GRIZZ’s English 2001 S10 Extra Cab 4.3 V6 Truck

[Grizz1963]

Took the new van and Sally for a ride today.

One of the places we ended up was on the Isle of Sheppey, at good friend Darren’s engineering shop.

Always one to look for other avenues of revenue, and also liking a project or two on the side.

This is current with great potential.



After making a full round of his newest car, engineering and fun stuff, I searched his massive dumpster/skip in case there were treasures in there……

No luck.


But, associated with one of his current engineering projects, was this……..

We got into a quick negotiation and a sensible price was agreed.

This may end up being a fart in a wind storm, or it could become real thunder.


SO ANY INPUT, PAST EXPERIENCE, PHOTOS, DESIGNS, WARNINGS ( fiscal and H&S) are welcome.

At this point Sally just said OMG, Really? And carried on on her Instagram.



So we were discussing me taking ownership of this beauty after it has served its purpose here……

And turning it into a 4 wheeled drivable vehicle.

If Barstools, Ammo cases, lawn tractors and mobility scooters can…… then why not a Jetski.






Steering wheel, rear view mirrors, comfy seat.

WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?





So right now, it is just an idea fuelled by a lot of cannabis and beer.


Input welcome.


Don’t be negative, get with the madness.

[Grizz1963]

Up early, as usual, then went to fill the van up to its neck, suspect 75 litres or 15 gallons, too lazy to search Google right now.


Local gas station is still running a manned forecourt, so you may not fill your own car/truck.



Likes the Dino-Juice.

Let’s see how much it likes it.



Once Sally got here, we set off.

She took a pic of me because of my silly grin most of the way.




One of the places we ended up was on the Isle of Sheppey, at good friend Darren’s engineering shop.

Always one to look for other avenues of revenue, and also liking a project or two on the side.

This is current with great potential.



After making a full round of his newest car, engineering and fun stuff, I searched his massive dumpster/skip in case there were treasures in there……

No luck.


But, associated with one of his current engineering projects, was this…….. Check the last two entries https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...-real?page=179


Once we’re done at Darren’s it was off to some shops.

Now we all know the saying, “If you don’t look back at your car when you walk away, you bought the wrong car”

Well, I never expected to hear the words from a usually reserved, noncommittal Sally.

Half way to the shops, she stopped and looked back, saying “You,did get lucky finding such a nice looking van”

High praise indeed from the Queen of Yeah, it’s OK.

Coming back, I felt compelled to take another pic of the same blue van, these colours really do love a bit of light.




Lastly, an early morning message from Dennis……

Looks like it is going to continue being hellishly hot in the USA.




I don’t really care, as long as I get there.

[Grizz1963]

Small jobs.

They keep on popping their little grubby heads up.

Today, after taking the day off yesterday to do a very belated and apologetic birthday BBQ, Sally went home to clean her already clean house and various other tasks.

This made her a lot happier than a fist full of cash I gave her as an apology for forgetting her birthday.



So this morning I got going early because time slips away quietly and quickly.

Steering wheel has irked ,e from day one, just the way paint had flaked over time.



So I polished the ally boss, masked the plastic section and flatted the ally section.

Then wrapped most of the interior in T-shirts and an old sheet in order to apply some satin black.

Result.

Improved.




Video.

https://youtu.be/GXNDFWaGBW4


Once again, not a 5 minute job, but a small one that makes for the right result.


Back to work tomorrow.

.

[Grizz1963]

https://youtu.be/Y26t74rfUqM?si=CtqLpeviMePNLqbX

A idea made for a potential punter.

[69Tom]

It's amazing what a little bit of interior plastic paint can do to restore an interior. I am not sure if you have SEM interior paint over there, but they actually have 2 formulas - 1 for hard plastic, and then another for vinyl/soft plastic. I'm sure pretty much any paint company has similar formulas, but I've even used the vinyl "paint" (it's almost more like a dye, I suppose) and results have been great.

It will look really nice once you get those 2 other pieces done.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 69Tom

It's amazing what a little bit of interior plastic paint can do to restore an interior. I am not sure if you have SEM interior paint over there, but they actually have 2 formulas - 1 for hard plastic, and then another for vinyl/soft plastic. I'm sure pretty much any paint company has similar formulas, but I've even used the vinyl "paint" (it's almost more like a dye, I suppose) and results have been great.

