GRIZZ’s ‘79 - 2WD BLAZER Challenge over in London, England. “~It’s not a Project~”

[Grizz1963]

Unpredictable weather



Galaxy made me smile yesterday as it swallowed 3 meter lengths of 8mm rod without anything sticking out the windows.




Answers on a postcard as to what it’s for.

[Grizz1963]

One requested by @joem83


With and without.

Was tempted to remove the wheels for mock up, to get these under the arches, decided naaaahhhh.

But they are rather tall at 17”



Just use your imagination, remember it’s the roughest of mock ups, and will not be happening.



The 18’s though......


Bug me.

[Grizz1963]

I popped over to one of my neighbours who is building a retirement car.

His little shed....







Edge drawn onto the plates.





Tested on a bit of previously rolled scrap, the inverted J or walking stick was my first attempt.
In order to get the feeling as I have never touched or used a bead roller.



Starting out with the roller.



First one done.

Happy with that.



Back home, just laid out.

Bit of fine tuning before welding together.



Next up, paint part of the rods with Hammerite, try leave it alone before threading the nets on, and then weld frame and plates together.

And then paint the lot with Hammerite.

[Grizz1963]

A few little things done today.

One of them was just relaxing and wasting time.

Also painted the metal bits from yesterday’s prep in black Hammerite

Decided on black as it’s easier to patch up once I do the welding to get the bits together.



@joem83 posted these wheels up.

£180.00 for a set of 4 in Bristol......

Not at all the right fit, unfortunately, as I do like the style again.

And they are 15” afaik



.

[Grizz1963]

.


10 plus years parked outside in all weathers next to a shop in Scotland has to have its toll.

Sadly, a 90’s built, U.K. Kitcar with 70’s and 80’s Ford parts and bits of wiring of suspect origin is bound to break your heart at some point.

No matter how optimistic you may be feeling.

Today I wanted to get started with removing the front screen in order to start creating the support for the fold down Land Rover screen.

Sallys Uncle Bob the hoarder popped in for a couple of hours to check up on my progress and to see if I had space for one of his stationary engines or an Austin A35 he has been trying to get me to take, so my plans were a bit scuppered.

But we rolled it down to the garage.



Originally the car had a frame from the roll bar to the screen.....

Radio-tape fitted.

That thankfully fell off along the way from Scotland while Fil was recovering it

But there is a mess of wires, including some bits I do not recognise, left over.....

They need to be removed, but are fibreglassed into the frame.



When I tried to remove the Land Rover mirrors though, they were not attached in an obvious way, so I found there was a channel up the side of the body with small rusty nuts, but not at all accessible......

So a bit of digging, pulling, pushing....

Wet plywood, rusty screws that would not screw out, but a couple of long screwdrivers later....

More rust down the bottom.



Result.



Still no progress on the frame or the mirrors.



Either side.



At least they are open.

Next job will be to hire a 12 year old contortionist mechanic to reach up there under the dash, up he A-Pillar to undo those nuts.

Then the wires to be unthreaded, maybe.

Weekend over.

[Grizz1963]

Little bit every day

Painted the outsides of the panels.

Happy with the brush results.

When I tack them to the frame it will be on a wet cloth to minimise heat distribution and damage.
Should work.



That should do.




Bead roller certainly made a difference.

I like that.

[Grizz1963]

So with beams going up this made me smile.



Mickey was on site a lot as well. Keeping an eye that I did not build into his site.



One after the other the beams went up.



Shock Horror Haloween Boots



Nuts n Bolts





Coming together



End extensions coming along.

Think Garage/Service Station forecourt.



Torquingup.



Looking over from Mickey’s place.




At this point I needed to join a three hour Zoom meeting.

More in a few hours.

Happy so far.

[Grizz1963]

Advice from Bob Heine in Boca Raton

Even found a U.K. based eBay ad.

Originally Posted by Bob Heine

Rian, your beefy steel framework looks like it was made for a nice chainfall. I took the liberty of searching for one in GB. Lifting the cab or even the whole frame would give clear space underneath to set jackstands to whatever height you need. Found this one about an hour from you in Chelmsford.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Dut...8AAOSwlMJfNqGv

I don't remember seeing one in your thread but your new structure is begging for one.

[Grizz1963]

So the steel guys were gone by 13.45 which men’s they spent a total of 5 hrs on site.

What was amazing, and experienced by me too, was how the whole thing just bolted together so easily.

Keep in mind, I had done the foundations and upright posts, and between me and the lodgers, we had cut and welded the top plates twice and still delivered a base that was squared up on four corners, despite the posts not being equidistant from each other.

Pretty impressed, even if I say so that it came out that well for a start.

Followed by Wayne getting all his structures to just fit together without a drill.

