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

[Grizz1963]

Seems the truck has started to attract attention.

George is from two houses down.

Loves catnip.

I iz a dealer







So, do I chase him away, and stop him visiting the truck, or encourage him

I do like animals of course 😉

Nice boy.

[Grizz1963]

After several extended laughter filled and teeth gritting exchanges with @pauly he sent me a picture to explain what has to be done next.

Create a simple threaded bar spring compressor in order to release the springs safely and rebush the upper and lower control arms.

After knocking out the lower Ball Joint.

It was different when I did the Blazer springs and bushes…… jack up, pressure off, remove. Done.




Fingers crossed that I have fingers left to cross once I get this done after work tonight.

It seems a good time to start thinking of fitting some strip lights up in the carport roof right now too.

And plan for heating etc.

Winter’s a-coming.

[Grizz1963]

Make a compressor said @pauly

Got some bits from the steel store.



Mark out, clamp, drill.



Test fit.

I used the shock absorber mounting bolts to anchor the bottom to.



Threaded bar.



Then add a small plate to the top of the angle iron so the nut can be tightened flat.

Then welded the plate to the angle iron and grind back.





And painted, just because I ran out of workable daylight.



Tomorrow is a long day for me, so may only get to dismantling on Friday.

Also removed more rusted, broken, bent split pins from the castle nuts.

Then shut shop and headed indoors, earlier onI found a happy George on the S10 enjoying the late afternoon sun.



Bedtime soon.

[Grizz1963]

Almost the weekend.

Been a busy (rough) work week and I planned on bailing out by 2.00pm but typically I was still at it by 4.15

Keep in mind I start by 07.00 most days.

Bought myself a couple of tools, since my one is dying, and the other I do not have.




I went and bought DCD796 £62

DCF887 w/ 2x2aH £130

as one gets confused with the variable offers out there, and at the end of the day, I am kinda a Hobbyist at best, and these specs seem to deliver for most hobby guys out there.




Hope to get back onto the Rezin Rockit tomorrow.

PS: No idea how to make these links work as a click link.

(I got a Dewalt drill and Impact driver)
.

[Grizz1963]

………………and then I ground to a halt.





I had hoped to finish work early (flexi-time) today so that I could get a start on the final chapter of the bushes.

Then work kicked me in the nuts, hard.

When it gets busy I just need to keep going, so by 4.30 it wound down.

Also realised that I will need to disassemble some of the work I did before.

Too many obstructions and retainers.





I will try find some time tomorrow, but we are planning a bit of a run out in the S10 that has not been out much lately as I have spent a lot of time at home.

.

[Grizz1963]

Went down to Whitstable yesterday in the truck with Sally to see mate Martins new home and garage he is building.

Threw an accrow (spelling?) extendable support in the back for Martin to use to support his main steel girder if he ever wants to hoist out an engine or something similar.

Again, truck made me grin madly, both for the drive as well as for using it to do even a simple job.



Last bootfair of the year sucked.

One item worth £2.00

But……..

I have been looking for a horse riding spur for a few years on my USA travels and generally when out and about.

Usually overpriced for me at around $20-30 a pair.

Todays one was worth adding to my random pile of weirdness.



Home by 08.20 from bootfair, hoping to see mate Kerry, @disasterbus who was popping over to drop some random stuff off that he had collected over time for me.

When I got here, the first thing I saw was a pile of stuff on the driveway, and no Kerry, somhe had been and run as he does not like to leave his animals at home alone. I totally get that.

Still need to carry through and sort through all the treasures.






I am sure we will meet again soon enough.

So unpack and carry through treasure, sort through solid wood kitchen shelves etc mate Kevin dropped off yesterday (firewood and shelving)

Then get back to Rezin Rockit for bushes part 2.

[Grizz1963]

Seems Photobucket feels I am loading too many photos for the contract I have.

So it is not loading my photos.

At the tariff I pay as it is, I am not going to have them extort another $xxx or whatever it is out of me. They get about $xxx/year from me.

As far as I know I am on the intermediate tariff which equates 25000 photos.

But for now it seems pics are on hold

[Grizz1963]

Remember this…….?


Damascus steel, hand made, in America.

Had a message from my friend Jon Hall custom Knives to say the weather had forced hime back into the forge and to start making knives again.

My custom kitchen knife is taking shape.

