Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside BILLYBOB

[Grizz]

240 kms for the planks and a nice drive in a V8....what more do you want for a Sunday

A fuel bowzer.

The planks are not enough to complete the job.

Have found a load of White Oak from an office remodeling job that should do the trick.

Show you later.

[gordini]

PS: Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to comment on the thread.
I am always amazed when I see over 200 views and three or four replies, not including the updates I post up.Maybe there is a message in that ??

Forums are voluntary... please don't confuse the lack of response to a post, a lack of gratitude. This forum is a collection of ideas and experiences held by every single member. The number of views is a thanks to you for sharing your ideas and progress.

I for one appreciate your "foreign" involvement here! Keep the pics coming.

Ters.

I think this will answer your problem about the posting in your topic here, Rian..
This was copy/paste from the Retrorides forum..




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Read more: http://retrorides.proboards.com/#ixzz2nATmndKx


If you look at the amount of members there, we are about 10% of that. On that amount only about 10% are active forum posters. There are a lot of lurkers and readers here that do not bother to post. Looking at these figures, i think we are doing fine

So....dont worry here and keep on posting. I think we enjoy it more than the Retro rides guys because we know the way you think

[marnus]

I am loving the truck...keep on posting

[Grizz]

Been away at a business meeting for a couple of days, so yesterday Nicola texted to say a large box had been delivered from the USA.

Tonight I got home after 3 hours on the motorway and found the box..... bit like Christmas!!

Opened it and found the following bits from LT1 Burb. All at the cost of postage.

Not just free parts, but parts I need for the truck and most importantly, Parts I would probably never see for sale in the UK.

So here goes.....



Some door handles, and window winders. My drivers side lock has been screwdrivered at some point, so these are a great replacement, and will make life easier, rather than lock from inside, slide over and lock passenger side with key.



And lastly, a headlight switch to replace the non functional one.



Thanks a mil LT1 Burb, you have an idea of how much you have helped and how we appreciate it.

Lastly a pic of the truck being used in a previous life by a Rockabilly band as their stage for the drummer.

I have volunteered the truck as a stage for the Retro Rides Gathering 13 for Tim Baker to use for an acoustic set he is going to play for everyone camping there. THREAD HERE: http://www.retrorides.proboards.com/thr ... ning-music

[Grizz]

Friday night after work, on the way home, I stopped at the Hardware store (B&Q) to pick up some wood.



Should not take much to guess where to next.

As always, made it up in my head, as I went along.



Old Mickey was up at 05.00 this morning as well, and when I looked out the bathroom window, he was way up in his cherry tree, trying to beat all the birds to the fruit, so when I went down to the garage at 07.00 to pull the truck out, he was there like a shot, large shopping bag full of freshly picked cherries..... could not ask for much more, could I ?

Well , I got more...... A helping hand, he is such a loyal neighbour and always likes to be around when I make stuff, as some of my ideas are just mad to him.

Fortunately, he "Got" the latest creation instantly, and approved.



I did not want a plain, two rail bed side but rather a stepped one.

So cut and prepped the wood to have it like this, and then mocked it all up before doing the wood glue and clamps.

At 11.00 I shut shop, showered and got changed, then we took the motorbike and went to Whitstable for the party, which turned out to be just great.



Back home from our visit by 5.30pm
Fearless Harley kept on getting under my feet most of the day as well, and every time I moved past the tailgate, she was up to get a stroke, cuddle or just to sqwauk at me for attention.



Glued it all together in place with Mickey as extra hands.

Next job will be drilling and counter sinking all the holes for two brass wood screws per joint.




This brought us to 8.00pm and with loads of daylight left, and Mickey clearly not ready to go home to sleep in front of his telly, I decided to quickly sand back and distress the steel trunk Nicola and I found and bought two weeks ago.

Using a pointed orbital type sander, I worked the paint back.



Then found just the right red paint for the lettering of the stenciled words that needed to get onto the trunk.
Got going with help from Mickey, again not wanting to miss the opportunity to keep busy.



Stenciling all done.



Time for some more random paint of the top and also to sand back a bit more rust to create this Fake Patina.

Next up once dried for a few days, I will sand back by hand and leave little of the red paint, followed by a few coats of clear lacquer.

After which I will fit the trunk to the rear bed of the truck.

[Grizz]

Next day......

Finished off the exterior of the trunk and clear coated it.



Drilled holes for the bolts that will hold it down.

Trial fitted.



Then used a dark varnish to get the sides ready for when the teak boards get processed.



Last job for the day was coating the load body in another coat of underseal.

Looks a lot neater now.

[Grizz]

Teak is great for a truck bed. Here's the information you need: http://www.gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

I made a set for my mate, getting it all down to 3/4" thick is the hard part. I did it at work but you could take the planks somewhere and they would do it for you. Don't varnish teak, oil it, looks better and last longer. We oiled over the footprints after installing it.




