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.

66. Still tryin' to get my groove back

August 1^st 2011  It's hot and dark in the BillyBob Shop . . . all the time. The temp outside, before daybreak, is in the eighties most days and it's hotter in the shop. By late afternoon, it's stifling. Several of my T8 tube lights have burnt out too and I haven't replaced them yet. I'm not getting much done on the rides and I'm tryin' to kick my own butt into gear.

August 2^nd 2011  The little Kodak EasyShare C310 camera that I use for pics in the BillyBob Shop stopped working last week. I put new batteries in and it still didn't work. Put another set of new batteries in and still no joy. I had a camera in my Amazon.com shopping cart so I went online and pulled the trigger on that purchase. It's a nice camera but my financial situation prohibits purchases of this nature at this time and that's why it was just sitting in the shopping cart. The Kodak breakdown gave me a flimsy rationalization for the purchase.

I usually don't research an item before I need it so there's a background story as to why the camera was in the shopping cart. I have a credit card that issues "worldpoints". I never paid much attention to the worldpoints until a couple of months back when I got a notice to "use them or lose them". Went online to see what I could use them for and found a Cannon PowerShot SX30 IS camera for 65,000 points. I only had 60,000 points. Found out that I could redeem 50,000 points for $500 cash, which I did. Also found out that I could get the camera thru Amazon.com for $400 so, I put it in the shopping cart and let it sit for a few months.

August 15^th 2011  On saturday, I worked from about eight am until two-thirty in the afternoon in the BillyBob Shop. Opened the overhead door for more light during this time. I'd been trying to work with the door closed to keep debris from blowing into the shop but it's just too hot and dark. By mid-afternoon, it was just too hot to be effective anymore so I threw in the towel. I got some needed maintenance and detailing work done on Deerslayer. Beer of the day is PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon).

August 20^th 2011  I didn't get much done in the shop last saturday but I did manage to stay out in the shop from early morning to mid-afternoon and that's a start. Baby steps to get back on track. Today, it's BillyBob's turn.

It's been months since I pulled BillyBob's pan again to replace the rear main bearing seal. I just can't get over a gut feeling that pulling a new rope seal into place with the engine in the truck is going to have less than satisfactory results. I put my think'g cap on and, with the help of three "Full Sail Pale Ales", decided to pull the engine and replace all the gaskets and seals, and restore the engine compartment. With this in mind, I started removing the front end sheet metal.

I was on the creeper, under BillyBob, removing bumper bolts when my landlord walked into the shop. He had another warehouse/shop unit about a block away in an automotive oriented complex, with 500 square feet more than the BillyBob Shop that he could let me have for $100 more than my current rent. I helped him move some drywall sheets, then went over to look at it with him. It was a hard decision, but I'm staying put for the time being. When I got back to the BillyBob Shop, it was mid-afternoon and too hot to keep working.

August 24^th 2011  On monday, I went online to Amazon and ordered a Torin T26801 Engine Stand and Torin T32100 Engine Leveler for when I get the front end sheetmetal off BillyBob and am ready to pull the engine. The engine stand arrived at the Krash Lab via Fedex this morning. The leveler came via UPS brownshirt in the early afternoon.

When I took the packing materials to the Krash Lab dumpster, I found that someone had put a complete, disassembled water closet in there. The toilet at the BillyBob Shop has been leaking for some time and needs new internals. The valves in this tank look the same so I salvaged the tank and put it in Deerslayer's bed along with the engine stand.

When I got to the BillyBob Shop after work, I assembled the engine stand first. A couple of washers were missing. Otherwise, everything went together smoothly. I rummaged around until I found washer replacements in my various spare parts boxes.

Grabbed a Full Sail Pale Ale and continued to take down BillyBob's frontend sheetmetal. Damnation! The radiator cooling fins are corroding to dust. I'm gettin' tired of buying BillyBob radiators. I might go for a hotrod rad next time.

By 9:30, I'd had enuf fun and given up for the night. I'd managed to get the grille, horns, and headlights off and some of the driver side fender bolts before calling it a day. Hot and muggy and we're starting to get some of the rain from Hurricane Irene. She is a Cat 3 right now and directly east of us and she is heading for my cousins in North Carolina.

August 25^th 2011  Left the Krash Lab a bit early to beat storm clouds bearing down from Hurricane Irene but, timing is everything and I was a few minutes off. Deerslayer and I ended up riding the storm front the whole way to the BillyBob Shop. When I got there, I lit up a cigar and watched the rain as the shop heat dissipated thru the overhead door.