So last night, after they had gone and my day finished at 5.00pm this was the view.



High enough from the front to get a tall thing in, and then some.



From Mickeys side.



Roofing next.

[Grizz1963]

Rezin Rockit getting closer to progress.

As in carport, dry work space, and as @PaulY observed today, its almost winter.

Ordered the timber by 11.45 yesterday and delivery was by 08.45 this morning.

Here is a lesson...... the big companies, big websites etc, do not always give the best service.

I managed to save £66.00 just by looking around a bit, using my phone. Ordered C24 grade timber.

Amazing service In pouring rain



Next up, dry the timbers and then paint them all, grey.



Also ordered my roof sheeting and fixings.

Unfortunately lead time is 4-6 weeks.



Still, it will be done.

Soon enough.

[Grizz1963]

Today, before work.....





And




I also got this message from a member on here..... happy for him to expose himself.

Hi Rian,
Have you found yet if your winch is in working order ??
Only asking because I have a "girder trolley" (?? if that's what they're called lol) just wants a coat of paint,
Yours for if it's any use to you, (in the spirit of Grizz,) FOC
N*****

So I went to the garage when I got back from the hospital after this:

MRI of my lumbar and sacral spine which is a bit (lot) knackered.



And cleaned and tested the 500kg block and tackle I had rescued at some point.

Tested and found to be working perfectly well, untested on a load though.



Cleaned up



After cleaning and masking the block, I added a first coat of orange, next coat in the morning.



And lastly.........

Should, could these work on the rear end of the Rezin Rockit as a name?




.

[Grizz1963]

Today progress.

Thanks to @CraigRK and Mickey for advice, help, encouragement

Really interesting getting into it.

The I-beams are not the same On top and bottom.

The C-beam against the wall, though a 200mm beam, again has different dimensions.

So cardboard templates were made up, cut out and then copied onto the beams, all were different.

Starting on the rear, followed by the front ones.



With fine tuning needed to hammer the beams into the steel with a lump hammer.





Cutting and measuring and using Craig’s grinder with very rough steel grinding flap disc to fine tune the fit.....





Almost there.



And then done.

Caravans swapped around.

Welding caravan parked under the beams and storage van parked on the drive.



A few more jobs to do, including two 1.1 meter steels to manufacture and bolt on to the right side of the frame......



So, very happy with today’s progress, and also good to see mate Craig again, as we did not get to do a USA road trip.

More soon.

[Grizz1963]

Too many options with the Rezin Rockit already.

Mate Craig dropped these off yesterday too.

Not sure what the final look may be like in the end.



Basic was my plan.

[Grizz1963]

A quote from Mate Fil, who had gone up to Scotland to fetch the Rezin Rockit for me, about this knife.

Originally Posted by sparkplug

The scales aren't to my personal aesthetic taste, but the blade really is!

No question that it's a special knife and has some lovely attention to detail (matching blue resin inside two of the four brass tubes that form the central pin on the handle to name just one)

You radiate good karma Rian, and it reflects back in all sorts of different ways.

Even for a pro that knife will have taken a minimum of 3 days to produce I would think.

Commercial cost? Well, it's not relevant here - but a one off custom hand forged damascus kitchen knife isn't an every day purchase for a reason.

Not one to chuck in the kitchen drawer with the rest. Well, not without a sheath of some sort to protect the edge anyway!

Lovely knife and a very usable one too - not just a show pony.

Not a great pic.

But I took a day vacation yesterday and was running around town buying guttering, collecting building materials etc, and visiting a couple of friends.

Helpful staff and good prices.



Amongst the stops was one at mate Martin with whom I travelled America 5 years ago.

Amazingly, it is exactly 5 years since we stoped at and spent 3 hours in Gas Monkey garage in Texas.

He is selling his house, to move away and to a place with more space and garages for him and his lady.

Some may remember a few years ago, I modified a paralysed fireman’s furniture for him so that he could use the couches directly from his wheelchair etc.

He does track days in a somewhat modified Nissan Skyline GTR and from one of them, this seatbelt support with rose jointed supports were removed.

It ended p on Martins scrap pile, I laid claim to it when he mentioned it, so I collected it.



Plan is to add it to the new roll bar of the Rezin Rockit in order to have a decent mounting point for harnesses.



I quite like the skinny rearward supports too.

[Grizz1963]

Quick confession.........

I had my usual bad nights sleep.

But when I came down this morning, I saw this........



I was playing with my knob before going to bed last night.

Thanks to Bill for sending it down.

Paul Walker Fast and Furious item.



So having taken the day off work today, I have a load of odd jobs to do, meaning I will not get to play with the Rezin Rockit until much later.

Bill managed to find the other two alloys that go with the pair fitted, under a serious pile of junk at the body shop, destined for the scrappy.

