Spring has sprung here in Minnesota, so in a few weeks I'll be able to haul my '94 to the shed to get working on it.  I posted WAY back when I first found this forum on my build plans.  I'll start here again to bring everyone back up to speed.   

 

First off, is this the right part of the forum to post a "build" thread?  If not please direct me to the correct location.  thanks

 

I restored a '51 Pilothouse B3D truck that was my great grandfathers truck.  I seem to have a disease now, lots of old truck parts in my house, garage and at friend's sheds.  I decided a few years back I was going to take a modern powertrain and graft on a Pilothouse cab/front clip as a daily driver.  This truck will be a stretched 3 door cab flat bed stake side hauler style truck.  I've got all the old Pilothouse cabs and doors to cut apart and re-weld up to the stretched cab.  As well as all the doors I could need to make the 3rd door and fill the space behind the passenger side door.

 

The '94 has a fresh rebuilt tranny and about 150K on the engine.  I've been thinking that since it will all be available to work on, going thru the engine and rear end would be a good idea right now.  Before I start to tear things off, any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Plans include air ride, saddle fuel tanks, rear duals and a tip up front end like a semi for engine work.  

 

thanks, I look forward to keeping this thread moving over the course of the spring/summer while things start under way.

Edited March 12, 201411 yr by PilotHouse2500

Put the new wiper motor in this weekend, complete with twisty mounting bracket.

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 20222 yr by PilotHouse2500

Evap unit mounted.  Sadly with the FW wart I had to move from a center location to the pass foot well.  Driver doesn't need heat anyway...right?  I'll make a duct.

 

 

Edited December 1, 20222 yr by PilotHouse2500

happy wife happy life?   lol heat her feet first.

and a glove box

 

I'm new to following this thread but man talk about motivating. I was putting some things off on my own projects (nowhere this magnitude) and even contemplating outsourcing some work but I think I've changed my mind thanks to this! Keep going man! 

On 12/1/2022 at 6:09 AM, Me78569 said:

happy wife happy life?   lol heat her feet first.

Must be dang cold up there!

Edited December 2, 20222 yr by JAG1

1 hour ago, JAG1 said:

Must be dang cold up there!

 

well, I DO live in MinneSNOWta....

AC condenser "mostly" in....likley I will weld the Z brackets to the frame to avoid the bolt plates I had made to get it all mounted to the frame rail tho....might wait for that till the cab is off next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 20222 yr by PilotHouse2500

Fan shroud.  I'm thinking 2 pullers (16" and 14") should keep him cool enough.

 

 

Dropped the rad/fan assy in last night.  OOOO boy is it tight!  But clearance....is clearance.  I have about 1/4" on the passenger side.  I will modify the mounts to allow me to loosen and tip the assembly forward for serpentine replacement (thank you middle of the night engineer brain).

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 20222 yr by PilotHouse2500

wow close fit, but looks good!

Last day of vacation burned, but I got the passenger side drip rail fab'd and welded in.  Being the back half fo the cab is a B1, the rail is different so I carried that thru to the front as well.  Also allows me to get some seam sealer in there when the time comes to keep the rust monsters at bay.

 

 

Edited December 21, 20222 yr by PilotHouse2500

Driver side done now as well.  Puma supervised, sadly she is pretty much deaf so the grinding dind't hurt her ears. 

 

 

Nice job. Going to take a bit of time to get it perfect but, looks like you your on track for it.

Well, as usual I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but here is the dump of the week off of work I did.  I didn't take pictures of me standing there scratching my head for a few hours each day.    Also, sadly I lost a coworker over the break, my car club buddies dad passed and I got some concerning news over a good friend.

 

First off, modification of the new brake booster to match the mock up of the old one to fit in the engine bay/behind the engine

 

 

 

Next up was removing the old extra cab mounts I don't need and welding on the front mounts for the 4 bar linkage.

 

 

 

 

 

Next we have the old and new rear suspension

 

 

 

 

 

Finally there is the hood wings back on with prop arms!

 

 

 

 

 

Final good news is my wife is now happy with 2 new familiy members to spoil!

Edited January 2, 20232 yr by PilotHouse2500

as always awesome pictures.  sorry to hear about you friends

ON AIR!  And the mods for the fabd air ride control hardware.

After much angst and time and thought and putting it off....the front clip finally has it's home on all the new mounting points.

 

 

@PilotHouse2500, forgive me I do not know what a front 'clip' is. Those look like some sort of pivot. Is that so the entire front opens up around the engine? Like on a big rig where the hood and fenders are all one and lift up out of the way?

Yup... It a front tilt hood. Opens like a semi-truck. Stellar...