Recommissioning 1929 long two

[BarryCambs]

Hi George. I'd been looking at the service schedule on the club website, but have checked the different books I have. I got a Pitman's from ebay, which specifies Castrol D , as does the 1934 handbook, which I assume someone bought when the engine and box were changed. However, as you said, what I assume is the original handbook (undated for some reason) does say XL. I think I'd be a bit nervous about using engine oil in a diff! I wondered if this was because castrol D wasn't around in 1929, but it suggests mixing D it with XL for the gearbox, so it must have been. I'm probably over thinking it and should just go with Castrol D

[BarryCambs]

Looking at the brochure for 1928 Jowetts on the pre-war Gallery, the Long Two is described as having "heaps of room for a 6ft driver". The brochure also describes the controls as being "adjustable for petite lady". Well I'm 6ft and struggling to get in it, let alone drive! I think there is a problem with the seating. It has only an upholstered plank which sits loose on the floor and is not secured to anything. As you are effectively sitting on the floor, your legs are straight out and there's not enough legroom to use the pedals.

Can this be right?? Did it have a bench seat originally and would it have been on some sort of frame to raise it slightly? The upholstery is not original and rather crude. I suspect it was done after the car came off the road, possible by the same person who rewired half the car using household flex and chock blocks before trying to fill dents in the wings by putting filler over the top of the paint. I'm sure I remember it having red leatherette type upholstery, but as I said previously, I was only 8 years old last time I sat in it, so could be I imagined it.

[BarryCambs]

I'd only had a quick look over the car when we moved it, but this weekend, I popped over to take the wheels off for the new tyres and managed to have a proper go over it. I think the seating makes more sense now. I think when I read "adjustable controls" in the brochure, I assumed the seat was adjustable, but I now see the problem is the pedals. I don't know if all pre-war cars were the same, but the clutch pedal is mounted on a rod which slides through a clamp on the actual lever which comes up through the floor. For some reason, it is adjusted out as far as it goes and pushing it back fully will give another 6 inches of leg room. Similarly, the brake pedal is so far back, it is actually pointing slightly towards the floor. I assume it can be rotated on the shaft. I suspect the foam on the back of the seat is probably a couple of inches thicker than the original padding, which would also make a noticeable difference.

Mechanically everything looks good and there's some reassuringly clean oil drips on the sump and gearbox. Luckily I don't think anything mechanical has been touched by the person who had a go at the rest. The wiring is best described as dangerous. It's been lashed together with a mixture of wires salvaged from a more modern car, domestic flex, chock blocks and some wires behind the dash are twisted together with tape wrapped round them. The main feed from the battery exits through the gap in the front door to the battery box. The battery cables are original, but the insulation's falling off. It's pretty much a fire waiting to happen. Experience tells me when things are this bad, it's not even worth trying to trace things, or work out what's happened and the only way forward is to rip it all out and start from the diagram. Fortunately, the original junction box shown on the wiring diagram and all switches etc, are still there, so it should be fairly straight forward. It's had a floor mounted dip switch and an extra horn button fitted, so I guess the steering wheel mounted ones need looking at.

Although we are not aiming for a concourse restoration, I am keen that anything that needs to be repaired, or replaced, is done properly and to period, so any advice on this would be much appreciated! Looking at the wiring diagrams and talking to dad, I am assuming it should be wired with black braided cable throughout, with coloured sleeving on the ends for identification?? Were any cables different colours?? I'll use soldered rather than crimp terminals and was going to then wrap the new loom with fabric tape. Does this sound correct?

Thanks

Barry

[george garside]

originally there were no steering wheel or column mounted switches on '29 models. nor foot dip switch . The original horn button was, I think, on the right hand side of the dashboard.

george

[BarryCambs]

Thanks George. I was looking at Alan Bartlett's You tube video this morning and the centre of the steering wheel looks the same as mine. I wonder if the wheel was swapped over form the donor car which supplied the engine and gearbox, as this was the same age as Alan's.

[george garside]

it may be that the whole steering column & box were swapped but I am not sure if the column length was the same. If it has a 34 column & box it will have slightly lowered thegearing of the steering. On the cars with horn button & dip switch combined in centre of steering wheel the wrires therefrom came out of a hole in the side of the column below the dashboard . This wire was wound several times round the steering column where it emerged so as efectively wind & unwind as the column turned. It is also possible that a hole was drilled in the side of theoriinal column for thehorn wire to emerge from . A third possibility is that the horn button from the 34 doner car was just added as a adummyto make things look more 'modern'

george

[Tony Fearn]

On the cars with horn button & dip switch combined in centre of steering wheel the wires therefrom came out of a hole in the side of the column below the dashboard . This wire was wound several times round the steering column where it emerged, so as effectively wound & unwound as the column turned.

