♻️ Grizz’s ~~ ASTRO Van 🚙 Renault SCENIC 1.5dci 🚙 1966 Chevy C10 🚘 1991 Oldsmobile 88 🚙 8/5/26 FORGIVE ME I HAVE SINNED

6,591 · April 16

1 hour ago, grizz said:

Well gang…..

Good news or bad news first?

Let me know.

.

Picture 🟰 1000 words

April 16

2 hours ago, grizz said:

I would say that you would be surprised at how well you can recover the roof for not a lot of money.

Where in the country are you?

West Midlands

6,591 · April 16

7 minutes ago, Carl1981 said:

West Midlands

I was going to say, and the offer is still open…..

Come down here and get your hands dirty.

Easy.

6,591 · April 16

1 hour ago, grizz said:

Picture 🟰 1000 words

Soooooo

I took the Oldsmobile for an impromptu MOT test.

And it PASSED. !!

Fresh MOT to 15 May 2027

My friend Zack was going to change the wheels for me at their tyre shop but his daughter got sick at school so he was called away.

I think I will just do it tomorrow.

6,591 · April 16

Back to Thursday night.

My long suffering friend PaulY and I have regular chats, usually when he is driving to the station to collect his daughter or others.

On Thursday he asked me about the reveal and what my plans were with the Freelander three spoke wheels that are resident in Shropshire.

I have still not been able get them down to Kent from Sandford.

So he started picking at my mind and wallet.

Doing man maths.

I may protest but in truth it was always written in the stars that I would have these wheels.

I had contacted the seller on 2nd March to discuss possibly making an offer but she told me to bugger off in no uncertain terms. I would have done the same. These wheels first came on my radar in early December and had been advertised for £750.00 for a while at that point. So on Friday morning 10th April, early morning, I sent the seller this offer to purchase the wheels if they were still available: “

Hi @Caitlan

Would you consider an offer of cash for the wheels, collected today if they are still available?

I am in Allhallows, so not too far for quick collection”

She took her time to reply (I actually thought she had decided to block me because of the previous communication 6 weeks before)

At 13.30 I got the following reply:

“Hi Rian, I’ve spoken to my partner and he is willing to sell to you today. What time was you thinking of collecting please?”

A few more messages exchanged, I fetched the cash from the safe and went over to collect the wheels a few hours later.

Joe, the seller knew that he had wheels that make good money when you have a buyer, but told me they had tried to sell since before November.

Old style wheels and no center caps made them much less than ideal.

Still, these are the most expensive wheels I’ve ever bought, except for the total on my S10 wheels that was £900.00 by the time I got them fitted.

The great news about these wheels was the center bore, that varies between 66 and 74mm were the bigger size, the Oldsmobile has a 70.3mm CB.

So I just needed to buy some spigot rings and 20 collared wheel nuts. (@mr big would sort this out for me.)

No center caps made it a bit of a thing, but more about this later.

So I paid the man, loaded the wheels in the Scenic and headed home to continue unmasking the car.

I also gloated by myself and thanked PaulY for having his fingers in my walket again.

The tyres as you can see are very good too.

Friends…… we need them sometimes.

Pictures.

.

6,591 · April 17

So with my automotive wet dream realised in buying the wheels, I had a few things to deal with.

First……. They were grubby, oxidised, dirty.

Many people would not notice it. I had of course. So cleaning them up was my priority.

Second…… Alloy wheel nuts. I needed to find some and buy them to attach the wheels. Originals? Definitely not.

Third……. Spigot rings. To reduce center bore to 70.3mm because these are hub centric wheels.

Fourth……. Centre caps. I knew they were unobtainable or criminally expensive. So 3D printing, adapting others, making some were alternatives.

Maybe some jobs could wait till after dinner. Others……??? A day or two

So I left the wheels alone while I continued with the car.

Two were silver backed, two were black.

So I decided to paint the rears of the remaining two black as well. Looks much better.

Saturday afternoon at just about exactly 13.00 the job of polishing started.

I used Autosol metal polish, done so all my life. It goes a very long way.

Once the ally was buffed up and oxidation removed, I followed up with three applications of Poorboys wheel sealant.

I had used it on the S10’s ZQ8 alloys when they were refurbished. And also on the Astro vans Billet Center Line alloys once I had polished them back into life.

