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.

TRAVELS WITH BILLYBOB With apologies to Steinbeck, this area of BillyBob's Garage will be used to log the trips BillyBob and I make together.

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.

BILLYBOB MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for BillyBob, including required tools, materials and procedures.

STEALTH SHOP Urban residence design with large integrated shop and separate living quarters for a relative or renter.

30. Windshield Saga - The Ugly

January 17^th 2004  Well the weather never did clear up last weekend so I guess Murphy is stickin' it to me after all for wasting good work days over Christmas. Today is pretty nice tho' so I'll get back to the next piece of the windshield frame repair.

Setup the compressor and cut out the rusted defroster channel on the passenger side with the air powered saber saw. I cut on a curved path where possible to avoid welding problems (hard corners are more likely to warp the metal, I've read). Now I'll trim the new replacement piece until it fits.

By mid-afternoon, I had the second patch panel segment trimed, formed and welded in place. I still have to fill in some gaps and bend (shrink) the rearward lip of the piece up to come more in line with the dashboard contour but, all-in-all, I'm happy with my progress today. I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, proficient with the MIG yet but, welding was easier 'cause I had good metal to work with.

January 18^th 2004  Started out with some monthly BillyBob maintenance. Ran the engine for a half hour to move fluids and charge the battery (like the tiger tanks in Kelly's Heroes) and moved him to another spot in the lot to keep flat spots off the tires and remind the local police patrols that he isn't a derelict.

BillyBob's new spot in the Krash Lab parking lot is too far away from the electrical outlet to do any welding today. A cold front is 'sposed to roll thru this afternoon so I have an eye on the sky searching for rain as I work too. I decided to start on the third patch panel for the passenger side - the dashboard end. Made a rough cardboard template, then cut out a matching piece of sheet steel with the aviation snips. Messed around with the hammer and dolly for a bit without makin' much progress. The forward edge of this thing must curve up to meet the windshield post. At the same time the middle part of it must match the gentle curve of the dashboard top and the lower edge must radius sharply to match the dashboard lip ('54 and '55 1st Series trucks only). A further complication is that the dashboard lip dies out when it meets the door post. I haven't quite figured how to do all that yet. looks like I need to bring some cigars with me again next week to help with the pondering.

January 23^rd 2004  Picked up a 3/4" EMT conduit ninety degree bend at Home Depot during the week so I could clamp it in the bench vise to act as a form to bend the patch panel over and form the dashboard lip. Hammer and trim operations got me to this point but we're not in cigar territory yet. I used the shrinker and stretcher some too but they are of limited help with this piece. I don't have an intuitive feel for the metal yet either and sometimes I stretch when I should'uv shrinked and visa versa.

A fellow restorer, Matt Haas, e-mailed me with some tips. He has been thru some of the same leaky windshield and cowling sheet metal repair work with his '68 Rambler American and he has documented the job on his website. Here's the link to matt's windshield job. I kept trimmin' and poundin' the patch panel until I got to the point I thought it was time to cut out some more of the old rusted metal on BillyBob to fit it in place. Middle of the afternoon now and I don't feel like dragging the compressor out of the shed today. I'll save that for tomorrow.

January 24^th 2004  Beautiful weather today - blue sky, low breeze, no clouds, not too cold and not too hot. Got the air compressor out and cut out a chunk of the passenger side dashboard end with the 3" cut-off wheel. Dropped the new patch panel piece into the hole to check the fit . . . It's close, mostly by accident, tho'. I still don't know what I'm doin' most of the time in my metal-shaping activities. It's about 15% thoughtful action and 85% gut feelings. I hope to improve on that ratio with more experience 'cause right now it's a bit unsettling.

After some grinding to prep for welding, I determined that there might be enuf solid metal to the right of the new patch to keep based on the shiny edge where the 3" cutoff wheel passed thru. Held the new patch in place with welding magnets and fixed it in place with some spot welds. Bent a piece of copper and put it behind the right side gap to draw heat and help create a backing to fill up any holes I might burn.

The copper helped a lot. With a few spot welds fixing the patch panel in place, some more hammer and dolly work brought the shape a little closer to the original contour of the dashboard. Then some more welding and grinding on the sides. I think I'm over the hump on this side and feeling a bit less apprehensive about the end result. Still got some little pieces to weld in and more shaping to do but that's not as difficult as what I've done getting the big pieces in place.

January 31^st 2004  Wet today. Doppler radar shows waves of rain blanketing the South Florida peninsula. The weather "experts" are talking about a "Pineapple Express" and "Wave" convergence. Some things ya can't do in the rain like MIG welding and sand blasting. It's not raining at the present moment over the shadetree garage but the threat is continuous and there is already water everywhere on the ground. Decided to sit on the Krash Lab porch stoop and have a cigar and coffee while I decide what to do today. The interiors department here gets some weird furnishings like the "rubber ball seat" butt-to-ground adapter I'm roostin' on. Good for folks with sore butts.

February 7^th 2004  The weather never cleared up last week until Sunday afternoon, too late to drag out the tools. It was sunny all week but were back to another rain forecast today. Rain is not 'sposed to get here 'til this afternoon. I'm gonna risk it and go for this window of opportunity. Gonna try to fill in the gaps and finish welding in the dashboard patch panels on the passenger side of the windshield opening today.

