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Jan 10, 2016 19:44:47 GMT
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The springs look odd and out of place imo I vote for hammerite. I'd paint the springs red (hammerite), when everything else is black I think it will look good. Thanks guys. I think red, but never made it to B&Q today. Depends on how lazy I am to remove the rear springs.
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Jan 10, 2016 20:04:05 GMT
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Not much done today. House and family time with Nicola. Martin called this morning early to tell me I had the Panhard rod wrong and needed to get my nuts wrenched again. Aaaarrgghhh...!! Rather now than later. So, what did I do wrong? When I fitted it, I looked at some pics on other build threads and did what I saw. So the adjustment end was fitted to the stud on the pumpkin. And the fixed end into the chassis end bracket. Of course to adjust it all, you need to be able to drop the adjustment end and twist it in or out to make longer or shorter, so if it were fixed to the pumpkin you could not do that, but as a drop down, easy. This is what I did yesterday and corrected today. The rust converter I painted last night on the chassis etc had not completely dried, so I could not paint the chassis and axle today, which meant little done. I did manage to get the toolbox its first coat of enamel paint, and broke the one hinge on the lid. Hopefully that will not be a problem in the long run, but I may still find a small hinge to fit to it with some small nuts n bolts before fitting it under the truck. Final color will be white inside and black outside. Not a a lot done this weekend, but rain and cold tends to slow stuff down a bit. Snow forecast for Thursday and Friday.
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Last Edit: Jan 10, 2016 20:07:45 GMT by grizz
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Jan 11, 2016 13:54:54 GMT
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Thought I had to post this up. I love a lot of random stuff, from classics to RatRods A mate in South Africa posted this in my trucks build thread and I loved what I saw. In the style it is built, the builder IMHO has struck the balance just right. Why go Willys when you can go Land Cruiser? We know how badly they rust away. Anyway........ And on the road....... He also builds Teardrop trailers. Here is his Facebook link: www.facebook.com/AllersRodsAndCustomsMore of what comes out of his creative pen. These may not be to everyone's taste, but it is great to see some good solid creativity come from South African builders. The Internet has again won't my education.
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mexicansteve
South West
Posts: 683
Club RR Member Number: 31
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Jan 11, 2016 14:09:05 GMT
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Low rider land cruiser! Looks sweet, especially with the roof and doors off.
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BeQuietandDrive
1989 Bedford Astra Van
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Jan 14, 2016 21:45:21 GMT
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Low rider land cruiser! Looks sweet, especially with the roof and doors off. I like his work and the way he thinks.
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Jan 14, 2016 22:00:22 GMT
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Don't know why but when I saw this, the phrase "Shade tree mechanic" sprang to mind. And not in a derogatory way either!
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Jan 14, 2016 22:27:31 GMT
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Got a PM on Garage Journal from a member with zero posts but registered in 2009 last week. This week he messaged again, I had forgotten about the PM as I am a bit preoccupied with finding a new job. Still, I called him to discuss the offer he had put. He had a bunch of duplicate and unneeded plates in his collection to offer me, and was looking for some South African plates. So I found him some nice varied plates from my vintage pile. And sent them off. He has will be sending me these........ Yup, very happy and feel privileged. It seems winter is here.... Saw gritters everywhere on the road today. Got home, planned to go work in the garage but the wind was pumping, and the temperature had dropped to a level where paint would not dry well. So on to "Plan B" Nicola was going out with friends for dinner. And when the cat is away....... This mouse will play. As Paul NevEno says, the house is hers and the shop is mine. So I brought in some bits to paint. Job done, first coat on. Little by little.
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LOL, you've got to love a State that defines it's very soul by potatoes!
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Jan 15, 2016 19:06:01 GMT
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LOL, you've got to love a State that defines it's very soul by potatoes! Saw it, but did not think of it that way. Great observation.
