Manky's Pop.

[Mendalot]

That is a brilliant picture, wouldn't mind a copy for my workshop wall 

[Manky Monkey]

Ooh, arty black n white shot! Cheers Paul. 
That was taken in Battersea Park while we were wondering what was wrong with the lights.
Still don't know. I bought new headlight bulbs yesterday, (3 quid each from Halfords), & put them in today, just to rule them out as the most obvious cause of the problem. The sidelights & headlights share a common earthing point, which is the bolt that holds the headlight lens into the shell. The mounting tabs the bolts pass through were painted, so I scraped the paint off, just to make sure they earthed O.K
Lights all worked fine, but the side lights seem very dim, (they're tiny little "pea bulbs" anyway), & the sidelights stay on when the main lights are on. Not sure if they should or not? I wondered if there was a power crossover happening somewhere to keep the sidelights on, so pulled the switch out of the dash. Literally just undid the locking ring & popped it out of it's hole in the fibreglass dash panel. Now I only have sidelights. No dipped or high beam, but the separate headlight flash switch still works. Wiggled all the wires, checked none had come adrift, checked nothing was amiss under the dash. Nothing obviously wrong. Just not working. There are 2 terminals not in use on the back of the switch, but no sign of a wire hanging loose anywhere, so I guess they've always been that way. I hate electrics.
Unless something has come adrift that I haven't found, I'm assuming it must be the switch itself that's at fault, especially as wiggling it at Battersea temporarily restored the lights.
I really need someone who knows how to use a multi meter to take a look I think. Help!
Failing that, I hope to make it down to the Beaulieu autojumble in the New Forest on Saturday afternoon, so will hunt for a cheap second hand Lucas switch there, (one of the older, more robust ones).

[Manky Monkey]

My van buddy at work, (the Postie who shares my van with me), works as a carpenter in the afternoons. He brought in the 5mm plywood door cards today, cut to my rough cardboard template. Loony's Mum's in charge of upholstering them so she & I spent some time this afternoon offering them up & fine tuning them. They need a little taking off around 3 sides, so I'll get my buddy to trim them, then I have to sort out mounting tabs for them & they can be covered in the "tuck n roll" vinyl we've used on the seats. I'll give them a quick coat of waterproof varnish first though.

[scannerzer]

your sides probably should stay on as front and rear are likely switched together. get a test lamp it's easier to use for basic fault finding and even if you can't quite see it you will know it's lit from the glow where as a meter you won't know anything

this would do the job

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-6V-12V-TESTER-LIGHT-LAMP-VEHICLE-DC-ELECTRICAL-CIRCUIT-TEST-PROBE-6-12-VOLT-/281137706116?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item41751cf484

[morrag]

Andy, if you were anything like local I would sort it for you in a "trice" however, and as you're not, that's not a deal of help! however here's a couple of suggestions that just might help! Firstly, in many ways the misnomer "earth" itself causes confusion, as its your circuits return path, for all your electrics, and may be positive or negative, dependant on the wiring preference of the vehicle, so if in doubt, run, if necessary, a temporary return wire,of reasonable csa back to battery source. If in doubt of the switch reliability, bypass same, again temporarily, with some screw type domestic connectors, 15A strip type, to eliminate from the equation. Now you have a proven return, and no switch probs.Finally, although multimeter's are cheap enough now, make yourself a test lamp. lampholder, pair of leads and a 21w. lamp, this, unlike a multimeter, will "load" the circuits to be tested, with often different results to a meter, so reserve your meter for resistive loads and not continuity testing, old skool auto electrics!! , and in my case I really mean old! give it a.try..........Morrag

[Manky Monkey]

You're talking to someone who has trouble wiring a plug, let alone fault finding. I'm not a mechanic, but if I can see something moving, I can generally figure out how it works. Wiring doesn't move, it just sits there, in it's multi coloured messiness, defying all logic. My brain's not wired to understand it & I go into the default panic mode whenever I have to try & fix stuff. 

[Olds]

I'll try to get over to the workshop tomorrow afternoon with a meter but no promises.

[Manky Monkey]

Bless you gentlemen. 

