Grizz’s OCD Awesome ASTRO Van 🚙 Megane SCENIC 1.5dci 🚙 MX5 JEEP For Sale.🚨 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 USA Road Trip

[grizz]

 

Random little jobs. 

 

Cut the grass. 

 

Went to Sallys place and removed and painted all the hardware and screws on her garden gate. 

 

She doesn’t allow me to work or paint her fences etc. 

 

This year it’s going grey. 

 

So I disassembled it all, added three coats of fence paint under and around the hardware. 

 

Then reassembled it all and stole the sole beer in her fridge as reward. 

 

Looks better to me. 

 

 

 

.

 

 

[grizz]

So the Scenic. 

 

I am enjoying it every time I use it. 

 

Earning its keep is part of its profile and purpose. 

 

Funny that then…..

I Was chatting to this tractor driver who cuts all the verges for 20 minutes yesterday and had given him water and Pepsi as I had previously made the offer of using my toilet when he passes or a drink if he needed it. 

 

As I was about to leave he came back over the street and asked if I could help start the tractor as he had left all the lights on while we spoke. 

 

Small thing, but always happy to help people out. 

 

And the Scenic is earning its proverbial keep. 

 

Then headed over to Sallys to work on the garden gate. 

 

 

Speaking of Sally. 

 

Her 5 year old grandson continues to grow more capable and fearless in equal measure. 

When not on the MX track, BMX will do. And of course the rest of the time he is just a little 5 year old boy living life fearlessly. 

 

Life is Good !! 

 

.

[MrBig]

3 minutes ago, grizz said:

 

So the Scenic. 

 

I am enjoying it every time I use it. 

 

Earning its keep is part of its profile and purpose. 

 

Funny that then…..

I Was chatting to this tractor driver who cuts all the verges for 20 minutes yesterday and had given him water and Pepsi as I had previously made the offer of using my toilet when he passes or a drink if he needed it. 

 

As I was about to leave he came back over the street and asked if I could help start the tractor as he had left all the lights on while we spoke. 

 

Small thing, but always happy to help people out. 

 

And the Scenic is earning its proverbial keep. 

 

Then headed over to Sallys to work on the garden gate. 

 

 

Speaking of Sally. 

 

Her 5 year old grandson continues to grow more capable and fearless in equal measure. 

When not on the MX track, BMX will do. And of course the rest of the time he is just a little 5 year old boy living life fearlessly. 

 

Life is Good !! 

 

.

Great stuff. That lad has some skills! 😎

[grizz]

Done. 

[grizz]

John, one of my former lodgers was in Cyprus with his son and daughter. He has a high limb amputation but removes the prosthesis when out in the waterpark with the kids. Managed to slip on his crutches when going to use the toilet and broke his humerus (upper arm bone) high next to his shoulder, and damaged his stump badly enough not to even be able to now fit the prosthetic to his stump due to swelling and pain.

Not an ideal situation to be when you live on the first floor once back home.

His daughter started driving this year, zero mechanical knowledge except where to put petrol and lock car up.

She took the car to a family owned garage about a small puddle of water seen on the floor.

The result was a quote below.

So John asked me to go look and verify the list.

I am not a mechanic. But I went over to where his daughter lives.

Looking at everything listed I struggled to find most of these faults that had passed an MOT in February.

But, I am not a mechanic.

Ultimately I suggested replacing the winter tyres up front as I could not find the quoted Damage after looking twice. But a tyre company will have a better chance to identify it. Also, winter tyres in summer are not ideal.

One brake disc was scored. Brakes work fine.

The rest of the faults were beyond me.

Brake fluid was full, radiator fluid topped up by less than 500ml in the reservoir.

 

On the way out, I stopped at Morrisons to buy John a bottle of Caramel Vodka for John as he likes trying different things.

 

When I got back to my Scenic, I found it had been hit on the rear fender/bumper and the hitman/woman/idiot was parked next to me.

 

The damage to my car doesn’t look like much because plastic bounces back, but it was clearly enough to fold around his bumper. 

 

I was parked distinctly centre in my spot.

 

Really pissed off, I left a bunch of PostIt notes on the car including some nasty comments and left.

 

Insurance companies are not interested in paying or settling disputes, and the idiot that must have felt the impact could have been a 6’8” testosterone filled ham head.

 

Just angers me that the whole world has evolved to this.

 

If you recognise the car……. Pass the message on.

[Jenson Velcro]

Not sure whether to like this post for your help towards others or dislike it for the asshole in the car park.

[grizz]

19 minutes ago, Jenson Velcro said:

Not sure whether to like this post for your help towards others or dislike it for the asshole in the car park.

Your comment gets a solid 💚

[grizz]

Saw this monster out on the road. 
 

I follow two camper/adventure/overland/travel channels on YouTube 

True Blue Travellers (clever, funny, great watch) Currently building a 6x6 Pinzgauer camper  Brilliant channel  

And also………

 

The OutFit (eye candy/bush mechanic/does it the hard way) Currently in Sweden building a Volvo 6x6 Overlander rig. Kiwi guy, French girl plus kid. 
Introducing the new build. 
 

