GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

ROAD TRIP ANYONE



I have seen this for sale in Colorado


And been thinking, buying it and getting it to Missouri to Dennis’s place.


Insuring and ownership on his name, and I then pay him for the insurance and become the named driver.


Should extend my road trip potential.


A Big Block chevy C30 dually under there, 41k miles done. And $1000.00 Colorado Dollars plus shipping to Missouri.


Opinions?


Agent Orange anyone.







Specifications.





Can you smell the dust and brown interior.
















Is there any mileage in this hare brained idea?

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

ROAD TRIP ANYONE



I have seen this for sale in Colorado


And been thinking, buying it and getting it to Missouri to Dennis’s place.


Insuring and ownership on his name, and I then pay him for the insurance and become the named driver.


Should extend my road trip potential.


A Big Block chevy C30 dually under there, 41k miles done. And $1000.00 Colorado Dollars plus shipping to Missouri.


Opinions?


Agent Orange anyone.







Specifications.





Can you smell the dust and brown interior.
















Is there any mileage in this hare brained idea?

Why not?, it would be great for your visits.

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Thank you.

Tell you what else, the S10 needs a drive desperately.

Not moved in weeks because of the Rezin Rockit situation.







Progress…?

How do you define it when you are so close that things blur in your line of vision.

I guess the latest order off eBay is a bit of a refocus.

Still a ton of cosmetic and setting up things to do, and for anyone who has not done this sort of thing themselves, or judge progress by the money they pay others to do the work only to then show off “their build” it is never going to be easy to understand why the car was not started over Easter or last weekend, or last night.

Still, it will happen.

@nickwheeler are probably as tired of fitting and removing the wheels, axle stands, wiring loom etc as the onlookers.

Sally is a saint, putting up with it all, allowing me to go play most times I want.
Remember the Moonwalk some of you sponsored her so generously for?
That is on this weekend, and all I am contributing is to pick her up at the station on Sunday. Poor show from me.
A very good friend (whom I have never met in person) gave me a real wake up call yesterday, pointing out where my priorities should lie.
And he is right.

But in the mean time, progress I guess can be defined by ordering 3 meters of carpeting for the car.

Ohhhh, and buying £51.18 worth of Unleaded, that is 31 litres or thereabouts.

Optimism is good.




Hope to get to Car Builders Solutions to get the radiator hoses and bends after work today.

Almost the weekend.

[Grizz1963]

FRIDAY 13th


BOOOOO…. !!




Not that that is a problem in itself, but time is counting…..

Or something like that.

Hoses bought for the radiator and cooling system, £60.00

Fitting, priming, antifreeze etc, Weekend job.





Mate @Craigrk is flying to India for work in two weeks time.

I asked him to look into alternative LED headlights for the Rezin Rockit for me while out there.

I can get these for around £80.00 each here in the UK.

BUT - Aliexpress who do not shop to the UK it seems (I am often wrong) will supply them for around £30.00 each in India.

Watch this space.




Summer seems to finally be here.

Hedges need to be cut, lawn mowed etc, so a load of non car build jobs to be done.

Have a good day, it is Friday after all.

[Grizz1963]

Right.

So where were we in this build?

A never ending list of smaller jobs, all taking up time.

The floors on the body have a weird diagonal join in the front footwells and revised resin and matting which brought a 15mm height irregularity into play.

I had got a load of fiberglass matting and resin from a member on UKGSER last year with all intent to use it to create a level and stronger floor, but fiberglass is ambarsteward to work with and ultimately I decided to go for a plan B solution to the floor and position of the pedals.
So the fiberglass matting and resin is again up for grabs if someone can use it and wants to collect it. PM me please.

So yesterday morning I spoke to Mickey over the fence about some thick ply offcuts he may have, Failed, he had none, but knew where two 4x6 foot “used” sheets of 15mm ply was dumped at his sons home.

So we jumper in the S10 and headed off to go scavenge and collect them.

One was unused, rectangular and missing a 400mm strip the other must have done duty as a floor in a van, one side grubby, and a load of dried out paint on it, plus random cuts to it.

Some more loose bits came home too.

Love my Chevy, don’t use it enough but it is always ready to work.

Treasures, and free money again as they were headed to a skip. The better sheet was already stashed in the garage for future reference.



So the usual CAD work commenced, keeping in mind the two sides are completely different.



Then transferred to the ply that I had cleaned up of the paint with a grinder and flap disc.

Thanks @nickwheeler for photography duties.



What the initial wood repaired and levelled, along with some brutal grinding down.





Pedal view.

There is another complete sheet of cut to size ply covering all of this mess, with the carpeting attached, going in and that will be like a bung, holding the transmission tunnel carpet etc in place.

Bought a yoga mat this morning to use as padding/insulation as there was nothing waterproof that I have direct access to to fit to the ply and to absorb the wear of heels under the pedals.

