ardea pickup.........THING!

[chugga boom]

the truck actually has aprilia 2nd series axles on it standard not ardea, back axle is live type as fitted to some of the floorpan models, pretty sure i'll be fitting a 3rd series appia unit to "up the gearing" as its rediculasly low geared, hence it has basically aprilia wheels on it but 16" rather than 400mm, the tyres in the past have rubbed on the rear inner arches and are rediculasly (i like that word) close to the sliding pillars on the front, i am going to fit 6j 16 rims to aprilia wheel centers to stretch the taxi tyres i've bought and pull them away from the inner wings and pillars, i intend on using this as an everyday vehicle, 550 16 michelin are £120 +vat each to me, taxi tyres are £40 +vat kinda makes sence to use them , purists will winge no doubt but i want it safe and usable and feel radials are better for everyday use, this is also why i'm looking for scrap aprilia wheels to convert so that the origional wheels are still there to go back on, won my shrinker stretcher off ebay last night so hopefully i will be able to crack on again soon, i really need to retire! another 30yrs yet till i'm pensionable tho 

[DavidLaver]

...but you've at least got the option of butchering the wheels you have and welding them to what I presume are taxi rims...

Is this the machine?  If so its the first time I've seen the small size with a foot peddle which is rather a nice combination.  Until seeing that one it hadn't occured to me to convert mine to a peddle...  What I have also seen is a long reach conversion - pretty much have to make the machine from scratch but able to use the same jaws.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Shrinker-Stretcher-Garage-Body-Shop-Workshop-Metal-Set_W0QQitemZ250450994997

Of course had a little browse when on ebay and this one was new to me.   Would take twenty times as long as the streatcher, won't do the shrink, but gives a better finish from the tool.   Of course can clean up after the streatcher so unless loss of material thickness was critical no benefit.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AIRCRAFT-MODEL-MAKERS-TOOL-SHEET-METAL-ENGLISH-WHEEL_W0QQitemZ370221170633

Its the swagers I struggle to resist...  Have told myself I must have a serious go hammer forming the floors (make a wooden mould to hammer into, sandwich clamp the surrounding floor flat)  before spending money on one more large heavy lump to store.   All the same for interest:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Deep-Bead-Roller-Joggler-Floor-pan-swager-8-rolls_W0QQitemZ110406161141

David

[DavidLaver]

These seem such a lovely idea relative to the cast monsters.  Anyone had a go on one at a show?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=260433897486

http://www.justinbaker.co.uk/

To avoid itchy ebay finger I look as his rental price - aside from the pure logic of may never need one, not got the space, better things to do with the money, and the argument that home made stumps, mallets, and slappers could skin the same cat albeit waking the dead at the same time.

But SUCH a lovely idea...

David

[chugga boom]

heres a good 1 for you, my dad decided to make his own english wheel, yes thats right he made his own (THE WELSH WHEEL ) gets better! guess what he used for the top roller..............fulvia wheel bearing!!!!, used another bearing (profiled) for the bottom roller and bobs ya uncle , worked that well that he made his entire astura body on it , various panels for me for the appia etc works really well, anyway talking about panels more progress has been made on the ardea today, its taking a huge amount of filler to straighten it out, didnt realise howmany origional welds there are too, there are 6 on the roof alone without what ive done!!

[chugga boom]

more...........

[chugga boom]

and more  ...............

[DavidLaver]

Out of interest do you buy filler on price or quality?

David

[chugga boom]

qaulity comes first, cheap filler is generaly like iron to sand down, doesnt flex well so can crack, and doesnt always adhease to the metal well, i usually use U-POL EASYSAND, and U-POL TOPSTOP to finish, used both for about 12yrs and never a problem, its a bit like the spay filler , i always use U-POL REFACE, cracking stuff, doesnt shrink when set and very easy to use, i've used more expensive and cheaper products but always found the best results with these products, paint is a different thing alltogether, different painters have there own preferences, my friend owns a major bodyshop in wrexham, he hates dupont i love it, he likes ici i dont, but we both agree that ppg used to be the best BLOODY EXPENSIVE BUT THE BEST!!! unfortunatly unipart have stopped selling paint my dads augusta and my appia are both painted in PPG DELTRON but my augusta fulvia and integrale are painted in dupont

[fay66]

more...........

Hi James,
Is that a footwell you've just plated over? with van variants I know that manufacturers often left out the rear seats & extended the load floor forward to cover the footwell,  but it just doesn't look deep enough to have been a footwell   will the space still be accessible from the inside when your finished, as it looks like it would make a great hidden compartment.

Brian
8227

[chugga boom]

hmmmm interesting this 1, the pickup was in fact an estate variant with rear seats, if you look at my earlier pisc you will see the mess that i had to remove to reveal the foot well, yes its now going to be storage accesable from behind the seats, i intend on making new ribs to extend the existing ones and a few other trick ideas have come to mind to make it look a little more authentic around this area, theres a hell of alot of work left to finish this area off and to actually make it look right, i also need to make a rain channel to go across the cab back for the tonoue cover to attatch and drain to so that the bed of the truck doesnt get wet, the next major fabrication will be the dreaded tailgate, father and i discussed this only yesterday and we think we're pretty sur how we're going to do it, got a few weeks work left yet before i think about spray filler, anyway well spotted 

[chugga boom]

bit more progress today...........

[fay66]

Hi Chugga,

you didn't use to make patchwork quilts for a hobby did you

Brian
8227

[chugga boom]

as it happens...........................NO! alot of welding aint there  , and theres alot more to come! its suprised me how well its actually fitting and that (in my eyes anyway) its starting to look as if it should be there, i think by the time i've finished it will have cost me more in mig wire and gas than what it cost to buy the truck in the 1st place 

[DavidLaver]

Before its painted would be nice to have a photo showing ALL the welding.  I can remember seeing an Aurelia B20 in bare metal at Tanc Barrats and they'd gone over it with a black marker pen showing the edge of each "panel" in the roof and so on.   Looked like those pictures in the butchers showing the different cuts of meat.  

Once its painted nobody will believe its a bit of this and that and dozens of bridging pieces.

Have you got any photos of the Appia front end before paint?  If this easier or harder than that one?

David

[chugga boom]

yes ive got some pics of the appia front end before paint, before the days of digital so i will have to scan or take a photo of the photo to show you, it wasnt as bad as the cab to do but its basically 3 different cars front ends welded together and we had to do alot of repairs to them to, i will see what i can do though about posting them, will prob put it on appia  section though