GRIZZ’s ‘79 - 2WD BLAZER Challenge over in London, England. “~It’s not a Project~”

[Greasey Harley]

I love your "It's not a project" decal. I kinda wanna put one of those on my '68, so people quit asking me what I'm "going to do with it?".
WTF? I'M DOING IT! I'm driving it.
I hope to keep driving it till it's a hundred years old.

Anyways, you got one cool Blazer. I dig those 70's stripes.
-Russ

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Greasey Harley

I love your "It's not a project" decal. I kinda wanna put one of those on my '68, so people quit asking me what I'm "going to do with it?".
WTF? I'M DOING IT! I'm driving it.
I hope to keep driving it till it's a hundred years old.

Anyways, you got one cool Blazer. I dig those 70's stripes.
-Russ

I loved the way the stripes came out.

Of course now it has been repainted and got lights etc to create a Law Enforcement replica and is being filmed for Television


Have sent you a couple of PM’s



Had the most amazing nights sleep.....


About 9 hours in total, not even what I get after jet lag.

Then an extremely slow start, Some laundry, clearing the house a bit and lazy breakfast.

And eventually carried loads of stuff to the garage.

Started on removing the Galaxy’s wing mirror.

The cold does not help, and neither does the fact that I have no idea how it’s all put together.

So rather than break clips or panel parts, I reassembled after a few minutes, and Torx suxx.



And started moving the Mercedes Benz wheels into the little caravan workshop, along with an electric oil finned heater and some small sanders.



More later.

[Grizz1963]

Feeling pretty chuffed tonight.

Started with refurbishing the wheels for the Galaxy today.

Using the free two berth caravan I got and prepared in October, I have managed to prep, prime, paint and clear lacquer the wheels obverse 8 hours, which included paint drying time, and a run to go fetch another can of etch primer.

Work table.



Hand held orbital sander made life easier.



All the damage sanded back



Four wheels done.



Ready for etch primer.



Typically, the etch primer I had was not as much as I thought there was, so Sally and I had to run down to Chatham to get some.



Got it.



Primer going down.





And done.

Oil heater doing it’s thing...... drying the primer while I went to make us dinner.



Decided to give it 90 minute to dry before going back to paint the silver on.

[Grizz1963]

Part two.....

Paint and clear lacquer

Before and after primer.



Four painted.




Clear coated



Rear 8.5 J’s clear coated



Front 7.5J’s after three coats of clear.



I will try leave them alone for a day or two to harden before taking them back for the tyres to be fitted and then fitted to the car.

Have to consider these too.......

EBay item number 163342504162


Lo Suspension - Make driving more fun!


Set of 4 Sports Lowering Springs for: FORD GALAXY 2.0, 2.3 & 1.9 TDi 1995>2006 Lowers by 35mm - a new & unused Lo Suspension branded product from losuspension.com

Are you looking for a lower ride?

Key Features
LO springs are designed specifically for your car
Your mechanic will have no trouble fitting LO springs
Compatable with your original shock absorbers
Your car will have a much sportier stance
Your car will have more responsive handling
You will have more confidence when cornering
Your car will have less body roll
LO springs are TUV approved
LO springs have a 12 month warranty

[68Timber]

Wheels turned out great!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

Wheels turned out great!

Thanks a lot John.

I am pretty pleased.

They are far from perfect, but are better than the start.



Got some pics from my friend Stanislav in Siberia, including this one.

Feels like spring he said.

Not yet the -38’C that they had last year.



Back to lowering the Galaxy.

Friend Bill posted this up.



Maybe not that hardcore.

Had some feedback on these lowering springs, seems they may not quite deliver as advertised.

Anyone else got experience with them?



Wheels finally put the “workshop” and into the back of the Galaxy.

Final finish.



Looking forward to getting these fitted up with tyres and on the van.

[68Timber]

If you don't lower it, you have plenty of clearance for mud tires.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

If you don't lower it, you have plenty of clearance for mud tires.

Very true.

It’s another good idea.

Errrmm.. nahhh.

[Grizz1963]

Ahhhh Christmas break. Many parts blasted and etch primed.

Plus Photophukit playing up continually

So not much to show.

On Friday I realised that Murphy’s law meant one would run out of gas on a Saturday evening or some similar inconvenient time.

