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.

44. Braking Developments

February 11^th 2020  The Jimmy engine and Chevy truck bellhousing will be lifted out as a unit. The clutch and brake pedal linkages are bolted to the bellhousing and will have to be removed first. That makes this interesting assembly of rods, springs and pedals the best candidate for the next cleaning and painting sub-task.

  Appears to be three components - the pedal assembly bolted to the bellhousing, the master cylinder cage bolted to the frame and the brake rods pivot, also bolted to the frame. Spent the rest of the shop session in deep ponder mode, planning my approach.

February 12^th 2020  Just damn! Got caught having to roll around under the truck on a weekday. So be it. On a good note, there were no frozen bolts and I had the brake and clutch linkages out in about two hours time. Beer of the day was Adirondack Brewery's Bear Naked All Natural Amber Ale.

February 13^th 2020  Studied the brake plumbing and did some deep ponder mode thinking as I wiped scattered tools and put them away. Put the pedal assembly in the parts washer for its initial soak. Took time out to wash the clothes I got greasy yesterday.

February 14^th 2020  When I lifted the lid on the parts washer yesterday, I discovered this. I had the idea of placing a pan of fresh Oileater on the parts washer shelf to take care of small items rather than just dumping them into the main tank of saturated soup. It worked well but it now appears that another thing that Oileater eats is Teflon coated baking pans as there is now a 3/8" layer of beige sludge in this one. Oh well, clean up and try something else, maybe Tupperware.

February 17^th 2020  Planned to lift the engine block out over the weekend. Drained the oil pan first. My machinist friend, Jon Carey, gave me a red ass dressing down when I told him that the water anti-freeze contaminated oil had been stewing in the pan four years. I got a mulligan this time. The oil was consistently black and poured smoothly. Looks like most of the water from the blown head gasket went out the exhaust ports.

Took the water pump off the front of the block and then tackled the damper as I thought it was blocking the front engine mount bolts, I have a "universal" harmonic balancer puller/installer tool that I've used on two engines so far. Both times, none of the eleven different puller bolts fit the damper I was trying to remove. Damnation! The puller holes on this damper were smaller than 3/8" and larger than 5/16" . None of the metric bolts I could find fit either.  Why would anybody use a bastard thread like 11/32" fine for this purpose?

After a two hour shop search, I went shadetree mechanic on it and drove a 3/8-24 tap thru the puller holes. It was a risk since there were only two but it worked. The damper was off in a matter of minutes after I got the puller set up.

February 18^th 2020  After the damper was off, I realized what I thought were engine mount bolts were not mount-to-frame bolts and could not be removed with the mount in place. They were carriage bolts (my nemesis) sandwiching the three parts of the mount together. The mount-to-frame bolts turned out to be behind and were three in number. The two on the outside came off easily, The one in the middle, directly under the crankshaft, did not want to move. I messed around with it the rest of the day without success. The next day, I went at it with the impact wrench and that finally did the trick. The rear mount bolts on the bellhousing came out quickly too.

Took Deerslayer off the jack stands, Put the work bench on furniture dollies and moved it out of the way and jockeyed the Carroll-Taylor engine hoist into position. The Jimmy block is now out and was the last big item to come off the chassis in this build. Beer of the day was Tommyknocker Brewery & Pub's TK IPA.

February 19^th 2020  Found I miscalculated when I lowered the Jimmy block unto the old tire I was going to rest it on until I got the bellhousing off. I need the engine to lay on its side  for that operation but I reached the limits of the hoist before it was fully down. This will require some Deep Ponder Mode thinking. I did manage to push it upright and get a 2x6 under the passenger side bellhousing mount, keeping it upright, to take the tension off the head bolts used to lift it.

February 20^th 2020  When the engine was propped upright, I gained a little slack in the hoist chain. This allowed me to let out the remaining length of hoist chain, about twenty inches, which can't be done under tension. That twenty inches made the difference. I was able to re-lift the engine and put it down on its side as originally planned.

The clutch and flywheel have to come out thru the bottom access opening before the bellhousing can come off. These Jimmy and stovebolt engines have some of the bellhousing bolts behind the flywheel, a dubious engineering achievement in my humble opinion. We'll set that work aside for now to finish some of the other small tasks I have started. Beer of the day was  Fulton Brewery's Proper Porter American Porter.

February 21^st 2020  Removed the rest of the odds and ends from the cab interior. The crotch cooler cowl vent assembly, the windshield hinges, kick panels below the doors, brake light switch and battery cut off switch. Two of the stovebolts (slotted screws) holding the passenger side kick panel were frozen. Tried several methods to loosen them but no joy. I'll grind them off over the weekend. Then we'll be ready to strip the chalky primer paint off this old boy.

February 24^th 2020  After soaking the dissembled brake and clutch pedal assembly in Oileater a few days, "basting" the parts on occasion, I pulled them out of the soup to dry off and paint. Some items also did a session in the Evapo-Rust bath.

February 25^th 2020  PRE Paint prepped and gave brake and clutch pedal parts two coats of Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black paint. Re-assembled the brake and clutch pedal parts, with assembly lube and new fasteners if I could find them in my disorganized collection of nuts and bolts. This will now go in a storage box to await its turn to be re-installed on the truck down the road. Beer of the day was River Horse Brewing Co's Special Ale, an American Amber.

