Great SC rebuild.......

[Jack]

Another busy evening today, first job was to establish how to lay out the story boards we have prepared for the rally at the weekend.

After a bit of thinking we realised that the best option was to fix them to the thin plywood that we used for the door cards. The spare piece came out, and would you believe it, it was exactly the right width for the boards. It was almost exactly the same length as the boards as well. One cut with a stanley knife and we were sorted. A few staples later and a bit of tape, and boards are ready to rock and roll. They also conveniently fit just down the back of the seat in the SC.

Next job was to sort the toolbag out, because Amy's tools are now largely kept in her very nice Teng toolbox which is unfortunately not very practical for putting in the car. One Sainsbury's Bag For Life later and the tools are now conviently in the top of the battery box. Locked away for security, but easily accessible from inside the car. My battery box has now proven its worth - it now has a full size battery, 5 litres of oil, a tow rope, long bar so Amy can do the wheelnuts easily, and all the Whit sockets and spanners, screwdrivers, multimeter and other sensible rally spares as suggested by Keith.

Keith was kept busy with disconnecting the horn, there had been a couple of issues on MOT day with it going off unexpectedly. So we have disconnected it for now. Amy can just shout at cars, she does it anyway and it's louder than the horn. He then wired up the cigar lighter socket so that we can run sat nav, phone chargers etc as required on longer trips.

I had to check that our bags fitted on the back shelf, I had bought Amy a couple of bags from the MX5 owners club for Christmas - they have clips that are designed to fit onto the seatbelt mountings and then clip together the two bags in the middle. This keeps them secure and also will act as a bit of a windblocker when the top is down. Conveniently they fit the MX5, which they should do (they were designed for it!) but also fit the SC.

I put the hood back up, and it is getting easier to fit every time. Which is good. From the drivers seat I was able to pull the front corner forward fairly easily and tighten the fixings at the top of the windscreen. The acid test is whether it is easy enough that Amy can do it unassisted - I suspect that she may need to slide along the seat to use both hands, but it will be manageable while the hood fabric settles down.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for everyone. Hopefully I will be able to get an hour free before lunchtime to go and have an SA familiarisation session with Keith and move the car out of the garage. There's a couple of bags to go in for the weekend, but I think we are nearly there now.

Not quite sure what time we will be leaving for the rally, but I am hoping for 5pm latest, depending on work. See you all at Staverton Park! If anyone wants to join our little convoy, we'll be heading up the A roads from Apsley late afternoon.

Jack.

[Jack]

This is the storyboard as displayed at the rally in Daventry, shows the information from the Classic Car of the Year competition and also various images from the rebuild.

Jupiter SC Storyboard

Jack.

[Forumadmin]

Just added a history of the early years with lots of pictures and sketches made in the early 1980's

[Amy]

Time for a bit of an update. Napoleon and I went on a bit of a jaunt to the Goodwood Festival of Speed a couple of weeks ago (Jack has written this up separately), and Napoleon behaved himself very well, and revelled in the attention that he got.

We did notice whilst we were there that there was something of an oil leak - in fact, more of a constant dribble than a mere leak (there had been a very small leak previously, but this has been accepted as being par for the course with a Jowett engine and not worthy of more than a watching brief). On the way home, I also filled up with petrol, and noticed that the gauge seemed to be dropping very quickly afterwards - when the Jupiter was safely back in the garage, reports came back from Clements Snr that the garage was full of petrol fumes and, he asked, was I trying to blow the whole place up...?

So it seemed that there was something of a fuel leak to add to the oil leak

Then I learn that apparently this was a known fault - known to Jack and dad, at any rate. Apparently when the petrol tank was fitted, there were concerns about a leak from the sender unit for the fuel gauge, and silicon sealant had been liberally applied to dubious effect.

Dad has busily been fixing the oil leak - I'll let him explain, but it involves large bolts and me taking a spare gasket with me next time I'm out in the car.

Last night I went round to tackle the petrol leak. Being the smaller member of Team SC, I tend to get the jobs that involve wedging oneself in small spaces and inserting my thinner, more elegant arms and hands into spaces that others can't quite reach...

Napoleon already had his offside propped up on axle stands, and dad very kindly provided me with a nice padded inspection trolley for my foray under the car. I managed to get all the screws out of the fixing, using a very stubby screwdriver that dad had. It would have been a lot more difficult a job without the right tool, I have to say! Dad then removed the sender unit from above (the battery shelf had previously been removed). A couple of Amy-made gaskets and some blue hylomar later, and we re-inserted the sender unit which required a little bit of careful yet judicious positioning, and I re-secured the unit to the outside of the tank. We haven't yet tested the fix for fuel-tightness, but we are optimistic

Napoleon and I are off to the Silverstone Classic this weekend, with Jack and the Love Bus, so hopefully we have fixed both the fuel and oil leaks as if not it's going to be quite an expensive weekend the way the car was getting through both petrol and oil with those leaks!

[Forumadmin]

This time Amy remembered to cut a hole in the gasket! Although this time one was not needed so she did not!

