On Wednesday Keith is going to get the Jupiter onto the newly tested lift to get the welding done on the boot rack, we'll get the eyelet for the harnesses refitted, and I might have got a plan together for the dashboard by then. Thursday is going to be the boot refit if we've not got that done on Wed, the harness eyelet refit if we've not managed to find it on Wed (likely) and then we are definitely having Friday night off.

All this rushing about in the week means hopefully we can relax a little bit over the weekend, there is the small matter of Saracens vs Harlequins at Wembley (a must win game for both sides now) which will cost us a lot of time, but as always all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy - or at least a very tired one.

Jack (posting from Amy's account because he's not logged in)

[Jack]

It has been a busy few weeks. The boot has come out, Keith did some welding up of damaged sections, and added strengthening plates in the corners which seem to be a bit of a weak point with heavy bags in the boot and rough roads - now it should be very solid. Keith repainted inside and out, and today I managed to get it refitted - various screws had worn through and have been replaced.

After much discussion, including some debate about the relative strength (or lack of) in the current eyelets for the harnesses, we decided to fit something strong enough to withstand a bit more force - as such U bolts were fitted through the back of the cockpit and through the crossmember in the top of the boot. It is now very secure and would require a huge amount of force to even deform.

The harnesses went into the washing machine yesterday, huge amounts of oil and grime have hopefully been removed to do the rest of the work on the interior justice. The car will have two matching harnesses for the first time in some years, and they should look good against the new seat.

The work was set back a little bit by one temperamental MX5 head gasket, which took a few days to get sorted, all put back together and surprisingly straightforward to do for a modern car. Only for last Friday a drive around the M25 and it overheats again and won't restart. Head gasket suspected probably because it had warped or cracked and not skimmed the first time. Only to find that it was a hose below the thermostat which was removed doing the cambelt and not refitted - it had leaked water when the thermostat opened, running the system low on coolant and causing overheating. Refill the system and off we go again, no problems. I wasn't looking forward to doing the head again on that one - always unexpected jobs come along while you are trying to get things done!

Yesterday we made progress on various fronts, the overdrive has gone back on to the car for a busy summer on the road - Keith is planning various overseas trips, plus the rally in Wales, the Silverstone Classic, and quite a few other events. We are missing a small but important part, but no doubt this will turn up somewhere.

Last week the carpet went off for cleaning, and after some professional attention they've managed to remove most of the oil and dirt, it almost looks respectable New carpets have been made for the sides of the footwell, which should reduce noise a bit and add a bit more luxury to the car.

The new seat has been done by PJM, another good job from them for a reasonable price. It has been waiting to go into the car for about 6 months now, but it shouldn't be long now. The holes for the runners are all in place, unfortunately there seems to be a missing centre runner which is a bit critical as it has the adjustment catch on it. We have a possible solution, but it would be nice to get it sorted right first time.

Tomorrow it is time for us to get the all important Bedford started - it has been sitting for several months without attention and it needs an MOT before the various events in the next few months. So we'll get it started tomorrow hopefully, and then we can work on getting a ticket for it. If that goes vaguely to plan I might get on to fitting the carpets in the Jupiter and the seat won't be far behind - at that point the car is almost ready to go after nearly 3 weeks of work!

Jack.

[Leo Bolter]

Hello Jack.

Re. the SA Jupiter boot arrangement:

The boot has come out, Keith did some welding up of damaged sections, and added strengthening plates in the corners which seem to be a bit of a weak point with heavy bags in the boot and rough roads - now it should be very solid. Keith repainted inside and out, and today I managed to get it refitted - various screws had worn through and have been replaced.

Just as a matter of interest . . . and I don't know how/if this was done originally at the factory . . . add to this the fact that this was done many years ago, but I do remember I was not very happy with the way the boot cavity appeared to be hung out the back and merely supported by the flange at the front that was screwed to the orifice in the steel panel at the back of the cabin. I thought that anything weighty would have put a enormous strain on that flange, especially on rough roads!