I did a short video of the wheels’ cleanup for those interested in that with some explaining.

VIDEO HERE

Photos probably won’t get you to feel what my hands felt like, but you can see the pain is worth the process.

More about points 2, 3, 4 later.

.

April 17

Thanks for the tip on wheel sealant, I have lots of dull alloy that I struggle to keep up with .

Next time you have oxidation to shift try wire wool or scotchbrite with soapy water, will leave a dull surface ready for the mighty solvol

I was told years ago the wheels make or break a cars appearance

Totally not my style but this is becoming awesome

Ttfn Glenn

That's me £14.50 worse off now, but have some sealer on its way from the bay of E

6,591 · April 17

Went for a drive.

Took some pictures.

.

6,591 · April 18

Few more little things to do.

@mrbig sent me some collared wheel nuts and the spigot rings for adapting centre bore were delivered.

Wheels not having center caps is obviously not ideal.

Looking at various options online, Aliexpress, which I have not used before has some 150mm center caps.

I also ordered some center bore mini caps at 75mm to use initially until I figured out next steps.

Another small job, two of the alloys were silver backed and two were black. So I decided to paint them black too.

Much better.

I ordered a new aluminium front license plate to fit.

I know everyone has an opinion and the eagle eyed amongst you will see that it is slightly smaller than the original.

Aesthetically it will please me more.

Legally……. ??

It’s a scooter sized legal plate.

I fitted that this week as well.

Pictures

.

April 18

Since you are heading into the custom plate world, why not go the whole way?

https://ebay.us/m/Qw6g3l

Or could your USA contracts get some genuine ones with your reg on

Ttfn Glenn

6,591 · April 18

44 minutes ago, 93fxdl said:

Since you are heading into the custom plate world, why not go the whole way?

https://ebay.us/m/Qw6g3l

Or could your USA contracts get some genuine ones with your reg on

Ttfn Glenn

I like that.

Ahhhh bugger.

I am not spending more so you can order and have them delivered

I would have gone bike size up front and regular out back

April 18

Maybe with your DIY skills, you could cut and shut some genuine plates from your stash

Ttfn Glenn

The phantom wallet emptier

6,591 · April 19

Fitting those bloody wheels

Who has been waiting patiently??

After getting let down by a child getting sick at school and forcing her dad to collect her, I decided that waiting till Tuesday for a tyre shop conveniently to fit my wheels, just didn’t fit into my impatient personality.

So I recorded it on video.

I made it short.

Watch it.

https://youtu.be/HOX5vyXYvkY?si=mFCIzKnqLetkvfHP

I had started the day with doing an edit of 81 minutes of footage into something those who don’t watch the videos will never realise or understand.

Still 90 minutes of editing becomes 35 minutes.

And prayers for subscribers to push me over the 1000 subscriber number.

1000

Back to the wheels at hand.

Lifted one side and swapped the wheels, added spigot rings to downsize center bores and fitted the new to me lug nuts from @mrbig

Dropped the car…….

PANICKED.

It’s so tall.

Too much air and light.

Went around, did the other side.

Then moved the Oldsmobile to the front.

Video quality compromised by loads of traffic out front.

Car needs lowering.

Sad fact.

More about the altitude adjustment numbers coming later.

Stand by, and go look at what you think needs doing.

.

April 19

Are the new rims the same diameter as the old ones?

If so, swap the tyres around. The higher profile will make the arch gap disappear again, and will ride much nicer.

Failing that, if the cracked tyre in your picture is one of the ones on the new rims, then they’re probably well past their sell by date. Replace them with something with the bigger sidewall.

You’ve done enough work on this already, you don’t need to start cocking about lowering it. That nearly always means loads more money and effort than you first think, just to end up with something that drives and rides worse than it did before you started…

6,591 · April 19

28 minutes ago, GlenAnderson said:

Are the new rims the same diameter as the old ones?

If so, swap the tyres around. The higher profile will make the arch gap disappear again, and will ride much nicer.

Failing that, if the cracked tyre in your picture is one of the ones on the new rims, then they’re probably well past their sell by date. Replace them with something with the bigger sidewall.

You’ve done enough work on this already, you don’t need to start cocking about lowering it. That nearly always means loads more money and effort than you first think, just to end up with something that drives and rides worse than it did before you started…

The first three are whats on the alloys now.

