1952 Jowett Javelin - Make me pretty

I used to make the rear leading edge bracket in house but this involved a great deal of work and all by hand - easily half days work and therefore expensive - I supplied patterns to Jowett Car Spares who then commissioned the fabricator that they use for repair panels - These are now stocked by the clubs spares scheme and are a fraction of the cost that I could produce them for - Basically when you have all the equipment to hand - Powered metal shears / guillotines - powered presses / swages / formers - then these can be produced very quickly - which is the way to go 



The inner face of the A post on to which the bracket is bolted was perforated & weak - unsurprising really - its 71 years old and takes everything that is directly thrown at it by the front road wheel 



Removed and prepared for its replacement 



With the inner trim removed a newly fabricated section was welded in 



Then dressed back 



New brackets fitted to the repaired A post face I could now use the door profile to align the wing bracket to its required location 



The bottom of the door is out its original alignment this is due to the bottom of the door being repaired at some stage in its life but they never aligned with the front wings that well even when the car was new - It would be a huge stride into 'Project Creep' if I commenced altering the door to suit the wing - I'll just have to flair the bottom of the wing to blend to the profile of the door 



Wing refitted and I can now commence fabricating / repairing the rear leading edge to suit the profile of the door 



Temporary tabs welded insitu to retain the wing in profile with the door - I get asked several times a year by Javelin owners if they can send me a loose pair of wings to repair and I have a hard time explaining to them to its next to impossible to repair the wings off the car and guaranteeing that that they will fit or that the wing profiles will match with the door once repaired - The cars were hand built / assembled too and I have yet to come across 2 cars that are identical in panel fit & aperture gapping 

More later 

That's very observant of you JP and of course you are as always correct   - In that case the wings I had refurbished / repaired required fairly minor works in comparison to these hence I undertook the repairs without the car but in most cases where the rear leading edge is very suspect you need to align the wings with the doors 

With the wing profile now held in place by the tabs I could check the offset measurements to ensure that I was in right in ballpark area



Whilst also ensuring the door / wing profiles were aligned - It can be misleading in some areas where the compound curvatures of the body head off in a different direction and you cant rely on a straight edge alignment 



Happy with the location / alignment I could now commence the patterns required for the repairs again due to the compound curvatures the repairs are much more achievable undertaken in several sections  





Transferred to sheet metal & tacked in place 



Then the centre section 



All the wing edge repairs require a flange edge that is folded over on itself that secures it to the wing bracket 



This required shrinking first to produce the curvature required 


 
Then tacked in 



Then the joining S profiled section 



I then fully welded in the 3 repair sections and undertook an initial dressing back of the welds 



The wing has been removed & refitted several times by this stage to dress the welds / profile the repair areas / close the flange edge over to the wing bracket and weld the flange to the bracket 



The aperture gapping between the wing and the door will require correction but this is readily resolved 

More later 

I like seeing the individual repair pieces coming together to make the compound panels and the panel gaps being adjusted.
Was this the car that Garth sold?

The offside inner A post face also required rust removal therapy 



The tin worm had further advanced on this side and the edge of the A post required flange edge reinforcement 



With repairs fabricated & welded in as required 



Flange edge repairs need to be in profile otherwise they foul the fitting of the wing and hold the profile proud of the door 



Once completed the wing bracket could be trial fitted 



The bracket required a couple of slots cut into it in order to adjust & achieve the correct profile - the slots were rewelded once the profile was achieved 



New brackets could then be tack welded to the A post face to which the wing bracket bolts up to 



Then the wing refitted 



The repairs to this side are wider than the nearside wing repairs and there's a little more challenge in achieving the compound curvatures required - especially in the tighter 'S' shaped return area  



More soon 

Wing yet again removed and the underside dressed back 



Return flange on the repair sections fully dressed back 



Back on with the wing 



Aperture gapping trued up between the door & wing - I can now crack on with skimming the profiles 

I stripped the remaining paint off of the front wings to prevent retraction & shrinkage with the new paint 



A couple of coats of paint stripper got the job done - messy but more effective than just attempting to sand through the layers of paint 



Then a key back with the DA sander with P80's - Areas of rust pitting were applied with Hydrate 80 after I had run a rotary wire brush over them 



This area adjacent to the wing flange edge may look ok 



But experience tells me that its thinner than tissue paper and perforated through rust ingress 



A little more welded therapy required then 


 

Amazing photographic record of the progress with our new car. Many thanks from Jane and Rupert.

With the profiles complete on the nearside wing 



Aperture holes could be drilled for the trim clips and the trim trial fitted 



Likewise with the offside wing 



Profiles on the offside wing have been worked but still a little way to go yet 



Nearside wing could now be removed 



Just some minor works on the edges to now complete 



With the wing removed the repair to the A post can be primed and then seam sealed in the morning