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

[mjh1965]

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

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.



This design is awesome thanks Clem you knock it out of the park with this one

[Grizz1963]

Bit late, but Nicola sent me a video clip of a Spitfire passing over at the airport at sunset last night.

These Rolls Royce Merlins do make the hair on the ba k of my neck stand on end.

Battle of Britain 75 years. - YouTube

I can imagine a whole squadron of them passing overhead in anger.

[nhr3]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Bit late, but Nicola sent me a video clip of a Spitfire passing over at the airport at sunset last night.

These Rolls Royce Merlins do make the hair on the ba k of my neck stand on end.

Battle of Britain 75 years. - YouTube


I can imagine a whole squadron of them passing overhead in anger.

The Merlin is truly iconic and impressive. Rolls has always been cutting edge in Aviation engines. I have spent 30+ years maintaining Rolls Spey and Tay engines. 4000 hours and or 10 years between shop visits is testimony to quality. Amazing stuff and still running 50 years later. 70 years for the Merlin.

[realvc]

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…
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!

Hey Rian,
I tried to text you from Don's shop last Saturday to thank you for my little dog that I named Mugsey. Attached to the text was the picture Mugsey sitting on my vette but I guess it is out in cyber space.

Little Mugsey likes it here in the sticks but he is not too sure about our football.
Hope to meet you and Martin next month.

Thanks again,
Vince

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by nhr3

The Merlin is truly iconic and impressive. Rolls has always been cutting edge in Aviation engines. I have spent 30+ years maintaining Rolls Spey and Tay engines. 4000 hours and or 10 years between shop visits is testimony to quality. Amazing stuff and still running 50 years later. 70 years for the Merlin.

Agreed.

Some stuff really does just work.

Originally Posted by realvc

Hey Rian,
I tried to text you from Don's shop last Saturday to thank you for my little dog that I named Mugsey. Attached to the text was the picture Mugsey sitting on my vette but I guess it is out in cyber space.

Little Mugsey likes it here in the sticks but he is not too sure about our football.
Hope to meet you and Martin next month.

Thanks again,
Vince

Hey Vince, absolute pleasure.

[Grizz1963]

Started my day today by unpacking last weeks parts, second coating and also adding more painted parts.

Starting to feel good now.



Then had Mickey around to help me get what is left of the truck onto the little wagon I bought last year, and then to pull it out of the garage.

I also raised it quite a bit above the wagon floor level, in order to get under it to work.



Found this plate welded up over the underside of the floor.

It has become apparent that this truck was a manual shift at some point in its life.



The old manual gearbox cross member was partially hacked out with a grinder before.
Today I raised the cab after removing the cab mount bolts and shifting the load bed backward on the chassis.
When I was cleaning the chassis before, I knocked my hand on this sharp edge, thankfully on the blunt side, why do people do such rubbish work?



Cutting the rivets away.



Also found that when I removed the cab mounting rubbers I will be needing a pair of the front upper rubbers as they have a rubber grommet/liner cast in, and both are rotten. I hope LMC/Brothers sell the upper rubbers separately.





I bought this at Wheels day to fit to my truck.

Understood to be from a Chevy Day van of unknown vintage.

I was wondering if anyone knows what it's cable operated section is for?

If you turn the ignition key beack and push it in after turning it to the "off" position, it activates a cable in there, but then you cannot remove the ignition key.

This component is in the way where I need to fit the column,so needs to be removed, but I have no idea what it's purpose is.



Advice and help appreciated.


Ohhhh, and I got the day off for truck time, in exchange for Nicola and her best mate since they were 11 years old going to a 1940's Murder mystery evening.

They were happy, I had some progress, a BBQ and mate Martin around to hep pull my steering column and help me check out the fit of the one I bought at Wheels day.

[Grizz1963]

Successful Bootfair today, not much, but worth getting out of bed for.

Then home and straight into the garage, pulled the truck out and started to play.

