GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

A friend, Bob in America commented below:


Rian, that looks like a wonderful old folded axe head, probably forged in a small shop more than a century ago. With my eyesight it may well be a Chinese knock-off from Bunnings circa 2002. Either way it's a beautiful save of a classic tool. I am so glad you are easily distracted because it makes me feel better. I can often be found working on something that isn't on any list with even the lowest priority. They just make me smile.

Well Bob, I took a closer up pic for you.

Grinding marks very much evident.

BUT……

Looks like you were right.

[Grizz1963]

And again a surprise skip find.

Used, still works, but the neighbour building has used it as needed, and not keeping it.

Thank you, free money.

Offered it to mate Craig but he already has one.



Madness.

[Grizz1963]

I took the drum, slave and shoes @nickwheeler removed and left neatly, to the local factors today and left them there for them to find the replacement parts for me.

Lets hope they can source the bits.


In the mean time my serial vintage bike restorer neighbour called me over this afternoon to collect the diesel/paraffin heater for the carport.

Usually @pauly arrives on site in winter when the temperature hits 6’C but this winter he may only need one set of thermals…..



The whole heater felt like its tank was filled, reasonably heavy.

But further inspection shoed it was empty.

So I added some diesel and started it.

STINKY Thing.




But it is hot, should make the carport comfortable to work in once I hang the large blue canvas on the front.

Roll on progress.

[Grizz1963]

Went to Uncle Bob after work.

Loaded some wood stairs, 101 inches or 2565mm for Craig to fit in his daughters bedroom up into the Loft.

Covered in Barn Owl poop.



More wood for random jobs.

Free is good.



Busy weekend ahead, and looking forward to working with mate Fil and Craigs son Kyle over the weekend to get as much progress as possible.

Later.

[Palf70Step]

People forget how versatile the ole station wagons are (or what ever you folks call them over yonder )

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

People forget how versatile the ole station wagons are (or what ever you folks call them over yonder )

Thats what they are called.

Reason I replaced a BMW or Mercedes Benz with this car.

Love it.




This weekend is the yearly charity toy run that we have visited a few times before at Tuba Trucks in Fayetteville in Arkansas.

Run by Clem and Kim Johnson the entry ticket to the whole day including food, live music and friendship is a kids toy.

Dennis used this as a deadline for taking his 1966 Nascar C10 there along with partner of more than 25 years, Deb, she makes an amazing breakfast too,

So last night the truck was loaded.



This morning.



On the road…..



Dennis relaxing.



And eventually Arkansas



And then Clems place.










And there you have it.

@pauly dreams of this truck.

We all want 800plus bhp in a 2015 NASCAR racing truck camouflaged as a 1966 C10

Or don’t we.


Next year…….. ROAD TRIP.

For sure.

[Palf70Step]

Just love Dennis' truck. I would be in a LOT of trouble with it though.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Just love Dennis' truck. I would be in a LOT of trouble with it though.

Dennis is like a teenager with powerful toys.

Sure he will get in trouble too.




Saw this on FB this morning.

Yes please.





Should be a bag of laughs.

[Grizz1963]

So I forgot to post the interior of Dennis’ truck.



Friday I headed up to Shropshire again to meet up with mate Fil “Sparkplug” at Craigs in order to help him bring down the stable block and move and stash it.

Unfortunately I struggled with the trip.

It took me 5 hour 45 minutes to do the posted 204 miles on a Friday afternoon.

Included was getting “lost” twice thanks to Fords useless Satnav that is both slow and not very clear, plus showing maps upside down etc.

The roads were stop start, and at times the engine was off and handbrake up…..

Not ideal.



So I stopped at Craigs just after 7.00pm, had dinner, then Fil got there from his 150 mile trip from Cambridge and we sat talking till after 10.00pm before heading out.

Fil to his camper, and I came to the AirB&B we used last weekend as well.

Greeted by nobody that time of the night.

However, this morning both cats were in for a love and a cuddle as their mother was away on funeral duties.



