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.

51. Heads Up

September 7^th 2021 I measured, measured, measured the nailhead crankshaft until I was confident of my numbers. Those numbers put me into indecision mode for a bit while I tried to chart my best course of action with the crankshaft.

If I come to the conclusion the numbers are too sketchy, I'll bite the bullet and start making local machine shop inquiries or look for another crankshaft. As much as I want it, completing this build without any machining may be a bridge too far.

I tend to dither a long time with dilemmas like this in Terra Incognito so, in the meantime, I pulled out the Buick's heads to clean and inspect. Unfortunately, I leaned too far forward setting down the second head and there was a pop in my lower back. Couldn't move for about thirty seconds while the waves of pain rolled through. If I'm real lucky, I will only be crippled for a few days. One thing is for certain. I won't be free lifting the heads any more.

Beer of the day was Uinta Brewing Company's Trader IPA. Background music was Bob Dylan Bringing it all Back Home.

September 13^th 2021 Summer isn't finished with us yet. It was a scorched earth weekend here in South Florida. Made the decision to clean and inspect both heads together to save some time. Applied Kroil penetrating oil to the spark plugs, valve cover studs, plug wire cover studs and the valve stems. At minimum, one of the exhaust valves is stuck.

Made short work of getting the studs out except for two of the spark plug wiring cover studs, One loosened up enough for the stud extractor after heating with MAP torch and quenching with Kroil penetrating oil. When I popped my back I lost about eighty percent of my wrenching strength and, as a result, my 24" breaker bar has become my new best friend. Unfortunately, it's use twisted the other stuck stud off. Oh well, we'll circle back to that later.

Started the first cleaning pass of the combustion chambers with a brass wire wheel in an electric die grinder. 

Beer of the day was The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery's Hoppy Bunny American Black Ale. Background music was Link Wray Be What You Want To.

September 14^th 2021 My valve spring compressor tool is not a good one and I don't have the strength to lock it down so, I tried placing it in locked position and compressing the springs with the adjustment screw. That worked and I didn't have to fall back on my other valve spring tool that I affectionately call the palm bruising star of pain.

Hopefully, not many of the valves are stuck and I will have them out in short order as well. Beer of the day was made for me, Adelbert's Brewery's  Sip and Ponder Philosophizer Saison Ale. Background music was Dire Straits Brothers in Arms.

September 21^st 2021 Two of the nailhead valves were stuck and were left to soak a bit with application of Kroil penetrating oil. Got one free by heating the valve guide with MAP torch and quenching with Kroil but the other bad boy wouldn't budge and the only effect was setting the work bench on fire . . . twice. Then . . . the torch valve lit up! Torch valve engulfed in flames, I rushed to the head and submerged it in the toilet. Damn!

Eighty-sixed the torch assembly and attempted to order a new one. These things have increased a couple of orders of complexity since I last bought one. They have everything short of Bluetooth now. Research is required. Groan. This is beginning to look like one of my epic struggles.

Put a chunk of heater hose over the stubborn valve and guide to dam up more penetrating oil where it needs to work. Give it a couple of whacks with the brass hammer every now and then. Maybe it will loosen up. Beer of the day was Clown Shoes Beer Mango American Kolsch. Background music was Grateful Dead American Beauty.

September 23^rd 2021 James Rick on FB suggested induction heat and I have a weakness for shiny new specialty tools. I researched and ordered a Bolt Buster induction heater to try on the stubborn stuck valve guide.

The Bolt Buster arrived and I read the manual, all of two pages with six additional pages of lawyer CYA. This is a nifty tool! It heated the top 3/8" of the valve guide cherry red in less than fifteen seconds. Valve still doesn't move yet with brass hammer persuasion but we'll keep at it. FB buddy Kenneth Crenwelge said he'd have it in the hydraulic press by now but I don't have a press . . . yet.

I'll try Acetone/ATF soakings in lieu of the Kroil when my acetone shipment gets here. Beer of the day was Adelbert's Brewery's Scratchin' Hippo Amber Ale. Background music was Jerry Lee Lewis Last Man Standing.

September 24^th 2021 Time to quit pussy-footin' around. Having decided to replace the valves and, not getting any progress with many taps from the brass hammer, I resolved to heat up the stuck valve guide cherry red again and give it one forceful whack with my twelve pound sledge.

Gave it more than one whack and got movement. Only it was the guide and not the valve that moved. Heated it up again but because of the new, lower position, the valve stem went cherry red, not the guide. Should have stopped and thought about that but I didn't. The next whack bent the valve and broke the guide.

Just damn! Screwed the pooch. This is the same head with the twisted off stud. It's becoming my nemesis. Some deep ponder mode thinking is in order. Beer of the day was Clown Shoes Beer Space Cupcake India Pale Ale. Background music was The Eagles Desperado.

September 30^th 2021 I took the pic of the bent valve and broken guide to the coffee cruise-in on Sunday to get the opinions of my geezer friends. Retired machinist John Carey was present and he offered to help. I never ask John for help these days because he won't take any payment and he has done a lot more for me than I have for him over the years. Sometimes, my one-two punch mistakes, where I mess up and then compound it, intrigue him. He has a little machine shop in his one-car garage and I'm to bring the head out there when I get a set of valve guides for measurement purposes.

