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.

9. Five Slappin' Pistons

April 5^th 2010  Wednesday nite I went down to the Monterey Club for a few hours but behaved myself and got home before I turned into a pumpkin. The rest of the week was quiet. On saturday, the Boss and I went to the Barrett-Jackson Auction in West Palm Beach. Prices were way down. My Boss didn't sign up as a bidder this year so we were standing outside the pit when they announced during a Speed Channel commercial break that we non-bidders could move in and sit down. I guess the bidder's pit looked too empty for the TV suits.

Went to the sunday nite cruise-in and they had a good size crowd for an Easter Sunday. The weather has been great for a week and looks as if it will continue for awhile longer.

April 8^th 2010  Tuesday nites are generally reserved for the Classic Diamonds cruise-in in Delray but there is also a monthly cruise-in at the jai alai fronton in Dania Beach, Florida. It's Harleys and Hotrods Cruise Night and some of the SnSCC (Saints n Sinners) were making a showing. It was a good weather nite and I hung out with SnS club members, Talani and French. Fernando also showed up. Bill Carrol from the Billetproof run was there too. The local Lions Club had a stand setup and were serving hot meals to the participants. Pulled pork, green beans, rice and gravy. Darn good grub and, to top things off, there was a bikini contest. It was a good time. Afterwards, Bill Carroll followed me back to the Monterey Club but, since there were no hotrods parked out front, he decided to head on home. I only had one beer myself before heading up the beach road to the Krash Pad and bed before midnite.

Yesterday, I pulled the trigger on a big lifestyle change. I signed a lease on enuf warehouse/shop space to house and work on all four rides (BillyBob, Deerslayer, Renegade and BettyLou). It can also hold all my stuff from the Krash Pad so I can move into smaller digs.

April 12^th 2010  A sad day today. A co-worker's twenty year old daughter died in an auto accident yesterday. We are in shock.

The weekend was better. Friday was threatening rain but Deerslayer and I went to the Tower shoppes friday nite cruise-in anyway. Anthony and Lou weren't there but I hung out with some other friends. Afterwards, I went over to the Monterey Club and worked the door. Got home late.

On saturday, I went over to Saints n Sinners club member "Big Brian's" house to help with his '51 effie pickup. Beautiful truck with a ferd 302 bent eight in it. It was having some kinda ignition problems. Brian had picked up a buncha parts including ballast resistor, coil, points and condenser. We started at the ballast resistor. When I put the multi-meter on it, we had over 12v going in and over 6v coming out of the new ballast resistor. Checked the wire going from the ballast resistor to the plus side of the coil next. Not gettin' much at the coil. Less than a volt. Maybe we found the problem.

Brian fashioned a new wire for the ballast resistor/coil connection and now we had 6v plus at the coil positive terminal. Pulled the hot coil wire from the dizzy and turned over the engine to see if we were getting a spark from it . . . No joy. Brian started changing coils. Some of the other guys showed up. Rob, Jarle and his Aussie friend, and then Fernando. We started sampling the cold PBR's that Brian had in a cooler for us.

When Brian got the coils switched around, we tried for a hot spark again. Still no spark. We took off the dizzy cap and and jumpered a wire between the points (installed and gapped earlier) and the coil negative terminal and tried it again. Still no spark. Then, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. The rotor was not moving when the engine was turning over! Brian and Rob started pulling the dizzy. It didn't want to come out. When they did get it out, it had a tooth missing from the dizzy gear. They tried to install a spare dizzy but it was just a RCH too big.

Brian and Fernando went in search of a dizzy while Rob got his '54 Merc running and detailed a bit for tomorrow's club showing at the Festival Flea Market car show. Brian and Fernando were gone a long time. Rob and Jarle had to take off. I waited for Brian and Fernando to get back by lighting up a stoggie and sucking down a couple of Brian's PBR's. Brian and Fernando came back empty-handed. There's not a dizzy like he needs south of Tampa. The effie won't be going to the show tomorrow. Brian took Fernando and I to an authentic Mexican mom-n-pop restaurant and bought us tacos before parting.