 

 

Anyway. 
 

I watch a fair chunk of YouTube videos on Tiny homes, Off Grid, camper vans, conversions etc. 

 

One thing I have realised is that as always there are two sides to every story. 
 

But on the whole, locals hate vans, travellers, adventurers and the like and behave like idiots to them.  NIMBY-ism at it’s very worst. 
 

So when I saw this rig, I was blown away by its sheer size, and it’s not the biggest of its breed. I also put a PostIt note on the door, inviting the driver/owner to use my washing machine, bathroom and any facilities I may have. 
He messaged me later in the evening to say he found a stealth spot and would be headed home by the weekend. 
 

I love this rig. 
 

Scenic parked behind it. 

[Westbay]

Interesting, makes the usual 'builders van' conversions look a bit tame ! 😊

[grizz]

20 hours ago, Westbay said:

Interesting, makes the usual 'builders van' conversions look a bit tame ! 😊

It certainly is intimidating even just walking around it. 
 

Imagine navigating that anywhere 

 

 

Facebook remembers stuff.
 

13 years ago I was driving my 1963 Ford Taunus Transit. With my ex wife in the passenger seat and her awesome dad checking out the van. 
 

I never regret in the true sense selling my cars, bikes etc but it was a nice van for sure. 
 

I do love a commercial vehicle or functional car. 

[grizz]

Last night just before going to sleep I watched some random videos on FB. 

 

One came up with cats fighting and George shot off the windowsill behind the curtains where he had settled. 

 

On my bedside cabinet, back and forth over me. He rarely gets on the bed.  

Trying to identify where the cat was. 

 

Clearly distressed him. Eyes wide open, pupils dilated. 

 

I did laugh but turned it off. 

 

He settled on the end of the bed where he never goes.  

 

.

 

 

[grizz]

This morning he is like a shadow again. 

 

Bathroom, kitchen, lounge, deck…….

 

Follows me and watches. 

 

Amazing tail too. 

[grizz]

A dog filled weekend.

Never happy with just one ball, the more balls the happier Bonnie is.

I also removed some broken cement slabs to Sally’s shed and relaid with recycled pavers.

Even there, Bonnie helped, and at times I had 4 balls laying where I was working. She also insisted on sniffing and digging where I had removed the old pieces of paver.

Her nose is super keen.

I think it is an improvement on what was there.

I need to take 15 more stones and to remove the bags of topsoil so I can complete the job.

Another Small job done that makes a difference.

[grizz]

Came back today to do some more after getting more paving blocks/bricks as I was not happy with my results yesterday despite Sally being happy with it. 

Brought a bucket of sharp sand and another 16 and a half cut bricks.  

Dug out and levelled some more, chipped away the cut brick to fig over the root stem of the shrub, laid plastic and sharp sand followed by the bricks and compacting them. Cracked two, thankfully got spares and finished off the job. 

Much better in my opinion. 

Hope she likes it. 

. 

[grizz]

No lists here  

 

Just do stuff that I see needs doing. 

 

After the paving was done the plan was to head home, shower and go food shopping, but I had a coffee then decided to clean up some bricks frher ex’s garage (he ownd a double garage and parking space for two card with a terribly built wall that is crumbling bit by bit.  Local kids make a point of damaging and vandalising it as well. 

So I cleaned the bricks off, pit the rubble in the communal driveway as if is potholed too and packed the bricks elsewhere. 

 

Another job neither she, nor her 23 year old son who is part owner of the house would do because they hate the ex. 

 

To me, the benefit of doing it, is greater than the size of dick he is.  

 

Not a big job but all the better than having a pile of rubble in the corner impairing your parking. 

 

 

.

[grizz]

I spent some time on Saturday polishing the complete drivers side and roof of the Scenic. 

 

Previously I had done the fender and got the front and rear plus passenger side all squarer up. 

 

Took some time as it always does but the difference is easily noticeable. 

 

I need to get to repainting the door handles as well. Their paint is pretty damaged. 

 

Still in two minds as to whether I colour match the grey/gray painted bumper inserts and door strips. 

 

In the meantime I’m enjoying this car more and more every day. 

 

 

.

[grizz]

Brace yourself.

Based outside St Louis. 

We will be travelling around some.

Craig and I will have no schedule of plan, except to see interesting things and meet people like us. 

Note the time between submission and approval of Visa.

I love efficient work.

[Westbay]

Bad Boys, Axel F and GRIZZ + CRAIGRK - had to happen ! 😂

[grizz]

While we're on a high!....

 

Took advantage of a lull in proceedings at work to have a look at the broken compressor that [USER=8280]@Mr Bean[/USER] very kindly offered up in the 'free' section and which I picked up from him on Monday.

 

With nowhere else to store it it's been living in the back of the van.

 

 

Mr Bean suspected the switch, as it had made a click but then nothing happened. Fuse in the plug had been replaced but still no joy.

 

As it happens, I have a spare switch from when I snapped the manifold on my compressor a few years back.

 

Initial side by side comparison suggested a match.

 

 

 

Happy with that, I decided to run a continuity test before starting to remove stuff.

