What did you do to (or with) your truck today.

[Grizz1963]

Remember this little guy?



Seemed highly unlikely that I would find one randomly, but then randomness is often what drives the fun factor in our hobby.

Just think of the set of ZQ8 wheels that landed in my lap, sold to me by a guy who had no need for them, and did not realise how desperate I was to find a set to put the truck back to standard.

Crazy stuff I know.

It happens.

Yesterday morning when I woke, a Messenger message from a good friend, Ric, in Chandler, Arizona.

Asking whether I had found the rear tailgate pin yet to replace the stud and Nyloc nut currently fitted.

Of course I had not.......

So he offered to post one out to me, taken from his previous race truck, he is a keen Auto Cross driver and has a few other interesting cars stashed away, awaiting his attention.

As he says, at his age, this is an affordable, reasonably safe, and skill improving sport to participate in.

He does compete against all sorts of really powerful and capable kit, being that his truck is s along wheelbase, slow, slightly modified vehicle and his daily. He still works as an auto mechanic.



So the previous truck had two non fault accidents, the second one being part of a 34 car pile up where he was car no 7 in the action.

Leaving Truck No 1 looking sorry for itself.



In the pile up the rear end got bent too, so he bought an identical truck to build the race parts over onto.




So my day yesterday, other than my niggly back, actually ended really well, and another nice sunset.




So much to be said for living rurally.

Centre caps to finally be fitted later today, once they have been in the sun to harden the many coats of clear I added.

Looking forward to this.

[Grizz1963]

Carrying on.

Three coats of clear.



Colour really is alive in this choice of Anthracite.

Tried the wheel nut covers.



And amazing how different it looks indoors, on a white dogs duvet cover.



On my way back from the osteopath I did a 200 meter detour to check up onthese trees.



Back to getting home, I needed to keep. Moving in order not to seize up.

What better way, than to fit these long overdue and now correctly painted centre caps.



I was walking around the truck after fitting them..... swearing, just repeatedly saying “Dang.... this looks good, this is so right”



And a side shot.





To say I am cuffed is an understatement.


I am so chuffed.


It was the right choice to go with the new wheels.

[Grizz1963]

I am still not tired of this truck.

Yesterday I used it to go to the Osteopath.

Before entering, a slightly faked smile, knowing I have walked out there like a cripple every time before.

She really does not hurt you while working on your spine, but man..... afterwards, even getting off her table is a slow, painful,process.



Afterwards yesterday I went to a favourite place to get a few pics on the new wheels and caps.









How many times can I say that I am so chuffed with how these ended up.

.

[Grizz1963]

.

A small, vital to me parcel landed yesterday.

Thanks Ric, and seeing a rust free, like new.... 20 year old tailgate cable stay is quite refreshing.

Thanks again for the parts for my truck.

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday I did a small job.

Out with the old....



In with the new.



All better.

Fixed.




Here in England, Monday is a public holiday, and in a very rare occurrence, Sally is off on Monday as well.

Plans include a BBQ with friends, and maybe processing some of the wood I rescued. Removing screws and nails.

Oh, and Rum and Pepsi Max tonight fr me, and a glass of sleep inducing wine for Sally.

[Grizz1963]

Ordered some new plates for the truck, new number.

Wanted “Show plates”

Soooo P!$$€d

My request.

Note to seller
Hi there As previously discussed by email. Can I order these “Show Plates” with the following number on it and in the following format.
1. Using a legal Motorcycle font
2. Pushing the digits together to form one unit or “word”.
3 Placed on the top line or centre of the plate if possible
4. Black border around if that is part of your price.
Plate to read GRZ733
Please contact me if any issue with making this plate.
Thank you very much Rian.

I suspect the reply will be that they only do legal and that I should have read their conditions.


To all the twitchers, jobsworths, officers and the rest..... Thank you.




Later another knock on the front door and my favourite courier handed me a shoe box sized parcel, not expecting anything.