Yesterday morning, I was up early to meet Jarle and his gal, Monica, at a gas station to convoy to the show site and setup for the arrival of the other club members and guests later. They had a tent and a club banner and balloons. A few others arrived early and the rest convoyed up from the Monterey Club. We were all in place by ten-thirty or so. Had a good day despite the fact that it started raining in the late afternoon. The tent came in handy. My friends, Anthony and Lou were in the next row. I ran into Jack Douglas, Paul O'Keefe and Bill Carroll and John Carey too. John Carey found a '37 Chebby heater somewhere and picked it up for me. When I asked him what he wanted for it, he told me to buy him a beer at Tijuana Taxi. It was sitting in Deerslayer's bed when we left the show. Deerslayer got a trophy from the fellas for best Saints-n-Sinners Car Club car. We convoyed out to Tijuana Taxi to eat before calling it a day. The sunday nite cruise-in had been called off but Bob and Arlene were there and they got us the normal cruise-in discount tickets for our meal. Now, it is monday and I am worn out again.

April 14^th 2010  Sitting at a stoplight last nite on my way to the Classic Diamonds cruise-in in Delray, the car behind me beeped. In the rear view mirror were two good-lookin' dames in a late model Aston Martin. They were waving. I knew it was friendly 'cause they were usin' all their fingers. They mustuv' liked the "I am John Galt" bumper sticker on Deerslayer. I waved back and wore a big grin all the way to the cruise-in.

April 19^th 2010  The pickin's were slim for events this past weekend. I went to biker nite at the Monterey Club (thursday) and got home before midnite. Friday, saturday and sunday were all rainy. Due to the death my co-worker's child, the mood wasn't very festive anyway. Saturday, I spent a few hours at a charity motorcycle and carwash, again at the Monterey Club and that was it. On sunday, Deerslayer and I moved a load of tools to the new BillyBob Garage and I performed monthly maintenance for the first time under a roof.

April 22^nd 2010  Tuesday nite was a good one at the Classic Diamonds cruise-in but threatening rain kept some rides away. Last nite, I took a load of stuff to BillyBob's new garage and, afterwards, went down to the Monterey Club for a few hours. Some of the SnSCC members were there. A week or so ago, member "Johan" came up with a club nickname for me that I think is going to stick. He started calling me "Blue" in reference to a character from the movie "Old School". The Blue character is in his eighties and the oldest guy in the old school fraternity and, damn that Johan, I do look a little like him. Blue dies in the movie when he is to take on two coed gals in a mud-wrestling contest. When they remove their tops, he has a heart attack.

April 26^th 2010  The weather was good friday nite so I met my buddies, Anthony and Lou at the Tower Shoppes cruise-in in Davie. Afterwards, I headed over to the Monterey Club for awhile. They had one band scheduled for the evening and, since they were shorthanded, I worked the door collecting the cover charge. My beers were free. Got home around one.

Spent saturday at the new BillyBob garage. Got a text message in the late afternoon from the SnSCC president requesting my presence at the Monterey Club saturday nite. It was a quiet nite as the scheduled band had canceled due to the death of their drummer last week. Again, I got home shortly after one.

Sunday morning, I met Lou and Anthony at Lou's house at 8 am for run down to a strip club car show in Miami. It was a good day with about eighty cars and the gals were beautiful. Lou informed me that this place (the Booby Trap) was Radio Marti (radio free Cuba) in the eighties. Radio Marti has since moved into a different facility. Deerslayer received a trophy and after the show, we cruised back up to Coral Springs for the sunday nite cruise-in. It was a good weekend.

April 27^th 2010  Deerslayer has been developing a cold engine miss for some time. It usually dissipates within five minutes of startup. Driving to the Krash Lab yesterday morning, in pouring rain, it didn't go away. Mid-afternoon, after the sun came out, I started up Deerslayer for some visiting out-of-town friends. The miss was there and he didn't want to idle. At quitting time, I checked ignition wire and plug wire connections. Deerslayer started better and I let him idle until he warmed up. The miss was gone for the trip down to BillyBob's garage. Maybe it's as simple as a loose wire. Quarterly maintenance was performed and I forgot about the miss for the time being. When I fired up Deerslayer to go home to the Krash Pad after ten, the miss was back for most of the four mile trip. Damnation!