[fifer]

A cheap , easy to make,  power test lamp / static ignition timing lamp / inspection lamp can be made from a landrover lamp .

https://sites.google.com/site/fifersrelianthintsandtips/ignition-timing-lamp-inspection-lamp

[goforest]

Thanks for the comments on the photo if anyone wants some photos done cars, bike anything really give us a shout I'm sure we'll work something out 
Paul

[Manky Monkey]

I was impressed with your camera too Paul, (already forgotten what make it was). My Nikon wouldn't have a hope of taking shots in near darkness like that. I'd never heard the term "bridge camera" before, then blow me if someone doesn't mention the same phrase on the Rods n Sods forum the next night.
I didn't finish work until half past five this evening, so didn't call into the workshop till nearly 6, but did manage to nip down there in my Post Office van during the morning, to pull the tarpaulin off the Pop in case Mr Newbie made it there. He didn't need me to help diagnose the problem so I was able to leave him to it. Loony tells me his verdict was -the switch is buggered. At least that means it's nothing stoopid that I've done. Power going into it, but only going out to one of the 3 terminals, which is presumably the sidelights as they're working. So I'll have a trawl of Ebay, looking for an older, heavier duty 3 position Lucas toggle switch, (off/on/on if anyone has one), but if not, I'll look at the Beaulieu autojumble this weekend.
In the meantime, the Pop's perfectly driveable, just not during the hours of darkness.
Thanks for your time & your magic multi meter Dave.     

[Manky Monkey]

Looks like I won't have time to get to the Beaulieu jumble this weekend as it finishes at 4.30 on Saturday afternoon & I don't finish work till about 2.
On Sunday Archie & I are going to a local hill climb event. So I've bought another new plastic Lucas switch from Ebay. Should have some more heavy duty switches coming from the States soon, so that'll tide me over till they get here.
I was at the Netley Marsh bike jumble down in the New Forest today & called in at the workshop on my way home. Ended up re-greasing the front king pins, putting the switches back in the dash, even though the lights one doesn't work, refitting the under-dash panelling & replacing & Loctiting the missing bolt in the front indicator, as well as re-routing the indicator earth wires as they've been rubbing on the tyres.

[Manky Monkey]

Having spent a couple of hours yesterday evening by torchlight, refitting the dud switch into the dashboard & putting back the panels under the dash, so I can drive the Pop tomorrow, (couldn't get the bolt holes to line up so spent ages fiddling about with an allen key & a torch), the new switch I ordered yesterday arrived in the post this morning. Bugger -great service from the Ebay seller & those Postie people, but now I've got to pull the dashboard apart again to fit it.
Decided to leave it for now cos I'm going to a local daytime event tomorrow, so hopefully won't need headlights. Instead, I spent my couple of hours after work this afternoon fitting the interior door panels. I used rubber "well nuts" which are a bit like a Rawl Plug. Drill a hole in the door, push the rubber insert in & screw the panel to it. The rubber collar pulls up tight inside the door to hold it all together. As well as giving a secure fixing with minimum effort, they'll rubber mount the plywood panels, so hopefully they won't split or creak through vibration.
Need to weld in a strip of steel sheet along the bottom of the door because the body's channelled slightly over the chassis, so the floor is higher than the bottom of the door. That means the interior door panels need to finish about 4 inches up from the bottom of the door. Also means there's nothing to fix the bottoms of the panels to at the moment, so they're hanging from the top mounts. I bought some exterior varnish to waterproof the plywood with, but ironically, couldn't paint them today cos it rained.
They make the cab seem a little smaller as I tended to drive with my knee resting against the outside skin of the door, but they also smarten it up a bit by hiding some of the door's scruffiness. Should look O.K when they're upholstered to match the seats.
You can also see the properly mounted repro Fordson tractor steering wheel, complete with re-made centre cap, etched with the MMMotors monkey head, courtesy of Mr Newbie.

[Manky Monkey]

A bout of heavy rain put paid to any further work, so once it had passed, I drowned the Pop in WD40 again & spent some time rubbing it into the bare metal with a rag. Mr Loon kindly removed the surface rust & water from the brake discs by blatting up & down the lane in it a few times.
Seems to be running O.K, so I covered it up again, ready for a local vintage car meet tomorrow morning.

[Manky Monkey]

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