1952 Jowett Javelin - Taxi

With Goodwood Revival at the end of this week - I shuffled my own Javelin into the workshop this evening - up onto stands and drained the oils from the rear axle, gearbox & engine - Sump plug for the engine looked worse for wear with only about one full thread left on it - internal threads on the sump pan are fine - just has well I had a spare sump plug amongst my parts stash then - problem resolved - I adjusted the front brakes up and found a very minor damp patch around a union on the fuel pipe that I simply nipped up - Oil filter to change in the morning then the fresh oil can be added - few more things to sort on the list before a clean up of the paintwork but currently I'm a day ahead of my normal schedule   

Those tires are shocking given their age. I would hope the supplier/manufacturer is willing to work with you on a fitting solution. I mean, a 2-3 year lifespan on a tire is just not what any consumer may expect. And let's be honest, tires aren't necessarily cheap, especially these vintage look replacements.

Even though its starting to show it age , the old thing still looks lovely. Would a remote filter conversion be a option to make life easier/cleaner?

Goodwood Revival 2021 - Here we come 

What he said !

Have a great weekend, looks like the weather might be ok as well!

The green car is a early model of 1949 with smaller headlamps, swaged bumper & overriders, one piece grille & different sidelights - Black car is a later 1952 car - larger headlamps, smooth bumpers, 2 piece grille & modified side lamps 

So - good news from the excellent team at 'Longstone Tyres' who contacted Avon immediately after I forwarded my mail & images of the problems with the tyres - I came home from Goodwood Revival to find this response in my e mail in box 

'Avon will replace the remaining three (3) tyres, which if you can confirm the delievery address I will get them shipped to you, once you have the new ones fitted we will as before have to collect the ones they have replaced'

They are already en-route and I'll get them changed as soon as they arrive 

In other news - the Javelin decided to stop charging its battery on late Friday afternoon of Revival - so I cleaned the contacts in the regulator box up & ensured they were engaging - we always split the common spares between the several cars of the Jowett Car Club that attend - I had agreed to take a spare battery amongst other things - hence I fitted a fully charged battery and it appeared to be charging 



However, within the first few miles on Saturday the idle speed of the engine started racing - despite backing the idle screws on the carburettors all the way off it was still racing away on idle - really odd - I went to start it again after a few miles and was struggling but got it started and returned it to the campsite then went off to watch the last 2 races of the day 



When we returned myself & fellow Javelin owner Keith got the multimeter out and did some fault finding - nothing made any sense it was producing daft readings regardless - it all became obvious when I removed the regulator box from its bulkhead mounting - It had fried itself 



Now the Javelin that Keith runs is fitted with an alternator but still retains its regulator box which serves as a fuse box - buts that's all - the fuse box element of my fried regulator box was still intact - simples then - just swap regulator boxes from each car and we are back in business - Really annoying thing about this is that my fried regulator box was newish (but we think its Far Eastern knockoff Lucas rubbish) - I've since located a UK built replica Lucas regulator box but fitted with solid state controls and £20 cheaper than the Far Eastern rubbish !!! - Just the engine racing at idle to sort then - or maybe not because since fitting the other regulator box the engine no longer races - Rupert another Javelin owning friend but a retired science teacher took one look at the regulator box and explained that it had caused the dynamo to act in reverse - in other words the dynamo was acting as a motor and driving the engine thus draining the battery - hence the racing idle speed   The saying 'Everyday is a schoolday' became somewhat fitting   From this little intervention the Javelin then continued to offer excellent service for the remainder of the event 

good to see some companies these days still have pride in their warranties.