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.

61. How I spent my summer vacation

May 10^th 2010  Not much progress with BillyBob in his new shop yet. A lot of my time this past week was spent in moving stuff over from the Krash Pad. High heat and humidity have been making the runs miserable. I need to make better headway if I'm to be done with this task by the end of june. I've always been single and I'm a packrat so the apartment is stuffed to the rafters. The triage decisions of what gets moved, what gets taken to recycling centers and what gets tossed is agonizing.

May 13^th 2010  I did manage to get some small loads down to BillyBob's shop this week, so far, including a load before the Diamond Classics cruise-in on tuesday nite. Moved my old "high end" computer furniture that I got back when I thought LAROKE might be a successful side business. Now it will be utilized for carby rebuilds and the like. I forgot that when you dismantle it, there is a loose 1" square steel tube crossmember that tends to fall out on top of your foot ~!@#$% At least I had footwear on this time. Darn, that smarts!

May 17^th 2010  I got a couple of loads moved down to the BillyBob Garage on friday and saturday but sunday was an all day show day and nothing further got done. The good weather sailed out with the weekend and now I'm sitting here at the Krash Lab waiting to see if the numerous thunderstorms around me will dissipate enuf for me to carry stuff in Deerslayer's exposed bed. At least I have some brew here to enjoy while I wait. Beer of the day is Flying Dog Brewery's "Raging Bitch Belgian-Style India Pale Ale" and it has an 8.3% ALC kick so I can only safely drink one.

May 18^th 2010  Didn't get anything moved last nite due to the showers. A census worker knocked at the Krash Pad door around nine. Guess they didn't like the answers I gave on the form. Too bad 'cause that's all they're getting. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to ratchet up the moving process. I'm not makin' enuf headway as it is.

May 21^st 2010  Okay, it's friday and I have been taking fridays off to move but I haven't gotten enuf done at the Krash Lab this week so it's a work day. The week hasn't been a total loss as I've been moving small loads from the Krash Pad to the BillyBob shop during lunchtime breaks. I'll be continuing that in the coming weeks.

May 24^th 2010  On saturday, I got three loads transferred from the Krash Pad to BillyBob's shop. On the second run, I took a pass by Total Wine, a booze superstore. This place is the reason, I think, for the Case and Keg's demise. Bigger selection and closer to the FAU Campus. The Case and Keg's main clientele were college kids and they couldn't compete against this monster. I picked up a six pack of "Pegleg Heavy Seas Imperial Stout" for sunday nite's cruise-in. I was overjoyed to find they also were stocking "Iron City", the commodity brew that JR and I grew up with. Grabbed a six pack of that too, to stock the BillyBob shop refrigerator. Iron City is now brewed in Latrobe, PA, at the old Rolling Rock brewery. When AB bought Rolling Rock, they moved operations to "Joisy", I believe. Alas, the unique Rolling Rock brew is unique no longer. It's now just a corporate brand name.

May 27^th 2010  Things are starting to pile up in the BillyBob garage from my runs from the Krash Pad. My friend, Dave "the bartender" Earle, wrote me that I have to organize the stuff now or I'll never get it done so I spent last nite hoisting things up into the storage loft.

I got a few loads hoisted before I somehow managed to foul up the rope hoist. I don't know how I got the lines twisted up but I did. I messed around for about ten minutes trying to free it up in place but, no joy. Took the darn thing down and restrung it. I'd already had a few PBR's and it took me twenty minutes to get operations flowing again. I now have a better appreciation of the phrase "Swearing like a drunken sailor."

I need to get a moveon. NOAA just came out with a very busy hurricane season prediction. As long as we're predicting, I predict that NOAA will revise its prediction five times before the season ends.

June 2^nd 2010  The weekend past was a show and cruise-in weekend and I didn't get much done in the way of moving stuff. This week, I have ramped up some more by doubling the size of the lunchtime runs. I am also planning on using vacation days during the last week in June to make the deadline for vacating the Krash Pad. Friday, I met one of my warehouse neighbors, Shaundor, two bays down from me. He builds motorcycles and has a nice drill press and lathe. Shaundor said not to leave anything outside at nite. Vandals don't visit often, but they will if you leave stuff out to tempt them.

June 16^th 2010  Preparations for "The Revenge of the Tiki" car show hosted by the Saints and Sinners Car Club have put a bit of a damper on the moving operations in the past two weeks but I'm back on track now. The show is over and we had a good time. Now I'm on the final sprint to get moved out of the Krash Pad by the end of the month. Last nite, I arrived at the BillyBob Shop to find the overhead door latch jambed and I had to deal with that first to get Deerslayer inside. Did a little Deerslayer maintenance and spent the rest of the evening hoisting stuff into the loft.

June 19^th 2010  Finally got the stuff out of the most densely cluttered room and closet at the Krash Pad. I ran into stuff cleaning this room that I hadn't seen in years! I know, it doesn't look cleaned out. Those are half full boxes awaiting like items from other parts of the Krash Pad.

