JowettTalk

Surtees obviously had the suspension lowered to get some downforce.

Drummond, you have e-mail.

And before anybody suggests it - No, that will not polish out.

Jack.

Never had you down as the master of understatement, Drummond. Isn't the lack of an engine something of a problem???
Paul

That early ('ridged' bumper, small headlights) Javelin looks worthy of closer inspection, if only for spares! Has the chassis number been passed to the Registrar?

That said, it is in much better general condition than my Long Four was when I got it!

With Dennis Sparrow's chassis front ends, and some generally straightforward chassis work, many otherwise dying Javelins can be recovered. They don't make them anymore you know.

Dennis Sparrow's chassis front ends

Does Dennis have these then?

My understanding is / was that Dennis had devised and made a repair scheme for the front end of the Javelin chassis legs where the front suspension torsion bar trunnions mount and of course the engine mounts go on the end. The chassis legs are quite small section in this area and a repair is quite tricky due to the stresses involved.

This area is prone to fatigue cracks if the bolts are not kept tight (it happened to my first Javelin but at the time I was not in a position to realise the cause or to effect a repair, so I scrapped the chassis - I kept EVERYTHING else though!).

I am sure I read about this in Jowetteer a few - say two or three - years ago. George Garfield orTony Fearn might be able to shed more light?

The bottom line is that chassis CAN be repaired IF you know how and have the right tools. The rear suspension radius arm pivots are another area of weakness and there are about three layers of metal in the area. I managed a perfectly reasonable repair by cutting out a big patch from the top layer, a smaller patch from the middle layer and then whatever was necessary from the innermost layer and then welding suitable sized patches 'on the way out'.

It was along time ago, but I am fairly sure I injected waxoil or similar afterwards, to reduce the risk of a repeat.

Jack wrote:Drummond, you have e-mail.

And before anybody suggests it - No, that will not polish out.

Yes it will!!!

Chris, where are you when we need you to attend to a thread...?

Quite a collection you've found there Drums, do let us know their fate. It would be nice to see them go to somewhere where a little bit (ok, maybe a lot) of TLC will do them proud.

I wonder what Jack's mail to Drummond is - the reason I am curious is that I think Jack may be planning to add to my already overstretched work load - (I could be wrong) - without some outer panels it would hard to piece the Jup back together but if the chassis is not too far gone it would make a great start for a special bodied project (something I have always wanted to do)

If I am not mistaken the red car shown partly to the left of the Jav is a early Volvo 343 series