Manky's Pop.

[Tony oily bike]

Nice, but as Dave says, visibility is probably better than vintage accessory
Tax discs were still a thing when I last drove it in 2013, so I'm looking forward to having an extra 4" of screen!
(crossing Chelsea Bridge in that there London).

Agree, which is why the one I found has the rubber (water resistant/proof) seal to allow for mounting outside the cab, bit like some of the old vintage/veteran vehicles of early 20th century.

Just a thought and a nod to the "commercial" ness of it being a pick-up...……..

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, I've seen them on vintage buses.
I do a lot of steam fairs, which always have a line-up of old commercials & the occasional hotrod. I definitely lean more toward that more subtle look, rather than in yer face custom.

[Manky Monkey]

First job today -take another look at the handbrake cable mounts. Definitely not happy with their sloppy fit in the backplates. I spent an hour or so fiddling about with them, trying spacers & packing washers, before admitting defeat.
Not even a diagram in the Haynes manual. It just says Route the cable through the hole in the backplate, connect the cable nipple to the operating arm, then replace the retaining circlip before ...ahhh. Houston, we may have found the problem.
I pulled the cable back, removed my various spacers &, yup, there's the groove for a circlip. Brilliant. Another half hour rummaging through boxes of parts & I came up with a set of assorted stainless E clips. Had to remove the brake drums again, but with clips on, everything fits right & now I don't need the cable ties supporting the outer sleeves. Job done -eventually.

[Manky Monkey]

Flushed with success, I moved on.
Last night's paintwork repairs checked for runs. Nope, they're all good, so removed the masking & blended the edges into the existing axle paint with some cutting compound.

[Manky Monkey]

Connected the fuel hose to the electric pump via an inline filter. There's also a one-way valve to go on, but I think I'll put that after the pump.
I had some stainless anti chafe springs in my spares box. They're for a Norton Commando, but fitted the hose so I may as well use them, although the hose isn't as close to the axle locating rod as it appears here. This is one spring snipped in half.

[Manky Monkey]

Filled the axle with oil. If I don't do it now I'll forget.
I'm sure the diff' weeped oil before, but now appears to be leak-free, which is somehow more worrying than if it wasn't. I put a drip tray underneath it & will check it again tomorrow.
Then I walked down to my other garage & rolled the rear wheels back. They were filthy, so I spent about an hour scrubbing one of them clean. I blacked the tyre sidewall with a tin of shoe polish I used on the fuel tank straps.
These are 1970s London taxi cab wheels, but they're not a matched pair -the pips that hold the hub caps on are different. They're also not the pair I was running last time the Pop was on the road. One of the originals was slightly buckled & a couple of other drivers caught me up to tell me. So Loony has those in his project stash & I picked these up at an auto jumble for 10 quid each. I had them powder coated & fitted stainless trim rings.

[Manky Monkey]

May as well fit that one then.
I'd forgotten how much wider the rear end is compared to the front. The tyres are outside the line of the body. It changes the proportions completely. I like the look.
There are small cycle style mudguards to go over the tyres, but although they've been powder coated, I'm going to flat them back & spray them gloss black before fitting.

[Manky Monkey]

That fuel tank looks much paler than the cab in photos. It doesn't seem so noticeable in real life & I'm definitely not repainting it. If it were attached to the cab in some way it would show more, but as a stand alone fitting, I'm O.K with it being slightly different.

[Manky Monkey]

So tomorrow I need to clean up the other wheel. With that bolted on it's almost ready to roll outside!

[Baychimp]

Hello Matey. Thats starting to look good,coming together bit by bit. Sorry I haven't been round to see you,I am in lockdown at the moment,because of this bloody COPD that I have. Doctor told me to be very careful,so Missis Baychimp won't allow me out to play.Told me she can't lose me yet as she will only get half pension payments . So as soon as its safe I will be round. Heard a couple of storys about how the P.O isn't looking after its staff to well during the crisis,how is it at Basingstoke.

[Manky Monkey]

Hello you
It'd be good to see you -from a distance.
I've been off work for 3 weeks. I go back on Tuesday. I had a week off with a really bad cough -didn't know what it was & didn't want to spread it about. Then 2 weeks annual leave. I feel like I've retired! Completely lost track of the days & have no routine, so I'm getting up late, mooching around the house, then spending the afternoons at the garage.
I've still got the cough & have had a few instances where I've woken up in the middle of the night gasping for breath with a blocked throat, but otherwise fine. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to work now.
As far as I know, absolutely no PPE at the Post Office. One per van, but my van buddy Richie's off sick anyway.
Non drivers taking part deliveries out then walking home.
I'll be out in a van doing mine & Richie's deliveries on alternate days.
No overtime being paid, so working till time, then cutting off.
Not allowed to hand back holiday dates.
I read online today that they don't want to pay those that are self isolating for the bank holidays.
Christmas levels of Mail but with 20% of the staff missing.
Interesting times!

[Manky Monkey]

Ta daaah!
O.K, it's not quite finished, but the first time it's moved in 3 years, so worthy of a modest ta daah I think.
Both wheels on, battery box in with stainless silencers mounted underneath & finally wheeled outside for a bit of a look at.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[Manky Monkey]

.