GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Just call me Sean]

Great, now the next owner is going to put washer fluid into the intake.

Lol, Strap On. Even has some junk on it.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

Great, now the next owner is going to put washer fluid into the intake.

Lol, Strap On. Even has some junk on it.

LOL.


I do like messing with peoples minds.









Well,

Speaking of madness.

Another week done, and it was tough, but I delivered in excess of my expectations, so a reward was in order.

Extended lunch break….?

Popped the garage open.

Then opened the air box and removed the air filter.

DIRTY……..



This was the problem to be addressed.



With moving the air-box about 600mm or 24” back in the engine bay the sensor wire ended up too short.

Easy to extend the wires.

Easier to remove the sensor……..



Block to hole with a bit of colourful plastic from a laundry detergent bottle cap.



Then set the step drill to the right size to replicate the hole for the grommet…….

Drill the hole.



Grommet in.

Sensor in.

Refit pipe.



Easy fix then.

Little wins that steal time.

One less job for tomorrow or Sunday.

Friday night.

Drinks?

[Grizz1963]

Right…..

Next job to get done.

One that @nickwheeler was hoping I would get on with. Maybe.

So I removed the battery bridge, which also incorporated part of the air-box support.

Then measured and marked out the holes for the M8 bolts to screw into that would hold the battery strap down, drilled the holes, tapped them.

Perfect.

Than made up the strap and burned the holes and added the eyelets.



Also made a pair of “large” plates to replace washers and also grip the strap on the bridge.



Few more little fine tuning actions, then some paint and final,fitting.

Ohh…. And terminals to be made up of course.

Another little job done.

[Grizz1963]

Bonus Ball for Saturday.





Not what I want, but guess it shows what a big check book and a lot of work can deliver.


Back to reality………

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday afternoon @nickwheeler and I went to Car Builder Solutions to pick up a few parts that were needed for some of the progress.

When I got to his place 10 miles from here, to pick him up, he was “not ready” yet.

Well, all it would take was a pair of shoes tbh. The benefit of having your machine shop under your home.

But, he was busy……..

Fine tuning some bits on the lathe.



Leaving this.



Resulting in this.



To be added to these throttle and clutch parts he had already made up.




This build certainly is becoming more and more “Hotrod” as it goes along with all the custom bits made for it so far. .

Liking it.


Once Nick had his shoes on, we headed over to Staplehurst to get the parts list filled out.

This included a massive box of waterproof electrical fittings, wiring loom tape, battery terminal protectors, cabling,sheaths, stainless braided hose, clips, bulkhead fittings and a 90’ connector for the new clutch line that needs to be made up to clean up part of the engine bay.




I had a 4.00pm day job Teams meeting to attend, so dropped Nick off at 3.55 sharply and headed home with the meeting strapped safely into the passenger seat next to me, and me on mute, camera off.

Traffic meant it took me exactly an hour to ger the 10 miles or 16km trip done.

I do dislike traffic.


Today I was awake by 03.20 and that was my night over.

A very wet George the cat came in by 04.45 for some ham and is now tucked up somewhere as I have not heard the catflap again.

It is raining outside, but hopefully once daylight comes etc, I will be able to to get down to the garage and get some stuff done.

Time marches on regardless of the weather.

Onwards in the words of @pauly




.

[Grizz1963]

Day started with me waking at 03.18

No sleep after that, not ideal.

But once I got started, some housekeeping, and in the 5’C temperature outside, I decided to use my paint stripping heat gun to warm the battery bridge before giving it some satin black



Once that was done I started on some CAD to create the insert for the transmission tunnel to make space for the heater/blower unit.



Once transferred and cut out of a sheet of Dexian cabinet backing I folded it ……….



More to be done, grinding back the hole in the transmission tunnel to almost perfectly square and also a couple of flanges needed cutting to weld onto the sides that can be bolted down.

@nickwheeler came around later as well, and with a coffee kickstart he was off……..

Loads of little jobs, including removing the wiring harness that had been attached to the chassis and then winding up a pair of wires we still have no idea of what they do……

Could be a reverse light.

Any ideas?





Another job Nick had been wanting to do for a few weeks was to relay the loom into the rear of the car, a few more holes are needed to get the fuel system wiring in under rhe rear bed.



Also prepared was the earth cable and live wires to get them connected to the battery.

Nick soldered the lugs together as well, kinda impatient jobs.



The day turned out to be one of those that showed little, but a ton of stuff got done.

Progressing the build quite a lot more.

Stand by for more updates.


.

[Grizz1963]

So actually a really busy day yesterday.

Many time thieves……

We were busy all day till I had to tell Nick to get out and leave at 5.15 as he had a family event.

