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

[flashed]

How do I find Herb's thread .

[clemdaddy]

Originally Posted by NevEno

I wonder what that means? Lol!! Clem's for round 2?

sounds like a plan is starting to form.

on the cross brace question. as long as you have the rear brace thats attached to the bedsides, you should be able to make the rest out of channel.

you being such a big time crafty wood guy… can't wait to see what you do for a bed.

[Bomp]

Sure nice seeing the progress on the truck and getting to chat with ya this morning.
Going to try my hardest to get to go to Clems again but things currently the way they are I think Im outta luck.
Don't count me out. My life flies by the seat of my pants.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by NevEno

I wonder what that means? Lol!! Clem's for round 2?

That sounds like a brilliant idea.

The hospitality, friendship, acceptance I experienced last year could only be matched by that which I would offer at my own home.
So who knows.....?

Originally Posted by flashed

How do I find Herb's thread .

I sent you a link by PM John, happy reading.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

sounds like a plan is starting to form.

on the cross brace question. as long as you have the rear brace thats attached to the bedsides, you should be able to make the rest out of channel.

you being such a big time crafty wood guy… can't wait to see what you do for a bed.

I have a plan and I have the front and rear braces Clem.

Plan is already formulating.....

The bed wood will be another one of those made from scrap items.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Sure nice seeing the progress on the truck and getting to chat with ya this morning.
Going to try my hardest to get to go to Clems again but things currently the way they are I think Im outta luck.
Don't count me out. My life flies by the seat of my pants.

Great to speak to you as well Greg.

Good luck on the work front, and hope you get the phone call you want.

Clems is such an amazing event, I do hope you make it.

[Grizz1963]

Went down to the scrappy today to look for some steel for Martin to modify his gearbox mount. Nada, zilch.

Also looked for some steel to make up the thinner load bed brace to go with the one I got from Martin.

So a bit of welding should see me with the brace I need.



Then home to unload and pack a ton of chopped Oak logs for the fireplace.

Back down to the garage to get the rear back together.



Inbetween, the whole day was filled with Whatsapp, texts,and Messenger as well as FaceTime chats with mates around the world.

Eventually got it all together.



Roll around wheels painted red yesterday made me grin too.



Spoke to Greg "Bomp" in Kaiser, Oregon again tonight and been chatting with Paul "NevEno" in Oklahoma.

Told them I am really happy with the way things are starting to get together now.

Once I had marked out the brake lines, I looked over the work I had done so far smugly........

Until I saw this lot.



Then realised there was still a long way to go.

Yup, it will be interesting.

[NevEno]

Looks good Rian, I like the new wheels!! See you at Clem's! ... If my truck is done..

[flashed]

Looks great ,starting to look like a cool truck again.

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Once I had marked out the brake lines, I looked over the work I had done so far smugly........

Until I saw this lot.

Then realised there was still a long way to go.

Yup, it will be interesting.

That made me smile, I know exactly what you mean, evey time I finish one bit and feel a little smug, I look at the next job and realise there's still load to do, but as my mum often says "even the longest journeys are completed one step at a time"

It's looking great, keep at it

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by NevEno

Looks good Rian, I like the new wheels!! See you at Clem's! ... If my truck is done..

Sounds like a good idea Paul.

Wheels are only rollers, on loan from a friend who does not have space for them.

Originally Posted by flashed

Looks great ,starting to look like a cool truck again.

Long way to go mate, but feels better.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

That made me smile, I know exactly what you mean, evey time I finish one bit and feel a little smug, I look at the next job and realise there's still load to do, but as my mum often says "even the longest journeys are completed one step at a time"

It's looking great, keep at it

Thank you Ian.

I think your mum is a wise woman.

[Grizz1963]

Had Martin over for a bit this morning.

We had planned on doing some work on his gearbox cross member, but that did not happen.

NOW FOR QUESTION TIME.

I want to replace all my brake lines while the truck is in bits.

It has the super sized master cylinder up front, with two lines fitted, one for the front brakes and one for the rear.

In the case of my truck there are joiners with bolts screwed into two at least, the lines are untidy, bent and obviously just thrown together despite always working perfectly before I blew the truck apart. But they are a mess.

I can get the brake lines remade by someone, as long as I take samples and templates OR I can make them up myself.

What does the collective say.

Is this a job that I, as a rank amateur can take on myself?

Who has done it before?

What to look out for.

I want some sexy spirals in the lines too above the engine.

You can see the straight brake lines that were fitted.







While here, Martin also had to collect the Christmas prezzies we had been sent by Bret in Texas, which had been delivered on Saturday.

Perfectly timed, a beany hat for the garage that is rather chilly now, and a key ring for the truck.
When I saw these advertised previously, I loved them, but could not justify buying one...... Thank you Bret.



Once Martin went off, I had a choice of shopping with Nicola or going to see JohnnyBravo.

Easy.

