Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Thanks to Mr Olds for another afternoon spent poking at the wiring loom -are we making progress? I still don't know.
While he was doing that, I kept out of the way & painted the back end of the chassis with Fertan rust killer. Bizarrely, it goes on looking like old engine oil, then turns the metal jet black. Looks very clean & tidy in photos, but not quite so smooth in real life. It's also done a great job of staining my hands black. Once it's had a couple of days to do it's thing, I'll give it a quick sand then bung on a thick coat of red oxide.

While Dave was electricking, 2 local kids appeared on their bikes -Corr, is that a drag car?
No, no it's not, but I'm impressed you know what that is. Maybe there's hope for the younger generation after all.

Drove back to Salisbury this afternoon & collected the exhausts. Do they fit? I'll find out tomorrow.

[Olds]

Definitely making progress on the electrickery. The wipers now work as they should. I thought that when installing the Yank switches I had messed up somewhere and spent ages trying to work out where. Turned out to be just a bad connection in a multiplug at the fuse box.
A couple of idiot lights aren't working and the headlights are dim but I think that's just earthing problems.

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah -what he said.

[Tony oily bike]

Definitely making progress on the electrickery. The wipers now work as they should. I thought that when installing the Yank switches I had messed up somewhere and spent ages trying to work out where. Turned out to be just a bad connection in a multiplug at the fuse box.
A couple of idiot lights aren't working and the headlights are dim but I think that's just earthing problems.

"Master magician, let me serve thee. Tell me the secret of this new magic. Teach me thy..... Electrickery, that I may do it"

Go to 2mins 16 secs     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QIjXo_5QJE   

[Manky Monkey]

  When I lived with Tazet, we lived in the village of West Clandon in Surrey. The first series of Catweazle was filmed in East Clandon.
In the 60s it's star, Geoffrey Bayldon, was considered for the lead role in a new series called Doctor Who. He turned it down because he thought it wouldn't do his career any good. A young John Pertwee was turned down for Catweazle, but later went on to play the very similar character of Worzel Gummidge -& Doctor Who. 

[Manky Monkey]

An exhausting day today-
The rear silencers have been tweaked, with the front pipes that hook up to the rest of the system pulled in to clear the chassis. Although they look like they clear easily here, they don't quite. Ideally they'd have been narrowed by 2", but the Zorst Man said 1 1/4" was the most he could do without creating a very sharp bend. Hopefully he can work around that when he makes up the next section, (I'll drive the Pop over to him once it's roadworthy & he can make up the linking pipe in situ).
I've got the pipes, but now the battery box they bolt to is away at the powder-coaters.

[Manky Monkey]

Triangular "fallangies" welded to the front silencers. These replace the mild steel tractor silencers under the cab floor, which were heavily rusted after just a month or so of driving the Pop on gritted Winter roads. The tractor mufflers were 2" bore at one end & 1 1/2" at the other, so the old system stepped down by 1/4 of it's diameter between the front & rear silencers. The new stainless set-up is 2" all the way through.

[Manky Monkey]

The linking pipe will have a "Z" in it to follow the chassis, up through the back of the bodywork & along the outside of the chassis, then tuck under the rails to hook up to the rear silencers.

[Manky Monkey]

Absolutely nothing's symmetrical from one side of this thing to the other. It wasn't when it left the factory & it certainly hasn't got any better while I've been building it. The left bank of the V8's cylinders is slightly further forward than the right & the new pipe clears everything underneath O.K, but the right side fouls on the head of the radius arm mounting bolt. The right pipe also sat tight up against the underside of the chassis outriggers. Easiest solution was to put a relief cut in the front of the pipe to bring it down a little lower. It'll still need a recess to clear the bolt though, but I've got a big ball peen hammer that should fix that.
Spent the last of the daylight hours making a pair of stainless brackets to hang the back end of the cab silencers from the chassis outriggers. Without an electricity supply, the easiest way to get them sorted is to nip back over to Torque Technique in Salisbury again after work tomorrow.

[Manky Monkey]

Nothing new to show, but pipes collected from Salisbury & rehung. I modified the righthand pipe with a big hammer so it clears the suspension bolt, then spent ages cleaning up the resultant recess with wet n dry. Reasonably presentable now. Just need to make up the mounting tabs on the chassis.
Mr Olds dropped by again this morning to continue his investigations into the wiring. We're now down to the high beam warning light & ignition warning light not working & the trailer board needing wiring in, (the rear lights are on the pick-up bed which is off the truck for the time being, so I'll hang a trailer board across the back of the chassis until it's fixed up).
The high beam light may well be down to me changing the original metal bulb holder for a plastic one -if it Earthed through the holder, it won't any more. As a general rule, anything I've changed should be the first port of call. Has Manky touched it? Yes. Check that first.
Been thinking about trying to get this on the road for the Boxing Day classic meet in Romsey & decided that although it should be ready in time, the roads will be gritted by then & as I'm currently fighting the rust created by the last time it was driven there, it might not be wise. I'll carry on with the build at the current rate & MOT it as soon as it's ready, but probably leave it tucked up in the garage until the Spring now. Time I stopped setting myself deadlines cos it just depresses me more when I miss them. It'll be done for the Spring.