February 26^th 2020  Okay, got all the stuff off the cab I'm taking off. Anything left will be masked during painting. Time to see if my new Eastwood gadget lives up to expectations. Spent five minutes with the Contour SCT Surface Conditioning Tool on the passenger side cowl panel to get a feel for it. The 120 grit roll that it ships with made fast work with little dust in the air. At full speed it doesn't throw me around. I'm gonna miss the pinstripes by "Sir James" tho'.

February 27^th 2020  Took the brake rod swing arm assembly apart and all the parts either received Oileater or Evapo-Rust treatments or both, Oileater first. This is the second of the three components making up the brake and clutch linkages. A rod connects to the top of the swing arm and to the brake pedal and the master cylinder push rod connects to the bottom of the swing arm. The rod between pedal and swing arm also activates the brake light switch.

February 28^th 2020  The brake rod swing arm parts were masked, PRE Paint prepped and given the Extreme Chassis Black treatment before being assembled again. I found nice new mounting bolts, washers and hex nuts in my inventory but failed to find the cotter pins I need. I remember buying a cotter pin assortment but could find no evidence for that memory.

An unexpected bonus is that I found three long bolts and they looked to be the same thread as the Jimmy head bolts. They were. I can cut the heads off two of them and use them as guide pins when the head is re mated to the block down the road. I put them aside for that purpose.

I ordered a cotter pin assortment and the swing arm component will join the pedal assembly in the storage box for future installation when it arrives. Beer of the day was Fordham & Dominion Brewing Company's Winter Chills Ale.

March 2^nd 2020  The third and last of the components making up the brake and clutch linkages is the master cylinder and its support cage. I think this master cylinder is a '75 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup, manual disc front and drum rear brakes item, Raybestos #mc39177. At any rate, the spare I bought back in 2011 looks like this one and that's what the spare is.

March 3^rd 2020  There wasn't much grease on the master cylinder cage so, no Oileater soaking for this item. Most of the paint was flaking off due to brake fluid contact and it was given a session with wire cup in the Dremel motor tool instead. Then an Evapo-Rust treatment got all the rusted parts ready for painting. The spare master cylinder was in the same place I remember storing it years ago. It was a good day.

March 4^th 2020  The master cylinder cage, support brace and other related items were PRE Paint prepped and given the Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black spray bomb treatment. Most of the new fasteners I needed were found in the nuts and bolts inventory.

I have beaucoup 3/8" bolts, nuts and washers but am all out of 1" long hex bolts and flat washers. I need both so, an order was sent off to McMaster-Carr. Once upon a time, I would refinish my rusted nuts but time is too short now and most new fasteners I order are stainless steel to minimize the rust problem.

The cotter pin assortment arrived yesterday. When I got to the BillyBob Shop, not a half hour passed before I stumbled over the assortment I was looking for, high and low, last week. Damnation!

Just damn! The replacement master cylinder is close, but no cigar. The mounting holes are off by about 3/16". I entered a deep ponder mode session with the beer of the day which was Duclan Brewing Co's Purple Passion Gose Ale. Tastes like grape soda . . . kinda. It's all in the packaging . If I took a swig of this out of a Nehi bottle, I'd probably spit it back out.

March 5^th 2020  Gathered most of the tools I need to start the cab paint and bodywork. Got additional drums for the Eastwood SCT Surface Conditioning Tool to supplement the 120 grit drum that shipped with it. A more abrasive 40 grit drum to cut into existing body filler and narrow wheels in 40 and 80 grits for tight spots. Also a can of Aluminum body repair filler and spreaders.

Got a quart and two spray bombs of Rustoleum Farm Implement paint, International Red, and a Purdy 2-1/2 inch brush to get started. Guess I'll have to dive into this task now, no more pussy-footin' around it.

March 6^th 2020  Even tho' I'm paying Elvira due attention and cleaning her weekly, a three cigar job, she became peevish last week and gave me tire pressure warnings on more than one wheel on more than one day including e-mails from OnStar. The first time fooled me into firing up the air compressor and adding fifteen pounds where none was needed. I know better now to check with a gauge. However, the incident spurred me into repairing my portable air tank so it will hold air again and I won't have to fire up the air compressor as often.

95 degrees and a 104 heat index temperature, mid-afternoon, in the BillyBob Shop's neighborhood yesterday. First three digit heat index this year, I've seen. My new shop discipline is soon to be tested I think.

March 9^th 2020  Vacuumed Deerslayer's exterior. It still had a layer of debris on it from the warehouse re-roofing job eighteen months ago. Took the first pass over the cab exterior with the Eastwood SCT Surface Conditioning Tool. It put out a little more dust than I expected and wore about a quarter inch off the 120 grit drum. The goal is not to get down to bare metal, just to take the chalky layer off the existing epoxy primer to make a base for the new paint.

March 10^th 2020  Elongated the master cylinder mounting holes in the cage 3/32" each to fit the mounting holes on the replacement master cylinder. Both holes were elongated to keep the geometry intact.

That was the plan but I couldn't find my die grinder burrs. I thought I could detect the soft laughter of my Dad's spirit on my shoulder. I can't put paid to this task just yet. Beer of the day was River Horse Brewing Co's Oatmeal Milk Stout.

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Issued  Tuesday March 10, 2020

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