Sure he would not mind me mentioning, his mum was having her 1 in 4 birthday dinners……

Yup, 29 February is a bit of a rare one.


I welded up the under dash extender tray adding a pair of side flanges for mounting and weather or waterproofing.



And once tidied up it looked pretty decent for the job it needs to be doing.



Heater matrix box and blower unit tidied up and cut back earlier looks tidy now.

Placed in position.

Happy with that.



Once bolted down with some sealant under it, this should be a decent dry space too.

Air blower holes still need to be created and ducted once this unit and all the wiring has been laid and secured.

ECU, Fuse box, controllers still need locating and fixung inder the scuttle once the screen frame is welded and located.




One of @nickwheelers jobs on the master list was to create new earth and power leads, relocate some and also create more decent earthing points on the chassis.

A fair chunk of time that you cannot see has been allocated to these jobs.

Resulting in this sort of tidy improvement and install.

Massive thanks again.




More invisible jobs include removing chunks of the loom, rerouted cables etc in order to gain an inch or two of movement.

On the drivers side it is now possible to mount some modules upright and in an aesthetic and safe way.

The washer bottle will probably get a hole or two in the bulkhead today.

With power leads being rerouted inside the firewall.



Actually getting tidier every day.

Also at last the airbox relocation is complete with the supports in place.

One had to be removed, cut and rewelded by Nick because I screwed up when I got the height and angle wrong by 20mm which is a lot when you try to make stuff look great.



After Nick left I finished the blower/heater tray and packed up so Patient, saintly Sally could get a bit of my time.

Today could see a few jobs progress visibly too.

[Grizz1963]

[quote author="@nickwheeler" source="/post/2722532/thread" timestamp="1646530101"][quote source="/post/2722531/thread" author="@foxmcintyre" timestamp="1646527839"]Is your mystery wire a gearbox sensor for the MX5? They have a reverse light switch for well, the reverse lights, and a neutral position switch which works in tandem with the clutch pedal switch to allow the ecu to see if the car is in ‘drive (in gear, clutch released)’ or ‘neutral (or clutch depressed)’. [/quote]The mystery wire is for the reverse lights. But you've just cleared up why there are two other switches on the gearbox instead of just the speed sensor, and what the switch on the clutch pedal does. Which is a big help.

There are two 4-pin plugs near the passenger headlight that we still need to identify[/quote]


Anyone clever on here …..?


@rich this is the set Nick mentioned.

They are on the passenger side loom, toward the,front, but behind the headlight plugs.




And the wires feeding them.



Thank you for any help identifying them.

[Grizz1963]

Trying to figure out how to copy the link from the web based app.photobucket sire.

This pic is from the app.

[Grizz1963]

Photobucket continues to frustrate me, but at least I seem to have found a way to support my random rambling with phots, using the web based home, vs a mobile app.

Money seems to continue to haemorrhage from my wallet.

Important stuff, current and earthing.

@nickwheeler said so. 😉



Various nuts n bolts, think sheet metal, firewall, trays etc.

Gloopy silicone, gutter sealant etc for various sealing and joining jobs.



‘The last few weeks have been quite full on with day job work keeping me busy and away from home (Covid home working was good) and knackered at night.

Tuesday evening I was angry about some dumb stuff at work (seems it makes me more productive to go unwind a bit) so an hour in the garage gave me progress.

Shelving offcut.




Bit of measuring, cutting.

John, the short term lodger is a biker, car guy and driving instructor, and enjoys coming to the garage.

I did not realise he had taken some photos while I was busy focussing.

David the other lodger (Electrician contractor manager at Grain power station) who has been here a year also came down to check if I had lost any limbs yet, and promptly proposed to close down my site for all sorts of H&S infringements.

So different these two guys.



Bit of folding,



Some holes drilled, bolted to the fender, and we will have the mounting bracket for fuse box and relay as illustrated before.



This was one of those jobs that the wiring loom unpicking has made easier by adding maybe 50mm of play to it.

Small steps, all take time.

I look at this bracket and kinda wish I had some record of time spent overall like @blackpopracing has on his build.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...glia-shinyness

That is the way to do it.

My Teardrop trailer build was about 360 hours all told, years ago.

Crazy how time adds up.

[Palf70Step]

Lots of good work there Rian. You guys are really getting after it!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Lots of good work there Rian. You guys are really getting after it!

Thanks Bill,

Yes we are, time is limited, but it needs to get done.




Friday, and the week from hell ain’t over yet.

More training and bo110x from 9.45 onward, but hey………

Tomorrow’s Saturday.

Got nothing done this week except screwing with screws.

Windscreen screws painted as I could not find 40 new ones to hold down the strips I painted last week.



Removed the clamps and pushed the centre loom through the firewall.

Two more looms to get fitted over the fenders.

