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

[Grizz1963]

Sunday evening I headed over to mate Martin to collect a table in Prozac.

From there it was over to Joys place for dinner and a dog walk.

200 meters up the street from her house was a pile of what looks like new carpet and foam underfelt.

Prozac of course hit the brakes without me even trying, so I loaded a piece of each.

Not the greatest colours........



Harley inspected and approved



So WTF and WHY ?

Looking at the original 40year old carpets in the truck, 98% of it is good.

But the drivers side has this damage and rot.



Looks like this if you lay it all flat.



So I have enough to cover the whole front half of the truck including the rear foot wells.

Do I just cut a wide strip to lay over the transmission hump and both front foot wells or remove the seats and lay it over all the existing carpet, or number three.... do I remove the original carpet and automotive underfelt, sound deadening and replace the 40year old sound deadening with some fresh new deadening pads? And then lay my residential underfelt and ugly blue carpet.
Or just leave it as it is?

Too many questions.

JohnnyBravo suggested I go ghetto with the valves on the truck.

I have a bunch of shotgun shells that will work on the wheel nuts too.






Some more Artsy-Fartsy thinking required.

The truck has a grey fabric roof liner in the front above driver and passenger section, held in place with a bunch of pins.

So, I bought this blanket last year some time at a Bootfair.

So do I sacrifice it or put it away?






The plan is to remove and spray the rear glassfibre canopy in white Rhino liner on the outside and black on the inside, keeping it as it is, and just adding texture.

Let’s see what you guys who know, think.


Got home from London tonight and found a box in front of the kitchen door

Wooooot !!

Unpacked it and looked at what £320.00 buys you when you are building a “Not a project” car.



Remember last weekend Henry and I could not get the lower ball joint to release, despite loads of gentle and not so gentle wallops with big hammers.

So @PaulY volunteered to come over next Saturday and use his mechanical know how of hammer blows to remove the lower ball joints so that I could get the replacement springs in.

While chatting, we decided to replace the lower control arm ball joints, swiftly followed by me making a judegement call and deciding to replace upper control arm ball joints, tie rod ends, all the rubber bushes, wheel bearings, seals and front disc brake pads.

AS THESE HAVE MOSTLY NEVER BEEN REPLACED.

This should ensure an improved drive, handling and hopefully also the MOT for the next few years.

I am getting the feeling more and more that this truck has actually only done 105k miles in its life, and being from California the lack of terminal rust on sheetmetal, and all the chrome looking as good as it does points in that direction. I could also be completely wrong.

Anyway, hopefully, weather and rusted nuts permitting, we may have a rebuilt/serviced front end by Saturday evening.





So there you go.

A list and pile of parts to make this Blazer even better than it is now.





Maybe this is now becoming a Project.


Later.


Those of you following Dennis’ 1930’s gas station build on Prozacs thread may have wondered about it.

It continues for him, between day job and being variously occupied by life.

Inside, held up by electrician.





Back on the Blazer, Glen Anderson suggested I do the must do’s first and then the like to’s

So rather than do a whole bigncarpet job, I glued some of the thin red carpet under the torn pieces to keep it all together.



Then just cut some chunks of the house carpet to make runners and topped with a rubber mat.



QC passed.






Another small job done.




Got a WhatsApp message from mate Ricky who bought my 66 C10 Chrome Smoothies a few years ago today.

Hey mate, I have these rubber mats, would you like them for the Blazer?

For the cost of collection at Bluebell Hill tonight?


Hell Yeahhhhh!!!!

Quick scrub, bit of soap, dry them, furniture polish to bring back the like new sheen, and Bobs your Aunty.

Genuine GM items.

Chuffed with that, Thanks a lot mate.





And while we are at shiny stuff.....

Stainless, laser cut.



Or this one 🚐🦖




Off to go fetch some rubber mats.

I have taken the day off work tomorrow to stay home and play.

Anyone fancy a cuppa, you know where to find me...... PM.

[Grizz1963]

Went over to Robin Hood Pub and met up with some of the BHRA guys, along with Ricky.

Had a drink, few hours chat and then came home.

Of course scrubbing mats at 10.00pm out back is nothing unusual.

Came out good.




Tomorrow I will add a bit of furniture polish to make them pop and fit them.

Loving this non project truck.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by sparkplug

Wow - that's quite a transformation!

