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.

[rog8811]

We have all had those brain fart days where you just need to walk away and forget about it for a day or two. Keep at it as it will all be worth it in the end.

[attleej]

Can I ask a silly question which is why have you dispensed with the oil bath air cleaner?  You would need to clean out once and then not forget about it.  The same could be said about the new air filter.  Given the amount that you will drive the truck, it will last a very long time.

John

[attleej]

Sorry, I said "clean out once and then not forget about it".  I meant the opposite, so far as a preserved vehicle is concerned, forget about it!

 

John

[Tamber]

7 hours ago, attleej said:

Can I ask a silly question which is why have you dispensed with the oil bath air cleaner?  You would need to clean out once and then forget about it.  The same could be said about the new air filter.  Given the amount that you will drive the truck, it will last a very long time.

John

The truck, as I got it, didn't have its oil-bath air cleaner. There was a very perished rubber elbow on top of the carb, with a short length of pipe (both of which may have been original!), and a fairly small cake-tin style air cleaner just hanging out not doing anything.

You're right, though, I'll basically never have to change this filter. 😄 Even going with a removeable lid on the housing is a bit overkill! (A lot of what I'm doing is basically for its own sake, at this point, I must admit. Good for keeping the brainmeat occupied, though!)

18 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

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

I'll have a rummage around at work in the morning, see what I can find in the drawers of miscellaneous bits, first; thanks for the offer, though!

[Tamber]

Well, I'm still stuck in the slump. I think I need a holiday.

Despite that, over the course of ... far too long, I have managed to:
- Make a blanking plug for the unused port on the air-horn valve.
- Plumb said valve in such a way that it didn't need the plug anyway.
- Hunt down some M3 bolts & nuts, so I can bolt the valve to the bracket I have welded to the inside of the cab (for some reason, those welds look extra nasty, so I may have to revisit that.)
Also: Thanks to everyone who got in touch offering to send me bolts!
- Get a tin of white paint for the inside of the lockers.
- Weld the cracked engine-hump rear panel back to the floor
- Bolt the air-horn loosely to the roof
- Start patching the roof
- Run out of welding wire 😒 (more on the way)

Grommet definitely needed. Current plan for the horn lever is to rustle up a nice cord or light chain to go from the lever to the upper dash panel. 😄 Also, reinforcing plates are gonna be added around the holes for the horn mounting points.

...

https://furryhelix.co.uk/~tamber/pics/bedford/post/2024/VID_20240929_170705.mp4

...what, you thought I'd get that far and not let you hear how it sounds? 😄 (Video, obviously, taken before I welded the bracket in.)

Oh, yeah, and I managed to adjust the 4-way valve to where tank 2 is starting to build closer to where I'd like. Still some more adjusting to do, yet, and I've got to time it; but it's better.

[Tamber]

Really haven't got much done of late. So, what's easy and doesn't require me to go out and buy more stuff to make progress with?

You can see my previous attempt at brightening up the inside of this locker with a can of mystery white spraypaint. It didn't get very far. However, while I was grabbing some other bits n pieces the other week, I noticed they had a sale on the Leyland Trade white gloss, and I know that stuff's pretty decent because we use it at work. And it doesn't matter if it won't play nice with the Tekaloid paint, because they're never going to meet...

And so, in the space of half an hour, with a 3" brush, I got a first coat over most of the top half. It's an instant difference!

Black hole of Calcutta down in there, with the delightful combo of rust and Deep Bronze Green...

Lovely! Two hours in total. Still need to do another coat, but that's for another day; and it's already a massive improvement!

 

Also, as for the air-filter housing that was 'on' the truck when I got it:

Still got it. 😄 

[Citroman]

Isn't it dangerous to use Leyland paint on a Bedford.....😄😉

[Sean N]

7 hours ago, Citroman said:

Isn't it dangerous to use Leyland paint on a Bedford.....😄😉

Bedford used Leyland engines, so I think they'd let you off with paint.

[Tamber]

10 hours ago, Citroman said:

Isn't it dangerous to use Leyland paint on a Bedford.....😄😉

I won't tell if you don't!

[Tamber]

🤨

That's ... certainly something to discover when I get there. Looks to have been wind-blown, because -- as I discovered the hard way -- there was a mini sand-dune on every ridge of the roller shutter, which then poured into the unit as each slat rolled over the top.

 🤬

I still haven't any idea where it all came from, but I've been gently dusting it off the paintwork with a clean brush.

Anywho! Picked up the pieces for the tank-straps again. Y'know, the ones I broke the taps off in? Carefully drilled them out a little bit and gave it another go with another M8 tap, but it wasn't having it. Thankfully, I didn't break this tap off in it, before I decided to drill it all the way through and sink a bolt into it.

That's one of those things that's harder than it first looks, because the drill-bit catches on the 2 high spots and wants to kick over to one side or the other. Probably worlds easier with a drill-press. Or, y'know, a mill. Anyway, hand-held cordless drill is what I have, so that's what I made it work with.

Once I'd completed those, and then modified the ends of the tank-straps to be able to allow the head of the bolt to sweep through, I scooted myself under the truck and focussed on the tank brackets. There's no photos of this because my phone was on music duties, and not that it'd be a thrilling update photo anyway, but I sat there and carefully filed the central rivet-hole on each tank bracket to a square that would accept a coach-bolt. Slightly theraputic.

Then, with an 8mm clearance hole drilled in the end of the tank-straps, I shuffled the tank under the truck (cursing the whole way), wiggled some rubber strip around it, and held the tank in place with my head while I juggled a tank-strap around it. Only to find out the strap was far too long. 😒

So I left the tank balanced there on one strap, shuffled my way back out from under the truck, and decided I wasn't going to keep doing laps of drilling a hole a bit further, trying it, repeat. Oh, no, I was going to give myself options! And drilled a further 4 holes, spaced an inch apart!