Thanks for the info and pic mate.

I do agree with oiling the teak.

I will have to buy the steel strips that hold the boards down, and hopefully will be able to find somewhere to get the boards machined down.


.............................................................................................................



Spent time after work with my wife, had dinner after which she went to have a bath and I went to the garage..... good compromise ?

Sprayed another coat of clear on the trunk.

Then my buddy Jon, who I ride trials with came around to show off a new mountain bike he is looking at £4k WTF ???

Anyway, he also brought some AutoGlym Bumper polish for me to try on the black vinyl tonneau cover on the truck. After washing it, it looked fine, but this stuff really made a huge difference, lifting dirt and revitalizing the colour.
After applying, I buffed it all back.
By the weekend I will give it another coat and buff back again, should do the trick.



I am impressed.

Also started to remove the non matching bolts from the towbar where it is mounted under the chassis, will be replacing them all with 30mm M12 nuts and bolts.
How do you remove domed bolts that just turn around when you try move the nuts? Vice grips ?

[Grizz]

Loads of little jobs done today.

Starting off with fitting the following item.....

Had a text from Rob, the previous keeper/owner of the truck a couple of weeks ago to ask for my postal address, as he had a "thing" to post off to me that he thought I would appreciate.
So this week he had time to pop into the post office to post out the "thing" which came to me on Thursday.
I have to say, his parcel was a challenge, and only when the "thing" came out the last layer, did I know what it was.

I have always loved these and they make me chuckle when people use them in public. Just never got to buy one myself.

Seems that when I tested it down at the garage, Duke, our ginger cat shot upstairs without waiting the see what it was..... RESULT !!

So, Huge Thanks to Rob, as he had planned it for the truck when he had it.



After the rear end kissing I got from Nicola when we fetched the truck, I realized the nuts n bolts on the rear bumper and towbar need to be seen to.

So this week I ordered some M12 x 25mm high tensile bolts with nuts to replace the existing items.

I have seen some bodging on this truck and stuff done to a standard below my own expectation, but the fact that there were 4 different nuts, bolts used to secure (loose description) the bumper at some point in its past, just made me shrug and bite my tongue.

It took some time to get these all removed, the domed head bolts were the biggest problem, as there was no way or room to grip the heads while addressing the nuts, which I had given some WD40 the last three days.
In the end I gripped the threaded ends with the vice grip and had a ring spanner in place over the nuts, getting them undone slowly.
The one bolt just turned off in my hands.
You will note there are no two the same here.



While I was at it, I also fitted new longer bolts to the plate on which the light socket plug was fitted.
When Scott wired the truck lights I decided to fit the plug under the load body, to keep it out of sight and the weather.



Next job, which I was actually not looking forward to (though it was actually surprisingly easy in the end) was to make up a sleeve/spacer for the tow ball Tim had sent me.
Remember I had a 40mm hole drilled in the bumper and tow bar as the shop did not have a 32mm drill on site the day I went there with Mickey.
So this was a bit of reverse engineering.
I had got a 300mm length of scaffolding pipe from Charley the farmer this week.
After measuring for what I needed, I cut a 25mm section off with the angle grinder with a 2mm blade fitted.... easy with the right tool.

I had also cut a slot into it length ways.



Using the grinder repeatedly to cut slivers out of it, and using the bench vice to push it together, then also shaping it the opposite direction, I eventually had a 33mm hole and 40mm outside diameter.



Before and after.



Using a large shifting spanner I recently bought for an art project I am working on, I tightened the whole lot, and ended up with a result that pleased me.

Tow ball fitted and some red reflective tape added to the rear step for night time visibility.



As always, Mickey popped around through the day.

Then once these jobs were done, we also rolled up the tonneau cover and fitted the bed sides as he wanted to see the dark painted sides up, the cover tucks in nicely behind the uprights.




At this point I had a coffee and left overs from last night as Nicola was out shopping (not my favourite pastime)and visiting her parents.

After lunch I decided to give the greasing a go, which was interrupted by a sudden thunder storm,( so need to do it again, this time without the wheels and jacked up, followed by trying to figure out why every light on the truck works off the main switch, but the headlights continue to be non functional..... STILL NO IDEA, or lights.

I also gave the tonneau a second coat of polish, Rain-X'd all the glass and stuck some stickers I had laying about onto the boat fuel tank that is now the trucks Jerry can.

Just after 6pm I decided to call it a day.

Tomorrow is bootfair day, so we will be using the truck to go there, and possibly a couple of other places.

All in all, a great weekend so far.

Still loving this truck.

I do wish I could have my brother here to enjoy it with me, as he is mad about trucks too.

[Grizz]

I am loving the truck...keep on posting

Dankie Marnus, ek sal bly bylas totdat ons op datum is.

[syncromad]

great looking Truck, awesome effort you are putting into it,

stuart