Really happy with how tidy it has come out.

Compared to what we started with.



In other news, the puppy is back, still in isolation, but seems fully recovered.



Looking forward to the weekend, still a few hours to go.

Onwards as our friend @pauly says.

[Grizz1963]

Good morning after a very short night.

I cooked Nick, John the lodger and myself a lovely chicken curry last night, and in my own case, drank way more than I should have.

Well, a second rum is a rare thing. But usually results in a restless night. But it tasted so good.

Yesterday was one of those MANY JOBS MAKE A DAY kinda days.

Fettling a piece of wood for 2 hours etc.

Started like this.




Sorted some stuff, tidied up stuff and got tools and materials out.

Nick was early, no ringing bells afaik.

By 11.00 I had to run to the village to pick up another brake master cylinder ordered on Friday. £70.00 or about $100.00 at a guess.

Also pharmacy to get some Actifed for Sally who has been sick most of the week and something for me.

Bolted on.

Shiny.



We had hoped the Ford reservoir would fit…..

Looked like a good fit, even initially back to front, but alas…….. the legs are too big to fit in the new holes, which means it needs a different, new reservoir.






Next up, we started to lay the wiring looms for the umpteenth time.



Fuse box and clutch hose mocked up and made up.

Looking encouraging.



Progress.

Looking tidy.



Nick had brought treats for around lunch time.

Short bread cookies.

Time to stand back, discuss, grin, gloat, coffee, plan, enjoy the progress.

Loads of stuff happening in the background, not captured.



More in a bit.

.

[Grizz1963]

Another of those fine tuning, redesigning as you go along jobs.

I had a full sheet of 6mm ply from when I built the teardrop trailer 12 years ago.

And was loathe to cut it up…… Nick insisted that it was what I had saved it for… to be used.

Transferring the layout from the original cheap n nasty ply to the final version took a lot longer than planned.

But we know these jobs take just as long as they should.

It went in and out no less than 10 times to make the basic shape fit, and also for the steering column shroud to fit around and leave room for the vinyl and foam covering.



In Out In Out In Out……..

In Out In…….

Drivers side is slightly lower to cover fuse boxes, pedal boxes and various bits of low hardware.



Next up.

Fitting the instrument cluster.

That took forever.



Eventually happy, very happy.

Switch gear and side panels next.



At some point John the lodger came back home and as always, came to look, advise, help, poke fun.

And took some pics neither @nickwheeler nor I knew he was taking.



No, I have no clue either, but obviously busy with something that consumes time and necessitated being on my knees.

Still not done.

[Grizz1963]

I guess the question does come up: “So what has Grizz been up to while Nick is seen working?”

Yesterday I carried on with those jobs that progress the build invisible, not just coffee and biccies, but fitting, unfitting, measuring and cutting, filing, screwing, unscrewing etc.

Have raised the bottom of the instrument cluster to allow a full, clear view of them all.



Then destroyed the binacle.



Too late for tears.



Ultimately, it was a failure.

Number two for the day, after the side light mounting failed to deliver fully and securely for Nick.

Sandwiches for lunch, coffee, biccies etc…..

More planning, cutting, fitting, hoping.



Happy with the positions of dash switches.

Yes, that’s the lot.

I hope.



More cardboard and masking tape work to create the templates for the kick panels and tunnel panels.

Odd shapes and non symmetricalfit means it all takes time.

And more time.



Then transferred to the hardboard and a load of filing, cutting, shaping.

In and out.

Resulting in this.



At which point I pulled the plug on the day and came in.

My back was saying it was enough, and to be honest, no jobs needed doing.

A good weekend again.

No massive big bang progress shots, but many hours filled with small jobs.

Progressing.




PS. I need an MX5 Fog light switch, seems the one from the car is broken somewhat.




Have a good week all.

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Crowd funding for Cowboys.

At least you get a reminder of what you did with your cash.




Ordered a couple of new switches yesterday.

Rear fog lamp switch (need to still find a slimline one to fit)

An one of these to replace the cigarette lighter plug with.

Thanks to Nick for the suggestion.

Better than plugging a USB extension into the cigarette lighter to get the same result.



On the way home last night the traffic was light so I took a chance to go past my turning to the industrial estate to see if they had some 75mm M6 countersunk Phillips head screws or are they bolts?

To mount the bonnet/hood hinges and allow enough length to hang some supports from under the scuttle into which the wiring loom can rest.



Time consuming jobs, detours etc.

Makes for an interesting build.

[Grizz1963]

Bought from my favourite scrapyard.

Cheap.


Record no 111 vice.

24kg weight.

£10.00 or $13.00

[Grizz1963]

Popped out to the metal recyclers yesterday to see if I could find something that is already bent in the shape of the instrument cluster to cut down as a small peak.

