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

[Grizz1963]

Decided that as I had paid for the lot, I may as well destroy it all while at it.

Wipers that is.



Measured, marked,Bent, cut.



Shorter for sure.

May have to make some stays to stop the sweeping.



Painted the folded, cut and drilled tips.



Back together.



I do hope it all comes together sufficiently.

Small jobs.

[Grizz1963]

A day off work always sounds like a great idea.

Especially when you choose to be off.

But when you do not, and feel a bit rubbish, it is still a good thing. Right?



But there is always stuff to do.

Yesterday I checked the cells in the battery that came with the car, intending to put it on charge.

Cells were all dry, took 1.5 litres to fill, no wonder it was so light.

I hate duff, tired or dead batteries, so time for a new one.

John the lodger picked up a new battery on the way home from his favourite battery shop. Cost £55.00



While trying the front wiring, the original airbag (disconnected) steering wheel would not activate the horn, may need some magic or new alternative.

https://youtu.be/EThky5GcbH4

But I also looked at alternatives.

Eunos wheel.

Mot pretty.



Fits but needs a working horn push.



A spare, fitting centre boss, but no wheel or horn push.



And the wheel I really do prefer for looks.

But the centre boss is a differently splined unit.



So many options…….

Do I blend two steering wheels to make up one that fits?

Or stick with Mr Ugly.

Suspect Ugly it is.

For now.

[Grizz1963]

Went to look for some specific diameter pipe for the Rezin Rockit.

Failed.

But found this hammer in the dirt.

My first thought is slate roofers hammer.

Possibly quite old, and from before the modern ones seen now.

@dez is a bit of a hammer guy, so may know.

Anyone else got a clue?







Thanks.

[Grizz1963]

Spectacularly rubbish night. 12 hours in bed, maybe 5 slept in total.

Bored to hell by 9.30 so went to the garage and stood and stared at things.

Liking what I see, but bored within 10 minutes.

So I found a lazy, slow job to do.



Fix the dash a bit, original design was in a different direction…… leaving gaps.

Created template.



Found some wood and tools.





More shaping after making a second one, yes, V1.0 was not quite right.



More materials.



Looks like a fit.



Glue, fit, pressure.



Done trimming back.



Vinyl next I guess.



Knackered, from doing nothing.

Came indoors.

[Grizz1963]

Well.

Covid certainly slows me down.

But I struggle to sit still, and indoors is a killer.

After a slow walk around the bootfair, which netted exactly zero, I had breakfast, sat around a while, then went to the garage.

Gathered some bits of metal.



Measured, cut to.size, drilled etc.





Drilled and tapped the rear support



Glue.



Result.





Solid stick welds.



Painted.



Result.





Tell you what.

That screen is a load more solid and stable now.

It was good, now it is better.

[Grizz1963]

Shortest report ever.

Thanks to Covid.

3 holes drilled, 3 P-Clips fitted to brake lines.



I gave up, and came in to,sleep,2.5 hours.

Nasty stuff.

[Grizz1963]

Came to a decision yesterday.

My car, my build, my visualisation, my way,

Advice always appreciated.

I walked down to the garage just to get out the chair and off the couch.

Saw this support, which I really like.



Then thought about it, walked back and fetched the garage keys, got a length of high density foam from the rafters.

Added it to the brace.



Then wrapped it in 50mm wide black nylon webbing.

Both tidier and arguably “safer”



I like the look, as mentioned before.

Ordered some fresh new webbing off Evilbay.

Both the rear section as done before, and the cross brace will get this treatment.

Those who do not like it, I am sure will not be doing their car builds like that.

And anyone who really really really hate it that much, come buy the car, take it home and fix it for yourself.

Problem solved.

[Grizz1963]

Previously spoke about this.

Contemplating it.

Never actioned.

Today I was thinking, while indoors, trying to rest with this bloody Covid.

Do I add a 500mm drop down front façade below the red panel, to end up just above the level of themgarage door?

It will help weather and rain proof the area a bit more when rain comes in hard from the East.

I plan on painting it the equivalent of Castrol Green and adding some fake garge signage in Rwd onto it.

Looking over the hedge from the neighbours garden.







Hope you get the idea.

Opinions?

[Grizz1963]

Looks like a USA road trip is on again.

And a cheaper flight by around $130.00 or 100 English Pounds than the last one in 2019.

Hopefully I can make it into Pueblo, Colorado to Snyders Junkyard to see what is available, with title and at a sensible price.



Still contemplating where to post the road trip report.

[Grizz1963]

10 minute job.

All I could get done today.

@nickwheeler and I spoke about these lityle bits before.

Why not sort them all when building originally.

My excuse was running out of underseal.

But a can of satin black works fine.



Plus some masking.



Jobby done.

But I should not have.

My eyes tell the true story.

Knackered still.



Also masked the wheel arches while I was at it.



Much better after.



Another little tidying up job out the way.

