Tinkering with Deerslayer

DEERSLAYER LINKS including vendor sites for parts and tools as well as sites for old truck and hot rod organizations

TINKERING WITH DEERSLAYER chronicles the day-by-day maintenance and improvements episodes for Deerslayer, a '37 Chevy farm truck hot rod.

CRUISIN' WITH DEERSLAYER Roadtrips, cruise-in's and truck show stories and tall tales.

TONY'S DUNGEON Tony Pascarella's forum entries at OldGMCtrucks.com and H.A.M.B. regarding Deerslayer, particularly the 302 GMC engine build in his farmhouse basement.

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

PROJECT NAILHEAD Chronicles the rebuild of a 1954 Buick Roadmaster 322 nailhead engine as a future replacement for Deerslayer's Jimmy 302.

12. Battlin' Entropy

August 17^th 2010  After the last Deerslayer Log entry was published, I started getting some feedback on No. 5 Cylinder. Tony "Truckedup" Pascarella, builder of the truck, wrote the following on the oldGMCtrucks.com forum:

Larry,number 5 looks like some erosion damage at the top of the ring travel.Might be a head gasket leaking coolant,but it sure looks odd.There was for sure no defect at all on the cylinder walls when the engine was assembled. The rings are 1/16 inch Childs and Albert plasma moly pro street quality.You can still see hone marks on the other cylinders. The head was milled about .020,the block true decked about .030.The head gasket is the "Best" brand name,torqued to 100 lbs using ARP head bolts. Bore cameras often make stuff look worse than it is.A head pull is the only way to eyeball up close to make sure that bad spot is passed over by the rings and not above the ring travel. The sparkplugs on that engine always looked just like you see them after slow driving. The difference in compression is not too nasty but two cylinder together reading lower is suspect.

Slow driving? Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark. I have a reputation to consider.

My intarweb friend, Bill Hanlon, wrote the following via the old-chevy-trucks maillist:

Larry: I'm pretty sure AFB mixture screws are for idle mixture only. Shouldn't have any effect on pinging under load. That is all done with jet and rod changes. The AFB clone carbs made by Edelbrock (basis for my statement above) are adjusted that way. Their user manual is available on line.

I have the manual and I understand that Edelbrock and original AFB's are close enuf for the manual to be useful. It's time to read it but I also know that Tony spent a lot of time getting the jets and springs right for this carb and he has probably forgotten more about carbs than I know so I don't want to mess with the jets at this time.

My friend, Nate, also on the old-chevy-trucks maillist and several forums, wrote:

Ping under load should be a timing issue , unless you have adjustable metering rod in the car by . Do a " Throttle Ping Test " and find out , maybe by simply backing off the timing one or two degrees , the ping will be cured ~ yes it's that simple most of the time . The pic of # 5 cylinder looks oil fouled , hopefully either bad rings or a collapsed piston skirt , an easy fix in any case .

Thanx for reminding me to check the timing. Tony spent some time getting this right too but I haven't checked it for awhile because I'm planning on putting the HEI dizzy back in. The points dizzy may have gotten out of whack.

August 23^rd 2010  Went to the Duffie's Diner Cruise-in again wednesday nite because Anthony wanted to check it out. He was there with the '51 Merc when I arrived. John Carey was there too, back from his New England vacation. He drove his '34 Ford pickup up and back. He took the tow rig off for the trip. Here's a T-bucket I haven't seen before that was at the cruise-in.

On friday nite, I joined Anthony, Lou and Gunsey at the Tower Shoppes Cruise-in in Davie again. This '32 Deuce roadster was at both events. After the cruise-in, I stopped off at the Monterey Club and met up with several of the Saints n Sinners CC members.

On saturday, I messed around with monthly maintenance on Deerslayer, then went over to Johan's shop where he and fellow SnS CC member Jarle were working. Jarle had backed into a late model Mustang at the Monterey Club last week and they were doing the bodywork and painting the fender of that car. Jarle was also working on pulling the front end off of his chevy to put a new small block chevy engine in it.

Looks like I brought enuf beer. Later on, Joel showed up and Johan's dad, too. They were at it until after dark when they discovered that the Mustang paint was a shade off and we had to break off ops for the time being. On sunday, I pretty much loafed around the BillyBob Shop all day.

