What did you do to (or with) your truck today.

[Grizz1963]

Marmite.

Chalk n Cheese.

Give and Take.

Wheels from other brands.

Still have the hots for a set of these, I see they come as low as £120.00 for 4 with or without tyres.



So with the 5x120 size here, a lot of non-GM wheels will be needing spacers to place them right in the arches.

Yesterday afternoon around 5.00pm I saw some 5x120 BMW 20mm spacers with a 72mm centre bore on Marketplace for £20.00 including 9 bolts about 10 miles from here.

The S10 uses Nuts, not bolts, so missing one was fine, and these can be used for trading again at some point.

Contacted the seller to say I was interested but could only collect today if I went out for some hardware, and that he should sell them if another buyer came up.

“Where do you live, I am headed out for some food shopping in a few minutes”

Told him where I lived, and he said he would run by and just drop them off on the driveway en route to the grocery store.

So half an hour later I traded, a pack of Haribo Mix for his kids in the car and some cash for him. Saved me 20 miles driving and specific planning.



Nice way to end my day........; now to find something interesting to fit for winter wheels. (No, absolutely do not need them, you are right)

Went to bed late, woke too early, by 05.00 so sat chatting with Dennis in St Louis about life and the 66 NASCAR C10 Truck build that is progressing.

Later he went to bed and I went down for breakfast.

Pleasant surprise outside.

Rain had stopped, thankfully, as I had a few plans for today.




Plan one for today was to fit the resistors over the LED indicator wires.

One on each side.




Front end disassembled again, easier every time as you learn your way around this truck.



Outside was 3’C and shady, plus there was a brisk breeze, cutting through 4 layers, that was less than pleasant.

This is the mess I found.

Remember the wiring on the Blazer? That was certainly worse, and I got that lot tidied up.

Tried to get the soldering iron warm enough to undo the joins the cowboy who did the original wiring “modifications” had done was fun, it actually did not get warm enough.





Mate Martin had given advice remotely as well, as he speaks electrics in his sleep. But a bit of a struggle for my little brain overall.

@craigrk suggested I remove all the mess and use some of these plugs units.

So I ordered them off eBay for delivery next weekend.and will solder in new wires and connections.



Reassembled. Amber bulbs fitted temporarily.

https://youtu.be/jyv9UAEtv4Q



After this I came in to warm up and also had a delivery.

One more small job left to do a bit later.

[Grizz1963]

Been a bit busy with the day job.

Small jobs.

This one took about 6 minutes in total.

.






I hear @pauly clapping now.



And they are ready to be off to Hampshire



And in their place will be a set of original manufacturers specification lights.

Personal choice yes.



Remember how pitted my battery tray was, lots of holes rusted through.

Reached out to Robert, they guy selling me an original steering wheel, and asked if he maybe had one in better condition.

He went through his scrap pile nd found this one, needs a bit of cleaning and painting, but looks better than mine.








Saw this truck for sale on FB today.

In case someone needs one.

145k miles and £6750.00



And so that is all for today.

Bit by bit.

[Grizz1963]

Not quite done much to the truck, but done stuff for the truck.



Covid-19 has taught us to work more sensibly, if not cleverly.

Everything done remotely, and with little more concern, circumspection and care.

So buying the wheels for the truck....... paid remotely yesterday.

Got it all piled up outside a garage at a post code, collection and pickup arranged by someone who happens to be doing a disability conversion for hand controls in a paraplegics car a few houses away.

Clever, or blind luck?

Got to see what I have bought by messenger video today, terrible video quality, but happy to have seen it anyways.

Note the original rear lights, wheel nut caps and centre caps all in the pic as well.



Tyre treads seem to be pretty decent, not needing replacement at this point.



BONUS TIME:

Steve the seller is also giving me a GMC Grille and headlights, which could work on my truck with minimal modifications.



He also has a 4.3 V6 and Auto gearbox to sell. PM me for details.

Then Steve dropped the bombshell........

Gear-lever came off, and I have left the Torx screw on it, in case you have a problem with yours.

He remembered I was looking into changing mine recently and has given me his.



I want to strip the rubbed knob off, and fit this new ally knob.



Somehow the little grub screws are missing, but you get the idea.



Pretty pleased tonight.

Little by Little it is getting together.

Chuffed.

[Grizz1963]

So many things on this truck, which really was meant to just be a get in and drive it type of ownership project has changed.

Typically things changed.

And then, little by little it started to open itself up to me, allowing me to discover its secrets, its quirks, its character, ZQ8 factory build.

Things have kinda fallen in place, sure, I made some effort too, in fact I probably made a lot of effort in some cases.