It will look really nice once you get those 2 other pieces done.

Thanks for your reply and information.

Interestingly, my best friend, Dennis asked me about SEM yesterday, and said the same as you.

It is too late now.

BUT….. great for future reference.


I have painted the next two pieces, report tomorrow, 10.30pm here.

The result is good, but of course now other parts look worn.

A deep dark, slippery slope this.

[Grizz1963]

Thanks to my own eyes, and multiple comments from others, my Friday afternoon after work was spent addressing these.





So dismantling took a few minutes.







Looking a mess.

Loads of spare audio wires and plugs.

The radio, speakers and amps are a job for another day……

Need a clever audio type volunteer to come help me understand, identify and remove what can be removed, or re-use and replace what needs to be replaced in order to give me a simple Radio/CD/Bluetooth system, utilising all the speaker holes in doors and rear doors, plus maybe reinstate the two amplifiers in the side wall.

ANYONE ?



Next job…..

PREP, PRIME, PAINT.




Done.



Much better.




BEFORE





AFTER.





To all the Zoomers…….. keep going.

Now there is a difference again, and also, you can see what 33 years have done to distorting the plastics that may have been aligned from the factory.

I think there is a time to step away and start drinking.

Now is not the time.

Later.

[Grizz1963]

S10 sold this morning.

Just filled the tank for buyer, and fresh MOT getting done this afternoon At 4.30.

[Grizz1963]

PS.

Video.

https://youtu.be/fauI2Wu7k2k?si=Mwp-cdQb4YkdGk62

[69Tom]

Looks great. But I think you need to paint the piece above the glovebox now. haha.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 69Tom

Looks great. But I think you need to paint the piece above the glovebox now. haha.

I have been looking at ways to try blend them….

In all vans of this era, there is a distinct difference in colour it seems.




Swapping parking places……


With the S10 sold, to be collected once license plate is swapped etc.


Astro now truly has become Number One Child.







Van has a lot to prove.








And of course.






.


.

[Grizz1963]

So Saturday after the S10 sold, I filled it with fuel, and took it for an MOT.

Sunday I unpacked the two steel cabinets worth of spare parts for It and also the spare GMC parts I have for it.

I was amazed at how much stuff I had bought and collected for it over the last three years for it.

There are also two boxes already packed with wiring looms, complete ignition sets etc.



One of the things I rediscovered was a centre console from a 7.5 Ton refrigerated truck that I bought years ago.





When driving the van to Margate two weeks ago, I had a cooler bag for stuff, but thought it would be nice to have a bigger glovebox/storage space than the standard one I just removed the 90’s graffiti from.

Plan born.

I test fitted it on the floor, but also like this, with a plastic stacker box under it.

Preferred the raised position to flat on the floor.





So I washed and cleaned all of it with ammonia based scrubbing soap and a pot scouter, unfortunately the stains on the plastic would not shift.

So on to plan B.

This included the plastic box, which had a huge crack in the bottom.

So the plan was to cut a hole in the side and reinforce it all.



Magic stuff, plywood.



Screwed and glued together, the next job was to 3M Scotch pad the console, then mask and wipe it all down with thinners.

Followed by plastic primer.



Step away…….

Coffee…..

Satin black.





Cup holders and all the leading edges got a few coats of paint as they are high impact areas.



And test fitted after paint.

Still needs to be secured to the box, and a bit of carpet or fabric added to box floor.



And looking in from outside.

Really happy with that all.



To me, this is a small job with a great outcome.


Video

https://youtu.be/OF1an8w_82c?si=eTDOscFksmhD-jYz


Next job…….

Drive the bloody thing a bit.


.

[Grizz1963]

Life goes on at Grizz-Towers.

George has kinda gotten used to me being back home from the USA but still comes in for super cuddles or a bit of time with me, which I enjoy. He is way beyond the level of Gabby the feral at @ivanhoew but still his own,guy.




So a few holes, nuts, washers and tightened……

Needs a bit of automotive carpet inside the base box.

Job done.



