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.

PROJECT PUFFER Chronicles the rebuild of BillyBob's Stovebolt 235 including the installation of a 4-71 blower system.

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.

70. Summer Stagnation

May 27^th 2016 Didn't get much done because I drove Eugene Reidy's DJ sound truck to the Back to the Beach show in Fort Lauderdale. It rained for most of the show, hard at times. Surrounding streets were flooded. I saw Tony De la Murte galloping his police horse down the beach. Reminded me of the Navy Seals in Afghanistan. The usual suspects retired to the Elbow Room to wait out the storm. My friends got me out of there when a harpie started clinging to me. She was half my age and twice my mileage. It wasn't a pretty sight

On Thursday, my tach for BillyBob from Speedhut.com arrived. I fitted it up on Friday night. It took me a month to get this thing as I customized it on their site as to background, text type, needle style and a few other parameters so, it spent two weeks in the art department and two weeks in production. Looks nice but I'm still on the hunt for a trim ring that will cover the interface between tach and clock housing.

June 3^rd 2016 You can find just about anything on the Intarweb. The trick lies in crafting the search term. FB buddy William Gilbert crafted one for me that led straight to the trim ring I needed for the tach / clock housing interface. It found the Hardin Marine Gauge Bezels at CPPerformance.com. They shipped immediately and this is the result. I can now put the tach / clock housing assembly on the shelf until ready for installation.

June 4^th 2016 Wrestled the other 8.90x16 Firestone dirt track tire onto its rim after enlarging the valve stem hole with a step drill bit and dressing it with a rat tail file. Had to do this first thing while it was hot and muggy before it turned hot and broiling in the BillyBob Shop. After that, I spent the rest of the day cleaning small carb parts for the Deerslayer's Jimmy engine in the Eastwood vibratory tumbler with green cutting pyramids, water and Metal Wash. Beer of the day was D.L.Geary Brewing Company's Hudson Red Ale.

June 11^th 2016 Pried the first dirt track tire I mounted off the rim to fix the valve stem hole first thing before it got hot and I still had the strength to do it. Then I started the brake master cylinder conversion  mockup. Got the brake line fitting to the front wheels off with some difficulty. Buggered the fitting but I'm re-plumbing the brake lines on this build so that didn't matter. The banjo fitting did not want to budge. This was one of the few times I had enuf room for the impact wrench and that made short work of it after I failed with hand tools. Work came to a stop when the bolts furnished with the conversion kit to attach the new bracket turned out to be too small in diameter. The mockup is on hold until I get new bolts. Spent the rest of the day cleaning valve components for Deerslayer's Jimmy 302. Beer of the day was Geary's Hampshire Special Ale.

June 16^th 2016 Didn't get started in the shop until late morning. A run to a friend's shop to get some work done for the Deerslayer took up a couple of hours. I started mocking up the oil breather catch can on BillyBob's firewall. Measured and drilled the 5/16" holes and mounted the bracket with 3/8" stainless steel standoff spacers to clear the bump out in the upper part of the firewall. Hose fittings are next. Closed up the BillyBob Shop in early afternoon.  It was a ninety-one degree day in my neck of the woods, nothing out of the ordinary, but for some unknown reason, the heat was getting to me.

June 18^th 2016 Back to BillyBob's master cylinder conversion. New 5/16"-18 x 1" bolts arrived from McMaster-Carr during the week and I was able to continue the mock up. The holes in the adapter bracket are just a smidgen off and I will have to drill them out but they were close enuf for the mock up. The old saying "I'd rather be lucky than smart" applies here. I've seen two different brackets for this conversion and when I ordered the kit from Chevs of the forties, there was no picture of what I was getting. Both the kits I'd seen locate the master cylinder further back from its original location. The kit I received keeps it in the original location which is what I want. Too far back will interfere with the transmission cross member I have to install for the Muncie rockcrusher. That won't be an issue with this bracket.

Shift linkage interference may be a problem, however. There is only about three inches between the new master cylinder (a '75 Chevy half ton truck master cylinder) and the side of the tranny where the shifter mechanism goes. It's time to get that mocked up to see if I'm in trouble.

