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

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday I went to play with the callipers

Started off by cleaning them and seeing of the pistons would even move with pads in place, and a large screwdriver to encourage them.



Removed the pipes.



Then fired up my supersized compressor to drive the pressure through the system to try budge the pistons.

Sealed the front end with good old ductape



Ultimately, my skills and the condition of the callipers did not match up.

So I will walk away from these, probably try sell them to someone who is a dab hand at refurbishment of callipers to sort out.

Then replace the callipers and buy some new pads and hardware.

Will get to that next week.



Following this I went to the rear brakes.

Remember this ?




Would have covered this lot at some point.

Missing two studs, and one off the front hub too.

Sure there will be some somewhere to buy or scavenge.



Looking decent from here.



Whoooops……

OK, maybe not.

So that will be new drums, pads and possibly hardware or a rebuild for the rear.



Also fitted the 4x108 to 4x100 @20mm thick adapters and 5mm spacer.

This gets the wheels right out to the edge of the mudguards.

I will look at a small engineering solution to replace the wheel nuts the adapters came with, with some studs welded in there, and then some shallow nuts to hold them onto the hubs.



Of course with light failing, I had to at least try the wheels on as well.

Seems like everything fits in there, despite the drum being absent.



And some centre caps/cups will need to be sourced at some point.




Today slow day, due to no new parts to fit, will probably be to go back to the body and start working on the screen support for the Land Rover screen @glenanderson donated to the build.

Or maybe rip out all the gauges that were fitted before, none of which I intend to use……..

Remember what it looked like when we fetched it.

Rear drum in evidence too.




Centre console not my taste.



Coffee, then garage.

.

[Grizz1963]

Popped into Kevins place today on the way home from getting a haircut.

His build is really getting on now.

Not bad for a retired well over 70 and never built a car, kinda guy.

He is so energised and excited right now.






Love these castings.

Still to be attached.





Then back to meeting 4/5 for the day.

My butt and back hurts.

[Grizz1963]

DIY CITY……….

Having spoken to mate Darren last night to find out if there are any engineering shops I can use to get the existing drums skimmed, he suggested I come to his shop and put them on one of his lathes on Sunday and start by just cleaning them up as they could pe perfectly servicable under the rust and greasy residue shown.

So Sunday will be a bit of DIY and hopefully we get the drums recovered to full function.

Shoes for them are surprisingly cheap/affordable.

[LT7A]

Good work picking up the back angle of the door opening. Makes the roll bar and the windscreen angle look like they belong. The charm in the Jeep design in part comes from its abruptness, but a bit of planning and refinement adds a lot to the overall presentation.

A question about that asparagus you showed a while back. Could you take a picture of it growing in place? It's hard to imagine - I've never seen naturally occurring asparagus, haha. I assume it's out of season now, but you got me curious.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Good work picking up the back angle of the door opening. Makes the roll bar and the windscreen angle look like they belong. The charm in the Jeep design in part comes from its abruptness, but a bit of planning and refinement adds a lot to the overall presentation.

A question about that asparagus you showed a while back. Could you take a picture of it growing in place? It's hard to imagine - I've never seen naturally occurring asparagus, haha. I assume it's out of season now, but you got me curious.

Thank you.

I do like detail and aesthetics.

Not a mechanic, but certainly a polisher.

These asparagus is on the sidewalk and encouraged to grow, though messy because it is intermingled with the fence.

[Grizz1963]

Well, what do you when the company gives you an hour extra at lunch time?

You go do some cutting, grinding and welding.

First thing to do was get the tools ready, then fix the chassis so it would not roll around, and set it as close as possible to level.



Then set the angle using the CAD tool.



Ready to weld.



Bzzzzzzzzzzttt……



Done.



Cooled off, I thought it made sense to try it in position.

HAPPY !!



Seats in the position they will be fixed.



Front view, in final position they windscreen and roll bar have the same top horizontal line.

So pleased with this result.



That concluded my lunch break.

We ended up concluding day 1 by 3.45 which meant I could go for a 5.3km walk which took me an hour.

Than I went down to the garage again to start on the rear diagonal which would prove to be more challenging.

Being from the 56 Chevy @pauly used to race and hoon about in, it is too big in all directions.

It took me a lot of fine tuned grinding and sanding with flap wheel and my narrow power file.

Eventually it all slipped together easily



Then using the level between various points on the chassis I got the cutoff line marked out.

It is not the original roll bar, so I need to make up a new anchor point for the rear.

