GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

Soooooo.


Lunch in Oklahoma with JB.



He had told me there was some surprise with wheels.



But knowing him, it could be anything between 1 and 18 wheels.



So the video tells it all.



https://youtu.be/9_ABb3E69N0



So we went off for a Mexican lunch and the largest Margarita in history.



A very comfortable ride for sure.



Got messaged today that the rear silencers may have fallen foul of the impact wrench too.



This may be raucous.

[Grizz1963]

Having bought the Microbe completely “Sight Unseen” getting it delivered, starting it up without any silencer or exhaust was interesting.

The delivery guy is a bit (read lot) of a petrol head. @mercdan has bought from him before as well.

His tattoos made me smile.

Guess the ride.





I did a drive by after agreeing to buying the car, and kinda just shook my head.

It was a rough little thing.







Once it was home the idea was to park it up and leave it alone till the Rezin Rockit was done and MOT’d

But then I realised that MOT, Road Tax and insurance would lose me almost two months of unused time if I got it done before leaving on the USA roadtrip so plans changed.

I started to clean it up, getting to know it.

Realising along the way there were going to be some serious challenges, including the broken off exhaust.

Still, as @pauly says……. Onwards.

[Grizz1963]

Thought I would share a quick, easy fix on here.

I have done it on a few cars before and it works like a charm.

Raw, unpainted plastics tend to go grey and dull over time.

Something the sun and oxidation does.

So you can use raw linseed oil, other oils, or plastic refresher in a can, elbow grease or paint the plastics…..

I found a heatgun works well, controlled and kept at a safe distance, moving constantly, you will see it change as you go along.

Door handles.

Before:



After:



Light surrounds……





After



Bumpers come up in a similar way.

Adds “value” by making cars look cared for.

Well, fixing it up is caring, Innit?

Bumpers Before the heat gun.






Halfway there.





And after, does look a lot better.




A lot of cleaning ahead still.

More later.

[Grizz1963]

Road trip update.

I got to go up for a flight with one of Adam’s buddies yesterday.

This trip keeps giving.

There’s more on the road trip thread.

Brad coming in to land.







VIDEO HERE:

https://youtu.be/JO5EADV9Fpc


Yup, life is good.

[Grizz1963]

And another reason to love ‘Merica


https://youtu.be/ZCUeeNqXVRU


And tasty too.

[Grizz1963]

Amazing what a decent scrub with some car shampoo and a rag will do.

Pic of paint before and after.
























So an improvement

I think.

[Grizz1963]

More cleaning.

Filthy to some, fine to others.

You judge.













Did I mention the upholstery took a bit of work.

From this…..



To this…..



Through this…..



Creating this….




Hubcaps….

Cleaned up, prepped, painted.







Result.




More to come.

[Grizz1963]

Ant then……

Magically we now have a baby Subaru, think how much faster go-faster stripes or a noisy exhaust makes a car.



High



Low



Ass



Nice.

Small changes, bit by bit.


Also tacked the door panels with the wet vacuum and a bottle of Cif/Jif cleaner.

Then reassembled them as they are a bit tatty.



Much better imho.




@Mercdan also came over for a couple of beers and to run his new buffer over the paint with some of the Q3 compound.





Interesting how quickly the hours add up when you play with cars.

Looks better already.





When I am working in the garage, George often joins me, finding a spot to curl up, and then at other times, he will walk around, inspecting, checking.



Bed time.

I am headed to Kentucky and Louisiana tomorrow morning, then over to Texas.

[Grizz1963]

Once I had most of the cleaning done, it started to look better.

Despite all the jobs left to do.

Steering wheel does look spectacularly sh!t from 130k miles of use.

The colour is not ideal.

A black one would have been much better.









Plans were starting to solidify in my head.


Stuff I had spinning around for years.

.

[Grizz1963]

Bought a set of wheels and tyres from @redratbike Thanks mate.

They need a bit of cleaning I guess.





More later for the interested parties.

.

[Grizz1963]

Spoke to Thomas the alloy wheel guy who did the refurbishment of the S10 wheels.

He agreed to £100.00 to remove the tyres and strip and sandblast the wheels for me.



They do all sorts and sizes, from 18 wheeler steels to 23/24.25 inch alloys and custom work.



The blasting cabinet takes multiple wheels.



Damage repair, Finishing, Priming and repainting them was up to me.

For some reason, the tyres were returned like this, not sure if they use soap to remove as well.



Washed, dried, packed away.



More to come.