Not sure if I will want to use it or just look and touch it.

Such an honour.

And of course I do love people who are skilled creators.




Layer upon layer of steel.





On Saturday Sally and I took the truck out for a run down to Whitstable to see mate martins new home and under construction garage via some shops.

What a pleasure, as always, to take the truck out.

Silly grins abound.





Thankfully the recent fuel shortages have not impacted my pleasures.

[Grizz1963]

Looks like deleting the Photophukit app from my phone and reinstalling it, has allowed me to upload.

I still do not understand how my 25000 photo option is near capacity.


Anyway…….

So where were we?



Back to the hydraulic press and removing the old rubber.

Old vs new.

Bottom end.



Kinda screwed up on the first top one I did.

Not realising the outer sleeves had to be re-used I was pretty rough on them till I woke up.

Rough as a rough thing, but I cleaned them all up and cleared the very rusted inside and outside bores plus the cuff.



Once cleaned up, you need Fairy Liquid or any slippery dishwashing liquid to help slip them in, vice or press needed again.



Lower arms needed a lot of remedial work too.

Also top and bottom ball joints were well and truely beyond their best…..





And I still need to understand why there are screws in the bottom of the ball joints.



This rebuild has certainly turned into a restoration as @westbay Tony pointed out to me this week.

The plan was originally just a quick throw together but I am realising more and more that it may well end up being a decent car once completed.

Here’s to Vroom Vroom eventually.

[Grizz1963]

Out of sync now.

Thanks to too many pics.

Remember the home made spring compressor?

One bit of advice is to have a long enough shaft to allow full decompression

The Ford has a cup/ridge to finally get over when you get to that point.







Second one was easier as I knew what to do.



Sure these look at least a coil to high?/



Another job I have been looking forward to for many months was to remove the mangled remains of the disc brake dust shield.

So I removed the hub and got that off too.

Discs are pretty rotten too.






And to finish on a happy note, this tome of year, with winter creeping in at a fair pace, the sunrises are again pretty.




Day job is also keeping me really busy every day with somewhat extended hours at the moment.

So progress is limited to quick early morning or late day spurts of activity.

.

[Grizz1963]

Thanks again to Tony @westbay and Cliff down at the local garage…….

Cliffs welcome at the garage reads thus:



Anyway, Tony had searched a variety of options for the brakes and posted them up.

Cliff, being an oldskool mechanic suggested I at least try dismantle and then see if I could rebuild the front callipers that look pretty far gone..



The rear drums, and probably shoes and hardware will need a load of attention too.



So I still need to try disassemble the brake callipers and see if I can get away with seals and nothing else for about £12.00 or if the next level around £40.00 including pistons will work.



Random item search, I have almost a full set 12/16 of these wheel nuts, a few are damaged and scratched badly.

I really want to use them on the steel wheelz I plan to use, hoping they are going to do the job correctly.

These are them.



Question is……….


What were they originally fitted to, in case someone knows, or does anyone have between 4-16 to sell that are in decent condition??

I am planning on knocking all the studs that are still left in the hubs, out and replacing them with longer items as the spacers and adapters will need a bit more stud to safely mount the wheels.

PM please if you have or know anything.

Thanks.

[Grizz1963]

So having decided to replace the discs, ball joints and a load of other moving parts for peace of mind and safety, plus a large chunk of FUTURE PROOFING for the car, I ordered in some new parts.

£25.00



£52.00



There will be more to follow.

In the mean time I removed all the ball joints from the control arms, and then cleaned them up and painted parts that I ground back.



Seen better days.



Minus control arms it looks pretty bare.



Looooong springs painted too.



And the control arms ready for the ball joints next day.



Happy so far.

[Grizz1963]

So after 5.00pm today I went to get the next bit done.

Sally was only popping in to say hi and drop some groceries for me.

This allowed me to focus for 90 minutes.

Keep in mind, I have to think every move through.

So started with this, left from last night.



BFH to the rescue.



Fitted



Secured



Happy.



Ball joints and bushes renewed.




Then came the @pauly moment.

I was dreading it, while I could imagine him on a throne……. Laughing his head off.



Result



This seems to have given me a 2 1/4 inch reduction

I have no idea if that is the right way to look at it.

Sure it will make a difference.





I also realised that the pile of discarded, replaced parts from the running gear was steadily growing.





