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

[Grizz1963]

Sometimes life just keeps giving.

Mate Fil “Sparkplug” came to visit last night on his way home from a few days working at his company offices in Deal to go back to Cambridge.

Ostensibly to to pick up 12 inches/300mm of railway line that I managed to get for him and @craigrk via good friend Woodside.

We also ended up going to the garage and looking over a few Grizzmakes projects and he got to see and hear the Rezin Rockit for the first time since fetching it for me in Scotland.

Some of the happenings are being kept on ice as part of the YouTube channel development, but to say that we were laughing like kids is an understatement.

Fil had brought me some gifts as well.

Perfectly pitched at the man who “needs” nothing.

Cutting discs (to go with Sally’s grinder) and some license plates for my collection, both of them unusual and exactly the ones I would have selected for myself.



Friday.

Busy day for work, but it is the weekend.

Plan is to see if I can get the Rezin Rockit dash completed with switches fitted and mounted to the car tomorrow.

Maybe also take it for a few runs up to the farm and back now their service road is resurfaced.

Roll on weekend.

[Grizz1963]

Woken up at Stupid - 0 - Clock

Joined by George who wanted breakfast.



Got going with the dash.

Switches fitted.





Not perfect, but good enough.





While I was busy, @nickwheeler crept up on me……

Bringing me a brilliant surprise, well, two really.

A GoPro equivalent camera, and a good tripod for it.

That probably means I will have to learn to edit on my laptop for the YouTube channel as I have done everything on the phone up to now.

Lots to learn I guess.



So we finished the dash and I managed to grow that proverbial third hand.

Happy with it.

Next step will be a few test runs up on the farm, and then book an MOT for the Rezin Rockit and keep fingers crossed.

Closed shop early and went to Sallys for dinner and relaxation.

I seem to have sprung an unpleasant chest infection this week.

[Grizz1963]

So 16 months ago, this is what was delivered onto my driveway in week 2 of September 2021

Time has flown I guess.

So late afternoon yesterday after getting back from shops and various jobs, Sally and I were able to start on looking at, and cleaning the Piggy.

She continues to surprise me, this girl, getting straight in and on with the job of cleaning up. Sally that is.

By the time I came out the house after doing some work stuff that needed to be dealt with, this is what I found.

Sally had unpacked everything of value.

Dubious as it may be, some parts were still useable, even if just as templates.



And the back of it looking like this



Good help is really hard to find.

So my helper hates a photo, no matter why.

Still, I fooled her.



The plywood dash and its vinyl, along with the once expensive instruments were well beyond salvageable.

Previously identified as Cortina Crusader.



So things were removed, fibreglass trimmed back to a point where I could restart and add the MX5 parts, but also reduce the amount of useless clutter.

Much cleaning and clearing later, it looked like this. The bits left in place were to act as cutting templates later.





Yesterday I managed to almost go full circle.

Creating this look……..

https://youtu.be/pqMyHr8tdl0


And ending up here.



So…..

Today….. I am doing nothing, this chest infection is making me feel a bit rubbish.

YouTube and Netflix it is then.

[Grizz1963]

And there you go.

No wonder I feel like crap.

Positive test for Covid, Sally tested me because she wanted me to stop complaining about feeling rubbish.



This does not suit me.

[Grizz1963]

Covid does weird stuff to our bodies and minds.

The last three days I have struggled to read intermittently and not watched any TV or YouTube

However……

The impending attempt at an MOT with the Rezin Rockit has my crazy hat firmly back in place on my head.

Now we know, 99% of what we dream is just that.

Dreams.

But what about the 1% ?

Could it be made real?

Rezin Rockit being a case in point.

So would it be that crazy to wonder about marrying a Frog with Sushi ?


And please, do stay with me, even if just till you looked at the pics and laughed.


So: Measurements.






Remember the donor for the Rezin Rockit?


Helped keep me busy for a while before becoming an overpriced Smeg appliance.







Then chop away all the excess, obviously in a sensible way, removing, reducing things like the wiring loom.

A fair amount of thinking to be done.

And skin that little frog, add some wasabi paste and soy sauce…….

Serve up.








Now before you call the cops, mental health services and the Environmental agency, give it a think.

Many ratrods out there run random mixes of parts etc.

Could this be made to work, SAFELY?

Go on, knock yerself out.

[Grizz1963]

Just posted a regurgitated version on the Blog of the BBQ that I built 10 plus years ago.