I love how it's sometimes these simple tasks that give so much satisfaction.

I like the stainless laser cut idea. My vote would be with "GRIZZ" too.

Oh, and you should start doing merchandise...



:augie

Only sold in man sizes XXL up yo 4XL


Waiting for daylight so I can get on down to the shop.

1’C out there this morning.

May see me in an overall and shoes today.

[Grizz1963]

So last night, Ricky who brought me the mats for the truck, knowing I like a knife, and also that I love miniature items, brought me a serious dagger.





After adding a bit of shine to the mats, as well as cleaning the previous set I had, that then went in for the rear seat, it looked like this.

I love it for sure.



It rained intermittently today, typical of the day I chose to take off work.

So I did lots of little random jobs in the garage, moved stuff about, made some space.

Also grabbed a large can of satin black, and after cleaning the wheels, I sprayed the centres three coats of black.

Next will be Silver Hammerite paint along the edge.





One of today’s planned tasks was to modify the VW Polo Towbar to make it fit the Blazer chassis.





I believe this is where Lee, the previous owner had removed the old Towbar.

So it will be the new mounting point once I figure it all out.



Up it goes.

And yes, axle stands too.



Coffee break looked like this, and I got optimistic, only to be rained out 20 minutes later again.

Grrrrrrr....!!

[Grizz1963]

As isoften thecase, in this case the third time this week....

Prozac had ajob to do.

Headed over to PaulF’s tocollect his hydraulic press.

Will be needing that tomorrow.

His splits meeting Prozac,



Loaded along with a 1960 vintage table that was in the back of Prozac already



Back at home, security had to check.



Moving it from Prozac to garage.

Amazing how easy the wheels made it.




Waiting for tomorrow when @PaulY gets here.



Then back to the Towbar issue, needing to be mounted off the chassis.



Measure, visualise and



Cut



And finally trimmed to size,



Ready to be welded and fitted.

[Grizz1963]

Anyone interested.....?



So Saturday started thus.




I got the truck off the rear axle stands and then turned it around on the lawn, not a clever thing as there are a load of wheel tracks/trenches from the weight of the truck.

I usually reverse stuff down the drive as it’s easier that way, but when @PaulY got there we would be needing the front end facing the garage entrance.

A rare sight this way around.




Up on axle stands, wheels off and tools ready so that when Paul got there by 10.30 we could carry on.



Mickey came around to check up on us as he heard the motor earlier on.




This guy has always got a smile, even when things go badly wrong, he just grins and says something like “well, let’s think about it, we just need to get on and do this thing”



The blue house carpet I brought home last week came in handy, two layers helped against the bone chilling cold while the wind continued to drop the temperature for us.

Busy Busy Busy...... and yes, I helped (a little bit)



DIRTY BIG THING, DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY.

Lower control arm.



Scrape, dig, clean up using knife, chisel and brush, then washed with a hard toilet brush and loads of petrol.




Followed by commercial kitchen degreaser that smelled lovely.

Then once it dried away, pressure clean, wash and dry.





Clean parts are so much fun to work with.


The 40 year old bushes and ball joints still needed to be removed.


More in a bit.

[Grizz1963]

So we continued to dismantle, clean, strip and swear from time to time. (I do most of the swearing, @PaulY jut get on with it)

The amount of dirt stuck to this truck, possibly the same as most or many other 40 year olds is staggering, possible a good rust preventative though.

Both sides torn down.




Next job of course was to clean, service and refit new parts to the Control arms.



The springs removed form the truck were as impressive as any that had been torched before.

Useful only as ballast when weighing something in.

Take a good look.

Before you burn them.

Measuring 11 inches.



So a new pair were selected from the pile, and measured, offered up and then Dr Bosch Grinder came in.

Surgery.

13 inches saved to be fitted.

Happy.



The next big job was a YouTube research job......

Easiest way to remove the 40 year old swing arm bushes.

Dr Bosch Drill to theatre.

Bench mounted, a few large drill bits sacrificed

Two per swing arm = 8 total.



Followed by Mr Press.

This tool, belonging to @PaulF was the most sensible thing to bring to the party.

Not always easy to use, needed loads of small custom pressing pieces made through the day, each taking time, and finding the right materials being a pain too, it worked a treat.



New brake shoes added while the front end was dismantled.



As we got busier and time drained away, I took less photos.