Then I wiggled myself back under, hooked the tank-strap back up in the next hole along from the first, and ...

... it's just about perfect. So I didn't need to drill the other 3 holes.  😒 The only saving grace is that the rear strap on the tank needed to be in the third hole, for some reason.

Ee, lookit that, all professional-like!

Need to buy the right width of rubber to fit that fully, but the thin strip will do for now.

For the tail end of the day, I put this delightful piece together:

Managed to drag myself down today, too, eventually.

First order of business was a new gas regumalator for the welding set; gone for one of the upright tube style of flow meter, rather than the diaphragm type, because every time I look back at the gauge on the previous reg, the needle has pinged up to ridiculous flow-rates... and I'm not sure if it's actually wildly increasing flow-rate because of some internal fault, or it's an artifact of the flow being suddenly stopped when the solenoid closes.

(Of course, the upright tube runs straight into the protective guard on the cylinder, because the stem that goes into the bottle isn't quite long enough. I've managed to swap the slightly longer stem from the previous reg, and between that and very slightly angling the reg, it'll do 'til I can grab myself an extension.)

Next on the agenda: Now that the fuel tank is fitted to the truck, the fuel lines are nice and easy to connect as they just push-fit into the appropriate ports on the top of the pump sender. The wiring is a touch more annoying, as I've yet to get a connector for them (and it turns out the ground wire I'd put in for the previous pump setup is slightly too short to comfortably reach the new pump. Not the end of the world, though, I can swap that out next time.), but through the magic of electrical tape we have them joined temporarily. (The level sender connects nicely, because it's just a post that takes a ring terminal.)

And, well, with the pump wired and plumbed in, now would be the perfect time to try it, right? So, by using the Magic Cubic T-Piece of Justice made yesterday, I looped the supply and return lines, and fed the other outlet to the carb. It's a little bit janky, with rubber hose just pushed over -- and clamped onto -- the plastic line, but since any real pressure would just overwhelm the carb anyway it'll do fine for now. I've backed the fuel-pressure regulator right the way off so it's barely restricting the return.

Of course, I had to put some fuel in to try it, which was an exercise in frustration all on its own. I only had a 5 litre can with petrol in, and between the wall and the bed of the truck, I had to do some convoluted maneuvering to get fuel out of it and into the tank. I got about a gallon in, the shape of the can not really conducive to getting the rest transferred across in the room I had.

I still need to add a switch to the side of the fusebox to allow me to manually trigger the fuel-pump, so I had to cycle the key a few times, but:
- The fuel pump kicks on with a pleasingly quiet whirr
- A second or so later, the carb gurgled softly as it filled
- The carb did not overflow
- A second or two after that, I heard fuel squirting back through the return into the tank.
- I had one fuel leak, which turned out to be a hose-clamp that wasn't fully tight. Will definitely have to keep an eye out when it comes time to run at fuel-injection pressure ranges.

I did briefly fire the truck up just to check I actually had filled the carb, but only for a few seconds, considering the sheer bloody amount of fine sand everywhere and not yet having an air filter fitted. (Still need to finish the housing. 🙄 )

Also, the other day I noticed an electrical enclosure thrown into a skip just across the unit, and couldn't help myself; yoinked it mostly to see if there was anything I could salvage from it. (Turns out to be a 400v 3-phase motor starter in a metal enclosure, that's got a damaged rotary isolator, and missing the stop push-button.)
Not sure if any of the rest of it is useful to me, but one part in particular caught my eye...

😆

[Tamber]

Not much progress made, recently. I've been wrapped up in a body-building project at work that has been sapping my energy. (Also, it's getting cold this time of year!)

I do have a week off coming up, and though I'm not making any promises about progress, I'd like to get some stuff done.  😄

But, anyway...

And that goes in the mystery extra dipstick hole on the side of the block.

I also checked the silicone reducer coupling fitted the throttle body, and it does. So that's good! Pity it's bright blue, but I'll not see it when the engine cover's closed, so I can live with that.

Spent some time fixing the pedal on my TIG welder, which turned out to be the most comically flimsy design. The 'pushrod' from the pedal down to the potentiometer is a flat piece of 0.8mm steel, and the switch that tells the welder to start welding is a microswitch with its little roller running on the thin edge of that 'pushrod'; so once that thin steel bent a little, the microswitch roller just kept running off the side of it and springing out enough to turn the welder off. Brutality occurred, and now it's fixed.

Which meant I could then do a little more work on the air filter housing. Mostly just extending the outer edge of the casing, so that the filter now fits within it; but I did also go in and smooth out the seam down the side. Unfortunately can't do much with the seams at the bottom, because they're quite difficult to get to from the inside.

Next step for the air filter housing is the outlet to the engine, which is a bellmouthed tube that will protrude into the centre of the filter.

Sort of like that, yeah. 😄

And then I'll have to figure out the exact details of how I'm mounting the housing and where, make up the mounting points for it, figure out where I want the air inlet to be, and all that sort of stuff. I'd like the air-filter to be easily accessible from underneath the front of the truck, but drawing air from higher up. Oh, and I've got to come up with some method of retaining the lid, too.

The good news is, I've sold the bike (which was mouldering around the side of the house for the last few years), and that's put a few more pennies into the pot. (Naturally, the bloody thing refused to start and stay running when he came to pick it up, which I think was largely that the battery's not liked the colder weather of the last few days even despite me having it on charge previously; so I didn't get quite as much as I wanted, but still, it's better than nothing.)