♻️ Grizz’s New 4x4 arrived ~~ ASTRO Van 🚙 Renault SCENIC 1.5dci 🚙 1966 Chevy C10 🚘

[grizz]

Well…… 

Nobody reads text. Do they? 
 

Pedro’s replacement car….. 

2003 Ford Fiesta Ghia 1.4 manual, petrol/gas. 90k miles.  Three owners, two families. Facebook marketplace £600.00

Comparable cars range from £700 to £2000  so I obviously took a chance buying it for him (using his money and permission) 

I spent 24 hours on the final search for a car, MOT HISTORY and  STATUS searches on cars advertised that was not what they were advertised to be. 
This one, despite rubbish pics has a great MOT history. 

Lets hope

 

So you have seen collection and delivery and my initial quick bash around the lights and front wheel  

Yesterday I spent all day on the car  

Probably more than doubling its value  

Its a really nice car  

But polishing turds is a speciality  

 

Some random Pictures  of the results and a quick time video   

VIDEO

 

 

[grizz]

Hand polish 

[grizz]

One more little thing I wanted to do was to replace the grille badge on the Ford. 

It was tired and I had an idea after the actual grille recovered really well after my attention. 

So I removed the grille and badge. 

Using the internet to ensure the correct color colour and ratios, I proceeded by removing all the clear coating plastic or whatever from the badge. 
Then I cut some masking tape to 18mm and proceeded to paint the red, followed by the yellow. 
After leaving it to dry (not long enough) I flat sanded it to remove paint and expose the Ford logo. 
More paint with a brush that was too big and you will see the result. 

Not spectacular but no worse than before. 

And Pedro liked the photos. 

.

 

 

[grizz]

Premonition 

Preview

Pain 

.

[grizz]

Just realised the new word I created above, also pertains to this short video below. 
 

Car was actually vandalised on the street after it got damaged as well. So parked it back on my driveway. 
 

Problem solved. 
 

Maybe not conventionally. 
 

Inspection hatch below rear seat. 
 

 

.

 

[grizz]

2

1

Box…….


Primer delivery 2 minutes before. 


.

[grizz]

Not moved off it. 
 

Two photos taken 60 seconds apart. 
 

So different 

 

One kinda regal, one super goofy  

 

.

[666jjp]

come on, open it so I can sleep in it!!

[grizz]

22 hours ago, 666jjp said:

come on, open it so I can sleep in it!!

I just did. 
 

Not yet in it. 

[grizz]

 

Interesting day. 

 

Pedro’s car got collected at 11.00 today. 

 

Just as I was leaving to go collect a pair of really quirky peaked chrome headlights. Cost £10.00/pair As usual, I knew they needed cleaning, and the glass lens on one is damaged. But I believe a £20.00 replacement is available online. 

 

I headed over to Steve’s place 18 miles from here. (I usually cost travel into my purchase price) 

 

He previously participated in the Red Bull soapbox race with John my old amputee lodger, he built most of their entry, came third. Previously he built a Mustang based trike. 

 

Being an amputee himself has never slowed Steve down. Recently he built an electric mobility scooter that passed inspection. I love it.  Pics included below.  

 

While I was there I also bought a pair of short air shocks for another £10.00/pair and a Jaguar hood ornament for £2.00

 

The stuff all is going toward the next side quest 

 

Cleaning it all when I got home and measuring the shocks compared to what I have, showed me a 3” or 80mm gain. 

Thats a distinct win in the next build planning. 

 

Some photos 

 

Hard to see the before and after of the chrome cleanup. 

 

 

I also replaced Pedro’s rear license plate that had delaminated. 

 

 

 

.

 

[grizz]

More pics

[MrBig]

Love the mobility trike! That's one hell of an anti roll bar on the front, but I guess it's needed! 😁

[grizz]

Life……

 

 

Knotwheel of truth, Drum sander and DA will be working the next few days

Then welder, hammers and dollies, followed by filler, sanding, primer and prayer. 

 

Lot more to try get done today and tomorrow and the next day…….

 

Bare metalling takes time, effort and hurts. 

