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

[Grizz1963]

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And it is Monday again.


Another day of stuff getting done.

I removed the self destruct button from the rear that fascinated a few people.

Suspect it was an alarm switch attached to the monitoring of the original rear mounted spare wheel.

Filled all the holes on the rear too with a fiber resin mix.



Nick got going on threading the rear wiring, and managed to get them the wrong way round, soon fixed by removing and refitting correctly.



Some of the lines are not yet live due in part to his over eager stripping back of the loom.

But should get a fix next weekend.



Due to the situation of the MX5 fuel tank, directly behind the drivers seat, we were concerned that this loom may need extending by 150-300mm

Glad to report that a big Whooooop ! From under the car signified the moment Nick got that wired in without the need for extending.

This is a big win and having everything fit safe and loosely under the rear floor was always planned, hence me dropping the tank lower by 50mm when I added the tabs.




During the day I removed the lifting straps, cleared out some of the materials in the carport and did a bunch of little odd jobs that need doing.

Looks tidy and like a real car under there now.

Glare does not allow a decent picture to be taken.



Also did final fit for the fuel filler toolbox and bolted that down.

And mocked up the license plate.

Happy with that.



Still a ton of small jobs to get done like adding fiberglass and resin to the floor for reinforcement

Final fitting of the seats once they go back in.

Lights, dash upholstery and other panels, plus a final decision on heater blower vents and pipework.

And then some more bits.

Have a good week.

[Grizz1963]

One of Sundays jobs was reconnecting the hndbrake.

And yes, it works, engages rear wheel drums, but…… the handbrake will not engage a ratchet.

The handle lifts, the button is locked in place.

Any ideas?





So that did not work too well.

Advice?

Anyone for a handbrake lever stashed somewhere?

Thanks.

[60short]

no answers on the handbrake, but it looks like you are making great progress...

have you made plans to put a 02 sensor (or two) in to work with the mazda ecu?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 60short

no answers on the handbrake, but it looks like you are making great progress...

have you made plans to put a 02 sensor (or two) in to work with the mazda ecu?

Thank you

Used the Mazda downpipe and factory sensor.

[Grizz1963]

Remember the blower/heater unit built and fitted a while ago?

I need to finalise and button that up.

Went to the scrapyard yesterday and did not find the ideal donor, but a corrugated vacuum cleaner pipe could just work.

Also found these two damaged, but neat toys (ornaments) for sale at £5.00 each.

And when I got home I pushed the car out into the sunlight for a better pic of the rear end.

Not perfect, but better.







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[Braunschweiger]

It looks great, summer can come.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

It looks great, summer can come.

Thanks buddy

The balance is currently not quite right.

It needs the license plate and light central, or I need to add something interesting to the blank section on the right.

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday evening, Mickey came knocking.

He had a parcel, and a silly grin.

The man is nosey.

Once I got the parcel, I started to chuckle and laugh.

I had a few people spring to mind who could have sent it, appropriately decorated with an apology.

@pedalcarjoe @sparkplug Fil who fetched the car @peteh1969 and even @mercdan68 who drives past my home every day, but may have sent a parcel.

The guy I did not at all have spring to mind first was @glenanderson




So when I opened the box, out popped an unobtainable brake reservoir for the master cylinder previously fitted.

Thanks Glen !

Massive help this is, again because I could not order one anywhere.




I will clean it up some time after work and have it ready to install by the weekend along with the brake pipes for the front end.


Progress is progress, however little it is.

[Grizz1963]

I am sure many of you know Sally’s UncleBob the hoarder.

Today he came and asked me to sell some milling tools on his behalf.

I know 100% nothing about them, except that most are covered in new tool rubber stuff.

He is after some sort of cash offer.

So if that is your sort of thing, as I have no clue on value……..

Please send a PM

[Grizz1963]

This week I capitulated and bought George some dry food.

He usually gets ham or chicken when he visits in the morning, and Dreamies when he demands it.

There is water in the water feature and the bird bath has fresh water regularly, and he drinks from there.

So today was a work from home day, and he got a handful of the dry food early.

Later I saw him from my office, drinking from the lodgers bathroom toilet.

Guess it passed his muster.



I certainly would not.

More randomness, this time the scrapyard had these broken toys (perfect garage ornaments) for £5.00 each.

