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.

57. A Little of this, a little of that

April 14^th 2008  Washed the hood and waxed it. There are rust holes starting to open up around the cowl vent. I'm gonna do a quik-n-durty JB Weld repair but somewhere down the line it's going to need new metal. When I hooked up the heater fan back in december to get some defroster action on the windshield, I noticed it put out an unholy racket and the ammeter needle pegged whenever I turned it on. Uuumm, must be a 6v fan motor. I bought a heavy duty voltage reducer for this but it was many years back and I had forgotten about it. I did manage to find it in about ten minutes tho'. Sometimes, even a blind pig gets an acorn. Cut the heater wire between switch and fan motor and crimped blade receptacle connectors on the ends. Connected these to the ends of the reducer and let it hang in the air in front of the heater fer the time being (It gets hot!). That's better. You can hear yourself think with the thing on now and the juice drain isn't as bad. Finished out the evening sanding on BillyBob's steering wheel.

April 17^th 2008  Tuesday nite found me at the Delray cruise-in and last nite I finished sanding BillyBob's steering wheel for painting. Spun my wheels fer awhile trying to find the nuts and bolts fer my steering wheel painting rig. I know where they used to be but I moved them at some point in the interest of organization an' now I can't find 'em. When I run into one of these snafus, I start going thru each box of stuff I have, cleaning and reorganizing as I go. If I haven't found what I'm looking for by the time I go thru the Krash Lab and shed, I head up to the warehouse.

April 19^th 2008  Good weather is predicted and, so far, that's wot we got. Into my fourth box of reorganization last nite, I found the bolts for my steering wheel painting rig so that is on the task list for the first labor this morning.

Set up the steering wheel painting rig and PRE Paint Prepped the wheel. In the past, I have painted the wheel with Rustoleum Grass Green. I haven't seen that color on the shelf at Home Depot for a long time. The closest I could come to it was a Rustoleum Moss Green in a satin finish. I still had a half can of Grass Green in storage and I tried that first . . . No go. The propellant was almost gone and I could only get spurts out of the can, even after cleaning the nozzle with lacquer thinner. The steering wheel ended up with four coats of the Moss Green for this detailing cycle.

It was mid-morning and time to pack up and head up to the boss's house to help him and son, Max, get Henry, the '41 Ford started. It's battery has been dead for a few months. We got a 6v Optima replacement hidden in an original looking "tar top" case. Took my battery tools along with fresh gas, drainage pan, Sea Foam additive and starting fluid. We had Henry running in 'bout an hour. I came back to the Krash Lab and settled down with a cigar and the beer of the day which was Indian River Brewing Company's Amberjack Lager. Progress fell off.

April 21^st 2008  Well, sunday was a wasted day. Didn't get anything done to BillyBob. I didn't get to the sunday nite cruise-in either. Forgot to bring my work duds with me to the Krash Lab this morning too, so work this evening will be light. Replenished the wax on some of the body panels and reinstalled BillyBob's steering wheel. I didn't fill any cracks or low spots in the steering wheel this time and the Moss Green paint has some orange peel so there is only marginal improvement. Room fer plenty of improvement next detailing cycle.

April 24^th 2008  Last nite, I started the quik-n-durty cowl repair. Sanded the areas that are rusting and bubbling up, masked off the windshield and gave them an application of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator after some PRE Paint Prep.

Tonite, I applied some more of the Meguiar's NXT Generation Wax to the rear fenders. This stuff does not like sunlight. I'm gonna have to park the truck in the shade of the building to hopefully get better results. That means the Krash Lab in early morning or the neighbor building across the lot in late afternoon. Even then, I can't hope fer too much. Also doodled around with monthly maintenance before closing up shop.

April 26^th 2008  Good weather today. Hit the ground runnin'. Hutchinson roadtrip is creepin' up on me. Three weeks from today is departure day. Finished monthly maintenance tasks on both BillyBob and Renegade. Went back to the cowl remedial work after that. Got up under the dash to place masking tape over the hole to restrain the batch of JB Weld I was mixing up to fill the hole. JB Weld mixes up fairly stiff but will flow where gravity takes it a bit after you walk away. The areas to receive JB Weld were PRE Paint Prepped prior to applying the epoxy.