See post on 18 May 2010 10:16 pm http://jowett.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... &start=210

The day started investigating the overheating. I took water transfers off and saw where water came out. Only out of the inner outlet from the water pump on both sides. Took off the rad hoses and tried pressure washer in both ends. It appeared it was blocked so I took off the head. Then checked the inlet pipe to find it was blocked. Amy had made the gasket and had unfortunately been distracted as there was no hole in it.

[jondowning]

He then wired up the cigar lighter socket so that we can run sat nav, phone chargers etc as required on longer trips.

Have you retained positive earth? If so, is this mod simply a case of switching the wires around on the cigar lighter socket?

[Forumadmin]

No, the dynamo and starter motor were reverse polarised. Petrol pump checked for non-polarised capacitor. Ignition coil connections reversed.
Also see http://jowett.org/jowettnet/dt/tech/mod ... rnator.htm but an alternator is not fitted to the SC

You could retain positve earth but would need to reverse and isolate the power socket.

The problem with retaining the positive earth is making sure that all appliances do not have their exposed parts 'live'. Such happened when doing the first Pirelli Marathon in 1988 when the video camera earthed onto the chassis. I had the camera in bits on the autostrada whilst navigating and replaced a melted wire.

[Leo Bolter]

You could retain positve earth but would need to reverse and isolate the power socket.

I made this to be able to use things like cellphone chargers etc., when they are required in the Jupiter . . .

Polarity Changer for auxiliary socket in the dashboard on the Jupiter

The polarity is swopped over in the wiring of the adaptor. The brass sleeve just inside the socket is now "live" of course, but it's back from the rim of the orifice and should present no problems, with a modicum of care and attention
It is suitably labelled and kept in the Jupiter's glovebox.

[Jack]

He then wired up the cigar lighter socket so that we can run sat nav, phone chargers etc as required on longer trips.

Have you retained positive earth? If so, is this mod simply a case of switching the wires around on the cigar lighter socket?

Another method, allowing you to retain positive earth, would be to simply swap the wires on the back of the socket as you suspect - we bought one that fitted the hole in the dashboard, and it was supplied like this:



The two metal connectors on the back are what you need to wire up, you could just swap the wires onto these connectors to do that, in theory it would work with modern appliances, with caveat as Keith mentions above about how they are used. Things like sat nav should be ok, but worth being careful.

Jack.

[Forumadmin]

Flourescent blue in a Jup....

[Jack]

Flourescent blue in a Jup....

We took that bit off and threw it away Does mean that the socket is unlit, but that meant no more wiring required for the bulb. And also meant that it fitted in the hole without filing.

Jack.

[Keith Clements]

Today I fixed a leak from the lower hose and also tightened the other hoses.
Amy and I investigated two noises frome the rear of the SC! One was near the input shaft to the diff which was a loose nut caused by lack of split pin. Of course now fixed but it rinforces the idea to double check everything.
Next was the nearside rear wheel which was grumbling. Thought to be a bearing but on investigation was the hub touching the back plate. So a shim was removed from behind the back plate.
To do are adjustment of the master cylinder to reduce play, oil leaks, exhaust bending (since it was not bent correctly in the first place), and a host of gauges and other small issues.

Joe and Thoma came around and started cleaning the engine on Jack's Javelin. I think they transferred most of the gunge onto themselves and the garage floor.

[Keith Clements]

Today I fixed a leak from the lower hose and also tightened the other hoses.
Amy and I investigated two noises from the rear of the SC! One was near the input shaft to the diff which was a loose nut caused by lack of split pin. Of course now fixed but it reinforces the idea to double check everything.
Next was the nearside rear wheel which was grumbling. Thought to be a bearing but on investigation was the hub touching the back plate. So a shim was removed from behind the back plate. Also change the oil seal as this had leaked. We need to watch that as it was a new oil seal in there so it may be the bearing surface. Mind you it was that wheel that was red hot when the brakes failed on the car's inaugural voyage. The drum's metal is still blue.

To do are adjustment of the master cylinder to reduce play, oil leaks, exhaust bending (since it was not bent correctly in the first place), and a host of gauges and other small issues.

Joe and Thoma came around and started cleaning the engine on Jack's Javelin. I think they transferred most of the gunge onto themselves and the garage floor.

[Keith Clements]

If you read the Early Years of the Great SC rebuild you will see it finishes with looking for the battery box. Indeed that is where this topic starts!
A month ago Ray Milton put his Braddy that he has had since 1964 up for sale via the website. Now in sorting through the bits for the Braddie he found the said battery box, and the formers for the bottom of the scuttle door pillars and the two old door pillars and two refabricated ones and the refabricated pieces that go at the front of the rear wing to seal it all off. Never mind just mislaid for 32 years.......
They may come in useful for the next Jup rebuid....

[Jack]

Just making a note of paint colour (if we haven't got it already) that matches the 30 year old cellulose. Paint Code an125 Conifer was bought from the Car Paint Company, Hayes.

Jack.