 

Currently filler exposed is 10mm thick. 

 

Expected to get worse. 

 

Many holes to weld up from very old dent pulling. 

 

 

Just got to keep going. 

 

 

I have been busy. 

 

 

Trust me. 

 

 

 

.

[Westbay]

All that weight your saving you won't need to upgrade the engine !

[grizz]

Got these 😍

[Westbay]

Aluminium race horse shoes ?

[grizz]

2 hours ago, Westbay said:

Aluminium race horse shoes ?

Yes

[grizz]

.

 

Saturday morning……

 

Just watched one of my favourite YouTube channels 

True Blue Travellers 

 

It has currently stepped up a gear, from building campers and travelling the world, to buying land and a shitload of used plant. The two of them (Jon and Jess) are awesome in showing how to fix stuff, sharing. 

 

Todays episode was starting a rebuild on a Telehandler. 

 

 

Let me do a separate update on my day yesterday. 

.

 

 

[grizz]

Well, I am picking Pedro up at the airport at midnight. He has been home to Seville in Spain. For a week. 
 

My final touch on the Fiesta was to order a gel badge for the rear. 
 

I am sure that he will be pleased with it. 
 

The English?? Who knows. 
 

.

[SilverMachine]

Fezza looks superb there Mr grizz, am sure Pedro will be thrilled with what you have managed! Makes my car smartened methods look rather lazy!

[grizz]

14 hours ago, SilverMachine said:

Fezza looks superb there Mr grizz, am sure Pedro will be thrilled with what you have managed! Makes my car smartened methods look rather lazy!

Thank you. 
 

I don’t think I do much differently to others. I just talk about it. 

[grizz]

Well

 

Both bedsides are stripped of paint and filler. 

 

I have opened a bucket of worms here. 

 

Complaining about a job someone did 20 years or more, ago, wont change what I have to deal with. 

 

The original paperwork shows it as California registered at some point, of course almost 60 years later it has more damage than some, less than others. 

 

I have found and corrected a load of rust (lots done before this current burst of activity.) 

The extent of the previous accident damage has only become apparent as I unfolded my jigsaw puzzle. 

 

The passenger bedside has been a known quantity but of course exposed the full extent of it’s impact as it got stripped back. 

 

I expect the drivers side to be much better. 

 

WRONG!! 

 

It has proven to be as bad. 

 

Thick filler, holes drilled to pull dents. 

 

Also……. It has the whole section behind the wheel arch damaged. The type of dent  you create when you reverse or drive too close to a post and make a massive sweeping dent over various aspects of a panel. 

 

Also quite a bit welding and hammer work for this side. 

 

Wheel arches need sections cut out and welded in on brace mounting points. 

 

 

I stopped early by 3.00pm as I was picking Pedro up at midnight. 

Got to bed 01.45. 

 

But you all know, life is good. 

 

 

Today I need to get the heat gun out to remove all the layers of underseal on the inside of the bedsides. Then do a run with the drum sander over all the accessible areas and finally DA. 

 

Followed by a coat of primer to try seal the metal somewhat. 

 

I also ordered a new, cheap HVLP gravity fed gun because the plastic pot on tbe gun I have has gone really bad and finding the correct replacement pot seems near impossible. They range between £6.00 and £16.00 on EBay.  But finding a 600ml pot with a “male” 19mm threaded connection seems “impossible” unless someone knows something that I don’t. 

 

Two more things. 

 

While writing up this post, Pedro came downstairs with an Adidas hoody for me.  I never buy branded hoodies because unbranded keeps me just as warm. So I only value this on an emotional level and I am so touched by his gesture of gratitude. 

 

Lastly…….. I have bought 6 numbers in an online pick a number thing. 

I know he sells a LOAD OF TICKETS so limited potential to win but still worth it…,,,

 

BECAUSE I HAVE DREAMED OF A LONG ROOF FOR SOME YEARS. LIKE 10-15 YEARS. 

 

Enough talking. 

My video on YouTube just finished. 

Time to go get dirty and hopefully not hurt. 

 

.

[grizz]

12.40 pm

Very slow start. 

