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

[65sub]

That will make a cool tool box

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 65sub

That will make a cool tool box

I think so too.


Christmas tomorrow.......

Here's to a day spent with family and friends in the spirit of Christmas. And may 2016 bring us all what we need and some of what we want.

At about 10.00am the doorbell rang, and when I walked up I saw the read reflection from beyond in the street, so no UPS Brown van or DHL van. Just Post Office, probably something off eBay for Nicola. She does buy quite a lot of stuff from eBay and Amazon.

Opening the door, I was met by a friendly smile and a chap in a Hi-Viz jacket.

CHRISTMAAAAAAASSSSSS !!!



It has taken exactly a week to the hour from the time Paul "NevEno" has posted it in Ada, Oklahoma last week.
That's what $100.00 or £70.00 in shipping buys you.

It means that I am technically two weeks ahead of where I thought I would be at this point, had not expected the parcel to be here till the middle of January with all the public holidays and other priority mail going about.

Signed the mans electronic gizmo, made him pose for a pic and took the parcel, wishing him a great Festive season. Came indoors, fought my way into the parcel that Paul had made up.

Weirdly, with imminent redundancy, Insomnia currently controls my nights, so at 04.30 this morning I had made a cuppa tea, and was surfing various forums I go onto when I saw that Paul was active on www.67-72chevytrucks.com so I sent him a PM , he texted back immediately to say he was awake, so I called him in Ada on FaceTime and we chatted for at least half an hour about trucks of course.
One of the things was the Lower Control Arm that was somewhere over the Atlantic.

Once I made it into the parcel, I was greeted by another "Christmas prezzie"

Paul had sandblasted, ground back, tidied up and finally primed the control arm for me.

THAT IS WAAAAAY BEYOND AWESOME !!

Thank you mate.



Finished my coffee and Digestive biccies and went back to the garage where I had been cleaning up the BT toolbox after mowing the lawn earlier.

Matched up the two control arms........

They were the same, unlike my original that was 8mm different to the drivers side replacement.



Painted it later, and will leave it a few days and then rebuild it, followed by refitting to the front cross member.



So that was today, going out tenpin bowling with the kids and my 85 year old father in law tonight, same as last year and it was a hoot.

Be safe out there people.

[Bomp]

Looks like things are moving in the positive.

Merry Christmas

[flashed]

Nice looking part ,Merry Christmas .

[Palf70Step]

Very Nice!. Merry Christmas Rian!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Looks like things are moving in the positive.

Merry Christmas

Originally Posted by flashed

Nice looking part ,Merry Christmas .

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Very Nice!. Merry Christmas Rian!

Thank you all very much guys.

Here's to an even better2016 filled with all we need and a bit of what we want as well.


With the rebuild of the truck, there are some parts that one would be silly not to just replace while in there.

It's things like this that pushes up the price of a rebuild, but if my wife does not know.........

The springs and clips on the drums for my and Martin's trucks are only going to cost us $10.00 per end plus postage so for $20.00 or £13.50 the brakes will have new parts again.

Having a great friend like Don in Arkansas makes these things a lot easier, so Martin and I asked him to arrange the parts for us and I popped some cash over via PayPal (Thank you mate) to pick them up for us and send them through when he gets time away from work and other responsibilities.

Last night he sent these pics......





They do look a lot more impressive than some of the rusty, dodgy bits that came off my truck.

Martin came over today as he needed some steel, we popped over to my favourite yard to look for some steel for his gearbox cross member that he now has to manufacture. He also needed to look at some parts on my truck that he needs to copy.



With Martin's extra hands my cross member is now bolted in, and the drivers side LCA bolted in. The passenger side needs its ball joint to be removed as the LCA is damaged and will be replaced by the one that came from Paul "NevEno" once I push in the ball joint.





And an even more awkward job done as it needed a spare hand to lift the trailing arms in via the jack and getting the bolts through and buttoned up.



Next I need to contact a member on Volkszone who previously sent me a PM to offer his press, should I need it, so that I can push the one out and fit it to my new LCA.

Another small job that to done was cleaning up the little BT toolbox that will be fitted under the bed.

Scraped all the excess paint, then some blasting and flap wheel grinding, next will be rust converter and a couple of coats of Hammerite. All it needs in my book, maybe a coat of underseal too.





That's it for today.

[flashed]

That box is looking great.

