Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[Grizz1963]

Went for a walk yesterday.

Managed 3 miles brisk walking, so much of an improvement over when I started and 1/2 mile was a killer for me.

Thames view over to Essex.





Harvest time, but the weather is not allowing much work.





Ooooohhhhhh look what we have here, middle of nowhere-ish.



Four reels. They will go up as a joblot on FB Marketplace for £25.00

Just need a clean up, and they will look much better.


















Why do people toss so much stuff that is perfectly useable?

.

[Grizz1963]

I had not planned to touch the bike till the weekend.

But yesterday I had a combination of rubbish day and a stress build up, that will go till close of play next week.

So at lunch time, rather than a coffee and sandwich, I went to go see if the bike would start.

The fuel in the tank smells stale, but I thought, give it a go anyway.

Second kick it fired and spluttered. Another similar response, then I realised and opened the fuel stopcock.

Boooom….. it started and stood there idling irregularly, while it warmed up.

So of course I felt the need to see if it would carry my 1.83m 120kg or 19 Stone and 6’ weight.

Balanced the camera on a brick, and went to start and run it around the garden..

CLICK YOUTUBE LINK.

https://youtu.be/rFRD-zXQt50


After Sally popped in for dinner and a chat, she left by 7.00pm so it left me with too much daylight left.

So back to the garage, and ride it up to the house for a quick cleanup.

Degreased the chain and washed it, then applied PJ1 chain lube.

Followed by a wash and rinse.

CLICK YOUTUBE LINK.

https://youtu.be/koytyh2Yh5U


So it looks a bit better.



Decision made to sell it on, and the money all goes to Sally as she found it.

Her oven at home is a two part, side by side and about 15 years old, the one side oven has died, again. So she is currently saving for a new cooker and oven.

So the money is certainly hers to keep, only fair.





I am sure that when I advertise it, the usual time wasters and dreamers will all come flooding in.

But hopefully it will find a farm or place to go make someone happy.

[realvc]

What a cool little bike and some real nice reel treasures too.
Can't beat the price either.

Good luck on the sale.

[aggie91]

wow, I have missed a ton of activity. Back on post #5118, I was shocked at what I saw, Rian in nearly FULL PPE (even leather boots, no flip flops!) while using a chainsaw!

Great score on the bike, nice progress on the Rocket, and nice work on the tea pot bird houses.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

What a cool little bike and some real nice reel treasures too.
Can't beat the price either.

Good luck on the sale.

Hey Vince !!

Do you know that Don and Saless have sold up and are moving elsewhere.

Yes, lets hope the bike sells well.

Originally Posted by aggie91

wow, I have missed a ton of activity. Back on post #5118, I was shocked at what I saw, Rian in nearly FULL PPE (even leather boots, no flip flops!) while using a chainsaw!

Great score on the bike, nice progress on the Rocket, and nice work on the tea pot bird houses.

Karl, you have been busy I know, kids, university etc…..

No wonder a lot has happened.

Chainsaw included kevlar kit as well.

I gave my ex wife my word when I bought the chainsaw 10 years ago, that I would use the kit.
My word is my bond, simple really.


Popped over to see Kevin Kelly this afternoon, he lives about 600 meters from me in a straight line, but 1km by road.

His Rolls Royce based Deusenberg replica is painted, body taken off one more time.



The main reason I popped over was to pick Kevin’s brain on manageing the chassis steel I had started to strip back.

He has some queens awards for engineering etc, used work in the marine environment

I really did not plan on doing much work on the chassis, rather wanting it up and running.

But typically @pauly insisted I media blast the chassis before painting it all, including the rear axle and front crossmember etc.

Anyway, Kevin suggested, based on my basic needs that I clean it up as well as I wanted, and then took me to his shed, which is a rather large brick building and pulled this tin of grey primer off the shelf.

Suggesting I paint it with the primer, followed by spraying or brushing underseal ( though PaulY suggested chassis black) over it once dried

I asked what I could pay him for it, and his reply was “It’s been there a very log time, do me a favour and use it”

I do not know the details of the paint, so if anyone knows more, please say your piece right here.



I came home for another online meeting from 3-4 then went out to the garage.

Spent about 30 minutes scraping a bit of the front bumper, then Sally got home and I cooked us a quick Rump, mushrooms and onions plus spicy rice.