August 24^th 2010  Got a call last nite from Johan. He and Jarle were putting the finish coats of paint on the mustang fender and he was having trouble with water in the compressor line. Wanted to know if my HVLP turbine was available. Unfortunately, it's at the BillyBob warehouse bay which closed a half hour earlier. I went out in the shop and rooted around. Found a couple of disposable line filters with my air compressor stuff. Called Johan back and went over to his shop. He and Jarle were able to get the base coat and clear coat on without too much more interference from Murphy.

August 31^st 2010  Not much happening on the Deerslayer front. Most of last week's cruise-in activity was rained out with the exception of the friday nite cruise-in at the Tower Shoppes in Davie, Florida. Hung out with Anthony and Gunsey and others. Lou was workin' again and couldn't make it.

September 2^nd 2010  Last nite I went to the Monterey Club and celebrated the 31st anniversary of my 30th birthday. Owner Rob was behind the bar and I ended up drinking for free. Joel was there and later, Saints n Sinners clubmembers French and Boneyard showed up. It was Boneyard's first day back at work after his european vacation and he was still in his paramedic scrubs from work. He gave me a CBGB & OMFUG teeshirt he had picked up in his travels. It was "swing dance nite" at the Monterey Club. I went downtown with disc jockey Stacy afterwards and argued politics with him for a couple more hours. I'm a longhair conservative and he is an ex-special forces liberal. We present a weird scene to those listening to us. Made it home to the BillyBob pad around 4:30. Back to work at 7:30. Glad I only have one natal day a year.

September 7^th 2010  On friday nite, I made it down to the Tower Shoppes cruise-in but attendence was light due to anticipated thunderstorms that did not materalize. I sat with Dave Smith of the Mopar group. They attend most of the same events my small circle of friends do. Dave had the top down on his '68 Plymouth GTX 440 in defiance of the weather predictions. Nobody else showed and Dave took off for a beach cruise. Deerslayer and I sat there for quite a while by ourselves. I had beer and cigars so I didn't care. This Chevy pulled into the next row. I hadn't seen it before so I mosied over to have a look. Streetrods aren't my cup of tea but this one was nicely done. It's a '55-56 cab with a '57 hood and a '59 bed. By the time it got dark, more rods showed including my friend Dave with his '29 Model A. We hadn't seen each other for some time and he filled me in on current activities. He has recently scored a 1st generation Olds Rocket engine (324 CID). That's gonna be an interesting build. Dave shares the same interest that I do regarding engines from the fifties.

September 13^th 2010  Well, 'nother week gone by and I don't have much to show for it. The sunday nite cruise-in was rained out and it was raining wednesday nite at the BillyBob Shop so I decided not to go to the wednesday nite cruise-in either. On friday, the weather radar over the Tower Shoppes cruise-in site looked bad but I was gettin' cabin fever and went anyway. It didn't rain at the cruise-in but so few cars showed up that the cruise-in was canceled by eight. I got a shot of this suburban before that happened tho'. Was talking to Model A Dave again and his wife Pattie when the Davie police came around to throw us out.

Then I got a call from Saints n Sinners Car Club member Brian. I call him Capt' Ron. He was broke down on the I-95 Linton Blvd. exit ramp in Delray Beach, about 35 miles away. A piece of debris falling off a truck had disintegrated a wheel of the utility trailer he was pulling. He asked me to hit a Walmart for a wheel and tools. Before I could answer, Brian said he would leave the trailer and go to Walmart. He said he would keep me informed and hung up. Even tho' he left me off the hook, Deerslayer and I headed up I-95 for Delray Beach. When I got to Brian, he was roping a tarpulin over the trailer best he could. He had been to two different Walmarts with no luck on what he needed. Club member Johan was in his shop and had offered his car trailer to put the utility trailer on it but it was too heavy for us to maneuver. There were two small antique steam engines on the trailer and other heavy things that we couldn't move easily. The wheel was completely gone. Some of the tire that was left was wrapped around the mangled hub. Brian decided to leave the trailer overnite and get it in the morning. I gave him a consolation PBR when he finished securing the trailer and we went our separate ways. I found out on sunday that he had successfully gotten the trailer to its intended destination on saturday.

On saturday, an oil and filter change and monthly maintenance was performed on Deerslayer. I picked up a trick on the H.A.M.B. that was so slick and simple, I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. When changing out the old oil filter, after loosening it up with the filter wrench, wrap a ziplock bag around it to catch the oil when removing it the rest of the way. I'll bet many use this trick but it was new to me and works better than a drain pan for the deerslayer since the filter is right over the front axle. I've adjusted my oil change procedure accordingly. On sunday, I cleaner-waxed Deerslayer's fenders and replaced a small screw in one of the front turn signal lamp lens retainers that had fallen out. I'm glad I caught this before the lens fell out. Tony made these from fender lights from a late twenties Buick. I suspect the lens would be difficult to replace.

