Great SC rebuild.......

[Drummond Black]

What parts are you looking for ????

The rear spears are available from JOAC spares, and very reasonable too. The front parts that fit into the headlight rim MAY be available, however the Jowett ones are scarce. Thought I had a couple of poor ones but not located them yet.

Drummond

[Forumadmin]

We have some reasonable ones on the car and I have the ones of the SA. But tehy are MAzak and showing their age! I am now unsure whether ones on the XK120 are the same.

[Forumadmin]

Evening spent trying to find the damn motifs that Scott brought; but failed again. Then sorted some wheels and checked run out with dial guage and balance. Interestingly (or not) found that one brake drum was heavy at one point. Shall I grind it to balance or add some weight with weld? For now the wheel is statically adjusted to balance the out of balance drum so must be fixed back in the same place it came off. the wheel is marked with Tippex next to the grease nipple. Also Tippex was used on the rear to record the position and value of weights added so if one falls offf you know what weight is required.

The wheels were already dynamically balanced a while back; but some had lost their balance and were statically adjusted.

We now have two painted and two waiting to be painted. However one needs a crack welded up. Interestingly (again) the crack travelled down a 1mm gap left in the weld that I had added to stop such cracks which zig-zagged through the holes. All the others so welded had no such cracks. The other set, not welded, have developed cracks on two of the set of four. Cracks either emanate from the hub cap studs or the Jup ventilation holes or the stud holes. So all those bits are treated with weld.

Jack finished the glove box and put the handbrake back. He says it will now hold more than some gloves before it collapses.

[Jack]

The glovebox. What a thing. Thoroughly frustrating, not an easy job for someone with bigger fingers, and plenty of swearing and re-engineering to get it fixed.

First job was the hinges, getting them spaced so that the box could open and close properly - this is now dramatically better than it was, but I'm still not entirely happy with it. It opens and closes fine, but isn't lined up perfectly with the dashboard. It will do for now, when we have more time to play with we can sort it - I expect this will need new hinges and some work to get the spacing right.

Once the hinges were sorted, next job was removing an extremely stubborn bolt holding the catch at the top in place, loosely, so it rattled. After a lot of fiddling, trying everything to undo the bolt, a decision was made in my head that a 4BA bolt was not worth saving, and I would just cut it off. No easy task when right next to some of the most visible paintwork in the car, but a needle file allowed me to cut through the bolt very carefully. Some of the paint from the inside of the glovebox was marked doing this, but it is not visible unless you are lying on your back in the footwell - if it's come to that I'd imagine you're probably either very asleep or there's been a fairly major crash - either way paintwork is not going to be a priority. Plus we can touch this bit up easily to avoid any corrosion in future.

After some more swearing, catching my finger in some pliers, and stopping for a drink and a think, I made a decision to refit the catch using a couple of 4BA countersunk bolts. Easy. Except the heads of the bolts had to be countersunk to leave clearance for the glovebox to close without fouling them, and the countersunk bolts I could find were slightly too small for a couple of holes that have been well worn over the years. Off to the big box of nuts, bolts and washers, and I managed to find washers that were big enough that they wouldn't drop through the holes, and the hole in the middle was big enough for the bolt heads to sit almost flush. A bit more fiddling and they were secure, and the glovebox conveniently now opens and closes, and stays either open or closed as required!

I moved on to the glovebox, which for those not familiar with it is basically a strong cardboard box. Previously this had been fitted, but was just about strong enough to hold a small pair of gloves. Perhaps a hat as well on a good day. The problem was that the fittings had pulled out of the edges of the box, probably due to damp at some point getting into the board. A bit of re-engineering later and we had a plate made up (from the evil stainless that refuses to be drilled) that would hold the box solid against the inside of the dashboard. It turns out that not only is the stainless a pig to drill, even with a slow speed and lots of fluid, it is a pig to tap threads as well. After a bit of patience and a drink and think break, the plate was made and fitted. The glovebox is now nice and solid, you could put at least 2-3 pairs of gloves and perhaps even a bottle of drink in there now. Yay!

It was a simple job to refit the handbrake, which had to come out to fit the carpets and to get the glovebox out - two nuts back on and the dashboard is done. All it needs now is a bit of T-cut and it will be done. Perhaps.

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Due to commitments with the day job I can not get over to Keith's during weekdays. However, I am available for other odds that I can get done - in this case my other half Sharon came to the rescue and made up a steering column gater to the the original pattern - Jack had sourced some vynal from the trimmers and Sharon soon sorted it - it just needs fitting now.

[Forumadmin]

Well done Sharon. I caught the last light to weld the cracks in the wheels, so they are now ready for spraying. Painted the rear chassis bar but the paint reacted so will need to rub down and do again. Amy continued cutting and noticed a scratch that needed painting. Jack started trying to fit the hood; but I will let him tell you his thinking.

