[Vic1947]

With the easy part out of the way, next up was the pickup tube. Started by fixturing up the tube on a plate used for a long ago project. I knew it would go well when two of the threaded holes lined up perfectly with the tabs on the tube. I marked reference lines around the tabs and parallel to the long tube and set up a height reference made from welding rod. With everything marked, I took it apart and started cutting. Oh, I forgot to mention the part where I stared at the setup for about an hour before making that first cut. There are three cuts and much as I hate to admit, all three are mitered very slightly. Normally I'd cut square to tubing, but over such a short run and with the limited amount of curved tube I had, it was the only way to make it work.

I mocked up the screen to see what I needed and filled in the gaps with tubing. With the pieces tacked or held together with magnets, I fit the pan over it to see how close I was. Chip had given me the mount dimensions on the block, so I know the screen will actually fit closer to the bottom when assembled. After checking the fit, I bent and tacked the sectioned leg brace to the tube. All that's left to do is fit it to the engine block and recheck the clearances. For that, I'll use several small pieces of modeling clay on the bottom of the screen covered with some plastic wrap. Setting the pan down on the rails will squeeze the bits of clay and tell where we might need to adjust. For now, it's only tacked together so it will be easy to fix if needed.