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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.

60. The Game is afoot

March 9^th 2009 The days are getting longer. Enuf sunlight still left after work to drag out the tools and play with the vehicles again. Decided to start a long overdue tune up on BillyBob with a slight detour at the beginning to slap a little more paint on the engine. I had gotten a new can of Chevrolet Gray engine paint from Bill Hirsch after I had run the last one out on the oil pan. I wanted to paint the right side of the head this time. Tagged the plug wires with numbered clothespins and removed them along with the dizzy cap. Removed the coil and bracket too. Loosened the spark plugs. Used spray carb cleaner and a toothbrush the clean the side of the head. I got a tip from some of the fellas over on the H.A.M.B. forum to use foil for masking in tight areas instead of masking paper. It's much quicker.

After everything was masked off, the head was given a couple of coats of the engine paint. I closed up shop fer the day and headed off in Deerslayer to the Krash pad.

March 11^th 2009 Last night was cruise-in nite at Lucille's Bad to the Bone Ribs restaurant and no work got done before heading off to that. Tonite, After work, the masking was removed, the now painted spark plugs replaced with new NGK B6S plugs gapped to "0.035" inch and the coil and bracket cleaned and installed. Before the plugs were treated with anti-seize and torqued down, a compression check was performed. We have 160, 150, 150, 150, 150 qnd 140 psi, front to back. I pulled the knob off the throttle cable setting it at wide open throttle for the compression check. If I had set the throttle with the pedal and then set the pull cable while my foot was down, the knob wouldn't have had to pull against the spring and this wouldn't have happened. Hope I remember next time. After the truck was back together, I ran it for twenty minutes to charge up the battery again.

May 30^th 2009 This is turning into a long tuneup. After some work on Deerslayer, I continued with the Distributor phase of the tuneup. Everything went fairly well until I tried to install the new rotor. It wouldn't seat because the locating key was too big. I fixed the rotor with my Dremel tool but I would shure hate to be stuck out on the road with this inferior replacement part. Viva parts from Mexico and NAFTA!. I feel simpatico with the Cuban guys trying to keep their old cars running.

Finished up with the Ignition Timing phase of the tuneup. The engine sounded good and the dwell/tach told me it was just a little over 30 degrees. Short of the 33 degrees of perfection but close enuf fer now. I want to take BillyBob on a Fort Lauderdale Beach run tomorrow morning if it isn't raining to see how it feels before continuing with the tuneup. Beer of the day is Penn Brewery's Penn Pilsner.

May 31^st 2009 Headed down Federal Hwy towards Fort Lauderdale this morning but I ended up cutting my trip short. Even after warmup, the engine had no power and it developed a miss that got worse and worse. My unbalanced spare tire on the front driver side was thumping pretty good above thirty-five too. When we limped into the Krash Lab parking lot, I let it cool down while I pondered my next move. When I put some beer into the fridge to cool down, the six-pack blew out and one of the bottles smashed on the floor next to my foot . . . I hope this isn't how the rest of the day is going to go. After I cleaned up the mess and picked the shrapnel out of my toe, I went out to BillyBob and found that number two plug wire was off the plug. I don't think that is all that's wrong here but it was a big factor.

July 25^th 2009 Muggy today under the shadetree with thunder rumbles in the distance. Took off the thumping spare tire and static balanced it. We'll see how that helps on tomorrow's beach run. Added a quart of Valvoline VR1 30w oil then had to cease ops as the rain started.

February 1^st 2010 Okay, this is a slow moving episode. That's because I haven't done much with BillyBob in the past six months 'cept running the engine every few weeks. Gonna try to get back in the groove, weather and cruise-in schedules permitting. Last nite, I drove BillyBob to the sunday nite cruise-in in Coral Springs. Not too many rides there because it was cold with rain threatening and the Pro Bowl was on. Even tho' BillyBob is lookin' pretty shabby, he still attracted several admirers. Afterwards, I drove him down past the Monterey Club in Fort Lauderdale but didn't stop 'cause there wasn't much activity there yet. This is a place that doesn't start rockin' until after ten most nites. I headed back up to Boca Raton on the beach road in the misting rain. The vacuum wipers aren't working again and need attention. At some point on the way home, I lost the turn signals and, I feared, maybe the tail lights. When I got to the Krash Lab, I checked the lights and they were all working 'cept for the dashboard indicators. Locked up BillyBob to keep company with BettyLou and headed home to the Krash Pad in Deerslayer.

February 18^th 2010 Chilly yesterday but I managed to exercise BillyBob's engine after work. Had him running at 'bout 1500 rpm with the hand throttle for about seven minutes when I noticed low oil pressure. Blipping the throttle did not move the needle. I shut BillyBob off and added two quarts of oil. That didn't top it off but it did get the needle back up where it should be. Ran BillyBob for twenty minutes and then headed down to the Monterey Club in Deerslayer for a couple of brews to ponder this development.