June 23^rd 2016 When I arrived at the BillyBob Shop, there was a parcel in the mailbox addressed to Mr. Nimrod. My brother, JR, had read last week that I was planning to re-ring BillyBob's engine before slapping the blower on the side and he sent me our Dad's ring groove cleaning tool. along with the note that it could come in handy two or three years down the road when I get to the rings. As far as we know, the last time this tool was used by our Dad was in the eighties, on this very engine, when he helped my brother freshen it. There's a certain poetry of continuity attached to this tool that may spur my efforts to shave a year or so off that time.

July 18^th 2016 The broiling summer heat in the BillyBob Shop precipitated a relapse into laziness that I've been struggling to break out of. The daily driver, Renegade, has been crying for attention that I've been ignoring. Renegade finally broke a week ago Sunday requiring me to rent a car again while I wait for parts to arrive to fix it. The first task is shop cleanup to clear a space to work on the Jeep when those parts get here. I figure the best use of my time in the steambath heat is to finish half done tasks that are in the way of pulling the Jeep into the shop.

August 10^th 2016 There's hot and then there's damn hot. Finally got out in the shop after about nine weeks of inactivity and got some cleanup and little tasks finished. Just before noon, the office called to tell me that email was down. Damnation! Saddled up and went to fix it. Just as well. The temperature in my neck of the woods had climbed to 91 with a heat index of 116! This ain't no dry heat. At the Krash Lab, I found out the email wasn't working because the LAROKE website was down. Sumbitch! My website host had moved the site to a new server. I had to go to my domain name registrar and reroute to new name servers. It takes a while for the change to trickle down to all the other name servers in the world. LAROKE may be missing in action for 24 to 48 hours more. My boss was not pleased but he was understanding.

November 26^th 2016 Still having a hard time ramping up activity again in the BillyBob Shop. It's difficult to discern movement but I am moving forward ever so slightly. Things came to a screeching halt in early June when the oppressive heat and an infected tooth gave me an excuse to skip a day in the shop. I've barely been out there since 'cept for a few false starts. Friends came by a week ago to jumpstart me and I'm trying to build on that session. Didn't get much done over the Thanksgiving Holiday but I did get some shop organization accomplished.  The old joke is that God made gentiles because someone has to pay retail. I'm that guy but sometimes, even I get a deal. A few weeks ago, I got a e-mail notice from Newegg.com. Forty-eight inch long by eighteen inch deep by seventy-two inch tall, chrome metro shelving units with casters for fifty-three bucks, free shipping. I ended up with two and I assembled them over the weekend. Finding a place to put them was the harder task. Ended up stacking them in tandem for the time being. I use these things to organize parts for the different projects, One for the Jeep. One for the Nailhead project, a couple for the BillyBob build, etc. Beer of the Day was Alphabet City Brewing Company's Easy Blonde Lager.

January 14^th 2017 New year, new resolution. Get squared away and start working in the BillyBob Shop again. I decided to get a reliable daily driver and turn the rental car I've drivin' for six months back in to Enterprise. With that in mind, I visited the dealer in November and ordered a 2017 Cadillac ATS V Series Coupe.

This thing has a 3.6 L V6, 24 valve, DOHC, twin-turbo engine with direct injection, variable valve timing and titanium rods connected to a six-speed manual tranny. I Christened it "Elvira"

On Friday afternoon, January 13, friends Euge Reidy and Wayne Harlow dropped me off at Sheehan Cadillac to take delivery of Elvira. I was just recovering from a week long gum infection and I felt good despite the fact I was picking up a car named "Elvira" on Friday the 13th. During the gum infection episode, I extracted a loose tooth. This prompted co-worker Rick Steffan to remark "If you drive a Cadillac and pull your own teeth, you might be a redneck." On the short ride back to the Krash Kubicle, I could tell that Elvira was going to be wicked good fun just as Joe Magri cautioned. Oh yeah, I've stalled her once so we got that out of the way.

February 4^th 2017 Finally got some work done in the BillyBob Shop. On Wednesday, I wrestled the 9.50 x 16 Dirt Track tube and tire back on the rim and on Saturday, I put it on BillyBob and lowered the truck. With these big tires on the rear and the 4" dropped front axle, I have the stance the way I want it. I put the carpenter's level on the valve cover and the bubble is between the level marks where I wanted it. Also detailed Elvira's paint and wheels with Wash Wax All. I haven't had to do any detailing for years and I'm rusty at it. By the time I was finished with that, I had gone thru the beer of the day which was Atlantic City Brewing Company's Alpha Male IPA. It was time to turn out the lights.

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Issued Sunday February 5, 2017

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