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

[Palf70Step]

Looking good Rian. Glad she is cruising well. I am still looking thru electrical Gremlins on min e. Found and fixed some, but hopefully this week I'll make some headway. Blazer is going to looking really good with those top hat caps.

[Indian113]

Do you feel Sorry for the people on the freeway driving those little itty bitty cars? Or do you STOMP on the Loud Pedal as you Pass Them?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

Glad to see you are enjoying your not a project as much as you are.

I've done a little on my 62 truck. It is a many faceted project. Also I've bought a few new tools.

Don't you get cold wearing those safety flip flops this time of year?

Hi Vince,

The best about these trucks will be their patience.

They are in no hurry and will wait for us to get back to them.

Regarding my flipflops, no, not at all cold.

I am fine as long as the soles of my feet are insulated.

I do wear shoes, rarely, when it gets really cold.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looking good Rian. Glad she is cruising well. I am still looking thru electrical Gremlins on min e. Found and fixed some, but hopefully this week I'll make some headway. Blazer is going to looking really good with those top hat caps.

I think the centre caps will be nice too.

Let’s hope it’s not overkill.

Loads left to do on the Blazer too, but the big jobs are done. (Hopefully)

Originally Posted by Indian113

Do you feel Sorry for the people on the freeway driving those little itty bitty cars? Or do you STOMP on the Loud Pedal as you Pass Them?

You saw right through me Ray.

I do have to remember it’s size and how big it is.

Passing people with windows down, I certainly do tickle the gas a bit more

[Grizz1963]

Funny how the little things, like looking out and seeing this lump,outside now makes me smile.



I was asked on another forum about English property sizes and access and how I got the truck into the garage.

I guess TIGHT FIT is not an understatement.

Reversing the Blazer down the side of the house gets the best results.

I actually have to swing it around every concrete post as the mirrors are too wide to just go straight down.

Makes me chuckle at the madness every time I do it




Prozac the Berlingo is an easy loose fit.



Mate Darren of Unit Engineering had a bunch of random items in his £5.00 bargain bin on FB this week, so I bought the stainless Stormtrooper for the Blazer.

He will also later cut any other design on request and does all sorts of engineering and batch engineering manufacturing

Still need to figure out where it will go.

[Palf70Step]

Sorry to hear that news Rian. What does all that mean in your countrry, a VIN issue or ??

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Sorry to hear that news Rian. What does all that mean in your countrry, a VIN issue or ??

Hi Bill, yes it is.





I am going to try keep it as simple as possible.

The MOT certificate and V5C both have a 12 digit VIN number.

The Blazer, on it’s VIN plate has 13 numbers.

Somewhere in the recent, or dark distant past, someone has missed out on a single number (number 10 in the sequence) which happens to be a 1 and it has never been picked up, until yesterday, by the tester, who is a new owner, originally from Afghanistan, and who is clearly intent on keeping his business.

So the question could be, where to point a finger and who to blame, or just get on and get it sorted.

I spoke to a lovely Welsh lady called Steph at the DVLA in Swansea yesterday, and she explained about me writing a letter, photos and returning the new V5C in my name, and they would then correct this number.

I do hope that it is as simple as that.

Fingers crossed.

[Palf70Step]

OOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, white sandy beaches. Dennis must be having a blast ;lol:

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

OOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, white sandy beaches. Dennis must be having a blast ;lol:

I am sure he is......



Awake early again today, it is Saturday so not ideal, as I would love to just sleep in and get 8 hours straight.

Still, out the house by 07.30 to drive down to Rochester, my local town and get to the Post Office Depot.

I had an undelivered parcel from Glasgow yesterday that has to be signed for, so could not be left with the neighbours.

Knowing exactly what it was, and where it came from meant I was a bit excited.

Nothing special for most people, but car parts, especially the dress up stuff, gets me going.

So Collected at 08.05 as I was no 3 in the row, despite being 10 minutes early, then straight home to unpack my treasures.


“I BRING YOU GIFTS O’ GREAT WHITE BLAZER



Never been fitted to a car, but dusty from sitting on top of a wardrobe for years, awaiting their turn for glory.

So into the kitchen sink along with the few bits I had to wash this morning.

That is the right way to do it, not so?



And after a quick wash, rinse and drying off with a clean dish towel they do look exactly as described by David who sold them to me.

Money well spent, despite me knowing that I really do not need to spend any more, as this truck is certainly draining my wallet faster than anticipated, still, the cash comes from the Red ‘66 C10’s personal account, so not threatening the mortgage repayments, yet.


Shiny Happy People.




