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

[rattlecan]

On 31/03/2024 at 07:26, grizz said:

Every time you think it’s all over, you trip over something else. 

 

A 14 year hoard of nuts and bolts, washers, brackets, hinges, wood screws of every conceivable kind, and many more small items was a full day’s worth of sorting out. Hard to believe?

 

You never saw my hoard. 

 

Ask any previous visitor to Grizz Towers. 

 

Cake tin after cake tin of imperial, metric and unidentified fasteners and random stuff was poured out and sorted through. 

 

Keep in mind that I also ha md to create and rearrange all the storage space and containers. 

 

One thing I did, with a heavy heart was to jettison all the traditional wood screws that were stored in various locations and containers. Modern Pozi-Drive type, self cutting screws are just so much quicker and easier to use and I certainly don’t create artisan level work any more. 

 

I didn’t take any photos of this at the start, but trust me……

 

It was a lot worse than that. 

 

 

 

Eventually I also cleared the “electronics table” where most of the Rezin Rockit nuts, bolts, washers and electronics plus paints etc lived for three years. 

 

Could be cleared of a few more bits. 

 

 

Looking at this lot, it is hard to believe that this is the result of a days work unless I mention that stuff found it’s way to possibly as many as 10 destinations from the sorting table. 

 

 

There still are jobs to do as part of the clear out and preparation for the C10 build but it’s not easy to understand unless you’re actually here on site. 

 

The cash fund that started with an imaginary target of £500.00 in junk sales has made it up to £1670.00 so far. 

 

Yesterday I spent just over a third of it on two new mattresses for my lodger’s bedrooms. 

 

Possibly a better investment than buying another car for now, especially that red Camaro. 

 

It still blows my mind that despite low prices and cheap selling of excess junk, this amount of money has come in over four weeks. 

 

 

Coming back from town, I had offered Salky our usual 3-6 monthly treat of a quick cheap Turkish lunch, she declined and asked for a McDonalds Biscoff Frappe and something random to eat. 

 

Now McDonalds is something I don’t eat as a habit but I have to remind myself once a year why I don’t eat anything from these “restaurants “ 

 

Crispy Chicken Ceasar wraps and caramel Frappes eaten in the carpark like the common people. 

 

Dodged a bullet with the heartburn too. 

 

 

Came home after this and Sally went home to work in her garden and I started on a two day job that I do yearly. 

 

Spent 4 hours out there hurting. 

Yes heartburn, it’s a bastard & something that seems to appear at, let’s say a ‘certain age’

Nexium is my go to weekend friend for over indulgence 😀 Tesco do their own brand, which seems to work just as well too

[grizz]

20 hours ago, rattlecan said:

Yes heartburn, it’s a bastard & something that seems to appear at, let’s say a ‘certain age’

Nexium is my go to weekend friend for over indulgence 😀 Tesco do their own brand, which seems to work just as well too

A former colleague sent me a tiny bottle of Nexium once. 
I used it only once or maybe twice but brilliant results. 

[jim89]

1 hour ago, grizz said:

A former colleague sent me a tiny bottle of Nexium once. 
I used it only once or maybe twice but brilliant results. 

My ex used to swig Gaviscon out of the jumbo bottle during pregnancy 

[grizz]

17 hours ago, jim89 said:

My ex used to swig Gaviscon out of the jumbo bottle during pregnancy 

I guess I have never been pregnant so its got to be very valid. 
 

Worst is waking at 01.00 in the morning with a huge reflux.  

[jim89]

14 minutes ago, grizz said:

I guess I have never been pregnant so its got to be very valid. 

I'm told you'd remember if you had 🙂

Reflux sounds distinctly unpleasant 😢

🤞🏻 I get away with it for as long as possible 

[grizz]

So the Caddy continues to deliver great service both as a cheap daily (cost me £1200.00 as it stands)  and as a load lugger and functional tool. 
 