So off I traipsed to Johhny's shop, packet of biscuits on the seat next to me. Coffee, biccies and much discussion to come.

As some of you know, Johnny is restoring a 1972 Mada RX2

His build thread here: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...rm-infestation

Not content with the usual weld, grind, patch n cut type of restoration for this build, Johnny of course has made all the tooling to press his own panels, so I got to see panels V1.0 in the skip bin.

Part of his home made tooling and press.



Impressive in my book, and inspirational.



Later, after the second round of coffees we went around to the skips. Treasures aplenty.



I pulled a load of steel plate offcuts ranging from 1-10mm for myself and mate Martin.

My favourite find was a load of nuts, bolts n washers. So I collected what I could and brought them home to clean up and add to my stash in the garage.



To me this is all "Free Money"

Washed and cleaned, I threw them all out onto an old bedsheets and used a hot air gun to dry them all.

So thanks again to John, great day spent with you and your machines.



Tomorrow I will finish off the marking of the brake lines and remove them all, ready for reproduction.

[dwcardfan]

Nice score!

[flashed]

You just cant beat free nuts,bolts and washers .

[Palf70Step]

Rian, you can bend the brake lines yourself. With what you and Martin do there it shouldn't be any issue if either of you have the flaring and bending tool. Only thing I can't see in your picture is the distribution block off the master (on disk brakes they call it the proportioning valve). I've never run a drum brake vehicle with a dual master cylinder that didn't have one. I imagine you can, but supposedly it allows both brakes to work right if one cylinder is low in the master. Maybe the picture will make more sense.

[65sub]

Truck is Looking good Rian. Bending the brake lines is a job that you can easily do yourself. Practice with the flaring tool and bender before you start. Then just measure carefully and make sure you bend in the right direction.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Nice score!

Thank you Donny, I always see it as a way of keeping money in my pocket.

Originally Posted by flashed

You just cant beat free nuts,bolts and washers .

There is a load of free cash out there John, you just need to keep your eyes open and pick it up when it is in front of you.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Rian, you can bend the brake lines yourself. With what you and Martin do there it shouldn't be any issue if either of you have the flaring and bending tool. Only thing I can't see in your picture is the distribution block off the master (on disk brakes they call it the proportioning valve). I've never run a drum brake vehicle with a dual master cylinder that didn't have one. I imagine you can, but supposedly it allows both brakes to work right if one cylinder is low in the master. Maybe the picture will make more sense.

Thanks for the reply Bill.

That pic is helpful too.

Originally Posted by 65sub

Truck is Looking good Rian. Bending the brake lines is a job that you can easily do yourself. Practice with the flaring tool and bender before you start. Then just measure carefully and make sure you bend in the right direction.

Dale, that's a great compliment from the likes of you, building your crazy creation. Thank you.

I will certainly practice before I make the pieces.

The cost of a few extra feet of pipe is cheap in comparison.

[Grizz1963]

So this morning I sorted out and matched the pile of nuts n bolts I picked up yesterday at JohnnyBravo's place after washing them and drying them overnight.

Happy with my pile of free fasteners now all bottled up in the garage.



Then I made up a couple of parcels to send off to the USA and went to post them out.

On the way back home I passed the local Gulf fuel station and saw this Subaru Brat/Brumby/284/MV/Shifter in various markets.

I have always has a hard spot for them, despite the fact many just disintegrated over time.

Swung around to go look.

As I got put my car, before even walking around to look at it, the driver who had just filled up, greeted me with a "Hallo Grizz !!"

Huhhhhh....?

I did not recognise him, but he knew who I am, anyway, turns out he is Mark, a regular on Auto****e car forum.

So this is his pride and joy.

We spoke for at least half and hour, and I was in and out and all over his truck. We even agreed that maybe we will investigate importing a pair of them from Australia at some point when it suits us both. Small world.



Original Four cylinder Boxer engine, high and low range gearbox, 4x4



Then off home again.

Had lunch, and was just headed out to the garage at about 3pm when an email landed....... Security and background checks to be done, so I had to sit down and deal with all of that.

Then down to the garage after 4pm.

Finished marking up the brake lines, then started to undo them from the rear.......

This dribbled out the front of the brake line when I released the rear end.




So, at last...... Never ever thought my truck would end up looking this sad. Brake lines all removed. Why ??

Measure up the pipes and they seem to total up at around 30 foot or 10 meters.



Remember Paul who helped me remove the lower ball joint from the burgered LCA? Well, he replied on Garage Journal that he had a full set of tools that I could use. So tomorrow evening he will be around to check out my hoarding space and hopefully have a coffee/tea and a chat.

Will go look for a roll of brake pipe tomorrow as well as the fittings and some P clips and some B clips as the fuel line runs along the same route from the rear to the engine bay.

Then we are in business.

[flashed]

Rian,I always loved those Brats ,dont see them here at all anymore .Any Suburu around here is hard to buy unless it's got way too many miles on it .Im waiting on a friend of mine to get ready to sell a 4 door coupe thats allwheel drive ,I get first shot at it.