After a mug of tea and a shower, I headed over to,Craigs.

Fil’s van in pole position on the drive.



Walked around and found them already busy.



So we unpacked my car and started on the stables…..

At about 11.00 we were called in for breakfast by Lorraine.



Then headed straight back out again……

A hectic, hard and productive day saw us get about 70% of the job done.

I am happy to do a more complete report if anyone is interested.

More to do tomorrow till 12.00 then it is back on the road.

Knackered tonight.

Pills x4.

[Grizz1963]

Friday morning while I was having my before work starts mug of tea and toast, George the cat came in.

Had his Catnip on the “cat tree” scratch post.

Then walked into the lounge and jumped on my lap for a cuddle, and off again to inspect the lounge as before.

Then this……



And this.



Followed by this till I got up to go up to my office.




Nice of him to pop in.

[Grizz1963]

Before Fil and I got there, Craig and Son Kyle had done a load of preparation already.

Removing a corrugated roof, and a felt roof off the wooden roof structure.

Dismantled all the doors, cages and removed most of the wood panels inside of the structure.

These were already move and dry stored up on his land.

So he and Kyle both are skinny size, unlike me and to some extent Fil who are full size humans and they went up on the roof to start dismantling the roof panels.

It was wet and slippery when we started.



Crowbar cobras, there was so much nails, screws etc there.



Larry the farmer and digger/tractor driver had brought a trailer to help move the panels across the field to the next resting place.



One way to move a bloody heavy trailer…….



First panel down.





Once the first one was off, it got slightly easier as one had a hole in which to shove crowbars and reciprocal saws etc.



Not as much fun as it seems.





Looking from the other side.



And deceptive…..l




A wasp nest, one of many.



At this point we were called in for lunch, around 2.00pm





Fil the machine.



Roofing all off.



Next up was the walls.

Large

Heavy

Awkward

Dangerous.



Eventually Larry got home from his day job, potato farmer.

And drove the tractor to drag the trailer up to the top paddock.



We laid sheets and then moved Lil the Chevy back onto some boards.



First load unpacked on top of sleepers/ties.



After unloading we headed back in failing light and carried on with loading a second load of walls and panels, using phone torches etc.

And unloaded trailer no2 with Larry's help in the dark.

Calling it a day by 5.30 when the dark had completely taken over.

I was hurting like hell by then and found some pills in the car, taking a load.

Craigs wife, Lorraine had made us a South African Malay curry and rice and a traditional South African food called Vetkoek which is basically bread dough (or you can use diy pizza dough) fried in hot oil.
Then you slice it open, and load with the curried mince, or apricot jam/jelly and butter.
Absolutely mind blowing, if you know what it is.
I had not had any in 25 years or more.

Fil and I left by 7.45pm for his camper and my guest house respectively.

It had been a long, hard day.

I stayed awake till 11.00pm as I knew if I went to bed too early my aches would wake me by 4.00am.

It did, and I got up by 5.10am and made myself some tea.


Sunday was still ahead of us all to deal with the rest of the stables.

[Grizz1963]

Sunday morning I was awake by 05.10 and first mug of tea by 5.30

Got to Craigs by 6.30 and took a walk around the bomb site, smiling.

This was my view on site.



Then texted Craig to open the back door.

Into the kitchen which is absolutely the family centre of this home.

Saw the hatchet has a home too, by the Raeburn stove.



Outside the bird feeder was fully engaged by blue tits and other birds as well as this greedy guy.



An edited version of Fil looking through the one window was texted through.

Made me smile.



This was the result of Saturdays work.



Carried on dismantling and loading the trailer.



Lorraine made us bacon and sandwiches as well.

Very good.

Then straight back to work as we were against the clock.



Anticlimax when the last wall was packed.



At this point Fil formally handed his personal crowbar that was a firm favourite both days over to Craig.

There is a lot more to this photo than meets the eye.

Fil is generous to a fault and this was an example of kindness, tinged with humour.

Formal hand over



Then the bricks were,removed, packed on a small bike trailer and pallet to be moved.