I will have to weld in a new mounting plate to the chassis and also a foot plate to the rear diagonal with a couple of nuts and bolts.



I cut the plate in preparation, and also cut and prepped the diagonal.

At this point I closed shop.



Hopefully I can get the two parts made up and welded in place tomorrow evening after work.

Life is still good.

[LT7A]

Thanks for the asparagus photos. I'll be honest, I couldn't pick it out in the pictures until the last one. Man, it looks like you might want to schedule a 2-hour lunch every day! You got a lot done. That roll bar adapted much more cleanly than I had envisioned. You surprised me with the FTP aspect of it ("forget" the passenger), but it looks good in there.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Thanks for the asparagus photos. I'll be honest, I couldn't pick it out in the pictures until the last one. Man, it looks like you might want to schedule a 2-hour lunch every day! You got a lot done. That roll bar adapted much more cleanly than I had envisioned. You surprised me with the FTP aspect of it ("forget" the passenger), but it looks good in there.

Morning,

I had a good think about the roll bar before fitting it.

Main reason for it is to ensure one is not completely crushed or captive if landed in a ditch, however, not sure they save lives, so the effect of it will still be seen and felt by a passenger.

It should be good enough for both parties.




In other news……




Back up for sale.

Price shows just how classics, cheap cars have increased in value.

And people are paying for them.

It is a 1979 model, not 75 and some other facts are a bit twisted in the ad.



I hope he makes his price.

[Grizz1963]

Before work today I bagged myself an hour.

Mounting plate for the diagonal had to be made as it sits in a completely different place to the original 4 point roll bar support.

I also needed to make up a foot plate for the diagonal.

Cut some plate.

Faithful Sharpie out and cut basic plate back.



Tidied up.



Foot plate measured, cut, drilled, finished back.



Next up, find some time to bolt together and weld to chassis and then the diagonal will be added.

Sir Steve Redgrave telling me how he was successful in 5 Olympic games.

Time to concentrate.

[Grizz1963]

So the next little problem would be supporting gussets under the plate that would not interfere with the Jeep Cherokee fuel tank planned for the build.

With a bit of fine tuning it should all come together and fit.

Exhaust will be side exit in front of the rear wheel so route not fouled by the tank.



Rear view.






Tank sits in a robust steel basket, thanks to @Pauly again for the “trade”’

[Grizz1963]

So before fully thinking it through, I removed this nut and cleaned up the cut.

This way the fuel tank basket can ge hung and secured.



Then reconsidered all the options and decided the pie cut and forcefully bending the diagonal into position before welding it in place.



Pie cut welded up and ground back, right next to the original welds.





I needed to be a bit clever with the diagonals footplate.

The floor is corrugated so I decided to create a stepped plate.



Plate made up to match the original support.



Welded in place with bolts and spacers in place.



Ground back.



And result.




Hoping that mate @paulf makes it here tomorrow evening to visit, check progress and deliver his hydraulic press for the bushes.

Road trip Saturday.

[Grizz1963]

Busy day here for work, so nothing done till after 5.00pm

And even that was negligible.

But I started by priming the roll bar and diagonal as polishing it failed to impress, old age left some pitting, chrome flaked off, and of course where I cut, ground and welded there was damage too.

Not sure the primer will stick ultimately, but I hope so, and then some paint, temporary in nature again, as I plan on having the whole thing covered in high density “roll bar foam” and some nylon sheathing.

Still need to investigate how and where to get that done.

Still very pleased with the outcome here, thanks to @pauly ‘s generous offer and vision.



After work, around 6.30pm a Nissan Cube reversed up my drive…….

@paulf had come to check out progress on the RR

AND DELIVER HIS HYDRAULIC PRESS FOR THE BUSHES.

I had previously used it to push the bushes on the Chevy Blazer that was never a project.

Massively useful tool too.



After a lot of chat, opinions and advice, he headed home to his family.

I closed shop and came in before the mosquitoes carried me off to a dark place to suck me dry.

Tonight is an early night as I will need to be up at 04.45 to get out and head over to @craigrk and a quick 250 mile x2 trip to deliver Ouma Lil his Chevy to is new home……..



She is a big girl.



As always, it should be a good day out.

PS: it has to be Rum-0-Clock

Later.

[Grizz1963]

On the road by 06.30



Some slow bits….



Eventually nearly there.



Meet Donna, she followed me all over, head on shoulder.



