GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

The highlight of every trip is stopping by at Ethyls in O’Fallon for wings and a few beers……



As always served by the unstoppable institution that is Kelly.



She also helped me get some bottle caps for a buddy “PistonPopper”







Bryan came to have a few beers as well.

Always great company.















She also dropped me a sweet message on my FB page: I'm so happy you came by to see me before you left! As always, it was a pleasure to see you! Xoxo Kelly.

[Grizz1963]

Saw this on my road trip, in Hannibal





Back on it soon.

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday afternoon, while fighting the urge to go sleep after my return flight from the USA trip https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...p-grizz-sumore

I went to see the wheels.

Remember that I only had enough paint for three wheels, so ran out before getting no 4 done.

Ordered the same item from Ebay “DEEP COPPER” as what I had got from @Redratbike and expected the same, or a slight variation in colour, maybe from a batch difference.

When I sprayed one of the centre caps as a test……….


Errrrrmmmmmm…..?


FAIL.


So it seems (without investigating) that the manufacturer has radically changed the colour at some point.

The paint from Redratbik was stock he had bought for a build and not used, so in both cases, nobody to blame.

Just enough to P!$$ me off, and force me to repaint all four wheels.


I actually liked the first colour, but original plans was a decent contrast, and the original colour blended more.

Now I have a contrast, lets see if it works when the time comes to do the lace paint on the roof.




So………..


200ml originals vs 400ml extras bought off eBay




Centre cap.

Contrast in differing light.






And of course the huge difference in colours.





Knowing that I could not match the original colour, I had to go ahead and repaint the original three wheels.

After all , I had paid for the paint.





I will take a few more pics of the colour in daylight, though it seems to be a bit cloudy today.


.

[Grizz1963]

@nickwheeler popped in yesterday afternoon to check up on me, we chatted colours etc.

Had to clean my house as it needs a clean and decluttering (read rubbish bin emptied) so he declined helping with that.

Being preoccupied with the whole jobless potential scenario, I was and will be for a while, not completely in the room.


Back to this car briefly.


New colour out in the light.





Alongside the car.









Suggestion from Nick is the copper lace over a black background.


My plan is a cream base, like the wheels rims edges are, note, they are not white, and the copper lace paint over the top of that for a dark on light contrast.


But there are more important things to deal with before that happens.

[Grizz1963]

Unmasked the wheels this morning early before work.

I think I like that, a lot.

Better contrast than expected, and to be honest, the cream works better with the copper than it would have with the original,colour.






Later in the day I also sprayed all the surfaces with two coats of clear lacquer

Not sure if the photos will show it, but certainly works for the naked eye.



After work I needed a walk to unwind from the day.

“Bat Ears outta hell”



Calling Australia.

Trenching monster.



Amazing how therapeutic this dog is.

[Grizz1963]

Kinda forgot to mention the most important welcommback from America.


George the cat I don’t have.


He also had another human born at his real home last week, so I suspect a longer tenancy is in the offing.


Become a bit of a shadow.


I like that.






.

[Grizz1963]

Micra Build will stop for a while.


But I removed the roof strips yesterday.


Not sure when I will get back to it.


Got sh!t to deal with for now.


Later gang.

[Grizz1963]

Seen passing outside my house.

[Grizz1963]

I still need to figure (find out) what wheel bolts for alloys, these wheels need.


Not got any.


I think they are longer than standard and may have a specific collar.


Contacted @mercdan ‘s favourite insurers.

Quoted £275.00 for comprehensive cover…. Said to be best combo to cover this car.




Sounds like a lot of bollloxx.



Anyway, took the wheels to town.



Loaded,





Stretching….





Balancing act.





Yup……… looks decent.





Back home.





Simple mock up, well…. Placed side by side.


Typically, George, the cat I don’t have, was waiting for his dinner.





This cat is no fool.


.

[Grizz1963]

Plan yesterday was to get reacquainted with the Rockit.

Ended up pushing the Rockit out, cleaned the carport and pushed it back.

Went to Sally to help her in her garden.

The last two weeks have been hard with the redundancy, some jetlag, doing the day job as if nothing was wrong, I then got invited last Friday to interview on Wednesday for my own job with presentation and CBI .

So sleep, even after Wednesday’s interview has been lacking.

Being knackered yesterday I just was not feeling any of it.

Last night I managed a decent night for the first time in a while.

Today……. ?

Let’s see what happens.