I have not bought them.



Sally and I go walk Bonnie the dog randomly on the farm through fields etc.

I was previously asked about where I live,

Between the Thames and Medway rivers and English Channel.

[Braunschweiger]

If you feel like it, take a look at "Ebay Kleinanzeigen " in Germany, enter "fräser hss", there you have a large selection and can compare. I'm sure you have a comparable portal
You live in a beautiful area, a little off the beaten path and yet everything you need

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

If you feel like it, take a look at "Ebay Kleinanzeigen " in Germany, enter "fräser hss", there you have a large selection and can compare. I'm sure you have a comparable portal
You live in a beautiful area, a little off the beaten path and yet everything you need

Morning mate,

Off the beaten path has always worked for me.








So the next little win was cleaning up the brake reservoir.

Anyone look inside one before?

It is a serious labyrinth of inaccessible walls.

So I thought I would try various different things to clean it the best I can.




Petrol and brush, wash and rinse failed.
Jif/Handy Andy/amonia based kitchen cleaner failed.
Bleach failed.
Hot water and bleach failed.
Then popped to Mickey next door and grabbed some sharp sand (Google it) and added it, along with Fairy Liquid dish washing liquid and some water to create a thick gloopy paste and shook it around for a bit.
After this a thourough multiple rinse gave me the result I had hoped for.

Almost looks like new.




Should blend in nicely with the rest of the clean and new parts.

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[Grizz1963]

Remember the movie JAWS?

Every time you think it is safe……

Felt like that last night.

I constantly hope to be finished with the grinder on this built, and then it has to come out again.

Last night, after removing the side handle (I hacked a finger tip doing this 30 years ago) I slipped it from the diff, up the transmission tunnel to get to the 6 rusted in bolts and cut them back in order to remove the rubber boot on the handbrake lever.



Then, taking the best part of an hour (yes, I am extremely patient) a load of Duck oil and a screwdriver, small ball pein hammer and a ton of up and down, in and outing, I tried to get the button to release so that I could hand operate it.

FAILED TOTALLY.

It moves in and out, but only with serious persuasion.














In the end I walked away as I could not figure how to get the rubber handle off, without damaging it.

I sprayed more Duck oil in from both ends, using the extension to get in from the bottom.

Seems this has truly succumbed to 15 plus years out in a field in Scotland.

[Grizz1963]

Handbrake seized up.

Take 2

Using vice grips on top, undo mounting bolts, clevis etc.

Remove.



Then using the bench vice to support the handle, and a ball pein hammer on the ratchet catch, I managed to slip the handle off the lever.



And eventually………

Culprit.



Button, felt washer, spring and a support washer.



And the inside…… more rust.



Solution……

Some coarse sand paper on a shaft, slipped over the release rod and a load of rotation and in and out movement.



Also the felt washer clearly needed to be replaced.

Where to buy these little parts from though.

Bugggerrr.



Around 12.30 Nick came sauntering down the garden path.

Coffee time.

[Grizz1963]

You know those tubs or tins of absolutely useless nuts, bolts, screws, fasteners, springs etc?

After coffee, I headed into the back corner of the garage and started to rummage through my useless tubs and tins…….

Much to @nickwheeler ‘s amusement, he even recorded the madness.



So………

I found a spring.

And some felt that I used to use on my woodwork to cover ornament bases.



So I made a four layer washer while Nick made the spring fit, we needed 4 washers to take up the space as the spring was shorter than the original.

Assembled, and filled with white grease to prevent some future corrosion



Next up, I made a failed collar to hold the rubber collar, washer and tunnel together….

So Nick started another, using thicker aluminium and better planning, while I got distracted by another job.

Much better.

Note the directions, clearly written on the one side.



Blowing up?

Nick underneath, getting it down.



It will get unscrewed one more time at least…..

When I get to carpeting the floor as well.



Nick Reassembled the handbrake cables and was happy to pronounce a functioning handbrake.

It needs adjustment, but hey………

It is fixed.


.

[Grizz1963]

So while Nick cut, measured, cut, ground and made up the last part for the rebuilt handbrake lever and fittings, I carried on with a job that had been spinning around in my head for some time now.

How to balance the number plate, light and toolbox to the left which left a large vacant space on the right.

I always wanted the car to have a 4x100 space saver spare wheel and a simple brace and jack.

