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 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.

28. Jeepers Creepers

February 15^th 2013  Cold front coming thru so the thursday nite cruise-in at the Hog was pretty much a washout. Only two of us drove their rides: Rolf with his VW Diesel Rabbit pickup and me with Deerslayer. They were out of Iron City beer too. They did have 16oz PBR for a buck-fifty so all was not lost.

February 20^th 2013  The cold continued thru the weekend. I got some maintenance done on Deerslayer on saturday before heading off to a curise-in at a speed shop on saturday afternoon with my friend Eugene and some others. Eugene was the dj and Deerslayer carried his equipment so he could drive his vette roadster. Braved the cold (in the forties) again on sunday for the breakfast cruise-in, a custom car show at a Fort Lauderdale VFW Post and the sunday nite cruise-in at the Pompano Beach bowling alley. It was all good but I didn't take any pictures. There were'nt any new trucks I hadn't posted before.

Monday nite, I tinkered in the shop and cleaned toolboxes and listened to strange, out-of-place, sounds. Tuesday nite was the Delray Beach cruise-in.

February 21^st 2013  Last nite was more tinkering and cleaning up around the shop. It was quiet except for the music coming from the CD player. I say that because the shop has had its own sound effects ever since I moved in a few years back. At first it was "bumps in the night" like rats the size of gerbils running across the office ceiling. The fly in the buttermilk is that I never heard these sounds in the office and when I examined the office drop-in ceiling from the loft, the dust was not disturbed. Well, I haven't heard those sounds for awhile. They've been replaced by creaking door sounds where no doors exist. Monday nite it persisted long into the night.

Sometimes, the creaking door sounds are accompanied with storm wind sounds blowing over the roof but none of the trees outside are stirring. Another occasional sound, usually in the early morning, is that of a large bi-ped running across an overhead loft where no loft exists. Very exciting.

When Wingnut was still with me and I heard a strange sound, I would look over at him to see if he had launched into fight-or-flight mode. If he hadn't heard it, I chalked it up to a flashback from a misspent youth in hallucinogenics.

I take these "very real to me" sounds with a curious grain of salt. Did some research and I think the best explanation is that they are internal and not some kind of paranormal activity. I will change my opinion if they ever manifest when someone else is in the shop with me and they also hear the sounds. I better not start hearing voices, either. I am a contrary critter and will not listen. If the Lord has something for me, he'll have to send an angel. Those guys are always bad news when they show up and I'll know it's serious.

February 25^th 2013  Thursday nite was cruise-in nite at The Hog BBQ in Pompano Beach. There was a show saturday nite but Deerslayer and I didn't go. Sunday morning, after the breakfast cruise-in, I hauled up to the BillyBob warehouse bay in Boca and picked up my MIG welder. Haven't used it in years. Cleaned up the welder when I got it back to the BillyBob Shop.

Deerslayer's beloved deerskin steering wheel cover that Joy Pascarella made has been wearing out. I really enjoy the feel of this thing and started looking for a replacement. I came across Wheelskins.com during an intarweb search. A '37 Chevy pickup was not on their list of applications but wheel measurements could be provided for a custom wheel cover. I provided 17-1/4" diameter and 3" circumference on the web form and specified "sand" as the color. It was the closest color I could get to Deerslayer's existing cover.

The wheelskin arrived last week at the Krash Lab and after cleaning up the welder I set about installing the wheelskin. I trimmed the curling loose parts off of the deerskin cover but, otherwise, left it in place. I still wanted Joy's deerskin in place because it was one of the reasons I named the truck Deerslayer.

I positioned the wheelskin and began to follow the provided stitching instructions. I consider this task a "One Budweiser degree of difficulty" job. I used two Rolling Rocks and still managed to flub it up even tho' I was taking my time and going on break after about every four or five inches of progress.

I didn't get it tight enough in some places, leaving an unsightly gap. I also missed at least one hole which changed the stitching pattern. Wheelskins.com only provides a spool of twine long enough for one try so, if I want to try again, I'll have to find a twine source. The twine that the kit uses has been treated with a beeswax type substance to make pulling it easier and I'll have to look for that as well.