Amazingly I saw it early, and bought by it mid October. 
Making it 6 months ago. 
So in doing basic man maths, (which usually includes insurance and fuel) the car as it stands on the driveway cost me £200.00 per month. If you include insurance pro-rated to 6 months and diesel it probably comes to an unscientific £250.00 per month. 
The longer and more  it works here, the cheaper it effectively becomes. 
 

So a tip run to dispose of my two lodger spare room double bed mattresses and two large TV’s, two TV stands, cardboard and polystyrene resulted in me scavenging out of the metal disposal bin (with permission, in the UK where I live, you can be prosecuted for removing a paperclip.) a small rotten kids size cast metal garden bench. 
 

Bench as seen and into the Caddy before I got rid of the mattresses. 
 

 

Back home I quickly unloaded my treasure and took stock of what I had. 
Hmmmmmmmm……?? 
 

Why do I do this every time? 
 

 

Coffee and a digestive, chat with a buddy, check email etc  

Then headed out to go play  

Disassembling with caution as its old and I really don’t like breaking stuff like this  

Also headed into my secret wood store to find some correct wood. Something the right thickness, texture etc  I love old bed frames, IKEA shelving  and such as its already planed, smooth and usually good quality, so the Caddy could pick those up when you drive by  

 

After preparing the wood I cleaned up the rest of the frame and proceeded with etch primer and then painted the parts  

Originally I had some dull blue to use but the can (was 50p years ago on an end of production sale)  kept failing  

I eventually switched to a can of burgundy, which actually turned out to be a good choice  

 

 

Overnight the paint dried nicely. 

So yesterday I continued with assembly 

And this was the loose assembly. 
 

 

And finally completed. 

Looking a lot better than 18 hours before. 
 

 

Stepping back, I noticed that there was more to do. 
 

So another piece of wood liberated from the store. 
 

My £20.00 bootfair router from a weekend away about 10 years ago came out, along with a sander Mickey threw out years ago. 
 

So I made and detailed a name plate for the grandkids. Sally’s, not mine. 
Harry is 5 years old and Alfie 9 months old. 
 

After a quick practice session I free handed the names. 
 

drilled holes in the sides just for detail  

Painted…….

 

 

And finally the 24 hour turn around  

If I were to value my time, this becomes an extremely expensive bench for a couple of kids that are not even related to me  

 

 

Delivered to Sallys place  

Now she wants one in adult size as well  

Looks great with the sand box I fixed last week  

 

Not sure what to do today  

 

[SilverMachine]

excellelent find there! i have been thinking id grab an old bench like that for a while now, but not spotted one yet! so far today the weather looks pants, so ill check the emails and  ebay before jacking up the aldi to see if i can diagnose what bearing is singing like a weekend karaeoke warrior princess.... no wibbles on the wheels tho which is odd.. so going to spin them individually (the singing starts at about <20mph)

[loserone]

36 minutes ago, grizz said:

Not sure what to do today

 

36 minutes ago, grizz said:

she wants one in adult size as wel

👀

[grizz]

23 hours ago, SilverMachine said:

excellelent find there! i have been thinking id grab an old bench like that for a while now, but not spotted one yet! so far today the weather looks pants, so ill check the emails and  ebay before jacking up the aldi to see if i can diagnose what bearing is singing like a weekend karaeoke warrior princess.... no wibbles on the wheels tho which is odd.. so going to spin them individually (the singing starts at about <20mph)

 

Rezin Rockit needs a front wheel bearing. 
 

Job for another day. 

[grizz]

23 hours ago, loserone said:

 

👀

 

Got busy. 
 

Did stuff. 
 

Nice day. 

[grizz]

Cut the grass at number 1 position yesterday. 
 

I tend to keep to setting number 2 throughout winter to keep it tidy. 
 

I also washed and polished the Astro van as I was heading out to a late afternoon (4.30 onwards) car gathering about 30 miles from here. 
 

I also had some multi ton lifting straps to deliver to mate Darren, so the van was being used as a van. 
 

I keep saying it but I do love this thing  

 

Pleasure to own, drive and look at  

 

 

 

Got to go fill it up before leaving, despite still showing a 1/4 tank of petrol. My dad brought me up not to leave on any trip with less than 1/2 a tank and to replace a battery the first time it refused to start a car.