Then she went home as she is up at 4.00am every day to get to work and start at 06.00

Factory work certainly sucks.

[Grizz1963]

Well…..

Surprise…!!!!

Not dressed up like this for a while.

Had an invitation on Thursday to go do some training in Woolwich.

So no shorts n flip flops.



By 6.00pm it was back to normal in shorts, though I must say, it was Awesome being out and interacting with real humans. They were happy to see me as well.

Sally brought a load of high density plastic/foam pallet spacers from work.

They are used to separate layers of glass bottles used by one specific customer.

Her company sees scrap for the skip, I see materials to use for all sorts of tasks.



Friday was a busy day for work.

@pauly came over by around 4.30pm to collect some items for Woody, his C10 build and to deliver a plastic Jeep fuel tank and its steel cover for the Rezin Rockit that only needs a “Tophat” to complete it, and also a blasting pot for me to use to media blast the chassis, front and rear suspensions, as it seems a good idea to do that before painting and starting to do the rebuild of the suspension parts etc before getting a motor in here. As always a good visit and this time neither of us were crawling around under a car at 5’C as we usually do when he visits. Though there is still some time to,fix that. S10 needs lowering 😈

And in the evening Sally came over and chatted with Paul before he left in the Super Fiesta to go face evening traffic on the M25 and Dartford Crossing, headed home to Essex.

Sally, clever girl that she has become, had scavenged some stainless steel in the rubbish pile outside work, for me to go sell for her cooker fund

I gave the pieces one look and posted them onto FB Marketplace at £15 each or £25.00 for two, after checking them out online, prices range from £120.00 upward each.

So someone would have a bargain and I did not have to go weigh the stainless in.

A buyer appeared and fetched them from Leigh on Sea in Essex at 06.00 this morning, happy buyer, and cash in the kitty.



Saturday had been booked out to mate @Craigrk to help him get to some of the tasks he needs to get to before moving home to Shropshire.

Got there early, coffee, chats and catch up.

Then onto the first task…….

Try get the Chevy started.



Dismal failure, starter motor suspect.

Then we moved onto task no 2

Get his bargain at £180.00 delivered, DEAD Ride on mower going.



So drained 3..5 liters of petrol from the crank case, and when I pulled the plug, it glugged more petrol out there, then cranked it a few times to push more fuel out the head.

CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO

https://youtu.be/FLl1kHaNdlc

Craig disassembled and cleaned the carb, then reassembled it all.

Jump started from the car as the battery it came with it mullered…….

CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO

https://youtu.be/uMPqihaEJH0

After parking the mower we went in to have an awesome deli style lunch Craigs wife had put out for us.

Followed by a regroup and packing all the mechanical tools away, it was raining intermittently all day.

So we decided to rip a bunch of 4.5 meter long 2x8 inch boards Craig had scored in order for him to make up new trusses for his bike shed that is being widened by 1 meter.

All the lumber was free from a building deconstruction site where he had been fetching a load of wood from, like I did .


CLICK LINK,FOR VIDEO

https://youtu.be/ZSYDOYl3dgk


By 5.00pm we were done with the tasks I could help with so I got in the car and headed home for the 75 minute trip.

During the afternoon I posted the free bike in FB Marketplace as well for £400.00

By this morning it had over 1500 views, and about 40 enquiries.

I suspect it was “too cheap” but if Sally gets some cash and someone a cheap bike, thats nota bad thing.

Amazing how many guys offered more and wanted to collect immediately.



And this one.



I have been gazumped before and once I agreed to selling to a guy, that was locked in, in my world at least.


So waiting for the buyer to come and collect the bike today.

Fingers crossed.

[Grizz1963]

So @pauly came and spent a couple of hours, for a change, not freezing his nuts off, though there is still time. Nice to chat, chew the fat and plan the future and world domination.

One of the things he had done in his usual style, was to convince me that media blasting would be an improved method vs the hatchet job I was doing.

Buggerrr.

Really had not planned that complexity or level of detail, though I will not regret it in the long run.

So Paul convinced me to order 125kg of glass blasting media as he had used when doing Woody, his 66 C10’s chassis.





So when Paul arrived in the Super Fiesta (tm) he came bearing gifts.

