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

[Ta2Don]

Closer & Closer!

[Grizz1963]

Getting there.

Not much to see, but fiddled around a bit after work.



And of course a Photobomb on the other side. Harley......




Next up I have to figure out getting the sign writing.

Looking at free hand drawing it up and hand painting..... surely, if it was done this way a long time ago, I can give it a go.

Vinyl would be nice and quick though.

[Ta2Don]

Well Played Sir, Well Played!!!

And the Coveralls...

[Grizz1963]

Thanks Don, Free fire proof/retardant overalls are a good thing, I have set myself alight once before, years ago, welding upside down under a Sandmaster race car.

Thanks to mate Martin for ordering our shocks n springs from Brothers who have supplied at their April sale price.

I guess for the American readers we need to put things in perspective.

Just on combining shipping, we save about $110.00 to the UK.

I do not remember the total price you paid, but once we have landed the parts, it comes to about $730.00 once import duty and tax is added for the parts, so about $182.00 or in English money £107.00 per corner.

My trucks springs were lowered with a heat torch, so the ride is far from perfect or correct.

I felt that the suspension is a safety item, so needs to be set right when I start my teardown and rebuild.

[Grizz1963]

Thanks to my buddy Martin, it seems I may have bought a "damaged in transit" new front bumper for the truck, to replace the one it wears now.

Martin bought a Tripple Chromed Premium bumper from the USA and on landing here in the UK it fell from the top of the container, resulting in the one tip being bent in about 35-40mm which means I now need to pay the price and then need to straighten it out as much as possible with a press or in a vice, appropriately protected.

My existing bumper is good, as can be seen on photos, but it is not great. So I will sell it on to cover some of the cost of the risky repair.

Little by little the bits are comming together.

[mjh1965]

Well Rian here are your pics .
About time you did the work and somebody else took the pictures

[Ta2Don]

Why isn't it re-bent and installed? What's the hold up???

Nice Score Mate!!!

[mjh1965]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Why isn't it re-bent and installed? What's the hold up???

Nice Score Mate!!!

In Rian's defence we only tried it on to see how bad it was before offering the shipping company some money for it . When I collected it from them it looked fine all wrapped up and in a box . When I got it home and un wrapped it I noticed the end was out of shape . So I got onto the shipping company and told them . The owner Ron went and spoke to the lads that had unloaded the container and one of them put his hands up and admitted dropping it but thought it looked ok as I did when I collected it from them . Ron then told me he would order another one, at there cost and replace it. And apologised for the inconvenience . The company is called STS they are in Essex and have an office in Florida . They are very good and honest they could have denied having any thing to do with the damage and blamed it on the courier in the USA that Brothers used to ship it to them and left me with a big problem. So it's nice to say they are one of the good guys Martin

[Grizz1963]

Thanks for posting up the pics Martin, even Nicola is impressed with your negotiation skills in getting the bumper at the sort of money that suits my budget.

Again, just to put it into perspective for the Americans on here.... most of you then??
Once we land an item it is a whole load dearer than it would be in the USA.
So a $179.99 ($180.00 in my book) plus $30.00 penalty for it's size, bumper ultimately costs us closer to $500.00 once freight and import duties at 24.5% are added.

Paying $85.00 or £50.00 for this bumper, in spite of the end being bent in by about 40mm is worth the risk, as it will be better than what I have fitted right now.



Getting the bumper off to trial fit the bent one was actually a good feeling.

[Ta2Don]

$85 versus $500, Hmmmm... No Brainer Mate...

Maybe time for a Curly Wurly Break!!!

[Grizz1963]

I love my truck, because it still works.

Always useful when a load will not fit into the works Golf.

[Ta2Don]

Using your truck as a truck!!!

[Grizz1963]

Been pressure cleaning the deck, furniture and repairing and painting all the stuff.

While waiting for paint to dry today I also applied the stickers I had made this week by a mate on the body of the dummy pump.



Other side......




I still need to draw up the design and hand paint the Belisha beacon.

But am procrastinating.

[Grizz1963]

Looking at various options to make my '66 Chevy C10 more anti social.

One option is having a pair of cutouts fitted to the headers to then selectively terrorize cats n dogs etc.

These are on Evilbay, from China. Price per side with free delivery.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350803969660

My question is, has anyone used them before, what is the quality and longivity of these parts??

I have no access to anything like this in the UK.

Thanks for your replies

[Ta2Don]

Not sure about quality or lifespan, but the cool factor is Sweet!

Cheers
Future pic of neighborhood Kitty…

[Grizz1963]

Tonight I am the proud (???) owner of £436.00's worth of 2 and 2-4 inch lowering joy for the truck.

Mate Martin has bought the same for his '65 Long Fleetside.

The original lowering was done with an Oxy-Acetelyne torch at some point, leaving the truck a bit, well a lot, wallowy. Redneck engineering at its best with the springs unevenly bunched together.

So in line with having it as a functional driver when it is done, I decided this was another item that needs doing correctly. So spent the money importing the parts.

Martin needed a full set for his truck too, so when we saw the lot on sale by Brothers, we contacted the Brothers in the USA and asked about combined shipping....... the difference was $110.00 on the parts.

Of course you cannot get away from Customs, but the barstewards charge their VAT on the US courier costs too, which I think is a bloody cheek.

