GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

Sally is a donkey, not much stops her. Certainly not Covid.


Thanks for the care messages for Sally, the dog and George the cat and of course compliments aimed at @nickwheeler and me.


In the mean time I have released an album to help generate funds for the body and wheels that need painting.


Hope it sells well and generates sufficient funds.

[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.

[Grizz1963]

Got a call from Darren today.

Followed by some photos……

Headed in the right direction.





And sparkly.





Can you tell what it wants to be yet?



More work to be done tomorrow.

I do Need this.

[Grizz1963]

PS: Also made these…….

Bolted in under the hood/bonnet hinges against the firewall, under the scuttle with inverted T’s welded in place, they will be mounting points for the wiring looms.

Small jobs ehhhh??





Weekend ahead.

[Grizz1963]

25 days without a phone or internet, wifi etc when you run a home based office…..

And mobile reception that does not receive any signal.

So yesterday, I actually walked out of my Friday meeting and killed some time.

Weirdly, at 4.00pm a BT Openreach telephone technician arrived, two hours later magically…….. Phone and services restored.

So what else did I get done.

I bit the bullet and cut back the instrument cluster face and peak.

Hacksaw job.

Then took a long tome to shape and file and grind it to a point where the next phase could be started.



This was a very high risk manoeuvre as it was snowing intermittently outside the garage which makes plastics extremely fragile.

I knew I had this piece of plastic for the last 10 or more years, found it, marked out, Stanley knife, prayed and snappe…….d.



More cutting, grinding on the bench grinder……

Loads of scratches……..



Then some towels, cloths and G3 rubbing compound, an hour later I was halfway there, drilled a hole for the speedo reset button.



Followed by more finger polishing, grinding, filing, you get the picture.

I am happy to say, it is far from perfect.

But good enough.

Don’t like it?

Come over, make a new one, fit it.



Next up.

Inbetween helping the telephone company guy sort out my phone and internet, including removing some plugs to speed up my internet microscopically the next job surfaced.

Making a template for that little peak to finish off the cluster once fitted to the dash, after the vinyl is ordered to cover it all.

CAD Rules as @nickwheeler says.



While working on this, I also decided to try fit the cluster from behind, and not out front as planned.

This reduces it by 12mm

And still fits and allows the three loom plugs to be connected (I hope)



After some fine tuning, grinding and a load of bending I think we have a workable solution.



It will get bonded around the trim, and the vinyl will get tucked in behind the clocks etc.

Work in progress yes.



I also sanded and painted the piece and then closed shop at 7.00pm as my bones were chilled working out there with snow still swirling about.

This morning I noticed the outside temperature is at -2’C

Where is summer now?

[Grizz1963]

Today was a great day.

Loads of progress, but apparently none visible.

As mentioned by @nickwheeler that’s where we are at this point.










So what did we get done?

Nick made some brackets, welded some on, drilled holes and generally got a load of invisoble jobs done.

Oh, and he smashed some rear lightbulbs on the driveway.

I did some woodwork, metal work, grinded and grinded some more on the dash and cluster.


I also dug out the Rocketpigs that @peteh1969 had 3D printed for me.

They need painting and detailing.

Still trying to figure what to do with the paint.

[Grizz1963]

So back to what took 6 hours yesterday.

@Nickwheeler was on electrical and bracket duties.

Making, shaping, welding earths, fuse box brackets etc.

Time flies when you make stuff to last.,
















At 5.30pm the wiring loom was removed AGAIN AND HOPEFULLY for the last time for some repairs by Nick.

Leaving the under dash support looking a bit lonely.

More fun later today.

[Grizz1963]

So while Nick was making sparks, I carried on making dust and some occasional sparks.

I knew I had to head toward this adhesive and getting the cluster sorted.

But it’s another slow job, to get the right finish.



Cardboard template followed by Dexian shelving donor still giving.



Cut out and rough shaped.



Followed by adding some studs to have hidden fasteners.



Test fit, again.



Followed by my favourite part of the job. Paint

Mainly for preventing rust once closed up in padding and vinyl.



Once the paint dried, I messed it up again by gluing and clamping it all together overnight.



One more job before closing up the shop was to carefully line the edge of the cluster trim with black adhesive and then clamp the screen once carefully laid down, AFTER ENSURING NO FINGERPRINTS ON THE INSIDE OF THE SCREEN.



Typically, Nick and I stood talking for some time, then I dragged out the grinder and powerfile again and trimmed back the ECU bracket, that looks lovely now.

Funny how we decide to stop work and then start again, just doing that one more little job.

I fetched the dash and cluster in earlier this morning to warm up indoors, trimming the excess glue on the dash and masking the cluster for fixing the small cowl next, and leaving it alone.

Chilly outside this morning.

Onwards

[Grizz1963]

@pauly will attest to us all being young and happy once.

Or more than once.

