Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Box drilled & studs bolted in -& yes, I've drilled an 8mm drainage hole in each corner too. 

[Manky Monkey]

I'd planned to use wing nuts to hold the strap down, so I wouldn't need a spanner to remove the battery, but there's not enough room for them. As the box won't have a lid on it, Loony suggested making a pair of T handled nuts instead.
Can anyone knock me up a couple of lengths of mild steel threaded tube -say 12mm diameter by 60mm long, drilled & tapped the full length to M8?

[gazzagood]

i can get ya some connectors from work on Thursday and post um to ya if that's any good to ya  (sir) but they only 50mm long with m8 hole threaded all the way thought about 12mm hexagon 

gaz

[Manky Monkey]

Yes please Gazz, that'd probably do the job. They need to be mild steel so I can weld a rod across the top to make a T handle.
Thanks mate. Let me know how much I owe you please.

[gazzagood]

no problem mate ill get um posted to ya thurs/fri may be galv but if you weld it as ya know keep ya nose and mouth shut

gaz

[Manky Monkey]

Thank you Sir. 

[Manky Monkey]

Back at t'workshop, Loony's made a start on the side panels for the pick-up bed. If you haven't been following the plot so far, rather than just making a straight sided square box, we're using VW camper van repair panels to give it a bit more shape. Here you can see Loony's folded up some lengths of flat sheet to form horizontal struts between the frame uprights. These will give him something to tack the panels to if needed.

[Manky Monkey]

The V Dub panels flare out over the wheel arch then curve under at the bottom. We're using lightweight cycle type mudguards over the tyres, so the arches only have to step over the axle, not cover the wheels. After a bit of trial fitting, we decided the arch opening looked best cut to the same width as the tyres. So we sliced up the repair panels then Mr L cut & shut the arches to suit. Rather than just butt welding the cut edges together, he used a joddler to produce a step in the edge of one panel so that it slips under the other to create a flush joint. The overlapping edge was then drilled & plug welded, being careful to keep the heat to a minimum so as not to distort the thin sheet metal. Eventually the joint will be seam welded & with a light skim of filler, should be invisible. 

[Manky Monkey]

The double curves of the lip of the arch couldn't be "joddled" with Loony's hand held tool, so had to be butt welded, but being shaped, they were much less prone to disortion than the flat areas of the panel.

[Manky Monkey]

From the side, the arches won't really show, but once you step to one side or the other you can see though them to the shocks & 4 bar suspension linkages underneath. That'll hopefully hint at something a little clever under the 1950s truck body.   

[Manky Monkey]

A rare sunny day today, so time to shove the Pop out of the workshop & have a look at our progress.
The seemingly endless damp weather has added a film of surface rust to even the most recently made parts. Hopefuly it'll just buff off, but does make the truck look a bit scruffy.

[Manky Monkey]

We're happy with the look of it so far.

[NeilG]

Oooh,looking purty 

[Manky Monkey]

Only from one side Neil! Walk around the other side & it looks like a film set, mocked up for the camera.

[Manky Monkey]

You can see how far the side panels will extend below the chassis. That'll hide the fuel tank & battery box as well as the chassis rails. We've talked of extending the fronts down to meet the bottom of the cab. That would also hide the bottom 4 bar rods. On the other hand, keeping the bottom edge higher might balance out the front end panels when they go on. The bonnet sides will follow the sweep of that curve in the door panels. Not sure yet.