bkahler

Kinda banana shaped front to back with a slight bow in the top rail. I believe the truck was used as a feed truck because the tailgate had been modified with a slide gate. Most likely excessive loading cause the panel to bow outward. I'm considering finding a body shop that would be willing to take a look at it. The guy doing my painting works out of his garage and is not set up to handle a panel with this much damage to it. It probably won't be easy finding anyone that can properly deal with it. Most body shops now deal with only new vehicles which is a totally different repair process

Well....I didn't exactly drive the truck to the painters like I originally planned ? During the times I drove it up and down my gravel driveway I noticed the radiator flexing slightly side to side. I don't think it's anything to worry about but without any other supporting structure it seems a bit to flexible for my taste. So, to play it safe I just trailered it over to a little church close to where the painter's shop is. Driving it onto the trailer and then off the trailer and then over to his shop I noticed the throttle wasn't returning back to idle. The rpms would drop some but not all the way. After pulling it into his shop I found that I had left the throttle return spring disconnected after I had worked on the linkage a few days before. I will say the truck is extremely peppy and spins the rear tires with ease. As a matter of fact, I have to be careful when accelerating so I don't spin the tires ? Anyway, I'm not sure how long it will be at the painters so the only thing I have to work on is the drivers side bed panel. It's warped and I'm not yet sure how to overcome that issue Brad

Matt, this is the first Flaring Tool that I've owned that actually works well and is easy to use. I thought the price was reasonable for a decent flaring tool. Brad

Definitely an opinion NOT shared by all... Proud owner of a 51 B3B.....with the best grille ever.....

I had a difficult time finding a source for the nut and compression fitting for the oil gauge. I ended buying this oil pressure gauge nut and compression fitting at McMaster Carr. So far I haven't had any leaks from the oil gauge, so it seems to be working.

I haven't noticed any odor so far, at least nothing that stands out. That may not mean anything as my sinuses are always plugged I think the 318 and 360 are the same basic engine. I had a newly rebuilt 360 (not by me) in a Jeep Cherokee and it never did stop using and burning oil. I took it back to the shop several times and nothing worked. I drove 600 miles round trip every weekend and had to add almost three quarts per weekend. I was really happy once we sold it!

Here's what the original steering box looks like.

Ah, weights. I didn't see those in the picture. I didn't think the box blade had enough mass on it's own to act as a counterbalance.

I'm surprised that little tractor doesn't tilt forward due to the cantilever effect from that bed frame!

My 51 B3B-108 tail gate is 49-1/2" wide across the top rectangular section.

DJ / Los, thanks for the feedback. Whitish blue is what it appears to look like. The engine has about an hour run time with about 60% of that at idle speed. I need to pull the plugs to see what they look like. That might be a good task for this evening Thanks! Brad

Yeah, I've gone down that road a few times myself

I need some help diagnosing the smoke coming out of the exhaust. If you've read enough of my thread you'll know that this engine was rebuilt back in 2000 and then sat until a few weeks ago when I finally started it for the first time. Here's a video of the Smoking Exhaust that I took this evening. The engine was up to temperature at the time of the video. So, is the smoke, blue or white? Engine temps always stay right around 175 or so.

Would you like mine too? ?

Wow I got my NOS brass valve from Mitchell Motors back in 2007 for $62 and I was mad about paying that much!

Kevin, great post! I bought a NOS heater control valve a number of years ago and now that I've finally got the engine running, I'm having a slight weeping problem from the stem. Based on your previous post I found the same kit available from Zip Corvette. It was a little cheaper than from Paragon. I guess 60 to 70 old seals, even if they are unused are still going to leak. Thanks for posting the info.

Something to be aware of is rust converters are not the same as acids or rust removers. The main difference is acids causes rust to separate away from the metal surface while a converter converts rust to a stable compound. I think acids can also damage the metal if you're not careful.

Here is an extremely boring video of the 2nd 20 minute engine run where I played more with the throttle linkage adjustment and realized that the throttle arm to the front carburetor was too long. I also re-torqued the head bolts for the third time although that process isn't in the video. Brad

I'd suggest the 3:73 as well. My 51 came with 3:73 which I believe was the first year that ratio was available. My only problem is the ring gear was trashed so I found a 3:73 diff out of a mid 90s Jeep Cherokee and installed it. Lots to think about

I read somewhere that with the offy intake, if the carburetors were raised higher, they will perform better. Something like a 1" to 2" spacer/runner between the carbs and the manifold. If you look at the custom designed intakes the carburetors always sit higher above the cross tube than the offy does.

Nick, I can't answer a lot of your questions because my 51 B3B dual carb set is not yet fully on the road although it does run and drive. However, I can tell you that I've also done a lot of reading and research as you have and most of what I've found is dual carbs will help with mileage and performance, assuming you've upgraded the exhaust. Based on what I've read and what I've experienced so far just driving my truck up and down my driveway and around my property I don't think you can't go wrong with the dual carb conversion. I would highly recommend converting to 3.73 which is what I have. My 218 is bored .060" over making it a 226 with a 230 cam. The head might have been shaved slightly but only enough to ensure it was flat. My setup is dual carbs on a Rusty Hope modified intake with split 2" exhaust into to the muffler with a single 2" outlet from the muffler, i.e. 2 in 1 out. It was surprisingly easy to get the idle down to around 500 rpm. I do think your biggest improvement would come from a change to 3.73. The best way to improve mileage is to reduce rpms. Brad

I brushed it on. I don't know that it can be sprayed although I'm sure the directions would provide all options for application.

It's not a Dodge engine but still impressive. I ran across this video called Kev's turbo flathead six on the test stand. Pretty impressive

I used Corroseal on various spots on my engine and it worked great. Converts the rust and the metal turns gray. Should work well on your cab.

That's one I hadn't heard before