GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

So after removing the old, torn cover, I washed out the bed, and pulled the truck up onto some wood offcuts to train the rear completely.
Then let it dry for a few hours in the limp winter sun.



Started to clip on the cab side.

Pulled and draped the rest.



Then did the sides, which due to the cold, and bows in the framework, was a tight job.

Doing the rear tailgate frame was interesting, especially the last four corner studs.

But it all came together, tight as a drum skin.



To say I am pleased with the result, is an understatement.



And final shot.

Money well spent, in effect protecting an asset.



Anyone want to buy a nice enough S10?

And it is the weekend.

[Palf70Step]

Looks great Rian. Thought you were going to have to wait a while longer because of temps, but I know your glad you didn't.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looks great Rian. Thought you were going to have to wait a while longer because of temps, but I know your glad you didn't.

Happy Birthday Bill.


Hope it is a great day for you.


I could and should have waited, but was excited.




Some awesome badges landed in the post for the car.

Thank you very much mate, hugely appreciated.

Need to prep and paint them.

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Happy Birthday Bill.


Hope it is a great day for you.

Thank you sir. Simple times today with the wife and an old truck.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Thank you sir. Simple times today with the wife and an old truck.

Perfect day by the sounds of it.

[Grizz1963]

So it seems like I now have a cat.

Or at least, being Georges butler is being formalised.

He has been coming here since Mollie lived here, she always chased him away, and when she got killed out in the street, he started to move in bit by bit, watching me work at the garage, often sitting under a bush in the garden.
One day I took him some dried catnip because he always liked the wild catnip bush in the garden.
At that point we thought he was a feral cat, how wrong we were.

https://youtu.be/n0mWn5PbP-M

Eventually he started to come indoors, through the catflap and open back door.
Treats, food, kibble etc became part of the protocol over the last year and last week, interestingly, I ordered him a Catmate water fountain and a dry food feeding tower, they were the final steps in giving up on trying to not completely invite him in. Who was I fooling.
His owners knew he was living here, in the house, in the Rezin Rockit and under the carport during summer.
I put a Christmas card through their door last year, knowing he was spending most of the time at my place.
I would never go buy a cat, but they are welcome to come and go of their own volition.

So the reply from his owner below.

Thank you for yours ! To be honest George hasn’t been home since we bought our new daughter Felicity home, he definitely thought oh god they got another one to add to Jaxon who is now 2.5 years old 🤣 I’m just glad he’s happy and warm I know what a cold soul he is, so he’s definitely loving not having any kids about that’s for sure. They do say cats have multiple owners/slaves and since he’s been allowed out he’s living his best life. I just appreciate you looking after him as well. Because we all love him x

Then yesterday I caught him scavenging in the kitchen, as I heard noises while working in the lounge.

I recorded him and sent it to his owner. Followed by her reply and the following exchange last night.

https://youtu.be/5icp98gnIVM

Hey sorry I didn’t reply earlier things have been a bit stressful here lately, I have something I need to talk to you about in regards to George x

P.S. He’s always been partial to a bit of chocolate he also likes a Cheezy Wotsit x

So lately we have been having a few boiler issues which we thought we were working through with “The landlord” but apparently not, things have got heated up and the professionalism and respect is no longer there. Therefore we have made the decision to leave and find somewhere else to call home.
However this is what I wanted to talk to you about…. George hasn’t been home to live with us since we brought the baby home, he’s checked in once or twice but not actually come home and I truly think he is much happier with you, without the babies being all over him. We have found a new home in Allhallows and just going through the referencing now, but my heart hurts. Pulling George away from you when he obviously feels more at home with you. I know cats have a vast mileage radius where they roam if they are roamers, but I’m concerned that if we take him away from the only outside space he knows he will attempt to roam back and get hurt on the way back to your home or worse.
Would you be willing to take George on as a furry lodger on a permanent basis?
I couldn’t forgive myself taking him away from you and the home he loves now, and him get hurt trying to get back. Clearly he loves you and I love him. So to know that you are good and right for him, the babies are too much for him I think. If not then that’s absolutely fine too x

This really hasn’t been an easy question to ask he will always be my first baby. And it kills me everyday that the kids are too much for him. So the guilt I feel about this is truly immense but I just want George to be happy. And with us he isn’t so much, but from your photos he really does look it with your home x

So sorry my battery died. Please don’t feel guilty for loving him though the fact you do fills my heart with hope and happiness.

