Leaderboard

I admit I've been a hoarder but I am trying to reform. If you just can't find a way to part with stuff, re-purpose it. Scrap prices are so low right now it's awful, so recycling is not justified. Re-purposing however makes good sense. Here's my solution for the pallet load of old Flathead Ford V8 cylinder heads I've accumulated. I used them as pavers, saving a ton of money! Oh and a couple of V8 blocks too cracked to use? They became a nice bench! Too damn heavy to move very far. lol No Mopars were injured in the making of this yard art.

My wife and I purchased a home on 11 acres - it's the perfect place we wanted with more than enough space for my 1K sqft woodshop. The home had one owner - built well and solid. It feels perfect for us. We needed a truck for the property though - I wanted something I could work on and 'cut my teeth' in learning more about working on trucks/cars beyond replacing calipers and simple electrical. We found this - a 1950 Dodge B2C stake bed just up the road from us for $3,600. It is one owner with less than 53K miles - all original (so we've been told) but it appears that way. Maybe best yet: the owner who passed was cousins to the owners of our property. I'll be upgrading it this summer to be drive reliably and safely. Then, either this winter or next summer, I'll be looking to rebuild it. And so it begins: Here. We. Go.

I wanted an antique vehicle to tinker with, and to use as a daily driver for the short 2 mi round trip from the house to the shop. I was looking for something unique that would also serve as an eye catcher when people drove by my store. One day a customer of mine mentioned he had an old Dodge sitting in his yard for the last 20 years that he was not going to do anything with, and would sell it to me. One look at this vehicle and I fell in love. I could see the potential. Yep, he was in bad shape but I didn’t see all that. I had a vision. My wife calls the truck TANK, because of the green color, and his size. She names all our vehicles. TANK is a 1950 B2C. My friend offered to store the vehicle at his property until we finished building our new house and my garage. The next day the truck was in his garage, on jacks, with the butterfly hood removed, and when I walked in his shop Al had the engine turned over and running on three cylinders. My suggestion: If you want to restore an old vehicle, get about two or three retired guys involved: One with a machine shop, one with a garage, and one that was a farmer. These guys got nothing to do, and lots of knowledge. Long story short: here is what we’ve done so far. We pulled the head and had it milled. While it was off we then pushed on the valves as we cranked the motor until they quit sticking. Al helped me rebuild the carburetor, and do a full tune up. I purchased a kit from AAJ Brakes and modernized the stopping system: modern disks, calipers, piping, master cyl. Swing pedal, and while we were at it put in a hydraulic slave cyl., and clutch swing petal. Roger, the owner of AAJ lives in Portland, so I was able to drive down to his shop and meet with him. He really hooked me up with his break kit. He was very helpful and fun to talk with about our love for old vehicles. Most of his kits are for cars, and this was a unique application for a ¾ ton. In the end I had to get 5 on 5 lug pattern rims from a 70’s GMC truck so the rotors fit inside the rim. George had to drill the rear rotors to fit the 5 on 5 lug pattern. George also fabricated a new floorboard and battery well too, and patched rust holes in the cab body, replaced the front cab mounts and surrounding rusted floor, and took dents out of the roof, and fixed the frame where the rear cross member was rusted out, and replaced the rear shock mounts, and built me a custom gas tank to replace the Swiss cheese original, and installed a one wire alternator and custom bracket (George can make anything in his shop), and repaired the bottom of the rusted doors, and the back of the cab, and replaced the king pins in the front end, and installed the electric fuel pump he talked me in to buying. Over the summer I got a crash course in body work, and learned how to weld and grind and weld and grind, and grind, and grind. Oh yea, and sand and sand. At the end of the summer, 6 months after first arriving at Al’s place, TANK drove on his own power, up to my new garage from George’s shop in town. I now know a little more about a Bridgeport mills, and hydraulic presses, and all kinds of sheet metal bending, shearing, stamping, snipping, and welding, and the plasma cutter Oh boy, and rebuilding a carb., and flat head motors, etc….. George is a capitalist. At first, I paid him for his time, but after a while, I think he got more value out of me learning and him instructing, and he finally gave me the keys to his shop so I could work on the truck when he was gone. TANK now sits in my new garage. I rewired the alternator harness, amp gauge, ignition switch, and battery charging system for 12v. I have all the gauges working properly too, and a remote filter system installed, and I removed the oil pan and cleaned out the gunk, and painted the pan hot rod orange, and this week I am replacing the leaking water pump. I’m sure I missed things I fixed. Oh yea, repaired the choke and idle cables, and persuaded the emergency brake to work with a little WD-40 on the cable. I’m working my way towards the back. I am going to replace the fluids in the transmission and rear end next. Final stage is to reassemble the bed and paint the truck. I want it to be on the road by the end of this summer. So that is about it. I am infinitely grateful for the Pilothouse forum and after discovering the site, and observing that it looks like a great bunch of people, I decided to join, and maybe add to the knowledge base. Oh yea, Ruderhaus is German for Pilothouse.

