Recommissioning 1929 long two

[george garside]

correct jet sizes fir 1934 Up to engine No 540469
choke 23,main 87.5 comp 90, slow running 5.

from 540470
choke 25, main 80 comp 80, slow running 50 progression 130, needle valve 1.75

Obviously the '34 carb was different to the '35 on carb. Quite often the later carb was retrofitted to 34 models

looking baack at your photos I think yours is the later V type zenith i.e from 540470

george

[BarryCambs]

Oh dear. I need to investigate what is actually fitted then, as neither of those lists look right compared with what's written in red pen on my parts list:

23 choke
75 main
75 aux
60 SR
2.5 needle and seat

The carb is a VEFH 30. Given all the other problems and bodges the car has collected, I'd almost be surprised if the carb hadn't been fiddled with. It is nice and clean tough and doesn't look damaged.

[george garside]

it could well be a carb of another make of engine as the 30vhf was very widely used. It is also likely that the throttle rod holes in carb body are worn and letting air in which in turn leads to 'false' adjustments being necessary to try to compensate etc etc.

Might be cheaper to try for a half decent second hand 'correct' carb ? JCS

george

[BarryCambs]

You can see why I have doubt in my mind

The spindle is worn, but not as bad as some I have seen. I think you are right though, I am probably better off trying to find a "known" carb either to buy or borrow at least to get me going. I'll try to get on to Jowett Spares tonight - I still haven't asked them about my steering rod and it could be they have some correct wheel nuts.

I know the last journey the car made was from Kent, but I really don't think it was driven with some of the problems I have found, such as the distributor cap. I know a couple of people had a go at getting it running in the intervening 40 years, so I can only assume these things were done then.

[BarryCambs]

Following on from the shake down test last weekend, Paul at JCS is going to have a look for a known 1934 carb and hopefully a set of wheel nuts and studs. It looks like the drag link should be sorted too.

The other issue is the exhaust. As mentioned before, it is just touching the cross shaft on the nearside and my plan was to put a small kink in it using pipe benders from a friend. However, going over Julian's excellent photos, his Y pipe clearly runs underneath the cross shaft and it looks like the angle of descent from the manifold is steeper. Obviously mine is a different chassis, but given my engine sits so low, I don't see why mine goes over the cross shaft. I'm now wondering if there are more than one type of Y pipe?? When I ordered it, Ian Priestly did um and ah a bit given my engine/chassis combination, before saying he was sending something that should fit, but "might need a tweak". If there is a vintage and prewar version, would they be interchangeable between engines?

[julian]

Hi Barry

When I ordered the Y-pipe from JCS, Paul did say they were 2 versions of the pipe and the lower one was the correct one for the Kestrel. Having said that the pipe does come very close to the underside of the cross bar and the hole centers on the flanges were not quite right & needed a bit of filing.

I could try & make some measurements if that would help decide if it's worth changing to the other pipe.

Julian

[BarryCambs]

Hi Julian

i did have to enlarge the holes on this one and just touch the welds with a grinder to clear the nuts.

It would be interesting to see where it will sit if it's not too much trouble. Rather than trying to measure he pipe, I guess all I really need to know is the relative position of the engine and cross shaft. I can't remember where the old one ran, but I think it was above and it was certainly much smaller bore. It had pretty much turned to dust and had a small motorbike silencer jammed on the end.

Barry

[Tony Fearn]

Following on from the shake down test last weekend, Paul at JCS is going to have a look for a known 1934 carb.

Hi Barry,
What happened with Jowett Spares re. the 30VEFH carb?
Tony.

[BarryCambs]

Hi Tony

I had an email today from Paul to say he has put one in the post! They think it is from a Kestrel and given mine has a 4 speed gear box, I'm wondering if that's what my engine was from originally. I did have another look at the carb on the car this weekend and the jets don't match either George's list, or what's been written on the manual.

They couldn't find a decent drag link unfortunately, so it looks as though I have to cannibalise a Bradford one for the ball joint, which is a shame.

