Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Not heard from Loony today so assume he's gone into hybernation mode. Got lots to do, but with no heating it's been ridiculously cold at the 'shop the last few days. Fortunately I'm on holiday from work this week so looks like I'll be taking a snow day today too. Might put me big boots on & take a long walk across town to the nut & bolt shop -at least that'll be one errand done.

[spanners]

its not good here either,, the cold has got a real icy, grip on everything, might pop down the garage ,, just to see if ,EMILY,, is ok,,

[kapri]

No heating = work faster !

[triker_Chewie]

Got snow here again this morning. If I can lodge with you for ever more, I'd gladly bring it over Ben. 

I've got a hammock in the shed

[Manky Monkey]

There's about 40 degrees difference between your shed & the workshop at the moment Ben -tempting.
Yes Uncle Kev, I'll set fire to something & carry on working immediately! 
The 'shop faces onto open farmland & with the big roller shutter door open, you might as well be working outside. Lovely in the Summer, but stupidly cold at the moment. I'd hoped to have everything ready for MOT this week, but we haven't finished the passenger door yet & still have the driver's one to do.
Now I'm living in lodgings, I can't even bring any small jobs home to do.
Supposed to be visiting relatives tomorrow, but if the weather's still bad, I'll be braving it & heading for the workshop instead.
With nothing to do today, I trudged to the far side of town in 3 inches of snow to buy some bolts for the interior panels from the local tool shop. Took an hour to walk there, only to find a note on the door saying they were closed due to the snow -so who put the note there? So I turned round, walked all the way back, then bought them from Screwfix for half the price instead.

Kev, can you email me the numbers of the forms I need from DVLA to complete the registration please.

[Olds]

So I turned round, walked all the way back, then bought them from Screwfix for half the price instead.

     Screwfix is virtually on your door step 

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, I know! And it was cheaper to buy 100 bolts from them than half a dozen from the tool shop. I do try to support smaller shops, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense.

[spanners]

i,v found a right good engineers bolt suppliers that makes ,screwfix,, look like dick turpin,

[Manky Monkey]

Richard Turnip?
When I lived with Taz in Surrey I used to buy everything from a local place over there that were quite happy to spend 20 minutes going through their stores to find one odd bolt for you. It was always full of restorers waiting to have the thread on some rusty old nut identified. Little places like that are like gold dust these days.

www.margnor.co.uk

[Manky Monkey]

Cold. So very cold. 
Weekends are always busy at Chez Loon, with lots of friends working on their own projects, plus the odd customer.
Nick was working on his VW Golf, (happy birthday for tomorrow Sir), Chris spent the day at the bench welding & grinding the bulkhead for his Moggy Minor & Loony was modifying a pair of coil over shocks for a young lad with a lowered VW Golf.
So all the workbenches & all the grinders were in use plus the welder. That left me making paper templates for the panels around the top of the passenger door, then cutting them from steel.
The outside ones needed a 90 degree bend along the top edge to set the panel back in, as the door needs to close flush with the outside bodywork.
Bit of a jigsaw of scrappy bits, but should look O.K once it's smoothed & painted.

[Manky Monkey]

Inside, I've finished the fill-in pieces down to the bottom of the windscreen, (fiddly as the steel strip needed a twist along it's length).
Also cut a piece to fill the old door handle recess as we've moved it -not essential for the MOT but we'll be driving the truck in bare, unupholstered form for a while & it'd just annoy me.
Waiting for Mr Loon to weld 'em in, then I can cut the last piece & move on to the other door.

[kapri]

You need a V55/4 , has to be collected as is old fashioned carbon copy plus you need to download form Built Up Inspection form V627/1

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_065268.pdf

You'll need help filling them so just give me a ring.

[Manky Monkey]

Thanks Kev. Collected from where? Can I phone DVLA Swansea & ask them to send me one?
The Loony One tack-welded my fill-in panels in place around the top of the passenger door this morning, but was working on a VW Polo alongside the truck, so I couldn't open the door to make the last pieces -damn him & his paying customers! 
I quite like the look of the tack-welds. Makes it look like it's all rivetted together.
You can see here how much I've shortened the interior handle by, to move it to a more comfortable position when I'm sat in the cab.

[kapri]

Coming together nicely Swansea should be able to send one out

[Manky Monkey]

Right-o. Erm, don't suppose you have their number? 

So I moved on to the other side of the truck to start on the driver's door. I ordered some screws for the door lock from Pop Browns last week, but they used several different sizes. Of course, I've got the wrong ones. So I couldn't put the new latch mechanism together.
The hinges are worn out, with 60 years of wear in the pivot points, making them very sloppy. So, as we did on the other door, we'll replace them with new ones, machined for me by Mr twisted Patience. The door needs jacking up so that it sits at the right height in the opening, tack-welding in place, then the old hinges cut off & the new ones welded back on. We thought the front edge of the door would need pushing inwards too, as it protruded quite a bit from the bodywork.
Looking closer at it though, we realised it'd been built up with body filler. I attacked it with a flap wheel on the angle grinder & the filler seemed to just go on & on. Not good. Right. Take the door off & sand the lot off so we can see exactly what we're dealing with.