Custims declaration, and then reading the detail.... origin Ireland.

Sender @quackrack1 or Alan as we know him, had sent a parcel to me, most of the contents aimed and for @craigrk who is a serious Coca Cola collector.

I do love this community.








And for me.........

Rezin Rockit lookalike and a bottle of home made jam. PERFECT.





After the wrong license plate issue, I decided to order a set of American style “Show Plates” from a UK based company, rather than going the usual States Plates route in France. Brexit may see their prices rise even more.

The special offer on a pair of plates saw me paying £30.00 for the plates.

I ordered from their Facebook page, known as Europl8 but website as per pic below is www.pressedplate.com

Amazing real time communication, establishing my needs and offering the make changes if needed.

Owners car outside his new industrial unit.





Slow day, slow weekend, bootfair tomorrow.


.

[Grizz1963]

Last year my £20.00 bootfair bargain table saw eventually burned out in a spectacular puff of smelly electrical smoke.

Since then I kept an eye open for another close or up to 30 miles away.

Most were tired and missing parts, like the fence.

As time went by, I realised it is just luck to find a cheap, good one.

So at this point my budget had moved up to £100.00 which is still well below retail for a midrange, semi-professional machine.

Yesterday this came up.





So agreed to buy it at the advertised price of £100.00 after asking if a cheeky offer would be considdered.

Drove over in the truck.

And spent an hour with the seller.

Incredibly nice guy.

Owns an older Ford Thunderbird with big block motor and straight pipes and a pair of Cherry Bombs, and loves American cars.

Told me a very sad story that is a warning to us all.

He lost his 42 year old son in March.

Short story: car up on scissor jack, he crawled in underneath to fix something. Jack collapsed and he died of a traumatic brain injury.

So he is winding down his construction business

Moral of the story. BE SAFE OUT THERE ALL.

Saw is immaculate. .



Came home, unloaded saw with help.

Tyre tread looking funky with name on tread.





Did more stuff later.

[Grizz1963]

Today was take 2 or a groundhog day.

Thankfully the Hermes courier broke the monotony of the desk bound stress, listening to, shall I say b0llox on Teams.

And my new, American style, pressed steel plates arrived from Europl8 on Facebook.

He also sent a couple of car, air fresheners and a couple of options to complete the look.

The truck was built and sold in Missouri in 2001, so I could add the names or leave it plain.

I also had the digits offset a bit to the right, in order to be able to add a pair of Stars n Stripes stickers or enamel badges to them.


Really pleased.







And of course, just a quick measure up.





Now just to wait for the DVLA to switch the plates about.


.

[Grizz1963]

A buddy came over yesterday to drop stuff off

So coffee, chatting, catch up, spleen venting all done, we decided to drive a mile up the road into some farm lanes for a few Ford v Chev pics.

Random photodump.



And then we headed out.

At this point we took a couple of random pics.

As we were headed out again, it appears poor Dan had sat down on a wasp that had entered his car.

Not sure who felt it more, Dan or the Wasp.



Note the name of the lane, it is bad enough Kent is known as the capital of dogging or is that dog walking?













Back home it was time to unpack the box of GMC spares that Steve had sent with Craig a few weeks ago.

Then some light woodwork.

[Grizz1963]

One more little touch on the trucks customisation.

I knew I wanted to do something silly to the number plates.

Put this to a maker and he came back with various design options.

Now the thing is, I know what my first choice was, I ordered it, then 20 minutes later ordered another design too.

So my question to the regular readers and contributors (thank you for taking the time to post replies) is…….


Straight or diagonal. Think carefully.

Space and placement planned when ordering plates.







Thank you for your contributions.

[Grizz1963]

Anthony my one current lodger has a business to print stuff, like emergency bags, T-shirts etc.

He offered to print me a pic of the S10 on canvas.

Brought these samples back Monday night.

