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

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Mjminino

that's cool man! You sure are goofy!

Says the guy with the funny hair....

Thanks Mike.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Wherer is the LIKE button!

Your reply is a good enough like for me.

Now go build something crazy.

Originally Posted by flashed

Me thinks you will go in circles with only 2 wheels but you will look good doing it .

Using the cat as a spare will help.

Originally Posted by bj383ss

Rian,

Heres another nugget for you. The 00-02 Camaro SS had the option for CME(Center Mount Exhaust). Such as seen here on my Camaro.


Exhaust006 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Looking at this from underneath it looks like you can side fit it relative to the side of the truck, the way the pipes route out.

Thank you for posting this up too. I do like the shape, possibly more than the square tips of the Corvette.

[Grizz1963]

Took the trims, centre caps off the wheels tonight.

Mate Jabbo will be collecting them all at 05.30 tomorrow morning, removing the tyres and disposing of them for me by lunch time, delivering the naked wheels later in the week on his way to work.



Martin, always being helpful has suggested I get the wheels blasted and powder coated at £50.00 wheel, including fitting new tyres (well, the ones of the chrome smoothies)

Will check out if the price is sensible first before jumping at the opportunity.


With Paul Y over next weekend to sandblast (well, walnut shells) all his suspension parts etc, Martin and I assembled the blasting cabinet I bought the end of last year, this week.

Word of warning, it was bought from a large importer who supplies others and just adds their badging, but when we unpacked it, most of the paint had blistered, so if you scratch or push on the paint, it flakes off badly.
I just could not be bothered with exchanging it as it would probably mean taking time off to get the new unit delivered and this one collected.

Still, it is ready to work.

[Grizz1963]

Have I mentioned I love my wife?

No?

Let me explain......

When I met Nicola it took her about a week to realise that there was free cash all around, if you chose to see it and pick it up.

A few moths ago I came home from work one evening and she said "I got you something today"

Nice, I thought..... Chocolate or a T-shirt.

She pointed out the kitchen window and there was a slightly mangled temporary road sign and a frame.
It had been up the road in a ditch of some time, probably a year or more, and she thought it good to drag it home for me.
The sign was straightened out and the frame went to my steel stash pile.

Today I needed some steel to make a wheeled frame for the sand blasting cabinet and fetched that bent frame.
After standing on it a few times, I had some decent donor steel.



Some cutting and welding later, after running out of welding wire, getting the tension right etc, we had a result.




So now with the blasting cabinet on wheels, it means getting it out of the garage solo is a charm.



Also finished bare metalling the front end of the cab window frame today, hopefully Martin will make it back through the Dartford tolls as he seems to have lost the Dart tag to get through the Tollgates, though I may have been the last one to handle it. So that he can supervise my priming the frame for paint this week some time, if the weather holds out.

[WhippinSaw]

Great idea on the cabinet roller,
If you can afford it have your new rims sandblasted and powder coated, Cleaning up the rims to paint is a dirty job, and lots of little knooks to clean out unless they fit into your new sandblasting cabinet

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by WhippinSaw

Great idea on the cabinet roller,
If you can afford it have your new rims sandblasted and powder coated, Cleaning up the rims to paint is a dirty job, and lots of little knooks to clean out unless they fit into your new sandblasting cabinet

Thanks Dan,

My large compressor is also on wheels.

And yes, looks like the sandblasting will be happening.



Got a PM from Scot "Jabbo" earlier with pics of the process he went through today to remove the tyres from the Rallyes.

Thought I'd drop you a couple of photos as requested.

Apologies the pictures are a bit crappy. A combination of poor lighting in the garage and only a camera phone means you're not going to get top quality results.

For info purposes I'm using a Sealey TC960 Tyre changer. It's a pretty poor man's version, but you can pick them up for around £50 brand new if you shop around, and it's got a bead breaker too (though if I'm honest at some point I'll beef that up a bit as it's certainly the weakest part of the changer).

Step 1) Deflate tyre.

Step 2) Use bead breaker on front face;



The tyre changer really should be bolted down to make life a lot easier, but I couldn't be bothered to move everything to get my mounting plate out, so just used some good old fashioned brute force.

Step 3) Flip over and repeat;



I chucked a blanket down so as to make sure you're wheel didn't get scratched.

Step 4) Mount on tyre changer and lock into place;



Step 5) Lever front of tyre over the wheel;



Step 6) Do the same with the back;



Hey presto, seperate tyre and wheel.