[Amy]

Chris, please pass our thanks on to Sharon - the gaitor will look so much nicer in matching vinyl than the old duck-taped and cable-tied one!

I carried on with some cutting of the paintwork last night - there were a few parts left which needed doing with cutting compound before we t-cut, so I finished those off. Moving to the front of the car I cut the panel (not sure what it's called) below the bonnet that the bumper and numberplate attach to. Whilst there, and as the bonnet was up, I attacked the exhaust pipe with some cutting compound

My name is Amy and I've turned into a polishing fanatic

Anyway, cutting compound brings up exhaust pipes a treat! It's now lovely and shiny...

Whilst working on the driver's door I found some paintwork that had been damaged somehow, so duly touched it up with some paint so that it can dry before the weekend and we can flat it back.

I'm now in the South West for the rest of the week with work so shan't be doing any more on the car until the weekend. I shall leave mum making sure that dad and Jack are very careful with the trim and paintwork...!

Amy.

[Jack]

Well, last night was a bit frustrating. After the day before seeing such success with the glovebox, I was expecting the hood to attach in minutes and sit around drinking tea admiring my own work.

Inevitably, that didn't happen. First idea was to bend a nice thin strip of ally round the curve, attach it inside with the existing bolts in the bodywork, and then pop a few very small bolts through the holes in the hood and the edge of the ally. That, clearly, would work, however it was far more complicated than expected, and would have been a proper bodge job based on the first couple of attempts.

Next plan was that at least one of the holes lined up with the holes on the body - could we simply use 2/3 fittings to hold the hood, and then use a bit of tape around the inside to hold things together for the drive to the NEC? Not really. I doubt it would be strong enough, and if it was it would probably take off plenty of paint when it came off to fit the actual hood for the car.

Some more head scratching, alternative methods and a bit of thinking and discussion went on, but it was heading for 11pm. Nobody was really thinking straight.

On the short drive home I thought some more, and then worked it out. The reason we'd not just used a strip of vinyl round the outside was that it wasn't rigid enough. The simple solution here would be to make the vinyl more rigid. I know. Simple. So I now have a plan, I will attach a skirt around the inside of the metal which is vinyl doubled over and bolted through both layers. Then a thick wire will run around the top of the vinyl inside the folded over material. That will keep the edge rigid, and avoid big gaping holes or worse when the car is driven at speed. Then the hood is bolted through the vinyl, under the wire, so that when under tension it will pull on the side of the wire, spreading the load, and basically working a bit. If we do it in black vinyl it will be almost invisible, and when the hood is folded down nobody will know how we did it.

Sometimes, it is worth thinking for an hour and then working on something for an hour, instead of spending 3 hours just working trying to butcher something into place. Not often, but sometimes

Jack.

[Jack]

After another trip to Premier Plating this afternoon, and we now have a rechromed fuel filler cap and fittings (very very shiny) numberplate light housing (very shiny) and the clips for the front of the hood ready to go on to the car.

They've been pretty quick to turn everything round, including a complex job on the front grille, and reasonably priced, so another recommendation if anyone needs chrome doing.

Jack.

[Jack]

A late shift tonight, though a late start due to Amy falling asleep on the sofa when she got home. I left Amy to snooze so that I could get a few little jobs moving in the garage.

First important job was to test my wire/vinyl hood attachment idea - hereby named The Moon Method. I've named it, because it works. Note the important difference between this Moon Method and the one where you use your chest to push a rivet gun into place. That is the Moon Technique, named as such because it is now a recognised medical procedure for nipple removal.

Now, the hood is not very pretty just yet, with only a third of the hood fitted, but it is structurally solid - the vinyl and wire is holding the back of John Blankeleys hood in place securely, and the vinyl is then bolted through the existing holes in the rear of the cockpit. I may need to tweak things a bit, because it effectively moves the hood up about an inch, leaving the hood slightly less taut than pulling it right down, but with a bit of work it will be functional and stop the hood flapping too much on the ride to the NEC.

It should, hopefully, be fairly watertight as well - it may need a bit of tape around the inside of things to complete the job, but it is going to be a lot better than most of the other ideas we've had to date.

The clips for the front of the hood were fitted, and are a nice tight fit on the car and hood. The chrome is looking good on there, some discussion was had about the "eyebrows" on the top of the windscreen and how to get them fitted and sorted, as the clips may need to move in future with the new hood.

Tomorrow's main job will be to get the rest of the rear of the hood fitted, so we can move on to the rest of the list of important jobs - currently about 20 small jobs and 3/4 big ones.

Keith spent half an hour this evening accusing the chromers of having lost the very important fitting for the inside of the fuel cap, despite me being fairly confident that the cap was bare when I took it away from Keith stripping it. Sure enough after some searching he found the part that had been removed in a box somewhere in the garage. The fuel cap assembly is going together again (preliminary work this evening involving a spring) to be refitted to the car tomorrow. The chrome looks really good, a high shine to sit alongside the paintwork nicely.