Decided the carpet and safety belts needed to come out, along with the door rubbers etc.

Carpet is discoloured but still serviceable. Easy to dye it black.



Found a load of weird sound deadening Gorrilla Glued down to the floor after pulling the carpet and its felt out.

Also removed the sound deadening from the firewall as well as I have ordered a new pack.

Lifting the carpet I found this little treasure....... Not sure why.



Other surprises hidden behind the side panel carpeting which came out when I removed the air inlets to repaint, included this bit of blue skies on the drivers Side.



This was the camouflage that hid that damage......




On the passenger side, this little surprise was hidden under the door rubber.......



After realising what needs to be done, I shot out on the bike to Halfords for Kurust, then to Martin's to cut a strip off one of his discarded bed sides to create a new sill edge.



As I put the truck away tonight.

Next job will be welding, then Kurust to convert the surface rust, followed by paint on the floor etc.



So ended a busy weekend, did a fair amount, and still miles to go, but I am starting to smile.

Need to get a new bottle of CO2/Argon mixed gas this week.

[Ta2Don]

Nice work mate...

Attempted to send you a preview of my day via text, but looks like the pics didn't send… guess you'll have to pop over to my thread...

[65sub]

Nice progress Rian. The rust issues don't look to bad. A little welding and grinding and it will look like new.

[uber cool]

cab looks in great condition, needs just a few minor repairs, bonus :-)

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Nice work mate...

Attempted to send you a preview of my day via text, but looks like the pics didn't send… guess you'll have to pop over to my thread...

Originally Posted by 65sub

Nice progress Rian. The rust issues don't look to bad. A little welding and grinding and it will look like new.

Originally Posted by uber cool

cab looks in great condition, needs just a few minor repairs, bonus :-)

Thanks guys.

Andy, there are loads of bodges on the whole truck, some more like loads of filler on the bedsides will still come to the fore later when I get to them.
But whoever built this truck were certainly building a QUICK FLIP TRUCK when you look at some of the terribly executed modifications on it.

Still, I will continue to correct and repair what I find and what I can, some stuff like the blanking plate in the floor where the stick shift used to be will be tidied up and seam sealed before paint and carpet.


I also returned the Kurust on the way home from picking up work stuff at the Post Office.

Instead, I will be buying a litre of this stuff for the same price.

The write up makes it look like a better option, also 1/10th of the price of Hammerite Kurust.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VACTAN-RUS...item1c2db00f74

It means I will have a lot more to spread around in places where I may not have considered adding it in before paint like under the floor and chassis

[Grizz1963]

So there you go, new stuff. Another job jobbed.

Also took all the pipe work and flanges for my cutouts Colin tonight who will weld them up when he gets a chance, then that's another job done.



These people were really helpful and have a whole catalogue of other chemicals and cleaning agents. So I will be back.

[Grizz1963]

So Momma goes to Butlins for a 4 day 70's themed weekend with her school reunion friends........

Where does that leave me??

TRUCK TIME !!!

So when I got home from London tonight it was warmed up Spaghetti Bolognese, followed by a bit of desert.



Then down to the garage.

Cleaned up the piece of bedside I cut off Martin's scrapped bedside last weekend, much thicker material than the floor material.

Then sharpened up the edge, marked it and cut to size.





Created a kick up bend while at it.



Offered up to the sill edge that had been cut back and ground clean.



Then did the usual alternate tack ins, followed by run two and three to prevent distortion.

Then went in for a coffee, and FaceTime chat with Ta2Don.



After it cooled down somewhat I went back and tacked, tacked and tacked.

Then ground back and decided that this was enough for tonight, will review in daylight when I get back from Martin's place in the morning when I have helped him sort out his new compressor.



Got to say, with a further fine grind, some paint and the door seals, this will be just fine.



Tomorrow I plan on cutting out the drivers kick panel, making up a patch panel and then welding that in, followed by welding up all the holes in the floor and various other places in the cab that should not be there.

