1946 bitsa project

[TonyBaxter]

Great job on the mudguards, I'm looking at using universal types and getting to fit on my '46, where did you obtain yours from?

[SEDoan]

Thanks Tony - the mudguards are from Feked https://www.feked.com/frame-parts/mudguards/

Let me know if you want part numbers and I will find the receipt.

[SEDoan]

Once the fender was cut to fit the length of the fender stays could be set by taping blocks of wood over the tire and checking the stay length. Next brackets could be made to fix the fender to the frame and stays. The frame and stay brackets both needed similar contour so I made a form to press steel strap into shape. While this was far better than making them individually (as with the toolbox brackets) there were hours of joy getting them to fit centrally in the frame and evenly over the tire.

With the fender sitting nicely over the tire the bracket tying the fender to the engine plate could be made.

The bare steel fenders look so good it's tempting to paint them silver.

[TonyBaxter]

Thanks Tony - the mudguards are from Feked https://www.feked.com/frame-parts/mudguards/

Let me know if you want part numbers and I will find the receipt.

Cheers!

[Paul Slootheer]

I bought the mudguards for my 1946 NG from the same supplier, but I did choose the ribbed ones. These mudguards are not bad but foremost affordable...

[TonyBaxter]

I bought the mudguards for my 1946 NG from the same supplier, but I did choose the ribbed ones. These mudguards are not bad but foremost affordable...

I had a quick look at the website, prices are pretty good.

[Julian Murphy]

Looking good with bare steel mudguards.

Clever job making the brackets using wooden formers in the press.

[SEDoan]

Thank you for the compliments.

Last week I decided to make some tool box nobs (knobs?). This toolbox had no knob and my '39 had been traveling for years with a knob made from a carriage bolt with a large nut pinched on Turning the convex surface was more successful than expected. The edge was knurled with some success and a threaded shaft brazed in. So now the '39 has a nob of a knob and so does the '46.

Also made up a decompressor cable - what a complicated thing with the volute spring and various ends!

[TonyBaxter]

All neat work.

[SEDoan]

Thank you Tony.

The next step was to fit the exhaust pipes and silencers. I had P-clamps that were slightly too small and though I was able to reshape them somewhat they would have needed an ugly spacer where the seat mounts tie them to the frame. I decided to make new P-clamps from a scrap of stainless sheet sold by the local steel warehouse. Another wooden form was made to press shape.

Polished on the wire wheel the result is not too bad.

Correct P-clamps allowed me to make correct saddle mounting studs and fit a better saddle (the saddle in earlier pictures is the original for my '47 Red Hunter and has now been returned to its rightful place)

The next trick was to hang the silencers. There were 2 problems - the rear stay was for a low-pipe model (having no holes for the upswept silencer brackets) and the tabs on the silencers seemed to be too far forward (so that when the silencer tabs were aligned with the fender stays the silencers only slid about 1/4" over the head-pipes). Obviously I'd mounted the fender with the stays canted backwards slightly - the best solution was to drill another set of holes further forward on the fender. Ugh! (which entailed shortening the chainguard slightly) Even after this hack job there was still minimal overlap of the pipes by the silencers so the L-brackets wanted to be mounted on the leading edges of the stays. Seeing as the stays had no holes for upswept brackets anyway the easiest solution was to fold up a bracket notched for the leading edge of the stay and weld it in place. The result is clean and looks better than it sounds.

The next hurdle was the taillight and license plate holder. It couldn't be to too heavy or sit too far back or the fender might suffer vibration cracking. Also it couldn't sit so far forward that it blocked the grab handle. And I had a nice period taillight (similar to what was common on 1950 pickups in the USA) but it is much larger than any Lucas original. Would such a large taillight look silly? A simple bracket seemed the best solution.

The first version seemed to sit up too high and the material was too thin so I made a second which seems better...