I need to frame the canvas next.



Last night he brought home an even bigger print.



Pretty chuffed with these.

Just need to frame and stretch them now.

[Grizz1963]

Busy weekend, working on the arch over the driveway.

Also went out in the truck to go looking for some cement, but two hardware stores had zero stock.

I did manage to spend £168.00 on a large electrical pressure cleaner.

If it lasts s well as the last one did, I will be very happy.







Created a nice obstruction to pi$$ off speeding freaks that do 50+ mph in the 30 zone in front of my place, a small win.

Before reversing the truck back down the drive.




And suddenly the weekend was over again.

But pleased with what I got done.

And driving the truck.

[Kriegs]

Bought this 98 Sonoma last week so i can use it for a daily driver/winter driver for work.It has issues that I will take care of as time and money allow, but seeing the availability of parts in the area(junkyard)it should be a fairly easy task overall.
I already got the dash bezel swapped out,and the stubby OE shifter with pressed on knob, to a 1st gen, longer chrome shifter swapped as well.This will allow me shifter knob options later on

[Grizz1963]

Went for a haircut

Drive it to the grocery store

Looked at it and loved it.

[Grizz1963]

No bootfair, so a very lazy, slow start.

I don't think I ever had breakfast at 10.00am and then watched some Olympics with Sally.

Eventually made it to the shop.

Ad made some more birds next houses for Sally, every screw had to have a 1.5mm pilot hole as it is thin, nasty, IKEA pine bookshelf wood.

Once done, I set her off to start varnishing them with the brush she chose 10mm wide.

And I made a frame for one of the canvas prints, Anthony the one lodger made for me.



Done, as happy as I need to be.

[Grizz1963]

Went out for the day in the truck.….. to a place called Whitstable, 40 miles from home. A real working, fishing harbour.





Parked in a public car park, and despite the oncoming traffic (this is England) being a lane away, an idiot managed to cross over and still tear the paint of the corner of my bumper.

Not much damage yes, but it is my truck, and we all know it is a complete bumper repaint job.

I never cease to be amazed at the lack of brains out there behind steering wheels. Despite the driver coming to apologise to me. In England, even if not at fault your premium will go up the next year. So often easier just to pay for it yourself. I hate insurers.







Lunch was good though, and Sally paid.

Real English Fish and Chips.

[Grizz1963]

Had to laugh at myself today.

Went shopping in the truck,after osteopath getting my back done.

Once a year I eat a pasty, followed by heartburn to remind me not to have it again.

So bought these.



I hate messy food being eaten in my cars.

So I could not wait once I got out, and had to give it a go before heading home.

Still warm, it was rather delicious.

And no heartburn in the end.




Spent an hour with the Rezin Rockit in the end.

[Kriegs]

So in the last month i got : bed swapped, tail lights swapped,headlights(fogs) and better grille swapped,hood swapped,pass rear brake line(was leaking bad)
changed wheels/tires from my 72 Duster on to this(275/60r15-185/60r15) weld draglites.
The OE bed was trashed, the supports on the lower sides were ripped from the sheetmetal, it had more dents then a vehicle that went thru a texas hail storm. the corner dent sucks, but for $100 and less body work to do overall, i took it.
Got 33mm front swaybar, and 06' F150 2wd front endlinks at the yard for later install
Blue LEDs for the dash cluster(were for my 90 c1500, ill get some lighter blue ones later)
Also replaced door speakers, Multi function switch, door cylinders rekeyed to ign(didnt have keys to lock it) B pillars(were broken in several places into missing pieces in some spots)Ebrake assembly(wouldnt hold)A/C Hi side valve(kept leaking out/releasing r134a)

[Grizz1963]

Went for my daily 2 mile walk early today.

Did a slight detour past the skip on the farm.

Bingo.

Sallys grandson already likes it.



Tonight after work, she popped in for a quick dinner and then headed home.

Two minutes after leaving she called me.