After the beer of the day (Mad River Brewing Company's Steelhead Extra Stout), Powerblock TV and a cigar, the cowl area was given 'nother application of JB Weld (the hole had cratered some).

April 27^th 2008  A bit overcast this morning. Went after the cowl area with course and fine sandpaper 'til I got it fairly smooth fer a stage 1 level job. Still some blemishes but good enuf fer gov'mint work. Masked off the area again, PRE Paint Prepped it and gave the exposed bare metal areas a blast of Eastwood's Self-Etching Primer.

After two hours, I followed up with a wet coat of Rustoleum Dark Hunter Green. I had to prep the area again as a passing bird had dropped his load in the green zone where the paint was going down. Pulled off the masking and broke out the beer of the day. In this case, Shoal Draft Pale Ale from the Indian River Brewing Company up in Melbourne, Florida. Fiddled around 'til it was time to head to the Krash Pad to get cleaned up fer cruise nite.

At the cruise in, BillyBob turned out to be a chick magnet again. A drunk gal ran me down to find out if the truck was for sale because her boyfriend wanted one. I let her sit in BillyBob and screw around with the controls while trying to inform her sober boyfriend about the truck. The gal got a little irritated when I wouldn't give her the keys. She wandered off while I continued telling the boyfriend where he could get leads to buy his own stovebolt. Suddenly, there was a ruckus when one of the cruise in organizers told the drunk gal not to touch the other cars. She swung on him twice and slapped his wife. Cops were called and the boyfriend said his goodbyes and hustled her out of there. OK, BillyBob has been an irresistible attraction to a homeless chick and a drunk so far. My luck can't go anywhere but up . . . can it?

April 30^th 2008  On monday, the Delray Beach car club guys and gals went on a group tour of the Fort Lauderdale Antique Car Museum and that took up the whole afternoon. A real treat was when the almost ninety year old founder of the museum, Arthur Stone, came out of his office to jawbone with us for about fifteen minutes. He stood, leaning on his cane, and led the conversation. He and his wife, Shirley, are both as sharp as tacks. The cruise-in was tuesday nite so no work was done on BillyBob until tonite. Now that all the improvements I planned for the interior phase of the detailing cycle were completed, all that remained was some of the actual detailing described in the maintenance routines. Got most of the general cleaning done before going home. Had some excitement at the Krash Pad around midnite. Gunfire erupted in the parking lot . . . then quiet. That's on the other side of the building. Listened hard for cries of help. Hearing nothing more, I stayed inside. Took 'bout fifteen minutes for the police chopper with searchlight to arrive. Overflew the compound for twenty minutes and then it was quiet again. I was tired of the gansta culture five minutes after it arrived.

May 1^st 2008  No new holes in BillyBob this morning and no other evidence that I could see of last nite's fracus. Continued with interior detailing.

The interior phase of the detailing cycle is done at this point 'cept for some edits to the connectors inventory and the Interior Detailing Procedures. We're on to the Door Detailing Procedures phase. This is a new category. Last time around, some of the door work was done during the interiors phase and some was done during the Glass and Trim phase.

May 2^nd 2008  Rob English over at the OldGMCtrucks.com forum posted about his experience with 3M products rubbing compound systems with some impressive before and after pics. I happened to be scanning thru a new TP Tools catalog not long after I read the post and came across a page of 3M compounds. I took it as a sign and ordered the "Rubbing Compound" and "Swirl Mark Remover", the last two steps of the Perfect-It 3000 system, along with a cheap 7" Polisher and hook & Loop foam compounding and polishing pads. The shipment arrived on thursday.

Decided to test the system out before it got dark. If a good paint surface is like a still lake, BillyBob's rear fenders resemble the surface of the moon by comparison. Cleaned the driver side fender with dishwashing soap and water and dried it off. Got the rubbing compound and the polisher with the white compounding pad installed and had at it. Made the usual beginner's mistakes and was soon slinging compound everywhere.

Cleanup took longer than the application, but I was pleased with the results and determined to do the rest of the truck over the weekend. I didn't even use the Swirl Mark Remover step on the fender. Decided to quit while I was ahead. When I got in the truck to go home, the door latch mechanism on the driver door broke. Damnation! Timing is everything. Guess it's a good time fer this since I'm moving on to the door phase of the detailing cycle.