September 20^th 2010  No rain forecast for the friday nite cruise-in, for a change, and there was a good turnout. Anthony and Lou and Gunsey were there as well as others I knew and later on, Model A Dave showed up. I saw this '41 Chevy truck streetrod for the first time too.

On saturday afternoon, the call was out from Rob at the Monterey Club to show up with our rides for a calendar girl photoshoot. Deerslayer turned out to be one of the rides selected by the photog for pics. The Monterey Club provided the free beer for the ride owners. As a result, sunday became a recovery day.

September 23^rd 2010  Deerslayer and I made it to the cruise-in at Duffy's Diner in north Lauderdale last nite for the first time in several weeks. Ran into my friends John Carey and Bill Carroll there. Bill told me about a new sunday morning breakfast cruise-in starting up in Fort Lauderdale this weekend. It sounds like my cup of tea. I'm gonna try to make it. John told me he was going to the Rats and Rods event at Big Daddy's in Ocala followed up by the Billetproof Drags in Lakeland the next day. Model A Dave is going to these events too. It happens in late october. I think Deerslayer and I are gonna try to go with them.

September 24^th 2010  I'm tired and my ears are ringin'. Went down to the Monterey Club last nite for the only south Florida appearance of the Legendary Shack Shakers. They are a real kick ass band. Damn nice guys too. They were there early and hangin' in the club when I got there. There were three local bands on stage before them and this is Shack Shaker guitarist Duane Denison relaxin' on Deerslayer's rear fender before their set. I didn't ask him to pose. People just naturally perch themselves on Deerslayer. It's happened before. It's an inviting old farm truck. When I saw Duane enjoying his cig, I grabbed the camera and asked him to stay put so I could snap a pic.

September 27^th 2010  The friday nite cruise was rained out. On saturday, I moved stuff from the BillyBob Warehouse to the BillyBob Shop. Yesterday, before daybreak, Deerslayer and I headed down A1A to Fort Lauderdale to attend a new breakfast cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale. This will hopefully get legs and become one of south Florida's premier cruise-ins. It was set up by my friend, Bill Carroll and Rich Martin, editor of "Sunshine State Rodding News".

Despite the fact that there isn't much scuttlebutt about it out there in the local car community yet, they got between fifteen and twenty rides to show up for the first outing including the seven shown in these two pics. I 'spect this to be more of an oldtimer's event, at least at first since it is held on sunday mornings between 7 and 9 at a bagel shop.

After coffee at the cruise-in, I went back to the BillyBob Shop and puttered around. Did monthly maintenance and was disturbed to find that the radiator cap was missing. I must'uv neglected to put it back on after I last topped off the coolant a couple of weeks ago. Glad it didn't fall into the fan when it made its escape. Replaced it with a 4lb cap from my BillyBob spares. In the late afternoon, Deerslayer and I headed out to the Sunday nite cruise-in in Coral Springs. Hadn't been there for over a month. They had a good nite with 89 rides.

October 4^th 2010  'Nother week slips by. No cruise-in wednesday nite due to the shortlived (6 hours) tropical storm "Nicole". Effects here amounted to a lot of rain and things were back to normal on thursday. Friday nite was a good cruise-in at the Tower Shoppes in Davie. Saw a lot of friends including Anthony, Gunsey, Model A Dave and Tattoo Dave. Anthony and I were planning to go to the ABACOA show in north Palm Beach on saturday but Anthony canceled out over the possibility of rain. I decided to spend the day puttering around the BillyBob shop.

Sunday morning, I hit the breakfast cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale again. Around fifteen rides showed up this time including Hank Landsenkamp in his blown flathead deuce roadster. I hadn't seen him since Billetproof in February. John Carey showed up too. After coffee, Deerslayer and I headed up the beach road to the Krash Lab. Did some computer housekeeping chores and continued up to the BillyBob warehouse bay to exercise Renegade and pick up a load for the BillyBob Shop. Stopped for groceries and headed back to the shop. Came upon a stranded '71 Mustang fastback along the way and stopped to see if I could assist. The 'stang driver's friend showed up a few seconds after me with a replacement fuel filter and that's what the problem turned out to be. Rust in the gas tank. The engine started and the mustang tried to make it back home before the new filter clogged up.

