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

[RockTonka]

Congrats on getting that job, Rian! Happy belated B-day also...take care.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Happy Birthday Rian!

Nice progress on the C10... too bad about the parts delays.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

It looks like you have 2 sets of inner tie rods.(perhaps whoever boxed up the kit wasn't paying attention) On my truck the inners were much longer, (pictures below) sorry I can't help with part numbers, but think you need a pair of outer tie rod ends.

Attachment 1489142

Attachment 1489143

It they were put into the kit in error, the wrongly threaded ones may not even be for a C10.

Thank you Ian, I think you are right.

Will order new parts this week. Then sell on the spares I have.

Originally Posted by NevEno

VERY AWESOME!! congrats on the new job!!

Originally Posted by flashed

Congrats on the new job and the truck is looking great .

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

congrats Rian on the new job! truck is looking good as well!

Originally Posted by 65sub

Great news on the job and I hope you get the steering sorted out.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

Great!

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Congratulations Rian!

Originally Posted by RockTonka

Congrats on getting that job, Rian! Happy belated B-day also...take care.

Thank you one and all.

I appreciate all the care and concern on here.

Blessed to have walked straight into a new job and with a raise.

[Grizz1963]

After bailing out early last night, I worked at the day job most of today.

So only got into the garage around 6pm.

It was chilly down there.

So I completed disassembling the rear end.



Removed the springs and shocks.

Followed by washing the shocks and chassis with petrol to get them clean and applying the Vactan rust converter to all surfaces.

I then cleaned the springs with Cif and a Scotch pad. After which I washed them down.

Hound my wash bucket had already frozen over with a 10mm thick plug.



Once washed I brought the inane put them next to my study heater to dry and warm up.



At this point Nicola had not seen what I was up to as she was getting ready to go out with work friends (I prefer to stay at home)

Then once she left....... The mouse got ready to play.



At -2'C outside, it just makes sense to paint indoors and deal with any objections tomorrow.



Hopefully I will get some time tomorrow to paint the chassis and axle.

Little by little

[flashed]

No wonder I cant get plates from all 50 states ,you are getting them all ,LOL .I like the Budweiser plate ,never seen one of those and Im a recovering Budweiser collector .

[dwcardfan]

Looking good Rian!!

[Palf70Step]

[markeb01]

Thanks for the follow up letter today Rian. And happy belated birthday! Truck is looking great, will be nicer once the steering parts get sorted out. And the rear springs turned out very nice. Congrats and good luck on the new job. Hopefully it will last longer than the previous version. Regards, Mark.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

No wonder I cant get plates from all 50 states ,you are getting them all ,LOL .I like the Budweiser plate ,never seen one of those and Im a recovering Budweiser collector .

I feel very pleased, privileged that Ken thought he would send me some of his plates.

What do you mean, you are a recovering Budweiser collector?

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Looking good Rian!!

Thank you Donny, if my truck come to even being 10% as good as yours, I would be pleased as anything.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Thank you Bill, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by markeb01

Thanks for the follow up letter today Rian. And happy belated birthday! Truck is looking great, will be nicer once the steering parts get sorted out. And the rear springs turned out very nice. Congrats and good luck on the new job. Hopefully it will last longer than the previous version. Regards, Mark.

Thank you Mark, always good to hear from you.

Yes, I hope this job lasts longer than the last one.

Best part about this redundancy, is that it has given me some time to play on the truck, I between doing bits I am still expected to do.

[Grizz1963]

Well, the chassis paint is now complete. And I am very pleased as it means I can get on with some other jobs.

One of the things to do is to start preparing the cross baces for the bed strips that I will be making up at some point.

However, my truck has a plywood floor with minimal steel braces. Martin may have one or two for me, or else I will go to the scrap yard and make up something that works.

My loadbed currently looks like this with only one brace ahead of the wheel arches, toward the cab.

There should possibly be two more.



This is a diagram taken from the LMC catalogue, showing all the braces needed.



This is a Short Fleetside bed pulled by DaddyOh in Southern California recently, showing all the braces in place.



So my question is this: Can one live with bed strips, without any of these braces? In case I do not get any from mate Martin.



Last night I pulled out my oil filled garage heaters and set them in place between the chassis rails as I wanted to see if I could push the 0'C temperature down there, up a bit so that I could paint the rest of the chassis and rear axle and prop shaft. I had wanted to do this for a long time.
This morning at 07.00 I went down to the garage to switch them on so that they could start breaking the cold and dry the air out.
When I opened the big door, I realised the heaters had been on all night.
Checking my thermometers ( I have a few of them around) I could see the temperature had gone up to 5'C so I decided to leave them on and come back down by 10.00 to see if it was warmer.
By 10.00 it was up to 6'C, so I decided to mask up the last bits that I did not want to get paint on.