April 28^th 2010  I decided to work on Deerslayer's problem in lieu of going to the Classic Diamonds cruise-in last nite. When I got to the BillyBob garage after work, I let Deerslayer cool down while I went in search of parts in BillyBob's roadtrip supplies ammo boxes. I didn't find what I was looking for which was two 5/8" hose clamps.

When Deerslayer cooled down, I looked for vacuum leaks. My jerryrigged PCV was kinda loose in the valve cover and I thought it was a high probability that it was leaking. I proceeded to jerryrig my jerryrig with the addition of two hose clamps (taken off BillyBob's heater hose connections) and a wire tie. Ugly, but I think effective for now. I then started Deerslayer and sprayed carb cleaner everywhere I thought might be a vacuum leak. Engine RPM's never changed during this procedure. I don't think I have a vacuum leak.

The ride to the Krash Pad was okay but the engine was still warm. When I drove up to the Krash Lab this morning, I still had the cold engine miss but it wasn't as bad as yesterday and it went away quicker.

April 29^th 2010  Deerslayer had the miss problem the whole way on the ride to the BillyBob garage after work yesterday. I didn't find any vacuum leaks but that might still be part of the problem. I ordered a new coil and pickup coil for the HEI ignition from RockAuto but it is in transit somewhere. I could continue to fiddle around with more tests but I decided to try something more drastic. I don't want Deerslayer leaving me on the side of the road if I can help it.

When I got to the BillyBob garage, I played some Chris Issac rockabilly, smoked a cigar and drank a PBR while I pondered what to do and let Deerslayer cool down. Decided to switch out the HEI ignition for the points ignition for the time being. I had all the parts at hand and that should show me if the miss problem has anything to do with ignition or not.

After the ceegar, I re-connected Deerslayer's ballast resistor. Pulled the spark plugs next and re-gapped them to 0.035". Turned the engine over with the remote starter switch and got the engine between the timing marks tony had on the balancer (TDC and 34 degrees advance) just a little ahead of TDC. Pulled the dizzy cap and noted the location of the rotor. It was pointing at the center of the oil filler tube and the cap terminal for #1 cylinder was parallel with the engine block straight towards the front of the engine.

Disconnected the wires and removed the HEI dizzy. Watched carefully where the rotor turned to as the dizzy was coming out. Removed the HEI coil. Lined up the points dizzy rotor the same as the HEI dizzy and installed it. Had to try it a couple of times, using a big screwdriver to turn the oil pump, before I got it to seat properly. When I was finished, the rotor was pointing at the center of the oil filler tube, just like the HEI had been.

Installed a new 12v coil for the points dizzy and wired it up. Re-installed the spark plugs, dizzy cap and plug wires. The cap terminal for #1 spark plug was off just a smidgeon from the straight ahead position. I left that for the time being as the allen head dizzy adjustment bolt is damn hard to get at.

Time fer the moment of truth. I delayed it a couple of minutes to wash my hands. Okay, clear! Ignition! Contact! Deerslayer roared to life . . . without the miss! I had oil pressure too. Sounds good echoing thru the big garage. Turned him off and hooked up the timing light and dwell/tach. Started again. Timing is on the money and dwell is at 32 degrees, close enuf for govment work. Connected the vacuum advance, had 'nother beer and went home to the Krash Pad. The ride was good with no miss.

May 1^st 2010  I didn't do anything on thursday 'cept determine that the miss was still there 'tho slight. My friends, Anthony and Lou, had decided not to go to the Friday nite cruise-in because we were going to an all day show today (saturday). I wanted to continue to track down Deerslayer's problem so I headed down to the BillyBob garage after work on friday.

Deerslayer stalled out twice on the way. The engine just shut down as I was waiting at a stoplight. It started right back up and then stalled again as I pulled up to the BillyBob garage. Damnation! One of the reasons I installed the HEI dizzy in the first place was this problem but, back then, it only happened twice, weeks apart.