I have another full day to myself today in the garage, so will be doing a load of small tinkering jobs, they all take time and need doing, some, in fact all will be pretty much unnoticed, like fitting the radiator shroud I bought a couple of weeks ago, making up an ally backing plate for the radio, to temporarily fix the visible damage to the surround, turning the choke knob around and refitting it, removing the steering wheel and refitting it correctly centred, stuff my buddy @CraigRK would approve of.
I also need to look at the mounting tabs for the Towbar and make extra, gusseted tabs to fix it more securely to the chassis mounting points, as I do not have an original Towbar to fit.



I was alerted by an angry friend in Germany this week that my old Ford Taurus Transit had made the press again, I think it’s the third time it has made it into a car magazine, twice when I had it too.







The new owner has been changing it radically since buying it 5 years ago.

I am personally a great fan of the “Your ride, Your way” school of thought, and it’s good to see it evolve into something he wants to own and drive.







Off to the garage now, the Blazer awaits.

[Grizz1963]

Late afternoon, I got to the bit I had been looking forward to.

Fitting the centre caps, and then the Stainless steel trim rings.

So Centre caps.



And add the trims.



All together now.

Really needs to be out In Good lighting with a decent background.



Front end.



And my personal favourite angle today.



By 3.30 it was getting chilly out on the drive, the breeze did not help, at that point I was trying to get the Towbar made up and mocked up, but have realised that finding a C10 Unit from a hedge or the back of a shed, makes more sense. And I was not in enough clothing layers, so I thought, bu66er it, another day, another battle to be fought.



I had planned on making a backing plate for the radio today to support or at least make look better, the broken and missing section under the dash.

However, chilly weather and forgetting about it altogether made me come in.

However, weirdly I got a message from friend Bill in Gulfport, Mississippi tonight on Messenger to offer me these pieces.



Serendipity

Life.

[Palf70Step]

Guess he is OK without being in the shotgun position.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Guess he is OK without being in the shotgun position.

His favourite




Thought I would add an oldie but GOODY tonight.


Most of us know KC as a painter.


Slight change of occupation here.

Enjoy.


https://youtu.be/2m7F7jMIE9k



And then we have this idea.

I have had it in the back of my mind since Oblertone sent me two pairs of stirrups.


Background.

THE TSURIKAWA STORY

Sushi, sumo and samurais... Japan in a nut shell right? Well, the country of the rising sun is a bit more than that! And tsurikawas are without a doubt a part of our rich culture…
Stolen in trains by our local young gangsters, also known as bosozokus, the tsurikawas were originally attached inside cars so passengers could slide their wrist inside the ring and safely hang their body outside the window.
They quickly became the symbol of a reckless youth and bosozokus started to attach them outside heavily modified bikes and cars to show rebellion and disrespect to authority.
Nowadays, hardcore Japanese car enthusiasts are still flaunting them to express their freedom.




Went down to the garage after work tonight, raining.

Found a stirrup, old leather belt and pulled my hoody over my head...

And got Photobombed, remember it’s wet, cold and windy out there, but madam wants to be down there .




Better pic.



Expecting,much hate.

Remember , it’s just an idea.

[Indian113]

Rian, Don't let the Cheap Gas Prices fool you! They are just teasing us with them at the moment. By Spring we will be paying premium prices again. Although our highest prices might just be cheaper than your Lowest. Looks like Dennis came through again and The Blazer will drop it's Ass Properly! Thanks for the Pictures of the Thames and your countryside, makes me want to Go to the UK even More. Ray

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Rian, Don't let the Cheap Gas Prices fool you! They are just teasing us with them at the moment. By Spring we will be paying premium prices again. Although our highest prices might just be cheaper than your Lowest. Looks like Dennis came through again and The Blazer will drop it's Ass Properly! Thanks for the Pictures of the Thames and your countryside, makes me want to Go to the UK even More. Ray

Sorry I could not come cook those pork steaks at your place today.

Pleasure regarding the photos I post.

[Grizz1963]

Of course there is the matter of the long weekend in America



Last night after 10pm my one neighbour brought a parcel around.

From Ernie “PedalcarJoe” it had me laughing again, that is twice this week.

Basically for the Blazer as it seems to have a bit of a bruiser look about it, and in all white looks a bit like the Stormtroopers from Star Trek.

Harley of course has to do her inspection, weird cat.



On the way home tonight I had to fill up my car, prices are a bit higher than those in the USA



In other news from the USA, Clem Johnson of Tubatrucks.com had send Dennis an old gas station driveway forecourt bell earlier this week.


Started out like this.





And after doing his magic.........






And earlier today, Dennis sent a pic of it mounted on the side of the replica gas station.




Looking forward to tomorrow.

[Grizz1963]

Lazy start to my day off work, only got up at 07.00 when Harley had bugged me more than I needed to stay in bed.

Did some work admin, lazy brekkie by 09.00 and garage by 9.30

Not bad for a lazy day.

