Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

My first thought was whether I could weld a plate or section of tube along the back face, but then if the mechanism failed you wouldn't be able to repair it. It's designed to sit along the side of the transmission tunnel so the back face is hidden from view. The chrome's a bit pickled so I'll probably blast it & powder-coat it black.

[panthershaun]

The chrome's a bit pickled so I'll probably blast it & powder-coat it black.

that's patina 

[Manky Monkey]

Patina -posh word for rust.  A certain amount's cool. Beyond that it's just knackered.

[Manky Monkey]

God I'm utterly pooped.
Just picked up the new prop-shaft from Reco-Prop in Luton. Unfortunately that involved travelling -well, parking, on the infamous M25. Got up for work at 4.30 this morning. Left home at 5, finished work in Basingstoke at 2.30. Hit the M3 towards London at 3. Reached Luton at 4.40, 20 minutes before they closed for the day. Cool. Picked up the prop -very nice, thank you. 5 minutes later I'm back in the car & heading home. Four hours later I finally get back. I've been sat in my car for the best part of 6 hours. The bloody M25 was shut, with a 20 mile, completely stationary traffic queue. I was in the middle of it.
Prop-shaft safely collected. Time for bed.

[XJ750(UK)]

Right-o.
Picked up a couple of bits & pieces from the autojumble at the Wiltshire Steam Rally today.
A pair of new reproduction tractor number plate lights for a fiver each.

They're dash lights off a Massey Ferguson 165 unless I'm very much mistaken  sorry, just slipped my anorak on again

[Manky Monkey]

Really? Cool!

[BikerGran]

Could hardly be a worse time of day to travel, or a worse route to do that time of day!   

[Manky Monkey]

Now you tell me! Going North to Luton was fine. It was the return journey that was such a bugger. Roadworks plus an accident just where the M1 meets the M25. They shut the motorway slip roads in front & behind me. Sat in the car, listening to radio traffic reports saying whatever you do, don't go near the M25. Poo. Spent about an hour completely stationary & another hour slipping the clutch, creeping forward a few inches at a time. At least I got what I went up there for.
Prop-shaft now fitted with a couple of temporary bolts to check the length. Reco-Prop used the rear flange from the original Sherpa prop, but the rest is all new. 3 inch diameter with a sliding joint at the front -it's too short. Now it's too long. Perfect. 
 

[Manky Monkey]

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[Manky Monkey]

Also received a parcel from "Pop Browns" -suppliers of custom & restoration parts for Pops & Prefects. I bought an alternator bracket & new fan belt, to relocate the alternator from high up on the off-side of the engine, to low down on the near-side. A nicely shaped, half inch thick, plasma cut bracket, slotted adjuster arm & new mounting bolts. Fitted perfectly. Thanks Chris. The alternator's now tucked inside the line of the chassis rail & fills an otherwise empty space, matching the steering box location on the other side of the chassis. Result. The coil's just hung from it's wires at the moment, but we'll probably bolt it to the bulkhead, in the recess behind the cylinder heads. Lots of bits are just temporarily propped in place for the time being, so all need mounting tabs & brackets made.
Next job is to find someone to re-make our bodged up exhaust header samples in stainless & then sort out the pedals. We've got a selection of pedals to experiment with now, but Spanners, if you read this, can you look out those 100E ones for me please mate. 

[voodoo]

Sweet looking motor,I just love classic trucks......would love to do another Rod but now dont have the joys of a garage and dont fancy the idea of building one on my drive,its bad enough doing bikes under my little Parambulator shelter.....Voodoo.....

[Manky Monkey]

Not sure mine could be called a "classic"!
I bought the engine as a runner from a friend of a friend. Didn't come with a log book & there was some talk of it being raced at some point. 1970s Rover SD1 bottom end, (think the old fashioned "Jam Sandwich" Police cars), with Range Rover heads & a Rover P6 auto box. We'll repaint the cases in black & polish the ally bits. Just hope the engine numbers check out O.K when it comes to registering the truck. Wouldn't be difficult to find another engine if necessary but hopefully it's all legit. PantherShaun posted a short vid of it running on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0RTqZDSuDU

There are guys here building all sorts of projects in very limited circumstances. Inspires me just as much as everyone else. 

[Manky Monkey]

A change of plan on the propshaft loop. This goes around the propshaft to contain it should it break loose -stops it either dropping & digging into the road or flailing around inside the car. A must for racing & a sensible precaution for road cars.
I made a loop from 1" bore ERW tube a while ago. Now we're going for a box section chassis cross member with short box section uprights either side of the prop connecting to the cross member at the base of the cab, forming a square box around the shaft.
This afternoon, after work, I cut the cross member & scalloped out some extra clearance to allow for suspension travel. The open top face was filled with 4mm flat strap bent to suit & the whole caboodle tack-welded in place by young Lunatic.
Got home from work to find a large parcel from Doc, (Twisted Patience), containing the reworked gearstick. Lovely workmanship as always Doc. Huge thanks. I'll take a photo of it in the daylight tomorrow.

[Manky Monkey]

Gearstick, courtesy of Doc.
This is the standard Rover P6 gearchange, but I fancied something a little different. We use snooker balls for gear knobs on our trikes & I had a couple of red ones left over. I sent it down to Doc in Somerset with the technical instructions -Make this fit this & work please. Amazingly, he did. I now have a red snooker ball gear knob with a nice polished stainless steel lock-out button set into the top of it.
I'm planning on doing the chassis & all the running gear in gloss black powder-coat, with a satin black body & black interior, but as the red logos will be on the doors, (hopefully an airbrushed version of the current vinyl stickers), there'll be red detailing here & there. Next job will be to make a bracket to mount the stick to the top of the gearbox itself.

[Manky Monkey]

Called in at Loonyville on our way back from Oxford today -Taz & I drove for 2 hours to see the guy who's making the aluminium mudguards. We took a front & back wheel for him to try them on. Took him just a matter of minutes to sit them on the tyres & say ahh, thought so, then we were back in the car & heading off to find a nice pub for lunch. Guards should be finished by next week.
After bolting the wheels back on the Pop, I cut the uprights to go either side of the prop-shaft & Loony tacked them in place. Gonna be the strongest chassis in the World by the time we've finished.