Practically Classics Forum

Yesterday was a good weather day, but dad was off, and he did more
work on the hull of his boat. Which ment I got nothing done!

One good read on for keeping out of the way, is the paint he is using is
arsenic based!!

So as he was at work, I got a little done. But first something shiny
arrived in the post, so a recap of when I used the 1970's mini hub cap.










And now for the unbranded VW bus chrome hub cap.






I added to the white wall tyre trim to the rim and balanced it on wood.






Now for the VW Hub cap with a bit of duckt tape behind it!






And a good reason not to used it!! It sticks out way too far for my liking.
I think it's definately going to be the 1970's mini hub cap.




I did do some work with the grinder. First on the side brackets for the tow
bar assembly. Then I trimmed the exhaust pipes on the Back Box.








Then back to the bench where I had to redo the marking on the bench
top for the working out ant layout.















I need to get a tight pipe bend bit to connect the inlet to the pipe to the
front.

Nothing done on the car, as I needed to keep out of the way of my parent's
as they tackled some equipment first at a relatives then bring it home.

Dad is now in a lot of pain as he did his back in, so he will be off for a couple
of weeks.

So I borrowed mothers Volvo V70 t5 and popped down to Nostell Priory near
Wakefield, West Yorkshire. All photos of cars I had seen are in this thread

http://www.practicallyclassics.co.uk/vi ... f=5&t=3557

The fabrication company will be calling me Tuesday about the curved piece for
the towbar assembly which will also be the exhaust back box hanger too.

I managed to get to Foster Law Fabrication workshop to get the
curved 'C' bar. I got out the grinders and mocked up the towbar
bracket and back box hanger.






I took one of the offcuts and trimmed it down so it will go behind
the 'C' bar to give more of a pad for fixing the tow bar swan neck
bracket to it. This not oly gives a bigger pad but will help stop it
from twisting I think! Plus somewhere to run any cables in there.




The top of the 'C' bar and the angle iron will be flush when they
are welded together. Then a notch on the angle iron will be cut
so it slips over the bumper cover. Also the bit on the bottom will
be angled to tidy it up and make it fit better.




This is just to give you an idea of the thickness of the 'C' bar used




Two tabs cut which will have a bolt through for hanging the back box.
This is placed roughly where it will go.




One of the other things I picked up was the correct connector for the
sand/grit blasting gun. So something to use to clean the bracket up
when it's completed before painting, and after I have tried it on the
drive to try and remove oil stains left off dad's Landrover Discovery.

If weather permits I will get under the rear of the neon an double check
the bolt holes in the frame under the boot before I start drilling the
angle iron.

To stiff to do as much as I would have wanted to do on the car.

I got some paper and felt tip pens and pulled myself under the car,
and made a template of the holes in the frame I could use for
mounting the towbar bracket to the car.




I then spent a little time carefully drilling the bolt holes, only to
realise that the template didn't take into account the fact the
bracket was to be moved back towards the rear of the car.

Using the template I calculated that an extra pair of holes drilled
3/4 of an inch further back from the rear 2 holes would solve the
problem. the front two holes are okay as they ar to be using the
larger oval holes on box frame.

I then bolted the Angle iron to the car to check.










You can see the bolt holes better on this picture. I will need to
trim the bolting plate by 3/4 of an inch so that it fits better.



I will be making a plate to go on the boot floor to spread the
stresses and the weight better than the previous towing bracket.
As the previous towing bracket only bolted through on side of the
box section of the frame. I want this to be able to handle far
more if it is needed too.

I am wondering if I should cut the swan neck off my old towbar
assembly or get part of an assembly from a scrapyard to use.
Then either sell or keep the old neon tow bar assembly for a
future car?

After a little research I found only one UK seller on ebay selling
a Chrysler Neon tow bar assembly which is second hand and is
advertised at £60 and collection only.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CHRYSLER-NEON ... 3f19dd6e2f

What do you guys think?

I forgot to post this picture to show what the clearance between
the bracket an exhaust pipe will be.

Right thats it!!!!
I have asked my dad outright after dropping enough hints to sink
the titanic for a second time, he said later next week after he has
sorted out his boat.

And as he won't teach me to weld!!

I will be taking the tow bar bracket bits to foster law fabrication to
get welded, as I am sick of waiting around for my dad to do it.
Also we currently have good weather till later next week and I want
to get cracking on the car. I will take the main big bits which will
take all the strain while towing, the bits for hanging the back box
while be done later.

When my dad is back at work I will get more one as he won't be on
the way and the car won't be covered in debris from working on his
boat.

I am currently in contact with a couple of people regarding the ECU.

I went to do some work on the car only to be confronted that the
hawthorn hedge was growing into the old girl!
At this point I dropped my phone while seeing how far it had grown,
so no pictures.

I then spent two hours cutting the car free, and the hedge back.
There was one major problem with doing this, I hadn't taken
anything for my hayfever and the hawthorn was setting it off.

So now I have two red golf balls for eyes and can barely see anything!
I've put some eye drops in, and taken some tablets, so I'll try again
in a couple of hours.

Can I ask what is left to do to make the car driveable? Not to finish it but to get it into a state where it can be moved under its own power. I ask the question because if the can be moved, you could shift it away from boats/hedges/awkward parents and continue to work on it. If it was me, I'd prioritise on getting it mobile and then sorting out things like towbars (which are of no value to anyone if the car can't be driven!).

Getting it running would also be a great morale booster.

Richard Moss wrote:Can I ask what is left to do to make the car driveable? Not to finish it but to get it into a state where it can be moved under its own power. I ask the question because if the can be moved, you could shift it away from boats/hedges/awkward parents and continue to work on it. If it was me, I'd prioritise on getting it mobile and then sorting out things like towbars (which are of no value to anyone if the car can't be driven!).

Getting it running would also be a great morale booster.

That would be my line of thinking too.