This was what I started painting at 11.00 then.



It took about three hours to complete and by the time I was finished, the garage temperature had gone up to 10'C which is a good temperature for the paint to dry and harden.

Finished, really pleased with the way this has turned out.

I find it really rewarding to see where I came from and where the chassis is now.





And of course tonight........





I also painted the rear brake drums while I was at it. Did the fronts in silver, but decided to go for a light industrial grey instead as the Rallye wheels will cover them anyway. So may repaint the front as well in the grey. Heater up close to help the drying.



After all that I was a bit bored, so I decided to paint up all the rolling wheels in the same red as the springs.

Should look better than the rusted look they had before.



Next up I will remove all the brake lines and mark them up.

Martin has found a guy some distance from where I live who will reproduce all our brake lines at a reasonable rate.
So this is the next little job I never planned.

An then I want to fit a new fuel line from the tank to the front.

Happy tonight.

[flashed]

Wow ,that looks great and the wheel looks good too.

Now to your question about me being a recovering Budweiser collector .I used to collect anything Budweiser except for the beer itself ,not a drinker ,just loved the brand I guess .I have all kinds of steins and other Bud stuff all stored away in boxes with no room to display it so I no longer collect any more of it .I may even sell it all off one day .I also collect Coca Cola stuff and Zippo lighters as well as any kind of transportation toys ,license plates and road signs .
When I get a chance Im going to try to dig out a few plates to send your way .My shop is so cluttered right now I cant seem to find them .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Wow ,that looks great and the wheel looks good too.

Now to your question about me being a recovering Budweiser collector .I used to collect anything Budweiser except for the beer itself ,not a drinker ,just loved the brand I guess .I have all kinds of steins and other Bud stuff all stored away in boxes with no room to display it so I no longer collect any more of it .I may even sell it all off one day .I also collect Coca Cola stuff and Zippo lighters as well as any kind of transportation toys ,license plates and road signs .
When I get a chance Im going to try to dig out a few plates to send your way .My shop is so cluttered right now I cant seem to find them .

Gotcha.

Take a look at Herbs thread here, he has some very cool stuff, including Coca Cola stuff that "does not exist"


Slight change of pace today, no real truck time.

Only checked up the wheels I painted yesterday, as well as the chassis, all good.

Went over to help mate Martin today. ( This redundancy thing has its perks) after work, well, his work, as I am not really doing much at the moment, other than keeping things ticking over for my boss. It will be very different when I start the new job on the 15th Feb.

Collected a rear loadbed cross brace from him that he got off Del's truck last year. My truck is missing some braces.

Anyway, Martin showed me this pic, of myself and Chad on the rear bed of Clem's flatbed truck up in the Ozarks when we were in the USA. I had not seen it before, and seem pretty relaxed and happy there.



It reminded me of just how great this trip was.

All the incredible people we got to meet on the trip and also those we missed out spending time with like Donnie Johnson, or meeting like Steve in Arkansas.

Possibly the best time of my life.........

Maybe time for a "Replay"

[NevEno]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Maybe time for a "Replay"

I wonder what that means? Lol!! Clem's for round 2?

[clemdaddy]

Originally Posted by NevEno

I wonder what that means? Lol!! Clem's for round 2?

sounds like a plan is starting to form.

on the cross brace question. as long as you have the rear brace thats attached to the bedsides, you should be able to make the rest out of channel.

you being such a big time crafty wood guy… can't wait to see what you do for a bed.

[flashed]

How do I find Herb's thread .

[Bomp]

Sure nice seeing the progress on the truck and getting to chat with ya this morning.
Going to try my hardest to get to go to Clems again but things currently the way they are I think Im outta luck.
Don't count me out. My life flies by the seat of my pants.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by NevEno

I wonder what that means? Lol!! Clem's for round 2?

That sounds like a brilliant idea.

The hospitality, friendship, acceptance I experienced last year could only be matched by that which I would offer at my own home.
So who knows.....?

Originally Posted by flashed

How do I find Herb's thread .

I sent you a link by PM John, happy reading.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

sounds like a plan is starting to form.

on the cross brace question. as long as you have the rear brace thats attached to the bedsides, you should be able to make the rest out of channel.

you being such a big time crafty wood guy… can't wait to see what you do for a bed.

