Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Didn't have enough steel sheet knocking about to remake it in one piece though, so we'll do it in 2 halves.
After a couple of hours of measuring, re-measuring, marking out & eventually cutting, (slow, but methodical, that's me), I had one side cut to shape.
I've made the new panel slightly deeper, so that it extends right up to the top lip of the engine bay. That means it's deep enough to clear the brake servo, hanging under the centre of the dashboard, but it still wasn't deep enough to sink the box in flush, cos it fouls on the framework behind the dash.

[Manky Monkey]

So with the panel still on the workbench, I cut & folded a raised lip to bridge the gap between the top edge of the box & the flat bulkhead panel.
Once Mr Lunatic had tacked it in place, it looks like this.

[Manky Monkey]

Tomorrow I'll continue the lip down either side of the box. Then Loony can weld it all up properly & we can add a couple of mounting bolts for the retaining strap, before we weld the panel into the bulkhead. The other side should be quicker to do.
Yeah, it's a lot of faffing about, but I'm much happier with it now.

[Manky Monkey]

No workshopping for me today -t'missus has hurt her shoulder so I'm on nursing duty. Bugger. I was on a roll with the bulkhead too.
Caring & sympathetic, that's me. 

[Clive]

Spoke to Jimmy today Andy, and he reckons if you go up to 190's that'll do you!

They start at £19.90 each!!

[Manky Monkey]

That's great. Thanks Clive. I'll go see him next week.

[poprodder]

mucking out are you today andy!!!!  lol

[Manky Monkey]

  Nah. Tanya's off work with severe shoulder pain, (some kind of muscle problem I think). The doctors have put her on very strong painkillers which mean she can't drive. Fortunately I'm on holiday this week, so I'm chauffeuring her about. To complicate matters, her boss is very, very unwell & in & out of hospital, so she needs to be on hand -which means I can't go anywhere. We live in a house that goes with her job, so the least she can do is be there when she's needed, even though she's officially off sick. Sometimes there's more important things than motors -apparently.
Looks like no more workshop time for me this week.  

[kapri]

Re the tickover etc, I only set it to get it running, fitting the exhaust system will change its requirements and I need to set it up finally with vacuum gauge and dial back timing light . The 10.5 Rover light up the tyres on 10 btdc but need 100 octane (5 star ) to work like that .It's choice of BP Ultimate etc with extra costs or running slightly less timing .
Once you have the exhaust and blanking plates etc fitted I'll come back and fine tune if you want..

[Manky Monkey]

Much appreciated kev. Still waiting for a friend of a friend to machine up the exhaust blanking caps. Apparently he made one, then the second slipped in his lathe, so he needs to find more material to re-make it. I'll order up the tube for the tail pipes this week if I can afford it.
We'd hoped to see you at the Basingstoke show at the weekend, so you could have a listen to it running through the silencers, (I even took my welding gloves along to slap over the open header pipes). It's not as quiet as I'd expected, but we've still got 4 feet of tail pipe to add yet, plus we don't really know just how quiet it has to be. You could also have seen it run around the show field. Always value the opinions of experienced rodders.
I'd planned to have the rest of the bulkhead finished by the weekend, but looks like I'll be spending the rest of my week's holiday mowing the lawn & pottering around the house. Pleasant, but frustrating cos I just wanna push on & get this done.

[Manky Monkey]

Got an afternoon off from Taz minding duty today so trundled back to the workshop to carry on with the expansion tank mount.
I cut & shaped a pair of fill in pieces for the raised tank surround & Mr Lunatic tacked them in place. They need fully welding & dressing to shape, but you get the idea.

[Manky Monkey]

Loony had to leave early so I continued on into the early evening on my own. Must admit I quite enjoy just pottering about in the workshop. It's quite rural, looking out over open farmland, with a family of red kites who regularly hunt over the fields & deer passing by along the hedgerows. A nice way to spend a few hours.
Between bouts of wildlife watching, I cut & bent a stainless steel retaining strap for the tank & backed it with a strip of rubber. It's held with a couple of bolts which'll be welded to the back of the panel. I detailed it a bit with a row of hotrod holes. The brass tank & the bulkhead it attaches to will eventually both be painted black.

[Manky Monkey]

A couple of hours on my own in the workshop again this afternoon, so I made up the other side of the bulkhead.
Loony & I discussed the 2 gauges we'd set into the previous bulkhead & decided not to re-fit them this time around. Very divided opinions on them. Some thought they looked cool, others just couldn't see the point, (they were a vintage hotrod idea for serious racers). We thought they'd be very useful for setting the motor up, but in practice we didn't really use them & they weren't particularly accurate. I didn't want any extra gauges on the dashboard & we've already got an oil warning light, so we've binned them.
Which means I now need to blank off the engine sender unit holes before we can run the motor again. Also means the bulkhead's blank on the driver's side. I'm not a fan of the super smooth Streetrod look myself, but there's no point cluttering things up just for the sake of it, so smooth it is.
I wondered whether it looks a bit boxy & angular, but hey, it's a bulkhead! With the bonnet on it won't be visible anyway.

[Manky Monkey]

On the scuttle above the bulkhead is a hinged air intake, plumbed into the windscreen de-mister vents. It's one of the original side vents that ducted cool air into the footwells, which we blanked off when we put in the framework under the dash. It's now operated by a knob on the dashboard.
The vent stands proud of the bulkhead so needed boxing in. I toyed with several different cardboard mock ups today in different lengths & shapes, but eventually plumped for a simple tapered box, curving slightly around the edges of the vent then dropping the full length of the bulkhead. That'll hide the joint between the 2 halves, (we didn't have enough spare sheet steel to make it in one piece), & runs at roughly the same angle as the expansion tank. When we fit the bonnet, we'll cut it around this vent. Couldn't decide how to work around the heater hoses & gearbox dipstick, so I've just notched around them for now.
I won't be at the 'shop tomorrow, so left everything taped in place, for my co-builder's inspection. If he likes it, it can be welded up.

[Manky Monkey]

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