GRIZZ’s ‘79 - 2WD BLAZER Challenge over in London, England. “~It’s not a Project~”

[Grizz1963]

Goose neck light.....


Fitted !!






It may not look like it is in the middle, but it is in the middle of the front 6.6 meter facade.

I like the position in which it will be throwing light as well.



Over in the USA Dennis and stepson (treated like own sone) Bryan were lifting the golf kart that they bought for 7 year old Skyler at their new property.

Nice for running around on a piece of farm land.



Halfway there, rear lift next, then take the body panels to Dennis’ body shop and get it painted up, kid has already said no pink no more, rather silver.



Look forward to seeing the result.

[Grizz1963]

Beaver Moon.







Gas pump globe arrived today.

£32.00 delivered, Black Friday half price offer.

Much better size, and real white in my opinion its a win.

Branding, name and star still needs to be hand painted, and hopefully paint dries, and then wired up.

I plan on placing it on a small plinth, to raise it between 20mm and 50mm



Long overdue.


Now here’s the thing......

I did not read the whole ad for the globe.

I just wanted a fuel pump globe.

On delivery it seems I got more than I thought I was buying.



Loads of colour options, and rechargeable too.





.

[Grizz1963]

Well....

Old habits do die hard.

Bought some meat this weekend.

Really missed having some of my own made Chilli beef Biltong (almost like Jerky, but not)



Got a large box.



Made some bits up



Created a cover, drilled a large hole.



Fitted



Than made about 30 sharpened meat hooks.



Unpacked, washed, trimmed, sliced, salted, vinegar washed, spiced the meat,

Almost 5kg I guess.



Hooks all fitted through.



And hung up in the drying box, light turned on and box sealed after positioning.



Let’s see how this lot dries out.

Did I mention it is non traditional chilli/garlic?

Should be good.

[Grizz1963]

PS:

Kelly at Ethyls was asking Bryan when I was returning.

Seems COVID-19 has screwed up their lives too......

But not too much for her not to still mess with my head.



Looking forward to the next time @craigrk and I get to go over there.

[Grizz1963]

Two days of drying and it smells good.

Looking forward to day 5 so that I can start tasting.



Little wins make me happy.

[Grizz1963]

Having a day job, rubbish weather and life in general can all get in the way of a good story.


Another small job done today on the Rezin Rockit build process during my “lunch hour” break .

We had a load of rain and some snow early in the morning.

Driveway temperature was 4’C when I was getting this done, chilly.

As much as I dislike this whole Corona virus and how it has turned our worlds upside down, I am massively thankful for still having a job that I can do successfully from home, despite it not being very rewarding as the old way was. BUT...... my daily commute of a minimum of 60 miles or 100km taking me a minimum of two hours, means that one can add a bit of travel time to your own agendas.

So today I needed to move a 3/4 ton bag of sharp sand from under the carport to behind the garage.

Also some 25kg bags of building gravel and more bags of kiln dried sand.



Opening up some space.



For the Rezin Rockit as originally planned.

So getting it through here between the caravans.



Managed that, with a 3 ton jack under the rear differential and some careful force.



Resulting in it getting reversed into position so that I can get to it for some of the preparation work.





So in a way I have made it to one of the goals set originally

A dry workspace for the future.

Still needs more work to be done and some weatherproofing.

Oh, and it is the weekend.

[Grizz1963]

Post man/woman delivered the waterproof LED light ribbon today.

Will take some time over the weekend to dig out the transformer I have stashed away, hopefully it is a DC converter.

May even get time to mount this up on the carport too.



Sunset at 15.50 was pretty spectacular too.






..

[Grizz1963]

Happy to report that day 2 3/4 looked like this.excess spices brushed off.



Chopped a bit off the tip in the garage and tried it.

Absolutely lovely

Brought two thin strips indoors to keep tasting....l

This one has great fat distribution as well.



Did a load of odd jobs around the garage, but it was unpleasant and by 3.00pm it was down to 5’C and I gave up.

Managed to do a tiny job on the Rezin Rockit as well.

[Grizz1963]

So having posted the last two pics I did of the biltong at day 3, I was questioned about how didgusting my second pic looked.

Striated fat makes it incredibly tasty.

Now modern man avoids fat often.

However, in biltong the fat is certainly cherished, either as in the first pic, or mixed into a cut batch.

I like the fat as it counters the dried nature of the beef.




Moist is how I like it.

Some people do not.



And of course you could have it quite dry and without any fat.




This is how my local supplier dispatches their biltong.