So tried out the Bobble Heads Ernie had sent for the truck.



Then truck time.

First thing I did was to remove the beauty rings, clean them and wrap them up back into their original box

Then made up a special tool to get the centre caps off with. They are buggers to get on too.



Then consulted the destructions. Posted here in the interest of record keeping.


Not the same as my Blazer ............ Ooops.








So looking in.





Offered up.

Notice gas filler pipe is in the way.



Mr Rattle Gun called in, easy work, another great tool I bought a long time ago.



Other side removed too.

Rear axle and suspension supported on the jack, rest of truck on axle stands.



Top shackle bolt fitted, needed to come out again as lower bush sleeve did not fit into support cup.









More later.

[Grizz1963]

So the old shackles came out, looking worse for wear.





Crawling around with 5 layers was not too bad, though my back still objected by the end.



One side.






Other side.






Side view after.









Final numbers.

Started with Front 680mm
Rear 790mm

Front raised to 710mm
Rear dropped to 780mm

Today shackles brought rear down to 740mm
Front stayed at 710mm

Happy with how it sits now.

Project??

[Grizz1963]

Woke at 04.30 again.....

Bugger.

Chatted with Dennis in St Louis as he does not always sleep.

Watched some recorded telly etc, then just as I was making brekkie, I noticed a massive rat down the bottom of the garden, eating at the soup I had put out for my visiting fox.

Grabbed the skip find .22 air rifle @CraigRK had found in a skip, some penetrating pellets and raced upstairs

Only one shot......

Rats are fast !!!

He was inside the bowl, I think I missed.



My shot trajectory.



Just after 10.00 mate Craig reversed in.

Bearing gifts, also to collect some stuff from our USA road trip that he left in my bag, and items Dennis had sent with the lowering shackles.



The cottage pane internal door is a future project.

The garden gate, along with some trestles will be the new BBQ table on the deck for 2019.



Headed out, mich smaller than the Blazer.



Thank you for the delivery.

[Grizz1963]

So after coffee and unloading the gates and door from @CraigRK ‘s truck we went down to the garage to look at the Blazer.

I started it up, fired up instantly too.

Then Craig did his OCD inspection going around the truck, declaring me to be a liar.

Saying that it was much better than I had described it before, seems to be a pattern forming here.

Looking at the Lexus style light, he clearly reacted to them......




So he asked about the replacement lights I had bought from Martin in Derbyshire.

Of course I would love to replace them, NOW.

So he grabbed a Phillips screwdriver and started to disassemble.



Lenses off.

Clearly all the colours this truck has been in it’s life, on display, Blue, Orange and primer Grey/Gray



And then you find stuff like this.......

Woodscrews...... WT actual F ???



Also in evidence, cut off screws that would be needing some attention.



So onto the small drillpress and starting with a 1.5mm drill after the Dremmel slot for a screwdriver failed to unseat the rusted in screw.
Then onto the next size and eventually we had a fresh hole to be screwed




Replaced number one.



Fitted, tested, video made.......

All good.



And these........

Headed into the sunset of evil bay.







Sooooo...


LASTLY....

VIDEO CLIP.

Grizz?s 79 Blazer with uglee Lexus rear lights. -...

I hope you are all happy with the right lights now fitted, I certainly am.


Later.

[Grizz1963]

Randomness first.

Dennis sent me a few pics.

Firstly his step son Bryan’s first deer kill of the season..... now delicious Jerky.



And a truck he was invited to work on for a friend this week..... pretty.



Remember the 2018 Road trip?

@CraigRK is a keen Coca Cola collector.

He had found a Coke lighter, rare as a rare thing, then found another for sale in Hannibal that Dennis sent over with my lowering shackles and it included a very cool salt n pepper set.



Dennis has been fitting the inner metal to the dummy gas station.

Not easy, but getting it done.



With the snow and cold weather he has had to get other jobs done.

Outside signs going up.








Saturday night dinner with Joy and her cat Mitzi, a good looking boy, loves to sleep in the draining rack. No idea why.




One of the plates I got from Andy in Oklahoma in September, 1963, my birth year.



And back in the U.K........

Another small job I got done today.

Before



After.

[Grizz1963]

Slow start to my day, the cold and damp, chilly and breezy weather slowing my motivation a bit, well, a lot.

So eventually made it to the garage by 13.30

Decided to give tinting the rear glass in the tailgate a go on my own.

Reversed the truck tint into the garage and then started to get the tailgate glass out, exposed and ready for tinting.




Glass measured 1550mm X 480mm


Cleaned and ready.



So cut it on the folding table Martin got me from his mums house, date stamped 1960 on the underside. Beats throwing it away.



Small jobs, they all take time, some more than others, even the planning of the execution of this.

Added a steel ruler to the one end, to weigh it down when I got to removing the backing sheet.