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Jan 15, 2016 19:40:15 GMT
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So mate Scot "Jabbo" popped in at about 11.45-ish last night. Ostensibly to drop off two tyres that were previously fitted to two of the Radar wheels that were on my Teardrop trailer. I had sold him the set of four last year to fit to his wife's VW Beetle. But he wanted less than a 185 on the front. So he came in and we sat chatting for a while, at which time Nicola came in from her evening out with friends. Not a word said about the painted parts in the green room. So this afternoon after spending the most of the day working at my desk at my hand over document..... I went to a not so local tyre fitment shop to get the tyres whipped onto the Chrome Smoothies I bought exactly a year ago. Duely whipped on they proceeded to the balancing bay. Balanced and ready to go home. Then back home, in the kitchen. I have to say, I am pleased to have them tyres up at last, and despite being a years worth of dusty, I like the look, once the smoothie hubcaps are on, they are rather neat. Of course I have to mention that my truck had Chrome Smoothies on when I bought it, and these were meant to go with it. Oooooopppps, I now have set of red Rallye wheels to be fitted when the time comes. In the mean time, I need to remove the trailers hubs, have them converted from 4 stud to Chevy 5 stud and replace the wheel bearings as preventative maintenance.
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Last Edit: Jan 15, 2016 19:45:58 GMT by grizz
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Nice to see steady progress buddy. Hopefully I'll see you at the NSRA swapmeet if I can get someone to cover me at work that weekend. Where is the red box being mounted?
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Currently driving a '68 Karmann Ghia as my daily. Don't ask about previous cars - there have been way too many and I stopped counting at 160!
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Today I went back to the scrap yard for the first time in months. It has changed, new ownership, new rules...... Thankfully I can still go inside and look for stuff, as before, funny how respecting the yard, guys and their rules, has paid off. I now have to always wear a hi-viz jacket. Only rule change. They have cleared a load of the tonnage as they one part owner has been bought out and it is now being run much tighter. A couple of weeks ago I saw a really cool mod where someone had fitted some small steel trunks/toolboxes under the bed, behind the cab, where extra fuel tanks would normally be fitted. I found an old BT (British Telecomunication) steel toolbox that should make just the right sized toolbox under the bed. It's very rusty, but a clean up, rust converter and paint should see it ready to be fitted. Price: one kilo of sugar...... Mojo booster. Nice to see steady progress buddy. Hopefully I'll see you at the NSRA swapmeet if I can get someone to cover me at work that weekend. Where is the red box being mounted?Hi Kerry, good to see you checking in. Toolbox, if mounted, and still possibly going black at this point...... Will be under the load bed against the chassis, mounted horizontal, lid opening bottom, upwards, with a smaller plasticky box inside thine a slide out tray, or even a stainless or wooden insert to keep a few very basic tools, jumper leads and some ductape or electric tape, though with a complete new EZ-Wiring loom, it should be unnecessary The toolbox will be competing with the pair of Flowmasters that I am also relocating from under the cab to under the load bed for better in cab acoustics. With this build some things will be variable at all times, even the colour, though I bought the paint already.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:23:05 GMT
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Plans for today included removing the rear springs on the truck And painting them red. I also wanted to assemble more of the new front end steering parts and get the stub axles cleaned up and ready for refitting. In the end I spent about 10 minutes on the truck and teardrop trailer and the rest of the day on Nicola's car. So today's update mainly has modern crapp and frustration to show. Nicola's Peugeot 107 daily has had a leak for some time, I did repair what I thought was the problem last year. Clearly it did not work, and the problem,and water leaking into the rear got worse. So today I looked into the boot/trunk and found this rather large puddle in the spare wheel well. I had previously thickened the gasket around the rear light cluster, seems it was not the only place water got in. So I went back to Google...... Found the Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo all have the same problem, and manufacturers and dealers really are not interested in sorting it out, also there are at least 5 places around the rear where water gets in. So crawling about in 1'C on the driveway for several hours, the car ended up this way. One of the places suggested for the leaks was these two vents pointed out, some suggested removing them and then closing the holes with a plate, which sounded like a good idea, till mate Martin called and said not to do that. So I removed them, cleaned it all up and put a thick bead of silicon around them once refitted. I also replaced the light clusters with silicon around the seals. Typically, the last item, which is one of those suggested on Google was the rear high level brake light. I removed it, and am pretty certain it may be the ultimate culprit. Once cleaned up, more silicone and full reassembly. After this I mocked up the new chrome smoothies and tyres on the teardrop. 5 stud Cevy/Ford fitment. Next trick will be to remove the hubs, find someone who can fill the existing holes, and then drill and tap 5 stud pattern and machine away a little bit off the centre. New bearings will probably be a sensible thing too.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:38:34 GMT
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Those vents are the drafters. They let air out of the car so clean air can come in when the hvac is in fresh mode. If you block them the car will mist up. (Depending on how well / badly the rest of the car seals). Wheels look cool by the way.
