GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday did not go as planned (but I am on vacation so decide my own schedule)

Eventually opened the garage at 4.00pm and started by taking the hood/bonnet of the Rezin Rockit.

While looking for an adapter to go up in sizes with the cordless drill that speeds up nut removal, I rediscovered my long since forgotten about gas soldering iron.

Where was that when I needed it to redo the S10 wiring cockups.

Have put it back where I found it, hopefully I will find it next time it is needed.



So removing the hood was the easiest job.



After this it just got worse and worse.

My head may not have been in the right place and I felt really tired, maybe because of the heavy session with the osteopath.

She did warn me and I know I asked her to really go for it, because I had been struggling a while but woke feeling great this morning.

The biggest problem with any kitcar as mate Dennis and others have told and warned me is rust, and corner cutting.

On this car it certainly has become apparent very quickly.

And then the things like Phillips head self tapping screws used generously all over are a major pain.

Add to that, a load of silicone sealant generously applied on every contact point between the chassis and fibre glass body.

It is going to be a nightmare trying to unbuild this thing.

The existing brake lines are threaded through the body in places.

I was thinking that to try unbuild them from the drums and one calliper (one is missing, as is a rear drum) may be a waste of time, and best just cut them and restart with making up new brake lines as the brake booster etc seems to have seen better days too.

Right now, not having much fun.

So last night after 90 minutes, a load of Duck Oil in a few places, and about 10 bolts undone and removed, this was the state of play.

Today I need to clean house, and Sally has asked me to help Uncle Bob with some trees that need cutting down at his house where the garden has had 14 years of pretty free reign.




Wish me luck, or come help.

[Grizz1963]

Zero garage time.

Insomnia sucks big time.

Been awake since 03.00 chatting with Dennis in St Louis who had a power cut, sitting in his truck charging his phone.

[Grizz1963]

So yesterday was planned for nuts, bolts, rusty stuff, side cutters and a grinder

Lazy slow start, then chatted with @pauly about the roll cage or hoop options for the build.

I want something chunky looking, and different is a great option.

He sent me a pic of the half cage from one of the phases of his 56 Chevy.

I think it may work.

With a bit or lot of work.



Then Sally called, and all hell broke loose.

I got to cut the grass, weed and clean a bit of stuff around the yard.

She asked me if I could help her to help Uncle Bob with some trees that had grown too tall, and were interfering with overhead power lines.

Of course I had to say yes, no problem.

So while she washed her car, I gathered all my bits, went to buy 5 liters of fuel to mix up for the chainsaw, filled the chain oil and fuel reserves, and tried to start it, third pull it took, this after more than 2 years since the last time I used it when building the garden wall,



After washing her car, I had to buff back the one fender and bonnet that must have had a paint repair at some point in the past as they always fade away, and if she is selling the Corsa, it needs to be presentable

Then off to Uncle Bobs.

Unpack, find a double length ladder and get started.

Fortunately Uncle Bob was away at his yard, spraying brambles and weeds, so we could get on and just do the job without him supervising.

He had shown us on an earlier recce in the morning which trees needed to come down.

9 of them in total, though a lot of other plants needed some serious pruning and cutting back (he stopped looking after the large garden 14 years ago when Sally’s mum died as she used to love the garden and manage it) , certainly more than one days worth of work, having to plan and operate between various structures and abandoned treasure cars etc.







Despite a used, somewhat blunted chain, I managed to proceed.

Sally drew the cuttings away for me and built a huge pile. I had to cut quite a few branches into smaller manageable sizes too.

Two tanks of petrol, and one refill on the chain oil is how long it took me to get the first two trees done.

7 trees to go, a job for another day.



Perfectly timed, for us, Uncle Bob for home just when we had finished cutting the lot down and piled up.

He seemed happy, almost 75 now, I guess jobs that were a breeze when he farmed, now are both tiring and dangerous.

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Now I need to find a petrol chipper locally to use, or one to buy as there is a load of work left and the other 7 trees to cut down.

Having all the cut branches and stumps removed will cost more than the price of a used petrol chipper I suspect.