Now whether the cars came with a supporting bar at the rear of the boot I really don't know (please tell me if it was so . . ). But anyway, I know that I bolted and flange mounted a 3/4" square section steel tube with 3 sections of hard and thick rubber tube over it, between the inner rear mudguard panels, underneath and near the back vertical panel of the rear of the boot. This would take the overhung weight of heavy things placed inside the boot.

Just some further "grist to the mill!"

P.S. The 50th anniversary JCC of NZ Rally is on in Nelson this coming weekend . . . It'd be great if someone in UK could have a Skype Session with the assembled multitude. I won't be there myself mainly because Kristy (whom you have met) is out from London and her visit clashes. Still, my car will be there as I have relented from my rule of no one else driving it. Robin Simpson and his wife Julie will take it there on my behalf. Images will follow, no doubt.

Best regards.
Leo.

[Keith Clements]

The SA boot on my car has a support suspended from the cruciform above it. Whether this was factory supplied I do not know. It is possible I added it in the dim and distant past. The support is L shaped and about 20 cm by 7 cm from 3mm x 15mm bar supporting the underneath side.

[Jack]

Well another busy evening with Keith's Jupiter, and the Javelin has gone nowhere fast in the last few weeks as a result. No problem though. We worked out that Keith owes me a month of his time now, which is good, because I'm going to use it on getting the Bedford through its MOT

We thought it would be a simple case of bolting the overdrive up on my new mount and getting a cover plate made up to go over the big hole in the floor. No chance of that, as always!

We started with fitting the new bracket and removing the one that was above the floorboard inside the car. It went on fairly easily, I am really quite pleased with the design and fit, and if we can get the front mount sorted this week then the overdrive will be secure and hopefully well protected without the need for any bolts from the inside of the car.

Off to bed for me now. Another long evening, but we are getting there. We were hoping to have the Jupiter sorted last weekend, it looks like we will be doing well to have it off the lift by the end of this weekend and get on with the jobs on the other cars. I think if we get the overdrive sorted by Friday the carpets and seat will go in easily on Saturday.

Jack.

[Keith Clements]

This thread has gone a bit astray- what with building the extension to the garage (which still has work to do on it), sorting the SA (which still has a bit to do) and other threads on sorting the 'Taxi' (which still has a bit to do). Now I am turning my atttention to the SC which, after a run to my last day of work in it ,showed up a few things 'to do'. No doubt when I inspect it on the lift this evening even more tasks will be added. Currently there are 14 tasks on the SC list, 10 on the SA list and 7 on the Taxi. Add to that about 3000 tasks on Project B itself.

However, I am very pleased with progress on the Taxi as the steering is now precise, does not wander or squeal around roundabouts like it used to. The exhaust does not rattle and the water does not come out. It was taken out in the first sunshine we have had for a month.

Amy and I are now going out in the SA for a trip to the pub as I have just taken the SC for a short run before putting it on the lift.

[Amy]

We managed to get a few things done on the cars today - most critical was getting the top of the windscreen seal done for the SA, which is now drying nicely in our garage, ready to be fitted so we can get on with the window seals early this week. It looks like we'll have sunshine in Wales next weekend, but you just never know, so we are preparing for the worst.

Secondly some more research is starting on the slightly odd wheels and hubs that are fitted to Project B. We still don't know what car these came off, but having measured the stud spacing very roughly, it looks to be in the ballpark of 150mm PCD (I assume this is going to be 6" as they certainly aren't from a modern car)

My suspicion is that the hubs and wheels may be from something like an Austin Healey 3000. That might mean that Jowett Engineering put them on the car, but it certainly wouldn't have been at the factory unless they got their hands on some drums before the 3000 was launched, or if they were fitted to an earlier Austin (or another car) - the trouble currently seems to be finding reliable information on wheels and drums online, so if anyone has any good Austin contacts locally that I could take the drums to that might be a good option. Of course we just don't know if they were from a 3000 at all yet, but it seems to vaguely fit with the story of how these alternative drums and wheels came about.

Jack.