[NevEno]

Looking good!!

[Palf70Step]

I can't wait to see the box in place. You look like the weather was a bit blistery there Grizz. I have been sweating in my shop. Whoda think 70's for Christmas holidays.

[clemdaddy]

nice job man, good to see you are getting back to business. also good to see the progress, you were always a detail freak, and thankfully some things never change...

[65sub]

Nice progress on the truck Rian. The frame looks really good. It's always nice to be putting clean, painted parts back together.

[Ta2Don]

Progress!!!

Brake hardware will be in the post today mates...

Cheers!!! and Happy 2016

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

That box is looking great.

Thanks, far from perfect, but under the body, covered in Hammerite and underseal, followed by years of road crud, it will be just fine.

Originally Posted by NevEno

Looking good!!

Thanks Paul.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

I can't wait to see the box in place. You look like the weather was a bit blistery there Grizz. I have been sweating in my shop. Whoda think 70's for Christmas holidays.

Weather is windy, and around 12-14'C in Kent where we live but other parts of the country are terribly flooded and have severe weather warnings out.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

nice job man, good to see you are getting back to business. also good to see the progress, you were always a detail freak, and thankfully some things never change...

Detail freak...? Me...? Naaaahhhh.

Just got to be done right, in case you are looking over my shoulder.

Originally Posted by 65sub

Nice progress on the truck Rian. The frame looks really good. It's always nice to be putting clean, painted parts back together.

That is feeling good, as I know how dirty it was and how many kilos of crap I scraped and washed off the frame and ab so far.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Progress!!!

Brake hardware will be in the post today mates...

Cheers!!! and Happy 2016

Thanks a million Don, you are a good man and friend.

Happy 2016 right back at ya.

[Grizz1963]

I hope this question has not been covered a hundred times before.

I have just started to reassemble my trucks front end.

As part of the rebuild I am replacing the lower bump stop rubbers with new, the uppers will get refitted as they were good.

However, with silicon spray and a certain amount of force, I cannot get them refitted, they seem to have too much material, being rubber they seem to take on the imprint of the slot into which it is supposed to fit, but even after clamping the "arrow" section in the vice to shape and narrow it down, I cannot get it to stay in, it seems one side sort of fits, but neither of the lips actually clip in or slip in under the edges of the slot.

My LCA as it stood before I painted it.

One is now fitted to the cross member, without the bump stop anyone LCA is still on the bench.



The items..... Just out of the packets.



OK...... So this is where I need help please.



How do you guys get them to slip in, fit or stay.

The way I had this one stick is not right, as I am sure the first bit of bumpy road and it would vibrate out and end up in a ditch, leaving the front end with no bump stops.

All advice and mockery appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

[Grizz1963]

PROBLEM SORTED.

60 seconds per side !!

Fairy dishwashing liquid, pot of boiling water to heat up rubber bump stops.

Good lubrication on all surfaces. Broad flat screwdriver to guide and give minimal force to guide one side while keeping downward pressure then slipped other side home as well.

Job Done !!

[Grizz1963]

Tonight I started to assemble the upper control arm.

Biggest problem was getting the cross shaft nuts threaded in again. But after cleaning up and gentle progress, it all came together.

Followed by wrestling the bump stop rubbers on as well.

It feels really good fitting new parts on all the wear and tear areas of the truck. Ball joints as well today.



Before fitting them, I realised the nuts and bolts on the cross member were the wrong way around. So I checked with Martin and Paul NevEno and it turns out t makes no difference, but my truck started out differently to what it was rebuilt like.



Paul's chassis cross member



Brandon's chassis cross member.



My trucks bolts before I tore it apart.



Once I had turned all the bolts around the way I believe they were meant to be, I fitted the upper control arm.



Now, if you can cast back your minds to my drivers side LCA that I removed and replaced a while back........

Look at the amount of shims on the drivers side...... I trust that when it comes to getting the tracking etc set up, some of these will be removed.



Passenger side, a bit better.



So all in, I am happy tonight.

Came in at about 8.30 and Nicola was making one of my favourites....... Chicken Quesadillas.

Old girl Tabitha was helping too, demanding her fair share of the chicken as usual.



Was speaking to Martin and Paul more recently about where to place the filler neck on my relocated fuel tank, outside door or inside the load bed.

Watch this space [ ]

That's all for today.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

How do you guys get them to slip in, fit or stay.