I wanted to adjust the valves while the engine was hot (back to the miss problem). This was my second time for this procedure and I think I did a better job of it but my technique still needs practice. At any rate, it had no effect on the miss. I was having trouble keeping the engine from stalling out while I listened for the miss and that led me to fiddling with the carb which was a wrong road for me to tread.

Back to the miss. When I put the points dizzy in on wednesday, I put in a new coil too. I took a leap of faith for the time being and made the assumption that the new coil was good. I installed a new condenser on the dizzy, making the same leap of faith. No joy. The miss was still there and so was the stalling out.

BillyBob had a clear plastic fuel filter between the fuel pump and the carb. Deerslayer had a metal one. I swapped them out. I could see now that Deerslayer had good fuel flow north of the fuel pump. The miss and stalling condition remained.

Number 5 spark plug had been sooty when I re-gapped them for the dizzy swap. I gapped a new plug for number 5 cylinder . . . Yea! The miss is gone! About this time, I got a text message from Rob, president of the SnSCC. He requested my appearance at a photoshoot at the Monterey Club on saturday nite. I may not be doing anything on saturday if I can't get Deerslayer running well again.

Okay, back to the engine stall. I'm beginning to think that the ballast resistor is intermittently failing. Two ways to find out. in BillyBob's roadtrip supplies is a new ballast resistor and a coil with an internal resistor. I mentally flipped a coin and went for the new coil. It had the advantage of being black instead of the goofy blue color and it was a bit smaller in diameter and actully fit the gawddurned bracket! I swapped out the coils and bypassed the suspected ballast resistor.

Success! The engine quit stalling. Now all I had to do is re-adjust the carby to undo the damage I caused earlier. To paraphrase SCOTS, I'm back to "Six slappin' pistons rightschr' under my hood. Let's ride!" The engine feels good enuf that I don't have a problem with the 120 mile round trip on the turnpike with Anthony and Lou to the ABACOA car show. I text Rob back telling him I will head for the photoshoot after the car show.

May 3^rd 2010  The car show in Jupiter turned out to be a good one. It was cloudy but no rain. We weren't beat up by the sun much. Saw some new rides including this '41 longbed streetrod. Deerslayer performed well and was showing no signs of the recent engine problems. I got to the Monterey Club by ten pm in time for the photoshoot. Only five rods and customs (including Deerslayer) showed up but this is a traditional club with mostly young guys and the south Florida economy is in depression. These young guys are having trouble finding the scratch to keep their rides on the road. Me too. Several clubmembers showed up without their cars because they were broke and their cars were broken. I only had one beer and got home around two.

I hung around the BillyBob garage on sunday until it was time for the sunday nite cruise-in. Performed monthly maintenance on Deerslayer. Had my usual good time at the cruise-in benchracin' with my friends Anthony, Fred and Judy, Big Al Achoa (seated) and Bob (holding up the tree). Big Al owns the Buick beside Deerslayer.

May 5^th 2010  Last nite was the monthly Hotrods and Harleys cruise-in in Dania again and the SnSCC decided to cruise there as a group. We were to meet at the Monterey Club at six pm to assemble for the group run. By the time we headed out, we had seven cars and five, I think, chopper bikes. Rob, the pack leader, said we should use two lanes instead of single file to minimize stoplight disruption. We did and that worked well.

We all arrived at the cruise-in together and got parked in a single row. I saw a friend, Dave, down at the other end of the row with his '29 Coupe. Went down there and talked with him fer awhile and when we came back, Rob asked Dave to bring the coupe up and park with the Saints n Sinners.

We continued to socialize and when Dave came around, some of the guys started yellin' "burn-out". Dave complied with a small one as the rides were parked pretty close together. Then, he continued around behind the cars to a place in the lot that was more open and really got on it. You couldn't see his car in the smoke at one point. The show promoter came over to report that some lady, with a scope, in a nearby condo called to complain. I remarked that as long as there was not a rifle under that scope, we were probably okay.

