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

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

The Switch is for the Engine management and is intended to reduce the engine torque when switching, so that it doesn't jerk so much

Afternoon Harald

Thank you very much.

It certainly did not jerk at all before.

There is a glowplug light that flashes continuously after one minute that is new after the new ECU.

I wonder if I disconnected that switch if it would go away.

I will go try it now and report back.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

The Switch is for the Engine management and is intended to reduce the engine torque when switching, so that it doesn't jerk so much

Sorted.

https://youtu.be/9YUg_rpVnOo?si=-snIJTkkIpzelrIJ

[Grizz1963]

So today I used the Caddy to do a few chores.

Totalling about 7 miles driving.

After fitting the new ECU the glowplug warning light kept blinking last night and this morning.
Plugging a reader in showed nothing.
Then after part of my drive which included stopping and turning the car off a few times the reset automatically happened and the light has been gone since then.

I came home after fish n chips at Sallys house.

Helped the latest lodger unpack his truck and saw him off. Two minutes later he was at the door.
His 2018 Ford Ranger 3.2 was dead and would not start.

Battery suspected.

Caddy out on the street and on Mickey next doors driveway.

Brrrrrmmmmmm!!

Hero.




Short version for most.

https://youtu.be/9YUg_rpVnOo?si=__UXF4ZaTrXbZWSU


Longer all inclusive version for masochists and insomniacs.

Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/gPS5ypRaI-E?si=iFOKSQUVvUk8gEL0

I think the Caddy is now sorted.

Still a nice tool.

Thankfully

[Grizz1963]

I was discussing replacing the very tired leather seats in my 206 CC.
Pictures below.

I had neither noticed nor known or even remotely thought they had airbags in them.


I found some fabric NON-airbag seats and complete interior at Altrincham outside Manchester for a 206 CC for £60.00 collected.

I do not like leather as cold and hot extremes make them unpleasant.


Question now is…….


Will it cause chaos for the ECU and Com2000 unit, ultimately resulting in 1) MOT fail or 2) Worse?

My Chevy truck had a sports steering wheel fitted but MOT guys understood that and a bit of black tape “fixed” it.


Is there a proven way to circumvent all this and fooling the car into thinking it still had airbags fitted?


CHEAPLY.


Also, something that does not need two degrees in engineering or electronic genius to fit or make work.


I know with various things like removing airbag steering wheels etc often guys bridge something with a resistance of some sort.

Thank you.

[Grizz1963]

Random things seen while inspecting the 206 CC interior.

Weirdest of cup holders in back seat.

Almost shoulder height.

Seriously?

[Grizz1963]

Bloody freezing today. 2’C at the garage. With a stiff breeze as well.

Caddy got some attention.

Small thing that has bugged me since day one.

This tight parking scrape.





So this afternoon I dragged myself out onto the driveway and added some pinstripes and a combination sticker to misdirect the eye.

Not going to be everyone’s thing but you could buy it and remove the stripes.









And once again………

A reminder.



Going to get the 206 some fabric seats over the weekend. 230 miles from here.

Should be good.


Video for those who like moving pictures.

https://youtu.be/d-dK_xVYIRA?si=39sNWmiJMmtbM6LT


.

[Braunschweiger]

A strange place for a cup holder. The line and the sticker detract well from it.

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

A strange place for a cup holder. The line and the sticker detract well from it.

Thanks guys.

Much appreciated



Fame at last 😏

At 3 minutes

https://youtu.be/KMM-oDchkJA?si=pLNhQ4clzDmjpY-c

[Palf70Step]

Congrats on the fame there Rian. Will your head still get in the Caddy now?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Congrats on the fame there Rian. Will your head still get in the Caddy now?

LOL Bill

Absolutely.

I religiously follow his builds.

Clever guy.

Used to build boats and worked in the USA at one point.

He is a great problem solver.

[Grizz1963]

Up early and out on the road.



First stop at @westbay for coffee, biccies chat and dog.



From there it was off on the next leg to just outside Manchester to collect a complete Peugeot 206 CC interior bought for £60.00



Got there and had a good chat with the seller.

Loaded up and headed out for the last 50 miles.



On the way I stopped for a pee and a Costa Coffee at a newly built service station.



On ordering the coffee, I was chatting to Harish, the barista, he gave me a muffin at no charge.
Random kindness of strangers again showing.





