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

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

We definitely will need our own plane to bring home all our parts . This will be the reaction from the luggage handler after he picks up Rian's case

Ian that lid looks amazing as good as any professional, you are truly gifted.

And Imay have ordered a few more its in to be delivered to Donz place. Thanks mate


Had some friends over for a BBQ today.

Dave who works as estate manager for a large concern and is in charge of vermin control.

So before coming over, he made me these for my wheel nuts.



Little by little things are coming together.

[Ta2Don]

Nice score on the shells mate...

[Ta2Don]

Looking forward to tomorrow's adventure...

[Grizz1963]

Another day that proved to end very differently to the way I would have planned it to......

As this build has unfolded, I have found more and more damage, bodges and general wear and tear that needed to be addressed.
A lot of it was and is safety paramount, things like brakes, suspension etc.

I decided to replace all the front ball joints, steering parts etc with completely new parts some time ago, so ordered a rebuild kit as advised by Ian Brown who had used one for his Tennessee Honey truck.

So today I managed to persuade (asked nicely) mate Martin to come over and help, and supervise the replacement process. Thinking we would be done before dark.

Yeeeeaaahhhhh Riiiiighht.

Started by disassembling the Wishbones, suspension and steering.




The sort of chaos that gives me a massive headache.





Drivers side hub and ball joints were a problem when I lowered the front end, after a load of bashing, it still did not relinquish its hold.

Ended up cutting the two bolts' heads off to get the nuts off. They were replaced by parts from the hub Ian had given me.



Also decided to buy a full front bearing replacement kit while at LMC or similar. As the bearings are an unknown, and could be as old as the truck @ 50 years.


Drivers side wishbone or A-Arm was obviously in a hard impact somewhere in the past, thankfully Ian had a spare that he donated a few months ago, along with the front hubs he removed when doing his dropped spindle rebuild.

Note the buckled metal and displaced end cap.

This was just as it was unbolted from the truck, surprisingly it tracked just fine and you could not feel anything untoward when driving at motorway speeds.

When we removed to upper cross arms, the passenger side had the same 3 shims per fixing, but the drivers side had double up front and one extra on the rear mounting.





Also realised the brakes were not good, so new parts will be bought when in the USA during October, best to replace these parts, than to paint and doll the truck up, and then putting it sideways into a Honda or some builders van at speed because the brakes failed.

Where does the water come from?



Previously ignored them, but my front hubs (possibly the rears too) have these springs wound around them.

Any idea why they are there, and can I remove them without expecting a blow up?

I want to remove them as they seem to serve no purpose, so that I can clean up and paint the hubs.



Thanks again as always for your help and knowledge.

At this point I needed a strong coffee.



Martin did not need to convince me very much to drop the front cross member, so that was a quick 7 bolts if I recall correctly.



Of course with the front subframe removed, I can clean it up better and paint it up properly. Also under the frame and unfolded the cab.






One of those tools you rarely use, came to its own today...... Punching and marking certain parts that will be cleaned and painted so that reassembly will be a bit easier.



Wishbone stripping prior to cleanup.



Truck as I left it tonight......

[Palf70Step]

[mjh1965]

No Problem with helping . I am just glad you took my advice , and stripped down the front brakes , as it would have been a shame to put it back together and then have the brakes fail. I think helping each other also helps with motivation .
It sure feels good leaving yours in as many parts as mine

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

No Problem with helping . I am just glad you took my advice , and stripped down the front brakes , as it would have been a shame to put it back together and then have the brakes fail. I think helping each other also helps with motivation .
It sure feels good leaving yours in as many parts as mine

Great work for a day!
Here's some Pics from today… Vince (RealVC) dropped by to visit and pick up a gift Rian had sent awhile back…
IMG_5136 by Donald Olivo, on Flickr
The Dog Ready to Roll!!!
IMG_5138 by Donald Olivo, on Flickr

Following his visit to the studio, while I knocked out a tattoo, we checked out a local Car Show…

Cheers Mate!

[ibrown50]

That looks like a great days work You'll be so glad you did it (once it's all back together)

[uber cool]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

No Problem with helping . I am just glad you took my advice , and stripped down the front brakes , as it would have been a shame to put it back together and then have the brakes fail. I think helping each other also helps with motivation .
It sure feels good leaving yours in as many parts as mine

Its always fun taking someone else's truck apart. The script on the T shirt is spot on . lol

[uber cool]

Rian, you expression is the complete opposite of Martin's face. its more of a WTF just happened expression.

Good work thou and you'll be pleased when it starts to go back together.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Thanks Bill.

Originally Posted by mjh1965

No Problem with helping . I am just glad you took my advice , and stripped down the front brakes , as it would have been a shame to put it back together and then have the brakes fail. I think helping each other also helps with motivation .
It sure feels good leaving yours in as many parts as mine

You know I cannot repeat publicly what I said to you at that point, I would get arrested.
But thanks as always for the help.
We are lucky that we get to help each other, as many of the jobs really are two man jobs, and company is a good thing.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Great work for a day!
Here's some Pics from today… Vince (RealVC) dropped by to visit and pick up a gift Rian had sent awhile back…

Following his visit to the studio, while I knocked out a tattoo, we checked out a local Car Show…

Cheers Mate!

Glad Vince was pleased with the dog Don.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

That looks like a great days work You'll be so glad you did it (once it's all back together)

Agreed Ian.

