Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Like these brass ones? Yeah, Mr Olds sent me an Ebay link to them this morning, but I'm not sure I've got enough room for one, plus the 2 spigots are slightly offset. Think I'll have to go with the more flexible silicone one & maybe rub it over with wet n dry to knock the shine off it a bit.

[the coppersmith]

Rimmers have them in stock, I will need the same soon:  http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-GRID800039

[the coppersmith]

Land Rover dealer near you

[Manky Monkey]

Aha! Thanks matey. That's the very thing. Now if Rimmer Brothers had answered their phone yesterday they could've saved me an afternoon of running about. I'll order one right now.  

[phunkie hiboy]

Keith Gotts in Alton, they'll have one.

[Manky Monkey]

Now you tell me.  Ordered from Rimmers so might even arrive this morning, thanks. One of those little jobs that was bodged when we first got on the road & always leaked -should've just shopped around & found the right part to start with.

[BikerGran]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.........


And if you'd known then what you know now - only you didn't.


 

[Manky Monkey]

Aye. Well, the hose arrived from Rimmers, bright & early this morning, via the miracle that is Royal Mail, (damn, those guys are good!  ).
Unfortunately, It's far too long, offset too much in the middle & the same diameter at both ends. Apart from that, it's perfect! Of course, I'd forgotten my engine doesn't have a standard Rover inlet manifold. I think it's a Buick one, though nobody seems quite sure. So the hose is a perfect fit on the Rover water pump, but nowhere near at the manifold end. Poo.
So if you still need one Mr Coppersmith, I've got one here. So it's back to Plan B. I've ordered a silicone one from Ebay.

[Manky Monkey]

Another day & another visit from Mr Olds this afternoon to tackle the wiring problems behind the dash. I don't pretend to understand electrics at all, so I'm leaving him to it & trying not to ask too many stoopid questions. Since Terry originally wired it, all in one colour with coloured tags at the ends of the wires, a lot of stuff has been altered, tags have been lost, new components have been spliced into the original loom & everything's got a bit confusing.
As far as I can make out, we're now missing power to the wipers & washers & have very dim lights. There aren't any rear lights fitted at the moment, which isn't helping, but Olds plans to take a fresh live feed from the fusebox & start again with the bank of switches. He connected a temporary feed to the wiper switch today & Voila, we had wipers -nice to see them moving again. So at least we know the switch works. The new horn I bought from Ebay arrived this morning & as soon as I bolted it on, worked fine, so that's one small problem solved.
While Dave was wrestling with the wiring in the cab, I jacked up the front end & re-fitted the brake discs, skimmed by Doug the engineer, (a member of the Guzzlers car club & owner of a rather nice big block engined Ford Zephyr). I replaced the rusty bolts in the caliper mounts & mudguard brackets & brush painted a few tatty parts while it was apart.
Today's step backward -before Dave arrived, the front end slipped off the trolley jack, (thankfully before I'd removed the wheel), & the jack put a nasty ding in the underside of the aluminium radiator. Bugger. Doesn't appear to have split it & there's no water leaking from it, so hopefully it's O.K, but I worked some waterproof Chemical Metal around it just in case. Must be more careful in future.

[spanners]

Sticking a higher pressure spring in will fix the low reading. Main concern with a Rover is enough volume. Did you check any oil pump clearances when you changed it over ? Being steel gears in an ali case the cases are prone to wear from the off . Bottom plate that holds all the guts in also needs to be unscored to make the most of things. They are essentially all the same front end as the Buick odd/ even fire v6 but not interchangeble. You ca get replacement gears but if the wear is in the case only way round it is a new / better front cover.

Otherwise stick ONE and ONE only ( trust me !!!) Wynns or STP oil treacle, sorry treatment  in problem fixed.

some oil pump bits here ,,spare gears,,, casing ,, etc,,

[MIXA]

I have been waiting a long time for this so happy for you that she is coming together now just minor niggles now and sounds great

[Manky Monkey]

You & me both matey!
Waiting for the Post to arrive to see if the water hose is here but still struggling with the enthusiasm a bit, especially now the weather's starting to turn chilly, (I have to roll the Pop outside the garage to have room to work on it), but getting there.
I still need to make up & weld the silencer mounts under the cab, which I hope to get done in 2 weeks time -it involves running an extension lead from a neighbouring house to the garage area, so I need to have all the parts ready to go in one afternoon. That's the last major job, but there's an awful lot of rust to combat, the doors need sorting out so they actually close & latch, some bodywork to smooth out, that kind of thing.
I'm on holiday for 3 weeks, (got 2 weeks left), but can't do anything next week cos the garage area's being re-surfaced. I'm sort of aiming to have it roadworthy for Boxing Day. I've got another 2 weeks holiday in November, by which time it ought to be MOTable. If it's not ready in time it's not the end of the World, but the Boxing Day classic car meet in Romsey, New Forest was the last trip it did before it came off the road, so would be nice to make it the first one this time around.

[MIXA]

I know the feeling ,getting going again ,
I regularly use a 70 ft extension with no probs and have used 100ft with the welder on it ,i use a Clark 135 turbo either on CO2 or  ArgonHP (High Purity)Gas 20 lt bottles
 

[Manky Monkey]

No water hose in the Post, so, as I won't be able to work in the garage next week, it'll be 2 weeks time now before I can fit it.
Interesting development on the welding front today. I eventually got motivated enough to go to the garage but decided to walk there rather than drive -I'm the unfittest bloke in the World, but as a Postie I walk about 10 miles a day. Now I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks I need some exercise or I end up feeling really stodgy & lethargic.
Anyway, I'm walking to the lock-up & go past the local Labour Club. It backs onto my garage area. At the far end of their carpark is a big Yank -not some bloke called Chuck, but a big shiny black Caddy by the look of it. Not seen that one before -I must investigate. Turns out it's a really nice condition Chrysler Imperial -a mint Imperial you might say. Or not. There's a little workshop on the side of the Labour Club building that I've never noticed before. Well that's because it wasn't there before.
Tinkering away inside was Jason, an ex member of this very forum -"Captain Spanner Fingers". He used to deal in classic cars but has downsized & now does a bit of car work, a bit of DIY & anything else that pays the bills. He's started renting an old store room from the Labour Club & has converted it into a workshop.
Hmm -fancy doing a bit of welding? He hasn't got a welder but I've got one on wheels, (a 150 made by a firm called Ferm), & his workshop almost literally backs onto my garage area. We could push the Pop round the corner into his workshop & weld the exhaust mounts on there. So once I have access to the garage again, the week after next, we can hopefully get it sorted.
The Chrysler's up for sale for 8 grand ish by the way.

[Manky Monkey]

So, just for a bit of a change from the front end, I fired up the generator & attacked the rust on the back of the chassis with a flap wheel on the angle grinder. After 3 years of sitting outside Loon's workshop in all weathers, some of it's pretty crusty & flakey, but at least now the pick-up bed's off I can get at it. Lots of odds & ends to be sorted out too, like wiring that needs to be re-routed, (under the chassis instead of over it), fuel pipes that need replacing etc, & as Mr Olds helpfully pointed out the other day, if I turn the battery around I could shorten that red Live cable by a foot & a half -why have I never noticed that before?!
I also cut off a couple of unwanted brackets, left over after we re-located the 2 electric fuel pumps. Switched the generator off for a while, then couldn't get it re-started. Got fuel, cleaned the plug, just didn't want to go. So I ended up filing the remains of the brackets off by hand.
I used to rent the garage directly opposite this one, where I built my last trike & where the Pop lived for a while when I first bought it as a rolling bodyshell. So after 7 or 8 years, it's literally back where it started.