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.

17. Slim pickin's

June 20^th 2011  Yesterday was a long day. Deerslayer and I attended four events. We departed the BillyBob Shop at 6:30 AM and arrived back there at 11:15 PM. It started out with the breakfast cruise-in at the bagel shop in Fort Lauderdale. From there, five of us convoyed down to North Miami for a Father's Day show called Hot Rods and Harleys. It was broiling hot and I got some sunburn. The show was terminated a half hour early when the thunderclouds started to roll in. It was a run back north on I-95 thru a 40 mph (driving speed) downpour. I stopped at another Father's Day show in Boca Raton where the boss had "Frankie", his '39 Caddy, on display. This show had too many restrictions (no chairs, no coolers, no food, no smoking, no performing mechanical repairs) for me so, I didn't enter. Not sure Deerslayer and I would have been accepted anyway as you had to pre-register and send them photos to enter. After that, Deerslayer and I finished up at the sunday nite cruise-in at Wahoo's in Lighthouse point.

Deerslayer's brake system has a slight leak and the master cylinder small chamber has to be topped off about once a week. This has led to some air in the system, and the occasional exciting stop. It is leaking around the fitting. I've wanted to get a spare master cylinder on hand in case a new fitting doesn't fix the problem and, just to have a spare for the future in case it is the fitting. After reading Tony's description on the OldGMCtrucks.com forum and eyeballin' the mc at least once a week as I'm topping it off, when a HAMBer on Jalopy Journal offered a part number "75 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup, 250 engine, manual disc brakes, Raybestos #mc39177", I was pretty sure I had found the correct master cylinder.

Timing is everything. I looked the master cylinder up at Rockauto.com back in april when I discovered the Raybestos part number. It was thirty-eight bucks and change plus shipping. This morning, I went back to Rockauto to order it and found it listed as a manufacturer's closeout with one left for $20 and shipping.

July 6^th 2011  We are one month into hurricane season. It is hot and muggy and rainy at the most inconvenient times but not enuf to relieve drought conditions. It's been raining mostly on cruise nights and several of the events that Deerslayer and I usually attend have been canceled. An event I've been looking forward to was Bill Carroll's 75th birthday party and I hoped the weather would be better than what we've been experiencing.

Bill Carroll and Roger Taylor were the Carroll and Taylor drag racing team here in South Florida in the sixties. I've only known Bill for a couple of years and was happily surprised when he invited me to this shindig. It was held on Independence Day at one of the local parks and many of the oldtimers of the South Florida hotrod and racing scene were there.

Well over a hundred guests, catered BBQ, lots of beer and fifties music by DJ and car show promoter, Eugene Reidy. It was a great day and I knew perhaps a third of the people there. It only rained on us once for about fifteen minutes. Beautiful rides, several of which I hadn't seen before, like this Willys pickup from upstate that had somehow survived the gasser era.

August 1^st 2011  Movin' slowly thru the hot and muggy summer. Performed monthly maintenance on Deerslayer on saturday and suffered some setbacks as a result. When I picked up my multi-meter to check battery voltage, it slipped out of my hand and fell about eighteen inches unto the concrete floor. Now, it won't zero out when the probes are swinging free in the air. Damnation! Later, I headed off on an errand. Heading down the road a few blocks from the shop, I heard a clatter up front and looked in the rearview mirror to see something small spinning away towards the median. When I stopped for a drawbridge, I opened the hood and, shure enuf, Deerslayer was missing his radiator cap. I mustuv' had a senior moment and forgot to replace it when checking the coolant earlier. Damnation again!

August 9^th 2011  The muggy heat continues. I'm not doin' much other than attending a few cruise-ins every week. Only a handful of guys showed for this past sunday's morning meet but one of them was Carl DeMarco and he arrived in his "phantom" rod. He's been waiting a long time for it to be ready and we've been ribbing him mercilessly about the rod that everyone's heard about but nobody has seen. He was finally able to drive it to breakfast this sunday. It is a beautiful five-window Deuce Coupe.

It's powered by an old school Chevy smallblock with three deuces. Leather interior and surperb detailing throughout. It's got streetrod creature comforts but traditional looks. A very nice ride.

I'm tryin' to learn how to use a new camera (details to follow in an upcoming BillyBob Shop episode). The camera has video capabilities and I shot a forty second vid to find out if it would pickup the sweet sound of Carl's ride. I was able to compact the size of the video from 115 megs to 14 megs and upload it to the BillyBob site. Clicking on the pic will download the avi video file.

August 13^th 2011  Started out with quarterly maintenance this morning. Noticed a new rattle this week so I looked around while I was performing the maintence and tightened up a few bolts. I think it was a front bumber bolt makin' the noise. We'll see. Also noticed that all the steering linkage joints are getting worn and a bit loose. Guess I need to start my research on replacements. a muffler support strap also tore loose. I'll have to attend to that too. Eyeballed the master cylinder replacement I got from RockAuto next to Deerslayer's and they look to be the same.

August 15^th 2011  Yesterday wuz a long day of cruise-in activity. Started out with the breakfast meet in Fort Lauderdale. Last week, we only filled up one table at the bagel shop. Yesterday, we had enuf guys to occupy four tables. Must be cabin fever from last week's monsoon rains bringin' the guys out of hiding.

Went back to the BillyBob Shop afterwards and puttered around until eleven when I headed up to the monthly sunday cruise-in in Boca Raton. Attendence was sparse at this one and I got some sunburn even tho' I sat in the shade the whole time with a hat on.

Went back to the BillyBob Shop again in mid-afternoon until it was time for the sunday night cruise-in in Lighthouse Point. Three of us met up in Deerfield and cruise to the event down the beach road. This is usually held at Wahoo's sports bar but they were having a wrestling exhibition in the parking lot and we didn't want these bruisers bouncin' off the cars so we took the cruise-in to Diamond Strike Lanes bowling alley in Pompano Beach for a one time event. Had a good time and I dragged myself home by twenty-three hundred hours.

We're just slugging our way thru the hot, muggy summer and there's not that much activity. This is a short log entry and "slim pickins" but I try to publish monthly so here it is. The lights are still on at the BillyBob Shop.

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Issued Monday August 15, 2011

Updated Monday May 21, 2018

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