Such a sweet horse.



Eventually after unloading, a decent walk around and dicussing a ton of logistics, we headed home to Leatherhead and London.




Back down South delivering the trailer to the yard it came from, a load of what is presumed to be a load of film props.



.

[Grizz1963]

Bootfair I nearly missed today, delivered OK in the end.

When I woke at 4.55 I got back in bed and heard David the lodger rummaging around, usually I don't get back to sleep, but I did, woke 6.20 and thought….. screw the bootfair as it has not been spectacular the last few weeks….. checked my phone, message from Sally, asking me to look for a multi picture frame…… so I got up and got going.

First blood was mine today, a house clearance guy I check every week, had a tin full of 10mm and 12mm HSS drill bits at 50p each.

I said how much for the lot, hoping a bundle deal would work, he said 50p each, so I counted them all……. 30 of which 21 were the 12mm bits.

His prices are always fair, and we got a load of flower pots from him before, so I paid the £15.00 with a smile.

Driving 10 miles to the big hardware store for one, would cost me a lot more than 50p for one.




Other items included a picture frame (unused) for Sally£1.00
Fake patina Coke bucket for Craig 50p
Rusted oil jug for Craig £1.00
Stanley type lockblade carpet knife for Craig 50p (cost a lot more)
Sabatier kitchen prep knife FREE for two super nice girls
Side strip for Sally’s kitchen top after new cooker was installed 50p
Hessian sand bag FREE from a seller I talk to every week.




So a semi decent day in fact.


For those wondering what a motorbike and bunch of stainless scrap translates to, along with some savings……


I give you Sally’s new cooker, installed and delivered yesterday.









On a different front, mate Craig gave me (traded for stuff) a 5 liter can of white Cellulose paint yesterday, ostensibly to paint the Rezin Rockit once it is completed as the gel coat on it is dead and crazwd in places.

I know very little about paint and what goes where. or which you should avoid.

Do I blow the fiberglass body over in this stuff, or rather avoid using it, due to its properties and possibly the type and amout of prep involved.








Need to have another coffee, then scrape together all my resolve and go make a start on bushing the suspension parts.

Raining here at themoment….

Ooohhh, we have a carport.

No excuses.

[Grizz1963]

Started late yesterday.

Only made it to the garage by 12.00 and came out just after 18.00

Some progress was fast, some ballachingly slow…….

Making stuff up and learning as I go along is interesting and actually really enjoyable.

So armed with the book from @nickwheeler I sat down and started to try understand what went where.



First job, identify and lay out the bushes.



Started easy enough, undo the axle side and try get to the Void bush.

Problem no 1…..

Bolt completely seized in the bush sleeve and not moving, despite all the tools and force available.

Even the G-clamp destroying itself when trying to shift the bolt.



Then managed to break off a drill bit inside the rubber…..

Joy !

Followed by a burning,torch, swapped this one for my garden weed burner, usually used for my woodwork branding.

Mickey had come around in his slippers to see what I was up to.



Result, followed by Mr Grinder to cut the gead off the bolt as it was not relinquishing the sleeve.



The result of a lot of BFH action.

This was after no 2 went easy.

Still a load of rust, but at least not like the first one.





Repaired and rebent the metal to standard afterward.



Next job was to use the Void Bush tool sent to me almost a year ago to use to pull the bushes from the rear axle.



Using the impact wrench released them, but it was an absolute ballache.



After burning out the rubber, the sleeve was left to pull, so I started with tht one.

Magic.



Both Void Bushes done.

Note the amount of rust in the holes.



Next up was the bushes in the arms, so onto @paulf ‘s press.

These are not easy as they are quite thin and the press tools are specific sizes.



After much more swearing, skew pressing, popping out etc, I had all of these……



And these were ready, well, they need to be fine sanded to clean them out before fitting the new bushes.




Oh……

And of course I need to go buy a replacement nut and bolt for the one destroyed.

Rain and a load of work ahead.

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday my one neighbour who restores pre-unit Triumphs popped around,

“Hey mate, do you have a space heater?”

My reply was “Ys, a a small gas powered unit, why? Do you need it?”

“No was his reply, I have one, do you want it?”

My reply was to ask what or how much he wanted for it, and just what model it was.

The small one I have runs off Butane or LPG but I have never actually used it, so new in the box

Seems Mike tried using his 55kw unit twice, running it on Diesel but did nt get on with it as it needs ventilation.

I offered him my one in exchange, but he is going ceramic something or other.