I’m there, 81 in September so best to say some thankyous. (1) Names very difficult but Plymouthy Adams, Tim Estrada, Casper 50, Bob Riding quickly emerge. (2) Quick, unexpected passing of friends and relatives. Lost two, one with a six month illness, the other a 60 day illness. (3) personal note: my health seems to be good, only two pills per day, eye sight is fine, no apparent heart or lung problems. But do have a severe hearing loss, I.e., cannot hear without my hearing aid, and now struggling with leg strength (4) forum gratitude : when I started 12 years ago did not understand intake vs exhaust manifold, , the three essentials for an engine to run, the difference between an engine and a motor, negative/ positive ground, body vs chassis. This forum taught me mechanical skills, personal tolerance, better respect for alternate views, religion, politics, and profanity are toxic, the means and value of internet friendships. Few things have been as enjoyable, rewarding, mental expansion as what I have enjoyed this past decade. So then, my unreserved, heartfelt gratitude to each and all. I trust this post is premature, but better that than never. Paul Flaming aka pflaming

like them last few words...………...totally OBD (our boy Don)

and...what is worse is they claim "I never saw the guy" and with that comment think of the poor guy on a cycle being about 1/10th the size. I believe themwhen they say they never saw ya as they never even looked...bad in my area....seems a number of folks drive their trucks like their tractors in a field...slow speed, quick 'end of row' turns without a glance for traffic...I mean, how many fields have another tractor tailgating them...most tractors have no turn signals either...the classic move here is pull out onto a 55MPH road, no glance for traffic, go 50 feet and turn left into another field....you can hear the eggs in the cartoon shrieking before they crack as you braking hard...

This is the pickup screen in the bottom of the tank. It's sort of like the sintered bronze filters but some other material. IME a lot of crud can be in your filler neck and fall in when jostled. It won't really clog that pickup totally because there's a pretty large surface area there. Volume gets reduced then as you run more crud clings to it until it can't run. Sits long enough, crud falls and its partly open again.

If it ever quits raining I'll look at my 2-1/2 tonner pedal. The pedal # on 1/2 - 1 ton is 1262809. Info out of the parts books.

The 31 got so many waves and thumbs up, even from HWY patrol, so I beeped the horn back at people and then I realized TANK never got a horn. So, out to the 49 parts truck I went. Pulled the rusty horn. Cleaned it up and installed it. Works great. Also poached the heater a few years back from the 49 and got it going too. I ended up installing a 12v to 6V power supply to run the fan motor and not burn it up. At some point I also needed the starter out of the 49. I still go back to the B2B. Parts trucks ROCK. All Merle's fault. When I brought the 49 home I was asked "what are you gonna do with that." I joked and said its gonna be yard art. She said, "Hmmmm... OK, his name is ART."

@minicooper I just got my 1950 B2 and am looking to replace the master cylinder first for road safety. What are the modifications you had to make to make the part fit? Sorry for the newbie question - I'm cutting my teeth on a B2 of my own and I'd like to have a better-than-blind idea of what I'm getting into