Also had some lightweight fun yesterday.

I am not planning any more stickers, and the one on the rear door will be removed once I find it unfunny.

Bought because it always made me smile

The van does not need stickers.

This one I got from Tyler in the USA is a bit silly, but will make people do a double take.



Deeply placed on the firewall.



Struggled with afternoon light to get this pic taken.
Flying eyeball from Tyler as well.
And Tripp Jones Racing from Dennis is for his grandson who already is being prepped, like son Adam was, for a potential future in racing.



And the one that will not stay on for very long…. But I like it.





Late afternoon, mate Kevin came over in his very smart VW camper to visit and also to check out the Astro.

Of course I had to take him out for a run.

Nervous?



Came back, and it seems he approves.

He and his wife just came back from three weeks in Oregon and Washington states, which they loved.



Next job is to identify all the suspension lubrication points and then to get the van down to,the garage, get it raised up on the ramps or even higher, and grease all the various points.

Looking after stuff usually makes it last longer.


.

[Grizz1963]

Seems to me, I am spoiling the readers on here.

Way too much story telling and posting.

So it is time for a LUBE JOB

I think that when you service a vehicle or machine, you mostly extend its life.

So one of the things I wanted to do was clean up and grease all the moving parts with a nipple today.

Consulting the GM service manuals I was gifted by Tony, I printed off the one page with all the lubrication points to take to the garage, rather than mess up the manuals.

Haynes Manual was an outright failure.



All on one one page.



So I got going.

Swapped around the cars and truck.



YouTube content I hear you say.

Hopefully a guide.





Getting a rise out of this lube job yet?




So looking under the front end, the grease points were all a bit dirty and the grease was hardened.

When last was this thing lubbed up ?

Maintenance ?

Errrmmm.








So I crawled around, cleaned up and lubed up under there.

Result.







So another job done today, in order to get keep this little gem on the road.


Video:


https://youtu.be/fAmEHBt6IsI?si=tpy8UoPt44J0yzhg


So, what do you think?

Progress?

[Grizz1963]

Looks like I have sourced a wheel.

Just need to figure a way to get it from Hereford to Kent.



And then get a tyre on it as well.

And paint would help.

[Grizz1963]

While in Scotland, Bill and I took,Blue, his dog for a walk.

Perfect.

Also managed to go see the Falkirk Wheel.

Wikipedia says:

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It reconnects the two canals for the first time since the 1930s. It opened in 2002 as part of the Millennium Link project.

The plan to regenerate central Scotland's canals and reconnect Glasgow with Edinburgh was led by British Waterways with support and funding from seven local authorities, the Scottish Enterprise Network, the European Regional Development Fund, and the Millennium Commission. Planners decided early on to create a dramatic 21st-century landmark structure to reconnect the canals, instead of simply recreating the historic lock flight.

The wheel raises boats by 24 metres (79 ft), but the Union Canal is still 11 metres (36 ft) higher than the aqueduct which meets the wheel. Boats must also pass through a pair of locks between the top of the wheel and the Union Canal. The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and one of two working boat lifts in the United Kingdom, the other being the Anderton Boat Lift.



Did a bit of a glued together bit of video of it turning nd lifting a longboat from one canal up to another system.


https://youtu.be/1nOVHFwgpL0?si=UnVttmjINJ6IIQFK


Time well spent, both for me and the dog.

[Grizz1963]

S10 truck Collection on Sunday.

Truck now back to its original registration number.

Astro issued with GRZ733

​So the story continues.

Friday 13th and today at 11.00 is my final redundancy “consultation” not sure what part of this is consulting, as it is more a “tell you”

It will be interesting to hear what they have to tell me.

[Grizz1963]

While I was up in Scotland visiting Bill, I managed to scavenge som plastic trim from a Mazda Bongo van he had chopped up.



Door lock and side needs trim.

This may be a plan.





Not quite a perfect fit, but a grinder, some heat gun action and we may have it looking a lot better.



During the week, while I travelled to Scotland, some anti-slip tape arrived at home.

So I removed the half-arsed attempt by some brain surgeon, leaned up many years worth of old hardened glue and proceeded to measure and cut.



Pretty messy and messed up.



