BillyBob Work-in-Progress Log

WHAT'S NEW is a chronological listing of updates to the BillyBob site.

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 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.

PARTS SHOP The Parts Shop is a repository of How-To articles. Things that I have done over and over enough times to have developed a procedure. This gives me a checklist and saves brain cells.

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

You will need the Adobe Acrobat browser plugin to view these wiring diagrams which are in the PDF file format. This format allows zooming and panning. If you don't have this plugin, it can be downloaded and installed (free) from the Adobe site. The button below will take you there.

BILLYBOB WIRING DIAGRAM Here's the wiring diagram updated with BillyBob's current state 'cepting the third-party strap-on turn-signal director.

STRAP-ON TURN-SIGNAL DIRECTOR/BRAKE LIGHT CIRCUIT This turn signal and brake light circuit diagram shows the current state of the third-party turn-signal director wiring, which will remain in place until I figure out the problems with the OEM turn-signal director. It also shows the OEM headlight switch.

48. Status Quo

July 30^th 2006  Today's start was sunny. I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts for some go coffee and headed down the A-1-A beach road for a BillyBob engine warmup. When I got to the Krash Lab, BillyBob got an oil and filter change. I took off the one oil filter fitting that was leaking (the one right at the bottom of the filter), cleaned it off, applied some thread sealer and re-installed it. After the oil change, ran the engine for awhile using the hand throttle to keep the speed (and oil pressure) up. I watched the cannister. I still have a leak. It's just not as bad. Darn! The next time I have the front fender off, and I can see what I'm doing, I'm gonna put new hoses on and get this right!

Lookin' around the engine bay, I noticed that the primary coil wire to the side of the distributor was frayed at both terminals and that the insulation was cracked in places too. Figuring this to be a roadside breakdown waiting to happen, I decided to make a new wire to replace it. Looked around for some green 14 ga wire and some ring terminals. Why green? So I won't have to fire up AutoCAD and update my wiring diagram to a different color for this wire.

This should be a simple fix, right? WRONG! Murphy was doggin' me all day yesterday while I was working on Renegade and I was almost glad when the rains came and stopped my misery under the Jeep. Well, He's still with me today. First with the oil filter hose fitting and now with the distributor wire. While trying to loosen the rusty nut on the distributor, the stud started turning in its housing, first breaking the old wire ring terminal, then spinning the points spring and condenser terminal off the other end inside the distributor. I'm in a mild panic at this juncture because the Jeep is up on jackstands and BettyLou has a rusted out trailing arm and is not safe to drive. I may have just disabled my only means of transit. Twenty minutes and some cussin' and things looked a bit brighter. I got the distributor back together and tightened and BillyBob's engine started up and ran OK. Now, I'm going to work on Renegade fer awhile and see what else I can mess up.

August 13^th 2006  Been spending all my time trying to get Renegade and BettyLou back on the road. Didn't get any work done on BillyBob last week at all and only got quarterly maintenance done on him this week. I don't have the other two vehicles road worthy again yet, but I can't let BillyBob go to seed either. Next week I start the chassis phase of the detailing cycle even if it does draw out repairs on Renegade and BettyLou.

August 19^th 2006  The shadetree garage was wet when I arrived and we had a short hard rain soon after. It continued to sprinkle some. I grabbed my coffee and cigar and waited. Since I'm degreasing the front of the chassis today, the garage doesn't have to be completely dry before I start. After coffee and cigar the tools were dragged out, BillyBob's front end jacked up, and put on jackstands, and the front wheels removed. The Eastwood grimeblaster was used to soap up the front chassis with purple degreaser mixture, then rinsed with water. I wandered off to work on BettyLou while the area under BillyBob dried up again.

By mid-afternoon, the sky began to darken. When BillyBob was put on jackstands this morning, they were placed behind the front spring mounts on the frame and the floor jack was placed under the front axle so that I could take the spring shackles apart. Last week, I noticed that one of the shackle pins was backing out (unscrewing) of the driver side front shackle. The grease fitting was disappearing into the shackle side hole. I thought the shackle holes were tapered enuf to prevent this but it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong. The sky began rumbling and then sprinkling while I began taking the shackle apart . . . the race was on! In less time than it's taking me to write this down, I had the shackle repaired, truck on the ground and tools put away. That's not my usual pace and it takes the fun out of the work for me. Now, I'm having my allotted Beck's break while I watch for the sky to clear again.