And one of the things that happened so randomly was being offered for sale, a 20 year old set of factory ZQ8 wheels with tyres.

I never got to see them and still have not looked at them for real, but was told by Steve the seller that they did not have any kerb rash.

That I will check out when I get to wash and clean them for inspection possibly tomorrow.

With the current restrictions of travel, I had anticipated only getting my hands on them at some point when the house arrest is lifted.

Step up mate Martin who is restoring a 1965 C10 truck

His day job is working and converting all sorts of cars for disabled people, from paraplegics to amputees and everything inbetween

Today he had a job up the street from Steve, so by 09.00 he had already stopped, picked up and driven off with the wheels.

Always good to have a mobile job with a van.



Loaded.

Steve also sent me a very good GMC S15 Sonoma Grille to use as a garage hanging.



After work I shot out for food shopping and stopped by to pick up my goodies and help Martin lift his 65 hood into place as he is moving house in the next two weeks.

Again, sensibly he had prepared it all by the time I got there.



The hood is LARGE, really lARGE.



Job done.



And wheels loaded.



Looking closer, but not fully inspected, they will need repainting.

So QUESTION TIME........

Powder coating, anyone do me shadow chrome on any wheels before ?

Please show me and report on durability etc.






One for a few of the guys, @pauly included, is the replacement, swapped out, 20 year old rear light lenses.

They will be getting some serious attention from G3 rubbing compound to revitalise and shine up the lenses.



Also in the bag were the good centre caps for the wheels, GMC items, unfortunately, available to trade for good Chevrolet items.

A few wheel nut covers in plastic, need another 10 of them, and also 20 special wheel nuts with an external thread for the wheel nut caps, they in turn hold the centre caps in place.

Lastly........

The BONUS item

A spare gear shift lever from Steve’s truck, which will be a floor shift manual in future.

I wanted one that I could modify, while retaining the original for refitting if ever needed.



And to close out the day, a nice sunset again.



Life is good, I may have mentioned this before.

[Grizz1963]

So this morning I went out to see what my £200.00 or $260.00 had bought me.

Tyres, still have some life left in them. (Subject to getting changed at a whim)



These wheels will be needing a refurbishment, without doubt.



Lacquer peel and also oxidation on the diamond cut surfaces, in order to get them up to the standard the truck is presenting.



During my lunch hour I used a whole large bottle of Cif/ammonia based scrubbing agent along with two large, hard brushes to clean them one at a time.

The two on the left are cleaned.

Dirty on the right.



Also done today, at 07.00 when I got up, I cleaned the front and rears of these caps, 20 years worth of brake dust, muck etc took an hour to clean, but result was decent.

Unfortunately I only got 11 wheel nut caps when I got the wheels, so will need to find or buy some more.





And unless I find a trade for some Chevrolet items in the UK, I may fill these debossed GMC logos with a resin based filler and sand them flat, followed by paint.



What I would like to fit......



Hope to have it all done sooner than later.

[Grizz1963]

Another quick job while on a Teams or was it Zoom meeting today, they get so tedious.

Sat with a big knife and my breadboard below the camera angle (my colleagues would be horrified) and cut the existing knob away.

Then hit hard times.



In fact, so hard that I had to go to the garage quickly to grind back the secondary knob as it was not going to let me cut it away.



Grabbed some magic in a tube, mixed on the back of a pizza box, dribbled into the new ally shift knob,

Followed by the shift lever.



Then set it to dry in the vice, brought it into the house later and laid it on the hot water radiator, hopefully to make it react faster to the heat.




You recall the swapping of rear light units.

Well, looking closer, these need some attention, grinder, DA, Compound I guess.

Not today though.





Once flatted back, polished etc, they should look just fine.



In another great Karma in action turn, I got a PM from @peteh1969 to ask if I was interested in some free 3D design work that @craigrk could print off, in order to create a more interesting cover for the holes in the bedsides of the truck.

The print files would also be sent to Andy in Oklahoma to print and then create aluminium castings for the truck.

So after sending me various designs and ideas, Pete finalised the one I had in mind.

This should be fun, and a massive Thank You to Pete.


Imagine these either in chrome paint, or the ally buffed to a nice shine.



Been a long day, I guess it is bedtime soon.

[Grizz1963]

So many of the things I have done so far were not needed.

But they do make me feel good about the truck.

Ordered a replacement for this manky piece too.




This lot arrived too.

Though current weather completely precludes fitting.



These also landed.

Push fit blugs for the side repeaters.

Guess we will now be drilling bigger holes in the fenders.




Though.........


Looking at the weather forecast it may be a slow week ahead.