Barry

[Tony Fearn]

That's good to hear about the carb.
I have a couple of spare 30VEFH carbs that you could have borrowed to try out, if all else had failed, which is why I asked the question. I expect to be at the AGM in Daventry, along with Bernard, and would have brought them down there. Someone would have got them to you I'm sure if you aren't attending yourself.
Tony.

[BarryCambs]

Hi Tony

Thanks for the offer! Paul did say they don't know what this one is like and they didn't have time to look it over, so it could be I can't use it anyway. They body of mine looks fine, so if I could borrow one to get it running properly, I can then copy the jetting etc over to the good body, as the jets etc are still available to buy. I'll let you know how I get on. I'm still thinking someone started swapping jets to try and correct the ignition problems they had introduced, or as George suggested, the carb has been swapped from a completely different car.

It would be great if I could know what the donor car was. I don't know if there are any factory records out there which would tell me from the engine number?

Thanks again, Barry

[BarryCambs]

I'd have liked to come to Daventry, but I am definitely aiming for Tewkesbury. While there's no chance of a concourse trophy, I am hoping to at least pick up an award for either largest/shiniest silencer, or number of different people in a car in one hour- currently 18



Just to add, the girl wearing the crash helmet was previously riding her bike and this is not a reflection on either my driving, or the perceived safety of the car.

[Tony Fearn]

Hi Barry.
I loved the photo of you and all those kids in the car.
Perhaps a copy of it to Hon. Ed. Alan Brierley, with a bit of a write up will grace the pages of a future Jowetteer - if you do it!
I don't know the ins and outs of the various carbs for the pre-wars, but the four carbs in my spares that I looked at today had the following jet sizes:-
30 VEFH numbered E2789.....main 75, Comp 80 and SR 50.
30VEFH numbered D3930............70..........75..........60
30VEFH numbered E0487............75..........80..........50. This also had 1.5 cast onto the outside of the bowl - why I don't know.
30VEFH numbered C1044............80..........80..........45. This had a fourth jet in the bowl wall, to the left of the SR and it had 25 stamped on it.

There's not much to be had from these numbers, unless you're well versed in carburation I suspect, but all knowledge is useful, especially if you know what you're talking about.

One thing we on JowettTalk forget, is that the greater majority of JCC members use the Jowetteer magazine rather than this site for information about Jowetts, and as such, there maybe a fount of knowledge out there amongst the Club members, although it's not forthcoming at light-speed!

Tony.

[BarryCambs]

Hi Tony.

I should write something for the Jowetteer and you are right, it's a great photo. The idea of resurrecting the old girl was to get the kids interested and involved. While they are still a bit young to do any useful spannering, they are keen and my eldest is itching to take it out to some shows. I always planned for it to be a working/out and about car, rather than a "look but don't touch" project and trust me, when you see those kids scrabbling up the wings to get into he dicky seat, you are very glad you didn't invest 2 grand in a nice paint job! That said, I have impressed on them it needs to be treated with respect and all my vehicles are treated to no expense spared servicing - even if they don't deserve it.

Interestingly, none of your carbs match the approved list of jetting either. I'll wait and see what the one from JCS looks like and see if i can make up a set of jets that match the list as a start point. I have ordered a service kit from the Carburettor Hospital to try and make sure everything else is as good as it can be.

I also have an embarrassing confession to make. It was only when I took the float bowl off to look at the jet sizes, I realised there was no gasket. When I stripped it quickly to blow it through with the airline, I carefully laid everything out on clean paper, so there was no way it got lost then. My father did the same when he cleaned it out originally, so I think it must have gone missing sometime over the last 40 years. This would also account for the over powering smell of petrol in the garage for a few days after it's bee run. While it wouldn't affect the main jets, the other 2 in the top of the bowl presumably have massive leaks as a result and depending on the thickness of the gasket, it could alter the float height slightly I guess. There will be a new one in the service kit, so I will run it again as it is just to make sure, before I start fiddling.

[Forumadmin]

I bought a set of small drills that I use to check jet sizes or drill out to size required. Do not believe what may be stamped on them.