I am looking to track down the Jester, if you are the current owner I've updated my email address in my profile on here.

Many thanks,

Trevor.

I am building a Sammio Spyder kitcar, a 50's inspired Special.

Why not go over to my new build blog and take a look.

www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com

Jester Sold and gone

On Saturday the Jester was sold and now is living a new life in Weston Super Mare with its new owner, Cliff.

A sad day but the Mojo is almost ready to go through its SVA test and go on the road.

Bye-bye Jessie!

Stingray Jester!

Stingray Motorsport have bought the Jester back into production, for more info take a look over at http://www.stingraymotorsport.com/jester.htm

The first thing Stingray have done is update the chassis from a MK1 fiesta donor to a Ford KA donor. This is a smart move, and will see the kit as "future proof", as the KA is still in production today, and has been on sale for just over 11 years now.

Good to see it back where it belongs, in production and on sale!

New project!

For my next project I have ordered a Sylva Mojo.
My new build website is over at www.sylvamojo.blogspot.com

I am still keeping the Jester for the moment, so keep checking back here for updates too.

London to Brighton Run Completed

Today was the London to Brighton kitcar rally, which I took part in.
On the way to Hampton Court Palace on the M3, the accelerator cable melted in the engine bay, due to the extreme heat of the day coupled with with how close it was to the exhaust manifold. On all our previous journeys in the Jester, nothing like this had ever happened, so after trying to fix it ourselves on the hard shoulder, it was time to accept defeat and call the AA in to recover the car.
The AA were onsite with us in just over 20 minutes, and the very nice man told us he refused to be beaten by a melted accelerator cable. He then proceeded to try 4 or 5 different designs of his own to help us, before manufacturing one from old cable sheathing and connectors he had in his van. The upshot of his very extensive efforts was the Jester was back on the road again! (With the cable now routed well away from the exhaust manifold!)
We just managed to get our route book stamped at Hampton Court Palace just before the organizers packed up and headed down to the seafront at Brighton.

Some 30 minutes into the journey, the temperature gauge in the Jester was beginning to read very high indeed, so we pulled over and then the water system boiled over, with steam going everywhere! Some fast investigation indicated that the fuse for the cooling fan had blown, so a quick replacement and FIVE liters of water later, we were on our way again, playing catch up by now!

The check point was Bentley wildfowl and motor museum, where we finally caught up with 30 or so other cars on the rally. After a look around the museum and a bite to eat, we headed off on the final 25 miles into Brighton, (with no issues to report!)

Upon arriving at the esplanade, the commentator interviewed us and we shared, amongst other things, our new found knowledge on cooling electrical systems with the crowd.

The journey back to Reading presented few issues, with time for reflection on an outstanding day.The weather was brilliant, the company too, the AA chap went above and beyond the call of duty, (without whom the whole day would have been cancelled.) If anyone reading this ever gets the chance to enter their kitcar in the London to Brighton run, DO IT. It will provide memories and stories from the one day, for the rest of your life.

Jester Fun

With all the hot weather we are having at the moment, I am trying to get out in the Jester almost every evening, here are some pictures taken within the last week.

Berkshire Classic Car Show

Today I went to the Berkshire Classic and Kit car show at Beale Park, Reading.
The Jester was featured as a show car, and everyone had a really good day.
The Noddy registration plates were only on it for show, something to hold the kids interest!

I have booked a place in the London to Brighton Kitcar run on Sunday 11th June. The journey starts on the Lawn at Hampton Court Palace!

Check back that evening for an update with all the photo's.

Registered!

DVLA inspection passed

The DVLA inspected the Jester this morning, and are quite happy as to the identity of the Vehicle, and where all the donor parts have been sourced from. (This was backed up by me bringing what seemed like hundreds of receipts for absolutely everything on the car to the inspection.) The DVLA informed me that "within a week or so," I will be issued with a donor car age related registration plate, (an old w suffix,) my tax disk and all the relevant paper work will be sent directly to me. The car will then be "fully registered and on the road."

DVLA Inspection booked

The DVLA will inspect the Jester on Thursday 5th Jan, at 11am. This will be done at their depot in Newbury. All the inspection involves is checking the chassis and engine numbers. (Shame it takes so long to organize 10 minutes work.) All kitcars must go through this process before being registered, don't expect many updates between now and then..........

SVA test passed!

The Jester has passed the SVA test! I still can't quite believe it! The day started at 6.30am, with the drive to the Yeading SVA centre. (It made it there fine this time, no issues!)
The test took just over four hours to complete, and the car failed on three items. The driver's door mirror did not have a wide enough field of view, the battery was not fastened down and the drivers side rear brakes were coming on before the passengers side.
Complete with this news I bolted home and replaced the driver's door mirror with a spare I had in the garage, the battery was fastened down securely and I removed the rear brake drum. Inside was years of gunk and dust, having cleaned everything up and reseated everything, all seemed to be OK and I couldn't get it to stick any more.
I then drove back up the M4 again to Yeading for the inspector to look at my three items of failure, all of which passed!
I am now dealing with the DVLA to get the Jester registered and taxed and on the Road. Watch this space!

