GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

Truck bought 30/12/20

V5c delivered today , guess I now feel happier, having the paperwork sorted.

Today I also assembled the rear fog light, to be mounted to replace the one currently fitted at lunch time.



Overnight, one of my American buddies, Tyler, who works for Missouri Department of Transport sent a few pics, his S10 is back on the road, had it since leaving school,. One of those, “It will never be for sale” trucks.





And his night time drive, its an interesting department to work for, all staff members, male and female, regardless of role, needs to qualify to drive these trucks and the grifters.

This one does both jobs at the same time.



Regarding the wheels, I just cannot help myself

The urge to give stuff a go and try do it myself, is just too strong.

Got these coming.

Will have the tyres pulled off, two good Bridgestones will go back on and I will buy another two for the rear, keeping one to go on the spare 16” wheel when I find one to use as spare.

A bit of work to polish and strip them, then prime and paint, must be capable of that.




Also in the post today........

A John Deere box from the USA, no idea why, but one of my favourite agricultural brands.

Here is the lesson for the day though.......

Black and silver = Construction

Green and yellow = Agriculture.

So what’s in the box??



A hoody/hoodie for Sally



Wrapped around a $5.00 Chevrolet part for the S10 , sent by Dan in Deary, Idaho, he refused to let me pay for any of it, guess he has a free dinner r two and accommodation booked here then.

The one on my trucks tailgate handle is broken and a huge irritation to me.



Postage/shipping really is a killer for our hobby.



Thanks Dan.


Friday night, a bit of alcohol, a bit of pan friend meat and vegetables, could be a good end to a rough week.

[Grizz1963]

Still chilly and windy outside.

Had planned my first ever Netflix binge over at Sally’s place, to allow her to paint her sons bedroom (no, not allowed to help)

But I would really struggle to sit still for that long.

So unloaded the metal folder, it’s a heavy chunk of metal, and certainly a two handed lift and carry for me.

Put that and two bags of wood pellets in the shed.

Then carried, rather than roll the wheels from the far end of the deck where they have been sitting, around to the front and into the company car, thank goodness it’s a Focus Estate/wagon, these wheels and tyres take up a bit of room, even with the seats down.

So I may go grab some food and see if the tyre shop can pull the tyres off for me and then I will have the wheels blasted.

Bring them home. Polish and buff the spokes to a level I am happy with, rather than have them machine cut.

I will then mask them, go back to the coasters and have the recessed sections powder coated, in Anthracite, to go with the stripes.

And the centre caps will get done at leisure once I have the wheels fitted and decide just how I want to manage them.



I could still regret this vs just blowing £90.00 per wheel for a simple blast, coat and cutting.

We will see.

[Just call me Sean]

I've done some with a wire wheel on a drill. I didn't polish them after though. Might want to start with that.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

I've done some with a wire wheel on a drill. I didn't polish them after though. Might want to start with that.

I need to get a load of paint and muck shifted.

Got some time.

Patience and a bit of thought I guess

[Just call me Sean]

The wire wheels also come in grits, and they're more forgiving than the discs.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

The wire wheels also come in grits, and they're more forgiving than the discs.

Excellent.

Thanks, will proceed with caution




Well, for those who are interested.

Had my second redundancy discussion today, again, completely without emotion, delivered from a script. Legal and all that.

I have been selected to keep my job, based on performance in 2020.

So my mortgage manager will be happy I guess.

So I followed it with a coffee and some electrical filling.

Old vs New



Needed a few little bits.



Managed to get the new unit wired up, ready to plug into the other end once done under the truck rear end




Body work guys........


Remember the centre caps with the grooved GMC letters?


Would this stuff be good to fill the letters and then be flatted back to smooth and then painted over?


In order to make this more neutral.







Last thing tonight is a pic of mate JB’s newest registration plate he had approved after the last one for his race car “CHITBOX” that he uses to race in the Gambler 500 races.





He did have to write an explanation as to what it meant.


Happy to copy and paste his explanation if anyone is interested.


Almost bedtime.

[Palf70Step]

Congrats on the job review Rian.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Congrats on the job review Rian.

