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

[dwcardfan]

Yea what Clem said!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

Was that a truck in your shop? I thought I saw one stuffed back in the corner kinda covered in cobwebs.

Time to get back on track and focus my friend. Life has taken a turn for the better and now its time to walk over to the tool box and grab some wrenches…

Thanks for a really cool visit buddy, I'm as happy as Harley.

It was good Clem

And as Bomp said, we certainly were left feeling homesick for Fayetteville.

We are privileged and blessed to have met up.

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Yea what Clem said!

You too Donnie.

You guys I met are a lot more special than you realise.

Getting back together bit by bit.


Got a card from Post Office yesterday.

International Parcel undeliverable on two occasions. Please arrange redelivery or collect.

So I collected at the depot on the way home.

From Russia with Love.

My friend Vladimir the old school engineer and fixer of broken stuff........ an interesting guy.

CHECK HIS SMALL RUSSIAN WORKSHOP OUT HERE:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=235063



Beautiful cards from his region of Russia.




Большое СПАСИБО ВЛАДИМИР !!


THANK YOU VERY MUCH VLADIMIR !!

Life is good.

[Grizz1963]

Remember the 1930's Engineering shop Dennis and I visited in Philo, Illinois ??

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=51567

One of the treasures I pulled out of there along with a load of other stuff that was probably destined for scrap was this early Chevy valve cover.

People do ask why carry that sort of rubbish halfway around the world??

Well, I had a plan to mount a load of things on a board that were from various road trips to America, Africa and Europe and hang it against the wall in the lounge. My house My rules.

Anyway I did clean a lot of them but thought many could do with a run through the full programme of my "kitchen mounted parts washer"



Resulting in this



Some bits like this original 57 Chevy hood ornament was pitted and covered in silver paint and filler even after the dish washer. So I scraped it clean followed by a Scotch pad.



The valve cover got some fine paper and Scotch pads too.



Etch primer



It was 5'C in the garage so the oil heater worked a treat.



Alloy wheel Silver for the bird and very Red for the valve cover.

First coat.



Two coats each and contrast on the mounting boards



Then work got in the way before I could complete it all.

More in a bit.

[Grizz1963]

Work getting in the way meant I only got around to finishing off the valve cover last night.

Even I was impressed with my hands relative steadyness.



Looking like this in the end.

Ready to be mounted up onthe bostd.



Thought I would post up one of the pics I sent Donnie in Arkansas.
A few of the knives in my collection. These all have stories attached as well. Two the top left were my dads favourites. Wooden handle he replaced when the bone eventually gave up.

White Swiss army knife I have had 25 years.
I dont think that common and possibly one of my most carried knives.



Thats all for now.

Got a message earlier from Tom that my brake shoes had been collected by courier.

Who knows.....?

[Palf70Step]

Valve cover and hood bird came out looking real good Rian.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Valve cover and hood bird came out looking real good Rian.

Thank you Bill.

I was pleased.

Guess a lot of it is preparation.


The same reason I took so long on choosing the Pontiac hood ornament, unless I have a concrete plan to process stuff I try not to just grab for the sake of grabbing.

Which brings me to this set of pics. Still relevant to the 1930's shop and my trip.
There were two of these old horns and I selected this one with all intentions of fitting it to my truck.
It was tested and found to work just fine.
However my baggage limit and various items for other people that needed safe passage to the UK meant I left it behind with Dennis and a specific request that he take it to Roger for his 34 Dodge Pickup.
Roger was the guy we visited straight from the airport when I landed.

So another piece of Mr Johnsons legacy living on.







Fitted

[Grizz1963]

Useful trivia time.

Originally Posted by bib overalls

chevy motors with the staggered bolt hole valve covers like the one you have date from the days of orange paint. There was one exception. For the 1956 model the motors were painted red. So, by default your freshly painted valve cover is off of a 264 ci motor vintage 1956. Trivia for sure. But useful when you are entertaining a lady and have nothing else to talk about.

[flashed]

And I just thought it was something cool to look at ,learn something here every day.

[Palf70Step]

[Bomp]

Grizz is a wealth of knowledge.... and a proper cool dude too.

[clemdaddy]

Yep he is… and a ton of fun to hang with.