SVA Prep work

Today was spent doing most of the preparation work for the SVA test on Tuesday.
I have fitted a new front grill, new air filter and a new set of spark plugs. For it to pass the SVA test, I have temporarily put small, thin fiesta wheels on. (My alloys just stick out of the wheel arches, failing SVA)
My big hope for Tuesday is not to break down on the way there or back! As long as the tester is fair and explains any failure points and how to rectify them, (and they are not major ones!) I shall be a happy boy. Check back Tuesday evening for the update.

New SVA date - 06/12/05

The date for the Jesters SVA was today confirmed as Tuesday 6th Dec. I am off to the Exeter kitcar show this Sunday to buy the last few "bits and bobs" needed. Fingers crossed it wont break down, and yes, I will bring lots of gasket paper with me this time!

SVA test disaster

Today was the day of the SVA test. After months of hard work and preparation, the Jester was flying this morning. A quick stop at the local Tesco for supplies for the day drew a huge crowd of well wishers and the reaction of most was extremely complimentary. After joining the M4 and getting her up to a decent speed all seemed OK. Until I hit traffic and had to stop. The engine in its infinite wisdom chose that moment to slow right down and stop. My efforts to restart the engine were in vein. By now, the Jester was well inside the hard shoulder and I was already looking for the cause of my problems. After removing a couple of spark plugs and turning the engine over I could see that they were sparking nicely. Not the spark/ignition system then. Next to the fuel. As I was running with no air filter at that point I could see straight down into the carburetor. Fuel was definitely getting there but I noticed that after turning the engine over that what looked like air bubbles were seeping back into the bottom of the carburetor. A closer inspection revealed that the gasket between the bottom of the carb and the inlet manifold was covered in petrol, so much so that it was dripping petrol at some points. Just yesterday I did a dummy run, leaving the engine running for over half an hour in the garage, it appears this problem only started this morning. I loosened and re tightened the two bolts securing the carb down but to no avail. By this point my battery was almost flat due to my efforts to start the engine. I reluctantly rang the SVA centre and cancelled the test and called for recovery too. Once home I went to a local motor factors shop who sold me the gasket for 50p! If you click on the pictures at the top you can see the carb, old gasket and new gasket, and the new gasket fitted with the carb fitted.

Lights working

All the lights are wired up and working now. The old rubber exhaust mounts were very worn out (in fact, one set had snapped clean off!) and they have been replaced with new ones.

SVA test preparation work

This evening I bolted on both rear reflectors, both front indicators, put new wing mirrors on both sides, replaced the windscreen wiper, installed a new longer speedo cable from an old mk3 escort (Same connectors at both ends but its much longer) , refitted the coil, put some more petrol in (I think it must have been running on fumes!) I also painted the new grill which needs trimming down to size and securing onto the Jester, that will be done over the next few days along with wiring up all the new lights.

SVA test date - 03/11/05

The SVA test centre at Yeading (West London) contacted me earlier to confirm that the Jester is booked in for its first SVA test at 9am on Thursday 3rd November. Time to accelerate my efforts!

New Headlights

Today I fitted the new larger 7" black headlights to the jester, (only roughly, they still need aligning,) and they look fantastic, really adding to the cars natural character. I also riveted the vin plate onto the chassis. The new front indicators fit straight onto the bodyshell, only requiring holes to be drilled to secure them.

Kit car show

Today was the national kit car show at Donington. There were 52 kit car manufacturers there along with 34 accessory stands. Almost the whole day was spend trawling through the accessory stalls picking out parts that I need to get the Jester through its SVA test and onto the road. Here is just some of what I bought, new wing mirrors, rubber exhaust mounts, black 7" headlights, front indicators, rear reflectors and a new front grill. We also managed to bump into James, another Jester owner who was there with his car. His is the same colour as mine, but with Ka front headlights, and a 1.6 XR2 engine in it.

S.V.A Preparation

All kit cars must go through a government test called the S.V.A (Single Vehicle Approval) This is like a "mega MOT" that can take towards half a day to complete. The test checks for things like the quality of the build, brakes, windscreen, windscreen demist device, seat belts, tyres, speedo, emissions, any sharp interior or exterior projection likely to cause injury, right through to does the steering lock work and even asks that all lights and rear reflectors on the car have approved lenses with relevant approval quality markings on them. This list is nowhere near the full test, its quite daunting to be honest! Today was spent doing some of the easy work for the SVA test, like removing the front headlights along with front indicators and the rear fog light. None of them had the approval quality markings on them, so its off to buy some more. I fixed the windscreen washer motor which was seized solid, but some WD40 soon put that right! I also ordered a mk3 escort speedo cable as the fiesta one is a slightly tight fit in the Jester, I am reliably informed that the escort one will slot straight in as a longer replacement.