All of this has added a good 20mm or so to the floor, making the pedals easy to reach and use.




Foot rest to the left was cast in Oklahoma in 2019 on the road trip and has been waiting to be used on something interesting.




More in a bit about the rest of yesterday’s expectations and actions for those awake enough to have read this far.

Later.

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Little by little.






Random update.

Mate Andy in Oklahoma is building a house fir a friend.

Well beyond 70, he has always got a ton of stuff going on.

Sent me an update yesterday.

This overlooks a river too.









Have a good weekend.

[Grizz1963]

I keep saying the same stuff over and over again, but dayjob is a pita so I need to grab bits of time to do even the most arbitrary of jobs just to get away from it.

Yesterday was Teams meetings, strategy (I hate it) and admin tasks.

So my very late lunch/earlier weekend resulted in a whitewash. Hence the Billy Idol reference to bleaching.


Another flashback to what was delivered on 11th September 2020

Time flies.









I had tried hand buffing some of the rust stains away with G3 compound.

Resulting in this.









Not that impressed.

So maybe a machine mopping will help, also to remove some of the grinder dust that has rusted to the flat surfaces on the body over the last 6 months of working on it.

Typically, back to work, and then when I wrapped up for the week, I headed out and unpacked the car completely, sealed up exposed wiring looms and plugs etc.

The pulled out the bleach, a bucket of water and a washing cloth.

Big brush, bucket of bleach gel.

Ideally spray the body and apply gel over water, this allows activation and oxidation to get going.

Kills moulds that grow in the exposed fiberglass.



Rinse.



Dry, drill out drain holes for potential future puddles in the footwells.

Put away and go walk the dog for 3 miles.



Looks a bit cleaner.

I think.

[Grizz1963]

Another job I did late last night was to clearance the hood/bonnet to fit flush around the wiring loom grommets.





And went for a 3 mile walk with Sally and Bonnie the dog……

Saw this road, down which we walked…… report in the Chevy S10 thread elsewhere. Or to followon other forums.

Maybe it is a sign.

Hell, I do hope so.



Time to get this thing wrapped up, but we know there are loads of jobs.

Yes, they keep coming.

[Grizz1963]

Went for a 3 mile or 5km walk with Sally and the Dog Bonnie.

Walking down this road, I hoped it was a sign.



WW2 pill box.



Zooming on, on the Thames river banks.



Weird patterns of death in the wheat fields.



Sheep, should taste really good feeding on the salt marsh grass.



Amazing stuff the tides bring in.

Just not easy to access, and a long walk to carry home.



And the tide washed up a truck.

Tempted to carry it home…..

Sally just laughed and laughed.



Back on the Rezin Rockit build today.

[CG]

I cant imagine trying to shift with my left hand. I wonder how long it would take to get used to? I feel like there would be a lot of grinding involved lol.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by CG

I cant imagine trying to shift with my left hand. I wonder how long it would take to get used to? I feel like there would be a lot of grinding involved lol.

Honestly, it takes 5 minutes.

Just not difficult.

More important is looking right at intersections not left.















@nickwheeler knocked on the door

But

But

But

But…….. it is only Tuesday evening.

Sally was having dinner, I had already eaten, so we decamped to the kitchen.

Nick is amazing in the way he can contain his obvious excitement and pride.

Pride - rightfully so.

Excitement at completing this bit of reconstructive surgery on the MX5 cooling system pipework that he knocked out in no time.

I was super chuffed and impressed, thankful, pleased, all of the above.

Mr Smug-Mug



Love the detail he turned in here.





Final fine tuning to be done when fitting back on the car.



And of course the whole problem solver.



Thanks a million Nick.

The highlight of the week became even Highlightererer.

[Grizz1963]

Cleaned the pavers this morning before work.



Yup, that works.



Boom.

Ready to be buried.



Cut the grass around lunch time as well, between customer calls.,

And could not wait for my 4.00pm customer Teams call yo come and go.

It eventually concluded by 4.50pm and my weekend started.

[Grizz1963]

So at last.

Carpet time.

Transferring the shapes to the carpet…… know how to do it?

Use blackboard chalk, draw the edges, and push the carpet down on it.

Cut out.

Job done.



Prepped the hold down as well, as I do not have any more vinyl left over, and am not buying a massive piece just to get a small 12x12 inch pice to cut out.





Next up………..

Glue time.

Contact glue is an absolute barsteward.

But the first tunnel section was down, after getting the safety harness bolts ready, cutting the holes in the carpet.



Fine threaded bolts with thin heads.



Using the Hooker Harness on the drivers side and the Simpson on the passenger side meant different fixings.

Fortunately it all works.



Passenger side.



One small job to do was to seal all the original MX5 gearshift plate to the transmission tunnel.



Next up was the big butterfly piece.