I will collect his one, when it gets colder.

What it means, is that I will probably be able to work in the carport in winter if I do hang that large blue canvas in the front of the carport.

I really want to complete this build as soon as possible.






So last night I left the Rezin Rockit packed away as they weather forecast was for rain today.

I forgot to show the inside of the one arm.



And all packed away.



Today, in a fruitless search for diesel for my car, I bought some nuts and bolts to replace some of the pieces removes when trying to get to the bushes.

I also had some steel pipe cut and acquired, no charge.






More later.

[Grizz1963]

So after work I got some free time as Sally was too knackered to come here for a few hours and dinner.

Perfect.

So I started cautiously…….



MAGIC !!



Then the second one, needed the press to just seat is as deep as possible.

Then onto the famous Void Bush

Bit of white Lithium grease, and all the sleeves got traditional Copper Slip to help them resist rust for as long as possible.






Once all the bushes were fitted, I removed the lower arms, one at a time, not knowing how the Anti Roll Bar would react once released, it was easier than I thought.

Fitted the new to me lower arms and upper arms,

Job done by 7.15 almost dark.




Next job…….

Front end.

[Grizz1963]

My day started with a crisis, so I requested a days leave from the boss, approved.

By about 12.It was time to try focus on life.

So I started with a job I was possibly not going to screw up.

First coat on the roll-bar.

I like that, contrast should be good.



Also tidied up the rear end where I had burned the bush and hammered the living daylight deon the rear end.



So I unpacked all the bushes where they were meant to go, just to get the idea.



Started on what I thought would be the easiest point, the ARB.



Hard to believe, but having it all disconnected and rolling round, this single nut took 30 minutes to remove, it was rusted and locked in, and the nylon of the nyloc was chewed up and pulled into the thread.



Next job to figure out will be just how to remove these uprights, including the lower bushes from where they are stuck.



And the next challenge after that one is these 27mm nuts……… their threaded shafts are long and make it impossible to use a regular socket or impact driver to unseat and unscrew them.





Looks like I may have to head to Halfords or somewhere to buy a 27mm ring and open spanner.

Little bit frustrating.

[Grizz1963]

Big nuts………

These are what I have .

20mm of bolt/shaft thread sticking out, and the nuts first 3mm is curved



I thought I would try plan C which is in fact Plan A first, calling mate Kevin Kelly, but his wife answered the phone, he was doing plumbing…. Bad idea to bother him.

So I went to plan D which is plan B and drove less than a mile to Cliff’s Auto Repairs (he did some work on the MX5 about 8 years ago, and I have been there since.

Plans A&B which really were C&D were to purchase from Ebay and wait a week, or Amazon and own an expensive “single use tool”

So Cliff whipped out a long 27mm for me and wished me luck,



Fingers crossed we are up to the job.



I may get to it tonight after work if I can find some time, having a sandwich on the side right now at my desk.






Quick bit of Eye Candy






We can all dream ehhhh.

[Grizz1963]

So the weather forecast said rain.

A fair amount of it.

And I must be honest, it got worse, amd left me really thankful for this structure.



Lodger came home around 13.00……… a bit wet.



A big part of the time spent is just cleaning, matching, restoring, replacing, painting etc.





Two dots to remind me how it goes back together later.





Bushes cut to fit over the bar as ends are rather large.

Also added copper grease on every opened surface to protect and enhance movement.



First bit reassembled.



Followed by the steering rack bushes, after a bit of a fight to get them loosened up, they came off.

Both were split when fitted.

So still on the right track.







Though fit is a major problem.

The bushes are actually too small for the job in one aspect (fitting around the steering rack) and too wide, fitting in the prerequisite spaces, so the bench grinder helped.

Followed by BFH encouragement and Fairy Liquid in copious amounts.



And after a bit of a struggle to get both ends captive, it was all good, Nylocs and split pins back in place. The nut fixing. Plates need to still be folded up.




Then I started on the next set of bushes, on the top control arms.

More castle nuts and split pins.

Undid one, started to drive it out, not sure what the referred energy would be from the springs………

So with one end disengaged, it was time to panic and stop, as light was failing and I may need to approach this a different way.

Note the difference in height already there.



Is that a curve I see in the spring, or is it just happy to see me ?/



At this point I decided walking away till tomorrow was a wise move.



So I packed up tools and went into the garage and painted the roll bar a second coat of Hammerite Red as well as the rear shocks, mainly to see what they look like in red once refitted when planning the lowering, as I have red springs from @Kevins to go in there.