Covid is not allowing me to do anything physical right now, so a revisit to an old build may work for some of us.

https://www.grizzmakes.com/2023/02/b...bq-if-you.html

Enjoy, regardless.

The revisit made me smile, and realise how old and chubby I have become.

Later, coffee time I guess, and ginger nuts.

[Grizz1963]

Rezin Rockit is being a dick right now…. Had it up to the farm yesterday testing for MOT, and it was spluttering and farting, dying etc. covid means I just brought it home and parked it after adding 20 litres of fresh fuel.

https://youtu.be/eMWr4mk9yLU


Not sure what, could be a plug, blocked injector, anything really.

Will maybe look later as I still feel a bit rough.

Burger !!

[Grizz1963]

So this afternoon @nickwheeler popped in for a few hours to chat and drop off the RivNut tool so that I can refit the passenger screen wiper.

We chatted about a load of stuff, including the permutations of building “Le Lunatic”

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...v-meet-lunatic

Back to the Rezin Rockit running like poo, it was due a service at some point before or after MOT.

Maybe all the turning it on and off, not running for 4 years at least and stale fuel all came together to create this little mess…….
.

https://youtu.be/Qta7tc2krjA


So I went down to Euro Carparts to fetch a few basic bits after inspecting the airfilter and trying to find just where the oil filter lives.

Did you think it was easy ?

Nope, but YouTube university showed me,,small, black, hidden in the most awkward space.

Found it.



Needs a special tool, on an extension it seems to get it unstuck.

Would be interesting to know when last, if ever this was changed.



Air filter has certainly seen better day as well.

Camera does not quite capture just how grubby and filled with muck it is.





So,£63.00 later.

Oil, filters, spark plugs and an oil drain plug

And as advised by @Kevins and @mk2cossie suggested, sparkplug leads could be degenerated and part of the problem.



Here’s to hoping that it works out on the new parts.

Fingers crossed.

[Grizz1963]

So a quick photo report of today.

I was not planning on going out as it was damp, 8’C and intermittent drizzle rain.

Covid can be quite unforgiving, but stuck indoors pretty much for 8 days was getting to me.

So I went down, spares in hand.

Got the car up in the air.



Changed some parts around.

Air filter.



Oil, oil filter changed.

Filter put up a bit of a fight, but not as bad as one years ago that ended up skewered with a screwdriver.

Oil was terrible and thick.







Plugs changed, old ones seemed decent to be honest.

But what do I know.



Old vs new.



Made a video of the proceedings, including the engine running afterwards.

VIDEO.

https://youtu.be/Ofbc92AfoDg

After closing shop, showering and chatting with Anthony the lodger for a bit, I fed George and came over to Sally’s

She offered to make us dinner, I declined, insisting on a kebab and chips with chilli sauce and garlic sauce.

The Turkish guys who run the shop always are so nice.

These were ordered as “Small” not sure what a large would look like.





Back home, there were more chips, and I had ordered a single small portion.



Dinner was good, and I have enough left for tomorrow night.

Still need more investigating to get this all right, and the clutch is not engaging well, so may need some modification or further adjustment.

Very lazy weekend with Covid slowing me right down, but a few small jobs done.

Weekend over, just like that.

[Grizz1963]

2 Random short blog posts coming up for the non-forum types.

Rezin Rockit woes summarised.

First entry's here

No2 to come

https://www.grizzmakes.com/2023/02/r...o-what-to.html

Alternately, just keep reading here.


.

[Grizz1963]

Rezin Rockit passing it’s MOT successfully was the trigger point for launching and exposing the new MEGA BUILD on here.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...in-rockit-pass



I am a bit busy today, but suffice it to say that the new project has been acquired.

It will be a bit of a slow burn this as I have a real life to deal with outside of YouTube, Blogs and forums.

Today being a case in point, 4’C out there but a few small tweaks need doing on the Rezin Rockit including wiring, which has never been my strong suit.

But having mate Craig down from Shropshire, it is a good time to get it done.



So here goes: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1……..

How to screw up your life in 26 miles…..

Do not drink and drive, do not drink and Ebay , do not drink and surf Gumtree or Marketplace. Do not do drugs kids.

Or else.

26 miles……..




5 Star entertainment

4 Wheels

3 Doors

2 Seats

1 ….???




I will get back to this thread update later.

Got stuff to do.

Later.




.

[Grizz1963]

Sitting on a Saturday night at Sally’s place, surfing the web, while she cooks……

Looking for the next crazy build, I saw something silly.