First 10 meter roll of webbing arrived today.

Waiting for the 15 meter roll.

[Grizz1963]

Back to work.

Bit of yard work done.

This part of the carport build is 18 months overdue.



This was where it was headed.



Think an extension of my Sinclair Oil corporation colours, first started on the framework of the carport.

Red on Green.



Painting.



Green.



Add some blue and red.



And that was it for tonight, give the Hammerite 24/48 hours to dry.



Next stop, fitting, fixing and signwriting.

Or something like that.

[Grizz1963]

PART TWO.

FLIP OVER, PAINT WHITE.

Reflective rear end.



Should reflect.



That is very RED, really RED.

Second coat.



Now to try leave it alone a few days to dry through.

Weekend is here.

First beer opened.

[Grizz1963]

Had lunch.

Job done.

More to come, but the structural stuff is done for now.

There is a “Plan B” for further damage control if needed, but not for now.

Started off and stepped back, thinking errrrmmm…… NOPE.



Carried on, redid plate no 3 as it is different and was visibly wrong.

Still not sure.



Then did numbers 4, 5 and a short 6 and it looked tatty.

Started to add in the red, stabilising structural strip at the bottom…..

Feeling better.



And then the second part added made it look a lot better.



Finally added a short strip to the end where it meets the garage gable wall.

Tidy enough now.



A few more visual bits to add and it should look good enough.

Also, the daylight is still more than enough in there.

What shall I do next then?

Tempted to mess with the Rezin Rockit but wiring is just not my thing.

[Grizz1963]

Added a bit of detail.

Also did some small jobs like painting all the screws white etc.





And happy with the result here.

Just need to find the red hose for the pump and do a final assembly.

Beer time I think.

[Grizz1963]

So after getting the carport job done I thought a simple job would be to get the contact adhesive out, mask the Rezin Rockit and wrap the centre bar in webbing, as the second 15 meters had been delivered today.

So I dismantled the two safety harnesses and started wrapping the centre bar.

10 meters of webbing as ordered off eBay.

Until………



Seriously?

6 meters and then another 4 meter length.

I was bloody livid, messaged the seller to ask him to resend a single 10 meter length as ordered.



I am not even sure under what to file this sort of behaviour.


Some time through the day I saw this French registered and built Jeep.

I like the look.





No roll bar though.

Is it dangerous?


.

[LT7A]

I'm sorry to hear about your covid. That's bad news no matter how you look at it. Glad you are able to move around at some level. Here's an excerpt from one of your posts above:

Came to a decision yesterday.

My car, my build, my visualisation, my way,

Advice always appreciated.

This type of claim/disclaimer is happening with much more frequency in your thread including the middle finger decal. Being a long time follower, I'm wondering if there are things that are driving it? You are a guy doing an unusual project in the way that he wants it to be done and those repeated assertions actually interrupt the flow of a cool thread. Maybe you are answering criticism you're getting from posting elsewhere? Whatever the case, you asked for advice and I'll tell you what I think, but not specifics about what you're building.

This is your thread, and your vehicle, so build it however you want. Don't justify it, just do it. You are much more likely to get enjoyment out of doing this thread if you are looking to keep people interested, rather than looking for their approval. And if you don't want opinions, don't ask for them. If you want everyone to like it then build a Camaro or a Mustang. But even then, people will take issue with how you do it. And if you get opinions you don't want, just ignore them. But if you do ask for opinions, then treat them as valid, don't discount them because they didn't reinforce what you actually wanted to do. And once again, if you know what you actually want to do, then do it and don't ask for opinions. I think you know by now that you're very much an individual. We all are if we will let ourselves be. If you wanted to build something to fit in, you wouldn't have started this project. So build it how you want it. And people can follow along if they're interested. And don't take offense to my direct language, as I stated at the beginning, this is just my opinion. You asked for advice and I gave mine because it's starting to sound like you're busy tending critics and not having fun.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

I'm sorry to hear about your covid. That's bad news no matter how you look at it. Glad you are able to move around at some level. Here's an excerpt from one of your posts above:



This type of claim/disclaimer is happening with much more frequency in your thread including the middle finger decal. Being a long time follower, I'm wondering if there are things that are driving it? You are a guy doing an unusual project in the way that he wants it to be done and those repeated assertions actually interrupt the flow of a cool thread. Maybe you are answering criticism you're getting from posting elsewhere? Whatever the case, you asked for advice and I'll tell you what I think, but not specifics about what you're building.

This is your thread, and your vehicle, so build it however you want. Don't justify it, just do it. You are much more likely to get enjoyment out of doing this thread if you are looking to keep people interested, rather than looking for their approval. And if you don't want opinions, don't ask for them. If you want everyone to like it then build a Camaro or a Mustang. But even then, people will take issue with how you do it. And if you get opinions you don't want, just ignore them. But if you do ask for opinions, then treat them as valid, don't discount them because they didn't reinforce what you actually wanted to do. And once again, if you know what you actually want to do, then do it and don't ask for opinions. I think you know by now that you're very much an individual. We all are if we will let ourselves be. If you wanted to build something to fit in, you wouldn't have started this project. So build it how you want it. And people can follow along if they're interested. And don't take offense to my direct language, as I stated at the beginning, this is just my opinion. You asked for advice and I gave mine because it's starting to sound like you're busy tending critics and not having fun.

