Manky's Pop.

[minimutly]

Jeepers Olds, can you not bang the studs out and fit 3/8 or 5/16 unf ones?

[poprodder]

are they minx wheels andy?

[Olds]

Jeepers Olds, can you not bang the studs out and fit 3/8 or 5/16 unf ones?

Could do but that would involve opening out all 24 holes in the hubs as the splined area on the 3/8 unf studs is larger and as the wheels centre on the studs, it would have to be done accurately. Easier to make the nuts.

I think MM's wheels at the front are Minx and the rears are Taxi I'm sure MM will correct me if I'm wrong

[Manky Monkey]

You are indeed correct Dave. 4 bolt Hillman Minx, (not sure how old), & 1970s 5 bolt taxi cab. The front hubs were re-studded by Pop Browns to suit.

[Manky Monkey]

Wheel nuts ordered from Steve at SpeedShack in Uxbridge, Middlesex. I think that's where I bought the originals. Nice guy, very helpful & enthusiastic.

http://www.speedshack.co.uk/

[Manky Monkey]

New wheel nuts arrived -too short. Poo.
The old ones were 1 1/4" long. These are 1" & bottom out on the thread before they tighten on the wheel. The old ones must've been close to bottoming out if they're only 1/4" longer but obviously that was enough. Rang Steve at SpeedShack & he'll get on the case on Monday, but might have to be bright zinc instead of chrome.

[Manky Monkey]

Re-fitted the water temp' gauge with the new brass adaptor, but decided it should have a fibre sealing washer like the oil pressure gauge has, so will have to take it back out.
Not the end of the world, but I'm struggling to find the enthusiasm for this at the moment. Been feeling like it for a while now. Love driving the car, hate working on it -constantly. Every day. For years. And years. Pouring money into it. Getting nowhere. Hopefully a trip to the Hotrod Drags tomorrow will boost my Mojo.

[kapri]

Keep telling you...getting it running will boost your mojo !!  2 years ago you were driving it when the engine needed work . You skint yourself to buy a replacement engine to get it back on the road quickly   Get it running and MOT'd and the turn it into a driving 'fettle' as you go again .

What needs to be done PURELY to get it running and MOT'd now ?

[Manky Monkey]

Sorry Uncle Kev 

Erm, let's see-

Front brake discs are at the engineers having the rust scraped off -they really were pretty corroded after sitting outside for 3 years.

All the moving parts, (suspension, steering etc), need de-gritting & re-greasing. Loony's rural workshop yard was like a giant sand blasting cabinet & everything's covered in sand & grit.

Re-install the distributor with it's new drive gear & time it up -got to check with Mr Phunkie how much advance or retard the Pertronix electronic ignition should have. Got a mate who's a mobile mechanic with a timing light if needed.

Pull the very carefully installed dashboard back out & ask Mr Olds to take a look at the wiring -2 red wires under there that I'm really not sure about. Might be Earths, or un-used Live feeds, but they mean nothing to me.

Paint & fit the new main fuel tank in the pick-up bed. The reserve tank's already fitted & there are one way valves on the lines so it should run on one tank, but it may as well go in now. I've got new fuel filters to go in too.

Biggest job is fitting the new stainless silencers. The old ones were scrapped cos I cut the flanges off them to re-use, (stainless flanges on mild steel pipes. The new set-up will be all stainless). Needs to be done in situ, so the flanges can be bolted to the system either side & the silencers propped between them & tacked in place, so that everything lines up. Then the mounting tabs can be welded to the silencers & the chassis, (already got stainless & mild steel flat strap & a bag of "bobbin" mounts. I took the floor panels out so it can be done from above rather than laying under the cab. My 150 MIG welder's got a reel of stainless wire in it ready for the job, but I'll have to rent a suitable generator for an afternoon.

After that, an afternoon of nuts & bolts stuff -putting the powder-coated floor panels back in, re-fitting the seatbelts. Door handles might be nice. Door mirrors, stuff like that.

Oh, & fire the engine up. I already know 2 of the core plugs leak -the rear 2 which are now the most awkward to get to obviously -but I've got a bottle of "K Seal" as you recommended so will need to keep topping up the rad' till the block warms up then bung that in & hopefully seal the plugs.