These fish have been floating around in my head for months. 

Today I have to start stripping back the underseal on thr insides of the trucks bedsides. 

I am soooo not feeling it. 

So I went fishing.  

So cleaning up and processing a few horse shoes before making them into wall hangings.

 

Most are smaller, pony sized shoes. 

I save the big ones for big jobs.  

 

. 

[grizz]

So after the horse shoe fishes were made and mounted I managed to waste another 60 minutes. 

 

I was so not wanting to get on with stripping back the underseal on the inside of these bedsides. But I also knew that if I “fixed” it with more underseal, it would always poke me in the eye, every time I walked by. 

 

Even taking a “drone shot” over the job was me, wasting time. 

 

3 hours 45 minutes later I packed up tools and shut shop. Having done only 1/2 of one bedside, my faithful 25 year old or more, 1600 watt B&D heatgun went to sleep quietly. Thankfully I had a reserve, Bosch 1400 watt probably a discarded gift from Mickey or some joblot of used tools, bought in order to get something else.  The Bosch is amazingly frustrating to use. That 200 watt difference is massive on this already slow job. 

 

So by halfway, which had included another 20 minutes with a knotwheel doing a section I had previously missed, I called it a day. Not a lot visually, but it’s a super slow job with so many curves and grooves to do. 

 

Pizza, onion rings and curly fries and a new to me, Kraken, Black Cherry rum with Pepsi Max (thanks to John my old lodger ) 

 

Watched some YouTube videos and bed early. 

 

Pics. 

 

.

[grizz]

So yesterday my 30 year old 1600watt heatgun quit on my. The 1400watt reserve was noticeably less efficient. 

So after finishing the rest of the first bedside stripping I came inside and looked for a better replacement. 

 

Hmmmmm not a lot of inspiration but I found a 2000 watt Dewalt corded unit for sale @£50.00 (checking prices showed £88.00 plus shipping for new.  I messaged the seller, yes available, yes offer accepted, I offered £35.00 he accepted £40.00 

So at 5.30 I collected it. 

 

Came home…….

 

Brand new, unused. 

Adjustable speed, temperature 

Dewalt 

 

Some days you lose, some days you win. 

 

Today I felt the universe smiled on me. 

 

 

I also completed stripping the whole of the drivers side befside. 

 

It has left me feeling despondent. 

 

Seriously. 

 

Short video shows what I have. 

 

I NEED SOME HELP AND ADVICE PLEASE. 

 

Comments like Ooops it looks bad, appreciated, advice on how to get the shape back…… really appreciated. 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[grizz]

More stuff acquired for the other build. 
 

 

[93fxdl]

Since the bedside is only curved in one direction, would it be possible to cut away the whole sections that are warped and use  steel sheet to create replacement sections?  

Yes a lot of welding but all the creases would be gone

Ttfn Glenn 

[Shandylegs]

Can't offer any practical advice, as deep down you know what's already ahead (loads of time spent for what seems like little gain 🫣). 

What I can give is some remote moral support - when it's complete, you know it will have been done correctly with no corners cut!

Also looking forward to seeing the side project progress. Step through reverse trike 🤣

[Westbay]

Without seeing the panel in the flesh - I think a mix of what @93fxdl said and the approach you took with the doors and front wings - go for some easy quick 'wins' to build confidence to tackle the more complex areas.

It all looks a bit overwhelming because it's a biiiggg panel , but, " how do you eat an elephant? - one bite at a time"

There's almost 😊nothing you can do to make it worse - "Things can only get better" 

 

[grizz]

47 minutes ago, 93fxdl said:

Since the bedside is only curved in one direction, would it be possible to cut away the whole sections that are warped and use  steel sheet to create replacement sections?  

Yes a lot of welding but all the creases would be gone

Ttfn Glenn 

Sorry,  you have not got it right. 
 

These bedsides actually curve on horizontal and vertical planes. 
 

Add to that, that the narrow and pinch forward toward the cab. 
 

You don’t see it in the video. 
 

It is optically fooling the eye. 
 

And welding as much as that is bound to  introduce more heat warping.