[Palf70Step]

Good luck on the job thing Rian. Hope you are not drug out long on the thing.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Good luck on the job thing Rian. Hope you are not drug out long on the thing.

Thank you Bill.

I guess it is prt of modern life.

Risk.






Mate JB Math shared a great pic of his Godzilla powered Cobra.



.remember the counter chair I got for Dennis In Iowa?




He ordered a new seat surface and fitted it.



Impressive for sure.


Now it will fit into the Gas Station.


The road trip keeps giving.

Yesterday Dennis needed to cut down a massive Oak tree that partially overhangs the workshop.

Remember one of them ended up on the roof last year during a storm.







Mate Jessie sprang tomthe rescue…..


50 Ton will do the job.








Seems the tree is now awaiting a future bonfire.


Problem solved, we hope.

[Grizz1963]

Weekend saw me clean the carport and rearranging stuff.

Great way to get started.

Except, I did not get started. Instead I did other jobs, like helping Sally in her garden, and a few other house jobs.

Sunday I decided not to go bootfair, unusual, but also evidence of my state of mind currently with the redundancy bollloxx hanging about.

So I used a foot pump (small compressor power switch seems to have died, along with the compressor) to pump the Rockit rear tyres, both were at 1 Bar, and got them to 3 Bar.

Sat around for a bit, then headed out to buy another pair of trainers, as the last expensive pair give zero support when walking the fields. Followed by some food shopping, stuff sure has spiralled from a price point of view.

Lets hope new trainers are better.


As I got home, @nickwheeler arrived, bringing Hotrod magazines and staying a couple of hours to chat.

Of course we drifted down to the garage.

Various discussions around both cars.

Including the right wheel nuts to be bought for the alloys.

I found one in my stash……



So we decided to lift the car, remove the steel and try the painted and tyred up wheel.











I am still liking the direction this is headed.


And discussed an added bit of paint with Nick.


He is a lot more “conservative” than I am.


Have a good week all.

[Grizz1963]

Ordered new chrome (obviously Chinese quality) nuts for the painted alloys.



Should look decent till the first wash, or rain or wet road hits it.

Still, worth doing.

[Grizz1963]

So I am back on UK time, after the USA Roadtrip.

The job situation is currently up in the air.

I interviewed for my own/old soon to be revamped and not mine, job, last Wednesday.

No idea if I will stand a chance, despite past successes and track record.

These days it seems the process decides.

Anyway, seems the winners and losers (everyone gets a prize, even if it stinks) will be informed next Tuesday.

In the mean time, I just keep doing what I am paid for.


Back to the UK and Roadtrips.

Adam, Dennis’ son, wife Hanna and son Tripp, along with her mum and husband Ginger and Clark came over last weekend to spend some time in the UK as tourists.

AirBnB was their choice, near Paddington.

Of course the country ended up in all sorts of turmoil with the death of the Queen and subsequent actions, including cancellation of tours of Buckingham Palace etc.

So they were somewhat left to their own devices to entertain themselves and a one year old.



Yesterday I took a day vacation and hired a 9 seater Ford Tourneo van, 10 years old and a bit rough around the edges, but for £110.00 including some diesel it seemed good enough as other local companies could not help

Mickey next door gave me a kiddie seat to use, though they brought theirs along as well.

George loved it.



Said transport.



After a late start, dictated by Tripp, they took an Uber from Paddington to meet me at Rochester, plan was originally to take a train.

From there we headed down to Dover, our target.

Clark wanted to see the white cliffs and we managed to get some of that done, visiting the lovely Battle of Britain memorial.

Memorial is a lovely place.









Planes.







Clouds really enhanced the pics and mood.





From there we headed to Dover Castle.

A venue one really needs a whole day for.

Great mix of very old history and more modern (1945-ish WW11 era)

We only got there at 3.00pm and did one short tour of the underground hospital, then decided to pull the plug on being tourists and headed back to Chatham for an early dinner.





Return trip was uneventful.



Group pic of course.





And inside of course.

Tripp charmed all the staff, a lot like his grandfather Dennis.







Food as always amazing.

Affordability is certainly something offered here, along with service and being welcomed as family.



After dinner, the tourists took the train back to London from Rochester.

I returned the hire car, and discovered Tripps entertainment centre under the seat.

Ooooopppps.

And of course an overnight postal delivery was impossible, as the postal,service is striking tomorrow and Saturday.

And Adam and co leave at midday tomorrow.

So Clark took a train to Lewisham this morning and we met up to give him the last part of the puzzle.



