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.

19. Treading water

October 27^th 2011  Haven't gotten much done in the last two weeks. Attended a lot of shows and cruise-ins but not much work on the trucks. I was at a drag racing reunion show on saturday nite when the DJ, Eugene, asked me if I wanted to go to the "Cabriolets" reunion this week. I didn't know who the Cabriolets were but I said sure and promptly forgot about it. Eugene called me at the Krash Lab yesterday afternoon and told me to pick him up about six. I still didn't know where we were going.

We got on the road at six and Eugene told me to point the Deerslayer in the direction of I-95. Oh great! I generally try to avoid rush hour traffic on I-95. It's like a scrubbing bubbles death race. We somehow made it to Davie, Florida where the Darrell Gwynn Foundation and speed shop are located. Turned out that Darrell was hosting this shindig. I'd seen him before at the auctions but this was the first time I was introduced to him. It turns out that the Cabriolets were a fifties and sixties car club based in Hialeah, Florida. Here is a group photo of the "Cabriolets Road Club" taken around 1960. This was a great group of oldtimers and I got to hear lots of drag racing tales from back in the day. There was also a '53 Ferd fire truck there with beer taps built in to it.

October 31^st 2011  We had a pretty rotten weekend of monsoon rains. Most of the shows and cruise-ins were canceled. Deerslayer and I attended a pre-show kick-off party on friday afternoon for a saturday show. The party was at Keith's Rod & Customs shop in Fort Lauderdale. I was the first one there and snapped a pic or two while I was waiting for others to show up. I went to the show on saturday to find out that it was canceled due to rain. Just as well. The local OWS demonstrators were going to try to disrupt it anyway. On sunday morning, the breakfast group met at John and Joyce McGinniss's place. It was raining again by mid-afternoon so I missed the sunday nite cruise-in in Lighthouse Point.

November 7^th 2011  Didn't get any work done on the Deerslayer last week. On saturday, we attended a charity show at the New Covenant Church in Pompano Beach. The location is only a half mile away from the BillyBob Shop. Even tho' I knew three of the four awards judges, Deerslayer was still robbed of the best paint trophy! On sunday morning, I met up with the breakfast group in Fort Lauderdale. Most of the guys were going to a big show in north Palm Beach County. I hadn't planned on going since I thought the $35 entry fee was a little steep. I changed my mind by the time they were ready to go since I really enjoy riding in hot rod caravans and the other guys thought I was wrong about the entry fee. Had a good time but, unfortunately, I turned out to be correct about the fee. Oh well, it was for a good cause. Finished up sunday with the Lighthouse Point cruise-in. Because of the time change, this event is entirely in the dark now until spring.

November 15^th 2011  Another week of no shop work. Attended a few cruise-ins and a show and that was it. Wednesday nite was the Delray Beach cruise-in. This one has a new date (used to be held on tuesdays) and location. We were too successful at the old location and one of the shopping center merchants was going to sue if we continued holding cruise-ins there. Corporate from Outback, our chief sponsor, decided not to defend so we moved.

Sunday was a big day, starting out with the breakfast cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale, followed by a charity show for the Wounded Warriors organization in Pompano Beach. After that was the sunday nite cruise-in in Lighthouse Point. I wuz too lazy to take pics again.

November 16^th 2011  Electrical woes continue. Deerslayer and I went to a funneral home visitation on monday nite in Fort Lauderdale and the ignition system stutter and cut-outs continued there and back. It was bad enuf that I didn't know if we would make it back to the BillyBob Shop. We did and it took the rest of the nite to recharge the battery.

Yesterday, with a fully charged battery, I went to work. I was supposed to meet my friend Eugene and some others at his house after work to convoy to another friends place to play around with some cars. I hit the supermarket after work and dropped off the groceries before heading to Eugene's place. The battery was too low to restart Deerslayer! Damnation! Called Eugene to cancel out and put Renegade's Optima battery on the charger. It topped off its charge in a half hour. Put the charger on Deerslayer's battery next and, again, it took all nite.

This morning, I got up early and put the jeep battery in Deerslayer. It's about an inch longer than Deerslayer's battery but Tony built enuf flexibility into the home-fabbed battery box that I was able to make adjustments to get the Optima battery in place. The ride to the Krash Lab was much better this morning. Lights were brighter and the ignition cutouts weren't as noticeable (but still there).

November 23^rd 2011  Last sunday, Deerslayer and I attended the morning breakfast meet. Afterwards, about ten of the fellas and I made a run down Fort Lauderdale Beach to a show near Port Everglades. This was a makeup show for the Halloween Show that was canceled a few weeks ago due to rain. Unfortunately, it rained more on the makeup show than it did on the day of the canceled show but, at least we didn't have to worry about OWS participation this time. We had a good time anyway. Angelo, who usually doesn't venture this far south, drove his beautiful '40 Merc custom. It's powered by a Chevy 327 with oldschool speed parts like three deuces on a manifold adapter mounted on top of a four barrel manifold. Finished up sunday nite at the Lighthouse Point cruise-in. It was a bit crowded with exhibition wrestling sharing the parking lot with us.

December 12^th 2011  Got next to nuthin' done in the past three weeks. Went to a few shows and cruise-ins but no shop work. Last week I battled some kinda flu bug that beat me like a rented mule for four days before I got the upper hand on it and, before that, I wuz just plain lazy. Last nite, when I arrived back at the BillyBob Shop, another condenser failed on Deerslayer as I was raising the overhead door to garage him. I ran down the battery some trying to restart the fire to no avail. Then I tried to push Deerslayer into the shop but I didn't have enuf strength to get him over the door lip. Swapped condensers by flashlight and the truck started right up again.

December 15^th 2011  Well, just damn! Two months have flown by and I don't have anything to show fer it. Went to the Delray Beach cruise-in on tuesday nite. It is now the north Boca Raton cruise-in since we've switched locations again. Jeane Lopane, who runs the shindig, is a victim of her own success. As soon as we set up in a new location and the local merchants see how big the event is, they start trying to put restrictions on Jeane that wasn't a part of the original deal. She doesn't bow to them. If they can't abide the original deal, it's see ya later, bye!

My flu bug is still hangin' on. Nuthin' serious, just some residual head stuffiness and chest congestion. Gonna try to have more to report next posting which will be after the new year. 2012: end of an error, I hope. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody.

< Back to IntroProject Nailhead >

You can email me at  webmaster@laroke.com

Issued Thursday December 15, 2011

Updated Wednesday May 23, 2018

copyright © 2008-2018 Larry R. Kephart all rights reserved