Jupiter hood assembly hinges and bows

[Srenner]

I have recently had several inquiries about complete folding top assemblies. Has anyone looked at reproducing the metal parts? Is anyone else in need of these parts?

[Chris Spencer]

JOAC list the hinges for the hood manufactured in stainless steel @ £450 per set - sales are strictly limited to JOAC members only

[David Kemp]

So what exactly do you get for 450? Can someone give a picture or diagram? I need the whole hood , so after buying the hinge apart from covering what would I need? Bows?

[Chris Spencer]

David - you would require the bows that support the hood along with the front rigid section that closes / clamps to the top of the windscreen frame - plus the timberwork that forms the folding side frames around the side widows on the doors - they must be a diagram of all of the hood fittings somewhere among the technical files and there are a lot more parts involved than you would first think when looking at an assembled hood.

[Keith Clements]

I have never seen any drawings. Remember SC and SA are completely different.

[PJGD]

Scott - Yes, I need a full set of Jupiter SA hood hardware, so put me on your list. . .

Thanks
Philip

[Srenner]

Perhaps this is best suited to be a JOAC conversation, but this is the default venue, right?

Yes, as pointed out JOAC has the hinge parts. Stainless is not a bad choice, avoids the plating cost and has a similar appearance. So we need to see what is included in order to see what is missing. I also am wary of quality issues, no offence intended.

Also pointed out are all the other bits that are needed to just get a working frame, and let's not forget there are two different clamping methods.

Not only are the SA and SC different, the factory made liberal use of plywood/ash shims for any car. Restoring 118, I had the top from 758 and 140, as well as the remnants of 118 to make all new wood for that car. There was up to 1/2" difference among the same frame piece from those tops. And none were wrong! The wood shop lads must have been talented.

While GBP 450 sounds expensive to me, I'm unsure if that can be beat or if the effort isn't sort of recreating the wheel. The other missing parts are a different story. I suppose each restoration effort could make all their own bits, but what's a community for?

Perhaps a notice that a one-time run of parts might flush out a few more needy owners?

[PJGD]

Scott, My car is E3/SA/877 so should not be wildly far off the average dimensions!

Philip

[Keith Clements]

I sent an email to John Powter, JOAC spares, a couple of days ago on the subject.

[Bryan Walker]

Hi Scott,
I've got a set of the Joac stainless hinges in the shed. Will take a photo for you over the weekend.
Also should be able to compare them against the original ones I got off you a few years back
Regards Bryan

Photo below

[Srenner]

Thanks Bryan, that helps a lot.

One can see that these are fairly complex parts; not visible is that several have action that travels at an angle. These appear pretty decent to me, although the tonality of SS is different from chrome.

So, the other non-wood parts missing are the top bows, the front cross-member, the swing arm or finger pull clamp arrangements and all the little finishing plates.

Front cross member can be done on a jig. Not too complex, but has some angles to it. The wood that fits to it has some shape to it and is not so straightforward.

Probably easier to make the later swing arm fastener than the finger pull.

IIRC, there are 8 finishing plates per top, fitted to the top of the b-pillar and the vertical upright behind each window. Not too hard to make, but the profile should match the wood.

The top bows might be tough as the shape is half-round tube, sort of like a "D" with the flat towards the ground. If I can find the tubing, the bend won't be too hard.

The wood is a whole 'nother can of worms. Who has a wood shop?

Cheers,
Scott

[Chris Spencer]

With regards to the wood this will need to be a durable hardwood - we all know from experience that what may fit perfect on one Jupiter may not fit at all on the next - hence if we had the timber parts made up as hood sets you would have to allow to produce them oversize and trim to size has the hood frame is assembled which is exactly what we had to do when we were fitting the hood to Amy's SC Jupiter but there is no reason that with suitable patterns that we could not get all the wood made up in hood several sets for final trimming / finishing on assembly. From memory we used seasoned oak on the SC.

[Forumadmin]

Trever Spero located a wood shop close to Goodwood that uses CNC to reproduce the parts, mainly for Morris woodies. I guess the thing to do is to get a set for patterns. I was lucky since I had a neighbour who was a retired pattern maker and his skill at reproduction made mine from the battered originals.
As Chris says such reproductions might not fit all individual Jups and might need some added meat that would have to be shaped. Most of the change in dimension is caused by the positioning and packing of the bottom hinge. I think the top wood section over the windshield should be same on all. The fit of the two pairs of hinged sections on each window would greatly depend on how the hinges would go together. The channel around the window would depend on the shape of the glass which might be variable. Any discrepancy could be taken up with rubber or a bit of scraping.
NZ has Braddie wood bits so perhaps they can copy the Jup ones.

[Srenner]

I have been struggling to find the half-round tube as original. It's not a problem if I'm willing to buy 5040 linear feet locally, or a metric ton from China. Both of those seem a bit much IMHO.

There are still a few more suppliers to call before looking at other shapes for the bow tubing. I suppose round might work, but points off at the concours!

I have extracted the front subframe from one top and will have two more by the end of the month, so that should be a good enough sampling to make a viable jig.

Chris is right that all the wood should be made long and needs to be a hardwood. I think the original is ash, but we have been using walnut. Keith has a point that all the front wood that attaches to the subframe can be the same. I will contact the NZ club and ask about wood.

[Bryan Walker]

Hi Scott,
Check out http://www.completeautomobilist.com/pro ... frame-tube
Bryan