So he never told me and when it arrived here, along with a real Ford spare, it was a great surprise.

So getting some used tyres on them is a priority for today.





Last for now......


But not the least.


@CraigRK sent me this pic early this morning.


No idea where he found it.


But super appropriate.


May as well make it the official logo for the Rezin Rockit








Later guys.

[Grizz1963]

So I went to town this morning to see if I could get some used tyres fitted to the alloys Bill got me.

Also saw this, sign of the times.



So I got the wheels sorted for a “drink” as the shop was empty, and to be honest, the tyre shops pay for disposal of used tyres.

5 minutes, in and out.



Mate Craig collected my 50p purchase for me.

500kg capacity, means lifting The front or rear individually/independently on the Rezin Rockit is easy to do.



Back home the new wheels could go onto the Rockit, removing the steels that really we’re not quite delivering.



I also,knocked out the Stud that had been broken off.

Will replace it and the two from the rear hub.



Of course stuff like the brake,Cali per, broken off, along with its brake line, needs refurbishment and replace ing.




So much work to be done to get this Nack on the road.

Rough as a badgers butt.




Right....


Any cartoonist or commercial type artist on here?





I really like these designs.




But I would like a naive logo for the Rezin Rockit that represents all of this, the Jeep roots etc.


PM me if you know someone clever and artistic please.

[Grizz1963]

So......

Bleach city.

Big brush, generous application



Once All done, leave it to stand for a few minutes.

Then pressure cleaner again.

Resulting in this.

Dulled right now, but I am sure that there will be some polish to bring a bit of a chime back.



The only damage on the whole car, not too bad for a driven car from 1992





I also took off the centre bars between the roll bar and front screen.



After all of this, I also added the rear lens that I got from @spacekaddett To the back end.



Front end view.

Happy



After this, I rounded Sally up to come help me with the next job.


She really is a good person to abuse.

[Grizz1963]

A post from a chap in Scotland

[quote author="@jimil" source="/post/2631345/thread" timestamp="1601222319"]Talking about VDO gauges, came across these today, IIRC they came out of an Audi coupe that my B-I-L scrapped years ago.





Any use to you?

[/quote]

My reply:

Hi Jimi, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Thanks for the post offer.

The plan is to fit, as you know a MX5 engine and gearbox.

There was some wiring loom in the container the other day when I went to look at the motor.

Not sure if it was part of the MX5 motor, but think so.

I am planning on buying a new loom, because it’s a plastic car and the cost vs constantly reconnecting, fault finding and swearing soon outweighs the cost of a new loom.

So if there is enough of the Mazda electrics, it would be good.

I need to go take a look to see if I still have a rev counter I may have given away before, or that could be in my truck parts pile, but I like he idea of a large rev counter.

Not sure if I will be able to, or if it would be worth trying to get the existing, weather beaten and rusted gauges back to function or just replace with good functional items.

I think decent parts are probably the right way to go though.

What do you need to have for these gauges?

I will send you a PM as well.


I also sent a PM and asked the price including shipping.

His reply posted to my question, weirdly, as I sent off the PM.



[quote"]What do you need to have for these gauges?


[/quote]FOC shipmate, they cost me nothing so it wouldn't be right to take anything for them. I hate throwing things away so they have been kicking about my garage for years because they "might come in useful one day" .......... Looks like that day has arrived [/quote]

[LT7A]

Wow Grizz, a lot has happened since I last checked in. Congrats on your new ride and good luck turning it from a tub on tiptoes to a resin sled. Glad to hear you're going to take the body up and off because that whole undercarriage looks like it could use some lovingkindness with a wire wheel. To lower it, you can get a couple inches with springs but it sounds like you want to go lower than that. If you can't get lowering spindles it looks to me like you may need to Z the front end and then let the rear frame up into the tub. Also, the rear axle needs to move back a fair bit to be centered.

Those bars to the front windshield or screen may be what keep the fiberglass from cracking at the lower corners. There has to be a lot of stress at those points when you are at speed since there is no roof.

You might consider a simple aluminum frame and skin at the doors. You might be able to set up the hinge pin so they just lift off.

I was already getting attached to your new cat and so I'm very sorry for how that turned out. She seemed so ready to be taken care of and take care of you in return. The mice were evidence of that.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Wow Grizz, a lot has happened since I last checked in. Congrats on your new ride and good luck turning it from a tub on tiptoes to a resin sled. Glad to hear you're going to take the body up and off because that whole undercarriage looks like it could use some lovingkindness with a wire wheel. To lower it, you can get a couple inches with springs but it sounds like you want to go lower than that. If you can't get lowering spindles it looks to me like you may need to Z the front end and then let the rear frame up into the tub. Also, the rear axle needs to move back a fair bit to be centered.

