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.

49. Change of Plans

For the last three years, the game plan has been to rebuild Deerslayer first with his Jimmy 302 engine. Then to rebuild BillyBob with his blown stovebolt engine. Finally, if I'm still here, rebuild the 322 Buick nailhead with the Latham supercharger as a replacement engine for Deerslayer's Jimmy.

By the end of summer, I'd collected ninety-five percent of the parts I needed to build the nailhead the way I wanted so, I moved the Deerslayer - Buick configuration to the head of the list. Refurbishing the Jimmy 302 will now come after the BillyBob rebuild.

March 22^nd 2021  Continued the nailhead block cleaning operations. Used a ball hone on a drill motor to refresh the cylinder bores and get the 45 degree cross-hatch. Marvel Mystery Oil provided lubrication.

Did a final pass of the machined surfaces with a 320 grit drum in the SCT tool. Cleaned the cylinders, lifter bores and oil passages with nylon bottle brushes, Oileater and Hoppes number 9 passes.

Chased all the bolt holes with thread straightener taps after cleaning with telescoping magnet and compressed air passes. The block is now ready for its hot soapy water cleaning. Background music was Eddie Cochran and Friends One minute to one, Vol II.

March 25^th 2021  Need to free up the engine hoist by getting the 302 Jimmy to a better storage location than on its side in the middle of the floor. It's current position is a good one for access to the clutch, however, so I decided to try to extract the clutch before moving the engine. I want to find out if the Hays clutch will fit the nailhead flywheel and Trans-Dapt HC-25 Adapter bellhousing.

Turned out to be easier than I anticipated. It was out and on the workbench in about fifteen minutes. The Hays 11" Street/Strip pressure plate mounting circle pattern is about 1/4" too big and the flywheel will have to be re-drilled if I use the Hays clutch. It looks like it will work but drilling a flywheel is beyond my experience and I need some Deep Ponder Mode musing on this.

Good news is that the Jimmy's ball pivot for the throw-out bearing fork is a direct bolt-in for the Trans-Dapt bellhousing. Beer of the day was Wooden Cask Brewing Company's The Scotchman Scotch Ale.

April 8^th 2021  Started setting up a DIY hot tank for the engine cleaning. Cleaned a plastic trash can the landlord's contractor left behind when he absconded with my fourteen foot step ladder. Found a hole in the bottom which was probably the reason he left it. Ordered one off the intarweb.

Filled it with water and lowered the nailhead block into it. Placed a submersible spa pump for circulation and a submersible heating element, digital thermometer and a small amount of Dawn dishwashing soap and watched a bit to see that the suds didn't get out of control. Background music was Stone Free, A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

April 12^th 2021  Took almost thirty-five gallons to submerge the block. Had to monitor the operation closely as the heating element would have the water boiling if left alone. No switch or thermostat on it. The pump turned out to be more of an aquarium pump than a spa pump. I kept the heat between 130 and 140 degrees as I did not know how much heat the plastic tub could take. The water moved in a slow circular pattern without suds. When the nailhead was pulled from the dirty soup, it was blown dry with my electric weed blower and an air hose.

And then the wheels fell off. The hydraulic ram on the Carroll and Taylor engine hoist malfunctioned and quit working. I settled into Deep Ponder Mode to sort things out with the beer of the day, Florida Beer Company's Sunshine State Amber Lager.

April 15^th 2021 Short detour to repair the engine hoist. Searched the intarweb with the hydraulic ram name plate info and found it to be a common item so, I ordered a replacement that most closely matched the same specs and crossed my fingers. The price was low enough that it didn't make sense for me to stop my barely noticeable momentum to try to repair the old ram at this time.

The new ram works and it almost fits, like all things chicom. Needs a little drillin' of the base pivot and grinding on the pivot bracket and we should be good to go. Background music was Country Joe and the Fish, Electric Music for the Mind and Body.

May 5^th 2021 When the engine hoist broke, I sidetracked into a lazy streak for a couple of weeks but I think I'm back on track now. Onward to the nailhead derusting ops. The water was drained and replaced with twenty gallons of Evapo-Rust for the waterjacket derusting. Since I didn't have the quantity needed to completely submerge the block, the operation has to be a two-step dance, front half first, then the rear half of the block, two days in the soup for each. Beer of the day was Bent River Brewing Company's Undercurrent IPA.

May 28^th 2021Sidetracked again, this time by a nearly immobilizing, nasty, oozing rash that had me feeling sorry for myself most of the time I wasn't at the office. It has pretty much run it's course and now I'm back at it again.

