Early Javelin Restoration

[Chris Spencer]

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Centre outrigger / jacking point tacked in

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B post / sill repairs now complete but outrigger left tacked to chassis - not to sill or B post - this is to allow any final adjustments when aligning the doors to the apertures / front & rear wings - get it wrong at this stage and the doors will never open & close properly

[Chris Spencer]

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Nearly ready for the doors to be rehung

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Quick check to ensure that the jack will not foul on the sill

[Chris Spencer]

Doors rehung

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I slowly worked the doors / apertures until suitable gapping was achieved - the black marks are marker that I use for reference points whilst doing this

[Chris Spencer]

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Remaining methodical is the only way to achieve correct aperture gaps - some areas had to be trimmed of metal - 0.5 mm at a time - some areas built up with weld then fettled back - the upper frame of the drivers door requiring some brute force along with the roof gutter channel requiring some hefty blows from a large hammer and onto a block of wood - hence ensuring that no heavy damage is sustained but movement in the correct direction is.

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Next on the list is to mount the front & rear wings to ensure the correct aperture gapping between the doors - the project is now very close to a significant point - there only remains minor works of tab placement for the wings, a few captive nuts on sills / floor pans and an inspection cover for the gearbox linkage to complete and all the structural work on the bodyshell will be complete. The outer panels require some repair but nothing like the amount of effort that has gone into the shell itself

[Chris Spencer]

Progress still being made - front & rear wings on = door to wing aperture gapping : appalling

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ok gapping at top & mid level - panels touching at the bottom

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4mm gapping at mid level & bottom : 10mm in-between the two points

[Chris Spencer]

New wing retaining brackets fabricated

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In place & ready for welding on

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[Chris Spencer]

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Improvisation whilst wing bracket is welded in place

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More fettling required yet - but getting there

[Chris Spencer]

Rear edge of the front wing had been the subject of several previous bodged repairs

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Support edge for wing also past it's best

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[Chris Spencer]

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Rotten sections removed and new support edge fabricated / welded in

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Repair panel for wing made up - just requires some final adjustments prior to welding into place

[Chris Spencer]

Jack is just sorting the second lot of chrome to go off for re-plating

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Hub caps required a little work - dents gently eased / tapped out from the back then the high / low spots rubbed back with P80's on a block - little more hammer work and a final rub over and they are ready for the chomer

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[Chris Spencer]

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Grille was clean enough but far from straight and would have taken a lot of time to repair the damage

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We had recovered another from a spares car - nice & straight but poor chrome

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The horizontal grille slats are made from thin brass strip which is pressed into shape then chromed - all retained by rivets on to several metal vertical brackets on the rear

[Chris Spencer]

Jack commenced the disassembly but much care was required in order to not sprain or damage the horizontal slats

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I finished the removal of the last few slats

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Thankfully all of the chrome sections were in good enough order to send re-chroming

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Two of the support brackets were beyond use but the original grille yielded replacements

[Chris Spencer]

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All of the metal support brackets were shot blasted

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Then primed

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Ready for delivery to the chromer

[Chris Spencer]

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Peter would like the car in two tone paint so quite a bit of research has been undertaken (and continues) - do we finish the upper colour at the bulk head and paint the bonnet in the lower colour (50's US styling) or paint the bonnet in the upper colour, do we use the darker colour on the lower sections & lighter colour on the upper or vice versa - if you have any images of existing Jav's in two tone - could you please post them to this thread ? It may just influence the style / colourways that we apply to the car Thanks

[robert lintott]

Chris

In Gerald Palmers book "Auto Architect" there is a description and BW picture of his works Javelin D8 PA 179, reg FKU 279 which he and his family used as personal transport around Europe . It was a duotone beige and brown . I believe Jack has a copy of the book, the info is on pages 56,57and the pic on P 59 . You will see the dividing line is above the one in your picture , but it was a genuine Jowett production , not to say they did not try other schemes of course . best wishes Bob