[Mick O'Malley]

Yesterday morning I pitched in and made the mirror image driver's side headlight bracket - pretty straightforward. The chap who had bagged my long hardtop on FB then arrived to collect it and we chatted Duttons for a good while before he departed.

Whilst all the metalwork gubbins was out I decided to fabricate a rear cross member for the MkII Cortina fuel tank. My first Phaeton also used this tank, but, as it was new with an intact and sufficiently strong GRP boot floor, no rear support was necessary, unlike the current butchered item. The rearmost frame members are angled inwards to pick up the leaf spring mounts so my proposed support needed a bit of thought. With a combination of a ratchet strap, axle stand and spirit level I balanced the tank in position



After offering up my length of 1" box, I cut a bevel on one end so it just cleared the back of the tank and marked the position of the first bend. I cut through three sides of the box, offered it up and bent it until it sat just right. Repeat for the second bend, then chop the other end bevel. To my amazement it ended up almost an interference fit.



Today I'll cut the fillets necessary for the bend holes

Regards, Mick