When I first saw him I fell in love with him. He was one of my childhood friends cats kittens she couldn’t have 5 cats so she gave the kittens to people but vetted them all first.
George went and came back 4 times to other people before I popped round and fell in love. That day he came home with me and stayed until we moved here, he was a house cat before moving here, as we lived in the woods and right by the motorway. Just as I was going to let him out, my neighbours cat was run over and killed and I couldn’t do it. Over here it took me a fair few months to even be comfortable letting him out. I’ll be honest “The Landlord” doesn’t know about George, as it was a no no to pets but I couldn’t let him go so we hid him when he came to inspect the house, he only checks in once or twice a month now he won’t even come in the house anymore.





I would call you back but I’m ugly crying now the guilt is taking over about leaving him behind but he isn’t happy with us anymore it would kill me knowing if he gets hurt or killed making his way back x

Honestly I cry like a baby when it comes to animals one of my cats when I lived with my parents got run over we only found out coz the ice cream man told us I cried for months, my parents also lost their cat recently, she was like a sibling to me she was 23 years old. I was 8 when she moved in. Our one that got run over was her baby he was born on my bed.

I just know he will come back to your home if we take him along, which is fine, as it’s not far but if he gets hurt doing so I couldn’t forgive myself

I would love updates on him though we’re here for another few weeks yet x

George does go over the road, I’ve seen him and nearly clipped him myself coming home, he had a very stern telling off that night, I’m not going to lie, it scared me silly.

He’s not the biggest fan of getting brushed, wormed or even flea treated, but he will tolerate it until he’s had enough. And his trousers do get very matted sometimes and it can take a few days to get the mats and knots out as he only tolerates so much. I’ve had to just cut a few out before.

He hasn’t been home for me to do his flea or worming stuff or I would of to be honest it’s hard here, the eggs seem be so much stronger with all the other wildlife there is too x

Thank you for adopting George, it is the right thing for him.




I guess that kinda finalises it then.

Seems the cat I do not have, now has me.

[Palf70Step]

Glad you have another mate (or is it master) with George. My neighbor's cat keeps me and my shop under guard. She let's most of the critters and other free roaming cats know that is HER shop. She says very little to me except to hollar when the bird feeder is empty. Guess she needs her mates also.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Glad you have another mate (or is it master) with George. My neighbor's cat keeps me and my shop under guard. She let's most of the critters and other free roaming cats know that is HER shop. She says very little to me except to hollar when the bird feeder is empty. Guess she needs her mates also.

That sounds about right Bill.

Molly was like that.

George is much more laid back.

He was down at the shop today, watching me.

[Grizz1963]

Remember this……





Sunday afternoon @nickwheeler and I restarted the search for the reason the heater blower would not power up.

It had stopped me in September when I went out on my road trip. https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...rip-grizz-2022

I needed to wrap up from under the dashboard, to build and tidy up from inside, till I could complete the dash and all the switchgear. And close it all in.

So on Sunday we started again, revisiting previous checkpoints, testing circuits we had checked before, all with the same outcome.

So…….

Electrons are invisible little bugggerrs.

The search is rarely easy.

So after chasing all options inside the cab and coming up empty handed, we started under the hood and opened the engine fuse boxes.

Chasing the wires from inside.



When Nick stripped back the wiring loom, he removed the air conditioner loom, electric windows, and a various other looms not needed anymore.