August 26^th 2006  My shackle pin backed out of the bushing again during the week so I stopped at the warehouse bay on the way in to the Krash Lab this morning to pick up one of my spare front shackles. The morning and early afternoon was spent wrestling a new trailing arm unto BettyLou so I could drive her again. That done, I turned my attention back to BillyBob. Put him back up on jackstands at frame with floor jack at axle and took apart the troublesome shackle. Cleaned up the shackle side and tried fitting a new shackle pin in both tapered holes. Eureka! The lower pin hole in the shackle side was enlarged. I went out to slap a new shackle side on BillyBob . . . ~!@#$% Ay Carumba! When I painted these shackles several months ago after I bought them, I put them back in the wrong box! I had a rear shackle here in my hot little hands. The front shackle I want is still up at the warehouse in the rear shackle box. Just Damn. At least I didn't take the wheels off. It's time for a burger.

September 9^th 2006  Last time when I ended up with the wrong replacement shackle, I improvised by swapping the two existing shackle sides so that the enlarged hole was on the outside. I'm betting that the road action causing the pin to unscrew only makes it go towards the inside and that the enlarged hole on the outside won't hurt. So far, so good. The pin is just where I put it two weeks ago. I need some more driving around time to be sure. BillyBob has been in his warehouse bay most of that time while I went to Pennsylvania for a family reunion and Hurricane Tropical Storm Depression Ernesto swept thru here as a weak storm. To paraphrase local humorist Steve Graham, call FEMA and order a pizza.

I picked up BillyBob at his warehouse yesterday after turning in my rental car. Despite that, I got a late start this morning. Chatty neighbors at the Krash Pad and Patrick, the cleaning service guy, at the Krash Lab delayed my getting the tools out. Patrick is moving up the coast to Port St. Lucie so he took a little more time cleaning up the old place for the last time.

It started sprinkling a bit while I wuz busy relocating tools from the shed to the Krash Lab but slacked off again by the time I had all the tools out and air compressor set up. BillyBob's front end was put up on jackstands again and I examined the radiator support frame mounting bolts. The stainless steel washers and hex nuts I had installed last time still looked good. The carriage bolts they were mounted on were rusted. I removed the bolts to replace them as Donnie, the Algore global warming supporter lawn guy, pulled into the lot. I can see it's going to be one of those days of constant interruption and limited progress. I stoically moved my equipment to the middle of the asphalt areas and went inside to wait out the landscaping operations. At least he has a helper this time so maybe I won't have to wait long . . . Oh, curses! the helper dropped Donnie and some tools off here and took off in the truck to do some other place. At any rate, there's a good chance I'll be breakin' out the Becks bottles early today.

September 10^th 2006  Got an earlier start today but was plagued with light rain while I was getting the tools set up again. BillyBob's horn has been acting up, off and on. Sometimes the horn doesn't blow but you can hear the relay clicking on the firewall. I was going to look into that today but when I arrived at the Krash Lab, the horn was working fine again. It's a mystery for another time. I went back to the chassis detailing work.

BillyBob's front end was put up on jackstands again and the passenger side wheel removed for access to the frame behind it. In the last detailing cycle, I had cleaned and painted the bottom of the front crossmember. This time, before moving on to mid-frame, I'm going to clean and paint the steering tie rod and the frame in the area of the front spring's rear pivot as well as refinish some previously painted frame areas that have deteriorated. These items are not greasy so it was ok to go over them with the wire cup in the electric angle grinder. That got most of the debris off. Nooks and crannies were treated with a gasket scraper followed up by a session with Eastwood's Undergone undercoating/heavy residue remover. Then, we got hit by a cloudburst that turned the shadetree garage into a swamp again . . . and again. It rained a couple of times and I tapped my Beck's ration to wait it out. Wrenchin' in the tropics. There's nuttin' like it.

By mid-afternoon it had dried up enuf to PRE Paint Prep the frame parts and lay down a coat of rattlecan Rust Encapsulator. Had to cut short the Encapsulator curing time when storm clouds started rumbling in the west again. Laid down a quick coat of chassis black and got BillyBob back on the ground and tools stowed away before the rains got here.

September 16^th 2006  Stopped off at the warehouse to drop some stuff off on the way in to the Krash Lab. I was peeved to see a big puddle on the floor near the back. Guess the new roof didn't cure my bay's leaking problem. Hey! Wait a minute. That's not water. It's oil. When I got to the Krash Lab, monthly maintenance was performed on BettyLou and BillyBob. BillyBob is not missing any of his vital fluids and he was the only vehicle parked in the warehouse in many months. Looks like I've got another mystery on my hands.

