The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk BillyBob Update - painting and wiring

For those who follow the BillyBob chronicles, a new Work-in-Progress log entry "Paint and Wire" has been posted. Still trudging thru the body phase of BillyBob's detailing cycle and I'm still not finished putting a new coat of Rustoleum on Him. This log entry is more Sand, Prime, Paint a section. Then repeat the process for the next section but I've also solved the long lingering charging system problem, I think. Also rigged a better way to run ground wires to the parking lamp assemblies too. Here's the link:

Paint and Wire

As always, an enjoyable read!

With all of our snow, I was feeling like I needed to be in Florida for some warmth... apparently I'm not missing much!

Laroke, why don't you look into using rattle cans of tractor paint rather than Rustoleum? It would last longer. Van Sickle is a good brand.

Weather is relative, I guess, Larry. I did see it snow once in Fort Lauderdale in the early seventies. Big flakes drifting down and melting as soon as they toudhed the ground.

GMCpanel, It's a source of supply problem at this point. There aren't any farms in beautiful Boca Raton and if they have tractor paint at Home Depot or Lowe's, I haven't found it yet. Not many of the online places sell over the Internet (Tractor Supply) and the ones that do (agri-supply) don't have color charts, just names.

http://www.agspecialty.com - I emailed them once about where to buy their paint in Georgia... and they told me about some company that sells/ships it out, but it is 'snail mail them or call them on the phone' only I believe.

Fumblin46 used their paint to paint his '46.

Anyhoo, dunno if that info. will help or not, but it came to mind while I was reading this thread.

-W

interesting stuff...

Laroke,
You can email Van Sickle - they're very helpful about selling paint. They like selling paint...

http://www.vansicklepaint.com/mntvsinden.html

Larry,

The last installment was great. I have a friend that is thinking about painting his truck like you have done BillyBob. I am going to tell him about doing it like the guy from the Mopar site did. Thanks for the tip. Also, BillyBob sure looks good with his new bright smile!

Thanx fellas. Don't know if I'll be using Tractor Paint yet, but now I got some leads to follow.

Larry,
One thing I can say for Van Sickle - I guy I used to work with painted an old IH tractor with it, and let it sit outside for 10 years. He said it was still nice and shiny when he sold it.

"First step is to reconfigure the battery cables so that the cut-off switch is on the ground wire instead of the hot wire between battery and starter motor. I think a voltage spike here might be burning out diodes in the Delcotron alternator."

I was lucky enough to stumble upon advice to place the power cut-off on the NEG. side of the battery. Larry, I'm going to your archives to look for a picture of the inside of the 3-on-the-tree shifter box..got one? I think I need to replace the spring inside there, looks half broken and jury-rigged..., thanks, Cosmo.

I don't have a photo, Cosmo, but in an early log entry I scanned an illustration from the repair manual

gearshift illustration

Larry - keep those logs coming!

GMCpanel - I took your advice and emailed Van Sickle. They got back to me right away, and I have a retailer in my town. I decided that I'm going to repaint my horse trailer with it this spring. If I like it, I might even try it on the '59.

Will do, Kim!

I too emailed Van Sickle, GMCpanel. No tractor paint retailers in Florida. However, they did point me to an outfit where I could order online

P & R Supply

I ordered a quart of "Medium Green (Old Oliver)" which is the closest to Rustoleum "Dark Hunter Green" and OEM "Juniper Green" that they have. When it gets here, I will try the "$50 paint job" experiments on the front splash apron. I expect it to be a flatter, duller green but something I may be able to live with. We'll see.

Larry, in my experiments the stuff is pretty shiny, at least in AC Orange.

ENJOY ALL OF YOUR WRITINGS AND HEARING ABOUT BILLY BOB! WHAT BRAND OIL AND TRANS GREASE DO YOU USE? I NOTICED YOU USED SYNTHETIC IN YOUR THREESPEED TRANS. DO YOU USE SYNTHETIC IN THE ENGINE ALSO?

Thanx, E!

Right now, I've got SAE 75W-140W Synthetic Gear Oil in the tranny, SAE 85W-140W Gear Oil in the rear end and SAE 10W-30 SJ oil in the engine. Synthetic is only in the tranny to make it shift easier when it's hot. I haven't been loyal to any particular brand. Pennsoil and Valvoline are two of the brands I've used.