Thanks Bill,

Really thankful that I made the grade.

Based on keeping the pressure up last year.

[Grizz1963]

Woke this morning and it was a good day, well, the weather had broken overnight.

Warmer, snow washed away.

Warmer.

I did not expect to get much more out of the day......

However.




After a busy morning, I quickly finished the wiring on the truck.



Hung the fog light.

Really too exposed, so I may fold it up and away from harm.

But beats the wrecked one that was fitted there.





During the day, I had a Messenger pop up from someone I had messaged 31st December.


“ The Lady who had owned the truck” had replied to my question below:

Hi XXXXXXX,
Strange message, possibly.
Did you possibly at some time in the past, own a Chevy S10 pickup truck?
Thanks.
Rian



Her responses included the following:

Hi Rian, yes I did but I sold it about 2 years ago

I don't usually reply to messages from people I don't know so apologies not responded before

Oh my god its got stripes! It didn't when I sold it. Obviously the guy I sold it too can't have looked after it, those wheels were spotless when I had it. Unfortunately I don't know anything about it's history. The guy we bought it from called Graham but he died quite a few years ago. The best person to talk to is Howard Cox who knew Graham well and may know more about where it came from. Sounds like it's gone to a good home and your giving it lots of tlc!

Of course I'll speak to Howard, there is also a guy called Tom Newman down on Mersea who who has a business repairing building chevys. He also did work on the truck. I only really used it as a spare and just drove it every now and then! So pleased you're putting it back as it was. I was aware of the damage but can't shed any light on it but Howard may know. There's plenty of miles in her yet

My pleasure so sorry I didn't respond earlier and keep me posted would love to hear how you get on with your fact finding and history writing.

You've done amazingly well, yes there was only one key, hated putting petrol in as could never unlock it! Does the cruise control work as that suddenly stopped when I had it or is that one more job you'll be tackling!


So it seems we have a connection with part of the trucks past.

[Grizz1963]

Busy on a `Teams business meeting yesterday, the doorbell rang and rang.

So video off, voice off, and off to see who so desperately needed to speak to me.

Parcel Express Big red van out on the street, and a man with an electronic reader at the door.

Parcel.

Thanks to “Doc” for offering me these tools, to be shared with Fil Sparkplug as he needs a few bits.

The rest to be added into my tool trolley.



Not bad for £17.00 in shipping.



I have also just got to pick up at the station a new lodger with only an electric bicycle to get to work with........ He arrived at the local station, 7 miles from home at 8.30 last night.

There was no way one could leave him to find his way here in both the cold wet weather, but also in the dark.

Thankfully my Focus wagon just managed to fit it with a couple of inches to spare.



Guess his job??

Body man and painter, has worked for Aston Martin and Morgan, and the last job killed off by COVID-19 meant he needs to work locally in a commercial body shop.

Let’s see where it goes, not sure where it will end for him, but all good for now.

While checking the room and bathroom was fine on Tuesday, I realised the bathroom light switch had stoped working, typical.

So ran out to get a switch to replace the busted one, and on the way back, popped in to speak to the guy building this car......... to find out how he uses the resin/fibreglass filler that I am planning to use for the new to me, wheel centre caps.

So he has started on paint as well.

Kevin is an amazing guy, had Corona just after Christmas and last week a partial knee replacement, yet, with a bit of a limp, this 75 year old was bombing around his workshop.

Love people like that who never sit still.

Currently he is about to make and cast resin light lenses for the car as they are essentially unobtainable.





Back at my desk, fighting with the IT guys because part of a system was just not working (turns out I was the idiot, but I also managed to highlight a flaw the were not aware of in the system) the doorbell rang again, my pretty postie had come back a second time to deliver a parcel as my car was back on the drive, because I had been at Kevin’s on the way home when she had tried to deliver. What great service.

Parcel, obviously wrapped by a man, a REAL MAN !!!

How did I know this?

Ratio of Ducktape to parcel and then more brown tape, padding, polystyrene etc inside.



Of course a sharp knife and a fight to get inside.

Bloody brilliant !!!!!