Also as requested, please find attached a picture of a hairless Sphinx cat in a sack;



Thanks mate, this is a great help.

[Grizz1963]

Have I mentioned that I love this forum??

No pissing contests. No unpleasantness.

Just good old fashioned hospitality and friendships.

I was looking around for cap embellishers for the Rallye wheel caps I have that do not have any on them, and EBay was not delivering.

Asked the question in the general section...... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=662667

Loads of answers, advice and pointers.

I think custom made pieces may be a way to go.

Possibly even with a Grizz(ly) Bear in the design.

[Grizz1963]

Paint on the frame dried, I mounted the blasting cabinet on it this morning and grinned when I pushed it outside.

Easy easy.......



Mate Martin was going to come and supervise the primer and masking up of the screen frame.

Of course nothing goes to plan.

So, the spot blaster for the small rust sports did not quite do the job getting into all the crevices.

Martin's ongoing insistence (read badgering) that I could not paint rust, eventually meant we agreed to stop wasting time and I will get his blasting pot this week, and do the rust everywhere on the cab before prep, filler, etc.

So to his great joy, I agreed to remove the doors..... It really made me feel like there is no going back, but of course it makes sense as the glass in the doors will not do well with random blast media hitting it.





After Martin left, I tidied up and removed the bench seat as well.



Now things will have to start happening, looking at all the other projects around me progress, this job will not do itself.

Lottery win anyone??

[mjh1965]

So glad to be of help . But you know I am right !!!!! .
It does make me laugh when you stress out,at the stripping of the truck . When you start a job like this,half the battle is excepting it will take twice the time you thought,and probably cost twice as much as you calculated

[Grizz1963]

Thanks again to Jabbo, my wheels were returned tonight sans tyres.

Next up get ready for powder coating, as soon as I have a price to strip the tyres of my smoothies and fit to the Rallyes once powder coated.

Just need Martin to see what "his powder coating guy" will be charging to coat and move the new tyres onto the Rallye wheels.

[Ta2Don]

Great Progress mate!!!

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

So glad to be of help . But you know I am right !!!!! .
It does make me laugh when you stress out,at the stripping of the truck . When you start a job like this,half the battle is excepting it will take twice the time you thought,and probably cost twice as much as you calculated

True words. I expected to have my cab done and back on the frame before Xmas. Maybe in the next couple of months!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by bj383ss

True words. I expected to have my cab done and back on the frame before Xmas. Maybe in the next couple of months!

Indeed.... So did I.

Now I just do what I feel like.

Time will see it getting done.


Right.....

Calling clever people and any others with opinions.

I have been quoted £40.00 per wheel to powdercoat, and then remove tyres from my chrome smoothies and fit, balance to the powder coated wheels.

This sounds like a decent price to me, but I have no real idea.

I do have a. Blasting cabinet, but it's too small for the wheels, so I will be building a plywood box with a simple door, some glass in the door and a vacuum cleaner along with holes for my hands and the spray nozzle hose.

I plan on using glass media as I purchased a load at reasonable price last year.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to find answers on Google today, but lot a lot of info came up on glass media.

So my question is, what safety steps should I take out back behind my garage?

I plan to use safety glasses, a plastic visor and a bush hat, also an overall over my clothes, and some kind of simple mask.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks again.

[Grizz1963]

It seems that the two pack I am painting with comes with its own health warnings, and one of the suggestions is to use an airfed mask.

So if I need one for the media blasting, then surely it is another way to split the costs.

So today I bought this DeVilbiss mask to use for the blasting and painting, hopefully to help me survive.

At £140.00 it should be worth having, again an unexpected expense, but I knew there were many along this journey.




Nicola came in with a parcel too.

A pair of slip on stainless reducers for the cutout pipes, taking it from 3" diameter to 2.5" exhausts.

Nice fit.

[Ta2Don]

Glad you got the mask, albeit pricey...
As for Nicola bringing the other parcel...

[Grizz1963]

One blasting pot, 100kg glass media, a KKK head mask thing and the airfed mask I bought should see me heading in the right direction.



Tonight when I came back from London I gave the MX5 a wash and then some Zymöl polish to revive the paint.

Just checked, when I bought the car, it had 128800 km on the clock.
Tonight, 18 months later it is around 132600 km.
so she did about 3800km or 2400miles.
Bit of an under-utilised toy, hence the fact it is up for sale.

URL=http://s294.photobucket.com/user/niknakpix/media/2015%20Continues/image.jpg2_zpstibsdlws.jpg.html][/URL]



This little car is far from perfect, but dang, it is a good little toy for what it is.