[mrhutch]

Time I stopped setting myself deadlines cos it just depresses me more when I miss them.

Sir, this:

It'll be done for the Spring.

is a deadline..

Stop it.

Love it.

Drive it.

Report back to teacher.

[Manky Monkey]

  O.K then.
It feels like I'm getting nowhere with this but a mate, who I haven't seen for a while, dropped by to see me yesterday. His first words were, Wow, that's come on a long way. When you're looking at it every day it's harder to see the changes.
Now the clocks have changed, I'm only getting an hour or 2 of daylight after work. If I need to ferry parts around or buy anything for it, it means either doing that or working on it, not both.
So not much achieved in the last few days, but this afternoon I managed to make up a couple of brackets to hold the back end of the stainless silencers under the cab floor. One side done, the other still to do. This is the last welding job to do. I've bought a 2nd extension reel, after giving my spare one to Loony when I left his workshop, so next time I see the neighbour who offered the use of his electricity, I'll roll them out & see if they reach from his place to the garage.
These chassis rails have been treated with a rust killer which turns them white & has a salty smell to it. The German made Fertan treatment I painted on the back of the chassis seems to have done a better job, so I'll re-do these.
Progressing gradually.

[Manky Monkey]

My day off today, so nipped over to the powder coaters to collect the battery box & rear mudguard struts.
I've got no phone at the moment, so couldn't ring to check they were ready, but they're usually very prompt & get parts done within a week. An hour sat in a traffic queue in Newbury, (the traffic chaos there is legendary, but they've made it worse recently by digging up half the ring road). Reached the coaters' workshop to find their huge shotblasting area out of commission with a buggered extraction motor & a big backlog of work. So a morning gone with no progress at all. I seem to spend half my life ferrying parts about from one place to another.
Time for lunch then off to the lock-up to do a bit.

[Manky Monkey]

Fired the generator up, (a new sparkplug seems to have cured it's reluctance to start), & cut the 2nd pair of exhaust brackets out. Also removed all the brake pipe & wiring clips from the rear of the chassis & modified a couple of brackets, so I can continue rust killing & painting it. Marked a couple of holes that need welding up when I'm welding the exhaust brackets in place too.
Then Mr BayChimp arrived & stopped me working again  Interrupted my singing along to the radio & made me jump out of my skin too. Always nice to see him, but by the time we'd finished chatting it was dark & starting to get damp, so time to wheel the pop back into the garage for the night.
Going to nip over to Gaz Shocks in Essex, I think, & buy a replacement pair of dampers for the back end as they've rusted quite badly & seized up, so might do that early next week. I've got the next 2 weeks off work, so hope to get all the mucky jobs done -chassis cleaning, welding, filler sanding etc, & be very close to MOTing it.

[Manky Monkey]

Bumped into the guy who offered the use of his electricity at the garage this morning, so took him up on the offer & got the exhaust brackets welded on. Not the prettiest welds I've ever done, but I was working outside in the wind & light rain & there was a film of rust on the reel of welding wire, so I had to spool off about 6 feet of it before I could start, & it didn't like welding to the rust killer treated steel. They'll do.
I liberated some empty boxes from the back of the Co-Op shop which backs onto the garage area & made myself a cardboard cocoon, to try & protect the upholstery, paint & glass from welding sparks. I think I got away with it.
Just as I finished, the landlord of the pub which also backs onto the garages came to see what I was doing. All his staff & most of the customers have come for a look over the past few weeks. Don't like too many people knowing it's there, but can't really avoid it when they can see the Pop from the pub. At least they seem friendly & genuinely curious about the truck, not eyeing up the contents of the garage. The landlord said You should've said -you can run an extension lead from the back of the pub whenever you need it. Now he tells me.
I was tempted to say something about his dog, a yappy little Pug, which insists on weeing against the lamp post outside my garage, but thought I'd better not in case I do need the electricity. Whenever it rains or it's hot weather, all I can smell is dog wee. Is there anything I can spray on the lamp post to deter him? Hooking the post up to the mains has crossed my mind, but don't want to upset the locals & I might turn up the next day to find I've electrocuted some bloke from the pub.