Gift for the Rezin Rockit from Martin, Mucky Helmet, who years ago saved me around £4000.00 when I built the kitchen by facilitating my purchase as a trade buy.

Yup, it is still here, just been on the back burner a bit while the weather has been so rubbish.



Just beautiful



So they will be put on standby alongside the pair @KevinS had given me, I will rebuild them into one unit for left and right.

Soon enough.

[Grizz1963]

Idea factory anyone?

Just as bit of visual guidance, these wheels are not the same as the ones I bought, but I was trying to visualise and figure out what route to go.

Standard wheels



Modified





Making is all silver.........

Will this work on my wheels and truck?



Or does one go two tone.

[Palf70Step]

Those were the wheels I had on my ole S10. I tried painting the unpolished section body color. So, so. I redid them in a satin black, which I like better. That was before the days of me having a dig camera, so I don't have any pictures with the changes. Not sure about those styles in all polished. Just doesn't grab me. For your wheels and the shape/style os center cap, I have not cared for much other than factory look, but again just me....old fart.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Those were the wheels I had on my ole S10. I tried painting the unpolished section body color. So, so. I redid them in a satin black, which I like better. That was before the days of me having a dig camera, so I don't have any pictures with the changes. Not sure about those styles in all polished. Just doesn't grab me. For your wheels and the shape/style os center cap, I have not cared for much other than factory look, but again just me....old fart.

Not at all, you are entitled to your own opinions too.

We will see how it all unfolds.

[Grizz1963]

So today I started another small job.

You know how it goes...... pay someone, or give it as go and try do it yourself.

Know where we are headed?



Managed to find a huge crack in it.



Mixed up too much of the fibre resin, but got this far.

ROCK HARD.



Gave it an hour to harden , then started to work it back.



All four.



Wiped down, amazingly this took an hour to do, time flies.



It needs a bit of primer, then gloss black, followed by a deliberate slow coating in chrome paint ..

Ordered the chrome and hopefully it will be delivered at 07.00 tomorrow morning.

Also need to get some adhesion promoter to ensure adherence to the plastic caps.

Looking forward to seeing this unfold.


More to come soon.

[Grizz1963]

This morning early, I had a major issue with my new lodger, 48 hrs into his arrival.

And that was strike 1 for me.

He will be out on his assss if he carries on like this.

Anyway, by 08.00 I had gone to the motorfactors and collected some plastic primer, and the chrome paint I ordered yesterday. £15.00 and a can of Halfords black wheel paint, so around £20.00 so far for the centre caps. I was around 2 hours in prep into them too.

Also keyed them all, every nook and cranny as they have loads of details.



Cleaned, wiped, perched.



Primered



Yes, it is my house, my kitchen, and I can. At least it was warm and wind free.

Sprayed from 5 different angles, laying it on heavy and fast.

Waited for it to dry, made a coffee.


BUGGGERRRRR !!!!!





Took me till about 4pm to figure what had gone wrong.


Too much wet paint, too fast, and reacted.


Should have been patient, but it is hard between doing the day job and trying to sneak these things in, in between day job stuff.


Called a few places looking for a barrier paint of similar.


Also contemplating spending £100.00 or $140.00 on a set of nasty Chinese chrome replicas, which look nice, but like the OEM items, are not great.






While out in the industrial estate, I checked this place out.


Totally unassuming.








And got talking to Thomas from Lithuania.


He was like a ballet dancer, between various machines and work stations.








And they go to very large sizes.






Right, time to cook some dinner.


Tomorrow I will restart on the prep for the centre caps.


Better luck this time.

[Just call me Sean]

Wow, that looks awesome. And seems like a really good deal too. I don't know the value of Monopoly money but I paid $50 per wheel just to have slotted lug holes drilled for standard lug nut inserts.

[Palf70Step]

Those look awesome Rian. That is the color combo for sure! I thing you center caps will come out good also. JUst a bit more clean/sanding, then the respray.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

Wow, that looks awesome. And seems like a really good deal too. I don't know the value of Monopoly money but I paid $50 per wheel just to have slotted lug holes drilled for standard lug nut inserts.