By the end of the day, I had made progress but wasn't as far along as I'd hoped to be. There was more of the burning holes in marginal metal (and a few holes in good metal too). The trailing edge of the inside pinch weld patch panel had to curve up to meet the forward edge of the dashboard patch panel which had to curve down some to meet it. I used my MAPP torch to heat the portions of the panels cherry red, then tapped them into place with the pick hammer. Worked good and when I had them in place they were lap welded. I got good welds here but I'm starting to get sloppy and it's time to quit.

February 10^th 2004  Nick Kowalchuk posted a link on the old-chevy-truck maillist to the Autobody101.com website and I went to check it out during a work break. WOW! A lotta good stuff on bodywork and painting over there, including how-to articles and tips from Martin Señor, a fella well known to any ole truckers who hang out at Stovebolt.com. In a few minutes, I'd picked up some MIG welding tips to try out the next time I have BillyBob's cover off. If you've read any of the primers "Martinsr" has posted at Stovebolt.com, you'll know what I mean when I say they're like the "Cliff Notes" of bodywork and painting - meaty and novice-friendly articles without any fluff. Good stuff!

February 14^th 2004  A good weather day. Lets roll! With my new-found knowledge, I did better today from the git-go. As is usually the case with me, I wuz fallin' short on preparation (clip off the end of the welding wire EVERY time, wire brush the welding area EVERY time, etc). Good prep habits need to become second nature an' I'm not there yet.

By noon, I finished welding. I could continue on indefinitely, welding up holes and burning thru new ones in marginal metal but, I have all the structural integrity I need so I'm gonna fill the remaing gaps with JB Weld epoxy. Used the Norton Speed Lock Sanding System I got from AutoBodyStore.com in the air-powered angle-grinder to remove paint and loose rust from all around the new metal and to provide "tooth" for the JB Weld. Eastwood's OxiSolve was applied next for a hour and a half session to convert any remaining rust in pitted areas of the old metal. I applied wet rags saturated with OxiSolve with a plastic garbage bag over the rags to keep the OxiSolve from evaporating. I took time out to watch Powerblock on Spike TV and basted the rags with a brush and more OxiSolve every commercial break like I was worrying over a Thanksgiving turkey.

Enuf for today. I'll let the OxiSolve dry over night and apply the JB Weld therapy tomorrow while I attend to weekly maintenance on BillyBob, Renegade and the panzerwagon. The boss doesn't drive the big Mercedes 420 SEL often enough and I offered to do minor maintenance on it when I work on mine. Least I can do since he provides the shadetree, electricity, water and storage area to do this work.

February 21^st 2004  Good weather forecast this weekend. Started out with some minor shaping of the inside pinchweld with MAPP torch and pick hammer. After that cooled down, the metal was PRE Paint prepped and masking tape was used to backup the remaining holes. A batch of JB Weld was mixed up and applied to the remaining holes and gaps. A little bit of JB Weld was saved for a pinhole in the panzerwagon's plastic radiator tank.

The panzerwagon's battery waz showing 1.76 volts so, I took it out an' put it on the battery charger. I don't think this thing is ganna hold a charge but it doesn't hurt to try to revive it. Took BillyBob's windshield wiper pivots out where they run thru the cowl (another source of leaks). These can be cleaned up and the vendors carry new bezels, hold down nuts and gaskets. There is a cap shaped pot metal "bushing" between the wiper arm and the shaft that goes thru the cowl. The one on BillyBob's passenger side broke up on removal and I haven't found a source of these. Could probably make one with silicon mold casting technology as a last resort.

February 22^nd 2004  Moved BillyBob to another area of the lot last night when I went home to the Krash Pad. Arrived this morning to find BillyBob's driver side front tire almost flat and a six pack of "Newcastle Brown Ale" bottles scattered under the shadetree. Whether these two incidents are related, I don't know. Well, I'll pull out the compressor and find out how bad the tire leak is first. Took the panzerwagon's battery off the charger and checked the voltage while the air compressor was filing the tank. 12.88 volts.

Well, there's a air leak at the inner tube valve stem. re-shoeing BillyBob was next on the list after the windshield job but now I guess they'll have to run concurrent. I'll bring the old spare, new inner tube, and tire changing machine down from the warehouse next week.

Back to the windshield. I sanded down and shaped the JB Weld I applied yesterday with Norton's Speedlock kit. The areas I couldn't reach I took care of with the Tight Spot Grinding Kit (sandpaper cylinders and cones) I got from Eastwood a few years ago. Both these tools were used in the air angle grinder for the high speed it provides. Then, the dust was blown away and the area was PRE Paint prepped again. Three coats of Eastwood's Self-Etching Primer was applied by rattlecan and the underside was treated with a brush coat of Eastwood's red Rust Encapsulator. As long as I had the Rust Encapsulator can open, I decided to give the panzerwagon's rusty battery tray a coat too.

February 28^th 2004  Well, the weather experts were off a bit today in their predictions (again!). When I woke at 5:30, it was 48 degrees. I smoked a cigar and waited 'til 7:30 to leave the Krash Pad. The temperature by that time had dropped to 47 degrees. 20-30 mph winds are also predicted. These conditions don't bode well for the filler and primer ops I had planned. I'm gonna edit and post this log entry. By then, it may be warm enuf to drag the tools out and try to fix BillyBob's flat tire.

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Issued Saturday February 28, 2004

Updated Thursday February 22, 2018

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