Jupitour

[Forumadmin]

I was surprised to see no entry on JowettTalk for the Jupitour.

As this is the first time I have had time and contact with a computer since the prep for Wakefield I will give a very quick precis.

The first day to Wetheral in Cumbria was wet and not very nice as we were suffering from the Jowett intermittent windscreen wiper option. However, a stop at the waterfall at Hawes and an excellent pint of Old Peculiar to wash down a lamb bagette (whick was a roast dinner in a bread role) preceded a walk to the waterfall which was set in a semicircular ampitheater.

The hotel was next to a Victorian railway station and 200ft high railway bridge over a gorge. So I had a walk in the evening to get up an appetite.

We missed the Cumbrian massacre apparently. and scarpered up the A74 to come off at Stirling for a scenic drive through the Trossachs , over GlenCoe in the sunshine and onto Fort William.

The next day was even better winding our way up to Poolewe through some gorgeous roads. This was my birthday and Jen had arranged canapes, champagne and a massive birthday cake. Unfortunately Jen fell over and cut her knee so a visit next day to the local surgery was required for some stitches. The hotel was a bit like Fawlty Towers as when you sat in the settee you were dripped on from Tom Chapman's room above. We fully expected Tom to arrive sitting in the bath! Also when they switched on the kitchen extractor the recently lit fire filled the room with smoke, so we were smoked Jupitorists to go with the smoked salmon and haddock.

A visit to smallest distillery was intersting and accompanied by more excellent food. By now I was glad I had a small steering wheel.

The drive to Uig in Skye via Applecross was nothing short of amazing witth many OMG (Oh My God!) moments reported by Bill and Sue, our Australian tourists.

Today was spent on Skye seeing the rock formations in the north and enjoying endless miles of super roads from twisting single track hairpin climbs to fast flowing well paved sweeping roads.


An hour in the Jacuzzi eased all the bruises suffered last night under Howard's car taking the side off the gearbox. Seems the problem occurred again today but Howard and Jacqui made it here.

So far we have lost Willy Blanckley's Javelin in Wakefield with a cracked head, Gordon Cooper's Radford WAR182 was in the wars in Fort William, was semi fixed with another exhaust manifold but finally dropped out in Poolewe with a head gasket and water in the oil. Also in Poolewe John Powter's Mead had a valve seat insert come out. The head from Gordon's car was taken and seems to have survived two days of hard driving.

Drummond brought me a new crankshaft pulley and seal and we fitted this so no more outside lubricated engine any more.

[Drummond Black]

MONDAY 7th JUNE
We have no more breakdowns and all the Jupiters left the Isle of Skye on the 11.35am ferry from Armadale to Malaig. Our run over the Ardnamuchan peninsula was in brillant sunshine and only one small shower was encountered. The cars then drove over Morven to Lochaline where we boarded the ferry which was to take us onto the Isle of Mull. It was then a 16 mile drive to our hotel in Tobermory. We are staying in the Western Isles Hotel which is an impressive Victorian building high up above the harbour overlooking the town. We were treated to a very welcome and enjoyable meal in the evening.

Tuesday 8th June. Most Jupitourists enjoyed a relaxing day with maintenance high on the agenda. The local garage in Tobermory was well frequented for fuel , oil and use of facilities. This is the first day that we have experianced any real rain.

More tomorrow

[TedAllen]

Glad you all had a good time, Drum.
Went up with a couple of pals on the bikes a couple of summers ago to Fort William and stayed at the Nevis Bridge. Streetview shows it boarded up now !
We had a trip to Ardnamurchan, a reasonably difficult ride but well worth it at the end with tea and buns on the clifftop.
Came back via the Road to the Isles with more tea at Acharacle. What an idyllic spot.
You are so lucky to be within striking distance of the West of Scotland.

Regards.
Ted

[Forumadmin]

Now in Loch Melfort having crossed to Oban by ferry this morning. We had to nurse Howard and Jacqui Bryan's car with a broken gear shift to the ferry. 2nd and overdrive second was sufficient for the single track roads and we made it in time to catch the ferry.

Some went on a rib to view the sea eagles and golden eagles and had a bouncy ride back on a choppy sea from Easdale.

A spare gear shift from Eddie in Edinburg is being collected by Angus Bell tonight. He has had to avoid the train crash closed A65 though.

Food today was great with smoked haddock for breakfast, oysters for lunch and sea bream tonight!

[Howard]

Hello everyone. this is my first attempt at usng the talk feature. Ishould now know what I am doing having had Keith to instruct me.

We are here iin Loch Melfort and we are having a great time. Jacqui and I are very lucky to be here at all as yesterday afternoon 1 mile from tobermory the gear linkage sheared on HKU56 and i WAS LEFT WAGGLING , tHANKS TO THE AMAZING EFFORTS OF dRUMMOND, aNGUS bELL, wILLIE bLANKLEY, eDDIE IN eDINBURGH WHO HAD A SPARE GEAR LINKAGE, jOHN pOWTER AND i ARE READY TO PUT THE ;NEW LINKAGE IN TOMORROW MORNING BEFORE BREAKFAST. LET'S HOPE IT FITS!!

I have grown quite used to driving with fixed 2nd gear and o/d which means 40 mph @4,000rpm.. ie Tobermory to Craignure and OBAN TO HERE IE ABOUT42 MILES altogether.. tHANKS Keith for setting the gearbox in gear for me.


Howard

ps sorry for the "wobbly handwriting".