Planning was to just bolt the wheel in the rear boot of the car.

Simple really.

But if you recall, the car came with a spare wheel carrier, long since removed.

So while Nick fabricated, I searched, and then started to fabricate as well.

Space saver and carrier. Studs were 4x108

Ooooopps, too big a gap.



Unless you managed to move the studs closer to each other.

And remove years worth of rust from the threads.



Is this close enough?

Moved the studs closer didn’t I?



Next job………

Tack and stick weld for deep penetration.

Then copy three holes over to the rear tailgate, drill holes and test fit.



Backing plates cut from horrible checker plate.



Not yet fitted, but you get the idea.



Bracket and wheel nuts painted Satin black, Nick and John were super excited watching my work become ever more beautiful.



I masked up the space saver after giving it a good ScotchBrite scour, clean-up

Black centre and the mustard/sand outer rim should look like the wheels fitted to the car. Well, sort of.



And result.

Could possibly paint the rim gold if it looks like it needs it.

Rear was painted all black too.




And while I was working on the spare wheel, which is really just to get me out of trouble, Nick fitted the brake reservoir that @glenanderson had sent earlier in the week.



I must say, I am really pleased with the jobs done today.

More progress made.

.

[Grizz1963]

After another rubbish night, I was woken by the cat I do not own.

After feeding him, he went out to sit and watch is property.



So this morning I fitted the newly welded and painted spare wheel carrier.

No plan to add an alarm switch to the spare, so deleted that.



Masked up the space saver that I had painted black last night after deflating it, tucking the cardboard under the rubber.

Ready for paint.



Once the paint partially dried, I removed the cardboard barrier.

Happy with that.

Tidier than it was 24 hrs ago.



Once spare was fitted to the carrier I fetched the old license plate and the new one.

Ugleee vs pretty.



Then pushed the car out into the sunlight.

Really happy with the look, except the roofrack, or is it roll bar?



Next job was to start on the side panels in the dash to start figuring where to exit the two footwell vents.

Dash back in.

Ohhh, and I redid the scrim foam on the screwed up kick panel.



Marked and made the first hole.



Also made a pair of super ugly joiners for the blower to get to the vent holes.



The back ends will be bonded straight onto the sides of the blower unit.

[Grizz1963]

First bootfair of the year.

Two hours out and back.

Back to yesterday.

While I worked on the heater blower and dash panels, Nick continued with the rear wiring and lights.

Found this unholy mess………



Resulting in 6 hours work to get right, to be tested later today.

And as always, nothing is easy.

He ended up having to cut the mounting bracket bolts as the rivnuts just spun around, and the space up the rear of the body is very limited.

Leading to this.



Much grinding, fabricating and time wasted fixing a previous builders mess us, we got to this point.

Mazda MX5 loom spliced into Ford parts.



And back in the body.

Threaded rod still to be JB Welded in place to hold brackets.



Wash, rinse, repeat on the other side.

Waterproof Connectors were a bit of a “bargain” at £16.00 for the box.




After much planning, measuring, I made up the “ducting” for the blower unit to hopefully connect with the director nozzles.

Then started to attack the actual blower unit box that was made up weeks ago.

I do love a step drill.



Too late for tears.



Possibly the most useful and underrated tool in this whole build.

Powerfile rocks.

Get one.



And ready for the ducting and base plate to be glued on.

Hope it all comes together.




Saw this on FB this morning.

A hot MX5 under there.




What shall we build next then?

[Grizz1963]

First bootfair of the season today.

Very full of sellers.

90% probably just clearing rubbish from homes. Pink sh!t.

Interesting observation was that there were very few non English speakers.

I guess Covid, inflation, lack of employment etc all impacted that sector of the market.

What I did find was the following.

6 Plant pot dollies £5.00
Unused/new Denim shorts £1.00
Motel sign for my shed 50p
Two Bee signs 25p each
Angel wings for Sally’s shed £1.00
Pink giraffe toy for Bonnie 20p

For mate Craig.
New yellow wheel £2.00
2 mobility scooter wheels £5.00
Chicken £1.00



Another bootfair tomorrow.

Will think about it today.

May give a miss.

[Grizz1963]

Rear lights reflectors are a bit worse for wear.



Looking for something else in the garage, unearthed this very slimline light.