Then some rust converter and eventually paint.

[mjh1965]

Looks good
I will check it out over the weekend ,when I will pop over . I need to give the bike a blast . The weather looks like it's going to be good this weekend . So after I move the new compressor into the garage it's truck time for me .

[ibrown50]

Nice job well done

[Ta2Don]

making progress and sparks...
19 Days...

[flashed]

That really turned out great ,keep the pics coming.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Nice job well done

Thanks Ian, it is far from perfect, but hey-ho.......

Originally Posted by mjh1965

Looks good
I will check it out over the weekend ,when I will pop over . I need to give the bike a blast . The weather looks like it's going to be good this weekend . So after I move the new compressor into the garage it's truck time for me .

Well, that's that one sorted then.....

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

making progress and sparks...
19 Days...

Time certainly has flown Don.

Originally Posted by flashed

That really turned out great ,keep the pics coming.

Thank you Flashed.

As always, I will, as I like pics myself.

[Palf70Step]

Look out Arkansas!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Look out Arkansas!

Indeed Sir. Indeed.

[Grizz1963]

Went over to help Martin at 07.00 today with his new 150 litre compressor that needed to be moved through the house.

Then we sat for a few hours making up our final lists of parts for the trucks that we will be collecting from LMC Truck in Kansas around the 20th October.

Once we saw the cost, we were a bit shocked, mine was $548.00 and Martin's just under $300.00


My list...

Firstly when I got back home I needed to remove the ally patches someone had stuck over most of the large holes with Gorilla glue, then ground back to metal and welded up, all 36 of them.



After this I had to make a patch for the passenger floor.





Patch cut and made to fit. Then welded and ground back.

But how does this happen? Two wires stuck in the tip.





After the welding I went to make a coffee and got this pic from Nicola, probably a nicer place to be.




After this I marked, cut, fabricated and welded in a drivers will panel.






It is actually better than the photo implies.







With failing light, I had opened up this bit of rust and made a repair panel, but walked away as the light was not bright at all.




Tomorrow, Bootfair then carry on with the cab.

[Ta2Don]

progress and some great looking metal work...

[uber cool]

nice little repairs, great to keep as much original metal as possible

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

progress and some great looking metal work...

Thank you aeon.

It is not pretty, but it is strong and an improvement on what was there.



Reloaded this pic as the previous version was too big.



This morning I had a good Bootfair, managed to find a few bits I needed and some I wanted.

Also managed to pick up a new, unused 3M respirator mask for mate Martin for sensibly little money.perfect to accompany his new compressor.



After I got back from the Bootfair I had some home jobs to do, including waterproofing the tail lights on Nicola's daily driver car.

Just when I had done that, Mickey next door shouted over the gate that I had a visitor, I looked up the drive and saw a motorcycle helmet...... Knowing it was Paulusvrotius who had ridden up from Southampton to deliver a pair of axle stands he had offered me a couple of weeks ago...... Sound mad? No, not at all, just the sort of thing we all do for each other from time to time.
He then visited, chatted for a while before taking the scenic route home.

Thanks for the axle stands mate, they will be used well.




I then carried on welding up the kick panel I opened up last night, followed by some cutting and welding on the door pillar and also some more welding to the floor on the drivers side next to the kick panel.

I also refitted the old petrol tank that has been cut open as a storage space behind the seat...... Then cut off the front of the support tabs for the tank and tidied them up too.



Following this I used a flap wheel on the grinder to remove most of the scaled rust and old carpet glue from the floor and also to roughen up the floor to give a good keyed surface for the paint once it goes on.

Then used petrol to wash the floors once more after vacuum cleaning all the dust off it.



So that was another productive weekend in my view.all the welding on the cab done and cleaned up.

Later this week I will paint the rust converter on the surfaces of the floor and then two coats of paint.

[Palf70Step]

Real nice work Rian. It is always good to see forward movement.