Early Javelin Restoration

[Chris Spencer]

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Repair completed by using the same method as the nearside / reuse of the mounting - weld beads to the rear suspension mountings were also strengthened at the same time

[Chris Spencer]

New mounting support brackets were made up for the rear shock absorbers - these were fitted as a modification by the factory and are available but it was just as quick to make our own up

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[Chris Spencer]

We intend to have a shuffle / reorganisation of the workshop so that the final section of workshop floor can be finished - so whilst having a tidy up we went through all the chrome for the car to sort out what we had / missing / damaged etc. The front & rear window trims were badly damaged but we had already sourced another set off a spares car. I went through our selection of early bumper over riders

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All dented and misshaped in one form or another - Keith cut the rear mounting brackets off for me with the angle grinder so I could access all of the rear - I then set about with my chisel pointed body hammer and a flat faced dolly - A course file was then worked over the face to dress the high spots

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More reworking with the hammer and dolly to face out the low spots before finishing the face with P80 production paper on a block

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[Chris Spencer]

Keith shot blasted the rear of the over riders prior to the brackets being rewelded to them - although I had to make up one new bracket as the stud had sheared when it was taken off

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Completed and ready for a visit to the rechomers

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Just a little diversion from tidying up & sorting through things - plus its a pile of bits that are out of our way while the works to the workshop get completed.

[Chris Spencer]

So whilst at it I repaired a couple of damaged bonnet / front of car trims - these are now quite rare to find in undamaged condition

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I worked the trim with care from the rear using a small blunt cold chisel, hammer & dolly and a blunt flat broad headed screwdriver - again worked through the high spots - then low spots - but did not use the file due to the thinness of the metal that the trims are produced from - just worked the surface with the block and P80's production paper

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Hard to see due to image glare but the trim is now straight and true - and ready for a trip to the chromers

[Chris Spencer]

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This is the rear seat upstand - just above the battery box - I think that the car had been run without covers over the battery cells hence allowing battery acid to splash up and burn out the steel - it had been bodged with a manner of pop rivets / aluminium section & body filler

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It was cut away with the air powered body saw

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New upper section fabricated and ready for welding in

[Chris Spencer]

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The rear seat upstand was welded in / cleaned up

[Chris Spencer]

The battery acid had also eaten into the inspection rebate under the rear seat

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This was trimmed back and new angled section welded in

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[Chris Spencer]

I needed to get the front & rear bumpers sorted so they could go with the rest of the chrome work for replating - the original bumpers on the car were in a dreadful state - bent / twisted / dented - we had sourced two better examples from our parts stash but they both required work

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This is the front one - dents on both corners and the starting handle hole requires reshaping - I tapped the low points out from behind with a dolly on the front face - using a course file on the front face over the damaged area to show the high / low points - then just keep working with the hammer / dolly / file to bring the surface as close to the original shape as possible - I then use a worn P80's flap disc on the angle grinder - if you are doing this just keep moving the grinder in long sweeping strokes - if you let the wheel rest at any point while running - even for half a second - you will make a mess of it - finally I complete the dressing with a hand block and P80's production paper - it's hard work but as new bumpers are not available we have little choice - Keith sand blasted the rear of the bumper before it was despatched to the chromers

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[Chris Spencer]

The rear bumper was far worse

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With a deep crease - heavy dents and a significant bow to the centre of it - along with several other areas of minor knocks / dents - I concentrated on removing the bow first by trapping one end under the arm of the car lift and using the other end as a lever to force most of the bow out - the rest came out with judicious use of the hammer and dolly. I then used the same methods as detailed for the front bumper to remove the remaining damage - if you are doing this just concentrate on one area of damage at a time until you work your way down the length of the bumper - it takes time and some patience to get it right - keep looking down the length of it / eyeing it in to ensure you are not adding distortion - eventually I got to a point where I was happy with it.

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One last word on bumpers (well the chrome type anyway) never throw them out for scrap - a lot of bumpers can be made up from two scrap ones - by cutting and welding together underneath where the out rigger bolts on (hence the weld / join is never seen) - I once made a very rare & complex front bumper up for a Railton out of the two original centre sections and two corner sections off completely different cars and once chromed and fitted you would have never known.

[Chris Spencer]

The bodyshell was turned over so that the centre outrigger / jacking point could be sorted

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With B post jig still welded in place the outrigger was cut off

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[Chris Spencer]

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It leaves holes in the chassis box section behind the mounting point

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Hard to believe that the car had passed strict certificate of fitness in New Zealand & Switzerland in the two years prior to restoration commencing

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Front & rear sills ready for sectioning along with the B post - Jowett Car Spares have supplied all the out riggers for the car and they fit with a minimum of alteration although I make up flange tabs for welding to the chassis box rail rather than attempting to span a large fillet weld between the chassis and the outrigger

[robert lintott]

Chris , just a tip from experience of a similar job . Before sending the overiders to the platers just check the fit of the bumper profile and the O/R cut outs , it would be a pity to have to grind them to fit after plating ! With an assortment of O/R s there is no guarantee they will fit ! Super work in progress Bob

[Chris Spencer]

Several weeks have passed since my last update, unfortunately several other matters have kept me away from progressing the restoration, one of the matters actually aids the restoration of the Javelin with the completion of the workshop floor which also resulted in a good clear out of the workshop, the day job for the last few weeks has been extensive has I oversee the restoration of something very different to that of classic cars (see natter), finally we (myself & Sharon) have been very busy with sale of our London residence and the securing of a country property - hopefully all the legal matters will go through and we can finally relocate.

However, I managed a few hours today and made some progress on Peters car:

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The B post sill sections look ok from the top but underneath is another story

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B post with sill sections removed, the rear sill will have a new section fabricated

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However, the front offside sill is rotten at each end and therefore shall be replaced with a new sill section - supplied by JCS

[Chris Spencer]

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Demonstration of the layers of rust that laid hidden under the B post sill section

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Rust had also perforated the chassis where the centre outrigger / jacking point mounts

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weak / perforated section cut out / removed