Those bars to the front windshield or screen may be what keep the fiberglass from cracking at the lower corners. There has to be a lot of stress at those points when you are at speed since there is no roof.

You might consider a simple aluminum frame and skin at the doors. You might be able to set up the hinge pin so they just lift off.

I was already getting attached to your new cat and so I'm very sorry for how that turned out. She seemed so ready to be taken care of and take care of you in return. The mice were evidence of that.

Good to see you back here mate.

Thanks for the reply.

I currently plan to use shorter springs, shocks and also to relocate all mounting points.
It has been done before.
Check out tonight’s report below.

The bars on the windscreen were there to carry the radio up top and out of sight.

I suspect the original builder had a hard or certainly soft top.

Simple frame already in my mind,

No plan to make them removable but it is a better idea. So I will have to investigate options.

And regarding the Molly the cat......

Yes, I think she took to being back in a house almost instantly.

There is no doubt she was a house cat, but I guarantee you the owners threw her out, and took her to the transport yard, from where she walked away to my friend Darrens yard where she is treated well.

[Grizz1963]

So @PaulY and I were chatting about the screen and roll bar that I want lower in both cases.

I also want to slope the screen back, just a little bit.

This will mean finding a new screen to adapt, or making up a fresh one. As I do not think cutting up the fibreglass one that is there, and patching is back together, will really work very well.

So either find something off a Beach Buggy, or even a kit car item that is not longer in use.

And Plan B which is probably really Plan A will be to make a new frame and get custom cut glass, make a sensible frame support and slant back.

The existing screen is held in place with what looks like silicone, possibly an automotive type, and three domed head bolts, with nuts from under the dash. So it can be removed, albeit at the risk of looking real scruffy once done.




So screen back from current position, same base. And also shorter by up to 100mm

When you look at the posed pic of me in the RX8 seat.





I think it can go shorter.

As will the roll bar and harness mounting bar.




Front profile of screen base.



Sizes I am working with on screen.

Side to side 59.5” or 1510mm




Total height 19” or 480mm Glass height 400mm





Glass width 54” or 3980mm at the bottom



Glass width 50” or 1270mm at the top.



And stolen from another thread

Sans screen



And same car once painted and lowered.



So, as always looking for ideas, suggestions, random or not so random.

From speed boat to Lotus 7 or Duval (which ain’t happening)

Whatcha think?

[Grizz1963]

So I said “EARLY DOORS” and know some already know what it’s about,

Some will get it, some won’t.

Like fake boobs on a woman, they serve absolutely no purpose, but they will look good to most of us.

Inspiration goes a long way back, in the 80’s I was part of the pit crew for a Sand Master race team. Side nets always looked cool.



I do not want a roof, or fully functioning doors on this thing. Maybe a simple square bikini type roof thing like @Ivanhoe is planning for Medusa.

With changing the roll bar, screen height etc, a standard fibreglass roof which was made for these, but of course would be unobtanium certainly would not fit without some fettling. Doors and sides would be affected too.

So I decided to find and buy a pair of racing side window nets to incorporate in the “Doors” as illustrated below.

They are ultimately for my pleasure.

So using CAD and a bit of my vision and a long dowel plus masking tape, this was the result.



Add in the Scissors, Sharpie, masking tape and a pizza box..... you have CAD.







Next up will be converting it into a light, framed Unit, to attach to the hinges that are in the post,and to create a simple latch for securing it.

I took the CAD mock up off and have laid it flat in order to get measurements so that I know what materials I need to get together to make them up.




Still waiting for V5c and also need carport roof up before the big stuff happens.

[Grizz1963]

Afternoon started with cutting a clothes rail in half.

Nice profile.



Empty gas bottle, steel rod, profile.



Should work. Looks OK from here.





Then transfer the sides to sheet metal.





And the result.



Pretty happy, having prepped both sides.

[Grizz1963]

Worth posting.

Always someone who knows someone or something.

Was over at a nearby neighbor today who is building this replica.

A different type of Rezin Rocker.









He is looking for a lens with 8 1/8th inch diameter and 3” bubble.
Made by Stabilite brand.

To fit this holder.




If you can help or know someone, please send me a PM.

Thank you.

[Grizz1963]

.

Now we have a Title !!



Funny how the little things make a difference

DVLA has been hit by Covid as much as any other government body.

And because the seller had lost his V5c document inba house move it cost me £25.00 by cheque and a paper written application to get it te-issued to me. This process takes even longer.

I did not want to spend too much on the Rezin Rockit befire paoerwork was also in order.

Well............



Interesting to note it is down as a 4x4 and also it’s gross mass.

If only the carport guy (whom I texted this morning again) would come and get the steel structure up so I can get the roof done.

Onwards.