We left before the show was over, in formation, for a cruise up Fort Lauderdale Beach and back to the Monterey Club for pizza and beer. Dave and the coupe came with us. It was almost too much fun coming up A1A, two abreast, all the rides fairly loud. Lana (who drives a big '37 Nash Ambassador four-door sedan that is currently in the shop) was riding with me and her little dog wanted to lay between the shifter and the seat front. I could only use first and third gear most of the time. We were on Sunrise blvd, at a light, when I heard an engine spoolin' up behind me. It was Dave. He was right behind me and I could see the smoke comin' off his tires in the rearview mirror, just before the smoke engulfed us all. There was an impatient sports import behind Dave and Dave decided to give the guy some rubber to take home with him. I'll be cleaning it off of Deerslayer tonite as well.

We went a couple of more lights and then . . . Deerslayer shut off! As the choppers gathered around me like a protection squad, I went into panic mode. My first thoughts were that my engine problems were back until I realized that I also did not have lights or starter. I reached under the seat to find the battery cut-off switch key out of its socket. The little dog was testing me and I almost failed. Got Deerslayer fired up again and underway with the chopper escort as my cell phone went off. I rarely answer while driving but I figured it was one of the SnS club members wondering what happened. It was Rob, club president. They were waiting a couple of blocks west on Sunrise. We caught up, reformed, and the rest of the ride back to the Monterey Club was uneventful.

May 10^th 2010  Not much happening last week on the cruise-in front. The Florida heat and humidity have arrived with a vengence and I am not attending many all day shows where I have to pay twenty bucks or more as an entrant to broil in the sun. Deerslayer and I did make it out to the Coral Springs sunday nite cruise-in last nite to meet up with Lou, Anthony, Fred and Judy, John Carey and others. It was pleasant, in the shade, with the heat of the day already bleeding off. Not a big turnout but that was probably due to it being Mother's Day.

May 12^th 2010  Things can change a lot in a short time. An old saying goes "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans!". I've been trying to swing it so I could attend the 2010 Hotrod Power Tour ever since I had to give up on the big truck show in California with my friends from OldGMCtrucks.com. My friend, Dave "the bartender" Earle from Sopchoppy, Florida made it easy for me to run the power tour cheaply by providing floor space for sleeping. That made it about as economical as one could get by with.

Unfortunately, I can't spare the time. The move to BillyBob's shop is going slower than expected and I'm gonna have to take vacation days, as it is, to get everything out of the Krash Pad by the time my lease is up. I'll still be movin' stuff during power tour week.

Yesterday, the final blow descended on the power tour plans. The Saints and Sinners are holding a hotrod party on June 12 and we all have to work hard to make that come off as a success. The SnSCC doesn't do things in a small way. It will be an epic success or an epic failure. Here's the shindig info so far:

June 12th at The Monterey Club/Kreepy Tiki Tattoos. The address is listed below. There will be several bands, including the Kings of Hell, Cadillac Bombers, and the Hep Cat Boo Daddies. There will be a fire knife performance and authentic hula dancers from Tahiti, Samoa, and New Zealand, put on by Polynesian Proud Productions. There will be a pinup contest. There will be a traditional burlesque show performed by Miss Jenna Beth and her Cupcake Burlesque troupe. There will be enough food to feed a small army, and lastly, there will be plenty of beer! Oh, did I mention that a portion of the proceeds will go to the Magic Childrens Fund? $5 on foot, $10 if ya bring a hot rod. That's a cheap date from where I stand. If you live in Florida, you have no reason to be anywhere else on June 12th. 2608A South Federal Hwy. Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33316 954.598.1887 www.themontereyclub.net Saints and Sinners CC

May 14^th 2010  Last nite was a meeting of the SnSCC to solidify event plans. I made the mistake of hangin' around after the meeting for bike nite at the Monterey Club. Got home before midnite but today is a bit of a slow start. I've been picking up the pace on the BillyBob shop move but I'm still not going fast enuf. I'm taking the rest of the day off to move things after I post this episode and should be in better shape to evaluate my progress by monday.

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Issued Friday May 14, 2010

Updated Wednesday May 9, 2018

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