Once cut, the springs went in in reverse to the way the had come out.

Once was all reassembled, it was nice to see it this far.





Tomorrow or Saturday I will refit the Anti Roll Bar and other bits that are waiting their second reassembly.

Then the wheels back on and of course back under the chassis.

Almost the weekend too.

[Grizz1963]

Last night a cryptic text from @forddan68 said that something had landed on my Focus’ screen.

Bird poop.



Thanks Dan.

[Grizz1963]

Took the Mercedes Benz spring compressors back to Kevin this afternoon.

Progress continues with his build.

This was two weeks ago.

https://youtu.be/lBQyUQN34oY

One of my favourite parts to this build is probably these stone guards.

Kevin had never bashed metal, so he taught himself and made a pair of them for the car.



Adding the detail pieces now, it is certainly starting to look like a classy car.



Hope to see him get it fully on the road.

Sooooon.

[Grizz1963]

So after work last night I put in about 90 minutes of focussed work.

Got it this far.



Other side.



Then could not resist adding the steel wheels I bought for it a year ago.

They are 15 inch, and really wide.

It is tracking wide, and once on the road, the camber, castor, tracking will be set professionally.



Wheels make me happy.



The difference currently between the old FWD 16’s snd steel 15’s is about 3” which translates to a real world 1.5” lowering on the wheels, we will see where a higher, wider tyre takes us when the new tyres are fitted much later.

These are stupidly stretched, so it will all change.



Callipers need rebuilding or replacing if I find them too damaged to rebuild, which is very possible.

But thinking of high heat orange on the callipers once cleaned up, to go with the poly bushes



Last thing at this point…….

Remember we had a discussion around the bump stops before.

Having had FWD alloys fitted, it looked pretty crowded.

Now with the adapters, and a 5mm spacer plate (though I really want them at 10mm) fitted, the picture looks a load healthier.

I think once it gets loaded up, things will continue to look just fine.





Been down at the Thames river for a walk and driftwood scavenge, so not started on the next bit of this build.

Be there in a bit though.

Coffee next.

[Grizz1963]

Early morning visit from George.

He comes a few times a day now.



Then Went for a walk down to the Thames river beach.



Saw this beautiful little sunflower, the only fighter on the beach.

Pleasant surprise as one would not expect to find it there.



Even the coconut was surprised.



Came home, took it easy.

Then at around 4.00pm I went to the garage to get my compressor sorted so I could connect the tyre inflator.

Followed by the front brake callipers which I cleaned first, then started to address with the compressed air from the compressor.

More about that later.

.

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday I went to play with the callipers

Started off by cleaning them and seeing of the pistons would even move with pads in place, and a large screwdriver to encourage them.



Removed the pipes.



Then fired up my supersized compressor to drive the pressure through the system to try budge the pistons.

Sealed the front end with good old ductape



Ultimately, my skills and the condition of the callipers did not match up.

So I will walk away from these, probably try sell them to someone who is a dab hand at refurbishment of callipers to sort out.

Then replace the callipers and buy some new pads and hardware.

Will get to that next week.



Following this I went to the rear brakes.

Remember this ?




Would have covered this lot at some point.

Missing two studs, and one off the front hub too.

Sure there will be some somewhere to buy or scavenge.



Looking decent from here.



Whoooops……

OK, maybe not.

So that will be new drums, pads and possibly hardware or a rebuild for the rear.



Also fitted the 4x108 to 4x100 @20mm thick adapters and 5mm spacer.

This gets the wheels right out to the edge of the mudguards.

I will look at a small engineering solution to replace the wheel nuts the adapters came with, with some studs welded in there, and then some shallow nuts to hold them onto the hubs.



Of course with light failing, I had to at least try the wheels on as well.

Seems like everything fits in there, despite the drum being absent.



And some centre caps/cups will need to be sourced at some point.




Today slow day, due to no new parts to fit, will probably be to go back to the body and start working on the screen support for the Land Rover screen @glenanderson donated to the build.

Or maybe rip out all the gauges that were fitted before, none of which I intend to use……..

Remember what it looked like when we fetched it.

Rear drum in evidence too.




Centre console not my taste.



Coffee, then garage.

.

[Grizz1963]

What?

Weekend over

My new DeWalt tools landed.