A plastic Jeep petrol tank, along with its steel cover. Needs a “Tophat” whatever that constitutes.

So rather than lug it down to the garage, the wheelbarrow came in useful to Pauls amusement , and quick pics.





Pauls highly modified and fine tuned blasting pot and accessories.



While I was out at @craigrk ‘s place my media got delivered.

And Sally moved the 25kg parcels down to the garage and out of the rain.




When I got home, I just moved them deeper under the carport.

Bloody heavy @ 25kg each.

[Indian113]

I highly doubt that Sally whined about the weight as much as you did! LOL

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

I highly doubt that Sally whined about the weight as much as you did! LOL

You are so right mate.

She swings 20 liter vats of fruit juice etc around daily.

And being a very experienced horsewoman, I know how strong she is.

I certainly cannot get to first base unless it was in her mind first

[Grizz1963]

No bootfair today.

An incredible rainstorm at 04.30 then left us sleeping late to 7.30

The buyer for the field bike arrived at 11.30 and was gone by 12.00, happy.

Sally and I had lunch around 13.00 and I really struggled to get out the house to go start the final strip down phase of the Rezin Rockit.

So by 3.30 I crawled down to the shop, followed by sally with her embroidery. Just to keep an eye on my, in case an ambulance was needed.

Got started.

One loose nut.















And close shop.



Next job will be next Sunday as Saturday is bathroom refurb day at Sallys house.

Sunday, weather permitting I need to create a catch ent area for the blast media to land and be collected.

First the frame, then the front and rear ends.

Weekend over.


Thanks for checking in.

[realvc]

Thanks for keeping us up to date with your projects and life events.

[aggie91]

Nice updates. I was finally able to make a bit of progress again yesterday on my '65. Long day, but oh so refreshing.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

Thanks for keeping us up to date with your projects and life events.

As long as the guys enjoy the randomness Vince, I am happy to post up stories

Originally Posted by aggie91

Nice updates. I was finally able to make a bit of progress again yesterday on my '65. Long day, but oh so refreshing.

Excellent, well done !

As Ta2Don always says, Progress is Progress.

The trucks are patient.



Found this…..

Remember the gokart, destined to be a barstool racer?

Why not a pickup bed out back.





Seems the skip that keeps giving, keeps giving.

Fold up stool.

Garden kneeler or garage For Sally or Mickey.

[Grizz1963]

Having taken Friday off to sort Sally’s bathroom, in order to get going on the blasting the frame and cross member and axle plus their bits…… I decided to listen to @pauly and the rest of you.

I hope these two items will be worth the £31.00 paid for them, mask and goggles are hopefully correct and decent spec.

I do not often do this part of the job right.



Maybe even a hoody and overall to try keep the sand out of my crack.

[Paul Y]

Rian,

Mask will be fine but get a full face visor - just a cheap one - or you will be removing bits of skin along with the rust.

My get up of choice for blasting is:-

Old Hoody.

Beany Cap

Ear Defenders

Mask

Old welding helmet with new perspex in the old hole!

P.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Paul Y

Rian,

Mask will be fine but get a full face visor - just a cheap one - or you will be removing bits of skin along with the rust.

My get up of choice for blasting is:-

Old Hoody.

Beany Cap

Ear Defenders

Mask

Old welding helmet with new perspex in the old hole!

P.

I do have a,spare, bought at a bootfair for £1.00 full face visor, and a spare auto dimmer welding mask that Mickey managed to break, like he often seems to do.

Will start with the clear visor.


Remember the steering rag joint?

I found a small (possibly Ford) UJ in my stash, had tried to give it away before…..

Now I may need it myself.

Advice time I guess.

What we have .





Splines look to be different size, but I think it is an optical illusion.



What I found.



Cut off the rag joint, reshape the shaft to triangular, bolt on the UJ?






Then there is this advice option.

Thanks to mate Edd @boidieanbdoyle for this.

Or a new rubber for 15quid? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Cort...-127635-2958-0

So grind/drill out rivets and bolt in replacement.


Conundrum?

[Grizz1963]

Amazing how clever the internet is.