I hung out in the shop until five o'clock, when I went to the sunday nite cruise-in at Wahoo's in Pompano Beach. Less than ten rides showed but we had a good time and I saw fellas that I don't usually run into at the other cruise-ins. This Swiss troop carrier pulled in beside Deerslayer. A Lamborghini Murcielago pulled in on the other side. One of the guys had a nice chopper that wouldn't start when it was time to go home and he had to call for a tow. I hung around until the tow truck arrived and he was on his way.

October 5^th 2010  On the way home down the beach road last nite, I heard a clattering. After determining that it was, in fact, coming from Deerslayer, I slowed down and looked for a place to pull over. Suspected that something in the undercarriage came loose. It turned out to be the passenger side turn signal. The support rod had sheared off at the connection to the bumper bracket and it was bouncing along underneath the truck. The few hundred yards of pavement gave the old Buick bucket some road rash but the lens was not damaged. Looks like I have some restoration work ahead of me.

October 11^th 2010 Columbus Day  It was a good friday night at the Tower Shoppes cruise-in in Davie. South Florida is having a good weather streak, moderate in temp and no rain. The cars are coming out of the woodwork. On saturday, I worked around the BillyBob Shop most of the day. Sunday started out with the sunday morning cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale. We had a good showing in spite of the fact that half the regulars were up in Tampa for the Streetrod Nationals. Several friends from other venues made it for the first time including Anthony and Gunsey and Jack Douglas.

After the breakfast cruise-in, I put in an appearance at the Krash Lab to check on the computers and went back to the BillyBob Shop to putter around 'til noon when Deerslayer and I headed off for a little getogether in Dania just south of Fort Lauderdale. About eight rides converged on Jimbo's Sandbar on the Intracoastal Waterway. The owner has collectible cars of his own and wants to start a regular cruise-in. This was a dry run. He blocked off several spaces for us in front of the joint. I was invited by Keith Pisut of Keith's Rods and Customs. I got to meet Chris of Ravenswood Paint and Body and give him a tech review of Deerslayer. Their bread and butter is custom paint but they are also inliner six performance specialists and Chris appreciated what Tony had done with Deerslayer's Jimmy 302. He asked me to come by the shop to show the truck to his son.

I went straight from Jimbo's to the sunday nite cruise-in in Coral Springs. It was packed by the time I got there and I had to park Deerslayer far away from my buddies Anthony, Lou and Gunsey. Left Deerslayer to fend for hisself and dragged my chair over to the boys. It was the first time Lou had gotten out in 'bout three weeks. At least somebody's working in this economy. Had a good time and made it home by eight-thirty.

October 12^th 2010  Last thursday, Deerslayer's starter started acting up. I came out of the Krash Lab at quitting time, hit the switch and was rewarded with a slight click and nothing else 'cept that the ammeter was pegged. Had to toggle the switch a few times to get past the dead spot.

The next two startups were normal, both at the BillyBob Shop. The next startup was leaving the Krash Lab again to go to the friday nite cruise-in . . . Click, nothing. I get it started after a few trys and continue on. My best estimate is that I started Deerslayer about ten times in a row during the weekend without mishap, once at the Krash Lab but not in my customary parking space. Then came monday nite after work. Again, click, nothing. A few tries and Deerslayer started. Deerslayer started normally twice at the BillyBob Shop, last nite and this morning. The only place he isn't starting normally is in that singular parking space at the Krash Lab! Cue the Twilight Zone theme music. I parked on the other side of the lot this morning.

I believe Deerslayer's starter is a '56 Chebby car starter - stovebolt six 12v with solenoid. The only source I've found for a replacement is Jim Carter. Bit the bullet and ordered one.

October 14^th 2010  And the starter weirdness continues. Parking across the lot on tuesday resulted in a normal startup when it was time to leave the Krash Lab. Wednesday, I parked in the "evil" space again. When I toggled the starter switch ten hours later, I got the click and a hesitation before the starter motor started to crank. Not as bad as the three previous startups in this space but almost. I don't know how to explain this. Geographic magnetic anomaly? Quantum singularity? Garage gremlins? Beats me but I'm parking on the other side of the lot until I get a spare starter.

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Issued Friday October 15, 2010

Updated Monday May 14, 2018

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