Ideal for use as a rear foglight, a necessary evil on UK cars.

Bracket ready.



Fitted.



Another job done today was making up the front and rear brake lines from the master cylinder.

A clever trick Nick figured out was that the Workmate bench has a groove fitted that is ideal for straightening the inner coil of a roll of brake pipe.

Easy stuff if you know what you are doing.

Nick does.










@nickwheelers very long time mate Richard popped over in his Triumph TR7 for a check in on the build and a coffee today.



Headed out, I had to go take a look.

I really like the standard alloys fitted to it.





Slow progress, but progress nevertheless.

I also sold the wheels used for rolling the Rezin Rockit around till now to a nice chap for use on his Fiesta.

He arrived in a 51 plate Mini to collect his bounty.

We closed shop by 7.30pm so that I could spend a bit of time with Sally.

[Grizz1963]

Carrying on with the blower heater unit….

We wonder where the time goes on this build, here is where.

Best part of a few hours.

First side exit in place, this took a lot of time, due to various angles of intersection.



Into position goes no 2 after a lot of trimming etc.

Side panel and vent all need to be in concert.



Bonded in place and fixed with tape, lets see what happened overnight.

What is not quite visible, is the fact the trans tunnel is actually completely skew and not regular.

Must have been a blind, one handed pirate who built the moulds for this thing

Seriously. .



While the glue was drying on the blower, I returned to the kick panel I previously managed to screw up royally.

The foam had dried on the board, so glue on the new vinyl and backing……



Result.



Right, I guess,it is 11.15 so I need to go outside and finish a “pivotal” job started last night.

More about that later.

[Grizz1963]

John the lodger.

Always watching.

https://youtu.be/cs92Uegzap0

Headed out to work on more stuff now, maybe.

[Grizz1963]

So.

What happened next?

The screen frame came off after sitting there for weeks.

Up to the house, laid out on the table, raised on a 2x4 to enable accessibility.



Glass goes there.



Of course smearing the adhesive along the frame in order to ensure complete filling of the grooves has repercussions.



Thankfully the right tools often make stuff easy to fix.

Scrape and cut…….

Job done.



Followed by thoroughly cleaning the glass before adding a MARMITE tint strip along the top.

Held in place by masking tape till dried in place.

After all the cleaning, an old friend was called back into service.

Yes, you saw that right.

RAIN-X



Frame then returned to the garage, fitted, removed and another layer of low density, self adhesive foam added before fitting a second time.

John the lodger was home for the day today and rather than sit indoors, was enjoying playing out back as well.



While he was inside the car, checking out the tint strip for obstruction, I added the front bumper spoiler.

Looks like what I have been looking for, for some time.



Pushed out into the late afternoon sun, it looks good enough to me.



Finally pulled off the masking tape that held the tint in place while it dried fully.



And lastly……..

Another 2 minute movie for the fans.

Lets see how many people click through and look what happened.


https://youtu.be/LyXJr79nwsg


Three days off work has delivered good progress.

Quiet without @nickwheeler today. But then I did not do a lot of stuff as I had also offered Sally some of my time.


Back to work tomorrow.

[realvc]

Looking very good.
Do you have a set date to be driving your Rezin Rockit?

I look forward to your updates every day.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

Looking very good.
Do you have a set date to be driving your Rezin Rockit?

I look forward to your updates every day.

Morning Vince,

Aster came and went.

If you read my write ups, you will realise a lot of the jobs that should be two bolts tightened and the handbrake is fixed becomes a 6 hour marathon of disassembled parts, restored and refitted, along with two holding plates, of odd shape, many holes and refits because you cannot run down to the Auto parts store for a $20.00 replacement.
A New Old Stock unit was £250.00 or over $300.00 on eBay

The heater blower unit has 20 hours in it, crazy yes, but that is what it is.

I have a demanding day job that calls for every hour to be accounted for.

So I am actually tired of this thing and the constant setbacks.

The £50.00 pocket money per day I give Nick to come help is starting to bug me too, if you do the maths since last year when he started to come here, it is not a cheap build anymore, but progress and quality certainly is there as PaulY says..


Ultimately, we are all equally impatient and looking forward to it starting and moving again.

At that point I need to get it legally tested, insured and pay the £265.00 road tax to get it on the road.

Then we drive it.