Obviously.

[Grizz1963]

Satnav took me back into Oklahoma…….





Between Andy and good friend Carol, they have pretty much single handedly built this 5 floor house, with incredible 360’ views from the cupola, but also every floor.

The odd contractor came on site to deliver things like foundation concrete, foam insulation etc……

As for the rest…… pure bull headed determination and a lot of grit and sweat.











Snakes abound in this area.

I saw this one at the house Carol lives in near the building site.

Note the “mask” on it’s forehead.

Not pleasant at all.






Also, last night we went out for dinner…….

Andy’s treat. THANK YOU for not taking my money Andy 😉



Headed home, we stopped for gas as my truck was down to half a tank and next stop,is Thursday in Fayettevill, Arkansas.


The sunset was rather delicious, looked like a calendar shot.


Straight from my iPhone.









So that is your 2022 update on Andy Martin.

All is good.

[Grizz1963]

So…….?


What does £100.00 worth of wheel cleaning look like.


Imagine me sitting at home,,doing this all by hand, yup….. ain’t ever gonna happen again.


Done that before, years ago, still remember it as a sh!t job to do.


My time is worth more than the £100.00


And the results speak









Next job was to get then rims tidied up where they had kissed the kerb/curb before.


Trusty tools to the rescue.





Then set them all out and get on with the next step.


Etch primer.





Easy.

[Grizz1963]

A quick video of start up.

https://youtu.be/hDFN-09Mx4M

Lots of work ahead of course.

.

[Grizz1963]

Headed out in a bit.

Only 210 miles today.

Advertising is all around.

Some fuel pumps run there screens all the time.

https://youtu.be/mCw8R-c0-V8

Bit like being in a games arcade.

Also Dennis playing with the flame thrower……

https://youtu.be/jksGpgNz7oo

Great way to start a BBQ

Or fight wasps.

[Grizz1963]

Etch primer.








And more.






So what next……?


Off back to Oklahoma to a big, BIG scrapyard to search for a few things.

[Grizz1963]

A mile from Andy’s building site.

https://youtu.be/QfHeb35NnZc

Great views.

[Grizz1963]

So for anyone interested in this intergalactic build.


Yes, I am travelling back and forth to get things done here….


Next step was painting the outer edges of the rims in Cream.


SURPRIIIIISE !!!









[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/niknakpix/p/93f47532-31b9-4132-b00f-0246d9e2fdeb][/URL



And then as an afterthought.

Whatcha think?

I like.

[Grizz1963]

Forgot to show the alloys wheels on.

Bit of a Marmite look.

Well, a lot really.








Sorry to the CDO gang for being out of sync.


.

[Grizz1963]

Don’t you just hate it when you are trying to make a plan come together, and it fails.


Thoughts….






.

[Grizz1963]

Happy Labour Day from the Lakes of the Ozarks Gas pump girls.



No, I got no boat.

[Grizz1963]

What next…?

Indeed, and when you have @nickwheeler over for a visit and to check up and in on various progressing jobs…..

Not saying a thing, kinda says a lot.








Amazingly simple trick, use recycling bags to wrap the wheels before masking off

I also use old, large T-shirts when I paint wheels with the tyres attached, to prevent overspray on the rubber.

So I guess colour next.

[Grizz1963]

Real time road trip update.



I had lunch late in Hannibal.



cooked by Holly in the kitchen, and served by the delightful Savannah




















LIFE IS GOOD.

[Grizz1963]

So back to the chainsaw build.


When we were at Tom’s yards, I saw a pile of hacksaw frames, walking around there was a lot of chain lengths scattered, hanging and laying about.


So I asked Tom how much for the one rusty frame…… “You can take it” he said after I told him the plan.


Next job was to find the right size chain, not easy. As they are mostly large link, or wire chains for animals.


But I found a short, damaged length. Asked Tom how much…… “That’ll be a Dollar to you” was his reply.


Back home, mid washed off them.





Into the workshop, in the sandblasting cabinet, cleaned the,links, then cut to size.





I chose not to weld it together, but just to tension it as a blade would be.

Given two coats of satin clear to retain the look.





Job done.





Gave it to Dennis when I got back, he loved it and hung it up in the gas station.





Perfect.

[Grizz1963]

Out with the copper paint.







Copper Done……




Only problem……

I ran out of paint, only three wheel centres done.

So ordered another two large cans off eBay, delivered after I left for the USA.

Optimistically Offered up to the car……

In the shade.

This colour loves the light.