100% agreed.

Thanks for taking the time to write.

You are right, and maybe a small confession from me, I often copy and paste to the 8 forums I write on, and some are more critical, aggressive etc than others.

I really like your comments about building unique vs building another popular model.

Advice is always appreciated, as I certainly do not always see the reality or threat when putting ideas together.

[Grizz1963]

Slim pickings at the bootfair today.

New garden sprayer £1 (I stood on the old one)
Pack of 50 @ 1mm cutting discs
£20 Candle tray for American artist friend £2
2 superhero Mugs 10p each
Good Scissors 50p each
Batman Multitool £1

[LT7A]

For some reason this struck me funny:

New garden sprayer £1 (I stood on the old one)

You get some pretty good deals at those boot fairs.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

For some reason this struck me funny:



You get some pretty good deals at those boot fairs.

Eyes wide open……

[Grizz1963]

Sunday afternoon and @nickwheeler laying down on the job.



But the rear lights and splash guards were fitted, changed the screw in bracket to two pairs of Studs in order to make seating and tightening a lot easier.

Ultimately, the wiring ended up entering high and on the opposite side, so original access now surplus.

Should make a huge difference to splatter and keeping things clean out back.



Late afternoon photo when wrapping up for the first time (Nick likes to find more small jobs that need to be done)

Lenses back on for the first time in a while.



One of the jobs that kinda stalled was to get some automotive carpet in behind the pedals and onto the firewall, to cover the high density foam I previously added.

I was not going to buy a roll of carpet just to use a 500x500 piece.

So I rummaged in the bits of carpet from the original floor and found it……..

The original piece.


Bucket of fairy liquid, washed followed by three rinses and set out to dry, it was a hot day.

Edited and cut to fit as footwell dimensions have changed slightly.

Brutal contact adhesive and fitted.



Next small job I needed to do, which had waited for the carpeting to get completed was a left side footrest.

I had desperately wanted to use the one GRIZZ footrest that Andy in Oklahoma had cast for me.

Only problem it turns out, was it was a right foot, so only good for an accelerator pedal.

So I went to plan B which has laid in the wings for years.

Can you tell what it is yet? ( I used to have a coffin shaped one too, gave it to,someone)





Some planning, finding a long enough bolt to go through the floors etc.

Remove the carpet before drilling, as you know what happens if you don’t.



Job done.

Nick holding the i side down while I tightened up the Nyloc underneath as my arms would never reach.

Really happy with the result.



While I played with these cosmetic finishes, Nick continued to make up magical wiring harnesses, extending non extended, 10mm cut off wires etc to give us a pair of these……

Working.



In the mean time again while he was measuring up the handbrake for missing parts that need custom making, I did some woodwork, after finding some solid Oak.

Supports for the front indicators and marker lights to rest on when fitted.

The new lights are slimmer by 20mm than the originals, so some filling in will need to be done.

Part one.





Remember the small jobs Nick keeps finding after closing time?

Back to the pedal box and clutch pedal.

A 3mm change is needed to make things work more smoothly.

No way we are adjusting the firewall etc.

So out came this guy.

Watch this space.



Weekend over.


Thanks for checking in.

[Grizz1963]

Forgot to mention…..

@nickwheeler also got this done yesterday.

https://youtu.be/A7qY_ToBzBM

After all, it is an MOT requisite item.

[Grizz1963]

Looks like the indicator/side light infill piece works just right.

Finishing and painting it when wired up and fitted.

[Grizz1963]

Always worth asking everywhere.


WANTED:


I am hoping to get extremely lucky here………


My 2001 ZQ8 S10 4.3 Extended cab and long bed has an Extang cover fitted.

It is way beyond pretty, sort of still works, but a previous owner added cable ties to keep the cab end attached to the frame.

They are not manufactured anymore.


HOWEVER…..


Does anyone have a very good used one, or even a led for a new unused one for sale?

I will be in Wright City, Missouri near St Louis in Late August and first week of September.


Please post here or send a PM if you have something


Thanks.


My current cover.

[Grizz1963]

4 hours on Teams, in training.

Enough to make me reach for the blunt razorblades.

So after work around 5.15 I headed down, bucket of water and a lot of ambition.

Dulllllllll as dull can be,



So G3 compound on a Scotch pad, followed by some electric polisher action, and more hand buffing.



Got me here.



Followed by T-Cut, Mer and Zymol polishes.

Not doing any more, but it is an improvement on what I started with.



Not sure why I made all the effort, but at least I feel better after a day watching the screen.