A 2001 European import.

So I messaged the seller, after seeing that he had other stuff for sale, mostly automotive parts etc.

No reply.

Sunday morning Sally made us bacon and fried egg sandwiches for breakfast.

No reply.

And clicking into the Marketplace ad, I saw the message below and that the seller had not seen my message.

GUTTED.

ABSOLUTELY GUTTED…….

So I sent another message, but as an offer, because I am like that, I will always try again and again, just in case I do get a second shot.

So I said to the seller that if his buyer pulled out for some reason, to let me know.



Around 10.30 a message pinged in.

Yes, the car was still for sale…. He did not understand why it had listed itself as unavailable.

Who knows.

So I agreed to go racing over there to look, and got a postcode and address.

Off I went.



Video made as well.

Of course.

[Grizz1963]

So when I got to the

So when I got to the sellers place, there were three of these outside……

I do not know the classes in banger racing, seems this is a non contact type with an emphasis on winning and finishing, not destroying cars.



The seller and a friend came out and greeted me, while I was a bit taken with the sheer size 0f the car I had come to look at.

While chatting, it became apparent that I had landed in petrol head paradise.

I knew his fathers car……..

I had looked at it and drooled before.

@forddan68 had previously valeted these cars……. So though not directly connected, these were known people.

The dads Lexus powered Ford……

https://youtu.be/OMymMUciaac

And then getting to know more, the sellers weekend toy, hand built from an imported, left hand drive shell blew my mind.

https://youtu.be/LYEfc1vsfTA

After an hour or more chatting, a price was agreed.

Including delivery 26 miles away.

I left them and drove home.

I had Not yet told Sally.

Excited for sure.

No idea why.

5,

4,

3,

2,

1…….?

[Grizz1963]

Headed out, late in the day, to open up and see what the throttle body and air system looks like.

Suggestions have been that it may need a clean up.


Lets see what today brings.


School of YouTube showed me some stuff.

.

[Grizz1963]

Greetings from Siberia, buddy Stas sent a pic of himself wearing a T-shirt I sent him.

The world really is a great small place.



So today was a slow day, lazy, other stuff to do, weather, you know…… excuses. Lots of them.

So I opened the air feed to the throttle body and cleaned it out in position.

A lot more came out on the micro fibre cloth with carb cleaner.



Resulting in a bit cleaner airways after cleaning this mess, both sides of the butterfly.

Needs more doing to it.



After starting it up, it was hunting for a while.

Then warmed up and settled mostly at 900 rpm.

Video below shows a bit more.



VIDEO:

https://youtu.be/ZETKPq4u0VU


While the motor was doing its own little thing, I checked the lights one more time.

Including the rear foglight.






Once the rain became unpleasant, I headed indoors and sat watching some YouTube videos supported by the second best thing after a good rum with friends…..

Coffee.



So, weather permitting, tomorrow I will revisit this thing and also investigate the air supply or lack of it.

Dinner was good, sweet n sour pork with spring rolls.

Boooom !

[Grizz1963]

Sunday was a slow day, a few small jobs on this build and some other stuff that needed dealing with and filming for the YouTube Channel.

First job was to replace the one Riv-Nut in the screen holding the wiper motor in place, and then setting the sweep so both are symmetrical in their action.

Few minutes to undo and remove, and refit a fresh one.



Need to look carefully on the screen for the final setting…….



Next up was the engine, and to be honest……

After starting it up, it died twice before settling into an even idle at 900rpm

I will call that good for now.

So I drove up and down to the farm a few times, including taking Mickey for a ride. He is like a dog, loves to be part of everything and does like a car.

He gave it the stamp of approval and told me not to go onto the main public road till the car is fully insured (wise words from a drink-driver). I soooo wanted to do a few miles, but the short 1km farm road will have to do as a test for now.

Pleased with the engine settling down I thought it was a good time to wash the car, clean the dusty engine bay and interior.

Does look so much better all cleaned up.





Interior…….

I think it looks good enough for what it is.





Engine bay and engine wiped down a bit as well.



I have a busy work week ahead, but will try find some time to see if I can get a one day insurance policy, like I did with the Scruffy Micra.

Once insurance is sorted, book an MOT for hopefully next Saturday afternoon, and weather permitting (some snow is forecast) we can try get it through an MOT test.

My fingers will be crossed, but really, everything seems to be working now.

