Grizz' Prozac for the Soul - Berlingo Multispace

[Sol]

They look like 1 series or Z3 wheels. Are these for the truck? There should be a 3 digit style number stamped on them somewhere, like 392 etc. Maybe contact these guys, they might know by sight.

https://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showroom/i...27_134_127

[Grizz]

Made me chuckle.

Ever seen a Ford reverse really fast?

Becomes a DROF





This is less finessed and refined than the Jago or Eagle though.

Will be a bargain for someone.

[Gryffindor]

Outside the house people continued to drive like idiots, loads of surface water.

It's actually an endorsable offence for drivers to splash pedestrians. Rigorous training on that point when I learnt both buses and trucks. Not to blow my own trumpet (we all should do it) but the look of relief on people's faces when they see me slow to an absolute crawl before I get to them, regardless of traffic behind me, after having been approaching them at belly-flop speeds, is very rewarding. Especially in a vehicle with up to six axles. I've waited at many a bus stop in the rain in my time.

Maybe you could put up a strong low fence by the side of the road, so that any waves get reflected back...

You are doing wonders with the truck Grizz. It's great to see it progressing.

[Gryffindor]

That's the stuff I posted, it's the dogs bollox.

Ah, now we know what the flea powder was for!

[Grizz]

That's the stuff I posted, it's the dogs bollox.

Ah, now we know what the flea powder was for!

[Grizz]

So today was my birthday

Yesterday was Sally’s and my 100 weeks anniversary

How this girl has not killed me, nobody knows

She had to work from 07.00 which meant being up by 05.00

It may not be apparent, but we do live separately in different homes.

What this meant though, was that I got to spend my day in a way that I really love to spend special days.......

Alone, at home, and working on something I either want to or love to work on.

Sally came around after work at about 5.00pm so I cooked us a quick butter chicken curry on 2 minute rice.

Desert was a 1/4 of a magnificent Maltese’s chocolate cake, and a nice cuppa coffee.

A good day indeed.

[Gryffindor]

Well congrats to you on both fronts. Two great achievements indeed.

   

https://tinyurl.com/y46z5ccb

[Grizz]

Well congrats to you on both fronts. Two great achievements indeed.



https://tinyurl.com/y46z5ccb

Especially not getting stabbed in the kitchen.  



So doing stuff on your birthday that makes you happy?


In my case, today was started off with a quick 6.45 minute School of YouTube lesson on how to remove the headlights, indicators and grille on an S10 Truck in 4’C or 40’F temperature without breaking anything, especially mounting tabs.

Reflection on the iPad screen is the very rough, English style Pebble Dash plaster on my 1921 built home. 



Thought I would start with the passenger headlight as its fastening tabs are stuck between the battery and radiator core support and kinda tight for my large hands.



Good start...... bodgeworks always a good place to start. 

The indicators, position lights etc may have been changed when the truck had its first UK MOT road test in 2006 where I know it failed due to the lack of side repeater lamps amongst other things.

I will fix these things as I discover them.



Lights out....

Followed by indicators.





Old and new indicator lenses.



And then BURGER !!!!

Indicator bulbs are “pinch pull” or whatever they are called, so the chrome bayonet items @rich had sent were not going to get used here. 

Need to get some from the local motor factors.



Grille off and headed for the garage to take apart



So with the grille removed, the next job was to disassemble it it to its final component form for cleaning and processing. 



20 years of life as we know it, on the grille that was apparently originally painted body colour in a matte finish has left it looking pretty sorry for itself.

Closer up.




As I kept disassembling, I found more and more bits I did not like.

To that needed bits of attention to get to a look I preferred.

More in a bit.

[Grizz]

After removing the grille, I noticed just how grubby and greasy the centre support was.



The bonnet/hood release cable looked like a challenge for about 15 seconds.



A 13mm socket and 3 bolts later......



Wire brush, white spirit wipe down, two coats of black primer, two coats of Stealth Black Wheel paint, JOB DONE.



Once the paint had dried, I generously applied some spray on White Lithium grease, which once reassembled clearly made the hood release work much more smoothly.
I also put some on the threads of the bolts before returning them to where they came from.



Refitted, release cable reconnected, looked loads better. 

You will also notice just how clean the front slam panel actually is, almost no rust, just a bit of staining which could be polished away.



Interesting way the light and house shadow fell at the drivers door. Making the rear look distinctly grey and insipid 



Another job that I decided to do today was to “FIX” the front grille badge, at least until I get around to ordering one from the USA or if I can get @craigrk to do a clever 3D print for me.

It had delamination of the gold leaf in the badge, as well as a crack.

Any fix would be an improvement imho.





Final result after about 5 coats.



Happy so far.


It is way past my bedtime.

A few more bits tomorrow for those following closely.

Weekend over too, thanks for checking in.

Later.

[Grizz]

Final post for yesterdays work done.

When I bought the truck, the bonnet/hood was standing proud on the passenger side by about 8-10mm 

The previous owner had told me he had repainted the drivers fender and hood, due to some paint damage and lacquer peeling. 

This was not a problem for me, at 20 years old, the truck still looks better than may 3 year olds.

Dennis who has his body shop in St Louis, Missouri has worked on many of these S10 trucks back in the day,  had told me these trucks had very little room for adjustment of panel gaps if disassembled or found not to be aligned.

So it was with trepidation I decided to give it a go, to see if I could improve the alignment.

Started with this.



Played with these.



You can see this side fender has been loosened and refitted.



This side got to go down a bit.



And this side keeps me happy for now......



Result.



Happy with that for now.


While cleaning up the stainless steel front grille embellishers I saw these markings on the rear.

The other one showed “top” to define which one fits where.

I am guessing an enthusiast at some point made these up for the truck.

They came up lovely with steel polish as well.



And finally, I had a few challenges from various people about the position of the K&N filter, with people freaking out that it was going to suck up tons of surface water. 

So overdrawn on the pic, is where the filter actually sits inside the engine bay.





Not sure if I mentioned, the grille was delivered in a carpark last night, socially distanced and all that.

More as it happens.