[Grizz1963]

Flashed, I have no idea why I like them, but I do.


This is a weird time for me..... Being made redundant, finding a new job quickly, being on gardening leave but being asked to carry on servicing the company that made us redundant.....

So today there was a bit of admin, I ordered a new car to replace the existing one that is at the end of its corporate life as I am staying with the same agency. I opted to not order a C220 but instead after being given permission to go to a lower level, placed an order for a Focus 1.5 Zetec. Perfect Womble Wagon as the seats go down and it saves me over £900/year in tax. Once all the other admin stuff was sorted, I cleaned the house (trust me, it scores me great brownie points with Nicola) then out to get the brake lines and couplings.

I feel the need here to give a public acknowledgement of these guys.

They are local to me at 5 miles and I have used them a few times before.

Always ready to help, advise and will even tell you where to save money. My friend Paul_F also used them before and only had good stuff to say.



So I fitted all the brake lines into my car and took them down there. Being told to ask for Gaz, I did so and he turned out to be the same guy who helped me with all the fittings to adapt my old compressor to new style fittings and make up cross over connectors.

He grabbed them all and disappeared upstairs for about 15 minutes and came down with a hand full of couplers and a puzzled look on his face.

The one fitting that serves the rear brake line off my supersized Master Cylinder has a different fitting, ultimately they could not supply it, so I will reuse it.

So here it is.... The one to the right serves the rear circuit and has the odd sized fitment. The one to the left has an adapter and is normal 1/4"



He also had some 3/16" pipe fittings drilled out for 1/4" pipe as my trucks front brake lines and the line feeding the rear up to the point where it switches to a flexi hose coming out the chassis to cross the rear axle and then those rear drum feed pipes are 3/16"
This means I have two sizes of fittings to replace like with like.

But, these different size brake lines do make me wonder about what was done before.

Service with a smile all the way from Gaz.



So came home with a roll of 25' of Kunifer / Cupro-Nickel pipe at 1/4" and another 2 meters of 3/16 of the same to replace the rear pipes.
Also a hand full of fittings, the T-Joiner that splits the front brake lines was £14.60 on its own.

The whole lot was £80.00 and I am sure could be had for less than that off EBay and elsewhere if you know what you are doing, but for me, the service and help I got was worth the price over and over.

My little pile of joy back home.



Paul came around night, along with his full flaring, cutting, bending kit.

We spent some time chatting and looking at all my "stuff" enforce we got on and looked at the kit.



Also showed me how to assemble the kit and then made a test flare. Looking good to me.



On to another question.

I will be wiring up my Custom reversing lights as indicators with amber light bulbs when the time comes.
So have been looking for options on reversing lights. As I reverse down the drive with the truck and having decent light is a good thing of course.

What experience does the collective have of modern LED lights?

It will be fitted under the bumper, off the chassis or tow bar, so needs to be weather and water proof.

Opinions and advice please.

[Palf70Step]

Nice looking stuff Rian. I am still looking at what I want to do for actual reverse lamps (other than stock) I thought about one of the long LED light bars, but I think it will be too out of place on the 64. Curious to what you find.

[Bomp]

Looks like you've been flaring brake lines for years.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Looks like you've been flaring brake lines for years.

Bomp, that was one he made to show me.

I will be going down later today to look at the tools, cut a bit and just practice practice practice.

Of course also straighten out the spiral and cut to length.

Then start with the longest one.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice looking stuff Rian. I am still looking at what I want to do for actual reverse lamps (other than stock) I thought about one of the long LED light bars, but I think it will be too out of place on the 64. Curious to what you find.

Agreed Bill.

I am hoping that hiding it behind and under the bumper will be sufficient to Cammo its modernity.

However another idea is to mount it on the cab like a hi level brake light. Again, got to figure a way to Cammo it. Probably will not happen that way though.

[clemdaddy]

the way i do the backup light is to use a tractor headlight and mount it on a rear crossmember. i then wire it to a single pole light switch that is mounted in the choke hole of the dash. if you have an electric choke on your engine then you have the empty hole in the dash to fill anyway.

this makes the backup light operate manually which can serve as a work light behind the truck and gives plenty of light for backing up.

tractor headlights are available from most parts stores and still look period correct for our trucks. black metal case with 4 or 5 inch round seal beam lamp.

just a thought… but it is kind of a hillbilly solution.

[DakotaKid]

i used that Cunifer stuff on my truck when i just redid all of the brake lines. Awesome stuff to work with. much easier than the steel.

[[JP]]

ohh backup light!! didnt think of that one... mine doest have one, need to figure out where abouts that is on the original wiring.. did these trucks have a reversing light?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by [JP]

ohh backup light!! didnt think of that one... mine doest have one, need to figure out where abouts that is on the original wiring.. did these trucks have a reversing light?

This one does.

But they will become indicators.