Early Javelin Restoration

[Chris Spencer]

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Repair completed - just requires a hole of the correct diameter redrilling for the trim retainer

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Final repairs on the door were just some straightening up - some of the flanges around the window & lock apertures required the deviation taking out of them - then this scrape along the lower door skin

[Chris Spencer]

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A little work with the hammer & dolly then a clean back of the high spots with the angle grinder

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Door ready for rehanging to the bodyshell and a final check of aperture fit / gapping - any deep repair areas shall be body soldered prior to final shaping with a high quality - low weight body filler

[Chris Spencer]

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Keith has been busy preparing the mechanical running gear

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This being all the front

[Chris Spencer]

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Rear & drive line - all nearly ready for paint - I hope into get most of it into primer / paint in one large batch rather than several small batches therefore minimising the disruption with the bodyshell & panels progress

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All parts have been bare metalled - in turn this shows up any defect - in this case the brake slides for master cylinder arrangement - the elongated holes around the cotter pins shall have to made good with weld and then remilled true

[Chris Spencer]

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Stress cracks to the handbrake leaver await attention with the TIG welder

[Forumadmin]

Meanwhile Chris has been hard at work on the petrol tank.
The pin holes on the filler neck and the top of the tank were to be covered in a sheet of copper.

Here Chris is soldering the plates on after preparing the surfaces with wire wool and then fluxing.


The pin holes can be seen on the neck awaiting covering.


Chris tinning and re-soldering the seams after the tank had been stripped .


Cleaning with cloth whilst molten.


Applying lead solder.

[Keith Clements]

The handbrake was fractured in the usual places in what is the worst piece of Jowett design ever. A bodge of a welding job by a previous owner meant I selected a slightly fractured but not butchered handle from 'the stores'.
All painted parts were grit blasted. Here is the exploded set of parts (before taking away for cleaning) so I know where they all go.
The second larger split pin is missing.



The mechanical front/ back bias mechanism near the master cylinder was very worn.
Here is the assembly.


You may be able to see the slots are worn at the rest position and will be remetaled.

The two cups that cover the front axle nut (shown grit blasted a couple of posts ago) each needed and hour of fettling to make them approximately the correct shape. They had been dented in every conceivable place! I thought about making a former and using my new press, but in the end a ball pein hammer, sand bag and anvil were used.

Also completed was the cleaning up of the half shaft threads, See this post.

[Tony Fearn]

Hello Chris.
It was interesting to see you using a blow torch on an old petrol tank, in a recent photo.
I was always told that even after many years there's always a residue from petrol which makes it dangerous to use naked flames on or around the tank.
I seem to remember that one method was to fill the tank with cold water, but the heat soak must be terrific.

Obviously there is another method. I have a couple of spare pre-war tanks that need their pinholes fettling.

Can you elucidate?

Tony.

[Forumadmin]

Tony,
Since the tank had been through an oven and a phosphoric acid dip the chance of a molecule of petrol still surviving was minimal.

KC
Health and Safety inspector, 3rd class.

Ran out of gas on the TIG so off to Dunstable to replenish. On the way back called on Wes Meneely, past Chairman and long standing member (1964). Of course, talked Jowett and Palmer.

The brake slide on the milling machine, yesterday.

[Jack]

KC
Health and Safety inspector, 3rd class.

What is not mentioned is how many classes there are, and what one needs to do in order to qualify as an H&S Inspector, 3rd Class.

I can confirm that I have a certificate as H&S Inspector, 2nd Class, after removing the chuck key when starting up a lathe, and not wearing an apron doused in petrol when welding. This should give you a vague idea of the level requited to get your third class certificate, and explains a great deal for those of us who have been victims of a variety of entertaining injuries in the garage over the years.

The third class certificate is considered by employers to be the equivalent of a fail at NVQ.

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Can you elucidate?

Hi Tony - I certainly can - firstly you need a clean tank which can be obtained by a couple of methods, the tank can be boiled out by running a steam cleaner through it for a couple of hours - it must be a hot process pressure washer and not something that would be used for cold water pressure washing the patio at home. The process that we used was to have the tank dipped in a acid to burn the tank clean of all paint, rust & vapors - if you can not achieve a clean tank then any hot process repair must not be attempted. This rule also applies to tanks that have removed from the vehicle, emptied of petrol and stored for several years - the petrol vapors are still present and still have potential to implode the tank - the old tale of filling the tank with water will not work either all that this does is float any petrol vapor / residue on the surface of the water - hence bringing them closer to the flame that you using for the repair. The repairs are undertaken by cleaning up the repair areas - sheet copper, or tinned steel sheet can be used for the repairs (you can tin steel by applying solder paste as you would for body solder / leading up joints / repair areas) With solder applied you can then place your repair section over and solder up around it - quite straight forward in process - providing the tank is void of all vapor & residue.

Most automotive radiator repair companies will repair fuel tanks at a fraction of the cost of new / unobtainable tanks if you do not have the facilities at home to undertake the repairs further to this Frost stock a petrol tank cold repair kit which gives very good results - I have attached the link here http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-tanks ... r-kit.html

[PJGD]

Glad to hear that Wes Meneely is still kicking. My regards to a pillar of the Jowett Club fraternity of the past!

Philip

[Forumadmin]

Whilst with Wes, he asked to be helped onto JowettTalk and JowettGallery. So Philip you can email him (or possibly PM but I am not sure Wes is up to that technology yet) and greet him yourself. He would love the company.

[ian Howell]

Just in case Wes gets to this point - I am also pleased to see/hear you are still very much 'with' us.

I remember him from my early days with the JCC Southern Section (I was on the committee for a while) in the mid 60's.

Also Evan Olney who I was pleased to meet again at the pre-Christmas lunch a couple of years back.

Some other names I knew are no longer with us (except possibly in spirit!).

Tempus Fugit! (Didn't he make clocks?).

[Chris Spencer]

We tested the petrol tank by water immersion in a water tank and filling the petrol tank with compressed air a few very minor leaks showed up but these were mainly the spot welds for the internal baffle plates

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These were prepped & soldered up then we retested the tank - once happy with the soundness of the tank we left it on top of the stove to dry out for the rest of the afternoon

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Before leaving for the day I added POR 15 tank sealer to it and sloshed it around the tank before draining it off - this should take care of the tank and prevent any internal rust forming

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