Needles to say, once the old bushes were removed and the new once’s pressed into place, often necessitating restarts the Ball joints were removed, replaced and then I took each piece out to a tree, hung them and painted the fresh metal in underbody sealer, getting a lovely uniform and clean look.

By 8.30 Paul had completed the reassembly, I still need to go back to torque up everything, change the position of the passenger side lover swing arm arm as it seems to have escaped the locating points.
Brake on passenger side needs bleeding.
Then I need to do the steering or tie rod ends, as we ran out of daylight and ambition, the cold is a killer.
Finally I also need to remove and replace the existing front wheel bearings.

BRILLIANT LINK.

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/chas...n/frontend.htm

Tired but happy, we closed shop at 8.30

Sleep was a problem for me, netting a total of three hours, and then awake for 4 hours, followed by another hour.

Today it was rain, wind and 5’C all day, so I decided to go shopping for food, paint and Silver Hammmerite for the wheels once the sun returns.

This afternoon I popped down to the garage to check the height and get a pic of the new height.

A sure sign of us being tired toward the end.



Front end came up 35 mm

Looking a load better, rear seems to have gone down a bit, 5-10mm



So there you go.

One step closer to an MOT submission.

Thanks for checking in and making your comments all.

[Grizz1963]

Well.....

What a good day today turned out to be.

I discovered a supply of this........

One of my all time favourites, and I do not care about anyone else’s feelings, opinions, and advice, unless it is on where to find more

This is my emotional link with the USA



Got a message from a friend in Siberia.

Stas has sent me something by post, amazing weather they are having, yes I guess it is winter.



While this was what my car said when I got back to it in the afternoon.

Unseasonably warm weather for the first week of November




Had to spend a few hours at my desk this morning, working from home has its advantages too. Just not sure what they are.

But.... The doorbell went, usually I would be long gone by then.

Went downstairs to answer the door......

Wooohooo.

Brown Van Man.

Bearing gifts, well one gift, that I had ordered and paid for yesterday.

Less than 24 hrs delivery, certainly beat DPD and their four day overnight delivery.




Opened the parcel once I had done my admin and before I left.

More Steering parts.



After work tonight I got home and found an envelope that had been sent by Dale who hadnotived the truck was missing a knob (other than me)

Thank you mate.



So once I had changed into house clothes Iwent down to the garage.

Knob fitted and wipers and washer tested.



While down there, I noticed gauges were all showing different lies.

Ignition not on, but oil pressure, temp gauge showing life, and the clock broken completely

So more investigation to come,



I have to say that a few guys have been really helpful since I bought the Blazer.

Most of all has been Dennis in St Louis, he owned a few of there Square bodies and knows their deepest secrets, so he has been advising and ensuring I do not screw up completely from behind the scenes.

I love the internet.

Then the fun part.



All threads also covered in Copaslip..... future proofing the steering parts.



And of course all the grease nipples in place, primed and cleaned up.

Nothing like a DIY selfie to wrap up the evening.



Plan is to take the parts to a wheel and tyre shop to get the toe and allingnment set at the same time as fitting these parts.


Brakes still need to be bled, and because I do not know what type of brake fluid is in there, draining the system as well, is on the cards too. That way ensuring the brake fluid is both fresh as well as uniform.

[Grizz1963]

Courier delivered this yesterday.

So tell me what and where it is headed.



One step closer.

I stopped by at a local wheel and tyre shop yesterday to find out if they could set the front wheels up for me.

Yes, but I needed to fit the steering parts myself, due to corporate policy etc. Which is fine.

Priced at a reasonable £30.00 after a call to a different company got me a quote for £50.00

May just go down on Sunday if I can get the brakes sorted, but working day job all week and all of Saturday.

I thought the road tax ar £225.00 was pretty good too.




And finally, in these days of politically correct and then the rest.....

This Made me laugh.

[Grizz1963]

Remember the stainless steel wheel trims I bought last week?

Forgot to try them on, but also the day job has kept me busy.

So tonight after work, in the dark I went and tried to fit one on the truck.


I have to say.....


I love it, the result is even better than I had anticipated.




I will be honest.

After the trim ring fitting, I decided screw dinner, it will be there later (left overs from yesterday) more fun down at the garage.

Chilly down there.



But I decided to get on and strip down the front steering parts and replace them too as it needs to be done before I take the truck in to get the wheel alignment, Toe etc set.