6 plus years ago, Facebook reminded me over the weekend, the Chevy C10 was having its V8 and Transmission rebuilt and serviced.

Can it be so long already?

Of course if you,look at the “Not a Project” Prozac etc, it is easy to see.








So,Sunday morning I popped down to the garage early to unclamp fetch the dash and cluster for the next part of their marrying up.

It all takes time.



Masking up the cluster to fix the peak in position.



Once glued up, I wanted to mount my new large vice/vise on the welding table, which became a suddenly distracted clearing operation.

Including cutting up the proposed sunny day roof and trying it out on the car.

I think it is a clear NO.



After that, I got refocussed and started to measure, cut, glue the support strips for the side panels under the dash, over the tunnel.

I also created and prepped, then welded 11 studs to wide plates, to be used to pull the dash into the original fiberglass dash (what is left of it) once the vinyl and scrimmfoam,are applied, as well as switches etc.

Everything does take time



And the result.



I did other odd jobs like removing and etch priming the Land Rover door hinges, they will be black.

When @Nickwheeler came, it was coffee, chat and straight into electricals.

His mission and ambition was to connect the battery and see and hear some sort of life.

After some time he called me over…….

We could see that the ECU was alive, and how many miles the engi e had covered.



Time for coffee and sausage rolls then.

Next up, testing the front circuits.

Lights.



Then after testing he started to resplice the first LED headlight, removing the original plug, as we needed an extra 400mm length to make it all work.



On finishing soldering in new plugs etc, time for a test.

Ooooopppsss….. FAIL !!!

Perplexed we both stood retracing steps, testing plugs etc.

I had had a long day, and was stressing about Mondays two meetings, one may well affect me in a way that I do not care to be affected in.

So I actually insisted in us closing shop by 18.30 and go inside, have a couple of cheese and ham rolls and a well deserved alcoholic beverage.

Nick insisted on taking one more look though…….



But we found nothing at that point, packed away, closed shop and walked away, having hit a small wall.

Next weekend both of us have stuff on, so progress may be slower than we would like.

Hey Ho !!




For those that have managed to stay awake to this point, a quick rubbish 1 minute Video.


CLICK LINK


https://youtu.be/S6Wcetfch1I



VIDEO DOES SHOW IT ALL WAS WORKING.


SO WHAT COULD IT BE WITH REWIRING THE LED LIGHTS ?


Have a good week.

[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.

[Grizz1963]

Working from home today……….

Been online since 06.00 to try figure out and sort some listings for the new boss that the office screwed up REALLY BADLY
Why can’t they leave stuff alone that works perfectly.

Anyway, what it may just mean is a longer lunch hour and not commuting 2.5 hours

Leading to you know what.

And taken tomorrow off as a vacation day

That does mean three 4 day weeks in a row.

Is life good??

[Liz]

Originally Posted by 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.

God bless him. I only hope I have that energy at 70

[Liz]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Working from home today……….

Been online since 06.00 to try figure out and sort some listings for the new boss that the office screwed up REALLY BADLY
Why can’t they leave stuff alone that works perfectly.

Anyway, what it may just mean is a longer lunch hour and not commuting 2.5 hours

Leading to you know what.

And taken tomorrow off as a vacation day

That does mean three 4 day weeks in a row.

Is life good??

Looking forward to seeing what you get into with that time off lol

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Liz

God bless him. I only hope I have that energy at 70

You and me both Liz.

Some people are just machines.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Liz

Looking forward to seeing what you get into with that time off lol

LOL !!

So do I.

Some days I certainly struggle to get going.

But I am still enjoying this at this point.

At least I got to go drive my S10 twice this week, despite having a company car, the truck is a load more real.

This afternoon I did spend a few hours cutting and shaping a hole and air intake pipe into the front wheel arch.





LOVE IT WHEN SCRAP WORKS.

ALL FREE STUFF MOVING ABOUT.

Drawers are off to a new home tonight.

[Grizz1963]

Vacation tomorrow, and an extended lunch, plus zero miles commute, and starting work at 06.00 meant we have this tonight.

Two hours of CAD, cutting, fitting, heating, melting, fitting, cutting, shaping, swearing, swearing, and a bit more forcing, grinding, swearing.

@nickwheeler would just have stood and laughed at my frustration.

But it gave me this.

CAD



Directed



Marked



Cut



Trial fit in hole



Then the wheel arch intake.

Awkward, very awkward.



Reshaped.



Upside down

Not a fit.



Reshaped with heat.



Looks like a better fit.



Getting there.



Trumpet needs to be refitted, with super adhesive.

As will the tab to attach it to the inside of the inner wheel arch need to be drilled and fine tuned.



Another small, but time consuming job mostly wrapped up, final fit once the body is bolted down.

[Grizz1963]

Remember the dash…..?


Vinyl got to be delivered today.

So tomorrow I need to get on with the dash.\

Need to go buy some contact glue.





More little jobs.