Ordered Valve Guides and seals, Rear Main Rope Seal, Oil Galley Plug Kit and Roller Timing Chain Kit from Matt Martin at Centerville Auto Repair. While waiting on that, the head bolts and studs were given the Oileater parts washer treatment. It took four one hour sessions to get all the paint off. That was followed by an Evapo-Rust dip and, finally, a light coating of Marvel Mystery Oil before being set aside.

There are two freeze plugs in the side of each head. Set about to remove them by drilling a pilot hole and screwing in a self-tapping bolt, followed by prying up with a claw hammer. I tried two sizes of bolt and both pulled out without any sign that the plug had moved. Nothin' easy with this head. I'll have to get that replacement MAP torch to heat these things up in case they were installed with threadlocker red.

Beer of the day was Harpoon Brewery's Camp Wannamango Pale Ale with Mango. Background music was The Pilgrim: a celebration of Kris Kristofferson.

October 7^th 2021 My back, since it popped, allows me to pick up very little, unless it is straight up. No veering off vertical axis permitted. I needed a way to move things like cylinder heads, crankshafts, transmissions and the like around the shop and the engine hoist is too big. With that in mind, I ordered a small 300 pound motorcycle lift. It will do nicely for most items.

The care package from Matt Martin arrived with nailhead valve guides and other engine goodies. I'm getting close to taking a day off from my office job and heading out to my friend John's place. Beer of the day was Millstream Brewing Company's Back Road Oatmeal Stout. Background music was The Marshall Tucker Band.

October 15^th 2021 Back to the stubborn freeze plugs in the heads. The MAP torch head replacement arrived and I tried heating up the freeze plug to break any grip the sealant might have. Quenched it with Kroil penetrating oil and let it go back to room temperature. Then I hit it with CRC Freeze-Off Super Penetrant as suggested by FB friend Ken Crenwelge. That worked. Finished up with hammer and chisel. I live for little victories.

Went out to my friend John's place yesterday. He gave me a cup of joe and went to work. Cut off the buggered valve stem and drove out the valve. Then the broken valve guide and installed a new guide, all before I finished my coffee, including making a tool with his lathe to drive out the guide. John finished up by checking for cracks with a magnetic powder. He didn't find any.

We drank beer then for a few hours and John showed me his current projects including a finished Model A engine for a speedster he's building for TROG. John, being John, Poured the babbit bearings and line-bored them in his shop.

He has taken interest in helping me get the heads right and I'm to clean, clean, clean and measure, measure, measure both heads before I take them back to the best little garage machine shop in Boca Raton.

When I get around to ordering pushrods, they will most likely be of greater diameter than the originals and I am faced with the restrictive diameter of the pushrod passages in the 1954 heads. Want to do the modifications now but am not sure how to go about it.

Beer of the day was Harpoon Brewery's Rec. League Hoppy Hazy Light. Background music was The Doors L.A. Woman.

October 26^th 2021 Slacked off a week for dental work. Extracted a quarter of my remaining teeth and got fitted for new choppers. Mourned the loss of three that have been with me from the beginning. Wasn't as painful as it sounds. Should have cowboyed thru it better.

Quik-n-durty cleaned the remaining valves to measure them. Shined them up some by chucking them in a 1/2" drill motor secured in my bench vice. Set it running and used wire cup in the electric die grinder. Exhaust valves, in general, were in better shape than the intakes. Three of the intakes had raised "GM" and "TP" letters on their faces.

Cleaned the guide bores with Hoppes #9 and engine bottle brush. Measured the valve stems with the mic and the guides with a small hole gauge and mic. Initial readings were pretty even at "0.3317" for the stems and "0.3327" for the guides, including the new one. Must have not done it right. Gotta recalibrate, bone up on procedure and do it again.

Beer of the day was Millstream Brewing Company's Schild Brau Ambar Vienna Style Lager. Background music was Return of the Grievous Angel: A tribute to Gram Parsons.

October 28^th 2021 Recalibrated my micrometer and took another go at the nailhead valve and guide measurements. Ended up being more confused then a blind man feeling his way around the elephant.

Number one cylinder intake valve was pretty pitted so, when I ordered a new exhaust valve for the one I buggered, I ordered an intake as well. These came from Fusick Automotive Products and now I can compare them to the existing valves.

My new measurements were unclear but they gave me a sloppy .0005" average valve clearance between valves and guides. The new valves and guides were consistent with the old ones, however, and this was a good sign to me.

According to my Dad's old 1959 Chiltons manual, the valve readings were closer to a 364 nailhead than a 322. This is a head scratcher to me unless replacement valve specs changed over the years. At any rate, I have enough info to take to my friend John to help me suss out.

Beer of the day was Sprecher Brewing Company's Scotch Ale. Background music was Asleep at the Wheel Ride with Bob: A Tribute to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

December 23^rd 2021 Well, I fell into a lazy pit for two months while dealing with the frustration of my new choppers and now I'm trying to claw my way back out of it. It's a sin to waste the South Florida winter weather, the only time of the year when BillyBob Shop temperatures fall into my comfort zone during the daytime. In the meantime, I'll post this log entry. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody.

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Issued  Thursday December 23, 2021

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