Once I had the truck up in the air, it was big hammer, spanner, sockets and some crawling around.

Harley was constantly under my feet too, weird cat, but good company.



The two ends weirdly have different sized nuts.

There has to be a reason of course



So first the one side, then the other.

Harley was laying next to me while i was undoing things.



Finally, all the nuts, bolts and whatever else was tightened and torqued up.

Very happy with the outcomes.




I checked all the four corner wheel arch heights and it seems the rear had come down by 10mm after the front end rebuild.

Now with all the parts replaced, I am hoping for many years of good, easy motoring in the Blazer.

Just added up the costs of all I have done to it so far and it totals up to £630.00 but it was the right thing to do.

Still not convinced about this truck, whether it’s really not a Project, but it certainly has done me too.

[Grizz1963]

Been a long day.

Slept an hour in the chair downstairs, care of the Captain.

Anyway, put the word out that I was looking for a set of centre caps for the Rallye wheels on the Blazer.

Got a reply from Glasgow in Scotland.



These.



To go with these.



In other news.......

Dennis posted out the drop shackles today.

So soon we may see more action.

Working in London today, all the streets were blocked so I did a good walk after the cab driver gave up.



But it allowed me to see loads of beauty in the city I dislike so.



Late afternoon after we left the meeting and I got back to St Pancas for theb35 minute high speed trip back to my Station n, the weather had turned decidedly worse.





I will be honest, I had planned on taking the Blazer for a drive tonight but it will have to wait for tomorrow.

Armistice day

11/11,18


Looking forward to driving this truck and feeling it’s new constitution

[Grizz1963]

Yup

Its not a project.

Becoming more than that now.

Becoming fun, and a lot of it.

Looking to see if there are any modern estates, 4x4’s like Pajero, Shogun, Discovery etc that has a set of roofracks I can rob off it.

This is where it could be headed.




Any advice or pointers appreciated.

Thank you.

[Grizz1963]

Sunday.

Remembrance Sunday, and to me a serious business. Having served too, I do remember those no longer with us, those who,paid the greatest price so that I can live a good and easy life.

Because I worked yesterday my weekend was a bit short, so I had lots to do.

Starting with another bad nights sleep, I ended up doing loads today.

Bringing the truck up from the garage, the plan was to tint the windows and then head for town, but they were more complex as you need a five armed monkey to hold, stretch and apply the film when there is a breeze out like today.



Cleaning the inside window glass, I realised the whole thing needed a wash.



I also found evidence of a previous tint in the rear.



Quick wash, still took quite a while.






Another observation.

I need to find a replacement headlight, this one works but the milky glass does not appeal to me.



What it should look like, other side.



Once the car was washed, I took it down the tight drive.




And first time it was out of the property since I bought it and Lee delivered it.

Confrontation?





I was headed up to the farm to get a few decent photos......

We like a nice photo, don’t we?

Before alignment time.

[Grizz1963]

Woke at 04.30 again.....

Bugger.

Chatted with Dennis in St Louis as he does not always sleep.

Watched some recorded telly etc, then just as I was making brekkie, I noticed a massive rat down the bottom of the garden, eating at the soup I had put out for my visiting fox.

Grabbed the skip find .22 air rifle @CraigRK had found in a skip, some penetrating pellets and raced upstairs

Only one shot......

Rats are fast !!!

He was inside the bowl, I think I missed.



My shot trajectory.



Just after 10.00 mate Craig reversed in.

Bearing gifts, also to collect some stuff from our USA road trip that he left in my bag, and items Dennis had sent with the lowering shackles.



The cottage pane internal door is a future project.

The garden gate, along with some trestles will be the new BBQ table on the deck for 2019.



Headed out, mich smaller than the Blazer.



Thank you for the delivery.

[Grizz1963]

So after coffee and unloading the gates and door from @CraigRK ‘s truck we went down to the garage to look at the Blazer.

I started it up, fired up instantly too.

Then Craig did his OCD inspection going around the truck, declaring me to be a liar.

Saying that it was much better than I had described it before, seems to be a pattern forming here.

Looking at the Lexus style light, he clearly reacted to them......




So he asked about the replacement lights I had bought from Martin in Derbyshire.

Of course I would love to replace them, NOW.

So he grabbed a Phillips screwdriver and started to disassemble.