So I called to order in a spare bottle of 5% Argon/CO2

Paying a bottle deposit and gas content came to £94.00 and included home delivery on Saturday morning



Service worth paying for.

[Grizz1963]

Last bit about Christmas

I prefer a BBQ to Turkey at Christmas

Thankfully Sally and her son Ryan agreed.



So.... only coleslaw as token vegetable

The rest: Lamb Kofte Kebabs, lamb ribs, pork belly, Sweet Tai Chilli Chicken thighs, German Bratwurst, glazed Texas Pork Chops.

Yup.



Merry Christmas it certainly was.

[Grizz1963]

Christmas Eve Day.

Good time as any to start with the smallest Cut and Weld job identified so far.

I will be over describing for many of you.
But if like me, you have not done this before it may be helpful or not?

So off to the “caraworkshop”

Move tools into the “shed” and find some donor steel.

Built this 100kg plus mobile work station in 2015. So moved it closer.

Used it a few times since.



Straight in with my trusty cardboard template and scissors

Donor steel. 1965 C10 cab.

As @PaulY said, if I use enough off this one I may need to add a new V5c registration document



Piece is bigger than just the holes. Loads of old dents to cut out as well.



First fold to 90’ then back to lay the base crease.
Followed by opposite bend to complete the peak.



Top and bottom curves added, they do differ a lot.






Next up would be tracing the replacement panel onto the front panel



Followed by cutting the bad metal out.

Coffee break first.

[Grizz1963]

At this point I thought it wise to clean up my welding mask in preparation for the bit of welding coming up.

Pooop.

Auto dimming non functional despite this mask having had very little use to date.

Tried the various setting buttons to no avail.

Then tried opening it to see if batteries can be replaced as I always keep a large selection of batteries

Nope.

Sealed unit.

Youtube.... ??

Success !!

But pretty clear that its a difficult task to try work around the sealed unit etc.

So I tried....... FAILED.

REASSEMBLED and graffitied it as a POS.



But would have to use it anyway as shops were shutting etc.

Have to wait for Saturday as shops are shut.

Burger !!!



Have pencilled in getting one of these




Later.

[Grizz1963]

So.........

Cat Stevens sang “The first cut is the deepest”

Not sure if its that relevant to this truck, but once marked out, I fitted a new cutting disc and set to work cautiously



Cut through.

Then used a file to tidy up the corners and a flap disc to clean the etch primer away.



More fettling and fine tuning needed.



Everything takes time.

But got it done.



Then earthed up the front panel after practicing and lowering the power feed but increasing wire speed on some of the scrap metal.
Started tacking one spot at a time to prevent warping.



Ground back.

Holes filled, dents mostly gone, needs a skim of filler eventually



Etch primer both sides.



And all of this just to remove this bit of mess.



So that was day one.

Two hours in total, start to finish.

[Grizz1963]

So we were out early-ish to go swap some Christmas presents for the correct size.

And to pick up a new welding helmet at Tool Station.

I had previously read up on specifications and found that the £10.00 difference between two lower price helmets equated to one sensor vs four. Quicker response time. Exchangeable batteries etc.

So you get what you pay for in this game.

I bought the SiP welding mask without stickers. (Watch this space)



Spec sheet.



I guess the next step is going to be gingerly making my way toward the garage and choosing what repair to start on next.

It may be partly dictated by the repair steel availability

More later.

[Grizz1963]

Spent less than two hours down in the shop today.

Had some stuff to deal with.

First job was to correct part of yesterday’s front panel repair, adding about 15mm weld from behind on the crest.



Dressed back.



Primed.



Packed away, along with the radiator panel and inner fenders.



.

[Grizz1963]

Despite all sorts of good intentions, I managed less than 2 hours in the shed today.

Part was correcting my previous weld.

Then on to a few holes in the drivers side door.



Looking at the original drivers side door, specifically where the mirror was mounted, vs the new passenger door I got, that obviously used to have convoy mirrors

So I needed to ensure I welded up all the right holes.

Using both the new mirror stalk and measurements from my old door.

It has some work to do too.







Of course it has some interesting inverse dents, but nothing a hammer and dolly could not sort, with caution.



Convoy mirror mounting points.

Prepped.



Adjustable heat sink tool.

Copper pipe.



Holes plugged.



Worked back.



Etch Primer added.

.