No luck, but a beer keg rim would work.

Except it is just too ugly and heavy.

But while rummaging I found a complete, hardly used Record No 111 vise/vice (never sure what spelling is correct.

Asked about it.

“Gotta weigh it mate, then ask the Guv” came the reply.

5 minutes later I had it for £10.00

Now I need a bigger welding table.

I also picked up a few loose bits, declared them and got them for free.







On the way home I made two stops, first to pick up so e brake fittings with no nuts, and then at the local motor spares shop the nuts at 40p each.

@nickwheeler was helpful in sharing a pic for the new guy at Aghabridge of exactly what was needed as he could not locate them, based on my description.

So brake lines can be added now.




And following a 3 hour online training session, Sally and Bonnie popped in so the dog that still is in isolation, as is Sally, could run around in my back yard.

Amazing that 10 days ago this was a very ill dog with Parvovirus.

Now she is nonstop.



Day job is a bit hectic at the moment, and working face to face most days means no chance for quick win jobs.

The weather this week is also less than ideal with cold and rain forecaat.

Have a good day.

[Grizz1963]

I wanted to go play a bit last night after I got home and did for 20 minutes, then the chill, and wet decided it was less than pleasant out there and I came inside.

I was going to make some under dash hook brackets to hold the wiring loom up and out the way, but I got very wet out back digging through my scrap pile in the hope to find some ready made bits to adapt.

While I stood deciding what to do next, I made a short clip of the rain falling on the tin roof of the carport and driveway, enjoying the fact I had a dry space, despite now being soaked myself.

Sent it to my brother “Dozer” in South Arica and a minute later he replied with……. “Hey, why not mount that 7.5 ton truck valence as a bikini roof on,the Rezin Rockit?”

What a great idea to at least investigate.

So with so e trimming, figuring a secure method of fixing, it could be a starter.


So, this…….




Goes there:






Masking tape, sharpie, jigsaw, powerfile, fixings……..

Hey, a job for another day.

Maybe.

[Palf70Step]

All I know about changing to LEDs each bulb's polarity must be correct or no workie.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

All I know about changing to LEDs each bulb's polarity must be correct or no workie.

I think you are right Bill.

Some replies from RetroRides below.




[quote author="@flingstam" source="/post/2726206/thread" timestamp="1649060375"][quote timestamp="1649058376" source="/post/2726200/thread" author="@foxmcintyre"]Does the MX5 use a negative trigger rather than a positive? Some Japanese cars had one 12V feed and 2 switched earths to operate the filaments in the bulb. That config won’t work with LED lamps, worth double checking that. [/quote]Rich has hit the nail on the head here. The MX-5 does indeed use a switched ground/earth to operate the headlights. However, at least one light  (dipped or main) should come on if there is power going through. 

This video may be helpful. It's not perfect, because he's swapping H4 halogens for separate high and low beam bulbs rather than LEDs, but he explains the wiring situation pretty well:

[video src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxJbmIKp2KM"][/video]

This is exactly the issue I had with the Deliboy, and I solved it by buying a plug and play link harness from eBay, which included an additional power feed from the battery, and standalone relays. Of course, it did take me two attempts, as the first one I bought wasn't for a switched ground circuit. Caveat Emptor, and all that. 

[a href="https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/215030/1991-toyota-deliboy?page=7"]The Deliboy Story[/a]

(Pages 7 and 8 of the thread contain all my headlight-related adventures).[/quote]

[Grizz1963]

Popped in at Aghabridge on the way home to get some fuel hose and proper clamps.

Also grabbed three cans of satin black for any small jobs that need a few squirts of black.

Will be useful to get the fuel lines, tank and engine sides all connected safe;y.



After dinner I was bored, so went down to get the hinges coated in black, they have always bothered me since day one.

Back side.



Front side, multiple coats and heat gun used to warm it all up.



Another 30 minute job out the way.

Time thieves.


On the way home I also popped into the scrap yard to see if they would sell an even larger vice/vise I had seen the other day.

No luck, they use it.

But I did see this little aluminium boat……

Sooooo wanted it, and yes it would be for sale.

Sense prevailed.




Later gang.

[Grizz1963]

One of my American buddies is building a house for a lady friend……..

I am always amazed at what people get up to.

Andy is beyond 70 and very successfully retired from the Oklahoma oilfields.

I guess some people need to keep busy.

I asked him for a pic that included him.




Wonder what I will be like in 15 years.

[Grizz1963]

Couple o random pics.

Showing where you could start and where the horizon could be,

Have decided to take Friday off work, day vacation in order to get some random small jobs done on the Rezin Rocket.






Looking forward to some small bits of progress again.

Stuff needs to get done.