No Bootfair tomorrow as it has been raining most of the day, and will continue overnight.

So maybe a Sunday morning lie in in bed ?/

Unlikely.

[Grizz1963]

I rarely “give up” on jobs.

Today I did give up and changed direction for a while.

Sometimes you need to change place and pace to survive.

I had hoped to get the bushes completed and even the chassis partly reassembled.

Sousing a Mercedes Benz spring compressor which was not a Ford item, meant I ultimately failed to disassemble the upper and lower control,arms.



Unfortunately too big to successfully clamp and deactivate the springs so that I could get the arms off.



So once I gave up on the springs, having tried them three ways, I decided that reassembled parts made sense.

Problem with the poly bushes, was that even when completely wound in, they hardly give way, compared to the units removes.



VS

The old



So the space is taken up differently.

Looking at the parts next to the wheel you can see I had too much bush.







Minus the two steel eyes that this threaded though I was still dismally short in bolt thread.



So I took the 8 small bushes and ground about 3mm off each of them to create some space so that I could thread on, and tighten the nut.

Once completed, I felt a bit better about failing.

Despite the control arms still having to be done, possibly when I cut the front springs, or buy some correctly specced shorter front springs and shocks.



I am hopeful that I will be able to do this as soon as I have time to get to it.

Todays weather was decent in fact, starting out cold, but dry all day.

Weekend is over, work again tomorrow.

Life is good though .

[Grizz1963]

Make a compressor said @pauly

Got some bits from the steel store.



Mark out, clamp, drill.



Test fit.

I used the shock absorber mounting bolts to anchor the bottom to.



Threaded bar.



Then add a small plate to the top of the angle iron so the nut can be tightened flat.

Then welded the plate to the angle iron and grind back.





And painted, just because I ran out of workable daylight.



Tomorrow is a long day for me, so may only get to dismantling on Friday.

Also removed more rusted, broken, bent split pins from the castle nuts.

Then shut shop and headed indoors, earlier onI found a happy George on the S10 enjoying the late afternoon sun.



Bedtime soon.

[Grizz1963]

Almost the weekend.

Been a busy (rough) work week and I planned on bailing out by 2.00pm but typically I was still at it by 4.15

Keep in mind I start by 07.00 most days.

Bought myself a couple of tools, since my one is dying, and the other I do not have.




I went and bought DCD796 £62

DCF887 w/ 2x2aH £130

as one gets confused with the variable offers out there, and at the end of the day, I am kinda a Hobbyist at best, and these specs seem to deliver for most hobby guys out there.




Hope to get back onto the Rezin Rockit tomorrow.

PS: No idea how to make these links work as a click link.

(I got a Dewalt drill and Impact driver)
.

[Grizz1963]

………………and then I ground to a halt.





I had hoped to finish work early (flexi-time) today so that I could get a start on the final chapter of the bushes.

Then work kicked me in the nuts, hard.

When it gets busy I just need to keep going, so by 4.30 it wound down.

Also realised that I will need to disassemble some of the work I did before.

Too many obstructions and retainers.





I will try find some time tomorrow, but we are planning a bit of a run out in the S10 that has not been out much lately as I have spent a lot of time at home.

.

[Grizz1963]

Went down to Whitstable yesterday in the truck with Sally to see mate Martins new home and garage he is building.

Threw an accrow (spelling?) extendable support in the back for Martin to use to support his main steel girder if he ever wants to hoist out an engine or something similar.

Again, truck made me grin madly, both for the drive as well as for using it to do even a simple job.



Last bootfair of the year sucked.

One item worth £2.00

But……..

I have been looking for a horse riding spur for a few years on my USA travels and generally when out and about.

Usually overpriced for me at around $20-30 a pair.

Todays one was worth adding to my random pile of weirdness.



Home by 08.20 from bootfair, hoping to see mate Kerry, @disasterbus who was popping over to drop some random stuff off that he had collected over time for me.

When I got here, the first thing I saw was a pile of stuff on the driveway, and no Kerry, somhe had been and run as he does not like to leave his animals at home alone. I totally get that.

Still need to carry through and sort through all the treasures.






I am sure we will meet again soon enough.

So unpack and carry through treasure, sort through solid wood kitchen shelves etc mate Kevin dropped off yesterday (firewood and shelving)

Then get back to Rezin Rockit for bushes part 2.