1953 Jowett Javelin - Engine Fire

Parts collected from Jowett car Spares this weekend whilst up in Yorkshire 

Fire was clearly quickly contained. Could have been much worse if fuel ignited.

Removed the lamps from the wing as the fire has also damaged the wiring harness along with the surface protection on the inner wing 



Carb and the last of the damaged control cables removed 



Wiring harness exposed back to a good jointing location - there's just the feeds for the front lamps, horn & combined feed for the coil / fuel pump to contend with 



With everything out of the way I can start to clean the damaged paint areas up 

Chris, I have never had to deal with a fire damaged car and have no plans to but, are there any special steps to dealing with burnt body panels? When I see ads and restoration stories it seems like most often they just replace the damaged part.

Minor rust perforation on the inner wing made good by welding a piece in & dressing back 



Horizontal chrome finisher for the wing had been glued on with silicone by a previous owner - it also carried a few dents 



I sourced a used one from my parts stash - not perfect but much better - I'll refit this with the factory clips that I also retain in stock 



Minor areas of the inner wing that were suffering with rust ingress were treated with Hydrate 80 



Front wing profiles skimmed & worked back 



Underside of the bonnet was blackened with smoke & soot 



I needed to remove the outer bonnet trims - somebody had been here before me and used what looks like home made trim retaining clips 



Trims removed - well patinaed but reusable 



The 'Frankenstein' clips will be going in the scrap bin and I'll refit the trims with the proper clips 


 
Washed the soot off the underside which looks like a 'Hammerite' paint finish which is undamaged



External paint finish is damaged with a blistered finish in a relatively small area 



Sanded / feather edged back 



Wing with a final fine polyester skim applied 



Then profiled & prepared for polyester primer 



Masking commenced 



Smaller parts of the bonnet stay, air intake tube & horn also prepared for primer 

Polyester primer sanded back initially by machine 



Then by hand 



Ready for paint 











Now demasked the fitting up of the new parts & wiring harness repairs can commence 

Can you please hold this car to ransom, until the owner promises to fit black hoses between the radiator and the water pump ?

Those blue ones are making my teeth itch 

Still on the blue hose front - the lower water pump hose is being cut into by the alternator bracket 



The damaged suppression leads were confined to the bin 



And new set built & fitted - I'm waiting on the delivery of a set of spark plugs as one of them was damaged by the fire (These I normally retain in stock but I had just used my last set)



The coil & horn were wired in 



Paint on the front wing flatted 



Then first stage polished 



New front wing trim refitted with the correct clips 



Then checked for the mitre alignment with the upper grille 



Metal headlamp bowl survived the fire but the rubber seal didn't and this was replaced 



Bowl fitted along with side lamp & indicator bases - now on the home straight with this one 

The front suspension bump stops were all but missing - these prevent the trunion arm from clattering into the chassis 



Both sides completed 



The car also sits much nicer with these fitted 



Bare metal areas on the underside of the wing / inner wing had a primer applied to them - These shall be further treated with an application of Dinitrol 4941 underbody wax 



I noticed that the nearside rocker cover was blackened by exhaust soot - I first thought it was failed manifold gasket 



But on further inspection its a perforated front pipe 



Which is good in a way because removing the exhaust manifold from the head is a woeful task if any of the studs break which they have a habit of doing - then its a cylinder head off job - I have a new front pipe on order - the rest of the exhaust is pretty sound 



With the exception that the centre mounting bracket is completely missing 


 
A previous owner had bodged a make do type of bracket to the system which is incorrectly sited & achieves nothing - The centre exhaust bracket is also on order 



Pointless attempting to weld the front pipe up - its way too thin to achieve anything with 



I had to purge fuel through the system 



And then checked that the fuel system was leak free 



Nearside carburettor was over fuelling / flooding - a new float chamber valve resolved the issue 



The new spark plugs & exhaust bracket arrived from the brilliant club run spares service 



Fuel gauge next which wasn't working 





Some checking through revealed that the previous owner had fitted a new tank sender unit but had not earthed it 



Once earthed I had a working gauge and the instrument panel could be refitted - several of the panel lamps were not illuminating and this was purely down to missing / dead bulbs which were replaced whilst I was at it 



Indicator stalk refitted - its aftermarket / non original but quite effective 



The access hole cut into the boot floor with what looked like a knife & fork - I couldn't leave it like that hence a cover plate was made up & fitted - leaving it open is just asking for something to fall into the aperture and damage the sender unit 



With the new plugs fitted I have had the car started but its currently running rough - I cant really do anything with it until the exhaust is sorted which I'm waiting for the front pipe to arrive - that won't arrive until mid next week and a planned break to certain Southern based car event may intervene in the interim - Hence for now its parked up