Do remember that this is an American commercial vehicle that would have been destined to do loads of long distance work  so a 30 liter fuel tank would not have been needed  

 

 

The trip there and back was pretty good, van loving to hover right around the legal speed limit,

I have had this dancing Elvis for years  and he made me chuckle when the road conditions made him move about erratically as only Elvis did  

Sad reflection on the state of our roads  

And also points a finger straight at local councils who continue to squander our taxes on non important things while allowing the infrastructure to fall apart  

 

I made a short video, including some pics of the cars that came out, despite the crappy weather  

There was a relatively large contingent of Toyota Celicas and Corollas. Mostly rough, but all someone’s pride and joy  

VIDEO LINK  

Today is Sunday, not yet decided what slow job to get going in this morning  

 

Thanks for checking in and any comments  

 

 

[SilverMachine]

12 hours ago, grizz said:

 

Rezin Rockit needs a front wheel bearing. 
 

Job for another day. 

after jacking the aldi up, and both rear wheels dragging seems the brakes were causing the noise, been at work today and am there again tomorow so hopefully have some half decent weather tues to get it on axle stands and try and see if lessening the handbrake tension helps at all (yes it drags a lot with handbrake off) or if its a hydraulic issue. copper lines were done last year but the flexis may be originals?! so 18 years old? might just get them anyway.

[grizz]

Summer is coming. 

 

Antihistamines and cutting grass. 

 

Also parts of the garden waking up, bringing once a year beauty in the form of certain flowers and plants making their reappearance. 

 

 

I just couldn’t get going yesterday. 

 

Opened my woodwork shop and started dragging parts out to build an oil can ukelele with. 

 

Mickey popped around, twice. 

 

We had coffee, chatted, I enjoyed the distraction as I really wasn’t feeling the shop. 

I searched for a small cheap, working ride on mower for him. Unsuccessfully. 

I am sure Wolf tools used to make an extremely simple one, but finding something that works is not that easy. 

Then went around to his place to help him lift some stuff in his garage. 

He is 78. Years old and forgetd that he is slowly getting older. 

 

He offered me a gazebo frame, before he scraps it. 

 

So I now need to order a 3x3 meter canvas roof for it. 

 

Could be useful when working on the C10 outside in the sun, if we have a summer. 

 

 

Of course after all the wind and drizzling rain the van once again looks like a step child, grubby and neglected. 

 

But I did take a few pics and took some measurements……

 

Based on a conversation I was having with a long time friend. 

 

My Suburban comes in right around 80 inches to the tyres, The ##### is 79.5(ish) to the widest point on the arches and the K5 Blazer is about 79.5 too (not including mirrors on any of them!). Makes the Jag and Merc look positively skinny!

 

Always something brewing. 

 

 

When I reverse (the only way I park cars out back) down the alley, the mirrors both have to be folded in. 

 

You can’t get down there unless you have done that. 

 

 

 

 

Measurement of the alleyway. 

 

You need to subtract 3 inches from the 80 inches to accommodate the boiler pipe and windowsill on the one side. 

 

 

Life’s challenges ehhh??

 

Saved by the tape measure? 

 

Have a good week. 

[grizz]

 

Jobs that I really hate. 

 

Pressure washing all of my concrete surfaces every year. 

 

Then sanding in all the joints with kiln dried sand. 

 

For those who have no idea, a lot of my hard standing surfaces have what is known as block paving. 

Small individual bricks laid and compacted as driveway. 

Pretty, but a bastardo to clean up yearly. 

Those in sunny climates like Africa, Australia and lots of the USA will never understand. 

 

 

Moss and fungus, weeds and whatever can germinate will grow there in the grooves, so you need to spray poison like Roundup or pull the weeds twice a season as well. 

 

When you then come with the pressure cleaner, and I buy the most powerful one you can get for the money, you blast all the sand, moss, roots of weeds out. 

Keep in mind that every brick has four bevelled edges to deal with plus the flat, mossy green top surface. 