Craig will be reusing as much of the materials as possible, as this is a costly process.

Any donations of bricks welcomed.




We also moved all the smaller pieces, leaving the trailer for Larry the farmer to pull up when he got back.



Also in the paddock was Donna the pet horse who had been keeping us company over the two days.



All wrapped up.

I got my stuff together, as did Fil and we were both on the road by 12.00 on the dot.



Fils Camper held this gem too.



A long hard weekend and again proof that together we are unstoppable.

Friendship goes a long way.

[Grizz1963]

What a day, what a weekend, well, two weekends.

But I took 30 minutes over lunchtime to run to the local village Hoo St Werburgh to collect and pay for parts.

Sourced by these guys.



New Slave cylinders.



And rear brake shoes.



Total cost £39.66

@nickwheeler I think it means one can proceed.

Some parts you just get on with it when you need them.

Weekend I suspect will be the time.

[CG]

Over five hours to get there, UGH!

Put me down as a full sized human too ... LOL!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by CG

Over five hours to get there, UGH!

Put me down as a full sized human too ... LOL!

Yup….. UGH! About sums it up.

I would love to be 10kg lighter, but life is good, too good and crap junk foods are too easily accessible and my “won’t power” is not strong enough.







Becoming a habit it seems.

George walking up the garden path by 07.00 meant company.

First time he has come to sit on the armrest when I am doing my early morning day job stuff.

He also does sit on my lap a bit……..

Life is certainly good for me, having company.



This week has been very busy from,a,work point of view, full days of online training, testing and planning.

So yesterday was my first chance to go for my daily walk, and it was pretty good. Somewhat fresh if not chilly, not cold.

By 3.00pm the warmth leaves and the sun is heding home.



Look carefully at this pile of hay bales.

Zoom into the left top of the pic, and get a perception of the sheer size and height when you see the fences and gate on the ground.

This new farmer has so much scaled up his operation, which of course if destroying the roads because of the sheer size of the machines and tools running up and down here.

And it seems the local council and he do not give a toss, or care for anything except profit.

It really does anger me.



Now a home, but the St Mary Hoo Parish Church has been here a long time.

Quoted off the internet.

Of the three churches in Hoo – St. Mary’s, St. Werburgh’s and Allhallows – it is not completely clear which came first. However, St. Mary’s is the best contender as there is record of one Wifward de Hou passing part of the tithes of the parish here to the Priory of Rochester when he became a monk. This was around 1068 and strongly implies a church was already well established here.

By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 Hoo St. Werburgh seems to have existed and was prevailant over Hoo St. Mary already. This is probably because the site of Hoo St. Werburgh was more suitable for habitation and that village grew as St. Mary Hoo shrank to a few houses.

Nevertheless, the church at St. Mary Hoo was rebuilt between about 1280 and 1350 as a fairly typical Kentish ragstone church with a castellated tower. All of this was heavily rebuilt around 1881.

Today the church is, unusually, a private residence and no longer has any ecclesiastical relevance. It is an odd feeling being the graveyard, which is still open to the public, but being aware that you are also standing in someone’s garden.






Hopefully I will be able to get back to the Rezin Rockit by the weekend inbetween giving Sally some deserved time.

Friday tomorrow.

[Grizz1963]

Partial lunar eclipse this morning early.


Sunrise was just a continuous spectacle.









Weekend soon.


@nickwheeler saving my butt on Sunday around midday with the Rezin Rockit rear brakes if anyone wants to come cheer us on.


Fridays are mostly good unless a deadline is included.

[Grizz1963]

[quote author="@admin" source="/post/2705389/thread" timestamp="1636484578"]Thanks for the extra info @grizz it was tricky to get enough info on all the builds in the time between announcement and when we recorded. Actually partly why I made this thread as I'm hoping to spend a bit of time filling in the gaps.

S10 is definitely much smaller than I thought then![/quote]

My S10 is about 100mm or 3-4” narrower than my 2020 Ford Focus estate.