Cracked tyre was one only of original 15” tyres.

I will also do another calculation for 225/65 17

alloyd are only 7J

6,591 · April 19

31 minutes ago, GlenAnderson said:

Are the new rims the same diameter as the old ones?

If so, swap the tyres around. The higher profile will make the arch gap disappear again, and will ride much nicer.

Failing that, if the cracked tyre in your picture is one of the ones on the new rims, then they’re probably well past their sell by date. Replace them with something with the bigger sidewall.

You’ve done enough work on this already, you don’t need to start cocking about lowering it. That nearly always means loads more money and effort than you first think, just to end up with something that drives and rides worse than it did before you started…

And with a 65 profile

3,119 · April 19

On 17/04/2026 at 16:52, grizz said:

Went for a drive.

Took some pictures.

.

I've been away for a few days and catching up on your escapades...

Well done, great job on the paint - on know you had some issues. Looks like you are thoroughly enjoying the "beast".

6,591 · April 20

12 hours ago, auntiemaryscanary said:

I've been away for a few days and catching up on your escapades...

Well done, great job on the paint - on know you had some issues. Looks like you are thoroughly enjoying the "beast".

Thank you.

I was saying @GlenAnderson last night when he called me, that I really want him to drive it.
it is that good.

Paint problems are probably 100% my fault.

So much was learned.

But will these lessons be adhered to next time.

6,591 · April 20

So I took the car through to the front for a few side on pictures.

Then took it for a drive to allow everything to settle down.

Came home and made some measurements.

Also below is a BEFORE and AFTER pic

Pics below of course.

https://youtu.be/HOX5vyXYvkY?si=xaL5BjE0CIsHmAZY

.

April 20

Yes, as we discussed, getting some higher profile tyres on there will sort out the aesthetics without ruining how it drives. It’ll ride much nicer on them too.

6,591 · April 20

Center caps.

I am surprised nobody has offered to print some on their 3D printer yet.

Maybe some interesting logo on there, you know…… the sort of thing that would complete the wheels in a Grizzification way.

So with my searches for a smooth, domed type of center cap with 150mm diameter and about 7mm depth, all coming up empty handed, I decided to go make some myself.

But before that, I had ordered some 75mm center bore caps.

I also tried some coffee bottle lids that I had stashed for size.

If I wanted to leave the wheel nuts exposed, these would have been perfect. Glued in place with small blobs of Sikaflex type glue like the stainless bowls were before.

Pictures below.

But making my own was a nice little adventure to try out.

I was going to use my wood lathe and some thick plywood and probably 1.5mm ally sheet metal that I had laying about.

Scavenging around my garage, I managed to find a bit of ally, which would be just enough.

I also found a small bit of 18mm plywood that was filled with nails, staples and screws. Obviously used on more than one job before. Once cleaned up it could be added to my bits needed to proceed with the design and making up of the bits I needed.

In 1977 at school, I started doing technical drawing as a subject, which I did for four more years until I left school at the end of 1980 to join the military.

I still have all of my draughting tools and this instrument set.

The outside shows that even as a 13/14 year old kid, I wanted to be or at least live in America.

So I started to prepare my materials.

The wood lathe allows for a 110mm radius or 220mm diameter to be spun and worked.

So the corners of the ply was removed to allow the ally plates to be screwed down “Safely” and the ally plates, similarly lost their corners.

Materials prepped……..

Time to make a coffee.

Of course.

.

6,591 · April 20

So I waltzed into the shed to try create these things.

First step, find tools, recall how they work.

Get the plywood screwed to the backing plate.

Three different chisels later, and we had a hollowed out section.

So I screwed an ally plate to it.

Took a hammer handle, some bees wax polish and started forcing the ally plate into the inverted dome.

Followed by a sharp cutting chisel to separate it out.

Two of the discs did try to decapitate me in their bids for freedom.

So once I had made the four discs, I could try them for size and fit.

Obviously there is cleaning and sanding to get done.

Fortunately I had used that drum sander before cutting the plates so the finish was already textured and ready ultimately for paint.

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♻️ Grizz’s ~~ ASTRO Van 🚙 Renault SCENIC 1.5dci 🚙 1966 Chevy C10 🚘 1991 Oldsmobile 88 🚙 8/5/26 FORGIVE ME I HAVE SINNED

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