 

Yup………

 

I hate it. 

 

Takes me three days to do all of it. 

 

Keeping in mind you cover everything in a 10 meter radius in sh!t and constantly have to go back to clean where you left off. The amount of debris from the cleaning builds up so sweeping it up, collecting the dirt etc is more time consuming. 

 

 

LAST THING. 

 

I am 1.83m or 6 foot tall. 

 

The lance or sprayer is made for a 1.65m or 5’5” short person. So you are bending over all the time to get the nozzle working 80-100mm off the ground. Don’t tell me about those sexy round brush things. THEY DON’T WORK for my application. 

 

So I started at the garage. First job……. 

Clear all my junk, left after the big clear out the last few weeks. 

Clear a years worth of leaves and dirt under the hedge. 

 

Then start the torture. 

 

What you have after a year. 

 

Junk moved. 

 

 

The target. 

 

 

 

 

Takes time.  

 

The before and after images give an idea of how important this actually is. 

 

Never looks that bad, till you start. 

 

 

Two hours to do this section so far. 

 

 

Next day some more. 

 

 

Once it is dry, the idea is to sweep and brush kiln dried sand into the grooves. 

This prevents stones moving once you drive over them. 

 

Wet sand is not ideal. 

But I paid for it, so I would use it. Right? 

 

Garage area done. 

 

 

Concrete strips next. 

 

 

Video shows it a bit weird but trust me…… horrible job. 

 

Then area behind the kitchen, followed by alleyway and out front. 

 

Kitchen parking done. 

 

 

Front area. 

 

Bloody storm winds were not helpful. 

 

 

 

Almost done. 

 

By this point, I was cold, sore and tired. 

 

But I finished the rest of the drive. 

 

 

 

 

Next job was to grab the VW Caddy and go fetch a massive wooden double bed frame. 

 

The rest was good, but I almost couldn’t get out the van I was so stiff and sore. 

 

Loving this van doing it’s job. 

 

 

 

 

So next job is to go buy some fresh kiln dried sand for the driveway block paving. 

 

Till next year. 

 

 

Three days worth of work in 6 minutes video. 

 

 

Enjoy. 

 

https://youtu.be/-WhOu6tTYkg?si=HbIVrREXmGkTbMP4

 

 

Thanks for watching. 

 

[rattlecan]

It’s a horrible job, I’ve got approximately an 8 car drive & then quite a large patio area in block pave, never again!! Obviously was a big 90’s thing, which was when I had mine done , but weeds, moss etc etc are just a nightmare.

Cleaning it with the power wash is the dirtiest job going. What I have found that seems to work pretty well after some research, is white vinegar to keep the weeds down during the summer. Way cheaper than weed killer (which nowadays seems crap) if you buy in bulk

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Interesting hearing about real life maintenance of block paving. I've considered it here a few times but haven't pulled the trigger as we may move at some point in the next few years. I'd never really considered it was quite so high maintenence to keep it looking good. Maybe tarmac is the way forward 🤣

[SilverMachine]

1 hour ago, grizz said:

 

For those who have no idea, a lot of my hard standing surfaces have what is known as block paving. 

Small individual bricks laid and compacted as driveway. 

Pretty, but a bastardo to clean up yearly. 

Until reading this i was considering removing my fake block paving concrete printed drive and replacing it with proper bricks. you have just saved me a lot of time and money! thank you good sir!

i still have to give it a jet wash, but no worrying about weeds or sand or movement!

[grizz]

On 11/04/2024 at 10:14, rattlecan said:

It’s a horrible job, I’ve got approximately an 8 car drive & then quite a large patio area in block pave, never again!! Obviously was a big 90’s thing, which was when I had mine done , but weeds, moss etc etc are just a nightmare.

Cleaning it with the power wash is the dirtiest job going. What I have found that seems to work pretty well after some research, is white vinegar to keep the weeds down during the summer. Way cheaper than weed killer (which nowadays seems crap) if you buy in bulk

 

Absolutely yes. 
 

I think it would be 1/3 of the time if you didn’t have to do all the peripheral cleaning. 