They will post/ship at cost to you anywhere you are.

Down as Biltong Cottage on Facebook or call the mobile number on the packaging.

[Grizz1963]

Lights

Camera

Action.......




Removed the light unit,

Nicely sealed in.

I suspect this could be put in a pool or pond too.

Really well made bit of kit.



Tried it out, ultra bright.



Then took the actual globe down to the garage and fitted it on its little plinth.

Liking that.



Then later a test to see what it looks like with a lamp inside.

I am very pleased.



Once all the lighting is sorted, it should look neat.


While I was down there, I pulled out a 1800mm length of scrap ply and grabbed the jigsaw, a pencil and square.

Made a cross

Mickey popped over to ask for help getting onto Facebook, I love how he just grabs technology when needed and gets on with it.



Then glued the side wings on using 50mm strips of off-cut and a length of railway line used to put pressure on it all.



Next step will be to use the LED from the globe, mounting it centrally, either behind a stylised heart or on its own, and to use it as a Christmas decoration in the window.

Weekend over again.

[LT7A]

Hey Grizz! Happy Holidays, man. As you know, over here we get them started in the last week of November. Thanks for keeping us up on your adventures. I appreciate the humor - the comment about Mickey weighing the same as a packet of matches made me laugh till it hurt a little. The guy is certainly svelte, maybe even a couple steps past that. Great to see the purposeful progress and the details. I like seeing the RR tucked into its spot. Funny how I hated putting away my toys as a kid, but as an adult it's so satisfying to see them lined up in an orderly fashion. Jury is out for me on that Biltong beef. I would certainly give it a try, but I'd need to go with a little more Mickey style, leaner cut.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Hey Grizz! Happy Holidays, man. As you know, over here we get them started in the last week of November. Thanks for keeping us up on your adventures. I appreciate the humor - the comment about Mickey weighing the same as a packet of matches made me laugh till it hurt a little. The guy is certainly svelte, maybe even a couple steps past that. Great to see the purposeful progress and the details. I like seeing the RR tucked into its spot. Funny how I hated putting away my toys as a kid, but as an adult it's so satisfying to see them lined up in an orderly fashion. Jury is out for me on that Biltong beef. I would certainly give it a try, but I'd need to go with a little more Mickey style, leaner cut.

Well, you absolutely made me chuckle at your reply.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and post up your comment, much appreciated.

Mickey is certainly skinny as a rake, but works like a Trojan.

As far as the Biltong is concerned, Jack Links does make some, and you can also order it from various USA based makers.

As long as you guys read, enjoy it, I will continue to copy and paste and answer questions



Well....

Mickey is a traditional Christmas decorator..... when his lights go on, the national grid blinks and then dims.

I do not do this sort of thing, but thought I would add a Christian slant to it all.

Out of the clamp.



Fitted the colour changer, it can still be charged and turned on and off, as well as selecting the mode, pulse, fading, changing etc.

Testing in the kitchen.



And hung up in the spare room window.

I am absolutely in two minds, not sure if it suits my more subtle taste.



Wonder what Mickey will make of it.

.

[Grizz1963]

Got a parcel from @mrbounce today.


Love it.


Will go well with a couple of my American plates.





Thanks mate.

[Grizz1963]

Change of direction, sort of.

The cardboard box worked so well, and then Morrison’s still had the offer at £5.00/kg and... they had some pieces of beef with a lot of fat on, that I decided to have another go.

This time heavy on the chilli to create chilli bits/snap stir and initially plans were for bat wings, which are thin pieces dried over a mesh.



Beautiful and the fat lays just right.



In the end I decided to pass on the bat wings as I do not have a spare oven grill or fridge shelving to drape the meat over, so snail stir it has to be.

Also just used a sharp knife to cut, rather than dirty my electric slicer, which I had decided to give away to friends who make biltong commercially from home.





45-60 minutes laying covered in salt, draws off all the residual liquid through osmosis. I use my kitchen sink, suitably sterilised as it allows me to lay it all out, maximising the surface area for the salt and then following that, the spices.

Gross pic, but part of the process, meat pushed aside, before washing all the pieces clean in vinegar which acts as an acidic sterilising agent and removes all excess salt.



Secret blend of herbs and spices (I just make it up as I go along) added, then again hand agitated to maximise coverage.



Hooks in, and into the vinegar rinsing bowl, which has now been washed three times so far.



Down to the garage, hung up, and then seal the box till next Friday as I want this batch really quite dry, I may remove the large ;pieces by Wednesday or Thursday as they are getting stirred in the freezer for later use.