Thanks for checking in as always.

[Grizz1963]

[quote author="@kevins" source="/post/2771336/thread" timestamp="1676887338"]Before you take out a days insurance have a ring around a few of the specialists, for us mature types it can be ridiculously cheap to insure some 0f these things (I pay less than £100 for my elan).[/quote]

That was a good and shrewd comment.

It was possibly dancing around in the back of my head, as daily/hourly insurance can be convenient, but extremely expensive.

[quote author="@joem83" source="/post/2771370/thread" timestamp="1676902535"][quote source="/post/2771336/thread" timestamp="1676887338" author="@kevins"]Before you take out a days insurance have a ring around a few of the specialists, for us mature types it can be ridiculously cheap to insure some 0f these things (I pay less than £100 for my elan).[/quote]Agreed, give Brentacre a try. My mk2 is £160 p/y fully comp with all mods declared (only thing standard is the shell), also agreed value & salvage retention rights.[/quote]

I went to my usual first stop, AIB, after “Veygo” by Admiral insurance who did the Micra previously referred me to a hyperlinked email service, which sent three responses, including a human, asking for more information than make, model, registration.

Firstly, Veygo tried via their suppliers, and then responded later in the day to say they could not quote, but did I want to insure anything else with them……. Errrmmm… No.

More on AIB in a bit.

[quote author="@jamesd1972" source="/post/2771374/thread" timestamp="1676903212"]Just as another thought- even if not planning to use it for a bit once insured it’s covered for loss anyway- worth thinking about if anything happened when parked up.
Nice to hear it’s up and running.
James
[/quote]

Really good and valid considerationJames, and thank you.


So……

I called AIB and the agent who took my call has spoken to me before.

He is spectacularly “by the book” in his information gathering.

A longwinded (but thorough) interview and then questions like what excess I expected to pay, what would I think is a good premium etc had me somewhat amused and irritated in equal measure as I was now parked up on a garage forecourt, wanting to fill up the company car at 11.00.

Long story short .

Car valued at £3500.00 (yes it cost a bit more than that in labour and parts to build) excess at £150.00 and limited to 1000 miles per year, or 1600km per year which sounds like very little, but keeping in mind it is a No 3 car behind the company car and Chevy S10 and if I wanted more miles I can call and alter the policy.

So the policy offer with Marker Study insurers was £175.00 per year.

To which my response was a bit rude and abrupt, possibly shocking the agent.

I had mentioned that I had also approached two other insurers and was waiting to hear back from them, but that his quote was way more than the £90.00 to £120.00 people on the forums I frequent were paying. He asked for a moment while he sharpened his pencil, which I agreed to. And ten minutes later the offer was £132.00 per year for the same cover.

This sounded much more in the ball park and I asked him to send details so that I could compare to the offerings from the other companies.

I went to work and felt better about the price.

At around 12.45 while on a meeting with a colleague to try sort out my suicidal work iPad a call came through…… the eager agent again, I answered the call and said I would call him back later.

When I left Woolwich I called him back, but unable to speak with him, I spoke to a colleague who went into the file and told me the young gun had continued to dig around after our first two conversations and managed to somehow get the price reduced to £110.00 per year for the same cover.

I think the fact that this is a summertime , good weather only car, reduces the time on the road and and thus the risk to the insurer.

Lesson for today then…… Sometimes it makes sense to challenge and also be nice in equal measure.

I have booked the MOT test for Saturday afternoon so fingers will be crossed that I/we @nickwheeler had a huge hand in this build have managed to get it all together the way it will make it a fully legal and safe vehicle.

I spoke to the guy at the scrap/steel recyclers and he will charge me £5.00 for a weigh bridge ticket to weigh the car, something I am absolutely fascinated with.

Full tank weight…… I have tried to guess, but really have no clue, but if it comes in at 800kg wet weight, I will be pleased.

I need to call Green Flag who are the recovery agents for the S10 ever since I went to @frankenhealey to collect the lawn tractor and see if they will add the Rezin Rockit for recovery to the policy.


That is probably it for now, unless we have storms and snow on Saturday, in which case…… no game.

[Grizz1963]

Dennis sent a pic of the GMC he was not going to do anything to, just drive it.

Now with completely new paint, it is also getting a new exhaust system.

Looking forward to seeing it if I do go on a USA road trip this year.




.

[Grizz1963]

.

NEW BLOG ENTRY FOR TODAY.

Date will look wonky as it shows 11th but here you go.