Cut to length



Cut to shape.



Up close.

Liking that a lot.



Cleaned up the removable tow bar and removed the original license plate.



Fitted, with license plate in place.

Not ideal



And replaced the front license plate.

I am liking this.



Next job is to drill the holes for the retaining stip, carefully, in order to get the screws back in to hold the strip down.

Fit the rear license plate, as I had to clean up and repaint the rear plate support.

[Grizz1963]

Raining all day.

Working redundancy style…….

They can’t really fire me now, can they.

Wanted to get some rear entry action in today.

Cut, shape and see if it works to make up a blanking panel for the rear door.

The number plate recess has been tidied and the paint now dried, but rain prevents fitting.



Hoped some time over the weekend to get some stuff done.

[Grizz1963]

Time on my hands…..

Never a good thing.

Full build will be here.

too much copy and paste and my internet sucks big time, so always a struggle to load photos on every site, as my Photobucket is a PITA.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...d-sliver-dream


please follow there if interested.

[Grizz1963]

Right.

Friday the 13th October, I was in Shropshire at buddy Craigs place, after my trip up to see @oxb1l buddy Bill the fireman in Scotland.





I had an 11.00 appointment on Teams with my contract’s manager and the company HR representative obviously there for the whole farce of so called “consultation” there was no consulting and the statutory o days were not over yet….. but mehhhhh.

Told that my service/role terminates 15 November at which point the Ford Focus company car, IT equipment including the iPad I am writing this on (I never owned an iPad as one was enough) mobile phone and headset will get collected. Leaving me with the choice of Rezin Rockit and Astro to use as daily. Both are somewhat impractical for differing reasons, and I like them for those reasons, but it became obvious that I would do well having something like the Micra, sold a year ago. So I looked about, including on the auto****e.com For Sale section and saw a car that had previously made me smile, for sale. Sadly, prices of bangers have gone up a lot in the last few years, and when looking at some German and Dutch sales websites, they were even more pricey than the U.K.
so a lot of thinking and a message to the seller followed, including an agreement to leave Shropshire a day early to go view this car.

Resulting in the following.


The New to me, Redundancy Runabout comes from the same retro cars community I am part of.

Firstly, I want to post a link to its previous life in the hands of a gent called Zelandeth

He is as meticulous and OCD as you want someone to be when you buy a car from him.

Weirdly……..

He and I share another link.

He has owned three cars, previously owned by Colin, I now own two of Colin’s former cars, and Zel retains two.

My Chevy Astro that I collected from Colin in S****horpe and the new car were his before.



FIRST INFORMATION SET.


LOOK FROM PAGE 53 IN THIS THREAD FOR ALL THE OCD WORK AND REPAIRS CARRIED OUT BY ZEL BEFORE ME.


https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...ctions?page=53



Of course, as mentioned, the Astro belonged to Colin and is still getting a load of small jobs done by me, just to tidy it up to a standard that I can get along with.









So there you have the preamble to the latest vehicle at Grizz-towers.


I had not intended buying anything else when I bought the Chevy Astro to replace the S10 truck.


In fact, the Rezin Rockit was and is also due to be sold to someone who wants to drive it and play with it.


Simply the logistics of having too many cars on the drive taking up space and needing juggling when something needs doing, using or whatever.


I now need to do some corporate work first but will come back in a bit to post up the FOR SALE ad as originally posted by Zel.


Then we can carry on with this ownership story.

[Grizz1963]

Anyone who's followed Zelandeth’s blog thread on here will know of this little van.


I have rewritten and copied his FOR SALE ad with all the interesting stuff….




He bought this back in January 2022 from @Marm Toastsmith on here when I was in need of something that would Just Work (TM) following a debacle with a Mercedes with what I came to term Schroedinger's Engine - which may or may not have been about to blow up at any time. It was really intended to be a quick stop-gap while I found something more interesting.

However it very quickly became a proper member of the fleet as it drives several orders of magnitude better than I had expected and without a doubt has to be one of the most overwhelmingly useful vehicles I've ever owned.