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

Hi Howard, That's what you get for hammering it up Sutton Bank in a blizzard!!!
Anyone who does not know what I am talking about needs to order the Rally DVD!!

[Drummond Black]

Well, that's Howard's car mobile again. We have just finished the repair at 13.00 hrs on Thursday 9th June. had to think as the days just run into each other. Repair took a bit longer than planned however with a wealth of Jupiter knowledge at our disposal a few problems were quickly overcome. The weather in Argyle today is absolutely amazing with wall to wall sunshine and this is forecast to continue for the next few days.

The Loch Melfort Hotel has magnificent views looking over the isles of Mull , Jura and Islay. What a way to spend a holiday.

ALL JUPITERS ARE NOW RUNNING CORRECTLY.

Drummond

[Forumadmin]

It is over! What a great time we had.
Friday saw a visit to the Crinan Canal on the way to Invereray Castle where all Jupiters assemble for a photo session in front of the house. John's Mead suffered a petrol pump diaphragm failure and the spare pump was rusted solid (so moral there is to test spares before using them as balast.)

Eventually fixed though and we had a spirited drive over the pass into the hotel in Luss where I enjoyed a quick Suana before the Barbeque. We were joined by Jack Kirk and Bryan Marshall who had brought a spare pump. We said goodbye to Drummond and Ruby and made presentations to Bill and Sue from Aus and Howard and Jacqui, our organisers.


A rapid drive the next day down the motorways before visiting New Lanark to see a working cotton mill and rope maker. Most interesting was the Victorian school room. Then into the Lake District and onto a champagne reception in Bowness overe the Kirkstall pass.

Final goodbyes and we went our separate ways. Josephine performed well, getting us home in good time to see the F1 and cut down the two foot high weeds in the garden.

The evening was spent helping Amy replace the radiator on Jack's car. Amy was most pleased when Jack, who was off diving, phoned to ask her to do it! Not many girlfriends could be asked such a thing. Capri is now replaced by the SC in the garage awaiting continuation of SC rebuild on Wednesday.

First on my list is to change carbs on Javelin and then to tackle the twenty or so jobs listed for the SA among them the diff, gearbox, and overdrive as well as the door handle that broke in Ulswater. I should have oiled the catches!

Howard asked how we could assemble all the pictures and texts. Well, you can load and annotate in the JowettGallery or add to this topic on JowettTalk and upload the best pictures to add some colour. Alternatively email or put on DVD or CD and send to me. I will take a week to sort mine and edit the video, I suspect.

[Forumadmin]

The most expensive hotel we had was the Duisdale and for £230 to £280 per night (dinner, bed and breakfast) was the only disappointment of the tour. We were greeted well by the manager; but he seemed to do everything when we arrived (check in, carry cases and showing to room) so since many arrived at the same time we had to wait. Our room was particularly bad, well decorated in a boutique style, but backing onto a fire escape and view of a liquid gas holder. The toilet seat would not stay up and the tea service was stored on drawer which when pulled out blocked access around the bed, there was no power sockets close by to plug the kettle into and no table to put anything on.
Then into the Jacuzzi; not realizing we would each be charged £7.50 for the privilege. Nice though!
Mealtimes were particularly disorganized; but that fault was not restricted to this hotel. None of them seemed to figure out how to match people with the ordered meal and often sent one type of meal out to all who ordered leaving the rest to wait for their dish. The Western Isles on Mull shined as the way to do it, with waiters organised, acceptably attentive and with good memories. There we ordered a few minutes before it was served, rather than a few hours.
I did have a competition for best course giving sweet to a lemon flan in Western Isles, breakfast kipper to the Dusidale (when it eventually came) and main course to the pork roast in the Western Isles, with the starter being the avocado and crab ensemble in Poolewe. I had two of those! Lunch went to the Drumchork Lodge in Aultbea with a superb buffet of seafood, meat (that I did not get around to) and deserts.

[Mike Allfrey]

Well Done!

Did anyone identify Drummond's piece of steel strip, that was found in the Jupiter's sump?

Incidentally, Keith, on trips like this we rate motels by their bathrooms on an out-of-ten-scale. Sadly most achieve about 5.

Nice to read about Fawlty Towers in the Isles though!

Mike A.

[Forumadmin]

I cannot recall this! Drummond?

[Forumadmin]

I have been struggling with an uneven idling engine on the SA since the last couple of days of the Jupitour. I reckoned it was the carb gasket seals as I heard the tell tale sucking noise, so replaced the gaskets. First on one side then the other. This did not cure it. So more investigation. On sticking by finger over the pintle valve inlet in the oil filler pipe, I heard a very loud sucking noise, so more tube in the ear work suggested the quart inch pipe from crankcase to pintel valve. However after tightening the connectors it was still the same. More detailed investigation with an inspection lamp and some contorsions, I discovered a 3/16" hole in the pipe next to the oil filter. After removal it seems this was at one time soldered and the solder had broken. Presumably the pipe had rubbed on something in the past. I can assure readers I have never done this mod ; but it does show you have to check everything.
It may also explain some of the oil getting on the outside of the oil filter housing which I thought was a leaking oil pipe. We will see.

[chapman]

I had the same problem with the Abbott I just could not get it to idle. Joe Leech said that it would be the pintle valve so I changed it and now the idle is good.
I tried the old one but it is hard to test because if you suck or blew into it it does not seem to seal , does anyone know how it works and how you can test it.