Essential checks on Nuts and Bolts

[David Morris]

Hi All,

It's spring and many of you will have ( or are about to? ) get under your dear Javelin, that has been resting in the garage, and get her ready for the 2024 season! Remember that 500 mile greasing interval?

Whilst you are under her, can I recommend you check two things for tightness? One is for safety and the other is for the life of the car.

First, for safety, do check the tightness of the 7/16" nut on the end of the shaft that carries both the brake and clutch pedal bearings. This has a nut welded into the chassis and you will find the head of the bolt, which is 3.5" long siting near the clutch pedal plain bearing. On the way to the Crieff Rally, mine had worked it's way totally out of the nut and was hanging loose. I had lost all braking and I was in the middle of the Edinburgh rush hour! It was a simple job to wind the bolt back into the nut, but I was glad I didn't hit anyone and that the bolt was still hanging there!

Secondly, and for the future survival of the car, do check the tightness of the 5/16" x almost 3" bolt and nut assembly that runs vertically from the top of the front chassis, through the assembly, called the Spring Arm Trunnion Bracket ( part 50315 ), and emerges in a small channel section beneath the chassis. These bolts must be TIGHT! If they aren't on both sides of the car, the brackets on the end of the torsion bar will wobble, creating stress fractures in the metal of the fairly thin chassis area. These will be very difficult to repair. The brackets are also fixed to the inner sides of the chassis with four short 5/16" bolts that also need to be kept TIGHT! Obviously, you need to check both sides of the car. It will be a struggle to get spanners or a socket on both the tops and bottoms of these bolts, and I expect you will find them loose, if you havn't been doing this regularily. This is a warning that movement is happening! Due to the engine above and 70 years of oil leaks ( of course there are, it's a Javelin! ), plus road dust, this area will be caked in crud. It's worth cleaning this away to check for stress fractures in the metal of the chassis members. I hope you don't find any?

All the best,

David

[paul wilks]

Thanks for the reminder, David. Since you told members about this check, I've made it part of my annual 'check up'! Whilst greasing the front end, it only adds a few minutes to the job, but it's a real reassurance that everything is tight.
Best wishes. Paul