Since I picked it up I've covered somewhere in the region of 15K miles (odometer currently sits on approximately 115K miles), and save for fixing a couple of gremlins it had when I first collected it (which needed replacement of the air intake throttle assembly as the motor had gone senile, and a couple of bits of missing trim replaced), nothing aside from normal consumables have been needed.

A few people told me when I told them I'd bought this that the 1.9SDI was "Dangerously slow." Complete cobblers. No it's not a racing car...but guess what...it's NOT a racing car, it's a little van. She keeps pace with traffic absolutely bloody fine, and will comfortably sit well above the posted speed limit on a motorway all day long, knocking on the door of 50MPG while doing so. I've averaged 46MPG over the last couple of years, and that's mostly been around Milton Keynes which is absolute murder on economy in anything. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw high 40s day to day in a more normal setting.

While this thing isn't *noticeably* exceptional in any department while on a long trip it somehow seems to have a downright uncanny ability to compress long motorway journeys. I've done Milton Keynes to Aberdeen and Glasgow (twice), and have always got there feeling like I'd been on the road for about an hour, not six or eight.

I did find the nasty plastic steering wheel this came with quite unpleasant though so a leather wrapped one (I believe from a Golf) was fitted which is far nicer to hold.






















In terms of rust the underneath of the dropped floor section at the rear looks quite scabby, but has withstood thorough prodding without issue. It's all just thick box section and flat panels though so even if any future repairs to this are needed they shouldn't be difficult.







The worst rust I know of on the car is on the nearside front jacking point where someone has helpfully folded the bottom of the sill over at some point and the damp has got in.







Here's the same area on the offside for comparison.







The underside in general is actually astonishingly clean for a 21 year old van.







There are a few bits which look a bit scabby top wise, but aren't really a worry in terms of structural integrity or an MOT pass at this point in time.










Engine bay is pretty presentable and surprisingly free of bodgery I was glad to find







Timing belt is still a ways off being due.







Tyres are a matched set of UniRoyal RainExperts, and are I'd say at 50% life (rears more than the fronts as I had some issues finding a garage who could actually set tracking properly, so there's a bit of shoulder wear on the tyres currently on the back). Front brake pads were replaced a couple of months ago as it was noted they were getting low.

So. Current issues.

[] Air conditioning is inoperative. The system is gas-tight but the compressor doesn't pump anything. A replacement is supplied with the car, I've just never had the time to get it installed. The expansion valve was also replaced when trying to fault find the issue so that's new.

[] Short MOT. It's out on November 18th. I'm struggling for both time and space at the moment hence taking a punt on it at this price. If there aren't any takers I'll stick a fresh test on it and re-advertise then.

[] Cracked windscreen.

[] Apparently knowing it was about to be put up for sale, it threw a check engine light at me last week literally as I was about to write this ad. This was a code for a needle lift sensor signal error, which was cleared and hasn't come back in another 200 or so miles of driving. This was after it had been sitting for a couple of weeks and the battery isn't exactly new, so it could be a one-off. However I'm disclosing it here as something which has popped up and I can't guarantee won't reappear.

[] Clutch isn't in its first flush of youth. Bite point is quite low and it does judder. I was pretty much expecting to have to put a clutch in when I bought the van...and it's still exactly the same now as it was then. So may well go on for a good while yet.

[] CV joints click on full lock.

[] The smaller rear door lower latch doesn't reset properly when opened so you need to manually flip the roller after opening the door.

[] Paint is...well you can see in the photos. There's not a single panel on it which doesn't have a ding, scrape or something on it. The front bumper was in primer when I got the van and was very quickly painted with a rattle can by me - it's very much a 20' job but made it way more presentable at a glance. I've always meant to paint the wheels as that would immensely improve the looks in a matter of minutes.

[] Rear seats really are only suitable for short trips or children as they're very cramped. They take about 60 seconds each to remove though if you just want the load space.

[] Wheelchair ramp is NOT operable. The actual ramp itself was removed prior to me getting the vehicle, and the dropped section of the bumper is no longer functional. I don't imagine it would be that hard to reinstate that at least though - I'd always meant to look into it for the dogs, but it just never got to the top of the to do list.



Reason for sale? Simply that I really need to be able to carry four adults in comfort for longer trips, and the Peugeot you see in the background of some of the photos has been bought to that end. As such this needs to move on.