Then off again, headed for Whitchurch in Shropshire to Craigs place.

He was at a work function in Bristol overnight and got in at 08.15 this morning.

I took Hershey out for a walk this morning.

Brrrrrrrrr

-5.5’C outside.





Today has been mostly putting up a Christmas tree and having a look at his office in the stables that are nearing completion And of course some YouTube videos.

Maybe tomorrow will be warmer.

[Grizz1963]

What a surprise the weekend was.

Real chilly weather, so much so that we didn’t do a thing except vegetate.

Saturday morning dawned at -5.5’C yes minus.

It was bone chilling and despite going out to Craigs stables and workshops for an hour, the cold was too much to actually do anything fun.
So we headed back indoors and got the Christmas tree and stuff down from the loft for Daughter Elli to decorate.
Craigs wife was preparing for massage therapy exams so we watched some YouTube videos on car and house building.

Sunday morning







Not a lot done either.

Felt weird but sometimes its not a bad thing.

Monday morning I headed out back to Kent as soon as Craig got back from the school run.

Satnav was out by 30 minutes as usual due to traffic and a coffee stop.




Overpriced Starbucks coffee and a pee just over halfway back.



Home by 13.00

House looked like a couple of teenagers had been let loose (not really that badly) but certainly the lodgers were making themselves at home.
I knew the two 47kg bottles of gas were near their end before I left, and they were indeed empty with the system switching over to the other two.
Ordered some gas. £187.00 for two bottles delivered.
Thats a lot of money to just burn.
But you gotta live.

Once unpacked I got a load of weekend laundry going and brought the complete 206CC interior into the house as some of it needs cleaning up a bit.

The rear seat base needs a small repair right where the seatbelt anchor exits from the floor.

At £60.00 plus maybe £15.00 for the 100 mile detour to collect them…….

I still think it’s a bargain to replace the very badly damaged drivers seat.

Fix will be simple.

Unless I find a base for silly money like £20.00 then I don’t plan to do the repair.




Mate Martin said he would come over one day to neutralise the airbag sensors with a couple of resistors soldered into the system.

The front seats are immaculate



Treasure laid out.

Vax wet n dry for a couple of spots.



I also want to start valeting the green Toad interior as it can do with a good scrub down and baseline clean up of dash, controls and interior glass.

Then, weather permitting the wash and polish of the outside.

Frosty today.

[Grizz1963]

Couple of out of sync videos.

Fetching.

https://youtu.be/20doiwWRcLw?si=dli4ydPIvcZ4c8--


Inspection

https://youtu.be/gIyJWnADDQM?si=fer-OWe1tmznaE-M


Looking forward to fitting them.

[Grizz1963]

Corrupted entry

[Grizz1963]

Astro van was bought with a short MOT in August. Expiring on the 20th December.

But despite not having a day job, I have been really busy with the two other cars on the drive the last few weeks.

All that got to a point of calm chaos with the Caddy now being good on all levels. Right down to the go faster stripes and paint damage cammo.
The 206 CC it parked up till the 20th December when the Cambelt and waterpump will be replaced.
Raining all day today and cold so no paint detailing gets done.

Back to the Astro…….

Swapping around the cars after I got a same day booking on Monday this week, I drove it down to the test station enjoying the power and eagerness of the 150 bhp the 4.3l V6 brings. Of course being empty in the rear makes it super light and perfect for drifting around corners.



The Test Centre was running a bit behind due to customers running late in arriving. Never seen that before but they told me and apologised when I got there for the 15 minute delay. No problem.

When the young tester took it in to test I could see the silly grin on his face.
The van really looks and sounds great from the outside too. .

I also heard but did not see it being revved in anger when the front wheels got stuck in the brake testing rollers. When I got around to look at what happened the air was heavy with tyre smoke.

Evidenced by the marks on the floor. 235/15 tyre treads. Black lines do matter for hooligans.

Hopefully I don’t get a bill for the damage to the floor.



Once up on the ramp the test continued till they were finished.
I had asked if I could take some pics and video of the very clean 30 year old underside once tested which they allowed while escorting me into the workshop.

Nice people as I mentioned.



Clean Underside also shown in the video.

Wanna buy a tidy van mister?

