Manky's Pop.

[poprodder]

Saves a fortune in fuel.

yeah,, but what about shoe leather ,,

rm?  lol

[Manky Monkey]

Threw some green at the cab this evening. Far too cold to do it, but I just wanted to get something more weatherproof than primer on it.
I had it mixed at the local paint supply place & put into aerosol cans. Used 4 of them on the cab. I'm sure it'll dry very orange peely & one rear corner has bloomed slightly in the cold, (gone a milky white colour), & I've already spotted one run, but I plan to rub the shine off with fine Scotchbrite pads anyway cos I want a satin finish. I just like that sort of suede look, plus the lack of reflections will help disguise the wobbles! It'll also be much easier to blend in any touch ups as I go.  

[Manky Monkey]

Had a visit from my mate Phil the carpenter too. He's jointed 4 lengths of scaffold board together to make a wooden flatbed for the back. Just an experiment to see what it looks like really, (leant against the wall in these pics). I need to mark the various mounting & access holes before he comes back next week to cut them out.

[poprodder]

yay, some colour!!!! great to see.  

Manky's Pop.

[stinkey]

Those pics bring back memories from my youth,attempting to build hotrods in lockups ? So many failures..

[Manky Monkey]

Ain't easy is it. Fortunately it's mainly nuts n bolts stuff now.

[stinkey]

Well partly down to lack of knowledge /skills..and now lack of health..enthusiasm always high though

[minimutly]

Bet your finger is sore?

[Manky Monkey]

The squirty paint can finger or the rubbing down finger? I really suffer with dry hands in the Winter. The joints of my fingers split open in the cold weather. Common complaint among Posties. So painful -feels like a million paper cuts. So rubbing down paintwork ain't much fun.

[Manky Monkey]

Nipped to the paintshop after work this afternoon & picked up a box of fine grade Scotchbrite pads. I also bought a can of matt lacquer, (they don't do satin lacquer in cans, but can mix it in 2 pack for spray guns). Before I attack the gloss paint with the pads to take the shine off it, I think I'll spray a test piece in green & try the lacquer to see how it looks.
The camera does lie, cos the green ain't nearly as smooth as it looks here. There's a small bump above the screen where we welded in the interior light fitting that needs sorting & a patch above the driver's door that needs sanding again, but otherwise, should be reasonably tidy once it's flatted back.
Once I've finished playing with the cab I'll paint the chassis.

[Manky Monkey]

I haven't touched the doors yet cos they need a lot of trimming & welding.
Trimming to give a uniform gap around the edges, (they've been cut about all over the place in the past), & welding around the window frames -I think the original set-up must've used a flexible U channel for the glass to close into at the top of the door, held by clips of some sort. We tried some before we drove the Pop to Holland in 2013, but it ended up drooping when the windows were open & looked 'orrible. I'm going to try some stainless U channel, welded into the door top. That'll also give it a bit more rigidity.
Pops had bakelite interior window trims, which cracked with age, particularly around the moulded in door pull. I've got some fibreglass copies but again, we didn't have much luck with them before. So I found some 1940s American Ford interior trims on Ebay that look like bakelite but are actually metal. That means I can cut n shut them to suit the chopped doors, then weld 'em in place.
These aren't the original doors from this car. Loony & I chopped them by 3" to match the roof but weren't very happy with the results. So I found these on Ebay, already chopped by 4", which suit the proportions more. They looked great until I stripped some of the filler off & found the chop job was no better than ours.
So lots of remedial work to do on them before they're painted & sign written.

[Manky Monkey]

I'm experimenting with a temporary wooden flatbed for the Summer, just to finish off the back end & add some extra weight, in place of the steel pick-up bed which needs a lot of de-rusting & cleaning up before it goes back on. As Kev pointed out, without the weight of the steel bed, the rear brakes might lock up & spin me into the nearest ditch. One way to find out. I like the look of the open chassis but it's not practical as there's absolutely no luggage space in the cab, (planning a camping trip to France in June). It'll also cover moving parts like the propshaft & 4 bar suspension linkage.
It might work, it might look really tacky. Still unsure, but will fit it up before deciding.
Here it's sitting on the filler neck of the rear fuel tank, so is about 4" higher than it should be, (it'll sit flat on the chassis rails). The back end will be trimmed flush with the end of the chassis so I can mount the number plate across the back.
Still needs the 2" bore stainless exhausts running along the sides of the chassis too.

[Manky Monkey]

Although I think it looks better without it, I need to fit the cylindrical fuel tank behind the cab. It holds about 8 gallons, while the reserve tank at the back holds 4 & a bit. It's sat up on it's mounting studs here, but by the time it's bolted down & the wood's bolted to the chassis, the filler cap should be level with the bottom of the rear window.

[Manky Monkey]

I've got to mark a bunch of holes in the wood this week, then my mate Phil the carpenter will come back next week to cut them out. He's an ex Postie.
Need a circular hole at the back for the rear filler neck to poke through, a square removable hatch for access to the battery, 4 bolt holes for the fuel tank & one for the fuel pipe, plus 4 down either side for the mounting bolts. I've got some stainless ring bolts, which will give me somewhere to hook the stretchy cargo net onto for carrying stuff.
If this works, I'll experiment with wood stains later. Something a bit darker than antique pine but not too dark. The doors will be sign written with cream & black lettering, so something fairly light. Or black? Or green? -this colour's very similar to the English Heritage paint range, as seen on many country cottage front doors.

[Manky Monkey]

Another Phil. Another Postie. This one rents the garage opposite mine for his Bonneville & Harley -sadly, a new Hinkley Bonny & an ex Army Harley trail bike. Here he is showing where the rear lights will mount, off the side of the wooden bed. The mudguards are black coated aluminium cycle style ones to match the front & mount to the axle tubes.
The boards have "cupped" a bit when cut, so if they don't pull down flat when they're bolted to the chassis, I'll get Phil number one to add some wooden battens underneath to straighten them out.
It might work. Not sure yet.