Almost finished with the front of the chassis for this detailing cycle so I started with some mid-chassis work. I've never addressed the transmission crossmember and it has many years of muck buildup. Decided to give it some quality time with the gasket scraper before I pull out the grimeblaster and degrease the mid-chassis. Not gonna paint it this time around, just get some of the gunk off it.

By mid-afternoon, the daily stormclouds had not arrived yet so BillyBob's front end was put up on jackstands again and the grimeblaster was setup for a mid-chassis degreasing session.

September 17^th 2006  I'm a few months overdue for a scheduled engine tuneup so I stopped for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts this morning and headed down A-1-A for a beach run to warm up BillyBob's engine. When I got to the Krash Lab, I removed BillyBob's spark plugs and ran a compression check - Lowest cylinder read was 145 psi and highest was 155 psi. Still in good shape.

After the compression check, I put in new plugs. I have been real happy with AC 45 plugs in the past. AC Delco's screwed-up management and screwed-up labor couldn't straighten things out and, as a result, called it quits. Now, I have to find a new plug. Nate Hall reported in a old-chevy-trucks maillist thread that he is using NGK plugs as a replacement. I went to the NGK website and decided NGK GR4 plugs were the ones to order. I'm not very happy with the extra length of the threaded portion of the NGK plugs. Also, I couldn't tell until they arrived, but these are resistor plugs and I believe Nate said to stay away from resistor plugs. I don't think I have the same ones he is using. The pic is the NGK GR4 next to an AC R43 (which I'm saving for a roadtrip replacement plug).

Last time I had the plugs out, the connector came off number six plug wire so I got new plug wires for this tuneup too. All the tuneup parts were ordered from RockAuto.com. When I got things back together and fired up BillyBob, I wasn't happy. It's very subtle but I think BillyBob is running a bit rougher. He doesn't seem to be missing. It's not that bad but, it's not a smooth idle either. We'll have to keep playing around with this.

For some reason unknown to me, the shift box has started to bleed out its lubricant. I pried the grease cap off and stuffed some multi-purpose chassis grease in the box to make up for the lost lubricant. If that bleeds out too, I'll have to look into new seals.

September 23^rd 2006  Went back to the NGK website on monday and looked for a more suitable sparkplug. Previously, I had searched for a plug for my truck and they didn't have any recommendations so I searched for a plug for any 235 chebby engine to come up with the GR4 plug. This time I placed R45 in the part number search field and came up with their "Traditional Spark Plug" stock #3510 part #B6S. This is a 14mm, 3/8" reach, 13/16" hex, gasket seat, non-resistor plug. I placed a new order with RockAuto.com. The new plugs arrived on thursday.

Stopped off at the warehouse on the way to the Krash Lab this morning to spread kitty litter on the oil spill. I had this kitty litter left over from when I moved Mom's cat, Jake, to Florida after she passed away. Jake is now a office cat for a shopping center management firm but I still have the cat litter. One of my rules is to nebber throw anything away until you need the room fer somethin' else. This time the rule paid off.

The BillyBob shadetree garage was dry for a change when I got here so I dragged out the tools and replaced the NGK GR4 spark plugs with the NGK B6S plugs right off the bat. BillyBob has been running rough at low engine speeds all week with the GR4 plugs. Even after the engine is up to operating temp, the idle is bumpy. Then, I continued on with the tuneup by first doing the battery check. The multi-meter registered 10.27 volts after fifteen seconds of cranking. That's a pass in my book.

Distributor cap, rotor, points and condenser were replaced next and the points were set at 0.019" gap. I checked my firing order to make sure I had the wires on the cap correctly 1-5-3-6-2-4 (15 is too young, 36 is too old, 24 is just right) The induction timing light was hooked up and the timing was set with the flywheel ball on the pointer in the bellhousing opening. I didn't adjust the distributor last time 'cause I couldn't find out any info on that "octane selector" thing-a-gingy and wasn't shure how to move the distributor body. This time, I said the hell with it and loosened and moved the distributor body a touch. It's dead nuts on now. These Chebby distributors are a bit odd in that the vacuum advance moves the whole distributor body. Most other distributor vacuum advances only move the internals.

I'm not finished with the tune-up yet, but the engine is running smooth at idle again. You can't balance a nickle on edge on the valve cover but you could balance a glass of water an' that's close enuf.

Moved on to more of the chassis phase of the detailing cycle. Working on the mid-chassis components today. The shift linkage components still look pretty good from last time so I'm skipping them for this cycle. The bottom of the master cylinder is looking a bit ratty tho' so it was wire-brushed, masked, PRE Paint prepped, and given a fresh coat of Eastwood's Spray Gray. The boot got an application of protectant.