Cleaned up after the derusting operations and began preparing the nailhead block for painting. Plugged threaded holes and started masking off machined surfaces for the first stage of painting. My masking Kung Fu is not strong and it's tedjus work. I did use the trick of trimming the masking tape at sharp edges by using a small brass ball-peen hammer to make a cut line in the tape.

Beer of the day was Florida Brewing Company's Hurricane Reef IPA.

June 16^th 2021Fellow HAMBer from Sweden, J.Hansen suggested using a file in lieu of the brass hammer to trim the masking tape. Tried it and had moderate success. It's a skill I have to hone some. Masked the rest of the crankcase and turned the block right side up.

Used the old throw away juice lifters to mask the lifter bores. That saved some time. The cam bearings, not so much. Fingers are too big to get the masking tape in the confined space. Had to retreat for some deep ponder mode thinking.

Brought a paper towel roll tube back to the shop with me from the office. It was a smidgen greater diameter than the cam bearings. I was able to slit it and cut it into rings that masked the cam bearings nicely.

Cleaned some creeping flash rust with wire cup in Dremel tool and blew off with electric leaf blower. Gave it a few cycles of PRE Paint Prep dosings followed by more leaf blower blow-offs.

Painted as much of the lifter valley with Glyptal  red insulating enamel paint as I could reach by brush and finished up what I couldn't reach with spray-bomb. Background music was Dylan and the Dead.

June 18^th 2021 Flipped the nailhead block over tango uniform again and painted the cathedral nave crankcase with Glyptal after the PRE Paint Prep treatment and repairing some of the masking dislocated by the first flip.

Installed new freeze plugs with Permatex Form-A-Gasket #1. This operation is terra incognita to me and I buggered the first run at it as I'm apt to do. It was a do over but by the time I installed the fourth one, I was feeling semi-pro and a little cocky.

Ordered a pair of block drain petcocks. Started the second stage of masking for the nailhead green engine paint from Bill Hirsch. This involves sealing the block interior areas and trimming the masking tape using the gasket set as guide templates. Beer of the day was Bent River Brewing Company's Uncommon Stout Oatmeal Stout with Coffee.

June 21^st 2021 Got the bottom block masking in place and trimmed, then came across three assortments of paint masking hole plugs I picked up on an impulse buy in the last century. These plugs saved a lot of time masking the numerous holes on the sides and back of the nailhead block.

Gave the sides and back of the block the PRE Paint Prep treatment which led to a setback. The old Pontiac blue paint did not like the paint prep and started to flake off. I retired to the deep ponder mode chair. Father's Day background music was a Dean Martin mix CD my Mom made up in my Dad's memory. Slow Boat to China made me think of his time in the CBI during the war.

June 23^rd 2021 Went over the block with scotchbrite cookies in the air powered angle grinder to remove all the loose  paint remnants, blew it off with the air hose, then applied the PRE Paint Prep again. This time, the surface remained stable and I followed up with two coats of the Bill Hirsch Engine Enamel spray bomb. The Buick nailhead green is an acquired taste. Some have nicknamed it puke green. They also put these engines in medium duty Chevy trucks from 1956 to 1959 when the Chevy 348 was introduced. I didn't research Chevy's color for the 322 because I like the green. Beer of the day was Free State Brewing Company's Oatmeal Stout.

June 24^th 2021 Flipped the block right side up again and finished trimming the masking tape around the head and valley cover gaskets by running a sharpie line around the gaskets and trimming just inside the line with X-Acto knife.

The paint is still tacky. The weather, here in South Florida, is muggy this week. After the top of the nailhead is painted and the masking comes off, touch ups can be made at any time by spraying a few blasts of paint in a cup and dabbing it on with a Q-Tip. Background music was the Rolling Stones It's only Rock and Roll.

June 28^th 2021 Plugged some more holes, PRE Paint Prepped and painted the upper nailhead block surfaces with two coats. Let the paint cure for a couple of days and mounted the block back on the engine stand. Removed the masking, cleaned the machined surfaces and wiped them with Marvel Mystery Oil.

Matt Martin, of Centerville Auto Repair, commented about the block drain petcocks and I decided to go with his practice of using plugs. The petcocks will go in the parts box for radiator spares. I got 1/4" NPT brass plugs for the nailhead and installed them with Threadlocker blue. Beer of the day is Hanger 24 Craft Brewing's Orange Wheat American Wheat Ale.

Time to post this log entry. Next up for the nailhead will be piston assemblies and crankshaft.

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Issued  Tuesday June 29, 2021

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