One Momopoly Pound £1.00 will cost you $1.40

Thank you, I am really pleased with all of it.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Those look awesome Rian. That is the color combo for sure! I thing you center caps will come out good also. JUst a bit more clean/sanding, then the respray.

Center caps may be deleted, depending on how far the guns stick out.





Went back to the rear fog lamp today.

Removed it all, including the fiddly wiring and plugs.

Then soldered some extensions and reassembled, and tested.



On Friday I also bought a much better quality toggle switch for the fogs to replace what was there, plan is to relocate up to the to[ of the dash.



.

Today I did quite a few little jobs.

Also removed the broken tail gate handle finger plate.



Leaving a gaping hole.



Disassembled, then glued the stainless outer to the new part.



@spacekadett sent me a pic and story of the truck at a show. Some more history came with his text.

I will just do a straight copy and paste.

Afternoon, it had been bugging me that I kind of recognised your truck from somewhere, just couldn’t remember where. Anyway I got a message from a friend who saw my post on the thread but couldn’t remember his login to reply himself 😂. I’ll see if I can copy and paste the message. He is Happy for you to share the info 🙂
I can’t remember my log in ... but this is my uncle Xxxx’s old truck, the lady is probably Xxxxx 😂 So yep Tom did all the work on it,
Xxxx bought it via Tom when one of Tom’s customers passed away
Yep it got caught up in the house / separating curse word with Xxxx and Xxxxx

But the chap that had it before had loads of yanks and Tom helped find new homes for them

It was very well looked after, it did get a light tap up the back when Xxxx had it as he had to have paint done on the bed and new lights if I remember right

@pauly may know the place.



And yesterday “The lady with the truck” also sent a couple from when she owned it, as well as a Camarillo she had at the time.







Right, bedtime.

[Grizz1963]

Centre caps Take 2

Or is that Grand Finale?


Left them to dry overnight with the knackered primer, then stripped some of it back, realising I was not going to strip them totally.

So a plan hatched to create a set of 10 yard caps.




Followed by a dusting of satin black, for shiny chrome results, go with gloss paint. Mr Impatient did not want to go buy more paint, rather choosing to use what was on site.



Followed by 4 more coats, building up, despite the messy finish I chose to go with.



Then I started on the chrome finish.

Disappointed, but I chose the satin base.

Leaving a more aluminised finish.

Painting them Indoors as the wind was just too much outside.





Outside to dry.





And that’s what we have.


Happy with it, certainly better than what I started with.








A few people on a few forums and FB questioned whether one could get away without the centre caps altogether.

It is a possibility. Depending on what exactly pokes through the centre bore holes.

A flat cap, and chrome wheel nuts could change the look completely.





Right.


Time to get outside and start on the front indicator reworking and tidying up.


Remember what they looked like?

[Palf70Step]

Your caps came out very nice Rian. Never thought of the wheels without them, but I do like the look with just the small center cap.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Your caps came out very nice Rian. Never thought of the wheels without them, but I do like the look with just the small center cap.

There’s a good chance, if the centre bore is not impacted, that I will go this route.




I will admit to having a very foul mouth on me.

Today I was certainly tested.

One job was really easy and a great result presented.

The other........

Back in a bit after dinner to look for sympathy.

[Grizz1963]

Well, at this point I suspect most of you have forgotten and thought I had finished fitting the LED indicators.

Wrong.

Cold and not getting it done happened.

Today and yesterday were warm days, so I got a few things done to the truck.

So this morning I started the process of tidying and wiring in the resistors and LED lamps.

Cut off .



New wires added as the bodged up U.K. MOT standard wiring is just so crappy, and throw out the day I realised that the flamed professionals we often hand out our cash to should not be allowed to eat with much more than a spoon.



Testing to ensure it all came together correctly.

Works



Then soldered and sealed up.



Then on to the second one, passenger side.

Look at all the damage where some genius cut the wires to add in the side repeaters, just incredible that two,cuts were needed.



Why an inch long extension?

Seriously.



Next up, I tried to figure what was up with the passenger side repeater that had stopped working previously.

