Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Lots of nickel plated & black powder coated brackets & bits & pieces in the engine bay. There's a small water leak that collects in a puddle in the valley under the carb. I think it's the hose from the thermostat housing or the bypass hose below it. I've tightened the clips as much as I can but it still leaks, so needs investigating.
I've also got a new fuel filter to go in & a length of fuel pipe that's starting to perish, to replace. Clean the plugs & hopefully that'll be it.

[Manky Monkey]

The doors are held with a stainless knock-in pin in each hinge. I'm taking them off every day at the moment to avoid damaging the interior panels & glass. They'll need properly gapping & tidying up at some point, but for now they open & close O.K. The windows don't open smoothly yet & the driver's one doesn't locate properly in the top of the frame -I think I need to cut & move the runner inside the door so that the glass rises vertically cos at the moment it tips inwards at the top.
Also need to make the drip rail around the top of the driver's door to match the passenger side, (just a length of 8mm rod curved to shape & tacked in place). Oh, & the front & rear screens need to go in.
I've extended the pick-up bed side, between the back of the cab & the front of the rear wheel. I think it helps the bed to "flow" into the cab a little more & also visually shortens the whole truck. The panel's made for the driver's side but not tacked in place yet. With the benefit of hindsight, we should've lifted the top rails of the pick-up bed so that they were level with the bottom of the side windows -but I'm not changing them now! When the fuel tank's in place, it sits slightly above the pick-up bed sides, level with the top of the bonnet, so helps to balance it all out.
Black powder coated lights & mudguards now fitted.

[Manky Monkey]

I'm obviously not going to make the Beaulieu hotrod show this weekend, but it has to be at the Nostalgia Nationals drag races in Stratford on Avon next weekend. So hopefully I can get it ready for an MOT on my day off next Thursday, which'll give me Friday afternoon to get the tax disc, before handing it over to Loony to drive up to the track -he's planning on going for the weekend, but I have to work on Friday & Saturday, so I'll take my daily driver up on Sunday.
If I don't get this finished soon there won't be any Summer left to drive it in!

[kapri]

No probs Andy ,nice to see you , Loony , Archie and Dave (Loony Senior). Nice run out for the Fury and testing my reset LPG , coming the scenic route and also some heavy duty motorway action I returned 19mpg , very pleased

Great run back throwing 20ft and 2 ton of Yanks around the country roads , had to eat a lot of hedge a couple of times on the narrower bits

[Manky Monkey]

  You didn't park photogenically at the yard, so no pics of the Plymouth & the Pop together. I must blag a ride in it with you some time!

[kapri]

I don't park so much as abandon   Ride ,no problems.

[Manky Monkey]

Another very late day at work today, but a late evening at the workshop to make up for it.
Brakes bled. Still not perfect, but not bad, (the pedal drops a little low on the first push, then pumps up). Once the dashboard panels are fitted I won't be able to get to the servo bleed nipples, which are the highest point in the system. So I'll bleed them again tomorrow.
The last of the Dynamat fitted to the bulkhead.
A few un-needed holes welded up around the driver's footwell & a couple of small closing panels made & welded in -I'm trying to get the cab as weather proof as I can.
Once the brakes are re-bled I can start bolting stuff back in.

[Manky Monkey]

Didn't make it to the workshop yesterday cos I had a list of errands to do, but pulled the cover off the Pop this afternoon to find Mr Loon had painted the dashboard & fuel tank for me while I'd been gone. Thanks matey. Very much appreciated. It's not perfect -could do with a little more filler & flatting back in places, but at least it's the right colour now. It's a rough approximation of one of the original Ford Pop colours, but was used on all sorts of 50s/60s cars, including early Landrovers. I really like it & can't wait to see the whole truck done in it now!
Although we're constantly being told we should leave it in bare metal, that was never the plan. It wasn't meant as a rat rod -it's just not finished yet!
This is the original Ford Pop fuel tank & used to lay flat under the boot floor. We modified the filler neck, welded up the fuel gauge sender unit hole & made the cradle. It's just sat in place at the moment. I need to brush the rust out of the pick-up bed & give it another coat of black bed liner, then the tank can be properly fitted. The leather straps need a clean up too, but are just for show. Eventually the cradle the tank sits on, (which is actually welded to it), will be painted black. I think the green & black work really well together.

I've welded the "swage line" around the back of the cab & started tidying it up with a bead of filler.

[Manky Monkey]

Dashboard propped in place. The end cap on the passenger side needs a little adjusting & I've just ordered some rubber edging bead to fill the gap between the bottom of the dash & the panels underneath it. Should look great with the chrome speedo surround.

[poprodder]

looks great andy.

[Manky Monkey]

Thanks. I'm pleased with it.
Now all the panels are Dynamatted & vinyl covered, nothing fits! Took a bit of persuading to get all the bolts to line up in the footwell panels, but they're sorted now. The interior of the glovebox isn't as tidy as I'd like, but that's hardly important at the moment! I've sprayed the metal panel that holds the new switches with the Halfords textured black bed liner spray we used in the pick-up bed. It has a finish exactly like grip tape on skate boards. From a couple of feet away, it matches the black vinyl of the panels either side of it perfectly. The Dynamatted tunnel section will be vinyl covered too, but I'll have to take the truck to the upholsterer for that cos that bit's welded into the cab.

[Olds]

Love that colour. So 50s and subtle.

[Manky Monkey]

Thanks Dave -don't suppose you could rivet the VIN plate onto one of the interior panels for me could you, (we've managed to lose not one, but two pop rivet guns).
We've always aimed for a modified vintage truck look, rather than in-your-face hotrod, so subtle is the way to go -or as subtle as a V8 rod can be anyway. The website logos will eventually be airbrushed onto the doors in black & cream, by forum member Clive. Next job is to try & fit the windscreen -don't want to lean on the fibreglass dash & crack it.
Need to sort out a couple of warning lights before the speedo's fitted, but once it's in & I'm sure I don't need to get to the gearbox end of the speedo cable, the gearbox tunnel can go in. Yesterday I bought a sheet of heavy duty black rubber, (floor covering for horse stables), which I'll cut & lay on the floors & up into the footwells. Decided against carpets, partly cos they wouldn't look right in an agricultural/industrial truck & partly cos it'll probably never be fully water tight & I'd rather it smelt of rubber than rotting carpet.
Getting there now, but still haven't fired the engine up after it's 6 month break & the MOT's booked for next Thursday! 

[merv]

That is looking really good, I also like the colour I think its a good choice

[Manky Monkey]

 
My last 2 bikes & last 2 trikes have all been green, so it seemed fitting. I've got a green metalflake open face helmet too, for when we take it down the drag track! (maybe).