May 3^rd 2008  Blessed with good weekend weather again. Started out as soon as I got to the Krash Lab and the sun was still low in the east. After awhile, I moved to truck to the shade provided by the building. This would last until just before noon. Washed the roof with dishwash soap and water and went at it again with the rubbing compound. My beginner's luck had faded and I was havin' a heck of a discouraging time. Took me a while to realize that I didn't have to make all the compound disapear with the polisher and that I could wash off the remaining residue with more soap and water. Things went faster after that.

By Powerblock TV time, I had gotten the cab, hood and front fenders done. It was time for a cigar and the beer of the day which turned out to be Mad River Brewing Company's Jamaica Red Ale. Stopped at the warehouse bay on the way home to the Krash Pad and picked up all of the xtra door parts I have in storage.

May 4^th 2008  Another good weather day and I picked up where I left off yesterday when I lost my shade. I had the doors and rear fenders to finish. A routine had been established yesterday where I would wash a panel with dishwash soap and water, compound it, wash it again, polish it, wash it again and finish it off with Meguiar's Cleaner Wax. I was finished by noon and headed back to the Krash Pad to get cleaned up for the sunday nite cruise in.

May 6^th 2008  Worked on the driver side door last nite. Managed to adjust the vice-grips I wuz using to open the door enuf to twist the latch release one more time and get the door open again. Took the vice-grips and window handle off and removed the homemade vinyl panel some previous owner had fabricated. The outer door handle clutch head screws were rusted so I hit them with a shot of Kroil Penetrating Oil before attempting removal.

The Kroil did the trick. The old outer door handle came out and was replaced by the repop handle and gaskets I got several years ago from Chevy-Duty. It's nice-n-shiny now, but that won't be fer long. The button will rust up first and in a couple of years the chrome will start to pit. So it goes. The repop handle came with phillips head screws but I knew I had some new clutch head screws somewhere that should fit (left over from the hood latch refurbishing a few years ago). Took me awhile to find 'em and they did fit. However, I lost two of them down inside the door trying to get them in and gave up before I lost all of them. I'll revisit this later.

Removed the old inside latch release mechanism and arm next and replaced it with another repop item from Chevy-Duty. Put the new chrome repop inside door handle and window crank on next. The window crank has a blade head set screw. A dab of threadlocker blue and it was on. The door handle is harder. It has an acursed allen head set screw. I got the threadlocker on it and in position when the boss came outside to talk about the truck. When I got back to the handle, the threadlocker had set up and I discovered that the allen wrench was one size too small. Damnation! Finally found the proper allen wrench and got the threadlocker loosened up for a second attempt. Done!

Messed around with the repop arm rest after that. Got these clear back in aught-two and never put them on. They did not come with attaching hardware. Discovered that what I needed were 1/4"-20 x 1-1/8" machine screws with phillips or similar head. Not enuf clearance for a hex head. I didn't have any in stock that I could find so I had a cigar and packed it in for the night.

May 7^th 2008  Went to the Delray Beach cruise-in last nite. Was a couple there with a '54 Corvette. I was trying to think of a way to get their Blue Flame stovebolt engine out of the car without their knowing about it.

This morning when I stopped fer gas, I noticed new e10 ethanol stickers on all the pumps. Damnation! I don't want those corrosive corn squezzins eating all the rubber parts in my fuel system and makin' the engine run lean! Nor do I want to be contributing to starvation in the third world and dead zones in the gulf of Mexico due to one of the biggest boondoogles in modern times. I did some intarweb research and found that the Florida legislature had allowed the Feds to pressure it into passing a law that all gas will be E10 by the end of 2008. ~!@#$%^ Finding a new gas station won't help fer long.

Stopped at FLAPS and picked up a couple of gallons of 15-40 Rotella T oil for a change and roadtrip supply as well as four paks of 1/4"-20 stovebolts in both 1" and 1-1/4" lengths to try with the arm rests. Decided since these will be inside the cab I wouldn't bother with an order of stainless steel fasteners from McMaster-Carr this time around. After work, I test-fitted the arm rest with the 1" long stovebolts.

