1953 Jowett Jupiter - Ho So Nearly Finished

I removed the spring assisted bonnet struts from the bonnet & chassis brackets 



Which resulted in the bonnet now locating to its stops 



And a much improved aperture gapping to the lower section of the front wing against the A post - Now the bonnet & wing fit against the A posts & bulkhead were never perfect from day one of the cars leaving the factory (along with the rest of the shut lines / aperture gapping & panel fits on the cars) - The cars were hand built - not thrown together but 70 years ago aperture gapping & panel fits were of a far different tolerance to what we have come to expect today - with removing the bonnet struts and improving the fit concluding my theory that that the struts are now over long and placing the clamshell type front end under too much tension - Garth was questioning what had changed from when the car first came into the workshop - with the bulkhead completely rebuilt along with new hinge boxes & hinge arms for the bonnet - this is where the differences will have occurred



Here's a reminder of what the gapping looked like when the car first entered the workshop 



Looks like shortening of the struts maybe the easier option to take with these base sockets just pinned into place rather than start cutting / welding the fixed strut mounting brackets on the bonnet / chassis



Decided to give the skin on my right hand fingertips a rest after flatting & polishing the nearside bulkhead & A post - continual flatting by hand even with a fine grade will eventually have the detrimental effect of thinning the skin wall on the fingertips to the effect it draws blood - not really a problem but its painful - gloves don't work either - I use a block where I can but the Jupiter carries many compound curvatures which can only be addressed by hand 



Windscreen frame is a complex set of affairs in reality its two frames - Mrs GN made me up a small piping bead for the frame to bed on between the bulkhead 



Many owners just use a sealer / mastic but this in my book looks rubbish 



Its a faff to get it right but it looks so much better 



The inner frame carries a seal which has seen far better days 



Hence this was replaced (Another much of a faff / time consuming job - but it needs to be done and wont do itself) 



Inner frame fitted to the outer frame - I just need to join the mitres on the new seal but my seal adhesive has cured in the bottle - new stock on order and I'll sort the mitres when it arrives 

More later 
  

are the struts strippable.... just a rod in tube with spring twixt the two? just wondering if that was the case that a shave of the bottom of the rod would be a simple solution?

Great pics as always! glad the spring loaded incident brought humour and not pain - I can tell you with certainty that if any of the rest of us mere mortals had had that happen the bar would have hit the bonnet - bounced three times coming to rest and shattering the windscreen.

What a difference a bit of chrome and glass makes. Looking really smart already and going to be stunning when 100% complete.

That's looking stunning dear boy - top work 👌👍

stunning!

I'd do it in OEW to make it disappear if it were mine but love that others see different

As is reminds me of 

I must say , i had thought along similar lines. If twer mine i would have matching or black... but its not and its still stunning. I bet by the time all the exterior trim is on and the interior is back in that the eye will be drawn away from it.

Interesting re discolouration, hadn't thought about it but see the issue - nothing's simple!  Any which way it's stunning