[quote author="@kevins" source="/post/2694528/thread" timestamp="1629986367"]If you went the route of using the u/j you would have to be careful to get the phasing with the joint on the other end right otherwise it will feel lumpy.[/quote]

Good call on the phasing, another bit of good advice from mate Edd.

Well I'd personally order a rubber, less chance to slip with the grinder. But if you do cut it, read this https://www.drivelinesnw.com/part-tr...lysis/phasing/

[Grizz1963]

NOT SO UNPREDICTABLE CHANGE OF DIRECTION.


so after quite a bit of thought, and chatting to various people, including those who spend my cash regularly, and a dose of my own opinion and ideas, I decided to see if a £500.00 MX5 Donor could be found.

And then ot happened…….. a certain member I have known for 15 years or so, offered me a deal I wanted to, but did not resist.

Stored about 4 years in a barn…….

Dusty.

Complete, except for the catalytic converter……..

And 283 miles from me.

Delivery in exchange for a cuppa tea and cookies and an hours chat.

So a price was agreed, and two photos came my way.


First pic absolutely sold it for me




Second one meant that I could check the MOT history.


Slightly better award winning photography.





So I checked the MOT history.


Note the low mileage. 68190 miles. Car was registered end of December 2000



A quick search, based on the registration showed it to be a 1600cc engine.



Delivery has been scheduled for Sunday, given that all the planets align.


I am sure those of you in the know will recognise who the seller is, based on the origin of the delivery road trip. Our very own KFW.





So tomorrow morning I will have to cut down the body table and add wheels to it, to make it mobile as the plan is to park the MX5 under cover.


PS. I always wanted a canary yellow car or truck.


Wish about to be fulfilled.




.

[Grizz1963]

Who needs Enema’s

Friends like this, love it.

Originally Posted by sparkplug

Was fully expecting the write up to be here already by the time I got home

I won't spoil the surprise too much - only to say I had a cracking day with a great mix of serious work and some childish messing around.

Smiles all round :thumb2

Grizzmas presents were exchanged and aside from some works which slowed me down by 15 mins on the way down before the Blackwall Tunnel and the miles and miles of stationary traffic before, during and after the Blackwall tunnel coming home there wasn't too much drama.

I 'lost' another 15 mins on the way home as I stopped for a couple of bikes on the hard shoulder. Unfortunately one of them had a puncture and it's the one thing I didn't have in the van. They'd been waiting 3 hours for the AA and still had a 3 hour ride back to Lincolnshire. Nice lads, grateful I'd stopped. Left them with a bag of peanuts and a bottle of water each which put a smile on their faces too.

My only 'spoiler' has to be my revelation as to why Grizz has the back problems that he does.



A broken broom handle just means a shorter broom handle. Still has plenty of life left in it and until he finds a long handle with no brush head on it in a skip this one will do just fine

The rest of the story is Rian's to tell, as it's his thread and he has enough suitable ammunition to poke a bit of fun back at me so....

[Grizz1963]

So mate Fil came down from Cambridge this morning at 10.00 to play and possibly sleep over, though he had a work appointment at 09.00 tomorrow.

Seems yellow is the operative colour at this point.



Of course it was Grizzmas too…….

Gifts.



He also brought some industrial flooring for the S10 which he originally named as the Rumblegrizzkin.

Some money was exchanged for top secret parts with Sally.

These small grids weigh 15kg each…….



And then he unloaded the Sip welder NeilDD had gifted the two of us with.

And with my welder temporarily out of action (we hope) and the Rezin Rockit chassis needing a small patch, and some gussets welded in, it was just perfectly time.



The generosity of this amazing community never ceases to make me feel humble and fortunate, or blessed, whichever way you want to see it.



I will update the work Fil and I did today in the morning, after bootfair.


In the mean time, the Canary is out of its cage.









Excited, YES.

.

[Grizz1963]

So, on with reporting the rest of yesterdays work.

I really went at a reasonably slow pace, deliberately as it is great actually visiting with friends and getting stuff done, rather than the usual flat out pace to just get a job done.

Fil is great company and comes up with some great ideas, like the voices in my head.

After all, he named the S10 as Rumblegrizzkin.

So the first job that needed doing and needed two sets of hands, was to remove the body table we put the Jeep body on two weeks ago.

