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

[Grizz1963]

Take two.

iPad 1 Grizz 0

Been a busy week, and tonight I had a report deadline, after a conversation with my new manager, we booked a half day for Thursday so that he could help me understand the process and activity to deliver a new monthly report, which all his reportees think is a waste of time, but hey..... what do we know?


So at 6pm before light failedI went to the garage and lifted the Blazer up high.




Remember this piece?



Clamped in.



Done.

Good enough for me.

Glued in place.



Then the seam sealer, thinking it would be the end of the day.

But of course not, Ehhh?



900mm of welding done in the dark, using an LED torch to show me where to go.......




Bird poop welding on the inner sill panel, without a doubt,

Grinding back in the morning, and some seam sealer later.

This is not at all structural but needed to be done.

Kraken Rum no 2 is history too, so gp era near bedtime for me.


I am also almost out of gas, and interestingly, Imam getting a free delivery from Sam tomorrow.

Old skool service with a smile.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work Rian! It is also good you found out more history on the Blazer.

[flashed]

Man ,you are wasting no time at all on this rig . Im gathering parts for my next build but Im farming it all out so we can concentrate on the LS Swap in my other truck .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work Rian! It is also good you found out more history on the Blazer.

Yes, I am pleased.

Hope more comes up.

Originally Posted by flashed

Man ,you are wasting no time at all on this rig . Im gathering parts for my next build but Im farming it all out so we can concentrate on the LS Swap in my other truck .

Stuff needs to get done.

[ibrown50]

Well done Rian that looks like a good weekends work

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Well done Rian that looks like a good weekends work

Thank you Ian.

Sunday got even better.



Continuing on the food theme, once I was onto beer number two, the starters got to us.

Main course was even better and desert.......? A Twister each.



After a great day in the garage, pretty much on my own, the evening spent with Joy was lovely, eventually got to bed by midnight and my friend insomnia stayed away till 5.30 which was a good night, up by 06.00 to feed Harley and up reading and writing.

By 10.00 mate Henry got here from Romford,

As can be expected, he brought provisions and tools (spring compressors)



Earlier on, before Henry got here I did a few jobs.

Measured the wheels and body height.

Front



Rear.



Then a lot of, well, two generous coats of this gloop.

Over the primer and two coats of Zinc spray from Saturday, plus the seam sealer.



Resulting in this underside, a great improvement imho.



Getting back to the top of the truck, outer sills and floor.

I had destroyed the plastic sill with the welding heat, so pulled it off.

Then Martin to the rescue again.

Old MX5 sills, also needing some trimming to fit and rebadging.





And as mentioned.......

This is not a project.

I am super pleased with the final outcome of the floor.


Really pleased.





Did I mention I was pleased with that floor.....?

[Palf70Step]

Love the shotgun sheels.

Get rid of that old carpet, it'll end up smelling bad underneath the other.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Love the shotgun sheels.

Get rid of that old carpet, it'll end up smelling bad underneath the other.

Trying to get some dark grey or black from my carpet guy, the blue is not ideal.


I will stash the old carpet.



Some more Artsy-Fartsy thinking required.

The truck has a grey fabric roof liner in the front above driver and passenger section, held in place with a bunch of pins.

So, I bought this blanket last year some time at a Bootfair.

So do I sacrifice it or put it away?






The plan is to remove and spray the rear glassfibre canopy in white Rhino liner on the outside and black on the inside, keeping it as it is, and just adding texture.

Let’s see what you guys who know, think.

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

So, I bought this blanket last year some time at a Bootfair.

So do I sacrifice it or put it away?






The plan is to remove and spray the rear glassfibre canopy in white Rhino liner on the outside and black on the inside, keeping it as it is, and just adding texture.

Let’s see what you guys who know, think.

It will definitely add character to it. I like you idea, go fer it!

[tune_1]

If you keep it as not a project would that keep it out of project jail? Look like good progress.

Dwight

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by tune_1

If you keep it as not a project would that keep it out of project jail? Look like good progress.

Dwight

LOL.

Yes Dwight, you are right. That is the plan.

[Palf70Step]

That's how to plan it.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

I like the Blazer one best, so when you sell it to me I won’t have to change my name

Plan ehhh...?

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

That's how to plan it.

[Grizz1963]

Went over to Robin Hood Pub and met up with some of the BHRA guys, along with Ricky.

Had a drink, few hours chat and then came home.

Of course scrubbing mats at 10.00pm out back is nothing unusual.

Came out good.




Tomorrow I will add a bit of furniture polish to make them pop and fit them.

Loving this non project truck.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by sparkplug

Wow - that's quite a transformation!

I love how it's sometimes these simple tasks that give so much satisfaction.

I like the stainless laser cut idea. My vote would be with "GRIZZ" too.

Oh, and you should start doing merchandise...



:augie

Only sold in man sizes XXL up yo 4XL


Waiting for daylight so I can get on down to the shop.

1’C out there this morning.

May see me in an overall and shoes today.

[Grizz1963]

1999 Jeep Cherokee wheels.

£80.00 for 5

Opinions??





Just an idea.....

[Grizz1963]

So Saturday started thus.




I got the truck off the rear axle stands and then turned it around on the lawn, not a clever thing as there are a load of wheel tracks/trenches from the weight of the truck.

I usually reverse stuff down the drive as it’s easier that way, but when @PaulY got there we would be needing the front end facing the garage entrance.

