Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

I tried to cut the plate as small as I could as I didn't want it looking too slabby. So it's cut around the diff to show off the axle & triangulated 4 bar linkage.
When the bed sides eventually go on, they're in line with the cut outs in the bottom of the cab, (they're to give clearance for the exhausts). So the bed is a couple of inches wider than the chassis.

[Manky Monkey]

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[Tony oily bike]

Saw this and thought of your Anglia/Pop pickup (and its only £8 delivered) - have to say progress is looking good!


Vintage tax disc holder suitable for van, commercial vehicle, PSV etc. Genuine old stock item with black finish, black rubber surrounds & glass to protect tax disc.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Twin-Tax-Disc-Holder/283821866426?hash=item421519fdba:g:bCkAAOSwQC9edR3R


This guy, Greg Poplar, does very good reproduction tax discs at a sensible price.
http://poplargreg.com/

[Olds]

Think that might take up 50% of the windscreen.

[poprodder]

Great progress Andy.  Stay safe mate.

[Manky Monkey]

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).

[Manky Monkey]

So, this afternoon's gentle garaging, in between bouts of coughing, (I've had a really hacking cough & croaky voice for 3 weeks now), saw the petrol tank fitted.
When we first built the Pop we re-used the original tank, which was an oval cylinder under the floor in the boot. I stood it on edge & made a cradle for it & we repositioned the filler neck. Unfortunately it leaked like a sieve -not through any of Loony's welds, but actually weeping through the metal end plates. The steel was so thin it had become porous. When we went to Holland we left a puddle of fuel on the ferry deck & got shouted at by the crew.
So during the rebuild I've replaced it with a new reproduction model T Ford tank. It's slightly fatter, but I've stood it on edge & repositioned the filler again as well as  making a simpler version of the cradle.
The leather straps are just for show -it's actually welded to the cradle -yes, I know the buckles are upside down. They're horse stirrup straps & that's the way they buckle up.

[Manky Monkey]

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[Manky Monkey]

I was convinced it wouldn't sit level with the swage line on the cab & did have to loosen & re-tighten the mounting nuts a couple of times to pull it down into line.
There are 4 8mm studs on the underside of the cradle that pass through the platform. They were intended to pass through the pick-up bed floor, so were far too long. I spent a very careful half hour trimming them to length with a junior hacksaw & trying not to scratch the painted tank.
Success -& they all lined up with the mounting holes, which surprised me.

[Manky Monkey]

The outlet pipe also goes through a hole in the platform. When I first adapted the tank, I had the pipe welded into the right hand side as the old Pop tank had been -then realised the fuel lines run along the left side of the chassis. So I had a new pipe welded in. The local welding shop thought it'd be better to leave a short stub of the old one & weld over the end, rather than cut it off flush, so I've tidied it with a push-on rubber bung.
I've had the new Ethanol proof fuel hose hung on the wall for ages, supplied by Guy Davenport, (a Facebook friend who works in the brake & fuel hose business). There's an electric fuel pump mounted on the chassis under the platform. I haven't hooked the hose up to it yet as I need to work out how to route it through a filter & a one-way valve too.

[Manky Monkey]

There's a gap between the tank & the cab to allow for the rear panel of the pick-up bed to slot in between them.
You can see I made the platform just big enough to accommodate the tank -I didn't want a big steel slab there & also wanted to show off the axle.

[Manky Monkey]

I didn't paint the tank. It was done by one of my brother's mates in Newbury, Berkshire. He's a professional painter & it was just quicker & easier to let him do it while I worked on other stuff. I'm not convinced it's a perfect match to my aerosol painted cab, although I gave him a can to match to. It looks slightly paler to me, but might just be the curved surface catching the light. Either way I'm not doing it again! He actually painted it twice, after I decided to re-do the outlet pipe.

[Manky Monkey]

With the bed on, most of this would be hidden when viewing the truck from the side. I think it might spoil the lines a bit by having it on show, but I need a tank & eventually there will be a pick-up bed.
Other stuff?
I spent ages fiddling with spacers on the handbrake cable, where the outer sleeves slot into the brake backplates. It's a pattern cable & is a bit sloppy. I'm not convinced it won't need looking at again. I ended up loosely cable tying the outer sleeve to the upper 4 bar rods, which I think was how it was before, but was hidden under the bed floor. It's not ideal or very pretty & could really do with some sort of cable tidy, as used on old Jap motorcycles to hold the speedo cable to the fork leg.
Oh, & I finished the very warm bank holiday afternoon by flatting back the damaged paint around the lower shock mounts, masking them up & giving them a couple of coats of black.
So a reasonably productive, lazy Friday.

[stinkey]

Looking great Andy 👍😎 keep going mate

[merv]

starting to take shape and looking very good, all the hard work starting to pay of, slowly,slowly catch a monkey