5 weeks now till the Dutch trip. Easy

[morrag]

It's often a standard builders malaise Mr M, I have actually finished my 3 Wheeler project, but now cannot build the enthusiasm to put it on the road, so for me the reverse is true!! but Kev is right, stop fiddlin' now and do only what's absolutely necessary to run the bugger!! ....come the Spring the ongoing "tweeks" can be dealt with...ok...you know it makes sense! ..Morrag

[Manky Monkey]

Well, been thinking long & hard about the Pop today -don't worry, I'm not selling it or anything like that!
I am really struggling to find the enthusiasm for it though & haven't really touched it for quite a while. It was my day off today & I had a visit at the garage from Mr BayChimp, who I haven't seen since he retired a couple of months ago. We chatted for several hours & I got nothing done on the Pop at all, but I did decide I need to stop beating myself up so much about it. Yes, I want to get it back on the road as soon as I can, but this is a hobby, not a job. It's supposed to be enjoyable & I'm just not enjoying it at the moment.
Realistically, there's no way it's going to the Dutch show in 4 or 5 weeks time & I'm seriously thinking of dropping out of that trip altogether cos it cost me a fortune to take my motorcycle over in a rented van last year & was a lot of hassle to organise. This year's driving season's more or less over & even if the Pop's drivable, I won't want to take it out in the bad weather, when the roads are covered in salt -I'm still scrubbing the rust off the underside from the road grit back in 2013.
So it's in the lock-up now till the Spring. I'm not going to stop working on it & will still push on with getting the engine up & running as soon as I can, but want to sort out the very sad looking underside -I was laying under it this morning & the amount of crusty rust on the chassis rails is truly depressing. This afternoon I unbolted the pick-up bed, ready to lift it off so I can get at the unpainted areas underneath & properly sort it out. Once the engine's running I could actually drive it about without the bed, (drove my twin cam engined Moggy Minor pick-up truck like that for several years). I'd just need a trailer board for lights & number plate.
The garage is in a block overlooked by some maisonettes & this afternoon one of the house holders wandered over with his dog & had a chat. Turned out the first car he ever drove was a Pop, in the same green, which he managed to crash into an Anglia! He said if I can find a long enough extension lead, I can use his electric for the exhaust welding. Probably 100 feet, so I'm not sure if it's feasible, or how much voltage drop there'd be over that distance, but certainly worth a try.
Current state of play then-
Got to re-fit the distributor now I've got the drive gear back from the engineers, re-fit the water temperature gauge, re-fit the secondary fuel tank, (had to take it out to unbolt the pick-up bed), then should be able to run the engine. I'd want to roll it out of the garage for that but at the moment the front end's on axle stands while I wait for the engineers to skim the rusted discs for me.
Started mocking up the new silencer mounts today so hopefully by the time the discs come back I'll be ready to weld them up. That'll give me 2 silencers, one each side under the cab floor. With the bed off, I can sort out the other 2 silencers at the back end & make up new 2" bore pipes to connect the lot together.
Still need to figure out what the 2 red wires are under the dash, but once they're sorted, most of the interior can go back in. When the silencer mounts are done the floors & seats can go back in & it should be drivable.
So not actually that far off moving under it's own steam, but as I said, I'm determined to stop getting stressed out & miserable about it. It'll be done when it's done. 

[Manky Monkey]

Oh yeah, replacement wheel nuts arrived, but the manufacturers have stopped making that style & had just 6 of them left. I needed 8. So I'll scrub up the best of the old ones & use 6 new & 2 old.

[BikerGran]

My trickle charger and garage freezer are working off a 40 metre extension lead, plus I've used power tools as well.

[Olds]

I have a big reel extension lead but doubt it's 100 ft.
Looks to be 25 meters.

[Manky Monkey]

I've got one of those red reels. Had 2 but gave one to Mr Loon cos I didn't think I'd need it. Looked at them in a local tool shop today -50 quid for a decent sized one. Next time I see the guy I'll get him to plug my one in & see how far it reaches.