Still.


Its Friday, 10 hours to the weekend.

[Grizz1963]

Funny the stuff that catches ones eye on FB Marketplace

I was genuinely looking for a random full size spare for the A10



Busy work day, but made some time for myself,

First job took about 5 minutes.





Pleased with the result of that.

Later some more stolen time between meetings, foregoing lunch.

I wanted to black out the B-pillar as part of tinting the door glass to create a large expanse of black.



So ordered a piece of Matt finish black car wrap vinyl @ 200mm x 500mm for £2.88 including postage from eBay, that is CHEAP.

Rolled up for delivery, it did not look promising at all.



Cutting the strip in half, then taping it up, I traced the profile by just rubbing it against the B-pillar and the took some scissors to trim it back (the offcuts are being used on Sallys Corsa rear door mini pillars.



Once trimmed right back, a decent rub down to shape the vinyl on the curves.



And finally all done, next was the passenger side, again done between meetings



Tonight @craigrk sent a message to show what he had done as a test sample.

Thanks to @peteh1969 for the work so far.



I am liking this as an alternative to the existing badges.



Weekend plans??

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday, between little showers and a chilly “Beast from the East” wind on the drive, down the side of the house, I started with some more of the lights and wiring.

First job was to identify what the two empty sockets on the rear lights were for, indicating or markers.

Turns out they are red side markers, so I added a pair of amber push fit bulbs in.

Also took the pair of chrome finish amber bulbs. @phila had sent and added them to the rear as they now sit in the space the reverse/backing up lamps were before.

Wrapped them up again as the weather promised a mess.



Next job in the garage was to cut down the old amber and new clear side repeaters and mash them together to make a new unit.

I was not going to drill the buckled holes bigger and also was not going to risk losing the wires into the abyss that is the fender spaces.

White replaces black



Cut them up, ground them to shape and also skimmed the new push fit fittings to fit inside the white tubes.

Before and after.



Back to the truck and found this ........ must have been some cowboy who added the side repeaters, holes are terrible, and then the drivers side wire.......

All there was to work with,



Passenger side...... all of this.



Having cut both old and new lenses up, this what I was left with, sexy glue next.



Then the challenge of the day, rain, chilly breeze and a small electric soldering iron.

Note the two separate shrink sleeves and a large to fit over both.

Trust me when I say, first time around, I managed to seal both, in-insulated in the same large sheath.



Sealed them up in a bit of plastic each, after finding the passenger side which previously was temperamental, now completely refused to work.

Job for another day.



Next up off with the front end....... again.

Rain was not helping, and neither the chill running down the alley.

I managed to find the two lives, soldered the resistor in, incorrectly, having to remove it again.

Gave up, job for another day, screw it, indoors to warm up.



So what I should have connected was A&C but of course I did A&B because I am not too bright on electronics.



And then @paulf sent me this useful,diagram, just when I got indoors.




Unfortunately the cold he cut through my 4 layers on the drive and when I went to bed at 10.30 the chicks came home to roost, causing a spasm that resulted in me taking pills and sitting upright in a chair till 01.30 when I crept up to bed, but too scared to fall asleep in case of another spasm, I eventually dozed off at about 5.30

Trust me, it is less fun than it sounds.

[Grizz1963]

A few bits done and completed today.

Those side badges that so divide.

Out in the snow.



And inside the bed, the offending holes, if only the fitter had thought it through.



And finally completed,,thanks to @peteh1969 designing and @craigrk printing.

Two different styles, side badges, and a grille badge.

Painting them, still to be researched.



Also completed today, side repeaters.



And the clear glue all darkened with a black Sharpie.

Should work well, once I figure the passenger light bulb out.



.

[Grizz1963]

Wrap up for the weekend.

Snow made everything a bit indoorsy, unless you went skiing.

So I traded Steve in a straight swap for my Lexus style rear lights to go on his GMC Sonoma Flareside trailer build as I was trying to get this truck the way I wanted it, and ORM does feature in my vision.

22 year old lenses from a well used truck are far from new, but I was happy to risk it to get toward my picture.

So the lights brought home by Mate Martin last week have been waiting for their turn to get some attention.

Tired, scratched, faded,Matheus were well beyond their best before date.

As delivered.



So first step was to take a deep breath, decide that if my attempt at a ham fisted refresh were to fail, then I was up for finding or buying a new set, not cheap at around £130.00 landed, without handling costs locally.

Thought I would try out my method on one of the side repeaters I removed yesterday.

Came up OK and boosted my confidence



Back with my lenses, the first thing was to mask off the black edges. In order not to sand them as well when bringing the 1000 grit wet and dry paper, which I decided to do dry.