Unravelling this lot, 3 random joins from,side repeaters to front of the truck where I was tidying up the wiring.

Again...... why?



Back to this mess on the passenger,front setup.

To see if I could figure the side repeaters out.



While I was disassembling the historical fixes, the side repeaters started to work again.

Dry joint?

I also opened and checked both rear lights, disassembled and reassembled it all.

The passenger side rear indicator bulb started to work after I pulled and refitted it.

Another mess to disassemble another day and rebuild more tidily



At this point I had tidied up, soldered and shrinked the second bulb fitting, and just wound it all together to test.

FAIL !

Now everything blinked too fast, there are small side markers in the headlights that also blinked, and inside the cab, the radio display blinked along with the indicators when the headlights were off.
If I turned on the headlights, the radio display blacked out.

Note the side light in the headlights.



ALSO.......

We now had one LED showing white and one Amber if you look closely.



Electronics are a dark art, and I just don’t get it.

So in the phone to @Rider51 Henry, a long conversation, videos and him writing notes furiously.

I also tried to get hold of @craigrk and mate Martin.

Martin went off on his typical explanation, he lives and breathes micro circuitry, and assumes, wrongly, I understand. Anyway, he tried bravely and I offered to kiss his butt if what he said was true. Seems I have a butt to kiss some time.

After 4 hours of working on this job from hell, I managed to get it sorted.

Martin had told me that these lamps actually have defined polarity, I disagreed, as it fits any way, and looks the same both sides.

Wrong.



The crazy thing is, over the lat few weeks these have gone in and out of my pockets many many times, and me as it seems, 99% of the time I managed to fit them correctly to create white light at rest and Amber when activated.

Randomly, after speaking with Henry and Martin, I tried the one lamp, removing and switching through 180 degrees, and believe it, the colour changed.

Then I switched the passenger side lamp around and everything changed,



Once established, I soldered and heat shrunk all the joints.

The breeze all day messed with soldering outside and also the lighter flame to do the heat shrink, maybe time to buy a little blow flame.

So in order to make it all work, I threw my painting groundsheet over my head, swore like a sailor and carried on.



Much better.



Lastly, a quick video of it all working.

https://youtu.be/jdIu7KdpWs0


Really happy that the weekend is over and actually delivered an outcome I wanted.

.

[Palf70Step]

That was something I learned doing led dash lights. They only work one way, I had to mark each bulb , then get it into the socket with the correct polarity. As you said, can be a real pain.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

That was something I learned doing led dash lights. They only work one way, I had to mark each bulb , then get it into the socket with the correct polarity. As you said, can be a real pain.

Well, despite a 40 minute job taking 4 hours, I did learn some stuff.






So today I saw this, loved it.



I have a chassis stashed away. One day for sure.

Also got a message from Robert who has sold n]me an original airbag steering wheel.

And a picture of the parcel he has made up.



At about 13,30 the doorbell rang.

Wooohooo.......


Tyres.





Loaded.





Gues what next?/

[Grizz1963]

Got to go back to Friday.

When the wheels were being machined.

A few pics and a short video to add to the information about the process.

Being milled.

Click video link.

https://youtu.be/M1Lr_CGuZBE



Followed by more machine polishing.



So today I gave the new lodger a ride to the station after meeting number 3, also stopping to drop off the new tyres to be fitted and balanced by Kerbed Wheels

I was talking to Thomas about the wheels on the Rezin Rockit and before I even left, the first tyre was fitted and balance.

Big grin, this guy really loves his job.



So I left the wheels and tyres to be fitted while I went to buy some food and drop the lodger at the station as he was headed home to Wales.

I also bought some chocolate as a desktop thank you for the guys, beers would not be appropriate



When I got back, the wheels were waiting and another chat about mate Bills wheels in Scotland, which he wants them to do when he has settled in his new home.

We loaded the wheels and I headed back home, big grin on my face.



Unpacked the food and was caught out by evening creeping in on me.

So nothing fitted, I also need to order some new chrome wheel nuts.

Thanks for checking in and thanks to those of you commenting.

Much appreciated.