Don't forget to put a grommet in the hole in the column to stop chafing of the wire insulation. It's embarassing to have the horn sound on full lock if the insulation wears away. It usually happens when you're in a town full of people!

Tony.

[BarryCambs]

Thanks, that's very useful. I'm going over to put the wheels with their new tyres back on, so I'll investigate the column then. I think it would be nice to use the wheel controls if possible. At the moment, the horn button is mounted on the drivers door which isn't very pretty. I'll try and remember the camera this time.

Going back to my other question, do you think my ideas for the new wiring loom sound right? I see the braided cable is available in various colours which would make the job slightly easier, but would do it all in black with markers if this is how it was originally. Tony - I read somewhere you rewired yours. Can I ask what scheme you used?

Many thanks, Barry

[Tony Fearn]

Hi Barry,

I just used black wire for everything, as I'm not too worried about total originality.

Tony.

[Robin Fairservice]

A friend was faced with rewiring a Jupiter that he restored from a basket case, and when he enquired about purchasing wire for this project, it was suggested that he purchase a pre-made loom for an Austin Healey! This was cheaper and came with labelled tags so he could figure out where it all went. English cars of that period had all the same types of fittings to connect so it made the job easier as well. Perhaps there is a simple car of the right length for which you could find a loom.

[Jack]

A friend was faced with rewiring a Jupiter that he restored from a basket case, and when he enquired about purchasing wire for this project, it was suggested that he purchase a pre-made loom for an Austin Healey! This was cheaper and came with labelled tags so he could figure out where it all went. English cars of that period had all the same types of fittings to connect so it made the job easier as well. Perhaps there is a simple car of the right length for which you could find a loom.

Hi Robin,

An odd choice - in the UK there are at least two suppliers with SA Jupiter wiring looms available off the shelf. We bought one for the SC project and it had to be modified slightly for the slight differences between the models, but was a very good overall fit and matched original wiring diagrams. That said, with over 70 different colours of wire some labelled tags would have been a godsend!

No idea if such a thing exists for prewar cars though - I suspect the small potential market and relative ease with which a restorer could do this for themselves is such that manufacturers aren't going to invest the time and effort to get the loom done (but I could be wrong, so definitely worth some research) but if anyone finds a supplier or compatible alternative as above it is worth sharing.

Jack.

[BarryCambs]

I understand the switch panel is standard Lucas and a lot of the wiring seems to be used to join the various components on the panel. The rest of the loom looks so simple/minimal, there's probably no real point in anyone making off the shelf looms. I'm guessing my car has a mixture of 1929 and 1934 components and additions, but it's not too daunting a job.

[Jack]

I understand the switch panel is standard Lucas and a lot of the wiring seems to be used to join the various components on the panel. The rest of the loom looks so simple/minimal, there's probably no real point in anyone making off the shelf looms. I'm guessing my car has a mixture of 1929 and 1934 components and additions, but it's not too daunting a job.

Hi Barry,

If you are in pursuit of complete originality, there may be different colours of wire braiding used in different places - the wiring diagrams should have this info (not sure where that would be, but a call to the registrar or JCS might tell you) and that can help with fault finding and wiring things up right, trying to trace a black wire going through a bundle of wires to lots of other black wires is a challenge even on a simple setup.

Jack.

[BarryCambs]

Hi Jack

The only wiring diagram I have (which came with the car) is the same as the one on Tony's gallery page. This says there are coloured markers on the wires and that's what led me to believe the whole thing was in black. However, the braided cable is available in various colours and I'm leaning towards this route. As you say, it's going to make life a lot simpler in the long run.

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product_list/12

As the car isn't totally original and is not aiming to be concourse, then it probably doesn't matter which way I go, as long as I don't use modern kit. The ever helpful Kingsway Tyres have just rung to say the tyres are done, so I have already achieved more than anyone else in the last 38 years!

[george garside]

I can't find any evidence of colour coding before 1936 but I may well be wrong. However ,taking Jack's point about subseqent identification in the event of a fault developing, I would use differnt coloured wires for evrything and daw up my own diagram of what colour leads to what/where for future reference.

george