With trepidation I sanded the lens in a straight pattern, rather than circular which in my screwup way would make sense too.

At this point I did panic a bit, thinking that I should maybe have gone the wet route or even up to 1500grit.

After wiping it all down I realised it was too late for tears.



Next up, the flannel sleeve off a pair of pink pyjamas and some G3 compound,

Rubbing, rubbing, rubbing.

Firstly just following the sanded groove, then breaking out to a circular motion and keeping on at it, three times, followed by a dry bi[uff, then one more pass with the compound just to ensure I had not missed anywhere.



Last thing was to grab some furniture polish after removing the masking ta-e to clean the black border.

And a photo in the snow.

Though the lenses seem to have chips away, there is actually no damage or chips, just an illusion of the light outside.



After this I came in and made dinner.

Chuffed to bits I took a chance on these tired lights.

Maybe fit them tomorrow after my 1:1 consultation interview at 11.30

Fingers crossed. I have a mortgage to pay .

[Grizz1963]

Woke to this.



Later in the day after that phone call, which was just a bloody script being read out to me and letting me know that we will only know by around 25th February, I needed a bit of head space.

Out into the cold, extra jacket on.

And fitted the rear lenses.



Tested.



Also found out that these rear lenses were made and available for Brazilian models, where ambler indicator lenses are the law, like here.



Then back to some more work stuff.

By 4.30 I went out again, to fit the new clear side repeaters, each made off two different ones cut and glued together

Remember this.



Tested, colour looks fine to me.



So now with clear lenses up front, down the side and original rear lenses.



For the Eagle eyed readers, I did not force or set the repeaters as it was so cold, even the cables resisted me and were stiff as any -2’C day could induce.

Anyway, another small mod that has delivered and changed the look just a little bit.

Roll on summertime.

[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]

Bacardi poured...... in the way you get them at boozy resorts.

Bloody cold outside, for England, I know Russia, America and other places are a lot colder.

Chatting to Dennis in St Louis, he is so sick and tired of cold and snow.......

Look in the background and you will see the ramp truck recovery he bought to use with the NASCAR Race truck.



The mechanical build is now really close to done, and he is busy with body work now.





So with the wheels loaded, it was off to the tyre shop I like to support. They are helpful, really helpful.

I had hoped to keep three tyres and bin one.

Turned out on closer inspection, one Bridgestone was very really good, and right to go on a full sized spare 16” wheel once I find one. The others, two were oddly worn, 2005 vintage, and the other Bridgestone was a 2007 vintage with sidewall and tread cracks.

Cost me a “drink” to have the four tyres whipped off.

I will be buying my four new tyres from them too.





And while there, I spoke to the manager, and decided to switch from the planned Bridgestone to a set of 4 Avon ZX7 in 235/60 16” 100H rated tyres.

I preferred the tread pattern a lot more than the Bridgestone patterns.

Weirdly, these are marketed as 4x4 tyres.




Lastly, tonight after dark, my doorbell rang, thinking it was Mickey from,next door needing a half a cup of sugar or some cooking oil, I was surprised to find one of our local couriers delivering this,time of the day.

An bunch of Roloc 2” die grinder discs in 60 , 80 , 120 grit and also a load of varying scotch scourers to fit the same application.


Looks like the wheel polishing and finishing kit is coming together too.


Still loads of doubts and concerns here.



Time to relax a bit.

Maybe.

[Just call me Sean]

I moved a fridge.

[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 accident 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]

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.

[Grizz1963]

So.

Weirdly, no comments from you guys tonight.

And tonight I am as chuffed as a chuffed thing could ever be.

So yesterday at 4.00pm I got to meet Thomasz at Kerbed Wheels for the first time.

My £200.00 and £10.00 for stripping the tyres, wheels were in the back of the car when I spoke to him, after watching him incognito for at least 5 minutes, without him knowing I was watching.

This guy was hitting about 4 work stations, including the powder coating room, wheel machining mill, chemical stripping tank and a mug of certainly cold tea with an amazing ease.

Stuff like this buoys my confidence.

So I asked for advice, recommendations on how to manage my wheels.

He suggested dark anthracite, based on my love of the colour, and wanting to play with the trucks colours as a match.

I spoke to him about machine faces wheels, and the varied opinions, and he made a very valid point in pointing out that the durability is often associated with wheels being damaged.

He sold the idea to me, and at £15.00 extra per wheel, compared to £30.00 per wheel elsewhere, it seemed more viable.

It’s not always about the actual money, but rather the principle.


So we carried the wheels in at about 4.00pm


He took my details and wrote up the job order.


