Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

  They've been there the whole time -I've just taken the paint off them!
After the registration process, when we've got more time, I'm very tempted to bare metal the whole thing just for this Summer. We've spent so long welding & grinding everything, it'd be nice to show there's no body filler in it. Loony's also keen to have a go at lead filling. We'll see.
Another short day. Loon was working on a VW camper van alongside the truck, which limits how many sparks I can throw about. So I took the passenger door off & trimmed the last of the fill-in pieces around the front edge of the door opening.
Originally the hinges were fixed to the body with 3 large screws but at some point they've been welded directly to the bodyshell. So after re-inforcing them a bit we're plating over the screw mounts. I need Mr Loon to tack weld everything in place now so I can check the door still shuts flush with the body.
You can see the snow on the VW Golf outside the 'shop door.

[Manky Monkey]

With the light fading & the threat of more snow, I was determined to wire wheel off the paint on the passenger door. So I set up a "Workmate" bench outside & fired up the angle grinder. Took bloomin' ages, but I got it done. Just in time -as I finished, I looked up from the bench through the pink haze of my safety glasses, to find it was snowing quite heavily & the electrical lead I was using was soaking wet. Safety first kids.
A few small rust holes in the same places to patch, but this door's no where near as bad as the other one -did they just fill it anyway while they had the tin open?

[Manky Monkey]

Pinched from the Pop Shop's site!

[spanners]

Pinched from the Pop Shop's site!

next project  body,chassis and engine etc for sale on R n,S 

[poprodder]

more good progress,
i'm guessing the doors were filled to level up with surrounding bodywork of pop they were fitted to.

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, that's what we wondered. I can understand the window frame being filled to hide the joint where it's been chopped, but the filler could've ended at the swage line. The doors stood proud of the body when they were fitted to our Pop, but nothing's symetrical from one side of the vehicle to the other & I doubt any 2 cars off the production line were the same.

[panthershaun]

Pinched from the Pop Shop's site!

that would make a cool Gasser, I wonder if we could get RM to sponser us??

[Manky Monkey]

 

[cunningplan]

to late with the Postman Pat van 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8IT69AP7Uo4

[Manky Monkey]

 
Passenger door finished -well, all tacked together for now anyway. Good enough for MOT testing, then we can seam weld it later.
Before I make a start on the driver's door, we've decided to fix the roof. Pops left the factory with a vinyl insert in the middle of the roof, due to steel shortages after the war. When I bought the car it had a flat steel panel welded in & covered in body filler. We replaced that with part of a Rover P6 roof, which had the same double curvitaure as the Pop.
Loony tack welded most of it in place, but a mate had a go at the other side. Too much heat & working too slowly meant the panel distorted & sank inwards. We'll sort it out now, before the windscreen goes in.
No photos today, but I've cut through the roof weld & ground back the inside face, ready for Loony to tack it in it's proper position tomorrow.

[Cabman77]

That`s what happens when structural engineers weld thin steel tissue paper 

[Manky Monkey]

  I wouldn't be able to weld it -my welding experience is all with thick walled tubing for trike frames so I'm not really criticising. I'm leaving all the bodywork for Loon to do cos it's what he does all day long. We've got a deadline & now ain't the time for me to start experimenting with it.
Won't take much to put right but needs doing now before we put the glass in, or we'll have to take it back out again to weld it later.
There's also a couple of 1/2" deep creases on either side of the roof above the doors, (you can see one here just behind the dab of green paint on the front corner). They're factory joints between panels & were filled with lead. The roof's double skinned at those points so we can't just knock them out from underneath. So we're borrowing a blowlamp to melt the lead out cos we can't weld to it, then I'll cut some bridging pieces from sheet steel to repair them.

[Manky Monkey]

Passenger door all finished, (well, all tack welded, which is good enough for now), & opening & closing. Still having to slam it to shut it fully at the moment, but we'll continue fettling things until it's right.
You can see the roof joints again here.

[Manky Monkey]

Loony & Big Darren went off to collect some parts from the local powder-coaters this afternoon, so no time to weld the roof. So I made a start on re-fitting the passenger floor. Can't fit the under-dash panels cos we still need to bleed the brakes & the servo's under the dash.
The floors are just blown over with a coat of satin black for now, which will soon get scuffed off once we start driving it, but they'll be carpetted eventually. They're undersealed underneath.

[Manky Monkey]

I spent over an hour trying to fit the 4 nuts & bolts that hold the fusebox to the floor. No idea how we managed it before, cos the exhaust's in the way. Eventually managed to get 3 nuts on. I very rarely swear -people don't normally wind me up enough to curse, but inanimate objects do it every time. After scrabbling around under the truck in the freezing cold & F'ing & blinding quietly, I'd had enough for one day -grrr!
Once I'd got home & warmed up a bit, I realised I could pull the floor panel out again tomorrow & get Loon to weld some captive nuts under it. Sorted.
Plastic fusebox cover in place.