 

I didn't get any pics as I'm not an octopus 

 

However, the multimeter doesn't lie, and it was saying the switch was fine.

 

It also said the fuse in the plug was fine.

 

It said that the cable from the plug to the switch was fine.

 

So, everything pointed to where the switched side of the cable went to.

 

Took the cover off only to find what I assume is a trip switch.

 

 

Pushed that in and plugged it into the mains.

 

Success 

 

 

That's as far as my testing went as the airline connectors were removed from this compressor and put onto Mr Bean's new one so there was no way of seeing if it was compressing and holding air, but there's no reason why it shouldn't be as it was working fine before.

 

 

I had a look in my compressor 'bag o spares' and found one connector

 

 

I also found my airline sealant

 

 

Decided not to fit, just in case this is not Grizz's preferred airline connector type, but it's all packed and ready.

 

From skip contender to working tool for pennies and ten minutes with some screwdrivers and a multimeter 

 

Life is Good™

Free cash is good. 

[grizz]

Mate @Craigrk is doing a brutal cull on his excessive fleet. 
 

He will share information with anyone who wants to buy this, no questions and drive it off or onto a trailer. 
 

So its on almost new tyres, back on Nissan alloy wheels. 
 

I would suspect he will accept under £500 but more than the £365 he was offered as a scrapper. 
 

PM him or comment on here. 
 

I think MOT is short. 
 

Go look online. 

[grizz]

I am 100% not sure but I think the Micra is also or will be going up for sale too. 
 

Currently his son is driving it in Ireland. 
 

If interested, PM Craig and ask him if interested in buying it. 
 

[SilverMachine]

i do like micras, almost as much as micras like to rust! that one looks rather tidy though! has that sill had a patch or is it some jacking damage?

[grizz]

2 minutes ago, SilverMachine said:

i do like micras, almost as much as micras like to rust! that one looks rather tidy though! has that sill had a patch or is it some jacking damage?

 

This was what was done. 
 

Fixing a previous bodge. 

 

 

[grizz]

8 minutes ago, SilverMachine said:

i do like micras, almost as much as micras like to rust! that one looks rather tidy though! has that sill had a patch or is it some jacking damage?

More

[grizz]

14 minutes ago, SilverMachine said:

i do like micras, almost as much as micras like to rust! that one looks rather tidy though! has that sill had a patch or is it some jacking damage?

 

[grizz]

Just spoke to Craig on the phone. 
 

He is headed home and will probably get there by 9.30

Knackered. 
 

He will respond to PM’s etc tomorrow when he gets up. 

[CraigRK]

12 hours ago, SilverMachine said:

i do like micras, almost as much as micras like to rust! that one looks rather tidy though! has that sill had a patch or is it some jacking damage?

Grizz has answered about the repairs.

I bought it for my son to use in Belfast as small, but the lad is heading back to England at the end of the month so this can go.  Look up MOT history and make me an offer.  It should be back here in the next week or so when he comes to get his Audi A4 (which is what I’ve been driving for the last year) and trailer to bring his shite back.

Once I have it back here well pop up a for sale/roffle thread if there is interest.  

[grizz]

 

Cracking day out over at Grizz Towers today.

 

Compressor was loaded and lashed down, and some of the 'Grizz Pile' in the form of Biscoff biscuits which cash and carry had on their 'clearance' shelf. Those that know Rian may know the story, but I always associate these with him.

 

 

The rest of the Grizz Pile was modest. Some of the carpenter's pencils that I'd bought ten of for £1 at a car boot, and a couple of number plates.

 

 

Got lucky, they were all new to him so a score. Again, car boot finds at the right price.

 

So off I went on what was a wet day.

 

 

The official handing over of the goods ceremony was performed. This is a solemn time honoured tradition which we, of course, took with the utmost seriousness

 

 

 

Cups of tea and coffee followed along with some good chats and a test drive to listen out for some knocks that had appeared on Prozac II (don't think it's got a name yet?).

 

The bastard only went and took my to Uncle Bob's place.

 

 

I fell in love with almost everything there and wanted to take it all home and do something with it, but thankfully I don't have space for 34 tractors....

 

This little beauty however....

 

 

Once back at HQ we pooled our pile of compressor odds and sods and managed to fit and seal two new connectors to the manifold and the final testing of the compressor took place.

 

As expected, it fired up and reached pressure without issue. The only other work it required was a tightening of the switch cap as I hadn't done that for whatever reason.

 

One fully working compressor rescued from the tip, cost to fix £0. Value = priceless.

 

Thanks again Mr Bean, it was a generous donation and created a good excuse for a catch up and a natter with Rian 

 

Life is, indeed, good.

 

[grizz]

https://autoshite.com/topic/59355-isuzu-rodeo-30-td-denver-pickup-experience-and-opinion/?do=getNewComment

[grizz]

Reply from elsewhere. 
 

 

Rot like an old Austin .... The newer facelifts were factory undersealed and protected but these earlier ones weren't protected at all before or after import unless owner did it. 

Other than the rot. .. the running gears bomb proof there's a guy local to is buys all the rotten ones and uses them as farm trucks until they disintegrate .... They all still run but most are snapped in 2