I think it is often mentioned, but a different interpretation of the "thank you for the support" comment on here is to say that I am building this truck with you guys' help.

Originally Posted by uber cool

Rian, you expression is the complete opposite of Martin's face. its more of a WTF just happened expression.

Good work thou and you'll be pleased when it starts to go back together.

Can't wait mate.

Much to be done, but it will get done in time.

[Grizz1963]

Typical Sunday, woke at stupid-o-clock, surfed the web, made a cuppa tea and eventually woke Nicla to go to the two Bootfairs we do every weekend.
Not much to buy, gutted that I had not bought a large pair of axle stands last weekend, which typically did not show up today.

Back home by 11.00 and straight down to the garage to start scraping clean all the parts removed yesterday as they were all caked in old grease, grime etc.

Harley was around my feet as usual, and later Mickey from next door came around for a cuppa tea and a chat. Still I cleaned, and cleaned.



After all the scraping, using a small home made hacksaw blade knife, I then grabbed the flap wheeled grinder and proceeded to debur all the wishbone edges, as well as dressing back the spindles that I had previously hammered mercilessly to remove the ball joints.

Deburring is done so that once the paint goes on, you have less water or moisture traps to initiate rust under the painted surfaces.



After all the hours of scraping, I then used about 4 liters of petrol with toilet brush, paint brush and a welding brush to remove more of the grease, gunk.

Getting me to this point.



I then gave the parts, excluding the crossmember which got the pressure cleaner after the petrol wash a blast in the blasting cabinet to prepare them for paint.




Some bits I had done for Martin as well to go back into his reassembly.




Not sure if I should do the brake drums in red, Silver or black.

The back plates will be black.



Came indoors just on 6pm to have a shower and enjoy the full English roast chicken dinner Nicola had prepared for us.

Washed down with a lovely Baccardi and Pepsi Max, in my new 20p glass from today's Bootfair



That then was my very productive weekend.


LIFE IS GOOD.

[ibrown50]

Another busy day, it must be so handy having your own blast cabinet.

If only you could get the Bacardi at the boot fair

[Ta2Don]

Great progress this weekend mate...

I played with the 72 a bit, mowed some grass, and then loaded the lovely wife and JoJo into the 72 for a cruise into town...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Another busy day, it must be so handy having your own blast cabinet.

If only you could get the Bacardi at the boot fair

May happen....... Flying to Lisbon in the morning.

Duty free possibly.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Great progress this weekend mate...

I played with the 72 a bit, mowed some grass, and then loaded the lovely wife and JoJo into the 72 for a cruise into town...

Playing with the wife is a good thing Don.

And JoJo....... No question.

[mjh1965]

Did you paint your parts tonight if so we need pictures

[Grizz1963]

Got home from London tonight and got the suit and tie off as fast as I could, while Nicola made me a coffee, then straight down to the garage to get the paint onto the parts I cleaned up over the weekend.

First thing to do was figure where to paint,meet some hooks and tie spots on a supported scaffolding pole.
You see, it's never as quick or easy as a few photos imply.

Then mask up all the threads after cleaning them, again, as well as the holes where the ball joints will be pressed in.

Then the first coat of paint.

Simple black for most parts.



Got the top and bottom wishbones and brake drum covers done as well as the steering rod.



Lastly the brake drums.

Just gave them a heavy coat of 400'C VHT paint.



I am happy with the changes tonight.

Hopefully the paint will be well dried by Saturday when I get back from Portugal.

[mjh1965]

They look good . We Both made progress tonight . Have a good trip , and we can assemble them when you get back .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

Did you paint your parts tonight if so we need pictures

SNAP !!!!

Just posted.

Nicola found this today......

She said Grumpy Bear and excited Martin on way to USA.

[mjh1965]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

SNAP !!!!

Just posted.

Nicola found this today......

She said Grumpy Bear and excited Martin on way to USA.

Looks more like every time I leave your house after working on the truck

[Palf70Step]

[Ta2Don]

Enjoy Lisbon, and if you have a chance to have white wine with dinner, try some Casal Garcia...

Love the pic Nicola found…

Parts look great...

[65sub]

Great progress Cleaning parts can be a little tedious but reassembly with nice cleaned and painted parts is so much nicer.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Enjoy Lisbon, and if you have a chance to have white wine with dinner, try some Casal Garcia...

Love the pic Nicola found…

Parts look great...

Just back home

Originally Posted by 65sub

Great progress Cleaning parts can be a little tedious but reassembly with nice cleaned and painted parts is so much nicer.

I do like the cleaning.

[Grizz1963]

No truck time most of this week.

Tuesday morning 04.30 this was what I Found when I turned on the lights..... Someone objecting to my packing to leave.



I was headed out the country for work.

Some stuff I saw.....

Included this very cool looking 115cc bike.





The city had loads of statues and squares.




Had a fish dinner under this bridge Wednesday night.



Had driven past all this to get there.








Thursday evening at dinner, I may have had a good time



Nicola took her dad to the live show of "Friday night is music night"

Preceded by various displays including fly pasts by Spitfires.

This was the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.



Lastly, just been chatting to Clem in Arkansas about his shindig on the 17th October.

The design has now been finalised, with a nod to the UK truck guys.

Hope to see many people there with their hot rods, trucks and bikes.



Tomorrow I hope to get some garage time in. Now it's bedtime.