The aircon and blower unit both pull a big current and go via a 30 Amp fuse……. Aaaaahhhh, wait. Both are there, then tracking back inside a solitary pink wire was hanging around, and weirdly, one had been cut from the fuse box inside the cab, marked A/C
A bit more messing, poking, head scratching and it became apparent that the blower unit also fed from this ignition driven power via a relay.
So not pink wire, no blower.

We then tried to remove the 10A fuse female connector with the very short cut off wire for another 30 minutes before a thought popped out of my head, formed into these words….. “Could we use the wire for the electric windows and relay it with a 10A fuse, connected to the pink?” The electric window wire was cut off 15mm outside the fuse box, unlike the pink.
Nick agreed and after a lot of time spent on this small issue, he trimmed and soldered a join into it, leaving us with a completed, multi speed switched hot air blower.

RESULT !!!



While he soldered the repair in, I went through my 7 tins and tubs of odd nuts, bolts, fixings, plates and other junk, looking for some springs to use to create some return springs for the gas pedal.
Amazingly, in number 7, I found a pair of springs, origins unknown and cackled with pleasure.
Then using a washing machine drum securing bolt and spacer, I made up a spacer for the spring to hang below the fusebox that had just been re secured.
Nick made up and tacked a small hook onto the gas pedal arm.
Junk makes gold.



And a strong return spring resulted.

Perfect.



So still a few jobs left to get done before MOT can be considered.

Gas pedal stop to be created and added to push against the bulkhead,
Return spring on the clutch pedal, and reduce the plunger on the clutch m/c to drop the clutch pedal an inch or so.
I need to drain the cooling system completely, and refill it with antifreeze.
Bleed the brakes one more time to ensued the system is clean.
And finally set the handbrake.

I also ordered some new black wheel bolts for the rear that has chrome fitted at the moment.


How does that sound ?


MOT time?

[Palf70Step]

George reminds me of my drill instructors heading towards us. Stuff was about to flow!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

George reminds me of my drill instructors heading towards us. Stuff was about to flow!

Very accurate observation and description

He is a weird creature, watches me from a distance, but hangs around the shop.

[Grizz1963]

Late start for @nickwheeler and I today.

I had to go 25 miles from here to the other side of Maidstone to go look at something.

Then back here, run about and get so e stuff sorted and also prepared.

With all the cold recently, the carport has a ton of condensation, as did the S10 for some reason, leaving the inside of the windscreen fogged up.

So I opened the door and left the truck to breathe.

Coming out the house later, I saw this……..



Yup, someone likes the sun and a soft pad, it seems.



Back to the Rezin Rockit, some more small jobs left to get wrapped up.

First thing was to create a mounting point for a return stop for the clutch.



Welded in place and, trying to help, I also managed to get the other spring from last weekend, hooked into the pedal and mounted to the steering column.

It has a really soft, firm return action.



Another “double check” job was to see that the second “reverse lense” was not actually in use, as the plan was to convert it to a rear fog light, till I discovered the slimline unit I had stashed away and that got fitted.



Another job for today was to tidy away the wiring loom and to extend a few wires so nothing was under tension.

Just on bolting down an earth, it ended up in Nicks hand, so a quick tacking with the welder saw. Progress.



While he was at that job, I made him extremely happy.

Removed all of this…….



So we wrapped up around 6.30pm

At which tome the chill was creeping into our bones.



Nick headed home, I came indoors, warmed up some leftover food and settle down.

George who was watching me all afternoon, settled down next to me.



Weekend over again.

Just like that.

[Grizz1963]

One môre precision job to get done.

Needs two sets of hands.

This contact adhesive is brutally unforgiving.

Then do the cowl over the instrumentation.

Fit the switches then fit the dash to the car.

Brought it all indoors to warm up and dry out




Closer and closer.

Almost excited.

[CG]

I dont remember reading about those horns, sorry if you already said ... Do they play a tune?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by CG

I dont remember reading about those horns, sorry if you already said ... Do they play a tune?

Hi CG,
They are meant to play a tune, but the set os made up of two sets and I could not get it to do more than make a noise.

This is them.


https://youtu.be/mU7pId6dtyE



So have removed them.

