Early Interceptor No 88

[John Staddon]

Having been given permission to start using my left hand again after my mishap in January I got the back end of No 88 in the air yesterday and for the first time I could really get a look at the underside.

As expected, as it is easy to see with the car on the ground, the rear of the car, from the rear axle line back is solid, just surface rust and old underseal that comes off in handfuls, the spare wheel carrier is there and though a little battered it is solid.

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The rear wheel arches are solid but there are a couple of small holes in the offside wheel arch that need further exploration.

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The rear passenger compartment floor is solid but the front floor pans are perforated in places.

The chassis tubes are a different matter as they have rusted at the ends, though the centre from about 6 inches (150 mm) in seem solid, but with some dents and deformation, as if the car has been jacked on the chassis tubes when really you shouldn't do that. The first pic is the offside rear tube end and jacking point, there is a whole chunk of something missing - some sort of cantilever bracket off the end of the tube? The second and third pics are the offside front jacking point, where it attaches to the tube the welding looks amateurish but solid but the jacking point itself has rusted out on its front face.

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The near side tube is worse and has rusted at both ends, as you can see from the pic of the front of the tube its been repaired before, but probably just plated over and it's rusted beneath the plate and now tube and plate have been swept up and put in the bin. The second pic is of the rear of the tube, again the end of the tube and the face of the jacking point are rotten (the cradle inboard of the spring is for the battery, accessed from inside of the car by lifting the rear seat squab out).

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I only jacked the back of the car up (and left the wheels on, just in case) but the next time it stops raining I'll get the other end in the air and have a better look at the front of the chassis and the original Austin chassis in the centre.

John

[Joerg]

Dear John

You will need a big workshop for the restoration. The necessary chassis repair (as far as I can see ) is only possible with all body panels removed. That means a lot of storage room ( the one piece front end is very big, also the roof ).
I remember Derek Chapman doing it in a double garage, but he stored parts also in his garden and the house was full up under the roof top.
Having the "Hemiceptor" here in bits and pieces, I know what I'm talking about. 100 m² in the minimum.
Must be a fortune that you need renting this in London.

Joerg

[Han Kamp]

John, it is not too bad, but worse than one would expect. I agree with Joerg that in order to do a proper job all body panels need to come off and that does indeed take a lot of space....

You most certainly have a unique Jensen which is definitely worth a full restoration. Best of luck with that!

[John Staddon]

Is this enough?

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It's not all for me! A local bus preservation society is renting this building and they have too much space, i am negotiating on behalf of my local car club members to take some car size spaces, or more if need be.

John

[Joerg]

That looks very good.
Go for it!

[John Staddon]

I took the battery out on Tuesday and put it on charge, after 90 minutes the charger said 'ready and maintaining', but I didn't believe it. Took it in to Halfords today and they put a meter on it and after a bit of persuading it to show anything at all they finally got a reading of 1.7 volts. I bought a new one as that may mean the battery dates from 1996 when the car was last put back on the road for a few years.

Serious 'technical' question, should there be any sort of battery clamp to hold the battery in place? There is just a tray sitting in the cradle at the moment and nothing to stop the battery sliding back and forth on the tray.

John

[Joerg]

Mine was strapped with a belt - don‘t think it is the way it left West Bromwich

[John Staddon]

A bit more wire brushing and scraping today. The back of the car is almost rust free, here's a wider shot of the boot floor. I need something a bit more aggressive to get rid of the last of the underseal but it's obvious the sheet metal is almost as new.

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But not so good news at the front, here is the nearside chassis leg, the first photo shows a hole in the bottom of it and the second is taken a little further forward, the rotten edge was what i was photographing but looking at the photo I see something I didn't spot and that is a hole in the side of the leg, the whole thing could be rotten. Oddly the other side seems OK but there is a lot of wiring clipped to the underside of it so difficult to be certain until I get the wiring off.

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I put the new battery in, the indicators work, well three of them do after I realised it is a positive earth car and turned the battery around, but that is all.

John

[David Devine]

Hi John

Luckily it's not like a modern car so you should get away with putting the battery the wrong way round. Apart from a radio if ones fitted,

Dave

[Joerg]

Not really.
I´m sure that some of the "no working" items are related to the fact that the battery was connected the wrong way.

@John
If you want I can send you a copy of the owners manual, just to avoid some mistakes.

[John Staddon]

Joerg and All

Joerg, thank you, I already have a copy of the owners manual (an original, a reproduction and two different soft copies) and a lot more material as well.

I didn't actually connect the battery the wrong way round as you can't, terminals are different sizes so it will only fit one way, but that led to some head scratching until I worked out why the battery didn't fit the way I expected it to. I don't know why nothing works but actually I can't check the lights as there is no movement on the light switch, I presume it should just turn but it is solid, the brakes don't work so can't check brake lights, ammeter works as I can see it 'ticking' when the indicators flash.

As for tinkering, all I can say is, I know! But I want to know what I have got and what needs doing, and I want record photos that will help with discussions with restorers (I'm not going to be able to do this myself).

So to irritate Joerg even more, here are some more photos of my 'tinkering'.

The near side chassis leg cleaned up some more.

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And the other side, I think side has already been 'done', the white is shiny metal and you can see the welds.

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A brake disc, if the discs are not warped then it looks like they will clean up OK.

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John

[Han Kamp]

John, if and when you decide to go for a full restoration, contact Derek Chapman. I know he has documented every aspect of his restoration, and being a nice chap I am sure he will be willing to share his experience and knowledge with you

As an appetizer take a look at his chassis.

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[John Staddon]

Thanks Han, I've been meaning to get in touch with Derek, he has always been very helpful in the past.

Regards

John