Great SC rebuild.......

[Jack]

Evening all. Finally got round to registering, king of the crossthread is finally here

So, today we've made some progress, as well as yesterday evening getting a few things done.

Drummond is round for a couple of days, and has sorted the boot lock/handle mechanism. Particular achievement considering the difficulty we'd had with this in the past, and now we won't have to screw the boot closed for the ride up to Wakefield!!!

There has been a lot of hammering on panels, sanding down wings, stripping the paint off the rear section ready for a bit of painting.

The dashboard got primed the other night, and Chris has done a great job of preparing the surface, tonight we managed to unleash the colour - about 5 coats of British (naturally) Racing Green applied by a Yorkshireman. Couldn't get much better than that, and we're all really impressed with the finish.

Chris also tidied up the left and right panel for the dashboard, one with hole for the radio and the other opens as glovebox. This was stripped by Amy, and by the end of tonight (at about 9:30) we'd got it filled, sanded, primed and final paint done. Looks great.

It was a frustrating day trying to do the panel behind the seat, just about everything that could have got in my way did, but I've got two more rivets to put in and then it is done. Finally. We reused the original panel because it was in reasonable shape, it did need a couple of repairs doing and we had to use right angle along the bottom to secure it where the ally had corroded away and the edges damaged from years of rattling around in the rivets.

Anyhow, time for bed. Some very tired people who've been in the garage all day and will be having a lie-in while Keith and Drummond are off to the wedding tomorrow with the girls, we're all having a day off to try and finish off the bathroom.

Bit cheeky on my first post, but literally any and everybody who can help we really need you. Even if you can only spare one evening in the week, or a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday morning or afternoon, please don't worry if you're not a skilled mechanic, we've got literally dozens of jobs that we need to do, from painting under the car to putting a few rivets around a few bits, to rebuilding the engine and fitting the exhaust. Any and all help very much appreciated and we're going to need it to have an MOT cert before the centenary - it's really important we try and get our car there under its own steam, and it would be a great achievement. Please get in touch if you can help in any way at all - so far Chris, Drummond and others have been incredible, but this is a club with hundreds of members and a few more pairs of hands would make a massive difference.

Jack.

[Amy]

Well, what a busy weekend - and it's not over yet.

After the marathon effort on Friday (see Jack's post, above), and a Saturday off to go to Bill Lock's wedding (mum & dad, Drummond & Ruby) and fix holes in our bathroom wall (me and Jack) respectively, we were back at it today.

We had a bit more bathroom fixing to do this morning, and arrived Chez Clements just as the rest of them arrived home from the wedding - looking like a very good time had been had by all

Drummond had arrived on Friday bearing a much-needed engine mount which he had made for us, and was to spend all of today making the accelerator pedal for us:

DSC00839_sized.jpg

It was being sprayed with hammerite at about 10.30 this evening, and will be fitted later in the week (I think). Thanks Drummond!

Dad and I spent the day sanding the various wings and the bonnet so that they're ready for filling and priming.

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I'll need to finish off the bonnet tomorrow, and then there's just the boot to go, so the bodywork is getting there.

Jack has finished off the panels behind the seat, and very beautiful it is too

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We've also found and assembled the switches to go in the panel in the dashboard, ready for when the loom is put in. Working water and oil temperature gauges were identified from a selection and cleaned up, as were the speedo and rev counter, we checked the rev counter fit..:

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So we now have all components to go in / on the dashboard, and we've checked all the electric bits work, we just need to check the fuel gauge now. Chris painted the glovebox door and radio housing on Friday so those are ready too:

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The rest of my photos can be seen here: Amy's Jupiter rebuild photos and I'll let you know when I add any more.

Right, bed time for a very tired Jupiter rebuilder...

[Forumadmin]

A lot has been happening this week. But first a question, for what is the U shaped section on the bulkhead in the front wheel arch? It does not seem to tie up with anything on the bonnet!

[Drummond Black]

The. U. Section on the bulkhead is to stabilise & support the trailing edge of the front wings. There should be a u bolt on the wing with a rubber hose round it which must be made adjustable. I will send a sketch to you later when we get home.

[Leo Bolter]

These images may be of help, Keith. While what's shown were replaced when the restoration was done, they are a replica of what was there originally.



The upper protrusion showing through the plate is of rubber (it locates into the "W" shaped steady in the lower image), while the lower orifice has the 90 degree rotatable hook protruding. That item latches into the back of the "staple" shown in the next image. Note: The hook in this illustration is actually shown in what would normally be the latched position.
Both these items are mounted on a steel framework that's on the front side of the sheet plate. Do you need a image of that frame?
_____________________________________________________________

[Forumadmin]

Thanks Leo and Drummond who both advised on how the U section was used. What I do not understand is that the bonnet shows no sign of this type of attachment. It uses the conical locator mechanism (at both front and back) and no budget locks on the wings. Pictures to follow.

The front locators are now adjusted and the fit seems nigh on perfect. Once the back cones are in place the wings should align properly. need to find the bonnet catches though. They seem to have gone walkies.

Windscreen is ready for painting, but it is from the SA, so a decision is looming as to whether to paint it red or green! Then take off the SC screen from the Jup and paint it green. The screens were swapped when one rally insisted on toughened rather than laminate glass.

Also sorted all the lights, having found a set of respectable original rear lamps and shrouds, will use those. Also found the original yellow headlights for driving in France (the SCs last trip was in Europe) and the original SA lamps. Both sets are serviceable. Not sure if the yellow ones will pass the UK MOT test?