At this point I closed shop.

Next job will be cutting some rust from the door skin and replacing with fresh metal.

Done.

[Grizz1963]

Another copy and paste on here with a couple of video clip links around metal working.

I was asked the question by a mate, and am pretty certain I have not covered it fully, so happy for anyone else to add in more to enhance the response as a resource for anyone else, who like me learns as they go along.

Originally Posted by sparkplug

So good to see truck time again :thumb2

As a complete novice welder - could you explain what the heatsink copper pipe was for?

I understand that it absorbs heat, but I don't understand why...

OK. So half your reply lies in this video.

https://youtu.be/0Iik1ftVGXI


And then some more here.


https://youtu.be/qBJwngEimZU


Half or more than half the holes and repairs on this truck will be to older holes that may have been worked before, leaving the metal thin and tired.

The copper is essentially a non stick surface where the new weld (molten steel) is laid down in order to either fill, or repair, join fresh metal.

Sheet metal is actually quite thin and the first thing that happens is that you blow holes through it, making the hole bigger when a welders amps, wire feed is not set up right. Different jobs take different settings, like most things in life.

Where old rust has eaten at the steel, it becomes fragile, like lace, with holes mixed in with thin, compromised steel in between which mostly cannot be welded up.

So you cut away the dead metal, and make and shape up a patch and weld it back in.

When heated to melting point by the weld, the metal expands and pushes (WARPS) surrounding metal.

The copper removes some of the heat fast.

I also have a copper plate, 120mm X 50mm X 6mm used for larger flat sections. As well as some bronze “round bar” part of an old shaft.

The flattened copper pipe can be shaped and bent to fit in spaces like a door window frame etc as shown.

Many places (because rust happens in tight spots often as slow evaporation and crud collection ) you cannot get in with a heat sink, so a wet rag can work, or small repeated spot welds work better.

Hence it often taking time, a lot of time to do what seems like a small job.

Practice helps with speed too. But making a shaped panel or patch adds time.

Once welded, you need to grind back, inspect, and weld again if holes appear where you did not quite get penetration or filling.

[Grizz1963]

Another typical holiday start,

Only got out the house by about 11.15 or so.

No regrets though.

So this was today’s task.......

Weld up the small hole to the left once it stopped running away from me, as it was going to be paper thin up to a point.....

Where the point ended up being, that was the question.




Thought I would also just for the sake of illustration for those unfamiliar or not initiated in Mig welding, share a few of my heat sink tools.



And another important tool(s)

The grinder.

I keep three on standby, all differently set up, one with a 1mm cutting disc, one with a 5mm grinding disc, and a flap disc for finishing off.



So back to the patch, I calculated that a 50mm X 50mm patch would cover the weakness and holes.

Keep in mind, this is my very good California door for the passenger side.

It still has work on the inside too, dents and a lace finish of rust on the bottom cup.

So patch ready with a very gentle curve bent into it.

The door bottom corner has sustained some damage before at some point, resulting in a somewhat bent corner, and also some very mild extended dents on the door skin, shown later.



Marked out for cutting, xx and x marks to maintain correct orientation on gentle curve. Note existing dents next to previous weld.



And CUT !!!



Lift



Contrast



Result.



It’s a Boy !!



Part one done,

Coffee time.

[Grizz1963]

Just to illustrate how time slips between your fingers like sand on a hot summers day on the beach the next step was to go dig out the garage vacuum cleaner.

Residual grit from the media blasting down in the bottom seam of the door plus grinder dust needed to be removed.

Followed by fine tuning the fit of the patch into the now gaping hole in my door.

Nice and it actually was.



Using my magical welding magnets, I tacked the corners and then centres.

In order to prevent warping I carried on slowly, allowing it to cool between sessions.



During this time my long suffering photographer got in from work.

So I gave her a POS mask to wear while trying to get a pic of me striking an arc.



Success.



After all the welding, I ground the welds flatter, then proceeded with a hammer and dolly, trying to reshape the corner which had been damaged at some point in the past.



Eventually, etch primer and done.



Hardly visible, and I suspect it will be a skim of filler job eventually, but two long skinny dents from the past.




That concludes the welding on the outside of the passenger door.

Next job will be the rust on the insides of the door.

Time for a rum and Pepsi Max now.