Anyway, I am happy that I have nitrous filled shocks with nylon bushes.

The springs weigh a ton, and look very good.

Still need to decide if I should get the springs powder coated, or just give them a coat of gloss enamel, as they are going out of site and this is a driver truck.

Picture of Joy.




There is a lot to be said for building two trucks in parallel. Loads of sharing of cock ups and spares, as well as helping each other out with bits.

On Sunday we have a marathon session planned with my truck and two of the motorbikes in my garage, as well as a petrol electricity generator and a Briggs and Stratton 190cc lawnmower that kicks back like a mule on its pull cord. Any ideas ??

[Ta2Don]

Looking forward to seeing the results of the upcoming Marathon Session...

Should have a long-awaited parcel ready to post to ya this next week!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Looking forward to seeing the results of the upcoming Marathon Session...

Should have a long-awaited parcel ready to post to ya this next week!

So am I Don, Martin should be here by 06.00 and then we are going to bootfair with Nicola first till about 10.00

Then back home to start with the truck etc....

[Grizz1963]

Started this morning with painting the rear springs a red under coat...... what a carp job to do.

Tomorrow I will go get some red gloss enamel mixed up to paint them with, I only did the rears, as I am going to Hammerite the front ones in Black.


First coat of undercoat on.




Anyone remember the office remodel Mickey next door was involved in a few months ago, where I rescued some skirting boards that had been glued onto the drywalls with some serious high tech glues ??







Well, I have been watching Thicknesser/Planers the last couple of weeks, after manually cleaning some of the Oak sections for the resto I did on the cast iron furniture a few weeks ago.

Today I was planning on bidding on one on Ebay, but I contacted the seller to go inspect, and then typically, the day turned nasty, and I could not even get away to go look at it before bidding.

I did however get a call from the seller, Mat, a Police officer to tell me a bit about him. I told him that the machine was going to make a lot more than I would be prepared to pay for it. As I wanted to use it to remove all the glue and get all the boards the same thickness......

People continue to surprise me with their kindness.

During the chat, I had told Mat what I had planned to do with the machine. Next thing he suggested I load up the skirting boards and bring them over to his home about 10 miles/16km from where we live, and give it a go on the machine before it sells.

Where do you still get this sort of kindness and consideration ??

So a fast decision was made, Nicola and I moved cars off the drive, loaded all the planks into the back of the truck and I "raced" over to Rochester to meet Mat, and then we got the first, followed by the other 18 planks, each one got three passes through the thicknesser.



This is the result....

I am a very thankful and pleased man tonight.



Getting on with it.



And the result..... Before and after shot.

Now I need about 36 meters of 3mm X 15mm ally strips to fit between the planks and create the sliders.




This was a good day.

[Ta2Don]

Very Cool!!!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Very Cool!!!

The amazing thing is that he was just an unknown Ebay seller who contacted me back because I had shown interest in his machine that already had about 27 bids on. And it will sell very well.

Then offering to clean my boards up which was more than 90 minutes worth of feeding all of them through repeatedly to remove all that industrial strength adhesive ( I also stood with a spall hand axe chopping/skimming the biggest lumps off before feeding through ) THAT IS BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY.

[AUS64c10]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Tonight I am the proud (???) owner of £436.00's worth of 2 and 2-4 inch lowering joy for the truck.

Mate Martin has bought the same for his '65 Long Fleetside.

The original lowering was done with an Oxy-Acetelyne torch at some point, leaving the truck a bit, well a lot, wallowy. Redneck engineering at its best with the springs unevenly bunched together.

So in line with having it as a functional driver when it is done, I decided this was another item that needs doing correctly. So spent the money importing the parts.

Martin needed a full set for his truck too, so when we saw the lot on sale by Brothers, we contacted the Brothers in the USA and asked about combined shipping....... the difference was $110.00 on the parts.

Of course you cannot get away from Customs, but the barstewards charge their VAT on the US courier costs too, which I think is a bloody cheek.

Anyway, I am happy that I have nitrous filled shocks with nylon bushes.

The springs weigh a ton, and look very good.

Still need to decide if I should get the springs powder coated, or just give them a coat of gloss enamel, as they are going out of site and this is a driver truck.

Picture of Joy.




There is a lot to be said for building two trucks in parallel. Loads of sharing of cock ups and spares, as well as helping each other out with bits.

On Sunday we have a marathon session planned with my truck and two of the motorbikes in my garage, as well as a petrol electricity generator and a Briggs and Stratton 190cc lawnmower that kicks back like a mule on its pull cord. Any ideas ??

You're going to have some fun with those shocks. From memory the urethane bushes on the shocks are about 5mm too wide for the mounting brackets and I think i had to shorten the steel sleeves too. You will need a lathe and a press to do it right. It though it was going to be a easy job but took me all day.

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

THAT IS BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY.

Hope for humanity yet!

[bj383ss]

That is awesome Rian. I am surprised he ran all those through with the glue on there. It must have some bada$$ blades on it! Wood turned out beautiful.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by AUS64c10

You're going to have some fun with those shocks. From memory the urethane bushes on the shocks are about 5mm too wide for the mounting brackets and I think i had to shorten the steel sleeves too. You will need a lathe and a press to do it right. It though it was going to be a easy job but took me all day.

OOOOOOOOOOPPPPS !!!!

But Hey Ho..... We will give it a go.