Decided to use the combined amber/white front side lights rather than fit separate indicators at the front, but to use separate indicators at the rear. Hope the concourse judges do not object!

All the water works are now ready for assembly (Amy having purchased Terry clips); and the carbs are ready for cleaning. I changed the inlet manifold studs back from the DelLorto wide spacing to the Zenith narrow spacing.

Oh yes and I sorted the gear selector rod which was missing a ball and the ball on the gearbox was wrong for the rod. Is this yet another thing different between models?

When I gave Amy the starter from a selection of a dozen I chose based on the best cog. Not only would the thing not fit into the clutch housing but it would also have rotated in the wrong direction if it had. Anyhow the original is now found and ready for cleaning and brush/commutator checking. It functions on the battery quite happily, although two others did not (one with low speed and power).

Not content with one Javelin to stop overheating, the SA started playing up by refusing to start. The engine only fires when you take your finger off the starter button. I have checked resistance of earth and live feed; but still suspect a volts drop somewhere. I tested voltage at battery, at fuse box inlet and outlet and at ignition coil with starter engaged. Cleaned all contacts on battery and fuse box which seemed to help; but it is still not right. Last time this happened it was the ignition switch having a high resistance. Of course it may be petrol which is now 9 months old and was a good investment as it is now twice the price.

[Leo Bolter]

Keith said:

The engine only fires when you take your finger off the starter button.

I had exactly that on the Princess once . . . I seem to recollect it was a faulty coil resister (if you are using one, I'd be inclined to take it off it's mounting and check it visually at the terminals inside!).

The coil was getting it's supply "directly" from the starter terminal when the starter was in use and so the engine would fire and momentarily run . . . until the starter button was released. There was a corroded crimp on the terminal inside the resistance unit, dropping the voltage to almost nil!

[Forumadmin]

That is the opposite to what I have. The engine is still turning when you release the starter but the voltage would come back up giving the coil one chance to fire on the compressing cylinder.

Electronic ignition on SA. So could be anything! I will try fitting a separate 12v supply to it and thus negate any voltage drop. Ballast resistor anyone?

Also put descaler (citric acid ) in Javelin. Some research suggested this was more friendly to aluminium than sulphamic (not sulphuric) used in other descalers. We will see. Hot day today so after work a quick blast up the bypass!

Whilst un-wrapping the headlights sat and read the newspaper they were wrapped in. 1981 so some memories .....of worse times.

[Leo Bolter]

My apologies Keith.
I got that resoundingly wrong!
It really would pay for me to read the problem more carefully before jumping in with a "cure"!
Still, although my "cure" may not be the answer you needed, it's "more grist to the mill" of knowledge of automotive electrickery and may be of use to someone else in the future

[Forumadmin]

Chris was around again last night completing the prep of the tub body panels. I removed one door and completed stripping paint. Also ordered a TIG welder, a bit late for this restoration, although there are a few bits of ally weld still to do. Bought the pure argon gas today, so Friday night I will be testing some new skills. I have used TIG briefly when building the Soapbox for Goodwood 10 years ago.

http://keithclements.co.uk/jowettnet/dt ... oapbox.htm

Saturday and Sunday we will be working on the car so anybody who wants to help please come around. I am finishing early 15.00hrs on Sat as I am playing the drums at Wembley.

[Drummond Black]

What make & model of TIG welder are you getting ? TIG welding is another of my skills ( both steel & Aluminium ). Interested to know what model you ordered ?

[Chris Spencer]

Drummond - Thanks for volounteering your welding skills - we are just filling the shipping container to send you with all the panels that require welding for the next project !!

[Forumadmin]

Parweld XTI 200 has current control in torch from Central welding. You coming down to give me some training? Plus get the loom in, engine started and lots of fettling.

[Chris Spencer]

A bit more work was completed last night with myself and Keith in attendance - I continue to bring the fixed panels of the main shell into shape - front & rear bulkheads, rear scuttles, A & B posts, sills and inside the door pillars. Final prep should be completed on Sat with seams sealed, etching and filling primers applied. If all goes well the shell will be recieving colour coats on Sun. This is a little rushed and the primer coats should be standing a little longer if we had the time. At some later date I am intending to do some bodywork / painting classes for members along with a guide that will tie in with the legacy project - but in the meantime all effort is to get the SC into a fit state to attend the rally.

Keith sorted out the various windscreen glass / frames / fittings that he had / aquired over the years. It would transpire that the SC windscreens / frame are currently fitted to the SA, while the SA frame is in peices in the workshop. So a rebuild / paintwork / assembly of the SA frame is required to enable the SC frame to be swapped from the SA. Just to complicate matters further the SC frame fitted to the SA could also do with a rebuild / paintwork / new rubbers etc. Just so that we do not end up with too many cars in too many peices and no time to put them back together Keith opted to get the SA frame derusted and cleaned up - which just about involved every power tool he owns including the shot blaster. The frame is a very awkard assembly to get derusted but by the end of the evening it was looking good. It now just requires a little welding in both bottom corners and it can be added to the painting list.

Updates to follow as time allows !!

[Alastair Gregg]

I gather things are a little hectic down there at the side of the M25. So my suggestion is not for right now, but when you do your classes can we have a video and a commentary afterwards please. I would love to know how to spray and one of my pet wishes has been how to weld Aluminium. I can put holes the size of Reigate in steel!!!! Aluminium, well I worry about black holes! Passing on your skills is probably not possible after all a skill is a learned experience in the case of bodywork, but it gives us a starting point at which we know we are right thus far.

Am enjoying this restoration by proxy