Thought I would post a few pics of the 3rd door in here for those interested, or not and for @rmad and @admin to broaden their S10 knowlege 😉

The door is almost invisible, unless you know that the shut line on the rear of the cab actually for the door.



So once the small door is opened, a skinny lad life Hotwire and others could get in there and sit on the sideways mounted seat for a 5-10 mile trip to a pub, show etc.

Full size …. Chunky (fat buggers) like me would fit in there mainly if hijacked or prodded with an AK47 in the back, or a Glock in the neck for an indefinite distance ride.



The 3rd door also locks in place to form the B-pillar for the drivers door.

So it cannot latch unless you close it.




These are on a long wheelbase chassis, and actually have a different length to the LWB trucks.

The bed is a really useful 6 foot bed as well.

Turning circle on these are extremely poop, and having mounted slightly wider than standard tyres, I have a bit of chassis rub on full lock.

Other than that, these trucks have extremely comfortable seating and ergonomics are on par with luxury cars of the era.

Aircon, speed-o-cruise control, automatic gearbox with an overdrive gear in my ZQ8 factory special which included a bunch of nice touches like upgrades on steering and factory lowering has made this truck a real keeper, unless someone needs to have it more than me.

[Grizz1963]

My mate Kevin continues to move along with his build.

Wiring currently challenges him.



The S10 on the other hand is an absolute pleasure.



Life does go on.

And it’s good.

[Grizz1963]

Does it really matter?

Tasteless will always be that.

However, tongue-in-cheek? Well, that may be different.


Saw a used set of these in this new thread by @etypephil and it made me chuckle.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...arlin-roadster


So I ordered a set.






I also fitted another strip light in the carport, now it’s like daylight in there.




Followed by swearing repeatedly at my new Dewalt cordless drill that for some reason will not retain a 4mm bit.

It keeps releasing the bit.

Surely not right, is it, or is it.

While I was down there, I modified a rolling stand that I had made years ago to carry the space heater.




And lastly, added another permanently live, Motion activated light that will make finding key holes easier in the dark.

@craigrk gave it to me last weekend, and this is the right job for it.

Quite a lot of light.



@nickwheeler will be over this afternoon to help with the safe changing of the rear brake shoes and cylinders.

Plan is to try get the curtain side up before that too, as cold weather has been forecast.

More later.

[Grizz1963]

Chilly day yesterday, possibly the first one this year.

Weather has been so mild to date, so dropping to @pauly territory meant I had three T-shirts and one of my garage hoodies on to protect my chest and prevent couching and spluttering.



So when I built the carport, I knew that at some point I may want to add a curtain to cut the breeze and even hold in some “HEAT”

First job was drilling pilot holes, and then adding these coach screws, a 3/4 box of which cost me about £2.00 at a bootfair last year.

New impact driver working nicely, the drill being a pain in the butt releasing the drill bit constantly.



Once the canvas was measured as the holes are individually spaced, screws were in, it was time to hook and hang the truck curtain side to see how it fits before @nickwheeler came around midday to help me do the rear brakes on the Rezin Rockit.

Of course it is way too big, so I guess a bit of folding and tucking will be in order.



Looking over from the neighbours yard, it is obvious that there is a 4 foot gap from the left side.

This can be fixed……. Or not.

Due to folding under and raound some beam ends it is a bit slack.




I think it will work well along with the space heater later in winter and for now it is folded, packed and put away.

Small steps.

I also raked up,a load of leaves, cut the grass and pulled some dead bits from the side beds.

[Grizz1963]

Completely non retro, but may be of random interest.

Seen in London this afternoon.

License plate search shows.


LJ70FMF
KAR-GO DELIVERY-BOT

Colour
Green

Fuel type
Electric

Date registered
1 November 2020

[Grizz1963]

Sorry, report is a touch late.

Work is a bit busy right now.

So @nickwheeler came over on Sunday, the first day temperatures had dropped enough to make me wear three garage T-shirts, a hoody and a warm beanie hat.



