1985 Honda Acty Show Truck

You’d think that after buying a total of three trucks and one collection of spares I’d have all the parts by now but a breaking Acty popped up on eBay this week and I’ve now got a front badge heading my way, I have one without the A but this is complete so I’ll get it stripped back and painted as per original or possibly colour coded to the body to make it more stealth or maybe use it on the aluminium canopy.

Not sure yet but while one is available and in the UK I thought I should get it.




How they looked brand new, from a brochure photo…

Early start this morning to get some outside jobs done before the rains come.

Aluminium tool box dug out of shed…



… and cleaned up…




… and dried…




… and painted…




Whilst that dried it was on to the final varnish coat on the board.

It got rained on its last coat leaving patches…




No one is ever going to see it but I decided to give it a quick wet sand any way, hosing it showed how protective the varnish is with water just beading right on top and running off….



Then I made a little shelter to prevent the same happening again…





And gave the top side it’s 4th coat of varnish…



Now it has a shelter I’ll try and get at least two more coats on the underside during the week to make it super waterproof.

Then I need to redrill the holes in the bottom of the tool box so that it sits in the right place on the board, behind the vertical board before I can fit it all on the back of the truck.

And last job before the weekender is to do an oil and oil filter change.

Looking good

Love the rump shaking with the hydraulics

Olfi camera mount fixed on the rear window today, I’ve taken a test photo in the garage and it’s got a good panoramic view and hopefully my videos will include all the sites I get to see on the roads from now on.

Just some fiddly bits within the H and a few other spots to scrape at before it’s back to plain plastic…




… and also forgot to post about last night’s progress.

I drilled the holes in the bottom of the toolbox and positioned everything in it’s right place but then I realised “I’m gonna need a bigger bolt” so three on their way but at least everything is ready to get bolted together when they arrive.

Always busy.

Relentless and restless.

Progress.

Less than a week until the weekender and I didn’t have much time this weekend.

I got chance to bolt down the tool box and modesty board though and fill the area (and the box) with most of the stuff I need (and some stuff I hopefully won’t need) for the weekend and a round trip of nearly 400 miles…







… At some point I plan to make a cover for the spring box and battery so I can safely store stuff over the top of them too.

I did plan to do an oil change before the journey but Mrs Minty set doubt in my mind saying that if anything goes wrong there won’t be any chance to sort it and get to the show so I decided just to check the level …







Even the dip stick is cute on an Acty.

Level all fine despite it having a rocker cover leak for MOT, maybe they topped it up or the volume of leak was insignificant on my 18 mile round trip to the garage. Either way it’s fine for now and I’ve got oil on board if the level does drop. I’ll be going for a test drive on Tuesday evening to check everything is okay ahead of the weekend any way.

Dry for long enough to primer the Honda badge and bake in the airing cupboard…




Strong adhesive tape heated with a hair drier and applied…







The weather is due to turn good from tomorrow onwards so should get chance to paint it chrome (bright silver) and attach to the truck before the weekender.

Hopefully see you soon!

Gave it another coat but as suspected the area I wiped between the N and D is still visible so I’ll sand just that area back once it’s dry and give another light dusting.

It’s looking nice but I remember from the last time I used it that as soon as you apply lacquer it dulls it so I’ll fit it without lacquer. Location should be free from stone chips / any impact so should survive ok.

If it dulls over time I’ll just go over the letters rather than the whole badge with a molotow chrome marker.







I’m having difficulty sleeping / doing anything else as all thoughts are on the weekender. I will be going for a test drive tonight so that will set my mind at rest either way. If it drives fine then I’ll trust in it for Friday. If it doesn’t then I’ll have to abandon ship and go in the cactus or keep driving it hard tonight until it does drive fine.

Then it’s just a case of remembering to pack everything on my various lists.

It’s a waste to have the Acty sitting around after this much effort especially for retro / classic shows but the cactus is a handy backup.