There was corrosion on the battery, top and bottom. The hold-down had some new rust spots too. Battery was removed and it, along with the battery box and hold-down, was given a baking soda and water wash first, followed by a soap and water wash. The hold-down was wire-brushed and the rest of the painted areas were given the 3M scuff pad treatment. It was then PRE Paint prepped and the bare areas given a shot of Eastwood's Self-Etching Primer. Getting late in the day by that time so the battery was put back in BillyBob without the hold-down and the tools were put away.

September 24^th 2006  Left the Krash Pad at daybreak, picked up coffee at Dunkin' Donuts and headed down A-1-A on another BillyBob warm-up run. The engine is running so good that I have to concentrate to hear it at stoplights. Those plugs make a world of difference. When we arrived back at the Krash Lab, the plugs were removed again and the valve adjustment procedure was performed. This time, when I put the plugs back in, they were treated with anti-sieze on the threads and a dab of dialectric on the terminals since I don't anticipate removing them again until the next tune-up. After that, the engine was started and I watched the valve train to see if all the rockers were getting oil before putting the valve cover back on. I really enjoy this part. I think I could watch the valves, rockers and pushrods click-clacking for hours.

I got out a Dwell/Tach/Voltmeter I got some time back but haven't used yet. Checked the dwell which turned out to be 42 degrees. Next week, when I readjust point gap from 0.019" to 0.016", I'll check it again. I don't know what it is supposed to be but, in a response post on the old-chevy-trucks maillist, Nate Hall said it should be 33 degrees at or below 700 rpm. BillyBob's idle speed measured right at 500 rpm so, I decided not to mess around with the carb settings at this time.

Got the primed battery hold-down out of the shed and hung it up in the tree for a couple of coats of rattlecan Chassis Black. After that, I closed up shop and called it a weekend.

September 30^th 2006  Decided to start the day off with a Fort Lauderdale beach run for the halibut. I didn't need to warm up BillyBob's engine for any maintenance. I just wanted to cruise. Stopped for coffee and then for the Deerfield Beach drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway . . . It got stuck and I was the second vehicle in line. We all had to turn around and run the other way. I decided to go south on US Highway 1 and come back north on the beach road this time. Almost turned back after a couple of blocks when I saw the ammeter pegged in the charging position. I watched the gauge fer awhile and discerned a pattern. The ammeter would be in its normal position just above mid-point at stoplight idle, then peg out on first gear acceleration. It would go into a half-way position between full charging and mid-point by third gear and slowly work its way back to mid-point. I had started in the dark and the lights were on. I noticed that the longer we sat at a stoplight, the longer it would take to get back to mid-point. When I got to Port Everglades and started the return leg to the Krash Lab, I turned the headlights off. The ammeter resumed the normal pattern I am accustomed to. I don't drive at night very often and now I wonder if the headlight drain is normal.

When I arrived at the Krash Lab, the shadetree garage was still wet from the first rains of the day and by the look of the sky, mother nature wasn't finished with us yet. A half hour after I arrived, it started raining again.

October 1^st 2006  I quit early yesterday because I had a co-worker's wedding to attend. He is of Chinese descent and his bride is of Cuban descent. It was a fun event complete with a dragon dance troupe and latino durty dancin' sets as well. It was a late night and I got a late start this morning so not much will get done but at least the parking lot is dry . . . so far.

Fiddled around with the Dwell/Tach/Voltmeter until I got the points dwell down to 35 degrees. While listening to the engine, I felt I detected a faint knock under the valve clatter like a bearing maybe. I couldn't locate it with the stethoscope but I had nightmare visions of the San Pebbles engine room. I hope it's my imagination again as it often is.

My warehouse inventory has been getting out-of-whack with my spreadsheet database of the same. I've begun bringing a box of parts back with me everytime I visit the warehouse and checking them against my spreadsheet and making adjustments where necessary. I spent the rest of my time this sunday doing that. I performed the old "slap to the forehead" maneuver when I discovered that I had twelve new AC 45 spark plugs squirled away in the current box.

It's been ten weeks, at least, since the last BillyBob log entry has been posted. I decided I'd better get this online, even tho' not a lot has been accomplished, before any of BillyBob's fans fear he has become a IRWIPI (It Ran When I Parked It) candidate.

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Issued Monday October 2, 2006

Updated Thursday March 22, 2018

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