Jupiter restorations.

[ajackson]

Davidm
Are you progressing with your own build?
Hope the mini doesn't take precedence!

Thanks for posting the QLD photos.

Andy

[David Kemp]

Jupiter is progressing, but very slow. The kids Mini does seem to have taken over my shed, & my shed time.
However I am at the assembly stage, & currently waiting on parts from the UK to finish the front suspension.I commit to doing something each week end no matter how small, or to others pointless.
As I could not complete the chassis I started on the fuel pump, & found it is not serviceable. So have bought a few old ones to make one.
Until everything is torn down to the last piece you really don't know its condition, part of the fun.

[David Kemp]

Hi every one , progress has slowed but about to pick up. I was originally going to leave my front suspension original but have changed my mind. I have converted the top yokes to rubber bushes and the top trunnion oil tank I am converting to grease rather than oil. I have cleaned out the oil tanks, looking at the photos below you can see why.

[David Kemp]

I have bought a period radio for my Jupiter, it is an Australian made Ferris which was the 1st portable radio made in
Australia if not the world.My son has replaced the old capacitors as preventative medicine, & it runs well.
Only problem is the antenna fitting is unusual, does any one know what it is? Or is it proprietary? I realise I can change the end, but would like to leave it as is, if possible.

[Forumadmin]

I would say it is a small bayonet connector with soldered wires.

[Alf Heseltine]

Hi David, it looks like you have quite a rare radio although it is always a compromise expecting a portable
radio to work well in a car as a car radio, well that’s what they tried to do back in the 50’s 60’s.
Yes the Ferris 134 was claimed to be the first attempt in 1959 to fit a portable radio to a car via a under dash
cradle. Sliding the radio into cradle would connect ariel, power & ext. speaker. These sets may have switched
polarity available, in those days it was positive earth mainly, the early 60’s saw switchable polarity to accomadate Neg
earth cars, later all sets were neg. earth only.
In the UK these portable/ car radio sets were produced by several manufacturers Ever Ready, Pye,Philips
& later Motorola & Radiomoble. The idea of a true portable & car-radio as one, was soon dropped & the Car Radio
came into its own, developed to what we now take for granted.

All that said David, you have a bit of history in this field, good luck in getting it to work in the Jup.
The lead / connector looks like the supply lead & if so the connector will be found to be spring loaded & a fuse
should be fitted, if it’s the aerial input a filter would be fitted. Before you make any attempt to use the cradle, check for shorts etc, let’s know if you get it to work.

Regards Alf

[David Kemp]

Thank you for your replies. It did not occur to me these fittings were for an inline fuse, looking at it now that makes sense.
The cradle is fine, & radio with original external speaker works well.My son is the family electrical guru & does not let me plug any thing in before he has verified its condition. I recently bought an old Fobco drill press, & until he put new leads checked the switch, ground & general condition I was not allowed to play with my new toy, This was just as well as the wiring was way past its use by date.

[David Kemp]

I am trying to put my front torsion bars in, but can't get them to aline with the front suspension arm.
I have slackened the adjusters completely off & suspension arms are hard against the chassis. What am I doing wrong?
Is there a left & right torsion bar?

[Forumadmin]

They are not handed but you should have marked which side they came out when disassembling as reversing the strain on them might cause fractures. But do not worry too much about that.
Make sure you copper grease both ends. Make sure the threaded end is towards the back so you can put on the locking tab and use it to extract again.
I remove the rubber droop stop on the chassis to give more travel. You can also remove the cap on the end of the adjuster for the same reason. Put both back as soon as the bar is in which will require some prising with a large tyre iron or similar to get enough room.

[David Kemp]

Torsion bars are now in. Adjustment of king pins etc can now be done.
My daughter wanted to start the engine rebuild, unfortunately when she opened the engines I have, she found they both have square cranks.
I don't feel that lucky to be the last man on the planet with square cranks!
I am now looking for an oval web crank or engine to rebuild, as everyone seems to say a square crank is a waste of time.Any comment on square cranks would be welcome.

[David Kemp]

Regards the radio does any one know of a source for old radio bits?

[Forumadmin]

Unless you are going to drive long distances at high revs you should not have an issue, but crack test and make sure fillet radii are correct on regrind.
If you are going to get an oval web then worth also getting a set of pistons and liners from JCS. Many other things to check when rebuilding an engine so look at the SA rebuild topic and the Technical Notes in the Library.

[David Kemp]

This may sound like , how long is a piece of string but, how long is sustained high speed driving?
J
I regularly travel 800klm in a day at the speed limit, will a square crank survive this?

[Forumadmin]

Hi David,
If you do 800 km a day regularly in a Jupiter you will get a medal. The earlier crankshafts suffered from fatigue fractures illustrated by the Le Mans Jupiters failing after they had been driven there, raced and driven back. This may have been partially solved but not completely solved until Laystalls investigated and developed the oval web. SOme put it down to rear main bearing failure, some to poor oil delivery some to flexing of the block.
I have never suffered from a crankshaft failing, but have always used oval webs, always a high capacity oil pump and always had an oil cooler. I frequently drive non-stop for 300 km at 70mph or 120 kph but I keep a close eye on water and oil temps and ease off accordingly if they rise. An overdrive helps to reduce revs as the Jowett is not that happy over 3500 rpm for long periods unless the engine has been very well built.
Provided you keep a watchful eye on oil pressure and oil temp the flat web should be good for long distances if you keep below 65 mph. The whole assembly should be well balanced dynamically and statically.

[David Kemp]

Why would I need a medal to drive my Jupiter 800k?
I have driven numerous old Australian built Fords , Holdens, Valiant , & Mitsubishis this distance.
I currently drive my Subaru this distance.
Our country roads are flat & uncrowded, when living in the country, you get used to distance.
When living at Lightning Ridge the nearest High school was a 80 klm away, a proper hospital was 400klm & nearest Macdonalds, KFC etc is still 400klm away.
To get parts for my old Bedford truck I need to go 400klm or 800klm as there is no motor vehicle parts supplier in town.