Amazed at just how different they are to the Makita units I have/had.

Ergonomics and size/weight is really well balanced.



A quick couple of pics about something that is so different for me, here in the UK the way roads are marked.

A melted, hot type paint poured from a jug into a drawn trough.






In other news, mate @paulf came to collect his hydraulic press in his split bus, dyno’d at 170bhp it has to be interesting if driven hard.



While he was here @nickwheeler called me to see if I was here.

Of course, so 30 minutes later he joined us.

Paul had a home, wife and kids to get to, and left in his bus, and it sounded sooooo healthy.

Thanks mate.


Nick and I carried on talking all things automotive and tools.

Ultimately I managed to convince him to try using the blow out tool he had brought over to see if after my failure, he could convince the pistons to move.

Bigger hammer, dismantling and pressure, all failed to get any progress.

So we realised that maybe these callipers have seen better days.


So the next job will be to put together a package of front brakes and the bits needed.





Regarding the rear brakes, Nick had also brought some parts he had bought years ago and never used.



Looked like it is a fit, maybe this is another of those interchangeable parts one finds when working with cars.






Looking forward to getting some more new parts together to fit before reuniting the chassis and running gear.


We are getting there, bit by bit.

[Grizz1963]

Took a very quick look between meetings at the Rallydesign site via a Google search.

Pads seem to range in price widely.

Also noticed that prices exclude VAT.

Yes you have to pay it but it does show that different companies advertise differently.



Rears will be similarly interesting as there are different options it seems.

[LT7A]

You've made a lot of progress since I last checked in. It's got to be a great feeling to get so many parts cleaned and the wear parts replaced. That front end work is arduous, but the payoff is there in safety and driveability.

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday I met my postman about a kilometre from home up on one of the farm roads.

He drove next to me while I was doing my exercise walk.

Told me he had delivered a parcel for me, through the letter slot in the front door.

International delivery he said.

I knew instantly what it was.

Vladimir, in Russia had told me in one of our Whatsapp chats that he had put a small parcel in the post for me.

So when I got home, the shape gave it away.

Russian License plate for my collection.

Even better, it falls into my preferred group of different, unusual etc as it is a temporary plate for moving vehicles from one city or region to another.

Thick laminated, and flexible so it can be tied on with string.



Also included, some working gloves for the garage, a Lenin Lapel badge for my weirdness cabinet, and then a necklace for Sally, so nice in this community that people feel the need to acknowledge the others in our builds.

Also in the parcel……..


A horse decoration form the 1800’s that Vladimir found while treasure hunting in a field.

Being a Horse decoration, this may possibly become the keyring for the Rezin Rockit.

Horsepower and all that.





Life is good.

[Grizz1963]

Popped into Kevins place today on the way home from getting a haircut.

His build is really getting on now.

Not bad for a retired well over 70 and never built a car, kinda guy.

He is so energised and excited right now.






Love these castings.

Still to be attached.





Then back to meeting 4/5 for the day.

My butt and back hurts.

[Grizz1963]

[quote author="@westbay" source="/post/2702311/thread" timestamp="1634628750"]Going back to the brakes ...and while the wallet is open ! ... what state is the master cylinder in ?[/quote]


LOL…..

You and @pauly make a formidable spending team.



Other side.






Speaking of brakes, having seen the cost of rear brake drums at around £100.00 per pair, I will need to find out if anyone in the Medway are can stick them on a lathe and clean them up for me.

Happy to reuse them if the can be cleaned up.

So I took the remaining complete unit apart…..

Greasy.



Had thought that part of the brake lining was missing as the other side looked like this.

Nope, that is what the look like.







Was chatting with Tony @westbay earlier about the price of the drums.

Looked at the price of shoes……

Crazy.

£13.00 for 4 includes shipping.

How??




Hardware/fitting bits are more than the shoes.

Guess I need to order the shoes if I can find a machinist.

[Grizz1963]

DIY CITY……….

Having spoken to mate Darren last night to find out if there are any engineering shops I can use to get the existing drums skimmed, he suggested I come to his shop and put them on one of his lathes on Sunday and start by just cleaning them up as they could pe perfectly servicable under the rust and greasy residue shown.

So Sunday will be a bit of DIY and hopefully we get the drums recovered to full function.

Shoes for them are surprisingly cheap/affordable.