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

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Awesome mate...

Thanks Don, every part I buy makes me more committed or should that be poor?

Here is one you should approve of........

Nicola's and my Wedding anniversary today.

It was a great day, and the "wedding cake" was made of Haribo sweets and marshmallows.



Forgot to mention, she completely surprised me by arriving in this truck......

Redneck bride indeed.

Her Bouquet was Proteas as well, another surprise, the South African national flower.



Took the Teardrop trailer on Honeymoon too.

Stunning campgrounds at Bath.




And now she is allowing me to build a truck....... ???

Gotta be good.

[Palf70Step]

Congrats. You definitely found you a good one!

[Ta2Don]

Definitely a Keeper...
Congrats to you and Nicola.

[clemdaddy]

completely agree...

[flashed]

She is real easy on the eyes too ,very pretty lady you are married to ,you are a lucky man ,and she likes trucks ,cant beat that.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Killer anniversary! The Silve-RAY-do is *****in'

[uber cool]

wow another photo of Rian NOT wearing sandals!



oh...........hangon, there they are in the honeymoon photo, phew normality restored

[Grizz1963]

Chatham Dockyard with Medway Cruise again last night.

I am sadly seeing the demise of this awesome gathering, with it getting banned or moved as it is so oversubscribed and very badly managed in my non expert view.......

It used to be a gathering that had up to 150 cars just gather, but last night there was just no rhyme nor reason for who could park where etc...... I prefer a totally mixed show, with no groups etc, but fail to understand what exactly the modus operandi is now.

Also needs to root out idiots like the guy in the TVR doing a burnout in the car park.

Still, it is always a great evening out, with an amazing mix of stuff, Harley's to Vespas and Lambrettas, Anglias to Mk1 Golfs and everything a rodder could dream of in between.

I selectively took about 60 photos, and have reduced them to 10.

German 2.6 Injected Capri.



Flat out on air C10



This GMC is really hand crafted......... Built on a Winnebago chassis with Big Block motorvation and a drag car on the back, what's not to love.



Being our wedding anniversary, what better treat for Nicola than a car show (after all, we spent our honeymoon 5 years ago at the Retro Rides Gathering too)

Nicola showing Martin the love.



Nice Ford.



Evergreen Rover.



Bought a week ago, he did not stop grinning.

Load bed in metal flake with some candy skull artwork on the bedside.




Spotless and for sale.

It seems that trucks are really going up in popularity right now, let's hope the bubble does not break any time soon.



Moggy.



105E Anglia, I had one years ago, loved it.



Here's to another good one next month.

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

I managed to find another of these 2 ton pallet trucks at the yard for Ian Brown up north for silly money this week after he asked me to keep an eye out for one.

Amazingly, I have a 320 BMW sedan as work car, it cannot carry the pallet truck, yet, Nicola's Peugeot 107 was up to the task tonight when I went to collect it at the yard and bring it back.



Funny how things go.

Yesterday there were 8 of these 2 ton pallet trucks delivered as scrap to the yard, some of them work, and some needing minimal attention, one was brand new....... I never get that.

[Palf70Step]

Looks good. Hope the chow with the boss was good too!

[Ta2Don]

Looks like a good day's work put in...

Hope the evening out with Mrs.Boss was beyond enjoyable...

[uber cool]

looks like I missed a good show, but it was my daughters birthday party this weekend, ones 10 and the other 14, 1 day apart, so big joint party for them on Saturday.

The cream patina C10 with black wings is from up this way, it's what got me into american trucks.

[Ta2Don]

Looks like a fun day mate…

Thanks for sharing...

[clemdaddy]

wow, looks like big fun. i really liked the carryall too with all the custom chrome. thanks for the pics...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by uber cool

looks like I missed a good show, but it was my daughters birthday party this weekend, ones 10 and the other 14, 1 day apart, so big joint party for them on Saturday.

The cream patina C10 with black wings is from up this way, it's what got me into american trucks.

Family time always comes first.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Looks like a fun day mate…

Thanks for sharing...

I think we have about 140 selected photos, but I have stopped posting as few people seem interested, and it takes time.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

wow, looks like big fun. i really liked the carryall too with all the custom chrome. thanks for the pics...

Pleasure Clem.

I was pleased to see so many.

[Grizz1963]

This is a tutorial on how to fit a Mazda MX5/Miata heater fan to the Custom Deluxe heater unit in a 60-66 Chevy C10.

