Grizz’s Purgatory, Rezin Rockit 🚀 SUMMERTIME FUN 18/09/23

This picture is pure unadulterated joy. Love it!! 

Brilliant, it looks better than expected if the pictures are anything to go by, when are the RR@RR (Rezin Rocket at Retro Rides) T shirts going on sale? 😂

So after coffee, chats etc, Fil and Nikki left for Cambridge around 10.30 or so.

But not after he and Mickey carried the RX8 seats down to the garage and plonked them in the Chevy C10 cab.

Looks good, trust me.

Wrapped up, thanks to Bill who is a fan of protection



I also noted that some big wheels mush have called these arches home at some point, with this sort of damage against the body up front.



Fast forward to this afternoon, after shopping and trying to find a few things, including some free/cheap used tyres for the two alloys Bill had dug out to roll the car around on.

One guy offered to fit me some for £40.00 after the guys at my usual tyre shop, used for all the Galaxy and Berlingo’s new tyres, was not there today.

I will go back tomorrow morning early to see if they can help

In the mean time........ I had to start messing around.





Front end hub, A-arms look tiny compared to my Chevy Blazer and the C10 items.

All rubbers and bushes seem to need replacement and servicing too, and if this thing is to become an antisocial animal, it will need to handle safely.

I trust the service items will be aFORDable



Small little components.



So on closer inspection, it seemed the front drivers side has one stud broken off, I found it inside a nut, in the leaves and rubbish in the tub.



Tyres are 195 rear, and 205 in the front.

Amazingly still do not come close to filling the gap.



Really interesting modification on the passenger rear rear hub and wheel to make two nuts fit a non standard steel wheel.

Two studs removed, leaving two.



Two nuts again, as it seems to be the case all around the Rockit



Passenger side front wheel is totally flat.

I tried to fit the spare steel that Bill had sent along, only to find it does not fit the disc brake setup once bolted in, everything was locked tight. Burger !




So after not getting tyres, Sally and I (she is a patient girl) went to Small Ford Centre in Chatham and I got some wheel nuts, to replace the many missing ones, and to get a set that were all the same.

50p per item, equalled £8.00 in wheel it’s.

Only problem is that they are for steel wheels. Fail.

Well not a com-let’s failure, I do like some steels on these as well, so will keep them for future use.



Sally’s son Ryan came around to look as well, he is very intrigued, being a 20 year old in a 1.6 diesel Fiesta, that’s already significantly modified, His,first question when O said the roll bar was getting removed, was “What are you going to do with it” and his eyes looked like those of a magpie.

I want to find a thicker diameter,roll bar, and possibly mount it with a slight rearward tilt.

He also gave me some alloy wheel nuts he had got for his previous Fiesta, the tapered cones are solid, and I am not sure if they are meant to be the “loose type” of cones, any advice?



Almost midnight, bed time.

Amazed that two weeks ago Bill had gone to look at this thing that had been offered to me for sale, and now it is on my,drive.

More tomorrow for those,who are in need of a fix, or still watching.

No, not present.......

It is in my hand.



Looks like this behind the rim.





Correct, I guess a body shop trick.

Never really understand why people end up taking stuff apart in one direction, losing parts along the way.


As I clean this thing it becomes apparent that this is much bigger job than the romantic notion and visions I had.


Still....... as @paulymalways says..... “Omwards and Upwards”

Thought I would quickly update the cost of fetching it so far.

I had agreed to pay Fil’s diesel in the Sprinter van for fetching the car in Scotland.

But his and everyone else involved’ s contribution is priceless and most people really don’t get it fully.

I also offered to pay for sausage rolls on the trip, he declined as they had a fridge full of food in the camper van.

Fil took a load of used double glazed windows and a Honda CG125 in a box up.

Bike was sold for £60.00 to a friend, cash into kitty.

Trip was 1074.7 miles, door to door
Fuel total £247.18
Making it 23p per mile
Subtracting £60.00,from the bike. That I had paid for 5 years ago.
Left £187.18 to pay

Car was £350.00 with so much work to do, and a lot more missing than just engine and transmission.

RX8 seats,,still to be made to fit £70.00 thanks to Bill.

Wheel nuts £8.00

Two tyres on the alloys who knows, I will find out later.

This will cost a fair amount to get to MOT level, and on the road safely, but hopefully it will be fun nd teach me more new,stuff.


Priceless.


Oh, and you guys get to laugh at me.


Woke to this today.


Not done a whole lot yet, been helping Tom the lodger sort stuff out.

So late afternoon yesterday after getting back from shops and various jobs, Sally and I were able to start on looking at, and cleaning the Piggy.

She continues to surprise me.

By the time I came out the house after doing some work stuff that needed to be dealt with, this is what I found.



And the back of it looking like this



So proceeded to get a brush, wheelie bin and scoop.....

About 1/3 of the bin filled with leaves and debris.



Moss next, and leaves under the hood.

How does it all get in there?



After all this, I went to get my pressure cleaner, forgetting that it really does not work anymore, resulting in waking Mickey up from his 6.00pm post pub sleep, he was zonked.

Got his cleaner and then proceeded with the job for an hour or so.





Only got the rear half done, as it turned cold and light was fading.

But happy so far. Need to do the rest today.



Starting with it looking like this.......



Pressure cleaner left it like this, after intense, close up cleaning



Much better, but still not right.

I thought I would try a trick I used on the Chevy Blazer glassfibre roof before.

Domestos bleach gel, brushed on neat, washed off after 5 minutes, removes the staining, giving a much nicer look.




So off to the tyre place next, then back to pressure clean the rest of it, followed by bleach to remove the stains after that, and another pass with the pressure cleaner to remove it all.

Hope to get that all done today.

Good progress. A thorough clean and tidy first is always a good mojo boost.

Looking at the side view the 16” wheels work well proportions wise, but you definitely need something with either a zero or negative offset to get the width right.

There’s nothing so far that would frighten me about the project. The only thing that I can think of is that the Cortina donor bits used to be as cheap as chips and available anywhere, but they might be a good deal harder to find now. Maybe the Ford fans can show which Sierra bits would be compatible.

Agreed, mechanical bits are quite different to a Sierra but are still pretty straightforward to get hold of. As far as electrical bits I’ve got some spare column stalks kicking around that I didn’t use on the 100E if they’re of use. Was hoping to get to the farm today for a rummage through my spares but it didn’t happen

Really enjoying the updates Grizz and this is a such a great pic.