April 7^th 2010 Today, I set in motion some big lifestyle changes, hence the title above that "The game is afoot." BillyBob (and Deerslayer and BettyLou and Renegade) will finally get a garage. I will be moving into more modest digs and giving up a life on the couch in front of the boob tube. I have leased warehouse space with room for all four rides and all the other stuff I have in storage. We start moving stuff next week.

April 15^th 2010 Tax day ~!@#$%^ The only thing good about it is that I'm not paying as much tax since Obamanomics has reduced my pay by 30%. 'Nuff of that. Got the 'tricity transferred to my name at the new digs (BillyBob's Shop) and carried my first load of stuff over there after work yesterday. The very first thing unloaded is a new fridge. I'll let it settle fer a day (so I don't burn up a compressor like I did with a portable a/c unit by laying it on its side during transport) before I fill it up with cheap beer (PBR - Pabst Blue Ribbon).

Cracked open a "Full Sail Pale Ale" before I started unloading the stuff 'cause ya gotta establish the important traditions first. Took some photos of the empty spaces to start planning the initial layout in my noggin (mind's eye). The main work area will hold two rides comfortably with room for benches and walking around.

The loft area will hold all my stuff so's I can move into a smaller apartment down the road (can't afford a two bedrm, two bath and this place both). Under the loft, there's enuf room to store two cars. Might be tight, but I can park Renegade in here with the top down and climb out the back, if necessary.

April 22^nd 2010 Yesterday, I received a twelve foot articulated ladder from the Fedex guy and I took it to BillyBob's new garage after work along with a truckload from the Krash Pad. The new refrig is half full of Pabst Blue Ribbon and working well. Haven't found the perfect setting yet. Started at the coldest. When you open a beer, it slushes up quickly so I've been dialing the refrig setting back a notch at a time.

Tunes are next so I brought my audio cd collection over from the Krash Pad. Gonna bring the electronics next so I can get some rockabilly goin' while I'm wrenchin'. Got the ladder unpacked and set up and took a look at the loft for the first time. Some previous owner left a pair of wheel adapters, a couple of instrument clusters and some auto air-conditioning parts of unknown make and model. Otherwise, the loft is empty.

At tuesday nite's Classic Diamonds cruise-in in Delray, I told Bill Carroll about getting BillyBob down to his new quarters next week when one of my co-workers could be spared to help me. Bill offered to meet me at the new digs this week and give me a ride back to the Krash Lab so I wouldn't have to wait. I took him up on the offer and we did it this morning. BillyBob is now in his new home, ready to be worked on. This is a milestone in the BillyBob chronicles.

April 24^th 2010 Good weather today. I got up early and loaded up Deerslayer with my CD player, amp and speakers. Motored down to the new BillyBob garage and set things up. Damnation! the CD player is skipping a lot. I've had it more than twenty years but played it less than ten hours. Maybe the lens is dirty.

Up to the Krash Lab where I picked up my laptop "Firefly", a CD lens cleaner disk and the cooler, chairs and beer for tomorrow's car show in Miami. Continued on to a FLAPS for oil, hand cleaner and coolant. Then, up to the warehouse bay for 'nother load of stuff to carry down to BillyBob's garage. I was carrying a buncha boxes and a metro wire shelving unit. Only had room for the shelving unit standing up but I didn't have tie-downs. It was an exciting ride. I took it easy but the shelving unit tipped twice on turns and almost fell out. Other drivers were annoyed with me because I was going so slow.

When I got back to the new shop, the CD lens cleaner didn't work. I've tried this gadget several times on other CD drives and the next time it works will be the first time. I suspect that the ride over from the Krash Pad damaged the CD player as I wuz too dumb to put it in the cab with me and I did hit one small speed bump. I set up Firefly and played music on the laptop for the rest of the afternoon.

Another milestone. I performed monthly maintenance on BillyBob. It was the first work done in the new shop on BillyBob. WooHoo!

April 28^th 2010 I've been movin' more stuff to the BillyBob garage this week including the purchase of a rope hoist and cargo net to get stuff up to the loft. I got that rig set up last nite. After that, I started working on a Deerslayer problem. He has a cold engine miss that is slowly getting worse. I started unloading BillyBob's bed which still has the roadtrip ammo boxes in it as well as a lotta oil that has to go to the recycling center and my tire changing equipment. I didn't find what I needed for Deerslayer which was a pair of 5/8" hose clamps. I cannibalized BillyBob's heater hose hookup for the time being.

April 29^th 2010 Didn't get much done on the move last nite other than hooking up the new CD player for tunes. I was preoccupied with Deerslayer's engine problem and spent most of the evening dealing with that.

April 30^th 2010 Didn't get anything done last nite at BillyBob's Shop and tonite I'll be getting Deerslayer ready for an all day show tomorrow up in Jupiter, Florida with my friends Anthony and Lou. Sunday, I'll be movin' stuff again to the new digs from the Krash Pad. It won't be another year before the next BillyBob episode. After I get Deerslayer's problem squared away, I'll be directing my attention to BillyBob again.

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