It's here! (Bedford RL)

[Tamber]

Right, what have I done since then?

Mostly nothing! Just in a bit of a slump, this past week, but I'm sure it'll pass. Extremely active boss is going on holiday Sunday, so hopefully work should chill out a bit. (Not that it's been particularly bad, but I've been on my feet a lot and oh boy am I feeling it.) ((...that reminds me, I need to book some time off, too, before I get to the end of the year with a bunch of unused holiday days.))

I've ordered some bits n pieces to make new tank-straps; that's all supposed to arrive on Monday. And last week, I started on the airbox. I've not touched it since last week, mind, but I started it.

So, we start with an air-filter, and a filter housing lid.

Roll a sheet of aluminium into a cylinder, weld it up the side, flange one end, flare the other so the lid sits nicely, and we're now left with the bulk of a housing!

Then we discover that I screwed up a measurement somewhere.

This is fixable, however. I just need to trim the flange off the bottom, slice and fold the sides so that they form a base.
However, I screwed up again but hadn't realised it at this point. I should have accounted for the lip on the base of the air-filter, but didn't.

Trim the overlaps and weld up the base, roll a hoop out of 3mm flat bar that's welded into the base such that the lip of the air filter seats around it snugly (both for alignment, and sealing purposes) And that leaves us with a filter housing where the lid doesn't sit down properly.

Aaaaaand sulk a bit. (It's not the end of the world, I have enough material I can extend the housing upwards that little bit to fit the cap nicely. If I can do that without adding a third screw-up, I'll be grand.)

Also, I have my 2.5" intake tubing, and I'm going to bellmouth a section that will protrude into the air-filter itself by a few inches; so that should work out quite nicely! Still not 100% certain about mounting location for the airbox, but I am thinking that I'll use some of the intake tubing as a snorkel to draw air in from as high up in the cheek of the cab as possible.

So I followed that up by rolling around putting fittings together to connect up the fuel filter and pressure reg; which, of course, involved getting an armpit full of petrol once I cut the line. Lovely. 😒

Today's effort:

- Made up some blanking plugs for the filter housing. (1/2UNF brake fittings welded shut.)

- Bolted the fuel pressure reg up to the chassis properly

- Drilled out the rivets that hold the tank-straps on, so now I'm ready for the material to turn up to make the replacements.

- Took a nap under the truck, because I was shattered and my back hurt and a board laid on concrete was surprisingly comfortable after all the effort I spent wiggling my way under there to get to the aforementioned items.

- Piddled about with the valve that I'm going to use for the air-horn. (#priorities)
Mostly just extending the little actuator arm with a little bit of bar, and starting to make the bracket to attach it to the inside of the cab. Annoyingly, the valve mounts using 3 M3 bolts; so I've got to find something I can use for that... And an 1/8 BSP blanking plug, too, unless I want to try and find a fitting I can weld shut for that too. 😄

I keep looking at the roof and trying to will myself into cutting the metal for that. 's not that it's that particularly difficult a job, I'm just struggling to get my brain to engage with the task in the first place. (Story of my life...)

[radiomike7]

51 minutes ago, Tamber said:

Right, what have I done since then?

Mostly nothing! Just in a bit of a slump, this past week, but I'm sure it'll pass. Extremely active boss is going on holiday Sunday, so hopefully work should chill out a bit. (Not that it's been particularly bad, but I've been on my feet a lot and oh boy am I feeling it.) ((...that reminds me, I need to book some time off, too, before I get to the end of the year with a bunch of unused holiday days.))

I've ordered some bits n pieces to make new tank-straps; that's all supposed to arrive on Monday. And last week, I started on the airbox. I've not touched it since last week, mind, but I started it.

So, we start with an air-filter, and a filter housing lid.

Roll a sheet of aluminium into a cylinder, weld it up the side, flange one end, flare the other so the lid sits nicely, and we're now left with the bulk of a housing!

Then we discover that I screwed up a measurement somewhere.

This is fixable, however. I just need to trim the flange off the bottom, slice and fold the sides so that they form a base.
However, I screwed up again but hadn't realised it at this point. I should have accounted for the lip on the base of the air-filter, but didn't.

Trim the overlaps and weld up the base, roll a hoop out of 3mm flat bar that's welded into the base such that the lip of the air filter seats around it snugly (both for alignment, and sealing purposes) And that leaves us with a filter housing where the lid doesn't sit down properly.

Aaaaaand sulk a bit. (It's not the end of the world, I have enough material I can extend the housing upwards that little bit to fit the cap nicely. If I can do that without adding a third screw-up, I'll be grand.)

Also, I have my 2.5" intake tubing, and I'm going to bellmouth a section that will protrude into the air-filter itself by a few inches; so that should work out quite nicely! Still not 100% certain about mounting location for the airbox, but I am thinking that I'll use some of the intake tubing as a snorkel to draw air in from as high up in the cheek of the cab as possible.

So I followed that up by rolling around putting fittings together to connect up the fuel filter and pressure reg; which, of course, involved getting an armpit full of petrol once I cut the line. Lovely. 😒

Today's effort:

- Made up some blanking plugs for the filter housing. (1/2UNF brake fittings welded shut.)

- Bolted the fuel pressure reg up to the chassis properly

- Drilled out the rivets that hold the tank-straps on, so now I'm ready for the material to turn up to make the replacements.

- Took a nap under the truck, because I was shattered and my back hurt and a board laid on concrete was surprisingly comfortable after all the effort I spent wiggling my way under there to get to the aforementioned items.

- Piddled about with the valve that I'm going to use for the air-horn. (#priorities)
Mostly just extending the little actuator arm with a little bit of bar, and starting to make the bracket to attach it to the inside of the cab. Annoyingly, the valve mounts using 3 M3 bolts; so I've got to find something I can use for that... And an 1/8 BSP blanking plug, too, unless I want to try and find a fitting I can weld shut for that too. 😄

I keep looking at the roof and trying to will myself into cutting the metal for that. 's not that it's that particularly difficult a job, I'm just struggling to get my brain to engage with the task in the first place. (Story of my life...)

Got M3x10 in pan head and Allen head, can put some in the post if it helps.