Practically Classics Forum

Fortunately we have a choice of several spare bonnets This was initially bolted on and although a better fit it was still unacceptable - so I delved a little further - Peter noticed that one of the supports on the bonnet hinge was bent so we located another from the reserve stock, then I compared the new hinge to old one to find that the old ones had been messed about with - the rivets had been drilled out and huge nuts & bolts fitted with no end of play within the hinge So the old hinges were removed to be replaced with the new ones - bonnet back on and a better fit again but I'm still not happy with the aperture gapping - so the bonnet has come back off and I have left Peter to elongate the hinge brackets to give more tolerance when fitting the bonnet.

Meanwhile I have the nearside front door off - this is the worst of the doors Previous repairs were made up of brazing / body solder & filler - but this had failed and blistered through the paint Repair sections are available through the Jowett Car Club but require some work to make fit due to the compound curvature on the door skin Door sectioned / cleaned up and ready for trial fitting of repair

Back to the bonnet, further fettling of the new hinges with much elongation of the mounting holes for the bonnet Modification of the bonnet striker / keep Modification of the mounting points for the bonnet latch Addition of the bonnet catch outer cable stop

Welding repairs required to bonnet edge weak points where the edge fractures under the trim / wing fastening cut outs Repairs complete and cleaned back, the new bonnet had factory fitted additional supports to the rear edge so obviously this had been a problem on the cars when new Accident damage to the front nearside of the bonnet was dressed out & cleaned up

So one new bonnet, new hinges heavily modified, modified striker & bonnet latch plus over two days of working, reworking, adjusting, fettling, removing & refitting to obtain a reasonable fit with the bonnet - it's one of the those panels where you can hide nothing - every aperture is on view and within eye line The chrome side trims were fitted to ensure that they did not foul with any paintwork Pretty happy to get this one sorted despite the amount of time that's gone in to it - Its a well known fact that Javelins did not leave the factory with decent gapping on the apertures - not a good reason for me to let the car out of my sight without the attempt to get them right though

So back to the nearside front door I flanged the door skin so that a lapped joint could be formed Repair tacked in and door trial fitted I am happy with the alignment at the door bottom but the swaged edge rolls forward too much and does not align with the front wing / rear door - so I will have to unpick the welds and try to roll the swage line in a little

Peter - who owns the car flew back to Switzerland after a busy week of sorting / cleaning / blasting / prepping / priming / painting all the bits / brackets / small parts for the car

Terry was enquiring as what we had hidden under the dust sheets so here goes: Jowett Jupiter rallied in 27 countries - owned by Keith Just some of the cars exploits (obviously not the Pratts sign) Jowett Javelin - 500,000 miles from new owned by Amy (Keith's daughter) and whilst in the same workshop - up in roof space is the chassis for my Jowett Jupiter special project all the body panels are outside in the shed

And up in the top garage is Amys Jowett Jupiter Along with my 1952 Jowett Javelin And on the drive Another Javelin project (ex works experimental car) owned by Jack (Amys partner) - stored elsewhere I have a 1937 Jowett 8 project & a 1937 Jowett stationary engine, finally I also have a Rover P6 V8 3500 - I think that's enough to be getting on with !!

As if the metalwork wasn't exciting enough, you go and include a whole batch of Jowett porn to finish this update with.