I.D. Change and The Future!

[Tim Neville]

Hello All.
Just to let you know that 'devonjowett' as was is now me - Tim Neville and my son Ben.
The former pseudonym (my son's idea), I deemed not the best idea for future communication with the Jowett community when asking questions and seeking advice person to person.
My Javelin? Well, what with re-building a large proportion of my house, re-building my son's classic Yamaha FS1E motorbike and trying to earn a living as well, I haven't achieved a great deal yet! I have re-built one of the carbs with a kit including throttle spindle and spindle bushes and all the bits. In the main the rest has just been appraising the situation, some cleaning and lots of gathering info from JCC and getting contacts for all the future work!! Oh yes, and I've acquired a new exhaust manifold from Jowett spares (many thanks).I must say that the more I look the more remarkable it is how much information and knowledge there is out there.
May I pose a question? I wonder what the average age of JCC membership is (nothing personal!!)? I know that JCC has a terrific technical archive and that individuals have vast knowledge, but what is the plan for the continuation of all this for the coming years? Who are the up and coming new experts and who's instructing them? And where do the parts and info come from 25 years from now? I know that JCC has been in existence a long time and that the parts situation now appears to be good. But how are things looking ahead?
My son and I have been interested in 'Classic' engineering for sometime now and have been involved with stationary and traction engines. He is a Steam Apprentice - a scheme started by The National Traction Engine Trust to continue the production and training of skilled steam engineers, and to keep the skills alive.
How about Jowett Apprentices? There are a number of Technical (Tertiary) Colleges that do Vehicle and Motorsport courses, maybe something could be 'tied-up' with one of them?

[Forumadmin]

JowettGallery has been specifically set up to capture the Jowett knowledge from around the world. The aim is to allow comment on items in the Gallery, a bit like when we all get together around a broken car or part. There is always somebody who can contribute a tech. tip, bit of history or just experiences. The image or document is there to prompt the viewers.

JowettTalk was created to allow posing of questions and encourage communication when we are not at section meetings or annual events. Of course, it has built over the years into a reference of knowledge.

I ask everyone to spend some time feeding the Gallery with everything they can find on Jowetts before it is lost; particularly from the older members.

The Gallery will always only be accessible to Jowett Club and affiliated club members, whereas JowettTalk is open to anyone interested in Jowetts.

The Gallery can store movies; so if there is some procedure that would benefit from this media then please upload.

[Alastair Gregg]

Hello Tim,

I too ought to get round to using my real name sometime soon. Excellent post regarding average age and the future. I have just asked my section rep to talk to the National exec regarding training for the future. The example I used was I couldn't find anyone to weld Aluminium easily. It is a skill we need in the club (I'm sure it's out there somewhere)and one I would love to learn. Please bear in mind my last serious weld was 30 years + ago at school. However I asked if there could be a training scheme within the club set up. I also thought it a good idea to try and involve Jowett Juniors, but didn't get round to mentioning that yet.

I understand there has been concern over litigation and the club TIO (Technical Information Officers) have been rather quiet to avoid having their little socks sued off. However when we are Jowett Car Club Ltd as I understand it we should be able to look into the TIO situation again.


If you are serious about finding an average age it is possible to set up a poll on this forum and from that you tick your age from within say a five year time scale and after a pre determined time you check the figures and it would give a rough average age.


Yes we do need to watch out for the future and we will need a skill base to draw upon as our cars continue to outlive us.

[Tim Neville]

Hello.
Thanks for your responses.
I think it's probably not really necessary to calculate the average age, but I think you got my point.
JowettGallery, this forum and the individual sections of course do a great job; combined with an Apprentice program providing comprehensive Jowett technical education for the future would be great.
Regarding welding aluminium, have you seen or heard of the special low temperature welding alloy wire you can get which enables good welding and repairs with a blow torch? I saw it demonstrated by a Dutch chap at the last Great Dorset Steam Fair and it appeared extremely good. Try 'Googling' low temp aluminium welding. -- Statement made without prejudice. The author of this information excepts no responsibility for the result of actions taken by other parties!!!-- (talk about a litigious society!)

[David Morris]

Hi all,

Re. Welding aluminium. Pat is absolutely right that you really need TIG for aluminium welding. I had an unfortunate experience some years ago, when tightening down the heads on a Javelin engine.

I was a bit younger then and, having read the Maintenance Manual, started tightening down to the full torque figures. Suddenly, that awful sound! Crack! Right across the base of the crankcase on one side!

Having calmed down a bit, I took the complete engine to a welding fabrication place in Tiverton, Devon. They were ( and maybe still are ) welding aluminium every day for huge milk tanks etc. It took a couple of hours while we looked around the town, and they had welded up the crack and made a super job of it. Probably, I should have stripped the engine and had it heat treated first, but that weld held together for years and the engine ran really well.

I have since seen several Javelin engines with welding in the same place, and I should add that I am much more cautious now when tightening down a head! I forget what the manual says and don't go much beyond 30 to 35lb/ft. Once bitten, twice shy!

All the best,

David

[Tim Neville]

I agree that TIG is probably the best. I used to be involved with it quite a bit in the past! Just out of interest though, the demonstration I saw was between two broken pieces of cast ally of different thicknesses, also he joined a piece of 'Mazak' alloy to sheet ally, cut it in half and showed me the join. Very good.

[chapman]

The aluminium welding demonstrated to tim was probably a Lumiweld kit from Frost Auto Restorations. I watched Mike Chevers weld up a Block with one , it did not look too tricky and made a very good job

[Keith Clements]

My Mig welder blew up last week and created an acrid smoke screen, I was thankful I was outside and not in the garage where I may have died from inhalation.

So since then I have been reading up on the latest about Mig and Tig.
I have in the past done some aly welding on the Jup body with the Mig; which was a simple cheap model. I would not say the results were good; but I did manage to fill some holes where the oxide maggot had eaten away.

I have some more comprehensive welding to do on the SC body; so was thinking of replacing with a TIG. First budget. What can be bought for £1000; or do I need to spend £2000 to get something that will do the job?
What about a second hand model? Or should I just spend the money on paying someone else to do it!

Clearly modern Mig can do aly probably as well as Tig and certainly more easily for the less skillful.

I have loaded on to JowettGallery some useful tips.
TOPIC

[Tim Neville]

You pose the questions - spend £1000, £2000 or get someone else to do it; the answer is in the question how much welding do you intend to do?
Apart from that, I have always maintained that good aluminium welding is best left to those that do it all the time. You could get a lot of expert TIG work done for £2000!