A rare sight this way around.




Up on axle stands, wheels off and tools ready so that when Paul got there by 10.30 we could carry on.



Mickey came around to check up on us as he heard the motor earlier on.




This guy has always got a smile, even when things go badly wrong, he just grins and says something like “well, let’s think about it, we just need to get on and do this thing”



The blue house carpet I brought home last week came in handy, two layers helped against the bone chilling cold while the wind continued to drop the temperature for us.

Busy Busy Busy...... and yes, I helped (a little bit)



DIRTY BIG THING, DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY.

Lower control arm.



Scrape, dig, clean up using knife, chisel and brush, then washed with a hard toilet brush and loads of petrol.




Followed by commercial kitchen degreaser that smelled lovely.

Then once it dried away, pressure clean, wash and dry.





Clean parts are so much fun to work with.


The 40 year old bushes and ball joints still needed to be removed.


More in a bit.

[Grizz1963]

So we continued to dismantle, clean, strip and swear from time to time. (I do most of the swearing, @PaulY jut get on with it)

The amount of dirt stuck to this truck, possibly the same as most or many other 40 year olds is staggering, possible a good rust preventative though.

Both sides torn down.




Next job of course was to clean, service and refit new parts to the Control arms.



The springs removed form the truck were as impressive as any that had been torched before.

Useful only as ballast when weighing something in.

Take a good look.

Before you burn them.

Measuring 11 inches.



So a new pair were selected from the pile, and measured, offered up and then Dr Bosch Grinder came in.

Surgery.

13 inches saved to be fitted.

Happy.



The next big job was a YouTube research job......

Easiest way to remove the 40 year old swing arm bushes.

Dr Bosch Drill to theatre.

Bench mounted, a few large drill bits sacrificed

Two per swing arm = 8 total.



Followed by Mr Press.

This tool, belonging to @PaulF was the most sensible thing to bring to the party.

Not always easy to use, needed loads of small custom pressing pieces made through the day, each taking time, and finding the right materials being a pain too, it worked a treat.



New brake shoes added while the front end was dismantled.



As we got busier and time drained away, I took less photos.

Needles to say, once the old bushes were removed and the new once’s pressed into place, often necessitating restarts the Ball joints were removed, replaced and then I took each piece out to a tree, hung them and painted the fresh metal in underbody sealer, getting a lovely uniform and clean look.

By 8.30 Paul had completed the reassembly, I still need to go back to torque up everything, change the position of the passenger side lover swing arm arm as it seems to have escaped the locating points.
Brake on passenger side needs bleeding.
Then I need to do the steering or tie rod ends, as we ran out of daylight and ambition, the cold is a killer.
Finally I also need to remove and replace the existing front wheel bearings.

Tired but happy, we closed shop at 8.30

Sleep was a problem for me, netting a total of three hours, and then awake for 4 hours, followed by another hour.

Today it was rain, wind and 5’C all day, so I decided to go shopping for food, paint and Silver Hammmerite for the wheels once the sun returns.

This afternoon I popped down to the garage to check the height and get a pic of the new height.

A sure sign of us being tired toward the end.



Front end came up 35 mm

Looking a load better, rear seems to have gone down a bit, 5-10mm



So there you go.

One step closer to an MOT submission.

Thanks for checking in and making your comments all.

[Grizz1963]

Went down to the garage a few minutes ago, it’s bloody cold out there.

Wanted to check and see if my bought 10 years ago, used a few times, Torque Wrench still worked.

[Indian113]

Shoe's THIS I have to see!

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Shoe's THIS I have to see!

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Hmmmmmm.........


So last night, Ricky who brought me the mats for the truck, knowing I like a knife, and also that I love miniature items, brought me a serious dagger.





After adding a bit of shine to the mats, as well as cleaning the previous set I had, that then went in for the rear seat, it looked like this.

I love it for sure.



It rained intermittently today, typical of the day I chose to take off work.

So I did lots of little random jobs in the garage, moved stuff about, made some space.

Also grabbed a large can of satin black, and after cleaning the wheels, I sprayed the centres three coats of black.

Next will be Silver Hammerite paint along the edge.





One of today’s planned tasks was to modify the VW Polo Towbar to make it fit the Blazer chassis.





I believe this is where Lee, the previous owner had removed the old Towbar.

So it will be the new mounting point once I figure it all out.



Up it goes.

And yes, axle stands too.



Coffee break looked like this, and I got optimistic, only to be rained out 20 minutes later again.

Grrrrrrr....!!

[Palf70Step]

I didn't think the Cherokee wheels were the same bolt pattern. Thought they were 5x5.5?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

I didn't think the Cherokee wheels were the same bolt pattern. Thought they were 5x5.5?

Looks like a walk away anyhow.


As isoften thecase, in this case the third time this week....

Prozac had ajob to do.

Headed over to PaulF’s tocollect his hydraulic press.

Will be needing that tomorrow.

His splits meeting Prozac,



Loaded along with a 1960 vintage table that was in the back of Prozac already



Back at home, security had to check.



Moving it from Prozac to garage.

Amazing how easy the wheels made it.




Waiting for tomorrow when @PaulY gets here.



Then back to the Towbar issue, needing to be mounted off the chassis.



Measure, visualise and



Cut



And finally trimmed to size,



Ready to be welded and fitted.

[Indian113]

Anybody Else see Those SHOES?