1952 Jowett Javelin Taxi - Winter Layup + Odds

So a big push in-between the rest of my commitments to ready the car for coming season - we are heading up to Peebles in Scotland at the end of the month for the annual Jowett Car Club rally - not put a spanner on it since a year ago and it's done about 1'000 mile since which is not a lot but I like to stop on top of any issues - on the last trip in 2016 the car started to pull to the left - so I pulled the front drum on the offside to find both brake cylinders weeping - annoying because both cylinders were new exactly 2 years ago - I run on DOT 5 fluid so there shouldn't be any issues



So 2 new cylinders on the offside and a new set of shoes on both sides at the front





Proper brake drums (these are original) and they are very heavy

Drums back on, brakes adjusted next on the list was the yolk nut - the one on the nearside had worked slightly loose so I checked both sides - backed them both off, cleaned them up and applied some thread lock before tightening them back up



Thing that I love about the Jowett's is the engineering extent that they went to - this is the pin that goes through the top of the yolk - they could have just used a bolt - but no it's a proper bit of engineering complete with grease grooves and thread adjustment (something you expect on a prestigious brand built in low volumes but on a everyday family saloon is another thing)





Suspension back together, next on the list was a failing front engine mounting



Bit of a fiddle to get it off



Well on it's way out



New one fitted and one more off the list

Next was I had noticed a arcing from one of the ignition leads so I made a new set up



Critical to a Jowett boxer engine is waterproof spark plug caps - with the heads at a mid wheel level - you need just the one puddle and without the right caps the engine dies



Still a fair bit to do but at least I am getting on top it

First 1.40 mins is the car on Goodwood 2016 duties - vid curtesy of 'Petrol Ped'

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This looks really nice and the sign writing really sets it off, I didn't realise these had a flat four in them.

More done today



Oil & filter change - the cartridge type filter being horizontal is a pain though



There is a release valve to let the oil in the filter housing drain back to the sump - it's operated by winding a bolt back - said bolt is hidden to the right of the hose / clip in the image - you can only just get on to it with a open ended spanner side on and have to play the trick with a ring spanner on the opposite end of the open ended spanner at right angles in order to loosen / tighten said bolt - in reality it only drains two thirds of the filter housing and the rest ends up all over the crankcase valley has you have no choice but to tilt the housing to draw it out from the engine bay



And that's after I have spent ten mins mopping up - I could fit a spin on conversion but I really don't want to - so new filter fitted and refilled with oil



Next was plugs & points - note the tide mark on the plugs close to the top where water has previously filled the plug holes - points were also changed



Air to the carbs is drawn down this tube on each side of the inner wing - the rubber seal contacts with the bonnet when closed



Air is then drawn the hole in the underside bonnet panel which in turn is filtered by the oil bath air filter attached to the nose of the bonnet



Filter bath removed



Separated



Certainly doing it's job - I cleaned the oil out gave the bath & filters a good wash through with a degreasing spirit - reassembled & refitted it



Removed - washed through & refitted the breather felts on the timing cover cases



Then gave the engine bay a good dosing of gunk and left a while to soak



Prior to giving it a good wash off



Then before making sure it would restart - I got the airline and blew the plug holes out - otherwise I would not have stood a chance - she runs slightly lumpy so I will put the timing light on it next week and balance the carbs at the same time

When I first got the car 5 years ago I replaced the crossply tyres on it there were about 20 years old and had failing / perished side walls on them - I could have fitted radials to it BUT to be honest the car is fine on decent set of crossplys - it prevents you from pushing the car beyond it's physical limits - it's a 55 / 65MPH car tops and although it will go quicker it's simply not comfortable - the engine screams it's nuts off and everything in the car vibrates like mad and it's very. very noisy - the ply's are much fun to drive with and keep you on your toes. So the tyres I fitted were a full set of Waymasters 16" x 550 - done less than 6,000 miles and loads of tread still on them



Disappointing then when I found the sidewalls failing on two of them





Not be buying them again then - new Avon Tourists to replace them - dropped them off at the tyre centre on Fri and will pick them up in the morning - even more disappointing is the fact that when removed the rear wheels today and found the inner sidewalls on these failing has well - more expense - still tyres are not something that I take risks with - more updates next week

Lovley car
Bookmarked
Dan

Loaded up early and travelled up to Peebles last Thursday



Happy engine conditions - 50 psi oil pressure - 75 degrees water temp & 60 MPH





Arrived at our hotel for the rally nine and half hours later - one and half hours with stops / fuel etc - 8 hours running time & 378 miles







Few pics of the town





Fellow members cars





Jowett Bradford lorry driven 770 miles from Finland to the rally



A couple of oily rag cars





Stunning 1932 Jowett Blackbird



1913 Jowett Tiller steered



Jowetts by evening











And so to rally day







The worlds only Jowett built tractor













Few non Jowetts





Pipe band entertains



Concours awards



Myself and the other half in period dress for which we win 'Best Period Dress' that evening at the club awards



Not everything went to plan though with the car suffering from sudden catastrophic failure of the brake master cylinder just has a set of lights turned to red resulting in a damaged grille to the Javelin



And unfortunately quite a bit more damage to the modern in front of me



We could not sort the parts in time to get the car home so a call to the RAC and we were relayed home on Monday



Initially the service was good - new transporter promptly collected us and took us down country to Lymm Services where another recovery company were supposed to collect us - but three hours later we were still sat there - some strong conversations with the RAC were now being exchanged - eventually we were collected only to be off loaded and reloaded again at Hilton Park Services - eventually getting home at 22:00 hours last night - I will be obviously letting the RAC exactly what I think when it comes to membership renewal time !

An unfortunate end to what looks to have been a lovely weekend! Hopefully you Javelin hasn't fared too badly, and will be up and looking smart again in no time.

Great car - a bit different from the norm in all the little details.

Sorry to hear of your bump -do you think the last round of brake bleeding finished the master cylinder off?

So dropped the master cylinder off which is under floor hung to the side of the chassis



And stripped it down



Obvious wear / grooves to piston



Cleaned the housing up and fitted a new seal kit along with a new piston - drained the brake system of fluid to clear any debris within the fluid - system has been on Dot 5 silicone for the last 5 years - rebled the system but they are very difficult systems to bleed of air - for some reason air becomes trapped in the back of the master cylinder - to combat this we filled the master cylinder with fluid and purged as much air has we could from it before connecting it up - we bleed the system a couple of times before getting a pedal - On Keith' s advice (50 years of multiple Jowett ownership under his belt) we left the car overnight - apparently with the fluid reservoir being mounted high in the bulkhead / inner wing corner any traces of air in the master cylinder should find there way out via the reservoir when left for several hours - seems strange but having tried the pedal this morning I would say that we have a result - will road test on the private lane that we reside on a little later. Has Quaggers stated in his post it could well have been the previous round of brake bleeding when doing the front cylinders that finished the master cylinder off - probably drawing debris into it and then the damage to the piston / seal occurring on the drive up to Scotland - but the failure was sudden not something that continually got worse - anyway hopefully now sorted.