After that, I moved on to the upper door frames. Back in november of '05 was the last time I addressed this area. I wire-brushed, rust encapsulated, and painted it with Rustoleum. Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator can't do its job if you can't "encapsulate" the rust. The problem is back wit a vengence. I wire-brushed the affected areas again and set to ponderin'.

May 9^th 2008  No work last nite 'cept for stopping off at the warehouse bay to pick up all the travel boxes to inventory them for the upcoming Hutchinson roadtrip which is only a week away now.

May 10^th 2008  Got to the Krash Lab after daybreak and began to put anoter coat of wax on BillyBob. Got 'bout halfway done when it was time to close up shop and head out to a picnic arranged by the "Just Us Motor Club" at Cypress Park in Coconut Creek, Florida. I've met and talked to some of these guys over the years at car shows and several of them attend the Fort Lauderdale cruise in on sundays.

Last nite, I loaded new maps into "Mother", the Garmin c340 GPS navigator. I decided to test Mother on the drive to the picnic. If there are any problems with the map upload, I don't want to find out about it next week on the Hutchinson roadtrip. Mother acted pretty much as she has in the past. She routed me thru a gated community on the way to the park. Only problem was that this route took me to a back gate in the community that would only open for residents. I saw the park entrance on the other side of the gate, but I had to backtrack thru the community and go around to get back to the park entrance. When I got to the picnic site, I found two more stovebolts to park next to. Nebber did find out who belonged to these fine trucks.

May 12^th 2008  On sunday, I finished waxing BillyBob and went thru most of the ammo box roadtrip inventory before it started raining on the shadetree garage.

BillyBob has always had numerous oil drips but lately, the drip underneath the flywheel cover scatterpan bas turned into a puddle anyplace the truck has been parked fer a few hours. This is big enuf of a oil loss that it has me mentally perturbed and I suppose I have a rear main bearing seal adventure in my near future. I decided to do the easy things first and eliminate those possibilities. A few weeks ago I ordered a couple of valve cover gaskets from RockAuto.com. Tonite, I'm gonna put one on BillyBob.

Took the valve cover and old gasket off and proceeded to clean the old sealant off the gasket mating surfaces with gasket scraper and scotchbrite pad. The valve cover flange appears flat and straight. I'm not gonna mess with a hammer and dolly on it this time. Started the engine to warm it up and watch the valve train to see that all the rockers were getting oil and that it was draining properly. Everything seems in order. Put the new cork gasket and valve cover on without sealant. Used threadlocker Blue on the valve cover stovebolts. Closed up shop then 'cause it was windy, with a wiff of wildfire in the air, and it wasn't much fun working in the wind.

May 15^th 2008  First, elation . . . then, deflation. Damnation! On tuesday morning, I had a little three inch oil stain under BillyBob. Yesterday, it was back to the 12" puddle. This morning, I came out of the Krash Pad to find a 10" by 20" puddle! On the way to the Krash Lab, I was close to calling off the Hutchinson run. By the time I got there, the gloom had passed an' I was back to cautionary concern. I put a pan under BillyBob to monitor just how much oil I wuz losin' when he was sitting still. I have spent considerable time under the truck pondering this problem and I have yet to actually see a drop fall. I went to the Chevs of the 40's website and ordered a new rear main rope seal and a oil pan gasket set. I also ordered K-D Tools 492 Oil Seal Remover and Installer from SJ Discount Tools. I know the general consensus is that these tools don't work very well but I want to stack the deck in my favor as much as possible when entering unknown territory. JR cut a trail for me when he did this and I still laugh everytime I read his account.

First day's yield in the pan is about a 1/4 cup (traditional measure). Looks like more but that's it. I will keep collecting the leak oil this way and we'll see how much we have at the end of the roadtrip. Don't want to get much more analytical than that. I already feel like a court eunuch examining the last emperor's turds.

Lubed BillyBob's 23 zerk fittings and packed the front wheel bearings before it got dark. In my haste, I put one wheel bearing in backwards and didn't realize my error until after I had my new seal in place. Curses!

June 7^th 2008  Got back from the Hutchinson roadtrip last sunday. Finally getting back in the groove under the shadetree today. Started with monthly maintenance on BillyBob and Rengade followed by a oil change for BillyBob. We're full into summer now and I'm movin' slow in the heat. I packed up the storage shed willy nilly to the rafters when I left and sorting everything out, as I go, is slowing me down too. When It got really hot, I broke out the beer of the day which is Boulder Beer Company's Buffalo Gold Golden Ale. Tasty.