And my and the Biltong Cottage harvest all vacuum packed.

I let Sam and Dee at Biltong Cottage try my Chilli Garlic biltong, and the were so taken with it, that I had to share my recipe with them. Happily done.

Ready for the freezer, and some getting sent to friends.



Pretty pleased with this lot.

[Grizz1963]

Not much done with the Rezin Rockit recent;y, day job, weather and other jobs getting in the way.

In fact hit a bit of angle iron which slowed me down for the time being till I figure out or get advised on how to deal with it.

Started off by getting up inside the passenger A-pillar and removing the rear view mirror.



Then over to the drivers side.



My back has been fighting me really badly for some time now and I have been referred for spinal surgery, but I am stalling.

Slithered in there, upside down




Looking up the A-pillar and toward the window frame, you can see there is a length of angle iron incorporated in the frame.

This needs to be dealt with, in order to figure out how to remove the frame.



Managed to get out of that upside down position, had gotten the one rear view mirror bolt unscrewed, then used a long screwdriver to lock the 10mm bolt in place and rotated the mirror around it, as there was no way to get spanner’s in there.

Done

If you look carefully at the bonnet of the car you will see that it had started to rain, made me chuckle as the carport roof was always planned this way.



Finally, managed to get one of the gutter bolts unscrewed from the frame.

The second one on the other side ended up just spinning, so will get done when I can rope Sally or Mickey in, to be my extra hands.



I actually gave up with trying to get it undone.


However, there will be more challenges, as I see as you can, there is angle iron running down from inside the A Pillar.

If anyone has previously removed one of these screens, please let me know how the easiest way would be.

Thanks.

[Grizz1963]

Nice sunrise.



Dennis updated his NASCAR race truck build, it is now on its wheels, all wiring, gauges etc done.





Back to the Rezin Rockit saga.

Mickey popped around early morning to drop off this puppy.

I just got back from the shops, armed with a pack of 5 14 TPI blades for the reciprocating saw .

Next up a coffee, then hit the garage for a bit before it gets cold and dark again.

Never planned on using one of these on the Rockit.




Kinda excited.

Thanks @glenanderson

[Grizz1963]

Not sure where to post this flashback from 2016 in Illinois.

What a flashback.

And a great visit for Dennis and I to Thomas and Chris.

Trip report: http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...2016-best-trip

Eating Pumpkin pie, operating the single post lift, soda pop, drunk like it should be, from the bottle.

What a great day it was, 2016...... how time had flown.


Digging out treasures in a condemned building, being broken down around me.

But I do love a bit of rummaging and rescuing treasures.



Mrs H&S , Chris making sure I don’t fall on my head, or get the John Deere digger bucket on my head.



And still one of my favourite items from my travels, after I restored this special, staggered valve cover, it has always lived indoors and been a talking point




.

[Grizz1963]

Made it to the garage a bit late, did not realise 3.00pm had come and gone.



Got going with the grinder to grind away the two remaining gutter bolt beards, not as quick or easy as expected.

So it was dark by the time tat was done, and rather than climb in with the saw, I thought it best to wait till I have time available in the daylight.

Grinders in



Looks like I will have some reaming and filling to get done later, along with all the other holes that will still appear.



Good time to test the dried beef chilli snap stix. Or sticks.

They were really good, looking forward to the rest coming out.

[Grizz1963]

So....... @glenanderson and team


No going back now.


Went and got the 14tpi blades and then got caught short by sunset yesterday


So today I stole a bit of time from work to get out in the daylight, having started my day early.


So I used a knife to cut some of the silicone out between the screen frame and body.


Then straight in.





Whoooopps........ no going back at this point.




Used a lump hammer and cold chisel to first chase it down after cutting the angle iron reinforcing in the A-Pillar, then chased it up and wriggled it out the top.



Looking from the rear.



Then around to the shed after cleaning it all up, and fetched the frame @glenanderson has restored for his Land Rover to offer it up for size.



And tilted back the way I have always visualised it. Along with the roll bar tilted back the same way, it should look good. IMHO





Opinions ??


Any advice?

[Grizz1963]

Just something random I saw earlier on tonight.

I still dream of having Anti-Social Thuggery going on in my life one day.

And though these are miles apart, the video just resonated tonight.

Did not know where to post it up.

https://youtu.be/81TfyqyGncA


Hope you enjoyed, though it is merciless in its pure assault, there is something primeval and visceral to it all.

I can imagine watching it from the sideline without breathing.

[Grizz1963]

Got a message from Huddersfield this morning.......