Wew... Where did the time go. Well, I'm back. The 1950 B2C is finished and regularly commuting to the shop during the summer. I ended up going with a fautina paint job. Things kind of got a little crazy at the end of 2015 with the loss of my wife due to a heart attack. We were together for 25 years and it took a bit to regroup my mojo. The B2C is a very dependable daily summer driver and regularly attracts people off of HWY 12, and in to my shop, just to talk about the truck. I did so much work to it and I completely lost momentum updating this forum so if you got questions, just ask. BTW, the wife named him TANK and it stuck. In April of this year, I fell head over heels for another car. It's a 1931 Desoto SA. We all know a man can love more than one car. I feel like the 50 Dodge was a flathead gateway drug. Now I'm addicted. The DeSoto was restored back in the 90's and last year it's owner faced his own impending mortality and had to sell it. I am the current steward of this beautiful machine. It's pretty much all original, with a few upgrades. For example, the drive shaft seems to have been fitted with modern u-joints. I pulled the generator off and installed a 6V alternator. The PO also retrofitted a turn signal system and modernized the brake/running lights. I'm going through the brake system now and replacing any components as needed like the brake master cylinder and brake line hoses. The wheel cylinders don't leak but they may get replaced just to be done with em. I've been taking short trips to work out the bugs. I've had to send the water pump off to the Flying Dutchman in OR to have it rebuilt and now it's working as designed. Oil was disappearing. No fouled plugs. It was getting sucked out the exhaust valves. I believe the oil pressure was running way to high so I adjusted the bypass down. Now it does not lose oil. I'm gonna guess it was blasting so much inside the crank case it was just too much splash on the valve stems. 28 PSI at idle after a long drive vs 60 PSI. I'm approaching 1000 miles in trips and no major issues. It's a great car to drive around during the corona bologna. Nobody is on the roads. His name is Mr D. Hope Merle and everybody is still breathing.

Yeah, no-one seems to know for sure why. Ludlow is just a township, and doesn't have any store-front businesses of any kind. Houlton vacillates in and out of being uber eco-friendly and may not permit straight gas in town. I'm quite familiar with Jackman and many of the other outlying towns (especially in the border counties, I was Chief of the Border Patrol for Maine until I retired a couple years ago). A lot of those smaller towns are where the ATV and snowmobilers gas up before heading into the willy wags, two-stroke engines don't run so well on ethanol laced gasoline. Those outlying parts of Maine depend quite a bit on the off-roaders.

Excuse me while I digress. I just spoke for a '48 D24 that doesn't have an engine and transmission. I have a good stock engine and transmission I can bolt straight in and be driving in a weekend or two or three. Part of me wants to drop in a later model V-8 drivetrain, power steering, disc brakes, all that stuff, and most likely never getting the car on the road. I won't drive the D24 enough to matter and if I go on a long trip I probably wouldn't take it anyway so stock is good enough. The only change I'm considering is rear gearing since I have a Dakota rear and an 8.8 Explorer rear. If the motor or transmission goes "BANG" I might consider changing at that point. I don't even need another car.. It's a sickness, I tell ya!!

I ordered, received and installed the ScareBird brakes on a 1949 Plymouth SD and here's what I found... Pros: Well Made Easy install Uses common inexpensive aftermarket calipers, rotors, pads etc. Good instructions Cons: Said item was in stock but waited almost a month for shipment Had to get wheel spacers ((1/4") to clear stock factory wheels All bolts grade 8 except lock washers (grade 5) Spindle/wheel nut caps don't fit All in all I'm a happy camper. See pictures of install after a red powder coat.

Fit 6 volt electric motor wiper from a chrysler

The wheel pattern is common 5 on 4-1/2 which is the same as most Honda's, Nissan's, and many others. I found 2 5mm spacers on eBay for $12 and they fit and work great on the stock wheels which have the rivet bumps between the bolt holes. The wheel bolts that came installed in the ScareBird hubs are plenty long to accommodate the spacers. I can post more pictures of the spacers if needed. The ScareBird kit uses or works with the following user supplied parts: Part Application NAPA Wagner Raybestos Rotor 1993-96 Ford Probe front 4886318 BD125274 96318(R) Caliper, LH 1979-85 Cad. Eldo front SE4680 TQM25048 RC5248 Caliper, RH 1979-85 Cad. Eldo front SE4679 TQM25049 RC5247 Hose (15”)* 1979 Seville front 36845 F98912 BH36845 Hose (17”)* 1979-82 El Dorado front 36959/36960 F98914/98914 BH36959/3696 Brake pads 1983-92 S10 4WD TS7070AM MX154 EHT154 Wheel Seal 1967-69 Camaro Timken, National 8705S SKF, NAPA 17187 Dust cap 1983-2010 Ranger 2WD NAPA 735142 Dorman 618-503 Note: Go with the 17" hoses and pay attention the the orientation of the banjo brake line fitting. It does have an up and down side...

Got the trans back in last night and took it for a test drive today. After some adjustment on the clutch and back brakes it really goes down the road nice. The last thing I had to do was get the wipers going and I did that today. She’s ready for a bath, safety inspection, and lots of cruise time!

I would like to "Thank" the forum admin and all the Wonderful Members I've become Friends with. Sadly due to life changing events we are selling a few of our prized possessions. I surely appreciate all the help placing the For Sale Add in classifieds. Cheers. Tim & Lori Powell