An Introduction: Chris Collins and Morris Tilly Project

[jack neville]

I popped the ends off the body of the tank and firstly riveted and soldered the bottom drain plug flange. Next the fuel line filter and pickup. This has a nut on the inside to tighten up the brass fitting and then soldered on the outside. The baffles were then soldered in and then the fuel filler inlet flange and fuel gauge flange were riveted on and soldered. Lastly the ends were pressed back on and crimped tight and all the seams soldered. Not the neatest of soldering but I am very happy with the end product. Pity it will be slung underneath never to be seen.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Jack,

Excellent work on scratchbuilding a fuel tank! Well done.
I also admire the work you did on the sheet metal of the Tilly and Dodge Ambulance.

Alex

[jack neville]

Thanks Alex. I think I am past the most difficult parts and they will start taking shape.

[jack neville]

Second tank completed. The ends and baffles on the second were not as good so I put them in the electrolysis bath for a few days. The ends have some fine pin holes in them. I then had them re-zinced at a local electroplaters. Before reassembly I ran some solder over the holes on the inside of the ends and then put it all together. They now only need pressure testing and painting.

Chris had painted both rooves and all the timber inserts.
These have been reassembled and the first one installed. Timbers for the spare wheel carrier have been cut and fitted. The timber doesn't bolt down satisfactorily to the roof contour and i am thinking of steaming it to get it to hold its shape. My plan is to crank up my Wiles Cooker to provide the steam and pump it into a piece of pvc pipe. A job for later.

[jack neville]

some time ago I had pieces folded up to form the rear body sides. I had the front and top fold done and the rest I will hand form. Now the roof is on I can start on the rear body. I started by supporting an original side in place to use as a guide for the main timber support. This has been marked out, cut and holes drilled to line up with the cage nuts in the B pillar. This is then placed on the new panel so it can be scribed out and cut to shape.

[jack neville]

Time to finish the side panels.
First they need trimming to shape and folding the edges. I bought a couple of sheets of heavy plywood to use as a former. Placing an original panel to trace the shape I then drill a few holes into the plywood which are shared by both metal sides. The two sheets of plywood were bolted together through those holes and the shape cut out.

[jack neville]

One of the plywood sheets was laid inside the metal blank and the shape traced out with appropriate allowance for the folds. That shape was then cut out of the metal blank x 4 and then the two plywood sheets were bolted together with the metal sheet sandwiched in between.
A few clamps were added to secure the edges. I only need these formers to survive long enough to make four panels so they don't need to be too elaborate although I need 30 mm folded over for the wheel arch in a circular pattern which needs a lot of slow tapping and is a significant stretch..