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 was the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I could accomplish without a garage up until the summer of 2010 when I finally got enough warehouse space to work in. Now, it also includes the continuing work on BillyBob in the shop.

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.

65. A Tale of Two Shops

February 21^st 2011 On friday nite, I stopped off at Johan's shop on the way to the BillyBob Shop. He had French's '49 Chebby up on the lift. The previous saturday, A BMW cut French off and before he could open up any braking distance, the car in front of the bimmer slammed on the brakes. The bimmer slammed on the binders in turn and French was doomed. French ended up breaking the steering wheel with his face and requiring stiches in his lip. We're waiting on insurance determinations before putting humpty-dumpty back together again.

On saturday, I went back over to Johan's shop to help put some replacement doors on Talani's '60 Chevy Parkwood wagon. Another fella, Eric, was putting a new replacement diffy in a '97 BMW he is flipping. We had a good day and after replacing the doors, Talani and Johan buffed out the tired paint on the old station wagon.

March 28^th 2011 Haven't mastered the discipline to get things moving in the BillyBob Shop yet. I did manage to get the place cleaned up some on saturday and sunday. I was looking for my calipers to measure the u-bolts for Deerslayer's new springs. I need good measurements for custom u-bolts. I was unsuccessful. I still do not know the whereabouts of my calipers. I'm probably gonna have to settle for tape measurements.

April 4^th 2011 I was making some small progress around the BillyBob Shop saturday, getting organized a bit and doing way overdue maintenance on Deerslayer when I got a call from Johan. He said several of "the Rejecteds" (former Saints n Sinners Car Club members) were hangin' at the Johan Shop and workin' on several of the rides there. I grabbed a six-pack of Iron City and headed on over. Joel was there pulling the vinyl top off his Crestliner and Johan was working on Lana's '37 Nash.

Later, Krashman showed up to mess around with his bobber pickup. They are hoping to have it ready to go to the Billetproof Show this weekend. French arrived to work on his smashed '49 Styleline and Later on, Jarle arrived. French and Joel and I took Deerslayer back to the BillyBob shop to pick up Joel's welder. It is a big, heavy unit, and I couldn't hold up my side when we tried to lift it up into Deerslayer's bed. French and I changed places and we managed to lift it with French and Joel doing most of the work. Back at Johan's, we had pizza and more beer before breaking off for the day.

May 27^th 2011 Stopped at Johan's last nite to pay him for helping me put new front springs on Deerslayer last week and to see if it was time to start work on Rod and Kelly's '53 Merc that I backed into on the same nite. I learned that the Merc sustained some additional damage when It dropped into gear when noone was in it and banged into a Triumph cycle and some of Johan's tools. Johan had to jump over the cycle and an engine block to avoid being pinned by the Merc's Christine like behavior.

French was there, working on his '49 Chevy repair and Johan was messin' around with the fuel tank from John's '50 DeSoto. French's Chevy is going back together with '50 front end sheetmetal and Johan found him a Chevy 235 engine to replace French's tired 216.

When I showed up, Johan was bench racin' the 235. He had just done a compression test and one cylinder is low at 80 psi. It is a late model 235 and has the 848 higher compression head. He is trying to talk French into pulling the head and doing the machine work on it. French is worried about mission creep.

June 8^th 2011 Over three months ago, I ordered a Torin two-ton engine hoist from an Amazon vendor. I have Amazon Prime free shipping on many items and four vendors had this hoist shipping with Amazon Prime. Three were in the five hundred dollar range which meant they had shipping built into the purchase price. The final one had the hoist for $157 but you had to wait up to two months to get it. I ordered and waited.

Two months later I was notified by e-mail that the hoist was on its way via an outfit called "Home Direct". The friday it was supposed to arrive, I received no less than three phone calls from home direct telling me it was delayed until monday . . . then nothing for two weeks. Then Amazon sent me an e-mail informing me that the shipper had lost a two-ton engine hoist! Did I want a refund? I said send another one. Amazon sent me another shipping notice which said it would be here on May 31st. On May 31st, Amazon repeated the shipment for a third time. Yesterday, I received two phone calls from the shipper telling me they would deliver today and one phone call asking me if I ordered two hoists as they had two with my name on it. Told them to bring me one and send the other one back. The hoist arrived thirty minutes ago and the package was a bit ripped up but I signed for it anyway. Had the two guys load it directly into the back of Deerslayer which I backed up to their liftgate. This is the first time I've dealt with Home Direct and I hope it's the last.

June 11^th 2011 I unloaded the hoist the other nite and assured myself that all the major pieces were in the mutilated packaging. We have not had a bad summer so far in south Florida. Temps have been in the mid-eighties during the day and lower seventies at nite. It's still hot in the BillyBob Shop 'tho and I keep the overhead door closed to keep the debris from blowing in from the other bays. Unfortunately, that's the way the air currents run around here.

Took longer than I thought it would to assemble. Doesn't it always? I did a couple of steps wrong and had to backtrack. When finished, I didn't like the manufacturer's rinky-dink method of securing the legs in the folded position, so, I substituted short bungie cords. Now, I gotta find a place to store this thing. I've got to get an engine stand too. Maybe next year for that purchase.

July 18^th 2011 Took friday off as my friend Rob wanted to come to the BillyBob Shop and pick up his '49 Merc leadsled. I puttered around the shop all day but Rob was a no-show. The Merc remains in the shop with BillyBob and Deerslayer for the time being.

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