Earlier the day I had fitted my super large truck canvas as a test run to the carport.

Then removed it again. But it will go up when the cold pushes me harder.

It certainly makes for a less breezy work area, along with the new lights I fitted, it should be a cold but workable space once the diesel heater is on.



Nick and I had a coffee and a chat first, then went down to the carport and got going.

He did all the work, I watched, tried to learn, and made coffee and inappropriate comments.

That seemed to work. Hope it did for him too.

I would have been totally screwed without his skill and knowledge on site.

Cleaning cleaning and more wire brush action, ensuring the reused parts were smooth and slick.

Some copper slip grease on a few moving points.



New slave cylinder going on.



Old ones were really bad, mud dribbling from them when pipes were disconnected.

By the second one, we just cut the pipe, after all, new brake pipes are easy and cheap to fit, and ambetter idea as everything is now new.



One side done, springs were really fighting us.



And after a few hours, job done.



Carport rearranged a bit, moving the rear axle deeper in, out the weather.

Also discussed and looked at the MX5 engine, mounts etc.

Plus my initial thoughts on lowering the Rezin Rockit, which may not happen, due to the amount of invasive work it would take, including cutting up the body and trans tunnel.

Still, nothing is yet cast in stone.

Massive thanks again to Nick for popping over and all the brain power and work shared.

Much appreciated.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Robbi

Love the claws hanging on to the arm rest ��

Up to now I thought they were just for show.


Having a cat by proxy, if that is the way to say it, means that I take no responsibility for his misbehaving.

Do i ?

So when he comes and presents like this, sleeping on my bed all morning………

Cute ehhhh??



He leaves again by midday.

Not to be seen till tomorrow morning first thing, when he is sitting on a chair out on the deck, staring in through the French doors till I let him in.

But this afternoon I was just taking a break from my desk, looking out the bedroom window, into the neighbours back yard and I saw him sitting down the bottom, next thing he flew straight up and tried to catch a passing blue tit or something similar.
Then his attention turned back to the rose bed next to which he was sitting…… rising up and pouncing, flipping what appeared to be a mouse up into the air.
It seemed to be partially maimed, I opened the window and called out to him, asking what he was up to.
He turned and looked at me, then grabbed the mouse and came trundling up the concrete garden path and across the lawn, through the hedge and up my drive, pausing halfway up to drop and play with what appeared to be a damaged mouse, then carried on and carried it up and left it under the truck before coming to the back door to be let in.
Cuddle, catnip and then he was out again to go play the mouse to full destruction.





Bloody cats…….

Killers.

[Grizz1963]

For those still interested in how this build is progressing……

Craig sent these this morning.

The two foundation holes for the concrete pads and brick raised edges have gone down.


I think the biggest problem is going to be to find some helpful people when the walls have to be raised and held in place, the first corner is a minimum of a 5 man job as the panels are a 4 man lift and carry from where they are waiting.

The roof gables and panels will be a many handed affair as well.

Of course finding help…… THAT is the problem.

CLICK PIC FOR VIDEO.





Membrane down in the Stables (now it will become a workshop and office) and first bit of type 1 to keep it in place.



Trust me, it is a large piece of real estate.



And then the second concrete pad will go down here.

Next to the house, and be known as the shed.



This used to be Craigs “Bike Garage” where he lived before.

Currently stacked along the side of the house, awaiting assembly.

Pity his son is in Ireland at University.

Hopefully it will come together.

[Grizz1963]

Here is a pic I lifted off FB.


Remember it in future when we start talking paint designs etc.

@nickwheeler seems to be quite convincing when it comes to making big jobs look a lot smaller than I see them.

All about perspective ehhhh.

It started out because I am still hoping to find another RX8 passenger seat to either add to the one I have, or even trade for the adjustable drivers seat I have but do not want.

So Nick reckons (correctly) painting the Rezin Rockit is quick and cheap, due to it being such a simple vehicle.


I like this design, the red one at the bottom.



Can it be altered and something created in that style to suit the completed car?