Stretched



Then removing the rear backing film.

One needs an octopus realistically to manage all the sides and getting it all sprayed wet before application.

Even my tweets held onto a tab.



Film applied.

Not looking good.

But there is hope, in the form of a squeegee

Much rubbing, squueegeeing and swearing at the wind.




Done.

Far from perfect, but at less than £10.00 for the rear and side glass, I am happy with the results.



Prozac the Van that can looking on.



Last photo taken specifically for the guys in America to illustrate the reverse lights being reused as indicators with yellow/amber lightbulbs.




Once that was done, I did the front wheel lettering.

Another small job done, never made it out to the shops.

Need to go shopping tomorrow and find myself some waterproof slimline LED reverse lights to mount under the bumper.


Thanks for checking in and all your comments and advice so far.

As for all the stalkers........ 🤔🦃

[Grizz1963]

Bought some back up or reversing lights for the truck, mainly for getting down the side of my house in the dark, as I always reverse it down to the garage as doing a 5 point turn on the grass would destroy and mark it, done once already a few weeks ago.

Had really good reviews from about 5 guys with American cars and trucks who fitted them.

I will not be adding fog lights too, as they look rubbish and we’re never fitted originally.




Then just need to find the original reverse light between the ones cut on the loom, and ensure the reverse switch on the steering column actually works, or else fit an over ride switch to turn them into rear facing spotlights.

Off work today, so certainly out with the Blazer to go shopping and for a decent drive.

Later.

[Grizz1963]

Right guys,

Time to test your combined opinions, knowledge and advice.

The Blazer only has two speakers in the doors.

I however, have in my stash some random stuff, speakers, Subwoofers and who knows what else.

So when the Radio/CD/Memory stick plays tunes, they are fine for just listening to.

So tonight when I got in from work and after feeding the starving cat, I went down to the garage to dig these out

Question is, do I connect the JVC sub box and have it under the dash, resting on the hump, or do I build a sub box in a vintage suitcase and mount it behind the rear seat for the big speaker, which may need an amplifier??

These are what I have .

Speaker. No idea about specification







And specification.




Thank you for taking the time to reply, if you do.

[Grizz1963]

Popped in to Ricky’s place a few nights ago to drop off the polisher and parts for his shop, and to have a coffee, chat, and check out his stash, in fact gawping is more appropriate to describe it.

Those that recall will remember he donated the rubber Chevy mats for the Blazer.

A few random pics, but it is only a small part of the random stuff he collects,

I felt right at home.

Tank he dipped himself.



Brilliant creation of space....

For his cars, in the sliding door to his office.




Ricky collects a lot of cans, tins and if you have anything interesting that is headed out to the tip, remember he collects them and would probably love them.





Not for sale.







He also did offer these to Dennis who collects Shell stuff too, so soon off to the USA




Later.

[Grizz1963]

After all the feedback on the various forums by some knowledgeable and not so people, consensus was to walk away from themSubs I had stashed, however, also suggested was using the side panels where the red carpeted panels went in and finding some smaller speakers.

Step up 6x9’s from my stash, these were in the Taunus Transit when I had it. More than enough power for my needs really.



Also from the Transit pile, well, shelf was a couple of rolls of good quality sound deadening to go into the Blazers sides to reduce boom and distortion.



This morning at about 09.00 Mickey popped in for a coffee as he saw my car on the drive, he also brought along my LED reverse spotlights.

Once he left I opened them.

Rather bigger than expected, but the Blazer is not exactly small.



Found a new switch in the garage.



Tonight after work I quickly offered them up to the rear before dark.



Jury’s out.

While in the garage, I was rooting around to try find a hooter that I had on the C10 before.

Did not find it, but happened upon these drum pedals, bought very cheaply at Bootfairs over the last two years.

I think this one is spot on the right shape and look for the Blazer.

Opinions?




And the one that will be fitted to the 66 when I get back on it.



And then lastly, a message from Rods n Sods.......

Karma or Life being Good?

This continues to come together.




Maybe there will be a whole orchestra in the back of the truck.

And regarding the Sub wooofer...... if I build a removable box in the vintage suitcase, with a fixed plug point so that I can remove the case and sub when the space is needed, it could work OK.

[Grizz1963]

Maybe not exactly a 60-66 question but I know many guys have more than one car.


“They all leaked from the factory”

The words of my very good friend Dennis in St Louis who used to work for GM in the 70’s and early 80’s

So I live over in England and my 79 Blazer certainly leaks as much as anything that may leak. Which means LMC and the other suppliers are not just up thr road.

My question is this.......

What is the consensus on what foam seal to fit between the fiberglass cap/canopy and the body?

Some original GM part or use an alternative type of high density type foam to seal it from leaking ??

Thank you.