Lift rear, fit taller box under floor to then free rear of table, lift front, fit a pair of axle stands either side, and a 2x4 on them, put body down, slide table out.

Easy Peasy.

So while I did some other stuff like gathering tools, finding coach screws, Fill cut the four legs off the table.



Then drill pilot holes for the,wheels, zip in the coach screws with Mr Rattle gun.



Once the rolling table was done, we got the body back onto it, tried it out with the two steering trolley wheels in,front, moved it about to test……



Then things got silly just before we went in for some coffee and toast.

Fil fetched Glen’s spare glassless screen frame and we grabbed a broomstick, the RX8 drivers seat…..….. oh, and some wheels and hey presto.



Got in, cautiously



Steering wheel needs to be lower and a touch further away from the driver.



Then Fil got a turn to sit in the drivers seat, and we tilted the screen back a bit, as the plan was to cut it shorter and fit new glass, but this may work, depending on how the ex-56 Chevy roll cage/hoop from @pauly may force my hand on the aesthetics department if I cannot tilt it back to follow the body/B-pillar, screen and seat line.






Next job was to get the canvas ready for the sand blasting of the frame, and then moving the frame onto the axle stands, on there.

Planning.



Once placed, the wheels came out again.



Tally-Ho Mo-Fo’s !!!




And finally ready to start blasting as soon as the air dies in the morning.



Wish me luck with the compressor and enough air volume.

[Grizz1963]

Public holiday today, means we had a long weekend, which means two bootfairs, one yesterday and one today.

Yesterday was massive, and delivered nothing for me, a few ornamental plates for Craigs new house and Sally got a very pretty teapot and milk jug and sugar pot for her own use.

Today she had gone to do overtime.

I was awake at 03.50 and ended up chatting with Dennis as I could not get back to sleep.

Bootfair was much smaller, and again not really anything spectacular as I was really just looking for a Cherry Bomb exhaust, as I have seen at least two over time, usually around the £5.00 to £10.00 mark

However, I did find a super sized wheel spanner/ or wheel brace for £2.00 that had to come home, as I have a new home in mind for it.

And six new, unused coffee mugs, 50p each or £2.00 for all of them. Guess I paid £2.00 then.

Same guy had the massive dice or is it die and the pretty wooden box.

Box for Sally, and dice may become a gearknob on the Rezin Rockit.





.

And in other News, while rummaging in the big shed (large tools like engine hoist, engine stand, metalfolder, cab trolley etc) to get the canvas out for the media blasting on the Rezin Rockit chassis, a rather heavy part of the cab trolley steel slipped where I had it propped on top of another item and bypassed the patented Grizz Toeteckters. Thankfully a drop of no more than 200mm

Not at all sore or debilitating, guess I got lucky. This time.



And then much more importantly, I am awaiting with much excitement the delivery of a canary.

Think back to the miners who carried a canary into the mines to monitor noxious gasses underground.

In effect, the canary was SACRIFICED to save the miners lives.

Nothing that dramatic here.

But our own KevFromWales is hopefully on his way in a 300 mile delivery trip to bring me a donor for the Rezin Rockit

Story here: https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...-rockit-yellow

I always wanted a yellow car…….



Today will be a slow/fast day.

.

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday was not wasted.

But it certainly will be filed under Fail.

I used more PPE than I have ever done, including gloves, hoody and shoes.

What’s the world coming to?



Using the blasting pot that @pauly had lent to me, after struggling an hour to find the right hose connector it soon became apparent that a combination of “lack of,air” and a very thick layer of sprayed on under-seal and two layers of red oxide and some strong paint, meant that I was not getting a fast outcome.



Leaving me with this sort of result, a really good clean steel surface,,alternating with underseal that it struggled to knock off.



You can see how thick it is applied.



It Necessitated this old guy, along with safety eyewear and gloves.



To,scrape off as much of the thick layers of paint and sealer. In some places the paint is not,shifting,very easily either.

Hopefully the blaster will help.



This is a slow, laborious job, but I think it will be the right way to do it.



Loads more to,do, but it too will come to an end.


.

[Grizz1963]

Forgot add this

https://youtube.com/shorts/XBkRSdpQXHo?feature=share

What it looked like.

[realvc]

The mugs are very cool looking.
The graphics are so realistic that it would be hard for me to drink from one.