I have a plan and I have the front and rear braces Clem.

Plan is already formulating.....

The bed wood will be another one of those made from scrap items.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Sure nice seeing the progress on the truck and getting to chat with ya this morning.
Going to try my hardest to get to go to Clems again but things currently the way they are I think Im outta luck.
Don't count me out. My life flies by the seat of my pants.

Great to speak to you as well Greg.

Good luck on the work front, and hope you get the phone call you want.

Clems is such an amazing event, I do hope you make it.

[Grizz1963]

Went down to the scrappy today to look for some steel for Martin to modify his gearbox mount. Nada, zilch.

Also looked for some steel to make up the thinner load bed brace to go with the one I got from Martin.

So a bit of welding should see me with the brace I need.



Then home to unload and pack a ton of chopped Oak logs for the fireplace.

Back down to the garage to get the rear back together.



Inbetween, the whole day was filled with Whatsapp, texts,and Messenger as well as FaceTime chats with mates around the world.

Eventually got it all together.



Roll around wheels painted red yesterday made me grin too.



Spoke to Greg "Bomp" in Kaiser, Oregon again tonight and been chatting with Paul "NevEno" in Oklahoma.

Told them I am really happy with the way things are starting to get together now.

Once I had marked out the brake lines, I looked over the work I had done so far smugly........

Until I saw this lot.



Then realised there was still a long way to go.

Yup, it will be interesting.

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Once I had marked out the brake lines, I looked over the work I had done so far smugly........

Until I saw this lot.

Then realised there was still a long way to go.

Yup, it will be interesting.

That made me smile, I know exactly what you mean, evey time I finish one bit and feel a little smug, I look at the next job and realise there's still load to do, but as my mum often says "even the longest journeys are completed one step at a time"

It's looking great, keep at it

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by NevEno

Looks good Rian, I like the new wheels!! See you at Clem's! ... If my truck is done..

Sounds like a good idea Paul.

Wheels are only rollers, on loan from a friend who does not have space for them.

Originally Posted by flashed

Looks great ,starting to look like a cool truck again.

Long way to go mate, but feels better.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

That made me smile, I know exactly what you mean, evey time I finish one bit and feel a little smug, I look at the next job and realise there's still load to do, but as my mum often says "even the longest journeys are completed one step at a time"

It's looking great, keep at it

Thank you Ian.

I think your mum is a wise woman.

[NevEno]

Looks good Rian, I like the new wheels!! See you at Clem's! ... If my truck is done..

[flashed]

Looks great ,starting to look like a cool truck again.

[flashed]

You just cant beat free nuts,bolts and washers .

[Palf70Step]

Rian, you can bend the brake lines yourself. With what you and Martin do there it shouldn't be any issue if either of you have the flaring and bending tool. Only thing I can't see in your picture is the distribution block off the master (on disk brakes they call it the proportioning valve). I've never run a drum brake vehicle with a dual master cylinder that didn't have one. I imagine you can, but supposedly it allows both brakes to work right if one cylinder is low in the master. Maybe the picture will make more sense.

[65sub]

Truck is Looking good Rian. Bending the brake lines is a job that you can easily do yourself. Practice with the flaring tool and bender before you start. Then just measure carefully and make sure you bend in the right direction.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Nice score!

Thank you Donny, I always see it as a way of keeping money in my pocket.

Originally Posted by flashed

You just cant beat free nuts,bolts and washers .

There is a load of free cash out there John, you just need to keep your eyes open and pick it up when it is in front of you.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Rian, you can bend the brake lines yourself. With what you and Martin do there it shouldn't be any issue if either of you have the flaring and bending tool. Only thing I can't see in your picture is the distribution block off the master (on disk brakes they call it the proportioning valve). I've never run a drum brake vehicle with a dual master cylinder that didn't have one. I imagine you can, but supposedly it allows both brakes to work right if one cylinder is low in the master. Maybe the picture will make more sense.

Thanks for the reply Bill.

That pic is helpful too.

Originally Posted by 65sub

Truck is Looking good Rian. Bending the brake lines is a job that you can easily do yourself. Practice with the flaring tool and bender before you start. Then just measure carefully and make sure you bend in the right direction.

Dale, that's a great compliment from the likes of you, building your crazy creation. Thank you.

I will certainly practice before I make the pieces.

The cost of a few extra feet of pipe is cheap in comparison.