JowettTalk

Hey there.

Just seeing if we could find out any info on this Odd Ball Jowett 8hp Gearbox dad brought many years ago.
What makes it Odd is that it was made to have a detachable Bell housing.
dad pulled the guts out of it and used parts in his 1939 8hp.

its missing the bell housing.



Thanks

sounds like its a 1940 synchro gearbox which was introduced in Sep 1939 for the cut short 1940 model year.however internals would not fit an earlier non synchro i.e. prior to sep 1939 box as they are totally different in every way. The 1940 box was loosely based on the 1935 hillman minx box and the javelin box was in turn based on the 1940 synchro box.

george

pic up loaded of odd ball gearbox and propper 8 box

definately not a 1940 gearbox as I previously suggested. It looks like a bog standard 7hp box but I have never come accross a factory built one without bellhousing but of course somebody else may be able to throw more light on the subject..
My guess & it is only a guess is that somebody has machined the Jowett bell housing off I fitted studs to enable the box to be used with the bellhousing belonging to a completely different make of engine as this sort of thing was not unknown in the 40's & 50's when eg a veriety of 4 speed boxes were modified to fit ford 10 engines .
However I can't think off hand of another engine/clutch that would take the jowett clutch shaft as the clutch was unique to Jowett but at the end of the day most things can be made to fit most things if enough time & igenuity is brought to bear.

george

I asked dad bout it. He recons its a very tidy and professional job. looked like it had been done from factory.

I am probably about to prove how little I know!
An off the wall thought, does the box mate to a Javelin bell housing? Could this be a prototype part used in the CD development?

Hi Paul,
The CD box had jav/jup internals in a different casing & was shared with the R4 which had a remote gear change instead of the long lever of the CD. Also the pre war/CA/CB clutch shaft was quite different to the jav/jup one which fitted the borg & beck clutch. There is an engineering drawing of CD box in the gallery. It is my understanding (but not 100% sure) that the 'tram' otherwise known as the first prototype CD used a 1940 synchro box mated to a CC engine.
george

Cheers George - I was sort of thinking outside the square having spent the past 30 years in engineering and at times done similar things. Obviously there is more to the box than an 8 hp box with the bell housing machined off, for a start it needed the casting modifying to accommodate the connection studs. So I asked my self "why do it" If it never saw production it was probably for a prototype, so prototype what? CD (though why go back to the Jowett clutch even for prototyping purposes seems questionable) so maybe for some sort of WD offering?? Can only guess. Question remains, What bell housing should it marry to?

Cheers George - I was sort of thinking outside the square having spent the past 30 years in engineering and at times done similar things. Obviously there is more to the box than an 8 hp box with the bell housing machined off, for a start it needed the casting modifying to accommodate the connection studs. So I asked my self "why do it" If it never saw production it was probably for a prototype, so prototype what? CD (though why go back to the Jowett clutch even for prototyping purposes seems questionable) so maybe for some sort of WD offering?? Can only guess. Question remains, What bell housing should it marry to?

Cheers George - I was sort of thinking outside the square having spent the past 30 years in engineering and at times done similar things. Obviously there is more to the box than an 8 hp box with the bell housing machined off, for a start it needed the casting modifying to accommodate the connection studs. So I asked my self "why do it" If it never saw production it was probably for a prototype, so prototype what? CD (though why go back to the Jowett clutch even for prototyping purposes seems questionable) so maybe for some sort of WD offering?? Can only guess. Question remains, What bell housing should it marry to?

Cheers George - I was sort of thinking outside the square having spent the past 30 years in engineering and at times done similar things. Obviously there is more to the box than an 8 hp box with the bell housing machined off, for a start it needed the casting modifying to accommodate the connection studs. So I asked my self "why do it" If it never saw production it was probably for a prototype, so prototype what? CD (though why go back to the Jowett clutch even for prototyping purposes seems questionable) so maybe for some sort of WD offering?? Can only guess. Question remains, What bell housing should it marry to?

Cheers George - I was sort of thinking outside the square having spent the past 30 years in engineering and at times done similar things. Obviously there is more to the box than an 8 hp box with the bell housing machined off, for a start it needed the casting modifying to accommodate the connection studs. So I asked my self "why do it" If it never saw production it was probably for a prototype, so prototype what? CD (though why go back to the Jowett clutch even for prototyping purposes seems questionable) so maybe for some sort of WD offering?? Can only guess. Question remains, What bell housing should it marry to?

OK Thinking further outside of the box! What other vehicles had Jowett engines and gearboxes? What about the Karrier Cob? There is an example in the Railway Museum at York. I've not seen it but I did have some photos that were sent to Ian Priestley for the Jowett book many years ago but you could not see that extent of detail

What about the Bristol crawler tractor? The box for that was surely going to be based on the Jowett but had to be different as well, didn't it?

[quote="Peter Holden"]OK Thinking further outside of the box! What other vehicles had Jowett engines and gearboxes? What about the Karrier Cob? There is an example in the Railway Museum at York. I've not seen it but I did have some photos that were sent to Ian Priestley for the Jowett book many years ago but you could not see that extent of detail[/quote]

The karrier Cob used the early Jowett 3 speed non helical box with the parralel sided instead of 'tapered' turret. Drive then being taken by reduction geared chain to centre of vehicle (engine & box fitted on nearside where a passengers feet would go0 7 thence by prop shaft to back aaxle. The bellhousingless box is a later double helical ? 4 speed.

george