This could be a really useful little van for someone, or thanks to the dropped floor could be an absolutely ace base for a micro-camper build as it gives you a good bit of extra height over a standard van. It's served me bloody well over the last couple of years and I will honestly be sad to see it go. I'd quite happily jump in this tomorrow and drive anywhere in the country. It's been one of those vehicles which really exceeded my expectations in every way, proving to be surprisingly a cheerful little thing to use as my daily.

I always had wanted to do something about the paintwork, my idea there being to do something heavily inspired by the Polo Harlequin, as per this ten minute proof of concept I threw together.










I don't think £750 is an unreasonable price for a vehicle like this in the current climate. Or £1000 with a year's ticket on it - though if you want that you'll need to wait a couple of weeks while I organise it. Will be valeted to eliminate as many traces of our dogs as possible from the back and will come with a full tank of diesel

[Grizz1963]

I forgot to add the video introduction.

https://youtu.be/CgEzHp8Kgkk?si=HBiyXqM7fqLSv8re





.

[Grizz1963]

Here is a short random video of just how sweet and smooth a £2750.00 sixty year old Rover P4 110 can be.

When collected to go buy the Caddy.

Salesmen ehhhh.

https://youtu.be/Qgg_Es9G-74?si=sQaAULVPteJHFI5x

[Grizz1963]

Back to paint……….


It will be an ongoing theme here, for some time I suspect.


https://youtu.be/uXfRv_4nBcw?si=tC35J9Du-CIh8rxn



Funny how small things can become big things.

Sometimes a fix can lead to a second look, and reward the fixer as well.

When I first saw the Caddy on Zel’s advertisement, the one photo that made it look a bit tired (well, a few really did) was this photo……..

Posture and front wheel…. The wheel just looked tired, but my first thought was that a bit of silver would improve it.
Walking around when I went to look the first time, the rears were just as bad, in a different way.
Someone had smeared some silver over the rust scales with a brush, badly.




So once on my driveway, one of the first jobs to do was to get the wheels all looking the same.

Albeit also with a brush and Hammerite.


So I got straight to it, in fact the first job I got to, 36 hours after collecting, on the Thursday morning, even before the front Grille.



Up in the air.

Axle stands yes.



Sanded them all back, removing flagged lumps of old paint and rust.



Closer up, ready for the next step.



Trusty old Hammerite paint.

Not as good as the bad old stuff, lots of chemicals, carcinogens and poison removed now.



While I waited for the paint to dry, I also tried the Scruffy Micra’s wheels. After all, they cost me £200.00 get looking this good.

Not at all impressed, they are 14’s so the decision made to sell, and sold within an hour of listing for the asking price of £150.00 and collected next morning by 08.00

This meant the door was wide open to start looking for some other wheels to fit as well.

Of course…….. yes, a cheap runaround suddenly escalating and my wallet draining noisily like a bath in a horror movie.



Once I got over the disappointment of the copper alloy fail…….


I crawled around underneath while the van was up in the air.

I was not shocked, I was more than shocked. Zelandeth had warned that the structure underneath was in a crappy state, nothing was hidden, and even peeping under the van when in Milton Keynes was fine to my eye. Now I thought……. MOT Fail?

Flakes of rust the size of my hand waiting to drop off the rear section that had been added into the floor 21 years ago……

These conversions are clearly done at a budget.

Almost non-existent quality control and certainly no long term pride.

Like the saying “If it’s on, it’s gone”

I suspect the builders motto is “Get it done, grab the cash and run”

So another big job may lay in wait, I did not want to go prod with a screwdriver or hammer.

I also could not really figure out how the rear bumper sections will be removed if I can find an intact, undamaged one to fit.

I really do want to fit a decent one to the rear, currently it sucks to look at.







So I went to make a coffee when the paint dried.

Coffee and ginger nuts.

Life savers.

I was pleased with the result of the brush painted steel wheels.

When good enough really means good enough. A temporary fix.




Once refitted to the van I swapped it and the Chevy Astro around.

Took a pic, stood back and smiled.

Small improvements.







And of course opinions are welcome.

I had considered other colours.

Silver is just so, well, silver.