February 27^th 2013  Monday nite I puttered around the shop and put up a few more pics. Last nite, I left the Krash Lab early to go to the Delray Beach tuesday nite cruise-in. I was there for a couple of hours when I got a text message from Paster Jim that there were a few lonely St. Pauli Girls at his place waiting for me. Deerslayer and I cruised out to Paster Jim's place and tho' I was too late to help them put the hood on the '63 T-Bird, I was not too late for the St Pauli Girls.

Deerslayer has been missing his passenger side, front parking light / turn signal for over two years now. I haven't been satisfied with my efforts to fix the beat up light that bounced on the pavement under the truck for a few hundred feet and when I got some similar lights from an eBay auction, I was not happy with them either. On sunday nite I won another eBay auction for a couple of Ferd Model A cowl lights and they arrived at the Krash Lab this afternoon. Now, I'm happy. These lights will make good replacements as soon as I get sockets in them and get the support rod, that sheared off, re-welded.

March 4^th 2013  Thursday nite was a cruise-in at the Hog BBQ and friday nite I picked up some AAA batteries for my auto-darkening welding helmet. Alas, the old leaking batteries had rendered the expensive electronics into trash and I will need a new helmet. I ordered a much cheaper one from Amazon this morning.

Saturday was a car show in Pompano run by the city. The city screwed it up and, as a result, they only got thirty-eight cars. They decided to hold it in a wind-blown dusty, fenced-in field instead of at the Hog, whose owner bought the awards and dash plaques. Several of us, about one third of the entrants, said "no thanks" and went to the Hog anyway. We had more fun than those who sat in the cold, dirty field.

On sunday, Deerslayer and I attended a show in Boca Raton after the breakfast curise-in in Fort Lauderdale. I got up early and went to my friend, Eugene's house to pick up his speakers since he was to be the dj at the Boca Raton show. After breakfast, I met him at the show. At first I got to park Deerslayer next to the dj stand. But later, I was asked to move by a dealer who had paid good money for a prime spot. Seems that Deerslayer was blocking the view of their custom Bentleys and Rolls-Royces and that too many people were looking at Deerslayer instead of their fine vehicles that they were trying to sell. I moved and had no problem with it. I'm happy anywhere I am as long as I have my cooler and cigars with me. There were some nice rides at this show that I haven't seen before. Finished off the weekend with the sunday nite bowling alley cruise-in.

March 7^th 2013  On monday morning, a co-worker and I met at the boss's house to push Henry, the '41 Ferd, out of the boss's garage so it could be put on a roll back for transport to a shop to get it ready for auction later this month. Monday and wednesday nites were spent puttering around the BillyBob shop while tuesday and thursday found us at the Grand Tavern and Hog BBQ cruise-ins.

March 11^th 2013  Friday nite I puttered around the shop and on saturday, monthly maintenance and oil and filter change were performed on Deerslayer, along with some detailing. Sunday was a long show day with four events. Dearslayer and I started out at the breakfast cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale. We were a half hour late since my internal clock did not account for the "spring ahead" time change this weekend. After that, it was out to the west side of Coral Springs, close to the Everglades for a all-day car show. After that, a few of us stopped at the Tijuana Taxi sunday cruise-in for a few hours since we were in the neighborhood anyway. Saw and talked with some old friends including Anthony with the '51 Merc who I used to hang with. Finally, the day was finished off at the Bowling Alley cruise-in. It's monday now and I'm tired.

March 18^th 2013  Last week was pretty much a repeat of the previous week with cruise-ins, puttering around the BillyBob Shop and a big sunday of shows. Again, the Deerslayer and I survived.

There is some news on the Nailhead Project. I won an auction for a vintage Isky solid lifter cam. Now, I just have to find out what I have. This is the seller's description:

YOU ARE BIDDING ON A N.O.S. ISKENDERIAN E-3 SOLID LIFTER CAMSHAFT FOR 1953-56 BUICK 264 AND 322 CUBIC INCH V8 ENGINES. IT'S IN EXCELLENT UNUSED CONDITION, AND MY 1969 ISKENDERIAN CATALOG LISTS IT AS HAVING .448 LIFT AND 286 DEGREES OF DURATION. HAPPY BIDDING!

I am now trying to find out if it is suitable for a street engine before I start hunting for lifters, pushrods and adjustable rockers.