[dwcardfan]

10-4 on that!!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

And I just thought it was something cool to look at ,learn something here every day.

Trust me, me too.

I am not great at the whole originality thing.

I made it red as I wanted it to be pretty when it goes up.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Thanks Bill.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Grizz is a wealth of knowledge.... and a proper cool dude too.

See above Greg, I do like useless people fo though.

Great to chat to you last night.

I do love this whole video chat and FaceTime thing on Messenger etc.

Sorry your weather outside sucked so bad.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

Yep he is… and a ton of fun to hang with.

As are you Clem, I guess we all get along great, which is pretty awesome

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

10-4 on that!!

Thank you Donnie, you and your team rock too.

[Grizz1963]

Had a lovely if stressful weekend

Came home Sunday night and found an envelope from Kaiser in Oregon state.

Greg while we were out shopping for Clems party.



Chair he repaired at Clems





Who in their right mind stretches a cab and doors on a C10' then shortens the bed to get the proportions right.

THIS IS A BUILD THAT HAS IT ALL.

CHALLENGES THAT IS.


http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=532910

Contents was some stickers for various uses from "Bomp" who I had spent a lot of time with in the US during October.



Also a large box in the kitchen.

Opening it up revealed my new brake shoes for the truck. Generously brought from Roseville, Minneapolis to Ireland and then on to Stroud in Gloucestershire after which they got boxed and couriered to me by Tom "Topcat2006"
Thank you mate.

Of course this means that I can now get my finger out and start on the four corners of the truck to rebuild the brakes completely.




Looking forward to getting out into the garage and cold again.


Off to London for the day.

Thanks for checking in.

[Bomp]

Great chatting with you yesterday. Can't wait to see some progress on the truck.

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Great chatting with you yesterday. Can't wait to see some progress on the truck.

Truck time mate!!!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Great chatting with you yesterday. Can't wait to see some progress on the truck.

Always great to chat to you too Greg.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Truck time mate!!!

Kinda Don but bit of crash n burn.

[Grizz1963]

At times winter can be a pleasure.

Walked in London along the Thames this week.



So today was meant to be my first bit of trucktime in a while.

With the brake shoes in stock there was little to stop me.

Friend CraigRK of 47 & 49 Chevys fame was going to come over with some specialist spring removal and refitting tools to ensure I got it all done in one day.

He is usually here by 07.00 when we do get together despite the 60 mile or 100km trip to get here. Today we agreed that he would come at 08.00 or later. But at 08.00 he texted to say that the migraine he has had since Thursday had still not let up fully, so he needed to stay put. Of course I Facetimed him immediately to make sure he was not telling porkies........ the face that answered the phone looked like death warmed up.

So I carried on here cleaning house and ironing clothes while the world warmed up (No. i do not have anyone to do these jobs anymore)

By 9.30 I was in the garage, pushed the lawnmower, bike etc outside and then jacked the front of the truck up to get it dragged outside.



Jacked the back up onto axle stands then took wheels off and tried to get drums off...... unsuccessfully. Till my neighbour suggested walloping rather than tickling them. That worked.





The brake cylinders were both weepy, the other side worse than this one.



Thankfully I had bought new replacements for all the parts last year.



And of course even more thankful I decided to replace the brake shoes too that were brought back by Tom as these shoes appear to have had it.



Of course without the tools that help you retain your knuckles and full volume of blood I decided not to continue but rathee change some other brake hoses.



The old ones were really bad. Coroded and actually filled with crud.



And then........... SH!T F#€£ !!

My fittings that I made when I remade the lines to replicate the originals......

Did not fit the one side.



At that point I just lost it and packed it all in and went to town as I needed to see the bank and get a few bits done.

Have removed the complete brake line now and will take it to Pirtek or Aghabridge on Monday to have a new smaller fitting fitted as I do not have Pauls flaring tool anymore.

Craig and I will tackle it after I get back from Paris next week.

[Chevy Apache]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

At times winter can be a pleasure.

Walked in London along the Thames this week.



So today was meant to be my first bit of trucktime in a while.

With the brake shoes in stock there was little to stop me.

Friend CraigRK of 47 & 49 Chevys fame was going to come over with some specialist spring removal and refitting tools to ensure I got it all done in one day.