June 8^th 2008  Hot and muggy but no rain in sight this morning. Started out by giving BillyBob a transfusion. The gas tank was down to half full and it was a good time to transfer the gas out of the travel jerry can. The water was dumped out of the other can unto the parched landscaping. Jerry can mounts were removed from the running boards for storage up at the warehouse. Beer of the day is Smuttynose Brewing Company's Portsmouth Lager.

June 14^th 2008  Summertime blues. Hot, muggy and rain threatening. No work done after office hours this past week cause the summer monsoon rains start like clockwork just around quitting time. Short outbursts mostly that, nevertheless, change the shadetree garage into a swamp. it was dry when BillyBob and I pulled in this morning. Got started with quarterly maintenance and some work with Renegade, the Jeep. Continued by replacing BillyBob's old clutch I keep under the seat as a spare with the better disk and pressure plate that Greg Hill gave me at Hutchinson. Preformed a few other organizational tasks while I was at it.

Several years back, I got a replacement valve cover on eBay from one of the maillist members. BillyBob's valve cover has a few holes on top that a previous owner closed up with sheetmetal, pop rivets and sealant. I wanted a clean, original valve cover. When it arrived, I noticed it had a notch cut out of the front lip. I figured I'd have to weld that up and so I put it on the shelf for attention at a later date.

I've had BillyBob's valve cover off several times but it was only the last time that I saw that, it too, had the notch cut out of the front and that the purpose of the notch was to give the thermostat housing plenty of clearance. Since no welding would be involved after all, I brought the replacement down from the warehouse to clean up for painting. Tried to get Wingnut to help me but he retreated back to his cage after a cursory inspection.

Used a pick hammer and dolly to knock two small dents out. Then ran a wire cup in the angle grinder over the valve cover to remove loose paint and decals. PRE Paint prepped it and gave it a coat of self-etching primer. Watched Powerblock and broke out the beer of the day, Boulder Beer Company's Singletrack Copper Ale.

June 15^th 2008  Hot and muggy again. 30% chance of rain predicted. Gave the valve cover a couple of coats of Hirsch Chevrolet Grey Engine Paint. Dragged out the garden hose and washed some of the Oklahoma mud and Texas dust off of BillyBob. Moved the truck to the shade of the Krash lab and began to refresh the Mequiar's Cleaner Wax. Got the cab, doors and hood done before I lost the shade. The rest will have to wait. Mid-day and the heat is blistering. Spending most of my time inside with five minute forays out into the heat.

After the valve cover paint dried, the valve cover was installed on BillyBob's engine with the stainless steel fasteners I got from Tom Langdon's Stovebolt Engine Company some time ago. These are hex head machine screws and they are longer than the original stovebolts. I think they are meant to bottom out before compressing the valve cover gasket too much. We'll see how things go. I think I favor the stovebolts and may revert to them at a later date.

Cleaned and dressed the tires as the afternoon wore on. Five in the afternoon the sun got low enuf in the west for the neighboring building across the parking lot to start providing some shade. Moved BillyBob over there and finished the wax replenishment on the front fenders. Cleaned all the glass, inside and out, before packing things in fer the day. I got the cruise-in jonses blues. The Delray Beach group ceased ops for the summer and the Fort Lauderdale sunday nite cruise-in has been suspended permanently.

June 16^th 2008  It's monday and the quitting time showers are back. I didn't get much done. Smoked a cigar and waited for the sky to clear. About six-thirty, it stopped raining. I wuz too anxious, perhaps, to put on the valve cover decal that arrived today from American Classic Truck Parts. Leaning over the fender gave me a cold wet shirt and I got the decal a touch out of alignment. Who knows? It might be closer to a assembly line application then I realize.

June 18^th 2008  Quittin' time and BillyBob's shadetree is wet again. Miami humorist and author Steve Graham said on his website that "The best way to describe the weather today is that it's like living inside a damp grey sweater." This work-in-progress episode is getting long and ramblin' so I guess I'll post it and I'll be ready when the shadetree garage dries up again.

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Issued Wednesday June 18, 2008

Updated Thursday April 5, 2018

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