Next, I tackle the video library / exercise room of the Krash Pad. I have my work cut out for me. Things are starting to ramp up. I'm taking vacation days for the rest of the month and working on the move full time. It's a little after nine on saturday morning. Time to get to it.

June 25^th 2010  Okay, got that mostly done. The only stuff in this corner remains big items that I'm outsourcing to a local mover. An old 31" TV that goes to the recycling center and my BowFlex coat rack. I'm getting near the finish line and I'm still not completely sure that I will be outta here by the deadline.

I've had okay weather. The heat and humidity have been bad but I haven't been caught in the rain during the move . . . yet. My boss has called me back here to the Krash Lab on monday, tuesday and wednesday for emergency database operations. It was only a couple of hours each time and no big deal. Today is different. We have an emergency re-structuring of a deal with a client that requires extensive database, proposal and invoicing revisions. I may be the last one out of here tonite. I'm losing a day of the move but when I ratchet up into overdrive tomorrow, I will be tackling the master bedroom closet.

June 29^th 2010  Down to the wire now. Only two days left to complete the move. Unfortunately, my boss is still calling me back to the office for "emergency" database and billing operations. It's gonna be tight. This is the last room to clear out. I've already moved the stuff I'm keeping leaving a load of magazines and a load of computer parts to take to the recycler. That's tomorrow. I finish up the closets, kitchen and baths today (If I get out of the Krash Lab before my boss collars me again).

The temps continue to hover around ninety with heat indexes over 100. I move slow, steady and relentless. I've gained some stamina in the past ten days and the loads have gotten bigger as we get nearer the finish line. My first loads were eight to ten banker boxes. Now, I'm up to twenty-six.

Yesterday, I took care of the big items that I can't carry by myself. A few friends offered to help including Rob of the Saints n Sinners Car Club. Rob is a mover by trade but I guessed he was offering his own brute force, not his big rig and crew. My problem was that even after separating the sofa bed into two pieces, I knew I couldn't hold up my end of a two-man carry long enuf to get down to the truck. I decided to let Rob and my other friends off the hook and outsource the job. I called Julio of Delivery Done Now. His company fills a niche by performing small moves local for a reasonable price. I got Julio (on the right) to pose with his sidekick, David, after the move.

Here's Julio and David moving the sofa frame. Even with the folding bed guts out of it, it is still heavy and I don't think I could have gotten it over my head to get down those ~!@#$% switchback stairs. They followed up with the bed mechanism, plasma tv, and tv shelf unit. They carted off an old tv to the recyclers for me too. I'm glad to get this part of the move done. I put the sofa back together at the BillyBob Shop and called it a day.

July 1^st 2010  I am out of the Krash Pad after twenty-four years. Now I remember why I don't move often. What a pain in the butt. I didn't quite get everything done. Magazines and computer stuff that was to go to the recycler are still in the apartment. I just ran out of time. I speculate that my landlord will have his all-purpose guatemalans remove the items and apply union rates against my deposit.

I had a mishap tuesday when the ancient spinning wheel above (been in the family since 1855) flew out Deerslayer's bed on a left turn at a major intersection. I looked in the review mirror to see it shatter on the pavement like a B movie barroom chair. I got all the pieces before anyone ran over them and I think I can do a pretty good repair with wood glue. It's a good thing I'm not married and this belongs to my spouse. It's one of those incidents, tho' forgiven, that will be cited in every argument until the end of time.

When I started this, my friend, Dave "the bartender" Earle, wrote me to tell me to organize things as I bring them into the new location. Good advice and I was following it up until the last few days when I ran out of time. Now, I have a lot of stuff on the shop floor. I will get it squared away in the next few weeks before I start phase 2 of the move. Phase 2 is clearing out BillyBob's Boca warehouse space so I can let that go and save almost three bills a month.

I was so tired by the time I finished at the Krash Pad last nite that I didn't snap any parting photos. The biggest thing I won't miss is the six speed bumps going into and out of the Krash Pad. What a pain they have been over the years.

July 6^th 2010  It mostly rained over the Independence day weekend. I spent the time organizing all the stuff stacked in the BillyBob shop from the move. For the most part this involved hoisting a lot of banker boxes up into the loft area. I put a pretty good dent in it but I'm not finished yet. I think I can finish getting organized this week and start overdue maintenance on the trucks again.

July 15^th 2010  Okay, I've got most of the stuff up in the loft that I need to hoist up there and I'm getting organized on the shop floor. I need to get BillyBob limbered up next as he might become the daily driver again for a time. I might have to pull the head on Deerslayer in the near future and who knows how long that will take at my usual glacial pace. More on that in the next Deerslayer log entry.

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Issued Thursday July 15, 2010

Updated Tuesday April 10, 2018

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