Pity it never got used as I wanted her to.

Still, funds toward the truck, cannot always be wrong

[bj383ss]

So much for the pros blasting your wheels. HA

[Ta2Don]

New Toyz and the MX5 Polished up...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by bj383ss

So much for the pros blasting your wheels. HA

Hmmmmmmmmm

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

New Toyz and the MX5 Polished up...

Yup.

Just need a buyer now.

[Grizz1963]

Just a quickly tonight.

Fetched the airfed mask this morning, followed by shopping and then a quick Maccy D coffee with Nicola, then home.

Got a cool toy...... Says a lot about how easy I am to please.



After lunch time, Martin came over to change the drivers door glass in the MX5 for me, took him a total of 18 minutes to remove the donor glass and fit it, and close up the cars door. WTF?? Talent or what.

Then I had planned to remove the towbar and paint it all, despite knowing it was far from right as it was mal-aligned and to pack it away before starting the blasting as I have done nothing with it the last couple of weeks.

Martin again forced me via my own vanity and realisation that geometry was not my friend to take the whole lot apart and redesign it all.

Then to cut, grind, fit and tack it all together.







Tacked the corners, then disassembled and started to weld it all up.



At this point the welded decided to go to sleep, so I shut shop and came indoors.

Tomorrow we continue.

Looking forward to wrapping up this bloody towbar and getting on with other stuff.

[mjh1965]

I can't help being fussy, but that also says a lot about you as I chose to have you as a friend . But it's fun to turn up at yours and point out the errors of your ways then go home . Good luck tomorrow, and you never know I may call round to check you progress

[Ta2Don]

Following old man's winter late slam... This bloody british weather we've been enduring for the past week or so, read RAIN, is finally taking a break... So hopefully some truck time this weekend...

Tow bar looks great and I also dig the new toy!

[flashed]

New toy is pretty cool ,I found a few new toys today too at a estate sale .

[Grizz1963]

Today the weather turned wet and cold again, so I finished the final welding on the towbar, tried it out for fit and then removed the lot, including mounting plates, took the flap wheel to the lot and cleared the rust and tidied the welds.

Then the parts that will be sliding inside the receiver got a coat of rattle can black, just to cover the metal as well as the ball bolt heads.



I decided to hold off on the Hammerite till the weather is more conducive to drying.

Last year I bought a new triple chromed front bumper for my truck, problem was, it was a damaged item that I was prepared to take a gamble on to try to repair.

When Offering it up to the truck, it came up that the passenger side tip was bent in by 40mm meaning it could not even be fitted.

I am also painting the rear of both new bumpers as they often rust there despite the chrome, obviously because most of us do not wash, dry or polish the rears of our bumpers.

So at lunch time I contacted mate Darren who is a local rodder with a machine shop to see if I could come down to his place 30 miles from where we live, to use his 8 ton hydraulic press to try tease out the crease in the bumper, he agreed, as long as I was done before 13.30 as he still had Mother's Day to deal with.

My old and new bumper in front of the press.



When trying to determine where the energy had entered the bumpers tip when it fell from the top of a shipping container and thus how to press it to return it to shape, I realised that hooking it into Darren's forklift truck, and persuading it with a large lump hammer while putting pressure on it in the opposite direction would work.



So within 10 minutes we had the bumper straightened out and that without any damage to the chrome.

So the gamble pair off, for once.

While I was there, Darren was also busy preparing some of his cars for Easter weekends Chatham Festival of Steam show.




Before I left, I had to use the toilet (happens when you get older and it is cold) and saw this which has to be a sign of a hard core rodder.

Thanks again to Darren for the help and offer of machinery.

[Grizz1963]

Well, just spent £63.00 on a bid in the last 10 seconds on Evilbay and won a pair of used vent windows.

The passenger window on my truck is very rotten, and judging by the photos on the ad, these should be an improvement, as these parts are not re manufactured or readily available out there.
Also never seen them for sale here, and plan B which would involve Ta2Don in Arkansas and trawling multiple breakers yards till he found a pair for sale, then adding in postage, taxes and the risk of them arriving intact, meant that I needed to hit the bid button quite high.

Hopefully Disasterbus will be able to pick them up for me some time this week.





So there you go, now my weekend is over.

[flashed]

Congrats on the vent windows and my wife loved the toilet seat ,said I could have one made if I ever add a bathroom to my shop or in my future new shop.