Continued working on getting BillyBob's driver side fender and inner fender off. It didn't take long since I've had it off before and most of the bolts are stainless steel. Then I cleaned out BillyBob's bed to store all these body parts. Some of the stuff in the bed has been there since the Kansas trip a few years back.

Went to work on the passenger side fender next. This one will be more trouble. It's got some rusted nubs of original fasteners at the back and, years ago, I made some temporary repairs with a sheetmetal "gusset" and pop rivets. The temporary repair turned out to be stubbornly resistant to my prybar assortment which surprised me. I finally got out the electric drill and drilled out the pop rivets. The three original fastener nubs were wire brushed and dosed with Kroil penetrating oil before calling it quits for the nite.

August 29^th 2011  Saturday morning, after monthly maintenance on Deerslayer, I set to taking the passenger side fender and inner fender off BillyBob. I only ended up with one, rusted beyond recognition, fastener to deal with and it snapped after I got it clean enuf to get a six point socket on it. On sunday, I cleaned up the BillyBob Shop. Beer of the day was Key West Sunset Ale.

August 30^th 2011  Last nite, Rob was gonna come over to the BillyBob Shop to pick up some of his Merc parts. He called me once to tell me he was runnin' late but never made it. In the mean time, I took the radiator and hoses off BillyBob. Afterwards, I sat in the overhead door opening with an Iron City and watched the tuner boys in the bay next to me get the last of their cars running. They are moving on. At eleven, I closed up shop.

September 6^th 2011  On saturday morning I went down to my buddy, Ed Slane's warehouse in Dania where he was holding a garage sale. When I got back to the BillyBob Shop in the afternoon, it was raining cats and dogs. The parking lot was already a lake. I sat in the overhead door opening with a cigar and enjoyed the pitter-patter.

Then, I continued taking apart BillyBob's front end. The radiator support was removed, followed by the alternator, distributor, road draft tube, coil and starter. When I disconneced the gas feed from the tank at the fuel pump, the gas started to siphon. Since I planned on draining the old gas anyway, I quickly setup a Rube Goldberg drainage system with a pan sitting on the front axle and tie rod to catch the gas from the draining line and a large drainage pan below the little pan when it overflowed. This kept gas from migrating along the axle and making even more of a mess. It took several hours for the gas level to get below the pickup tube in the gas tank. The old gas was put in a can to take to the hazardous waste dropoff next week. It took about fifteen hours for the gas odor to dissipate from the BillyBob Shop.

If I had been smarter, I would have been ready to connect rubber tubing from the draining gas line to the gas can. That would not have stunk up the place as badly and would have been safer as well. On sunday when I got back from the breakfast cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale, more engine parts were removed.

Managed to get the oil bath air cleaner, cannister oil filter, carburetor and manifolds off. Also removed the fuel pump and the rest of the fuel line between it and the carby. By that time, I was ready to clean up a bit and head off for the sunday nite cruise-in in Lighthouse Point.

September 9^th 2011  On wednesday nite, BillyBob's driveshaft was removed and universal joint duct-taped to keep the little roller bearings from making their escape. The tranny was drained prior to removal.

On thursday nite, Rob dropped by to pickup some of his Merc parts and clear up some floor space for me in the BillyBob Garage.

September 13^th 2011  Last nite, Rob and his brother, Craig, were coming over to get the Merc out of the BillyBob Shop. The Merc has been on jackstands for a year now. I put Rob's best two tires on the rear of the Merc and settled down to wait with a couple of cigars and a few Full Sail Pale Ales. Rob and Craig made it around eleven. They had a sixty-three falcon on their trailer that they were taking to Johan's shop. We didn't have enuf muscle power to get the Merc on the trailer anyway.

It was decided to get the Merc out into the parking lot so they could come back for it today. We pushed BillyBob into the parking lot out of the way and put the front end of the Merc on a furniture dolly. That worked well and we had the Merc out in the parking lot in a few minutes. BillyBob was pushed back into the, now spacious, BillyBob Shop. Rob and Craig took off in the general direction of Johan's and I retired.

September 14^th 2011  When I got to the BillyBob Shop last nite after the tuesday nite cruise-in at Duffy's Sports Bar in Deerfield Beach, the Merc was gone. Rob had called me while I was at Duffy's and told me that he and Craig had picked it up earlier. Somehow, the two of them had gotten it up on the trailer. The only Merc parts that remain in the BillyBob Shop is the front clip and two wheels. Even tho' it was in the way, I'm gonna miss the leadsled.

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Issued Thursday September 15, 2011

Updated Friday April 13, 2018

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