Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Have you got any rubber hose that's marked as brake fluid resistant Toady? (need to replace the hoses from the master cylinder to the reservoir).
The extra stainless bends for the second set of exhaust headers finally arrived from OJZ Engineering today -not a problem with them, but with the courier they used. Delivered to the wrong address last week & to another wrong address yesterday. So now we can try & duplicate the first set of pipes.
Another delivery today. Chris at Pop Browns sent a pair of cork rocker cover gaskets, a new fuel pick-up for the Reliant petrol tank & a push button brake light switch. As we're registering the Pop as a commercial vehicle we have to have a brake fluid low level warning light & a means of testing both the fluid level & the warning light. The reservoir's got a test button built into the cap which pushes a float down into the fluid. A button connected to the handbrake lever will test the warning light.   

[Manky Monkey]

And yet another delivery. A set of 4 stainless steel bonnet pulls, (they attach to the catches that hold the bonnet shut). 15 quid the set from Ebay -half the price of chrome plated ones elsewhere.

[Manky Monkey]

Remember me spending a couple of days cutting, bending & welding a length of box section to make a brace across the cab roof?
Didn't like it. So today I chopped it back out & bent up a piece of 1 3/8" O.D ERW, (the tubing I build my trike frames from), to replace it. As I needed a sweeping bend, rather than one sharp one, I marked the tube every 2 inches from the centre point & worked along it, bending a little at every mark.   

[Manky Monkey]

Cut to length & tapped into place between the box section uprights that carry the seatbelt mounts.
Once it's welded in, we'll run a couple of tubes forward to the top of the windscreen & down to tie up with the box section uprights in front of the doors. Not intended as a proper rollcage, but to stiffen the body up & attach it to the chassis.

[brock]

   Smart bit of tube bending. Re the bonnet pulls , what's wrong with good old B&Q drawer pulls ? every shape , material and finish known to man and cheap

[poprodder]

   Smart bit of tube bending. Re the bonnet pulls , what's wrong with good old B&Q drawer pulls ? every shape , material and finish known to man and cheap

cause they have to be ...kin strong!!! them springs on the catches don't half take some pulling!!!   

good work andy.

[Manky Monkey]

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon angle grinding out various chunks of unwanted webbing & flanges inside the cab, around the door openings. That's cleared the way to run the cage tubes above the doors, down towards the windscreen. I also cut out the interior panel above the screen. I like the shape of this, so will probably trim it down & re-fit it once the framework's in.

[Manky Monkey]

Another parcel in the post -my Postman must be getting fed up with me. Another bonnet. Fortunately I had it delivered to Taz's stable yard, rather than our cottage, so the Postie didn't have to try & shove it through the letterbox.
Pop bonnets come in 2 halves, hinged along the centre line, so that the sides fold up. Because of our extended wheelbase, we need to "stretch" the original bonnet by a couple of inches. The easiest way is to find a second bonnet as a donor & make one longer one from the two. This one cost me 45 quid from Julian at Pop Parts Plus. Luckily, Pop spares are still quite plentiful, so we don't feel too guilty about cutting this one up -good job really, as we've already butchered the rest of our classic car.
Propping the new bonnet in place confirmed what we'd thought -the two halves foul on the headlights when opened. We've already planned for that though. We'll add a second hinge to each side, between the grille panels & the top sections, so each bonnet side is double hinged, like an old fashioned piano lid. 
I've already decided on black paint with full colour website logos on the doors, but must admit I quite like it in grey primer. I've got a pair of the logo graphics in black outline form ...hmm.
Can anyone remember where I put the stainless steel hinge strip I bought from Pop Browns last year? It slides along the rolled centre joint of the bonnet halves to form a hinge. Put it somewhere safe & now I can't find it.

[Manky Monkey]

Not snowing here in darkest Hampshire yet, but bloomin' cold this afternoon. I finished work at 2.30pm & by the time I'd got to the workshop & faffed about, deciding what I was going to do, it was already getting dark & the temperature was dropping sharply. So I made a start on bending the tubes that will run from the loop inside the back of the cab, down to the front windscreen pillars. Propped in place to show you what I mean, they need a bit more work yet.

[Manky Monkey]

Bugger. Spoke too soon. Heavy snow here today.
So I left the workshop early to make sure I got back to Surrey before the roads got too chaotic. Loony's been busy with customer's cars for the last couple of weeks, but was free to lend a hand with the Pop today. While I trimmed the second roof tube to shape, he attacked the windscreen pillars with an air chisel & angle grinder. The original door openings have all but rotted away, so a previous owner's simply welded fresh steel over the top. We don't want the bodyshell rusting away from the inside out, so Mr Lunatic cut away the decaying metal, then welded in new steel plate where necessary.
With that done, we could tack the first roof tube in place. I was worried we'd deform the door opening & the door wouldn't fit, but Mr L will rework the outer skin to suit around the new framework if necessary.
Over the Christmas/New Year break we hope to get a lot of the bodywork sorted. 

[Mr_G]

Making good progress, nice one

[Manky Monkey]

Heavy snow & icey roads meant no workshopping for the last couple of days. So no progress to report, but Loony's glued the other roof bar in place & while we were on a roll we cut the brace that will run above the windscreen & tacked it in too. Once these are fully welded, we'll trim down the interior panel that originally sat above the screen & re-fit it.

[Manky Monkey]

Been having internet connection problems recently, so apologies for the lack of updates.
I trimmed the "eyebrow" panel above the windscreen down to about a third it's original depth & tacked it in place. Today Loony fully welded it, (he's far better at glueing thin sheet together than me. I'm more of a heavy duty welding type). The panel's more than just a trim piece. It helps to brace the screen area against the roofline, stiffening the front of the body. We've welded it to the new "rollcage" tube.
We have a plan for the interior upholstery, although, like everything else on this build, it's open to change before, during & after construction. We'll leave the cage on show, painted black, & hang upholstered panels from it. The camera flash makes the bodywork look a lot rustier than it actually is!

[Manky Monkey]

We've welded tubes in across the roof & box section from the dash down to the floor. but the bit in between, around the top door hinge mount, needed beefing up. So I cut & folded a pair of 4mm bridging plates, to join the tubes to the box. Again, Mr L welded them in place today after I'd slapped a generous dollop of Jenolite rust treatment into the cavity.

[Manky Monkey]

Not a very detailed snapshot cos it's already getting dark by the time I finish work & get over to Loony's workshop.
In our continuing bid to build the heaviest hotrod in history, we've taken out the lightweight pressed steel box section that stiffened the rear cab panel & replaced it with more heavy gauge ERW tubing. It loops around the back of the cab, just under the rear window, & is welded to the back of the box section uprights that hold the seatbelt mounts. We plan to form a pseudo roll-cage around the back of the seats -2 horizontal rails with uprights either side of the window curving up to meet the roof spar. The bottom tube will be notched to sit onto the chassis with mounting tabs at either end. The heater will be hung from the cage, between the seats. Most of this framework will be left on show, painted black, with upholstered panels hung in the larger spaces between the tubes -sort of part race inspired, part hotrod.