After we finished at Uncle Bobs we went to Sally’s place for her to try out the mower I had got her for her birthday, seems she likes it.

Even got a pic this morning from her to say she was happy with the finish, which made me smile.

She loves her garden.



Maybe today I will get an hour or two on the Rezin Rockit.

After going out with Sally.

[Grizz1963]

On a slightly different tack, I had a big grin and chuckle today.

Reading this written by a reader on another forum.

Seems I am influencing scavenger culture.

Free money is great.



Howdy. Catching up here a little bit. I learned something about hanging the flag vertically. Makes sense that the blue stays in the upper left hand corner but I had always thought of that as sort of the back side of the flag since it's opposite side from what usually shows when the flag is oriented horizontally. And I learned it from a South African who lives in England, haha. That little barbecue you made out of the keg was fantastic. What a great idea to utilize the legs from those stools. I don't think it would have occurred to me to upside-down one of them like you did. Came out really nice. Had to chuckle when you talked about picking up stuff out on your walks. In the last week I've come home with a set of driving lights, one with a cracked lens which is replaceable. A hose reel on wheels that I think will store a couple of 50 footers. And a computer desk that's in perfect condition. I could carry the driving lights pretty easily. I had to go back after my walk to get the hose reel and put it in the trunk of my car. But I decided to see if I could carry the computer desk the five blocks home. Had to set it down a couple of times but made it, haha. Added a bit to my workout. I like it when my walks become part exercise / part treasure hunt.


So most of today ended up being spent on more domestic chores, house cleaning, garden work, and cleaning up and out the BBQ in preparation for the weekend.

So when headed to town to get a few things, Sally clocked this car, she had seen it before, thinking it was another fiber glass replica

Turns out it is metal bodied, looks like it has high and low range options.

No creature comforts.

Could it be a Mahindra, from India?





I really liked the zip up padding on the cage, makes it look chunky, a look I am going for.



Fold down screen.





Eventually home by 4.30

Coffee, then shop time from 5.00pm

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[Grizz1963]

So after a coffee, my team leader headed down to the garage.



This pic is real, she was getting at one of the bolts holding the grille and fender together.

I crept in under it to get going on undoing the nuts covered in Duck Oil yesterday.



One chassis bolt undone.



One attacked with the spark maker.



Another job to do was steering to be disconnected.



QUESTION TIME: Looking at this joint, it does not seem to be removable, or splitable……

How do I replace the rubber joint with fresh rubber? Is it called a rag joint?



Also cut all the brake lines while in there as they are fed through the body, some are already broken and cut, so remake will be the the way to go.

There was a load of thick scabbed rust here too. Mr Hammer made it go away on the vertical plane.



Next job, remove the self tapping screws holding the grille to the front bumper.





Following this, I decided to undo the next set of chassis bolts.

Much hammering with the BFH saw the passenger side unscrewing with a visegrip attached.

Drivers side looked like this…….



So Sally held the small LED spotlight torch so I could see what I was doing, getting the cutting disc going on the right spot of what was left of a 11mm bolt and washer.




After that, I closed shop by 7.30 and came inside.

Cooked some bacon, and made bacon and pork sausage paninis, along with a tall,Rum and Pepsi Max Sally poured for me.

Tomorrow it is the turn of the handbrake assemble to be disconnected

Feeling good so far.

Weekend too.

[Grizz1963]

Well…..

Surprise…!!!!

Not dressed up like this for a while.

Had an invitation on Thursday to go do some training in Woolwich.

So no shorts n flip flops.



By 6.00pm it was back to normal in shorts, though I must say, it was Awesome being out and interacting with real humans. They were happy to see me as well.

Sally brought a load of high density plastic/foam pallet spacers from work.

They are used to separate layers of glass bottles used by one specific customer.

Her company sees scrap for the skip, I see materials to use for all sorts of tasks.



Friday was a busy day for work.

