JR's Korner of BillyBob's Garage

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

BOOKSTORE operating in association with Amazon.com Books

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and time of disassembly for restoration.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

12. The "A" Team

Removing the rest of the engine parts was a snap. I now had just an engine block with crankshaft in the truck. I hadn't removed it from the truck because I intended to only replace rings, bearings, head gasket and valve train. I completed the tear down on July 4th. The truck stayed that way until the following April.

After several trips to the parts jobber and numerous conversations with my dad, I had accumulated all the necessary parts. Dad came down with his trusty "mics" (for those not skilled in the art, micrometers or mics are very precise measurement devices which resolve a measurement to one-one thousandth of an inch). His immediate response after measuring the cylinders was "You're not planning on driving this thing much . . . are you? What this engine needs is a complete machining and overhaul." I considered the specter of removing the block, finding a suitable machine shop, and finding more hard-to-get parts. "No. I won't be driving it much." Problem solved.

It was the first warm weekend in April and a courageous crew consisting of my Dad, Tom, my best friend from the Navy, my neighbor, and me were present to tackle the rebuild. My Mom came with Dad; She planned to clean up my house - a task that was much more demanding than putting the engine together. I was single, ya see. My approach to cleaning was to clean things as I needed them. As an example, all my dishes were dirty. If I needed a clean dish I'd pick one of the counter where I stored my dirty dishes, wash it, use it, and put it back on the counter dirty. We didn't hear much from Mom as we put the engine together. She was busy!

The first order of business was to decide what to do about the crankshaft main bearings and rear seal. Each bearing consists of a cylinder of metal, usually a babbit alloy, split down the middle in order to form two bearing halves. One bearing half fits on top of the crankshaft between the crankshaft and the engine block and the other half fits on the bottom of the crankshaft between the crankshaft and the bearing end caps. The problem was this: In order to drop the crankshaft enough to put in the upper bearing halves, the drive shaft, transmission, bell housing, and clutch would all need to be removed. Well . . . as I said "I won't be driving it much" so only the bottom bearing halves would be replaced leaving the original top bearing halves in place.

Everything went smooth. Dad provided overall technical support services (He told us what to do) as well as cleaning the piston ring grooves and installing the rings. Tom and Mike, my neighbor, pushed the pistons into the cylinders and I installed the bottom bearing halves and connecting rod end caps under the truck.

We were making good progress when suddenly there was a major crisis! Mom came into the garage almost out of breath and informed me that she could no longer proceed. The vacuum cleaner belt had broken! "So?" was my response. I'd immediately put the event in perspective. We were here to put the engine together. Getting the house cleaned was an added benefit. Dad, however, truly understood the gravity of the situation. "Go get a belt." he said. "Okay." I said. Dad, Tom and Mike continued on the engine while I went in search of a vacuum cleaner belt.

< Back to Intro"A" Team Mission Accomplished >

You can email JR at  jr@laroke.com

Issued Wednesday February 18, 1998

Updated Wednesday June 24, 1998

copyright © 1998 William Craig Kephart all rights reserved