All in all, I was really pleased to have a day off work, and more importantly, spending it with friends

Life is good for sure. .

[Palf70Step]

That Memorial looks really good Rian. Glad ya'll had a good day.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

That Memorial looks really good Rian. Glad ya'll had a good day.

Absolutely beautiful place Bill.

Worthy of the fallen.







I forgot to post these pics.


Dennis had ordered me a super cool zip up hoody.


He felt the legend on the back was reflective of me…….


It was not delivered in time when I traveled there, so he sent it, along with some models along for me with Adam.







On display, pretty rare, collectable,

I just like them, from mate the late Ray, his wife Eve wanted me to have these.





So the Roadtrip just keeps giving.



Back in St Louis, Dennis was fitting a newly painted door to the race truck transporter yesterday.





That was until son Adam’s best mate since school, and all round great, not just good, guy, Tyler and he returned from Indiana where they had fetched Tyler’s dream-bucketlist car.

A 1960 VW Beetle.

All of 1100cc aircooled power.

For a guy in big displacement cars and trucks, including his “little” S10 4.3 liter, this is an interesting departure.

But we know about itches.







And typically, Dennis was straight in there to get it running.





Looking forward to seeing what Tyler does with this car.

[Palf70Step]

Love the jacket and especially the Dodge A100 model. Old bugs are a blast. Slow, but cool none the less.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Love the jacket and especially the Dodge A100 model. Old bugs are a blast. Slow, but cool none the less.

Dodge was my favourite of all of them.

Had two Beetles and a Baywindow camper before.

I like them.





Right

Good news.

Thanks for all the support from those who knew I was made redundant.

I get to keep my job. Thankfully.

Guess another excuse not to progress too fast on projects.

[Palf70Step]

Congrats on the job Rian.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Congrats on the job Rian.

Thank you Bill.

It is not ideal, but constant change seems to be constant these days.

One just needs to keep adapting.






Wheel nuts for Scruffy came in the post.


I am not sure they really should be called “chromed”

The finish is shoddy, and if they survive one season without falling apart on the chrome aspect, I will be surprised.





Still, we have wheel nuts, so the alloys can be attached, once it passes MOT.

[Grizz1963]

Remember the LACE PAINT idea?


Well, Poundland delivered.

May be a better option, or a fail, but at £2.00 each. These Halloween spiders web tablecloth’s could work better than the planned old lace curtains.

We will see when the time comes to lay them down.



Weekend is here.

Stuff to do.

[Grizz1963]

@nickwheeler popped in today for a coffee, a chat and to have a dig (around) Looks like there is a lot more to be done here.


And yes, it will get done.








Not much else done today.

Cut the grass, finished up the small trailer I got on Tuesday.

[Grizz1963]

Had a clever little plan.

But it failed (probably)

Bought a cheap 4x3 foot trailer from a deceased estate.

Sight unseen.

Collected it.










Should have gone to Spec Savers or another optician.

Still……….

Committed.

[Grizz1963]

Realised back home, after Mickey helped me collect it, that typically, the tires/tyres were dry rotted and needed replacing.

Got them off, ordered two new ones, slightly wider with lower profile, near enough the same.

£70.00 fitted, with new valves and old ones disposed of.



Removed the rear panel and light board as I wanted it removable for the proposed coming tasks.

Then used a trusty skateboard to move the wheel-less body up the driveway.

Pressure cleaner and some serious attention saw me get to know all the flaws.





Left to dry for 48 hours.

Then had some time to knock together a slip on frame.





Done.



After work Thursday evening I found some old black paint in my stash (mistake) and painted the underside of the floor, all the steel and mudguards and wooden sides with this enamel paint. On the wood just to act as a sealer in case another colour came into play.








Now some of you may know this, but @nickwheeler thinks that I am a whizzz with a brush and pot of paint.

So the last drops of green in a tin, made it onto the wheels.

Still need a pair of random hubcaps for them.

Green stripe.



But that was not enough, so I dug out some red Hammerite as well.

Better.



Friday I took a day off work to do things like shopping, coffee and lunch with Sally.

She very rarely asks me for anything, and even this was forced on her.

We had a good day.

Before she came over I painted all the white panels, again, more wood protection than aesthetics



Reassembled the tailgate, lights, and fitted the wheels yesterday morning.






I think I am happy with that.


Seems the original reason for buying it, will not be happening.


Still, I have a neat trailer for a few hours work.