The freshly chromed rear numberplate light cover was promptly refitted, and looks brilliant. If we get some time, we may manage to centre it properly - currently it is just over to the left, the kind of thing only we would ever notice, but we will notice it so it will want sorting

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Would not happen to be called the 'Moon Method' just in case the hood comes a little slack and then exposes it's self by any chance ?

[Forumadmin]

Watford Observer November 5th 2010.

watford-observer.jpg

Keith, Jack and Amy with the Jowett Jupiter.
Picture 43f3814 Holly Cant

A 56-YEAR-OLD car which sat in "thousands of
bits" this tilne last year, has been named the
1950s Car of the Year. after being restored by a
father and daughter team from Kings Langley.
Now, after being voted top of the category,
"Napoleon" the 1954 Jowett Jupiter SC, has a shot
at winning the prestigious title of Classic Car of
the Year.
Keith Clements, 63, bought the car as a wreck
in 1979 with the intention of restoring it for his
daughter Amy's 17th birthday.
However, it wasn't until July last year that Aspley
Lock couple Amy Clements. then 30. and her
partner Jack Moon. 27, decided to restore the
Jupiter.
Amy, Keith, Jack, and fellow car enthusiast
Chris Spencer, started working on Napoleon
every Saturday, and a for few hours during the
week.
By March the team, all of whom have full-time
jobs, were working on the car six days out of
seven, often working in the garage until after
midnight, until the completion in May.
Amy Clements, said: "It's not a concourse car,
we haven't prepared it to be, it's a labour of love.
"This time last year it was in thousands of bits
and the bodywork was a wreck, we had to strip
about 12 layers of paint and primer off."
The team will find out on November 11 if they
have won Classic Car of the Year, when it is
announced at the 2010 NEC Classic Car Show.
Ms Clements said: "We think the judges know
already but we won't find out until the 11th.
"We were very happy to win the category, Dad
was especially pleased to beat a Porche because
he used to race against them in his Jupiter."
Jowett Jupiter sports cars were built in Bradford
from 1950 to 1954, powered by a 60-62bhp
Jowett-designed 1486cc flat four pushrod engine.
It had a top speed of 85mph and accelerated from
o to 50mph in 11.7 seconds.
Jupiters were aluminium-bodied and only
about 900 were ever made, of these, only 94 were
of the "SC" type which had a boot.

[Forumadmin]

On rugby coaches we have been known to do something called mooning. Not sure JAck has that in mind

[Jack]

Another late start to the shift due to lunch being a rather protracted affair. Chris had started before 1pm, we were there by 2:30 to help.

Chris was working on the wheels and the caps for the top of the doors. Lots of sanding and painting going on in the corner of the garage, the wheels are looking really good now and should be back on the car tomorrow.

First job was to complete the installation of the rear hood, using the now patented Moon Method - the rest of the fittings went on easily enough, and now we have a hood that is structurally sound. We will need to use a bit of tape to make it a bit more airtight for the trip to the NEC with the cold weather we've been having, but it should now be fine, and will be folded down for the show.

Next job was the strips for the top of the windscreen, some work on these to get them to fit was pretty much wasted, when put in place they clearly weren't right. Plans are afoot tomorrow to get the wood covered with the matching vinyl, but more work to do on this to get it looking good - the top of the windscreen is very visible, and we want to make sure that it covers up the slightly dated wood underneath.

Another full day in the garage tomorrow, not many hours available now for us to get the car finished before Thursday morning drive to the Midlands!

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Things are now getting a little intense - we only have this weekend to complete everything proir to the car traveling to Birmingham where it is an exhibit at the NEC Classic car show on Thursday. I concentrated on paint finishes - The other two wheels were rubbed down and primed, I have used a steel silver colour (Halfords own brand areosol) the previous silver on the wheels was quite bright and looked a little garish, once dry I applied a areosol laquer (again Halfords own brand) - they now look very fitting with the car (although originally they would have been the same colour as the body).

Next on the list was the interior door cappings - I had painted these at the same time that I painted the car several months ago but we had never fitted them - with door cards fitted Keith fitted the cappings only to find that both cappings fouled the B posts and damaged the paintwork. Keith cut the trims back and reshaped the ends - now they needed refinishing again - I flatted them back and got them into primer, due to limited time frames I forced dried the primer with a heat lamp. Once dry they were flatted back prior to a fresh coat of British Racing Green top coat.

I completed a couple of other odds on the bodywork and again added another two coats of touching in over small paint chips - these will be flatted tomorrow prior to being polished - Keith, Amy and Jack will no doubt update you on what they got done today - but things are getting crossed off the list with pace now, but it just feel like it did in May this year when we were against it to get the car roadworthy for the annual Jowett rally.