[grizz]

On 11/04/2024 at 10:21, Dick Longbridge said:

Interesting hearing about real life maintenance of block paving. I've considered it here a few times but haven't pulled the trigger as we may move at some point in the next few years. I'd never really considered it was quite so high maintenence to keep it looking good. Maybe tarmac is the way forward 🤣

 

Even tarmac grows Moss. 
 

I think concrete is a good option. 

[grizz]

On 11/04/2024 at 11:15, SilverMachine said:

Until reading this i was considering removing my fake block paving concrete printed drive and replacing it with proper bricks. you have just saved me a lot of time and money! thank you good sir!

i still have to give it a jet wash, but no worrying about weeds or sand or movement!

 

Concrete, smooth before patterned, wins any day. 
 

Block paving looks great the day you pay for it. 
 

After that……. Downhill. 
 

Keep your concrete, you already paid for it. 

[grizz]

 

Final part of the pressure cleaning job. 

 

Wait for a sunny day, wait for pathways to be dry or even warm this time of year. 

 

Slow, systemic and meticulous spreading of the sand, and cleaning away all the excess. 

 

Gaps up to 7mm where heavy stuff like a loaded Transit van used to park daily for years, creating grooves and movement of the stones. 

 

 

Then start high, spread the sand in a way you can push it about with the large yard broom. 

 

 

Done. 

 

Till next year. 

 

 

Short video for those who like it. 

 

https://youtu.be/mVWgthHIQdc?si=rodrWZA-pbllDy1r

 

 

Friday evening was good, typically beautiful sunset as we have this time of the year. 

 

 

Perfect weather for my first BBQ or Braai of the year tonight. 

 

Summer soon. 

 

I hope. 

 

[grizz]

What is it about this Astro Van that keeps me looking at it, grinning like a madman and getting a deep feeling of wellbeing every time I start it up and drive it about? 
I only know that it is a fantastic thing and if you have to explain it to someone else they probably won’t understand. 
It’s a box, but every angle I look and take a pic of…….. you know, is different.  
Michael Hougaard you may understand and have to show us what you have.

[grizz]

Ooops

 

Premature posting

[jim89]

2 minutes ago, grizz said:

What is it about this Astro Van that keeps me looking at it, grinning like a madman and getting a deep feeling of wellbeing every time I start it up and drive it about? 
I only know that it is a fantastic thing and if you have to explain it to someone else they probably won’t understand. 
It’s a box, but every angle I look and take a pic of…….. you know, is different.  
Michael Hougaard you may understand and have to show us what you have.

🎵 Vivaaa el Medway 🎵 😎👍🏻

[jim89]

1 minute ago, grizz said:

Ooops

 

Premature posting

It'll be y(our) age  👍🏻😢🤣

[SilverMachine]

i think its the blue, such a nice deep shine,  i dare say if the van was matt  white and sun damaged it just would'nt do the same.

[Westbay]

Bit late , but, search e bay for “pressure washer lance extension “  a few on there for about £10 …. 😊

[grizz]

On 13/04/2024 at 21:52, jim89 said:

It'll be y(our) age  👍🏻😢🤣

 

Absolutely 

 

On 13/04/2024 at 22:23, SilverMachine said:

i think its the blue, such a nice deep shine,  i dare say if the van was matt  white and sun damaged it just would'nt do the same.

Agreed. 
 

But then I saw a beige one in Fayetteville last year and I liked it too. 
 

23 hours ago, Westbay said:

Bit late , but, search e bay for “pressure washer lance extension “  a few on there for about £10 …. 😊

 

Thanks mate. 

[GlenAnderson]

I think I have a spare pressure washer lance and hose. I’ll see if I can dig it out. 

[grizz]

46 minutes ago, GlenAnderson said:

I think I have a spare pressure washer lance and hose. I’ll see if I can dig it out. 

Glen

Thank you . 
 

I am not sure but I suspect the connection differs between models and brands. 
 

I have a complete used cleaner in the garage, I will check to see if lances are interchangeable.