Manky Monkey Motors

3 days into the New Year &, despite my best efforts, I've achieved nothing so far.
My truck's under a tarpaulin outside Loony's workshop, rusting away quicker than I can repair it. Very depressing to see all the Summer's work rotting, but literally every time I take the cover off, it immediately rains again. Can't get it inside yet, though hopefully a space will come up in another local workshop in a couple of months. Just need to finish the bodywork welding, scrub the rust off & get some paint on the thing. One way or another, it'll be sorted by the Spring, but that's not much consolation at the moment.
Same kinda story with my motorcycle. Not rusting, but sat in a rented lock-up garage & getting nowhere. Just trying to retouch some paintwork at the moment, but it's too cold & damp for the paint to dry properly. Then there's a bit of engine work & the wiring to do. Not a lot, but by the time I finish work it's already dark & raining almost every bloomin' day. I spend the day trudging round the streets in the rain delivering the Mail & it's tough trying to get up the enthusiasm to put in another shift on a vehicle afterwards, when all you want to do is go home & hibernate.
So- I need a big shot of building enthusiasm to restore my flagging mojo. Anybody out there actually achieving anything, vehicle wise, at the moment? What's your plans for the new season? Finally gonna get that long running project on the road? What's happening out there? Anything?

Im in the same boat pretty much Andy. When i wake up to go to work I'm full of enthusiasm for what il do after work and to be honest when I've done i just can't be bothered or its peeing it down and the bus is outside camping season is fas approaching and hardly anything has changed apart from rebuilding the front suspension.

Nope, I'm not worked on any of mine for quite awhile now. Shoulder injury slowed me down  so have been clearing stuff from the garage mainly . I MUST get on as I want the Econoline finished by Wheelsday ...which is what I said last year :( With your Pop I'd wait for a dryer day and DA the whole thing and roller a coat of tinted Green Ti over it to protect it all and then strip and repair each section properly in the summer while driving it.

I feel your pain chaps -well, maybe not your pain Kev, but I sympathise.
Despite the media trying to convince us otherwise, Britain's never a crisp white Wintery wonderland at Christmas. It's always grey, damp & dismal -a bit like me. Not conducive to outdoor building at all. Less than 12 weeks till the NSRA hotrod swapmeet in Essex, which for me marks the start of the car show season. So much to do, so little time & such lousy weather. At least I'm not alone then  :)
Yes Kev, that's exactly the plan -the green Ti paint & roller are sat in the boot of my commuter car already.

While the Pop and the bike are outside and the weather's dismal, why not give yourself some time off?   Treat yourself to going home after work to get warm and dry and relax, knowing that you can't do anything useful anyway?  Listen to music, watch some telly on your laptop - you could even read a book (do people still do that?)

I always find that if I DECIDE to do nothing, it feels much better than being unable to do anything.

I'm here but I might as well not be !
Nothing getting done. :(  An attack of cervical spondilitis (arthritis in the neck) has left me with a near useless left arm. It should improve given time. So at the moment I am just trying to tidy up the workbench and sort out my tools. It's about time too, as I couldn't actually see the workbench, just the drill and vice sticking up out of the junk. :)

I too am lacking "enthusiasm", my son is trying to inspire me by taking me surfing etc. But I just feel old at this time, so like Olds I'm tidying the workshop, finding things I put in a safe place and lost, moving stuff from one corner to another. I have to face a lot of paperwork soon, my final accounts are nearly due, but I cant be bothered, and its not really that cold outside yet. I'm content to sit down and read a good story, currently in to Bernard Cornwell and his history based books, Agincourt etc. Well must get on, chins up  ;D

know how you feel with the spondilitis,i,ve had it for years now,i just keep taking the pills and pacing myself, i only do little projects now,i do get bored this time of year ,but looking forward to a few steam fairs and camping in the van for a few weekends,and some sun would be a bonus. ;D

I know the weather doesn't help and the misery is compounded when your not feeling too good, I sincerely wish you chaps a speedy recovery, look on the positive, summer is on its way.
 
Ive Just sat down with a cuppa, I have been looking forward to getting back into my workshop, and now Ive had the heaters going for a few hours, there is no better smell than coffee aroma mixed with the smells of a workshop; oil, cutting fluid, exhaust fumes etc ........ just luvverly :D   The only down side at the moment is that, SWMBO has banned me from eating biscuits ....... as my overalls only just do up ::) ::)
Now where did i put that secret biscuit tin :P
 

Rained in Cardiff for weeks now.

As per everyone else, I have been doing odd stuff, but my knees and elbow are feeling the damp. It sucks being old. :'(

Snap, well except it's my right arm  :( 'They' believe it's  rotator cuff injury but 3 weeks of physio has made no difference. Back down today to book in for a steroid injection to see if that will help.

spent 17 hours on mine over christmas break stripping engine putting in new rings and seals. plan very soon to fit new twin seat and get some paint on her  ;D
keep at it sir, every step is a step forward  ;)

weather hasnt been fit to do anything ,, and funds and motivation is very low  need to get a van  so i get all my tools from lincolnshire soon

Shook myself down and spent a few hours on the Midge, Surprising what you can achieve once at the coal face  ;) bit nippy though.

I have spent the last year building a blown Triumph sprint bike from scratch.
The big brother to my avatar.
650 pre unit bottom end. 750 unit top end. Aisin blower. Norton box etc....
I had a hankering to see if I could, so I did ;D.
I have got to the point of fire up. New inlet manifold made last weekend as the previous incarnation was not to standard.
It runs on Methanol with a boost pressure of around 12psi.
I hope to shake it down before taking it to Brighton in September for the Speed Trials (assuming I can get the silencer to work as Brighton has noise regs)
I might attempt to post a couple of piccies over the next few days.
(If you see this Tony you could put a couple up if you have time)

That sounds awesome, would love to see the pictures of this build ;D ;D ;D

Looking forward to seeing it Andy. Great to know somebody's getting stuff done!  ;D

over the past 2-3weeks i've done zilch!!!! got the start of flu now so got no interest to visit garage.
but tomorrow i'm going to re-visit an old friend to try an get her started. a 26yr old nissan micra that i owned for 2yrs. yes i'm crazy.

Plenty of nutters about - I'm seriously thinking about tracking down the Austin Maestro I drove for a few years before it became rather unreliable and I went all Japanese.   I did love that car!

That sounds like a whole summer touring scrap yards BG. ;) :D

I've taken a fair few photo during the build, so have made an executive decision and decided to post them on a new thread

http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=15284.0

That is really coming on nicely.

I have managed to get the old 6.5 diesel out of my chevy truck, cleaned the engine bay and repainted the chassis rails ready for a replacement 5.7 small block........fed up with crappy clattery diesels....a v8 should sound like a v8 not a tractor.

funny thing is i like the 6.5 v8 diesel  but only with home made exhaust manifolds  ;) ;)

Got nothing doing either, bloody weather, getting bored with the rain. What about some snow just for a change. I would like some sunshine but that's probably too much to ask.

Keeping my fingers crossed we don't get snow, although it's forcast for next week. I'm a Postie & it makes my job truly miserable. I think it's a sign of getting old when you don't find it wonderful any more, just a pain in the neck. I've also got a pick-up truck, partly in bare metal, sitting outside under a tarpaulin, that definitely won't benefit from being soaking wet & frozen. Hurry up Summer!