Lenses off.

Clearly all the colours this truck has been in it’s life, on display, Blue, Orange and primer Grey/Gray



And then you find stuff like this.......

Woodscrews...... WT actual F ???



Also in evidence, cut off screws that would be needing some attention.



So onto the small drillpress and starting with a 1.5mm drill after the Dremmel slot for a screwdriver failed to unseat the rusted in screw.
Then onto the next size and eventually we had a fresh hole to be screwed




Replaced number one.



Fitted, tested, video made.......

All good.



And these........

Headed into the sunset of evil bay.







Sooooo...


LASTLY....

VIDEO CLIP.

Grizz?s 79 Blazer with uglee Lexus rear lights. -...

I hope you are all happy with the right lights now fitted, I certainly am.


Later.

[buffydores]

Are there different regulations for blinkers over there? Usually backup lamps are the clear lenses on the bottom with clear bulbs. Blinkers are on the outside. Do y'all require orange blinkers?

[Grizz1963]

Well....

Old habits do die hard.

Bought some meat this weekend.

Really missed having some of my own made Chilli beef Biltong (almost like Jerky, but not)



Got a large box.



Made some bits up



Created a cover, drilled a large hole.



Fitted



Than made about 30 sharpened meat hooks.



Unpacked, washed, trimmed, sliced, salted, vinegar washed, spiced the meat,

Almost 5kg I guess.



Hooks all fitted through.



And hung up in the drying box, light turned on and box sealed after positioning.



Let’s see how this lot dries out.

Did I mention it is non traditional chilli/garlic?

Should be good.

[Grizz1963]

PS:

Kelly at Ethyls was asking Bryan when I was returning.

Seems COVID-19 has screwed up their lives too......

But not too much for her not to still mess with my head.



Looking forward to the next time @craigrk and I get to go over there.

[Grizz1963]

Went back to the rear fog lamp today.

Removed it all, including the fiddly wiring and plugs.

Then soldered some extensions and reassembled, and tested.



On Friday I also bought a much better quality toggle switch for the fogs to replace what was there, plan is to relocate up to the to[ of the dash.



.

Today I did quite a few little jobs.

Also removed the broken tail gate handle finger plate.



Leaving a gaping hole.



Disassembled, then glued the stainless outer to the new part.



@spacekadett sent me a pic and story of the truck at a show. Some more history came with his text.

I will just do a straight copy and paste.

Afternoon, it had been bugging me that I kind of recognised your truck from somewhere, just couldn’t remember where. Anyway I got a message from a friend who saw my post on the thread but couldn’t remember his login to reply himself 😂. I’ll see if I can copy and paste the message. He is Happy for you to share the info 🙂
I can’t remember my log in ... but this is my uncle Xxxx’s old truck, the lady is probably Xxxxx 😂 So yep Tom did all the work on it,
Xxxx bought it via Tom when one of Tom’s customers passed away
Yep it got caught up in the house / separating curse word with Xxxx and Xxxxx

But the chap that had it before had loads of yanks and Tom helped find new homes for them

It was very well looked after, it did get a light tap up the back when Xxxx had it as he had to have paint done on the bed and new lights if I remember right

@pauly may know the place.



And yesterday “The lady with the truck” also sent a couple from when she owned it, as well as a Camarillo she had at the time.







Right, bedtime.

[Grizz1963]

Centre caps Take 2

Or is that Grand Finale?


Left them to dry overnight with the knackered primer, then stripped some of it back, realising I was not going to strip them totally.

So a plan hatched to create a set of 10 yard caps.




Followed by a dusting of satin black, for shiny chrome results, go with gloss paint. Mr Impatient did not want to go buy more paint, rather choosing to use what was on site.



Followed by 4 more coats, building up, despite the messy finish I chose to go with.



Then I started on the chrome finish.

Disappointed, but I chose the satin base.

Leaving a more aluminised finish.

Painting them Indoors as the wind was just too much outside.





Outside to dry.





And that’s what we have.


Happy with it, certainly better than what I started with.








A few people on a few forums and FB questioned whether one could get away without the centre caps altogether.

It is a possibility. Depending on what exactly pokes through the centre bore holes.

A flat cap, and chrome wheel nuts could change the look completely.





Right.


Time to get outside and start on the front indicator reworking and tidying up.


Remember what they looked like?