Biltong, making your own. (Like Beef Jerky, but not.)

https://www.grizzmakes.com/2023/02/b...ngdom-yes.html

These are dying arts in some communities, so a share and a link to a UK home industry maker included.

He will sell and mail out to you at cost. Follow the link at the end.


.

[Grizz1963]

Did a few small final jobs tonight after work.

Glued panels in place, including the surround on the instrument cluster..

Plus I made a masking tape sign for the fog light switch.

And finally a small, overdue job…. Got the wiring loom in the cab wrapped and tucked away.



So tomorrow morning I will test lights etc all one more time, you know how stuff stops working to or from the test station.

As mentioned before, fingers crossed that I have managed to check all the checks.


.

[Grizz1963]

28 August 2020 is when I started this thread.

Nearly 580k views just on Retro Rides, and at one point it was over 1000 views per day.

I am not sure many threads get that sort of viewership or interest. There are a bunch of other forums I contribute to and they all had high viewerships and interest

I would guess the global views are well beyond 800k over 2 years.

This build was a very singleminded vision of something I had wanted to do for a long time……… BUT, so many people from Siberia to Southampton and Auckland to Arkansas Cape Town to Cairo contributed in so many ways.

Materially with parts, specialised tools (just think Void Bush Tool), machining and fabrication, thanks @nickwheeler and a bunch of others.

Anyone who feels forgotten or missed out, here is your thank you.





So today I actually drove the car for the first time, going beyond 3rd gear, which was as much as I dared do out on the farm road.

I drove to the scrapyard where so many bits of steel and scrap has come from over the years for various projects.

Onto the Weigh Bridge.

Me inside (120kg) and about 35-40 litres of petrol.

Result, you do the maths.



900kg minus me, gives a decent light weight.



From there it was over to the test station, a bit early, but rather that than late.



And onto the ramp.

They have a lowered ramp to get abnormally low stuff onto for testing.





And up they went.





All four the testers in the centre came to take a look, pointing a few things they liked, out.

One thing that became apparent once the front crossmember was in the air and the wheels and bearing were being inspected was that though within tolerance, the passenger side wheel bearing needed to be tightened or replaced.

Other than that, the comments ranged from awesome, cool build and tidy installation to I wish I could drive this on a track.

High praise indeed.

I will take out road tax next month from the 1st of March as paying a months tax for one days use makes no sense.

I will check out and probably replace the front wheel bearings on both sides.

Also take it for full alignment on a digital machine.

Tonight I am really pleased, thankful and happy for all this community and helpers have helped me,create and achieve.

Thanks again.


.

[Grizz1963]

Checked out the tax online for the car. £295……. That’s a lot of money. If you add £110.00 insurance, £202.00 recovery service and £50.00 MOT test, getting on the road is not cheap.

Still, the more you drive, the cheaper it gets.

[Grizz1963]

Got home early today.

Off work after all….. Taken the next 4 Fridays off, as we lose our vacation if we don’t use it by end March.

Chilly,5’C with a brisk breeze.

Went and checked what was thought to be the wheel bearing.

Turns out that with all the fitting, and removing of the 4x108 to 4x100 adapters, I must have omitted to lock it down the last time I reassembled the front end.

Will take a drive tomorrow to go have the alignment done and feel of the vibration has ceased.



And George who has become a garage cat/follower down to the garage, also insists on watching and waiting for you to get showered.



I checked the rear brake light, bulb filament was intact, and I could not see if it worked when I hit the brake pedal.

So will try later in the dark.

Been thinking, considering this is very much a summer car, I think insuring by direct debit on a monthly basis, despite it being more costly on a year on year basis, not paying for 6 months when the weather drives us indoors, may just be a sensible move.

Opinions?

[Grizz1963]

Saw this great rebody…..

Must be an amazing engineer, or a policeless state or something like that.

Over here…. Not sure it would make it off the driveway








I am still gutted the 2CV van seller never came back to me, or read my messages.

He is a FB non-entity it seems.

With some effort, this could have been a cool, silly build.

Day off today, so headed out to have a few things professionally done.

[Grizz1963]

Ultimately an uneventful day.

Alignment guys could not help, booked in for next Friday.

Fronts balanced. Rears are getting some wider 215/65-15’s I am buying from @pauly to replace the 195/60’s fitted on these 8J rims.











Today @craigrk is coming down via Pauls place to play and see the new for 2023 build.

Chilly outside though.