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

thanks.  I've got a few plans that it will be near impossible to steal unless you tow it.

PH2500 What a great build!

 

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 4:24 AM, PilotHouse2500 said:

got the '94 pulled into the shop last night to thaw out...any parts you want off the body, speak up before they get scrapped!

 

 

boy, sure do like that front bumper

15 hours ago, Brent B3HH said:

PH2500 What a great build!

 

 

boy, sure do like that front bumper

 

sitting on the racking outside the shop waiting for you to pick it up!

 

contemplating something similar but using my 3500 4 x4 V8 and binning all the fuel injection/ecu's, there's a very old dodge dually on ebay.uk that has no rust but it's 9k. I wouldn't double door though as no skill for that, about 10 years ago I imported a job rated, 56 I think it was, but got rid as some **** had fitted a chevy 302, probably should have kept it LOL

Good news is I've decided on a few things and I'm in the midst of a huge kitchen project that will actually let me get the trans bought.  I'll be moving the engine back 2-3" to use the stock CAC and buying an aftermarket RAD with electric fans to get things stuffed up front where they belong.  I also plan on taking the summer off woodworking so I can get some headway going on this project.  SO hopefully come mid May this thread will get more updates than it has in the last year.

Money comes in Saturday!  Salivating over the trans swap coming!  Any final thoughts (prayers accepted) on this?  Still kinda debating the G56 vs the NV4500 swap, but cost might drive me to the NV4500 regardless.

G56 off the table, NV4500 is the choice.  Now to get the "extreme" version or the standard?

On Friday I ordered the NV4500 tans!  2-3 weeks for delivery....sadly they don't take an auto as a core anymore.  So now I have an auto with under 10k miles on a rebuild, but no documentation since my buddies wife tossed all the paperwork on the rebuild years ago...sigh..

parts are coming in!

I love new parts.

And finally....

Torque converter and Ring gear off.

 

 

Edited June 30, 20195 yr by PilotHouse2500

transfer case pulled from the auto

Watched a video yesterday of a guy doing a manual swap up in Canada.  He mentions something about not using the vacuum lines (on the TC) and going to manual switch.  Anyone here done that?

meanwhile got the TC shifter taken apart and cleaned up...it was frozen solid.  Nothing a 20 ton H press can't fix.  And got to use my "new" media blast cabinet I bought from my car club friend.

progress from the weekend.  Transfer case cleaned of grime and crud.  Trans mounted to bellhousing.  Not in current pictures: steel parts painted with POR15 (did that after the pics).

 

 

TC and trans mated and sealed, tonight degrease and paint?

done for now, primed and painted...what's next on the list?  

Looks good.

 

If you ever need a really nice finish that holds up to even light scratches give this stuff a try, its pretty. Awesome stuff. We restore all sorts of small and large mechanisms and the sort, good for hardware finish as well.

 

We call it Galvabrite.

 

 

Really makes a nice finish.

 

https://www.apidistribution.com/crown-galva-bright-premium-16-oz-aerosol

 

You can shop around and find it at different places, I get from McMaster Carr.

 

Edited August 11, 20195 yr by Timd32

TC shifter cleaned, painted and reinstalled.  The grommets were a PITA!

You must have a glass bead blast cabinet. That linkage looks awesome.

 

One thing I really miss and need to get a decent compressor set up for.

 

I'm still on the fence about painting my 47RE, but the more I see your posts I don't see how I can't... looks great.