It has a legal horn too, so not a great loss.

I may fit a fun Klaxon horn later.

[Grizz1963]

Now for all the clever IT and programming types.

Mate Martin popped in this week and added his clever machine to see if he could reset the Service needed notification.

No fault codes read, but failed to cancel the service needed code.



Anyone know what combination of buttons, switches, tumblers and curses are needed to clear the dash?

Thanks.

[Palf70Step]

If it is for the oil change, then it is
turn key to on, press gas pedal to floor 3 times in like 3-4 secs, then hit start. It should blink a bit then reset (5K is the factory setting.) and go out. I know with me, it took 2 or 3 trys sometimes. The fastness of the gas pedal flooring plays a big part on whether it resets. Far as I know if it is for something else, it should should up as a code or warning somewhere.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

If it is for the oil change, then it is
turn key to on, press gas pedal to floor 3 times in like 3-4 secs, then hit start. It should blink a bit then reset (5K is the factory setting.) and go out. I know with me, it took 2 or 3 trys sometimes. The fastness of the gas pedal flooring plays a big part on whether it resets. Far as I know if it is for something else, it should should up as a code or warning somewhere.

Brilliant, thanks Bill.

It was a message about oil % so we set that at 95%

I will try it next weekend.

[Grizz1963]

Funny how life and distractions can get in the way of getting small jobs done.

The vinyl for the dash did not really settle r smoothen out this week.

Yesterday I brought in some ply to work on indoors, 4-6’C is not ideal, and the damp chill in the air sucks too.



So plan B was hatched for the vinyl.



That seemed to work a bit better.



Laying out the two pieces that needed covering on my just big enough piece of material.



Cut off the piece for the instrument surround.



Industrial strength contact adhesive goes off in 2 minutes, the contact and pray.



Glue and then staples to Doubly secure the rear, while adding some tension.





And not too bad, the curves mean a load of pie0cuts to keep the tension low and getting full coverage of the cowl piece.



I think it is good enough..

Of course any wise arses are most welcome to make me some new parts and cover them, and I will happily fit them.



Next up was coffee and ginger nuts, a good way to procrastinate on the job that had me petrified, in order to scrape together my slipping courage.

So I laid a bed sheet over the plywood, stapled the one end down with multiple staples (thanks @nickwheeler for the machine) and tensioned it all and stapled the other end.

Then laid the vinyl down and stapled both ends down.

This way , I was effectively removing one risk factor though it would probably not help much.

Still, not moving, meant I was going to risk laying the dashboard down alone.



I also practiced laying it down a few times, in case that helped when the glue was ready.



With the glue down on both surfaces, I managed to mate the two surfaces, and it worked.

Some pressure to ensure maximum contact and adhesion.



More pie cuts and stretching, stapling to secure it all.



Eventually…….



Next job will be to cut the holes through for all the switches and then to fix it in the car.

So not a lot done, but more done than if I had sat watching telly all the time.

Closer and closer to the finish line.

Weekend over.

[Palf70Step]

Great looking work Rian. BTW, isthat a chess/checkerboard on the floor fir you and George to game on?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Great looking work Rian. BTW, isthat a chess/checkerboard on the floor fir you and George to game on?

Thanks Bill

I do look at some fabrics and wonder how they were approved for manufacture







Mickey came knocking at 9.00pm He had received a courier parcel on my behalf.

Contents was one Vauxhall Nova sedan rear lights.

What an amazing bit of human kindness from the guy who gave and couriered it to me, asking only for a donation to a charity.
I let home choose between the 4 that I support and he chose Help for Heroes.



Have I mentioned that life is good.

[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.

[Palf70Step]

Dash came out real good Rian. Looking forward to seeing it somewhere other than the carport/garage.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Dash came out real good Rian. Looking forward to seeing it somewhere other than the carport/garage.

Thanks Bill.

Next job, find some insurance, take it for an MOT test and pray it passes.

Then drive it.

And wait for summer.