Thankfully David was out for a smoke, so I pulled him into the job as it needed four hands.

The contact adhesive is strong, and goes off really fast.




Pleased with the outcome so far.

Then Sally came and I came indoors to cook dinner.

Mote in a bit for those awake, interested, bothered to check in.


Back in a bit.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good, keep at it.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking good, keep at it.

Thank you.

I guess its too late to give up now.






‘Schmidt used to run a 400cc super scooter engine, “too scary” so downgraded to 250cc



Next door neighbour has some interesting, weird, rare, unusual stuff.

RO/80 is fitted with a V4 Ford engine.





Two owner 1937 Ford Flathead V8

Was replaced with the Jag that had the bonnet above.

[CG]

Oh yeah, Id roll in that Messerschmidt (sp?) all day! I love quirky cars.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by CG

Oh yeah, Id roll in that Messerschmidt (sp?) all day! I love quirky cars.

Quirky is cool.





After dinner I cable tied and stapled the gaiter to the stick and also the anchor surround.



From the top.



Carpets and floor sections in.

Not yet got carpet for the firewall, so just gave it some satin black.



Dash added in just to get an idea of how it looks.



Closer up look.



And close up of the completed gearshift gaiter.

Some more detail work to be done.




I have to say, I am pretty pleased with the outcome so far.

Later.

[Palf70Step]

Looking good Rian

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looking good Rian

Thanks Bill.


Look around.

Some nice stuff out there.

Over at Craigs for the Queens Jubilee weekend.












Last night Craig brought me some items I had asked him to collect for me………



Today Craigs wife, Lorraine asked me to make her a rustic garden bench using one of the new sleepers they have stashed out back.

So of course I could not just screw some bits together.

Went for a rummage in Craigs woodpile.

Found so e very green, moss covered wood.

Pressure cleaner to the rescue.





Measured and cut the sleeper.



While I was in an artistic mood, I called Elli, and asked her to draw me a cat……….



Got going with the router.

Result



Going further with the router, I managed to spell PEACE correctly.



Test fit.



Then made a backrest.



And job done.



Lorraine was very pleased. Even cooked me dinner.

I also cut a Hawthorn hedge which is a nightmare.

Couple of beers next.

[Grizz1963]

Saturday at Craigs.

Weirdly slow, but busy.

We prepped the American mail box mounting that had to wait this long until the gate post was repaired, two large trucks had managed to hit it last year.



And weirdly, in the old mailbox were all these address change documents from DVLA. Seems a few more came before.

Who needs this many V5c documents.

Craig does.



After this we headed into Whitchurch for a few hours.

I needed a few things, including a small gift and a card for Sally, turns out that I needed a bottle of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey to celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee with.

Saw a few older cars, some lovely British vintage stuff.

Including this mechanically fully restored Land Rover, a double mailbox with patriotic crocheted cover and a lovely large cast iron drain cover. Foot added for perspective of size.







Back home we unloaded the 8 foot concrete posts and carried them around to where the reclaimed/recycled greenhouse would ho.

A bit of digging and levelling to get the foundation work sorted.

Lunch on the job was curried beef mince on rice, on site and a cuppe later.



Then I spent an hour cleaning it all up.



While I was doing this, Craig burned and cleared a load of his hedges where the previous owner had for years just dumped all cuttings and garden waste.

It took a few hours but made a huge difference to the fences and underhedge spaces.

Much better.

Glass next.



After the greenhouse, I got the super long extension put and got my personal hedge trimmer from the car.

Then went up to the rear and side boundaries and hard cut the hawthorn horse paddock hedges back.

They have not been cut since last year and needed a good meter or 3 foot cut back.

Once done and cleared up, it looked a whole lot tidier too.

We decided to shut shop by 6.00pm and relax with the Queens Jubilee etc.

Dinner was pretty much unsurpassed.

Meatballs in Tiger bread baguette rolls, followed by another bowl of trifle.



Overnight rain set in, so the planned bootfair today was shelved.

Watching the rain is rather enjoyable too.

Headed home, down South Later.

[Grizz1963]

Well.


Alllll the way from Mumbai (Bombay if you are older) via Shropshire…….


New headlights.






I really do hope they look as good in reality as it did in concept.


We will see, later.

[Grizz1963]

Popped over to my friend Kevin this afternoon to use his hydraulic pipe bender to try and see if I can actually make up my own roll bar as local builders are too busy to take on a small job like this.

He has completed his build too.

Not bad for a first build done in your 70’s

[Grizz1963]

George, the cat I don’t have, seems to have settled in here.

His owner is pregnant with No2 and it seems he prefers sleeping here most days.

Easy pet ownership in a way. He comes, he eats (I leave some dry food in a plate for him to graze from and give him the odd bit of chicken or ham, yes he trained me well) he sleeps, he leaves. And repeat.