Not a bad looking 30 year old











Once I had taken my pics they dropped the van and took it off to get the emissions tested as well.
Another pass. Possibly due to my enthusiastic driving to the test centre.



Really liking this angle on the van.

In the video you can see just how low it actually is.

And it looked great parked outside in the carpark.



And finally like an expectant father at a maternity hospital, time for the yearly cigar.

Looking at the mileage at under 80k miles which includes about 7 years stored in a dry warehouse, it’s no wonder that the van is as nice as it is now.



Video for those who like sound with their pictures.

https://youtu.be/G5zGWeGuFI0?si=qRNvlXfiau_sEmEm

Thanks for checking in and any comments you care to take the time to make.

Now if it would just stop raining outside.

[Palf70Step]

Good to see the Astro is ready to go for another year. Looks like you are getting like how I was in Okinawa, which one of the 3 to 5 cars will I drive today. In most cases it was the one that would start.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Good to see the Astro is ready to go for another year. Looks like you are getting like how I was in Okinawa, which one of the 3 to 5 cars will I drive today. In most cases it was the one that would start.

That’s so funny Bill

The story of many a car nut.




Managed to find some smoked/clear side repeaters of unknown parentage for the Caddy.

Next job will be to find a set of clear front indicator lights as well.




Won’t be everyone’s taste.

Should work.



Loads of rain again today so a bit frustrating.

[Braunschweiger]

Take a look at the VW Polo 6N type, if I'm not wrong, some of them should be identical.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

Take a look at the VW Polo 6N type, if I'm not wrong, some of them should be identical.

Thank you

I just need to find some.

Eyes open 😏

[Grizz1963]

Changed the front fender accent today between rain and wind sessions.

I think this is a better option than the one I had on before.

The square on the rear should have been different so I think I will address it when the weather improves.







Weather really screws with the progress.

In other Christmas news…..

My old S10 was seen out in the wild doing what gets done this time of year.



Yes its a screenshot.

Not my truck.

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday I was busy sharing information on FB about the Astro van when a guy, Michael, from Denmark reached out via Messenger.

Small time farmer, Blues guitar and harp player in a blues band.

More importantly, an awesome blue Astro van, used in summer as his gig bus. During winter it is dry stored and the Volvo comes out.

Funny how I never met a stranger in my life.

Look closely, pop out side windows, super cool louvers.

And the wheels are my taste.




Later in the day I washed the 206 CC as I really wanted to polish and detail it.

Rain interrupted plsy, sadly.





https://youtu.be/eUDojOVAtFU?si=cSK4esVQZ7BeBjtq

Hopefully the weather would change.

It did not….

[Grizz1963]

Sometimes I see stuff that makes me smile.

Tonight a trench cleaner over thr street.

Should be done yearly.

Not done.

And the council it seems are only clearing one side of the road.

Crazy.

https://youtu.be/l7WP3jjdBpw?si=Jxwvyftd5aozIjYG

Should just be thankful that I get to see some of my council tax used on something worthwhile.

[Grizz1963]

Cleanup time
Remember the day we collected the car?
Pretty, green, kinda dull inside and outside.



So I had to wait for the weather to give me a window of opportunity to was and detail the car.

Washed on Sunday. Ran out of dry time.



So yesterday I cleaned and buffed the glass.
Inside rear glass was the worst
Washed glass then dry cloth buffed till the difference was noticeable.



Much better. Glass is damaged from years of snow and frost scraping when you look really close enough.



Then started on the hood/bonnet, trying to get the lacquer damage corrected as much as possible.
Followed by the rest of the car.
Hand polishing allows you to get intimate and identify all the marks and correct some of the damage that does not need a PDR specialist.



Once all the paint has been polished, buff off the powdered polish followed by getting onto all the black trim.
Body rubbing strips, bumpers and then mirrors, glass trim and in the case of this convertible the roof seals as well.

Half and half, showing the before and after.



Big wide mouthed toad.

Suits the name “La Petit Crapaud”



Getting into every possible groove, and hidden dirt trap.

Makes me feel better.



Final result, it feels as smooth as it looks.



Now, if I saw this on a sales lot……
I would be interested in buying it.




A few hours of focusing on this makes a big difference to my day.

[Palf70Step]

Great job on the cleanup Rian. She just glistens on her lilly pad.