[Grizz1963]

Been over to mate Martins today to collect the Chevy cab lifter for mate @Pauly in Essex and some more steel from him for my rust repairs.

Amazed at the size of the cab lifter in the rear.

https://youtu.be/vfTC9wyQKK0



Next up back to Just Tyres to collect the wheels and new tyres.

Gone a bit wider.

Fitting will be once the springs are cut down on the suspension to fill the arches a bit more with the 17” wheels and tyres.

Almost Happy New Year time.

[68Timber]

Spot by spot. Nice work!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

Spot by spot. Nice work!

Only way to go I guess.

And will only do a bit at a time, allowing life to carry on too.



Back to the evolution of the Galaxy.

On the way home I stopped at Just Tyres.....

The name says it all.

What it does not say, is super service, and watching the guys work with other customers made me feel good.

Service is still king.



So......

Remember they removed and disposed of the other tyres for me, so that I could refurb and paint the wheels.

Decent new tyres fitted.



Happy with the price too.



I chose not to have the the wheels fitted to,the car, as I have an appointment with @PaulY and Dr Grinder to lower the Galaxy.

This will happen another day.

So back home these will be waiting for attention.



Can’t wait to get this lot wrapped up.

.

[Grizz1963]

So it is Happy New Year day.

Last year on the 1st of January I changed the look of my 79 Blazer (now sold and in a film role)

Catscan Approved



So today I went to the garage just before 12.00 after a slow start.



After powering everything up, I added a sticker to my new mask, sent by mate Gary in Florida.



Swapped my new to me, California door for the trucks original, from California door that is so damaged.



Today’s first job was just to check out all the drilled holes from years past, mark them, weld them up.

These trucks were fixed real old Skool way, so pulling dents included holes, screws and pullers.

And after the media blasting the dents really still are there. So loads of work still to be done.

Some of the holes are quite large, and having been worked before, a lot of the steel is thin, stretched and the edges really are very thin.



So how do you fix these bloody holes ??

In my case the solution seemed obvious , thread through some 4” nails from behind, either by hand if you can find a place to get your hand and a nail in, or feed some thread, or string into the door though said hole, then attach firmly to the point of the nail and pull through and secure.

Then weld the nail in place using the head as a place to lay metal onto, and build up.

Finally, cut off the nail as flush as possible and grind back.





The track of the original dent still runs diagonally up the door and hopefully a puller and a final skim of filler would be enough there.



Finally I got all the holes in the area done.

More dents lover down, and of course a load of rust to get to next time around.



Next up would be the mirror mounting point and it’s stuck in drilled out studs and a bunch of holes on the door frame and to present it.

Seems it has convoy mirrors fitted and then they got broken off at some point, leaving more dents and holes.



But coffee, and a sandwich first, plus hand over all of Harleys stuff that was still in the house to Kevin for their cats or a cat charity.

More in a bit.

[Grizz1963]

A few years ago when I stripped the doors down, the drivers side mirror stalk screws were so tightly rusted in place that I was forced to drill out the heads, and to commit to later on adding Riv Nuts to fix the new rear view mirrors

Today I thought I would try to ease the left over studs out, using a vice grip or is that vise grip?




Success !!!



Then screwed them back in to protect the threads.

And prepped the holes to be welded.



Welded



Ground back.



Etch primer.



And done for the day.



I decided to do the door skin rust repairs another day but rather to spend time with Sally who has been good as gold.

Dinner, medium cream sherry and a fire in the lounge.

Perfect.

[Grizz1963]

Had a question from a guy on Wilddogs forum.

[quote author=Welsh link=topic=127490.msg4371185#msg4371185 date=1577951521]
Grizz, did you get any pictures of the Blazer, after it was prepped for its movie role? :sip:
[/quote]

Unfortunately my word is my bond.

The buyer asked me to sit on the photos he sent till end February

So I need to keep it that way.

Interestingly while in the USA in Hannibal with Craig last year we were looking for a very specific toy truck for him in Walmart. Five different stores in over 150km with no success. But Craig found me a Die Cast 1:24 model of the Blazer painted up in the colours in which it has now been painted and accessorised

Pure luck.

Bought it for $20.00 and brought home.

You can come take a look.


I also have a similar 1:24 model of my 66 C10 with great detail gifted to me years ago by a friend in America




May be a while before the C10 looks like this tough.


.