The blower motors on these often stop working after 50 years when the radiator core leaks and the water ends up over the motor.

My mate Martin previously investigated and executed a transfer on his '65 Chevy truck as he had owned a few, and broken even more Mazda MX5's in the past, so he knows his way around them quite intimately.

So when I managed to buy an unproven heater unit from friend Del and the motor as expected, had expired we arranged to go to a breakers early one Saturday morning. We even stopped for a McD's Coffee on the way.

Got to Brenzett to the Mazda MX5 breakers where we had been offered a fan and blower unit for sensible money....... If we removed it ourselves. Martin and I have previously used him before and his stock and prices are always good.

So I was the tool boy, and Martin the brains and brawn on the day.

Spending about 30 minutes, mostly upside down.....



RESULT !!!




So I dismantled the heater unit and,sandblasted it all, painted all the parts after pressure testing the core by mouth, and it seemed to be intact.



If you test fit the Mazda fan on the Chevy tinwork, you will find it is too big by a small margin. So the trick is to figure a way to get it inside the hole.



The fan is plastic, and herein lies the secret.

If you put a bit of pressure on opposite sides it becomes oblong and you can slip it into the steel hole, releasing as it goes in means it will be captive on the inside.



Impressed??



Using masking tape, mark out the hole that needs to be cut in the body to fit this little guy.



Drilling a pilot hole in every corner gives you radius end corners and prevents the metal tearing over the long term.



Cut with the grinder and finish off with a hand held hacksaw blade and file all the edges, and touch up the paint on the exposed metal.






I made a gasket from some of the material that was stuck on the inside of my doors..... Remember that stuff?






That makes for the end of part one......

Part two, the controls next.

When we stripped the Mazda, we also took the heater controls, which included a multi speed switch, making it work will be another challenge when the wiring gets done.

So this is what I started with after removing the switch and front facia from the total unit.



It back to this.



View from the front, what may be fitted to the dash.



Lastly, the view from above.



Of course you can also reduce the size a lot more by cutting away the Aircon and Defrost buttons. Just retaining the 3 speed power switch.

So that concludes this conversion, Martin's worked in his truck before he startsd his restoration, so we know it works.

Now go out and find a Mazda to rob of its fan for your own truck.

[mjh1965]

Just a note to add to the post . The MK 1 Mazda heater is the same as the Mk2 and MK2.5 the only difference is the switch on the mk1 is a single unit so easier to hide .i will try and take a picture of the Mk1 switch over the next few days .

[Palf70Step]

Like the heat...thanks for the details. The shotgun shells are brilliant!!

[Ta2Don]

I too like the shotgun shells...

[Ta2Don]

Nice score mate, and those treasures cleaned up nicely...

[clemdaddy]

agree... nice vises

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Nice score mate, and those treasures cleaned up nicely...

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

agree... nice vises

Thanks guys.

I am always thankful that I have access to the yard.


Nicola came home today with a parcel from Arizona.........

A few weeks ago I saw some cool Chevy T-Shirts at Kohl's in the USA and mentioned it on various forums so that people who were interested could go out and get them.

Then a week later I get a PM from Chandler, AZ from Richard Grassmick who I had been friends with offline for some time....... What was Nicola's and my T-Shirt sizes, because if he could find them, he wanted to send us each one. Refused me paying for them or the postage so as usual I said Pay it Forward is the answer, to which he agreed.

I obviously tried mine on already.

Thanks Ric, you are a hero.



Tonight on the way home I again stopped in at the yard to drop off some bits for the boys, happened to find mate Martin another retractable hose reel and a small mains driven 250kg winch for another buddy.
Funny how you look for an item for a long time, then two in two days.



Chatted to Ta2Don earlier as well, couple of pics of parts that have to come back in the baggage in October.

Firewall pads?



Bigger suitcases??



Yes, it's all our stuff, and there is more coming in the post.

[uber cool]

you both might need to charter your own plan at this rate

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by uber cool

you both might need to charter your own plan at this rate

Hi Andy,

I am surprised at how it's taken on a f
Life of its own.

As Ian said on Martin's thread, extra large baggage may be the solution.

That is about right for me, but Martin....??

More than likely a full set plus steamer trunk Ian.

And we are not done yet........

I have parts coming from Missouri as well as the S/S bed strips and fixing kit from Mar-K as well as a full set of side mouldings going to Clem's as well......

I see my life filled with panic in October.