BillyBob Work-in-Progress Log

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

4. Spifin' up the Steering Wheel Page 2

July 22^nd 2000 Hot 'n sunny today, but the boss has some construction work going on at the office, so I decided to keep the BillyBob work light. I only touched the curing epoxy once on the way back to the warehouse last week but I put my hand in it four more times trying to back BillyBob into his bay ~!@#$%! No harm done tho' and this week I'm sanding down the epoxy build-ups.

Since I don't have a shop, it follows that I don't have a workbench, so I ordered a Black & Decker Workmate 225 from Amazon.com a couple of weeks ago and it arrived early this week. It's a bit easier than bracing the piece I'm working on between my foot and BillyBob's lowered tailgate. I started today by "rough-shaping" the epoxy build-up with my cordless drill and the Eastwood "Tight Spot Grinding kit, 80 assorted rolls with two mandrels" (catalog #13098) that I purchased when I was doing the wheel refurbishing job earlier in the year. The 80 grit rolls make short work of cutting away the excess epoxy. A light touch is required here to avoid cutting into "virgin" steering wheel plastic.

My boss showed up mid-morning and reversed several of the instructions I had given the construction crew in his absence. That's just the way it is with architects. My employer's eight year old son, Max, came to the office with him for the express purpose of being my sidekick. Max gave me a choice - play network computer games with him, or let him help me with BillyBob. Max thumps me on a regular basis when we play head-to-head on the computers so I opted to let him help me with BillyBob in order to keep some control over events.

October 9^th 2000 After Max helped me, there were some low spots and holes that needed a second application of epoxy (and no, I can't blame all the low spots on Max - some of them were mine. Besides, I was supervising him the whole time, so the responsibility remains with me). I went up to the warehouse and got BillyBob's steering wheel so I could apply the epoxy at the Krash Lab after work. This was a smaller application and I'm getting decidedly better at smoothing the epoxy out for less sanding effort later on.

October 10^th 2000 Rattle cans of "Sand Free" Primer (#52040Z) and "Plastic Prep" (#52056Z) for soft and hard plastic paint preparation arrived from Eastwood today. I will use the Plastic Prep on the steering wheel just prior to painting. I gotta get an inventory system in place because when I was up at the warehouse yesterday, I found unused cans of both these items. This kind of flub-up by yours truly is as embarrassing as the remote starter gadget I purchased a few months back . . . It didn't dawn on me that I couldn't use it with BillyBob to turn the engine over (he has a foot button instead of a solenoid) until I had the darn thing in my toolbox. Drat!

October 14^th 2000 Started today with the "Hub Cover", the little cone that fits on the backside of the steering wheel. On BillyBob this thing is black (or was) on the surface that mates to the steering wheel and the outside matches the interior color. BillyBob's has some surface rust on the inside that I first cleaned up with wire brush and sandpaper.

The hub was cleaned with Eastwood's PRE Paint Prep (catalog #10041Z), then finished with their black "SEM Trim Paint" (#10023Z). I discovered that the card board tube from a kitchen paper towel roll is close in diameter to the steering column and makes a great shade tree mechanic support for painting the hub (just don't leave all the paper you spin off the roll to get at the tube on the kitchen floor where SWMBO can find it - Stealth is essential).

October 21^st 2000 Picked up BillyBob after the morning monsoon passd over. Cut out a donut of 1/8" foamcore, an art material common to an architectural office, to mask off the portion of the hub painted black last week. A couple of layers of corrugated cardboard would have worked too but we have scraps of foamcore (also called gatorboard) all over the place here. Placed a piece of masking paper over the raised section in the middle of the hub and press-fitted the foamcore donut in place. Lightly sanded the few blemishes in the existing paint and roughed up the surface with a 3M scuff pad. The outside of the hub was given the PRE Paint Prep treatment again and taken to the storage shed for a coat of Rustoleum "Grass Green.

October 23^rd 2000 Removed the masking from the hub. I've been dancin' around finishing the steering wheel itself but I'm to the point that the only other part still needing some attention is the horn button, so I might as well get down to it. that's my plan for next weekend - grind, sand, prep, and paint the wheel itself.

October 28^th 2000 Took to grinding down the second coat of epoxy with cordless drill and Eastwood 80 grit tight spot grinding kit sandpaper cone, then with 60 grit sandpaper by hand. Finally wet-sanded the whole wheel with a Norton "Flex 'n Sand" medium/fine grit small area sanding sponge I picked up at Home Depot a few weeks ago. Washed the wheel with cold water and dryed with clean rag and hair dryer.

It's time to try to paint the steering wheel. The Restoration Kit Booklet tells how to set up a paint jig with pipe, threaded rod and saw horses, but it is geared towards doing a lot of these wheels, so I decided on a variation. I picked up a 5' Paint Roller Extension Handle (paid too much) from a local hardware store, 6" threaded 5/16" bolt, flat washers, nut, and two "Zip Cord Thirty" stretch tie-downs from Home Depot. The plan was to secure the entension handle to saw horses with the tie-downs, thread the bolt thru the steering wheel and secure it with flat washers and bolt, then insert the bolt loosely in the end of the extension handle.

As often happens with me in my dotage, I thought of a better idea on the way back to the Krash Lab from Home Depot - I have the Black & Decker Workmate so I don't need the saw horses and tie-downs DUH!!

The Workmate-extension handle-jig contraption was set up in the storage shed with only its right-hand side legs unfolded so that the extension handle would angle upwards and the steering wheel was prepared. Spare bolts and the hub screws were used to mask the various threaded holes and masking tape was stuffed in the horn button contact hole. The flat washers on the six-inch threaded bolt will protect the splines in the steering wheel mounting hole from being painted. Rubber gloves, respirator and goggles were doned like a knight's armor and the steering wheel was treated with the Eastwood Plastic Prep and wiped down with a clean cloth before painting. Two coats of "Grass Green" Rustoleum are applied. There are, of course, many IMPERFECTIONS!

December 2^nd 2000 Ninety-ninety Rule of Project Schedules: "The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent." In these Stage I projects, I'm dispersing with the last 10% of effort, most of it anyway. After living with the newly (and imperfectly) painted steering wheel for a month, I've decided it's good enuf for the time-being. I've actually started to steer clear of perfection . . . I don't want to lose BillyBob's "old truck" persona - that special quality that time-warps me away from the present everytime I get in the truck and reminds me of the good times of my youth with my Dad and with JR on our Grandfather's farm. I better move on before I start to mist up and rust myself.