March 20^th 2013  On monday, the boss drove his Cobra to the RM Auction consignment dropoff. I followed in Deerslayer. We parked together and went into the convention center to do the paperwork. When we came out, the RM Auction staff had pasted a RM Auctions tag over my Florida tag and were trying to prep the Deerslayer for auction. As a result of that wasted effort, they made me park in a different lot today when we repeated the trip to the convention center with Henry, the '41 Ford.

March 25^th 2013  On saturday, I puttered around the shop all day, mostly with little things and some Deerslayer maintenance. At about three-thirty, I headed up to Delray Beach for a cruise-in at VFW Post 4141. Took the beach road which was a mistake at this time of day with spring break in full swing. Crawling along in traffic, Deerslayer's engine heated up a bit which, in itself was not alarming. What was worrisome was that Deerslayer began to have trouble holding the idle speed and was on the verge of stalling everytime traffic came to a stop. I fixed it temporarily by pulling the manual choke cable out a smigeon. In the middle of all this fussin', I ran over a piece of road debris.

When I got to the cruise-in, I adjusted the idle screw on the Carter AFB a little less than a half turn and that made the idle smooth again. It's currently between six and seven hundred rpm. I then walked around the front of Deerslayer and was crestfallen to find that my front tag was gone. In all likelyhood, it was the "debris" I had run over. I had cleaned the CBI Veteran tag up and mounted the Stovebolt inline 6 power tag topper on it a few months back. The pic at the River Ranch Run in january is the only pic I seem to have of the combo.

The loss of the "one of fifty" Stovebolt tag toppers cast by Whizzerick is depressing in its own right but the loss of my Dad's WWII CBI Veteran plate has me in a melancholy funk. One more link with him fades away now. When people at shows would ask about the tag, I would show them the picture I have of Mom and Dad on the dashboard and tell them of Dad's service. More than one of them were CBI Veterans or children of CBI vets. I will miss those conversations.

March 27^th 2013  I hung around the shop on sunday, waiting for the boss to call about going to the auction. He never did and it turned out that when I told him I already had a ticket, he assumed I would be going on my own. Missing it doesn't bother me since I've been there, done that and have the tee-shirt several times over now and beer is always expensive at these events. The boss said he took a beating on both cars and he's moving on.

On tuesday morning I arrived at the Krash Lab to find my main work computer imploding. It would not startup in Windows and what I read on the intarweb from another machine is that, in all likelihood, the hard drive is going tango uniform. This is the machine with my finances, email, LAROKE site backups and publishing applications as well as company database development system and other essential software. The last two days have been character builders. I had to download and burn a different operating system to a CD to access the file system again and I had to find a way to get needed files onto a different machine. I'm out of the dark woods now but still have some more miles of bad road to go over yet before this issue can be put to bed.

April 1^st 2013  Not much happened in the BillyBob Shop last week. Went to the tuesday, thursday and sunday cruise-ins but no shows. One of my car buddies, Nye, is having his big seven-ooh birthday today. His wife, Linda, has been putting a surprise birthday party together for weeks and it happened on saturday. My role in Nye's deception was to keep him busy on saturday afternoon at my shop between eleven and three until the festivities were set up. We were going to work on his '03 Mustang ragtop. We were going to try to find where a certain hose went when it disapeared behind the engine in order to replace it down the road. I'm not good with newer rides and right away, I mistook a sheetmetal "crossmember" under the radiator as a lift point for the floor jack. Wrong! I stopped before much damage was done but I did bend the darn thing a bit. Found a correct lift point under the side of the car then and got it up on a jackstand. Neither Nye or I could determine where the hose went. He is going to wait until his shop manual arrives. That took all of thirty minutes and I had to hold him at the shop for another three and a half hours. I don't know how I managed it but the beer of the day helped. We each had three bottles of Budweiser's new Black Crown lager. Nye left at a quarter after three and he was truly surprised and a bit misty when he arrived home. I followed about a half hour later. It was a great party.

April 12^th 2013  It's been a slow couple of weeks since the surprise birthday party. Went to a couple of cruise-ins then, got sick. I've been under the weather for the last ten days. Haven't been doing nuttin' but workin' at the Krash Lab during the day and feeling sorry for myself at nite. It's a bad cold an' I'm almost over it now. At least food, beer and cigars taste good to me again and I've started to attend the cruise-ins. Tomorrow, I have to catch up on Deerslayer's maintenance.

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Issued Monday April 15, 2013

Updated Wednesday June 6, 2018

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