All advice and mockery appreciated.

Rian, I found a really simple solution to the bump stop issue. I cut mine off. I figured that with drop spindles and drop springs (total 4-1/2") I might be riding on the bump stops more than not.

If you're interested, see post #72 of my all but forgotten build thread...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

Nice! I too ran into the bump stop issue and found that some grease, the right angle, and a flat blade screwdriver did the trick. Looks like the build is coming along nicely!

Yup, done.

Originally Posted by NevEno

The hot water trick didn't work for me as it made the rubber too soft.. It was frustrating. Glad you got it whipped!

Thanks Paul.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Glad you sorted that mate… As you know, Brake hardware is in the hands of the postmen now...

Great chatting earlier… Jojo is waiting for another ride into town with Saless and I in a bit… Cheers!!!

Thank you Don, much appreciated as always.

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Nice job!

Thanks Donny. Great coming from you.

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Rian, I found a really simple solution to the bump stop issue. I cut mine off. I figured that with drop spindles and drop springs (total 4-1/2") I might be riding on the bump stops more than not.

If you're interested, see post #72 of my all but forgotten build thread...

Thanks Johnny, job done now.

[siggyfreud]

Nice! I too ran into the bump stop issue and found that some grease, the right angle, and a flat blade screwdriver did the trick. Looks like the build is coming along nicely!

[NevEno]

The hot water trick didn't work for me as it made the rubber too soft.. It was frustrating. Glad you got it whipped!

[Ta2Don]

Glad you sorted that mate… As you know, Brake hardware is in the hands of the postmen now...

Great chatting earlier… Jojo is waiting for another ride into town with Saless and I in a bit… Cheers!!!

[dwcardfan]

Nice job!

[Ta2Don]

I agree with Ian and Clem...

Keep after it mate, you'll kick it in the backside...

[Grizz1963]

Right, a few random photos I took, just random stuff, so as not to give away the build itself........ You can read this all on here.
I know many of you like to see impressive builds, fabricating skills and lateral thinking.

I spent about 4 hours with JohnnyBravo at his workshop where he works on various automotive projects and jobs, including military armour restoration. He has such a wealth of knowledge, experience and problem solving, it just made me shake my head repeatedly. If you read his build thread below, YOU WILL BE AMAZED.

THREAD CLICK LINK: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...rm-infestation



First one was this milled piece out of a lump of steel, probably just to try out the set up.



Next up, a piece Johnny made for a customer.

He had only a photograph to go on, and drew up a sketch, took 600 lines to just do the face.

Then this was the set up piece to see what the CNC mill made of his programme. Once fine tuned it went off perfectly, happy customer.



Another simple test piece, just done on a bit of plywood, but made me look repeatedly.....



Lastly when he showed me the car (well, what is left of it) in its little garage, filled with treasures and panels etc, the labelling on his hand made bead roller caught my eye, it kinda sums it all up for me..... I will go back to my Fisher-Price toys now.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

In my (limited) experience of assembling control arms with screw in bushes the bushes stop tightening when they bottom out.

Attachment 1483397

This is usually when they reach the control arm. If they have bottomed out before that then they have bottomed out on the shaft, meaning your shafts are too long (and the suspension will bind as the bushes are in contact with the shafts).

If you remove the shaft, run the bushes all the way onto the shaft and then measure the distance between the bushes this should be less than the width of the control arm (meaning the bushes will tighten until the hit the control arm), if it's greater the shafts are too long.

They do take quite a bit of tightening, the torque settings are over 100 ft/lbs, so they might just need a little more "grunt"

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

agree, sometimes it takes an extension or a breaker bar.

really cool tool box, looking forward to its finish… and don't deny it, you're a detail freak alright. we've been looking over your shoulder enough to prove that.

keep after it buddy, one quest after another.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

I agree with Ian and Clem...

Keep after it mate, you'll kick it in the backside...

Thanks guys, seems your advice was correct Clem.


Lower Control Arm Crisis seems to at last have been sorted out.

Mate Martin came around today to pick up some bits and also to help me go through what I had done assembling this bloody thing.

Seems everything was right, except as Clem Johnson of www.tubatrucks.com said, I may have needed to put a bit more muscle I to it. So when Martin was here, we checked all sorts including how deep the nuts had gone in etc.

So more tightening and suddenly things were all good.