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

[Grizz1963]

A mile from Andy’s building site.

https://youtu.be/QfHeb35NnZc

Great views.

[Grizz1963]

So for anyone interested in this intergalactic build.


Yes, I am travelling back and forth to get things done here….


Next step was painting the outer edges of the rims in Cream.


SURPRIIIIISE !!!









[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/niknakpix/p/93f47532-31b9-4132-b00f-0246d9e2fdeb][/URL



And then as an afterthought.

Whatcha think?

I like.

[Grizz1963]

Forgot to show the alloys wheels on.

Bit of a Marmite look.

Well, a lot really.








Sorry to the CDO gang for being out of sync.


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[Grizz1963]

Happy Labour Day from the Lakes of the Ozarks Gas pump girls.



No, I got no boat.

[Grizz1963]

Seen passing outside my house.

[Grizz1963]

Possibly the most inane thing done to/with my S10 truck to date.

On my USA road trip I bought a sticker that really resonated with me.

I like/love animals a whole lot, and I love my 🇺🇸 road trips.

ROAD TRIP REPORT HERE: https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...rip-grizz-2022

Sticker applied.





Nothing special, but a reminder and it makes me happy to fly the Stars n Stripes.


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[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.


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[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.

[Grizz1963]

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. .

[Grizz1963]

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.

[Grizz1963]

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.

[Grizz1963]

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.

[Grizz1963]

Once we assessed the rust damage, and what was needing attention….. including a lot of screwdriver poking, mashing and banging, it was time to make a few test bits up.

Once you go to complex folds, there is a better or worserer sequence in which to fold the metal in preparation for welding in.

Even a Z-fold with unequal sides has a sequence.



Tappy Tappy and away we go.



I took the wheels off as well, as it clears up space to work and get tools in.

And of course mounting the car as high as possible helps too.



Drivers seat removed, carpets and side panels out the way, rather safe than run for a fire extinguisher.



Going to the passenger side, more SPECTACULAR BODGERY became evident.

Bits of plate siliconed and then seam sealed over rust.

Impressive MOT you passed there mate.

And a lot more on both sides became evident as we proceeded.



So making two outer sill plates and everything else in a 600mm or 24 inch length became the plan of action.

Starting on the drivers side.



Then I climbed in with the grinder and Knotwheel of truth (TM @pauly) exposing as much healthy metal as I could, creating two existing reference points on the underside where plates joined.

Making sure these points are absolutely pristine, means the welder just does exactly what you ask of it.

After cutting some back, before cleaning.





Nick climbed in with the welder, fixing the first Z-folded plate at the ends, then carefully welded it all together down the inner seam

Fitting and finesse first.



Prepped for inside puddle welds.



Weld next.



After this, the outer plate was prepared for a load of puddle welds.

And welded on.

Patiently, with the use of multiple vise grips to prevent misplacing or distortion.



Once fully welded it was left to cool off.



At which point I got onto the welds, grinding them back to a decent finish.



At this point it was 18.30 so we stopped welding, things seem to take a touch longer when you start to chase previous mistakes, bodges and have to custom fit things.

Part 2 of side 1 was to create a plate, again multi-contoured for the back section of the repair, looks easy, but a few aspects to considder.



I made a CAD that works as a mirror, so both sides are created at the same time.



Cut them out of the 1mm plate and started the shaping, which Nick completed with a hammer and dolly shaper on the vice.

Ready



I will carry on with the welding as I get time after work this week

The preparation is what takes the most time.

And this is not an MOT bodge to squeeze another year or two from a car.

Have a good week.

[Grizz1963]

Got home from work and cooked dinner quickly, easy to heat up later

Then headed to the garage.

Unpacked tools.

I wanted to complete the rest of the drivers side rear arch repair.



So I continued shaping the plate for starters.



Offered up.



Welded in three pieces to make up a total repair.

The used some seam sealer to tidy up the joins after grinding the welds back.



Happy with that.



Passenger side next, and then underseal for both sides once I mask the sills off to prevent overspray.

Need to hope the weather plays along.

Getting chilly already.

[Grizz1963]

Part 2.


Unfortunately, the welder stopped feeding wire just when I wanted to infill the gaps.


Job for another day.


The passenger side was an even worse bodge, aluminium plate glued in over holes etc.


So I cut back to good metal brutally and started by making a new inner panel to be a foundation.











Staggering……





New back foundation.





Hole got to be a lot bigger.











More shaping due before I started welding it in.






Decent puddle welds along the bottom edge, and tacks along the top.

At which point the welder stopped feeding the wire.

I am sure it may just be a tension setting.

But I had enough and decided it was time to come in, my eyes were tired and spotlight was messing with my vision.





I packed away tools, which sometimes is the right thing to do.

And collected the excess material that had been removed so far to make it good.


Currently we have this.


Last MOT pass.





Bit more to do, then I will be happy.

[Grizz1963]

Got home after work and rechecked the welder, spool, feed etc, then pulled some of the wire out the tip……. Manually.

Sorted.

So I started where I left off last night, completing the welds as much as I could be bothered.



Miles from concourse but plenty strong enough imho.

Followed by some seam sealer








So, hopefully the next MOT will be a decent pass.

Not quite as good as the last one after it failed on the points below.



Bedtime.

[Grizz1963]

Quick easy job today.

Undersealed the sills, first the inner part and wheel arch.





Then masked off the complete sill.



Body covered.



Result.



Happy so far.

More to come in a bit for the binge watchers.

.

[Grizz1963]

So after doing the sills, I refitted the wheels, got it on the floor, refitted the floor mat and seats

Then washed it as it was a bit grubby.

While cleaning it I found the rear wiper was dead, and needed replacing, so ran into the local village to grab a replacement.



Motor factors is adjacent a fish and chip shop.

That smell is irresistible, especially the smell of vinegar as well.

So I treated myself.



I hate eating in my car and as a rule do not allow it, a lesson learned 30 years ago.

But the smell got me to cheat.

Pensioners portion is a massive pile of chips and a smaller size piece of Cod.

All for £3.50 which to me is still a bargain.



After my fishy dinner, I checked up the car’s ULEZ status.

This is another London Stealth Tax.

If you read what you are paying £14.00 per day to cross a certain road boundary. (I actually drive outside the zone going to one of my hospitals, down the South Circular and technically inside coming back.

Anyway…….

The Micra is Exempt from that coat, so saves an owner £280.00 or more per month.




Crazy Crazy this whole stealth taxation system.


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