Measurable Progress.

Now that the scuttle supports had been tacked together and their fit established, it was time to tack them to the frame and get the bolt holes drilled in the chassis.

I was alert enough to beforehand give the hidden faces a quick coat of paint although not alert enough to have welded a captive nut on the inside of the handbrake bracket – you win some….

I also had to move the steering mechanism and its respective drillings about an inch inboard so that the double universal joint to the actual column was less awkwardly placed. The ancient metal shear that I picked up locally, proved invaluable in cutting out the circular patch. The patch for the hole I’d cut for the sprocket and chain clutch arrangement was equally easy to shape.

Next up was the hole for the cabin heater and demister fan. I had to think about this, and it took me a few minutes to remember I had a plasma cutter to make short shrift of the job.

As usual, all was going splendidly until the torch decided to go off at a tangent to the template. At present, the body of the fan is too close to the cross tube and will make the outlet difficult to fit. I can correct this.

A test fit of the scuttle showed that welding in the support boxes hadn’t distorted the tubing. The pilot holes for the scuttle attachment bolts were drilled a couple of weeks ago – I need only weld captive nuts on the inside of the boxes. This will allow the bolts to be withdrawn from inboard the chassis rails.

For the diagonal bracing, I’ve borrowed The Other Wright Brother’s tube notcher.

As with all inexpensive tools (my cheap slip rolls for instance) there’s room for improvement. Hole saws wander about enough on their own without the encouragement of sloppy bushings, so to avoid disaster further down the line, I’ve turned up new ones and made them twice the length. The originals looked like they’d been roughly sawn from a piece of brass tube.

The Bedford KD I mentioned last week is now running very sweetly with the installation of a new condenser. There’s one noisy tappet and…

… a broken spring in the AC fuel pump. Surprisingly, the diaphragm is sound, which is good as replacements seem difficult to find. I think I have a pump in store from which I can steal a spring.

On the way back from lunch at the Wymondham Station Bistro – highly recommended for excellent food and service – I called in to Very Learned Counsel who had on his lift this monster of a car, a straight 8 Bentley. I think it began life as a saloon which, with its massively long chassis, might have suited it better visually than its current tourer configuration.

We have a murmuration of Starlings in the Poplar trees on the farm. Their aerial displays are a joy to watch though….

… walking through the yard carries with it measurable risk.