@pauly came over by around 4.30pm to collect some items for Woody, his C10 build and to deliver a plastic Jeep fuel tank and its steel cover for the Rezin Rockit that only needs a “Tophat” to complete it, and also a blasting pot for me to use to media blast the chassis, front and rear suspensions, as it seems a good idea to do that before painting and starting to do the rebuild of the suspension parts etc before getting a motor in here. As always a good visit and this time neither of us were crawling around under a car at 5’C as we usually do when he visits. Though there is still some time to,fix that. S10 needs lowering 😈

And in the evening Sally came over and chatted with Paul before he left in the Super Fiesta to go face evening traffic on the M25 and Dartford Crossing, headed home to Essex.

Sally, clever girl that she has become, had scavenged some stainless steel in the rubbish pile outside work, for me to go sell for her cooker fund

I gave the pieces one look and posted them onto FB Marketplace at £15 each or £25.00 for two, after checking them out online, prices range from £120.00 upward each.

So someone would have a bargain and I did not have to go weigh the stainless in.

A buyer appeared and fetched them from Leigh on Sea in Essex at 06.00 this morning, happy buyer, and cash in the kitty.



Saturday had been booked out to mate @Craigrk to help him get to some of the tasks he needs to get to before moving home to Shropshire.

Got there early, coffee, chats and catch up.

Then onto the first task…….

Try get the Chevy started.



Dismal failure, starter motor suspect.

Then we moved onto task no 2

Get his bargain at £180.00 delivered, DEAD Ride on mower going.



So drained 3..5 liters of petrol from the crank case, and when I pulled the plug, it glugged more petrol out there, then cranked it a few times to push more fuel out the head.

CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO

https://youtu.be/FLl1kHaNdlc

Craig disassembled and cleaned the carb, then reassembled it all.

Jump started from the car as the battery it came with it mullered…….

CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO

https://youtu.be/uMPqihaEJH0

After parking the mower we went in to have an awesome deli style lunch Craigs wife had put out for us.

Followed by a regroup and packing all the mechanical tools away, it was raining intermittently all day.

So we decided to rip a bunch of 4.5 meter long 2x8 inch boards Craig had scored in order for him to make up new trusses for his bike shed that is being widened by 1 meter.

All the lumber was free from a building deconstruction site where he had been fetching a load of wood from, like I did .


CLICK LINK,FOR VIDEO

https://youtu.be/ZSYDOYl3dgk


By 5.00pm we were done with the tasks I could help with so I got in the car and headed home for the 75 minute trip.

During the afternoon I posted the free bike in FB Marketplace as well for £400.00

By this morning it had over 1500 views, and about 40 enquiries.

I suspect it was “too cheap” but if Sally gets some cash and someone a cheap bike, thats nota bad thing.

Amazing how many guys offered more and wanted to collect immediately.



And this one.



I have been gazumped before and once I agreed to selling to a guy, that was locked in, in my world at least.


So waiting for the buyer to come and collect the bike today.

Fingers crossed.

[Grizz1963]

[font size="7"][font color="19e619"]NOT SO UNPREDICTABLE CHANGE OF DIRECTION.[/font][/font]


so after quite a bit of thought, and chatting to various people, including those who spend my cash regularly, and a dose of my own opinion and ideas, I decided to see if a £500.00 MX5 Donor could be found.

And then ot happened…….. a certain member I have known for 15 years or so, offered me a deal I wanted to, but did not resist.

Stored about 4 years in a barn…….

Dusty.

Complete, except for the catalytic converter……..

And 283 miles from me.

Delivery in exchange for a cuppa tea and cookies and an hours chat.

So a price was agreed, and two photos came my way.


First pic absolutely sold it for me




Second one meant that I could check the MOT history.


Slightly better award winning photography.





So I checked the MOT history.


Note the low mileage. 68190 miles. Car was registered end of December 2000



A quick search, based on the registration showed it to be a 1600cc engine.



Delivery has been scheduled for Sunday, given that all the planets align.


I am sure those of you in the know will recognise who the seller is, based on the origin of the delivery road trip. Our very own KFW.





So tomorrow morning I will have to cut down the body table and add wheels to it, to make it mobile as the plan is to park the MX5 under cover.


PS. I always wanted a canary yellow car or truck.


Wish about to be fulfilled.




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