He is usually here by 07.00 when we do get together despite the 60 mile or 100km trip to get here. Today we agreed that he would come at 08.00 or later. But at 08.00 he texted to say that the migraine he has had since Thursday had still not let up fully, so he needed to stay put. Of course I Facetimed him immediately to make sure he was not telling porkies........ the face that answered the phone looked like death warmed up.

So I carried on here cleaning house and ironing clothes while the world warmed up (No. i do not have anyone to do these jobs anymore)

By 9.30 I was in the garage, pushed the lawnmower, bike etc outside and then jacked the front of the truck up to get it dragged outside.



Jacked the back up onto axle stands then took wheels off and tried to get drums off...... unsuccessfully. Till my neighbour suggested walloping rather than tickling them. That worked.





The brake cylinders were both weepy, the other side worse than this one.



Thankfully I had bought new replacements for all the parts last year.



And of course even more thankful I decided to replace the brake shoes too that were brought back by Tom as these shoes appear to have had it.



Of course without the tools that help you retain your knuckles and full volume of blood I decided not to continue but rathee change some other brake hoses.



The old ones were really bad. Coroded and actually filled with crud.



And then........... SH!T F#€£ !!

My fittings that I made when I remade the lines to replicate the originals......

Did not fit the one side.



At that point I just lost it and packed it all in and went to town as I needed to see the bank and get a few bits done.

Have removed the complete brake line now and will take it to Pirtek or Aghabridge on Monday to have a new smaller fitting fitted as I do not have Pauls flaring tool anymore.

Craig and I will tackle it after I get back from Paris next week.

Good too see you getting some truck time in always the way when you think all is going well something puts a spanner in the works you'll sort it I'm sure

[Palf70Step]

Glad to see you at it. You did good walking away. I sometimes have to force myself to do that instead of grabbing the BFH to adjust things

[realvc]

You shall overcome.

Remember, "Don't sweat the small stuff and that it is all small stuff."

My whole project has been derailed and the direction I wanted to go has not worked out so I've moved on another way. It will take longer and cost more but hey I'll still have a cool old truck.

Keep the faith bro.

[dwcardfan]

Glad to see you working on the truck. Just remember if it was easy everyone would have an old cool truck. Keep grinding my friend.

[ibrown50]

Rian, I agree with the comments above, sometimes it's best to walk away. I find that because I'm always working through jobs in my head by the time I get back to it I've already worked out how I'm going to fix it

It was good to talk to you on Friday and great to see you getting some truck time

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Glad to see you at it. You did good walking away. I sometimes have to force myself to do that instead of grabbing the BFH to adjust things

I don't ever trust the BFH, but do like them.

Walking away in my world can be quite unnerving, but actually liberating

Originally Posted by realvc

You shall overcome.

Remember, "Don't sweat the small stuff and that it is all small stuff."

My whole project has been derailed and the direction I wanted to go has not worked out so I've moved on another way. It will take longer and cost more but hey I'll still have a cool old truck.

Keep the faith bro.

I noticed in your thread that you were making lemonade Vince.

I am too good at sweating the small stuff.

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Glad to see you working on the truck. Just remember if it was easy everyone would have an old cool truck. Keep grinding my friend.

Thank you for the reply Donnie.

Much appreciated.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Rian, I agree with the comments above, sometimes it's best to walk away. I find that because I'm always working through jobs in my head by the time I get back to it I've already worked out how I'm going to fix it

It was good to talk to you on Friday and great to see you getting some truck time

I agree Is, as much as I hate sleeping bad,y, it allows me time, along with all the time spent driving for my job, to create solutions in my head.

[Grizz1963]

"Let me sing you the song of my people"


Anyone know these "words" ?


I desperately wanted to get a good night last night but of course by 5am I had Harley stomping all over me in bed and singing the song of her people.

This means I get up and stumble downstairs to put out a packet of wet food for her to lick the gravy off. Then she goes back to bed and leaves me awake. Usually my mind starts spinning by then and in spring, summer and autumn I would be out in the garage or shed.

Cow.



In the mean time I brought the bits into the house that I will lake to town tomorrow to see if I can get the fittings adapted or changed.



Craig and I have found that the 19th is the only day left this year to get back together with his tools to replace, repair, restore the brakes.

Looking forward to that.