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Jan 17, 2016 23:54:32 GMT
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Those vents are the drafters. They let air out of the car so clean air can come in when the hvac is in fresh mode. If you block them the car will mist up. (Depending on how well / badly the rest of the car seals). Wheels look cool by the way. Thanks Jonsey, I ended up sealing around everything, as much as I wanted to just weld up the whole tailgate I like the wheels, though now I would love a set of 7J Rallyes in stead again, as I changed the trucks wheels and sold its Chrome Smoothies.
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Well, today was my birthday, and thank you to all who commented, called, texted and did Facebook entries. You all made my day even more special. Nicola cut me loose to spend most of the day in the garage with mate Martin who came over to visit and play in the garage. After Martin left we went out for dinner and to watch the new Quentin Tarantino movie "The Hatefull Eight" So, back to the garage. Plan was to reassemble as much of the front end as possible between the two of us. Notice trolley out...... Axle stands in and chassis pulled forward in garage. Of course I do not feature in the pics I take...... The drums are on, and there are new brake cylinders fitted. I have new hoses and will be fitting new brake pipes everywhere. But currently the inner drums are empty. New parts are good. Waiting for the brake drum rebuild kits to get here from the USA. Ta2Don bought and posted them for us three weeks ago, then a week later the U.S. Postal Service returned the parcel as undeliverable to him........ So now we have a delay. Good pic for Front End Friday submission. While Martin was tightening drop link bolts I made him a 12mm thick copy of the spacer that came with my idler arm..... Thank goodness I saw some nice thick steel at the yard last week. So now he can hopefully get his set up right too. We actually ran into a problem at this point, after we fitted the wheels to the hubs. Nice feeling though. But a long way to go. I will do a separate entry on the issue.
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Last Edit: Jan 18, 2016 0:15:34 GMT by grizz
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Getting up to this point with the reassembly, the last part was to assemble the Steering tie rod ends and their adjustable sleeves and fit it all together with the idler arm etc..... So.......... When we tried to assemble these parts, it seems I was supplied with 4 Right handed threaded parts. So two screwed straight into the adjusting sleeves, and two refused, till we realised there should be two left hand threads. Martin and I also came up yo the house to call Paul "NevEno" in Ada, Oklahoma on FaceTime (Don't you love technology) to double check that we were right. Of course when we removed all the parts from the plastic bags, we did not note which parts and part numbers were associated. So its it like this....? Or are they like this? It's the 350 and 370. L/R units I need to figure out. One more thing, the thickness of the tapered inserts on the tie rod ends differ, the two that fit the original truck steering parts are 15.5mm thick and those that are wrong threaded are also 16.5mm at max taper. So now need to figure out which parts I need to order, I think they are the inner tie rod ends with left hand thread and correct inserts.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:13:45 GMT
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Had a variety of errands to run today, as well as some admin for the job I got made redundant from. So late afternoon I made it into the garage, probably about 4pm. The plan was to get the rear end of the truck on axle stands, drop the rear and remove the springs, paint them red and then also do the rest of the chassis black, and leave pair of oil heaters on between the chassis rails overnight to help the paint dry. We had a forecast of -2'C for tonight. Front end with wheels attached, mainly just as a backup to the axle stands under the front frame horns. Then to the rear where I removed the wheels, at which point my mobile phone on the shelf started ringing..... I did not want to answer it, after all, who calls me at 4.30 or whatever? Thankfully I did answer the phone as it was the lady at the agency calling to formally offer me the job I interviewed for last week Thursday. So I now have a new job, thankfully before the redundancy put me out of work, commencing on the 15th Feb. working in a secondary care specialty job in London again. So this is where I left the truck as I came in to tell Nicola and text a few friends......... Tomorrow I will carry on. Woooot Wooot, real thankful to have a job again.
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Last Edit: Jan 18, 2016 21:17:59 GMT by grizz
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luckygti
Posted a lot
I need to try harder!
Posts: 4,912
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Jan 18, 2016 21:36:45 GMT
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Good news on all fronts then Rian, truck is starting to come together nicely and congrats on the job.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:58:45 GMT
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Great news Rian. Pleased for you, and the family.
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