Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

2 1/2. I've been to Lincolnshire today to pick up a set of go kart wheels I bought from Ebay, (just had my welder repaired & rented a new gas bottle, so I'm gonna make a trolley for it).
Drove home starting to overdose on the smell of rubber!

[kapri]

You ever thought of using Royal Mail ,even at their rates it's cheaper ?

[Manky Monkey]

The seller wouldn't use them & his courier was more expensive than the 20 quid's worth of fuel I used. Plus it was an excuse for a day out. I really enjoy travelling -should've been a long distance lorry driver instead of a Postman.

[spanners]

20 quids worth of fuel for how many miles ??  that must run just of the smell of derv,

[Manky Monkey]

20 quid each way Mike. 400 miles. 1.4 turbo diesel Ford Fiesta. 30 quid a year road tax as well. It's just clocked up 212,000 miles. Beaten up & only serviced once a year if it's lucky, but it's the best run-about I've ever owned. As I said, I just enjoy travelling & it was an excuse for a road trip.
These are the wheels I picked up. 10 quid each. Only needed 2 but he wouldn't split the set. The smaller ones have bearings while the bigger ones need separate hubs with integral bearings. So I'll be using the little 'uns & the others will go in Loony's Things to make something from one day stash. I picked up a brand new heavy duty swivelling trolley wheel at an autojumble at the weekend for 2 quid & did think about making a 4 wheeled trolley with the 2 smaller wheels mounted on the swivel plate at the front -but maybe I'm over thinking this! 

[Manky Monkey]

Current state of the Pop. Got about 3 weeks to get this back on the road, MOT'd & taxed in time for the day trip to Belgium in April.
I'm trying to get as much of the cab sorted as I can, with all the necessary interior welding done so that I can carry on adding upholstered panels, carpets etc over the Summer without having to dismantle half of it again.
Mr Kapri has taken the leaky Reliant fuel tank, (the reserve tank mounted under the back of the chassis), to a local guy down his way, who's hopefully gonna make a new, fuel tight one. That'll need powder coating when it's done. I also need to modify the cradle it sits in cos it was a bugger to get out, then coat it. I'd like to weld a new filler neck on the main tank to get rid of the fiddly locking cap, but there's still 20 quid's worth of unleaded in the tank at the moment.
The rear wheels have been replaced with better examples & the tyres refitted, but I need to find a shop with an adaptor to balance them cos we welded centre caps into them before coating & now they don't fit the balancing machine. Need to remove, powder coat & refit as much of the rear suspension, battery box etc as I can cos it's all covered in heavy surface rust after driving it on salted roads.
The planned stainless exhaust system just isn't gonna happen in time, but it's made of bolt-together, flanged sections, rather than slip joints, so I can drop one piece out at a time & replace it bit by bit over the Summer.
The rear mudguards & mounts are being coated at the moment. I also need to get the fronts done, but that means disconnecting the brake lines as they run through holes in the mounting brackets, (so did the rears). Rear lights are being done, so the headlights also have to come off, along with the front radius arms. Front wheels need to be re-coated to match the rears. All the running gear will be powder coated gloss black, cos it's cheap & easy to touch in when it gets stone chipped.
I haven't touched the engine, but had all the small brackets & bits & pieces nickel plated, so they all need to go back on. No time to change the oil cooler for a new one, fitted lower down in the grille shell, but again, it can be done over the Summer.
I've had new front & rear windscreens cut, but need to finish the cab welding, including some small rust repairs around the front screen opening, before I fit them.

[Manky Monkey]

The pick-up bed's full of parts waiting to go back on & my daily driver's full of bits waiting to be sorted.

[Manky Monkey]

You can see here that we're adding 5 inches into the front bottom edge of the pick-up bed. It just helps it to "flow" into the cab a bit more, so it doesn't look so boxy, as well as hiding part of the exhaust & the bottom axle locating rods. It's also made the truck as a whole look a little shorter.

[Manky Monkey]

Neil G's old Bakelite Pop dashboard.
Last year we were running a second-hand fibreglass copy of this, which I picked up from an autojumble for 10 quid when we first started building. That's now going in our next project, (a fibreglass bodied T bucket).
It had a row of toggle switches behind the steering wheel, which proved to be a pain to use while driving. With the new switch panel waiting to be welded in place on the gearbox tunnel, using Neil's dash means I don't have to fill the unwanted switch & warning light holes. It's also much sturdier than the 'glass version. A previous owner's chopped off the curved ends though, so I need to make a pair of steel end caps, which will be welded into the body. I also have to make new dash mounting tabs to allow for the Bakelite's extra thickness. Still waiting for the speedo to be recalibrated, so looks like we'll be driving with a speedo sized hole in the dash for a while.
I've reworked the curved panels that fill the gap under the dash, adding new top sections to follow the line of the new dash, as well as a new push button catch for the glove box. I've also simplified their mounts to make them easier to remove individually. These 2 panels need to go to Phil the upholsterer to be covered in black vinyl. Once the new switch panel's welded in, I can make a fill-in panel above it, which will be welded in. The inner roof skin needs finishing & upholstering & the sun visor mounts need finishing too.
Thanks for donating the dash Neil, but I'm afraid the matt black paint & hand painted flowers had to go! I'm still hoping Loon can paint this in the pale green the rest of the truck will be done in, before we hit the roads again.

[NeilG]

Well it looks better already Andy,i'm sure i still have the speedo somewhere that came out of it if you want to fill the gap temporarily.Glad you could use it,better than it sitting in the garage for another 15 years 

Only 3 weeks to get it done     Good luck Sir,it's not like it's the first time you've set yourself a tight deadline 

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, you'd think I enjoy the challenge wouldn't you -I don't.

[Manky Monkey]

I've opened out the speedo hole to take my Morris Oxford gauge Neil, (at least that's what we think it's from). As far as I know, it's not actually illegal to run without one, but obviously it makes sense to have one so you don't break the limit. For the Belgium trip I hope to borrow Brock's SatNav, which has a speedo readout on it.
No Loon at the workshop today, so I took the rear wheels to a local tyre fitter. He had a balancing adaptor. It's basically a hub that bolts to the back of the wheel then screws onto the balancing machine. It has a series of bolt holes so mounting studs can be bolted to it for various bolt patterns. The young lad in the workshop couldn't get it to fit, so the boss is going to have a look tomorrow for me.
From there I nipped over to see Phil the upholsterer & picked up some panels that he's covered in black vinyl. The centre section of the gearbox tunnel, below the handbrake lever, plus the 2 rear corners around the inertia seat belt reels.

[BikerGran]

The satnav will probably be better anywat for driving abroad as you can read it easily in Km/hr - I've alwqays had to put stickers on my speedo for going abroad as it's easy to forget what's what when you're dealing wrong side of the road and junctions
 in foreign!

[Manky Monkey]

Apparently there's an app' on Iphones called Dashboard, which gives the speed. I don't have an Iphone.

[NeilG]

My pop and model A never had a speedo,used a free speedo app on my old blackberry that even had a setting to reflect it up on the windscreen as a heads up display!!!
Haven't used them personally but have heard good things about those self balancing beads you put in the tyre.