So at £75.00 per wheel, which includes removing existing tyres, and disposing if needed, blasting, chemical stripping, powder coating, followed by machine cutting of the faces, and then refitting the tyres or new tyres, new valves and balancing, I was into these wheels for £300.00 at Kerbed Wheels.

Being the sneaky curse word that I am, I had picked up on his accent and saying “Thank you” to him in Lithuanian surprised him, making him laugh and resulted in a voluntary 10% discount offer, so £30.00 back into my pocket.

He had also quoted £10.00 per centre cap for a paint match, which I had declined to his relief.

He reckoned the wheels would be done by Monday at the latest.

Today at. 2.00pm I called him to say the new 235/60 R16 Avon ZX7 tyres that I had ordered online from Black Circles costing £262.00 delivered, would be delivered on Monday.

He was slightly surprised and told me the last wheel had just gone into the CNC machine for cutting., I did ask him for a photo of the wheel in the machine, but did not get it.

This guy works at a crazy pace.


While the centre caps were a failure today, I will redo them tomorrow and hope they come out well.

If the DIY is a failure, I will go to plan B which is paying £100.00 or $140.00 for a set of Chinese chromed plastic centre caps.




Anyone interested in what greeted me at Kerbed Wheels when I got there at 3.00 this afternoon ??


I have never spent this much money on wheels and tyres in my life and this will actually turn at £900.00 or $1260.00 ince fitted to the truck.

The way I justify it was to say the truck is in such good condition that it deserves to be treated well.



When I got there, there was also proof that they strip more than just wheels.

Vespa scooter frame.





Then on to the wheels.

Mind blown.

STARTING WITH THIS





Dark Anthracite and silver.









And with my not so sexy centre cap fitted.





I really do live these wheels and and so pleased I did nor do this myself.


Enough??

[Grizz1963]

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?

[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.

.

[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.

[Grizz1963]

Ready or not.........

07.00 this morning I was out there, the night had been long, waiting to get up and test fit.



Couple of things became apparent, brakes have not worked for a while, pushing and pulling the truck around on the driveway.



Also, top and bottom control arms need to be serviced and greased, just like my 1966 C10 grease nipples everywhere.



And the turning circle may be impaired by wheels that are too wide, compared to OEM fitment rubber.



Then, on to the front and rear hubs.

Fronts now show why we have those huge Mexican hats as centre caps.

Needs around 60-70mm tall caps/cups up front, there is also space for a spigot ring, or for the cups to become captive from behind.

Maybe a spigot ring is not needed, but the wheel is sitting nice and loose.





Rears fit tight enough that it needed to be whacked to remove after the test fit.

So some flat cap will work here.



The truck also came with locking wheel nuts, something I dislike intensely, and I did not get the socket that unlocks it when I bought it.

Thankfully I managed to get both loose, one was quite loose, possibly finger tight.

So getting decent new nuts makes sense

[Grizz1963]

Man in a brown van rang the doorbell.


I was made happy.





Thanks to Robert Pilgrim for selling me an original airbag leather covered steering wheel for the truck, as a standby to replace the Grant wheel fitted, originally wanted to replace it, but have got used to it now.
So it will be stashed along with some other original parts just to keep the truck as original as possible.
At £40.00 for the steering plus airbag charge, he did me a massive favour, and courier was £15.00 so a total of £55.00



Also included in the parcel was an intact top cowl for the radiator as mine is in bits, including riveted pieces to keep it together. Chuffed to bits to be able to repair this.

When my battery started to fail, I replaced it, and on removing the old unit, I realised the tray was filled with holes.
Again, Robert found me one on his outward bound steel scrap pile. FOC
This needs to be media blasted and then primed and painted.

Most importantly.......

Alongside the new wheels I bought, there were no wheel nuts.

And these trucks use a specialised wheel nut to go with the centre caps.

Look at the detail. 20 vital parts.



So threads on the outside as well,.



The plastic caps screw onto the wheel nuts, holding the centre caps in place.








Sold the 5 Cragars to a good friend last night for his 80’s Dayvan build.

Tyres, as mentioned before were great as far as tread is concerned.

Rears are good for burnouts...... @pauly is on standby.



And fronts, not really good for a jolly to the coast, are they.



Today I wanted to tint the side glass, but between the weather and the day job, all I got done was to give the stuck a decent wash, and it does like to be clean and shiny.

While washing, I noticed the exhaust tailpipe........... made me wonder if this is all one system, recalling the video @pauly made the day I departed in it.





https://youtu.be/ZppLk-f7nBs


Also did another small job today.

More later.