“Hi Grizz, found these..... if you want them, they are yours for postage”

Well, first item....... I knew exactly where it would go, depending on its size when offered up to the front bumper on the Rezin Rockit.

But I can pass on this one if needed.



Second item......

BULLS EYE !

I have had an idea to build a tallish fake Visible gas pump for years, using an obsolete 47kg gas bottle, a compressor tank and a fire extinguisher to create a tower.

Finding a decent, large diameter clear plastic tube, pipe, call it what you like, has been a bit more problematic as I have never seen anything like that in my travels.

However - nothing stops me from creating a clear tube, using 2mm to 3mm thick Perspex or similar, turned into a tube, bolted together and mounted.

So the second item on offer was of much more interest, as it can be incorporated as a lamp, like the one I made for the carport.

Spin aluminium and it can be painted any colour.



Inside already white and reflective.



There are many many styles that were available in the 1920’s nd they are monsters for their time.

Different styles of visible dispensers existed too.

Some examples.







And a few examples of the evolution.

Different to your typical modern forecourt of course.




.

[Grizz1963]

Time for a real job again.

Hooked the trailer, lights not working, only indicators.

So got my spare tailboard and zip ties......

Ready.

Off to @craigrk then Guildford tomorrow to fetch a bunch of steel storage cabinets for the carport.




.

[Grizz1963]

Last day of work for the year.

Sucked a bit as customers were tired too.

Anyway, got an hour in during daylight, and before the chill and sideways rain told me to get indoors.

Still, happy with the little jobs done.

Started off by finding some potential steel for the windscreen supports.

Cut in half it should do the job.



Then the next job was to pry off the wiper arms.

Two screwdrivers do the job easy.



All off.



Next job was to get the motor and three actuators out.

First and second one was fine, thinking no 3 would be a doddle..... it was not.

Had to dismantle the glovebox/cubbyhole and part of the blower system.



So, dismantling, why do you have brass screws, mixed with dome headed gutter bolts, randomly.

Mr Angle Grinder and 1mm blade came out to sort two of them in the end.



And then needing to pull away the rotten dash panel to get to more of these.

Why would you use 6 screws to attach a simple plastic tub?



There will be more tearing apart and removal of rotten wood.

Getting the blower out the way in order to be able to unthread the wiper modulator was another pita as it was screwed in with a set of long 3mm bolts with double nuts holding it.

But I got it out, and then the modulator way.

Refitted the blower as I want to keep them for the Land Rover window next.



Next up will be drilling out all the poppers around the rear of the tub and filling the holes, plus filling the wiper holes and some of the holes in the dash.

Current status.



Also found an old rusted sign, see if you can read what it says, or tries to say.



Meant to look like GRIZONA

.

[Grizz1963]

Sooooooo......

Lockdown Tier 4.

Thankfully I got to fetch and load the steel cabinets I had agreed to collect from the @craigrk offices on the 19th, weeks ago.

We agreed to get there early in the morning, get them loaded in the Galaxy and trailer, plus a load in Craig’s ML55 AMG and on his bike trailer.

So I stopped for a coffee as I had got there quicker than anticipated.



Galaxy swallowed two of the 6’2” cabinets, they are a meter wide and 480mm deep, so two fitted with ease.

On the trailer another two 6 footers upright, and a 4 footer.

Quite tall to bomb down the motorway, not sure it did my fuel consumption any good.



It went fast with having this little glider trolley to run them out.



Once the three extra 4 foot cabinets (which are for sale) were unloaded at Craigs storage unit, I left to bring the cabinets, and some upmarket office chairs home, including one for Sally for her sewing corner as she uses a dinning room chair, planning on going back to fetch the rest that were now on Craigs drive as an interim solution. This plan failed as it was 3.30-m when I got home. So we decided to finish the job in the morning.

Best part of this trip?

A take away coffee and Brioche French toast eggy bread with bacon and maple syrup from Mrs K.



Looking at the prices of these roller shutter door cabinets, and the fancy ergonomic office chairs, I would say that my carport value just increased by about £2-2.5k

Crazy.



Now the big job starts......

Sorting through all of my carp to create some order and get the cabinets sorted.

Perfect holiday job.

[Grizz1963]

My county had over 660/100000 cases.

So locally this was last night.






I was asked elsewhere about the cabinets.

There are three more in the Galaxy, one medium and two shorter ones.



Sally hates a photo, I wanted to show the cabinets in perspective.



Need to figure how to get some of my green and red colours on them as well.

Gutters tomorrow, they are overdue.