I thought oooopps…… what now.

She had pulled up in a lay by up the road, may e a mile away.

“Do you want a free bike” she asked.

I said yes, of course.

I thought pedal bike, and said yes, as I would just pass it on to someone who needs one.

She confessed that she did not know what type is was, but described that it was where the big, rich houses were.

So I grabbed the Focus keys and drove up there.

Yup, there. It was, parked at the intersection with a label attached “FREE!” So I went in to the second house and spoke to a Nigerian lady, who said it was from the 4th house.

So I drove there, knocked and spoke to thefather of the owner.

Seems that they are relocating, and were busy clearing out their house and toys. There was a large skip on the drive that I did not inspect.

However, he did say the bike was recently serviced and ran well. Just surplus to requirements.

So I went back home after pushing it down the lane and out of direct sight of the main road, removed the sign and went next door to see if Mickey was in, he was, but curled up asleep on his recliner, probably incapacitated.

So I ran upstairs and asked David, the one lodger if he would help me load it.

Oh yes, after the initial discussion, Sally had said it was a black motorbike.

So I grabbed the S10 and and we drove the mile down the road and loaded the orphan child.

It is a WK Bikes Trial 125cc
Front and rear disc brakes, electric start, set up for off road with knobblies fitted.

I got home, unloaded it and parked it.

Due to failing light and increasing mosquito activity.

So we mentioned FREE CASH before.

As found.





CDI system.



Electric start.



Unloaded.



Parked up.




I will try start it tomorrow or when I get time.

Who knows.

It could be a nice little toy.

[Grizz1963]

A buddy brought me a piece of industrial flooring in checker plate pattern for tje load bed.

Washed it.

Will cut to size if we have a hot dau again.

[Grizz1963]

Went to collect the roll bar for the Rezin Rockit along the motorway, 25 miles from here.

Trading done.

@pauly on his way to the next stop…… Leatherhead, then back to Essex by lunchtime.



This truck continues to work and make me grin

Small jobs, big jobs, all the same.




Clean up the roll cage later and see if it fits.

After welding gussets.

[Grizz1963]

Drove it.



Seems cables have been stolen in my area.

Non existent internet and wifi as a result.

Phone has a bit of 3G or 4G that comes intermittently.

Went for my 6km walk yesterday, what a lovely day.

Also gave me time to take a break from the Rezin Rockit.

Thames river and Essex.



And looking back toward the Medway river.

I love being surrounded by large water masses.



And one of my turning points, where some magic continues to happen.



Up closer, changes every day.

Hood ornament and mount added now.



Later the day I took the truck, went for a drive, did some shopping and had a guy in a Tesla speak to me, telling me he loved the truck and the sound.

The Tesla is his company car and he made an interesting comment, saying is was ultra capable, but has no soul.

Quite telling, we as humans do love the advancement of the species, but the visceral qualities of a petrol or fossil fuelled engine still gets us going.

The views are always lovely andthe camera does not do it justice.

I popped into Kevins on the way home.

He has also decided to now go with the VW Beetle indicators on the rear fenders.




All too soon the weekend was over.

But the truck made me grin.

[Just call me Sean]

I put a quart and a half of gear oil in the rear differential. I think the gears are fine, but the wheel bearings on one side seem rough. I guess I'll pick up a rear at the junkyard soon. I can get it cheaper than a new axle shaft.

[Just call me Sean]

My favorite junkyard crushed the truck I wanted the rear out of, and the others they had weren't within the interchange years. They did have one in a truck that had a V8, but the pinion was snapped off, so I got the axle shafts instead. $50 for both, new is $200 each.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

My favorite junkyard crushed the truck I wanted the rear out of, and the others they had weren't within the interchange years. They did have one in a truck that had a V8, but the pinion was snapped off, so I got the axle shafts instead. $50 for both, new is $200 each.

Bargaaaaaiiiinn…!