Jeff Balazs

The only weather we have here that can be a factor is heat. But we do have lots of hills and steep grades. And these really come into play when you add in mixed slow and fast traffic and the fact that most cars today have plenty of excess power. I can't ever see one of these L6 engines ever having enough power to keep pace without giving some serious thought to the available gear selection and final gearing. And I am not at all convinced that anyone has found the optimum arrangement. At least in my own situation I keep thinking how nice it would be to have a full synchro close ratio 4 speed with the right spread. Jeff

Reg has a long block too. And we don't all have that option available. What we are really talking about here is how a relatively original truck can be expected to perform in modern driving conditions. If you go back to the OP's original posting I believe that is what he is actually trying to assess. I think we all know that trying to drive at speed without any mods is going to be tough at best. Getting a realistic handle on how much needs to be done to achieve this is something worth a real ongoing discussion. Dead horses or not. Jeff

Don't know any Thomas..........other than the doubting one. What I do know is that when I decided to go with a 3.55 rear axle it was a mistake. I thought the extra displacement of my 230 would handle it. I now know that the useful power band of these engines is not broad enough to handle that kind of drop in revs at speed and still have any sort of reserve. I can only imagine what having a 3.23 in it's place must be like. I do believe a decent balance can be achieved in all this. And while I agree some extra power would be nice I still feel like the real answer lies in having the correct gearing available. What "correct" is will vary some from truck to truck but it will be obvious once you have found it. Jeff

You might also want to try repeated application of localized heat and penetrating oil. Often times patience wins out over stuff like this. Jeff

I have always had a deep appreciation for the stories of John Henry and the Little Engine that Could. You may ask yourself what this has to do with how fast an old Pilothouse truck can go. It is simple really..... never give up and you can beat or at least match technological advances.......and the little engine can and will get the job done. So given the obvious limitations of power, weight and shape along with a limited budget how does one get the best out of one of these trucks? After more than a year of daily use I am convinced the answer lies in fine tuning the gearing. Jeff

My comments here were simply meant to remind people that there are some inherent limitations to what can and can't be accomplished with a relatively stock truck. I believe there is a much finer line between lowering revs at speed and being able to maintain that speed than what we may all expect. Jeff

Dennis; Glad you got this taken care of. I felt bad to have pointed you towards these guys. Seems like you can't always go on other peoples experiences........especially when some time has past from their contact with the vendor. At any rate it is good to hear that the ordeal is over. FWIW I don't think 21 days is all that bad. There are other parts that could easily take a lot longer just to find. Owning one of these old Dodge trucks can be a bit of a challenge. Jeff

Well I don't think the power band is really as broad as all that. If you look at the RPM's in that first chart at 65mph a difference of 900 between 1/1 and OD is huge. I just do not think these trucks have the power to weight ratio to comfortably overcome that much of a difference. A drop in RPM's of half of that in my opinion is probably closer to a workable solution. Jeff

What I was trying to get at is that maybe just a taller tire would get it closer to that elusive optimum place. I kinda doubt that an OD is going to be super useful with the gearing he has..........but I have been known to be wrong from time to time.

I will be following your progress on this. Getting the final ratio just right on one of these trucks is an interesting task. I just wonder if taller tires wouldn't get you pretty close to perfect? My 3/4 ton has a 3.55 rear axle and 19" tall tires and it seems a bit too high for optimum crusiing. In other words at 65 it is not to loud and does fine on level grade .....but when a hill is involved it is a bit hard to keep the rev's and speed up. Just seems like it would be happier turning a few more revs for a given speed. With the kind of power we have available to us and the lack of aerodynamics....optimizing this is a much smaller target than I initially thought it would be. Jeff

There have been threads on this topic in the past. As I understand it there were minute changes to the combustion chamber shape as the years went on. The later production L6 engines supposedly produced more HP as a result of this and the slight rise in compression ratio. There might even be a different cam profile in this picture? Could be the 55 head would be the best candidate if you are looking for a couple more ponies. Jeff

While I am not really into those movies I do have some good news for you. You don't have to go a certain speed or have a bunch of gadgetry....these trucks are real time machines just the way they are. Just one thing they have no problem at all going back in time ...........but you will have to drag it kicking and screaming into the future. At least that has been my experience so far. Jeff

Oh there is a guarantee all right.......I garontee you will take your foot off the gas right quick if you ever get one of these trucks rolling that fast.

Yes. There is a lot that can be done to quiet things down if that is the limiting factor. I took a fairly radical approach to this because I personally feel that most trucks of this vintage fall way short of the mark when it comes to the noise factor. If you really want to quiet one of these down you have to take this into consideration from the beginning of your build. I will outline what I did but you need to understand that it was very time consuming and not cheap. If you are someone who can't resist the temptation to cut corners then don't even bother. Once I got my cab back from the painter I began by applying 3 coats of brush on rubberized bedliner to the entire underside of the cab. Once the cab was mounted I then used the same material on the firewall, the entire floor, the inside of the roof and back of cab as well as the internals of the doors and kick panels and the back side of the dash and cowl. I also took the time to embed strips of rubber belting into this coating. After this I proceeded to apply Hushmat Ultra to all of these surfaces. The firewall got two layers on the inside and one on the engine side. I even used this on the inside of the entire hood assembly. Then I used a double layer of foil backed bubble wrap to further insulate the areas getting upholstery or mats. This included the firewall, kicks, roof and back of cab. Then I installed the great upholstery I got from PH interiors. To finish things off I carpeted the back of the cab below the upholstered section and the area under the seat. I also made a additional insulating floor mat from rubberized carpet which fits under the rubber floor mat. Other things I did included using rubber insulation on the steering column tube and extra weatherstrip on the doors and windows. The end result is much more like a modern vehicle and not your typical 60 year old truck. Jeff

I recessed the metal strips on mine. They sit a bit below the surface of the wood planks. Works much better when hauling stuff like doors, furniture and lumber that I don't want sliding around. In my application the metal strips would actually damage what I carry most often. So there is more than one way to look at all this. Jeff

Yes Ed.....I know. And it is as good a reason to deviate from original.color scheme as I can think of. You noticed I am sure that I didn't go with a stock paint color either. I love a nice black paint job...as long as someone else is driving it. .....

I can't imagine a black painted bed in this climate. You could fry an egg on it almost any afternoon of the year. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice.

Paul just because the grass law passed doesn't mean you personally have to smoke it all. Next you will be telling us he likes the smell of your truck in the morning........

I forgot about that stuff. That Sikkens (sp?) does do well outdoors and is easy to apply. Great idea. Would be really nice on some fumed white oak.

It is more or less the same amount of work to do it either way. I say do whatever makes you happy. As someone who earns his living (such as it is) as a woodworker I would have to say white oak would be my first choice. It is going to hold up even when the finish fails....as all finishes do. Any way you want to look at it there is a good amount of work and expense involved with doing this job. Do it right and it should last a long time and look good. To economize I used some left over rustic walnut for my bed boards. Had to edge glue to get the width I needed. I used some old water base varnish I had laying around to finish. Looked good for a year or so but recently it has started to flake off. That is too bad but I may just leave it alone as the worn look doesn't really bother me.. I haul quite often with mine and have a piece of exterior grade plywood that I lay down if needed. Jeff

Once you get it out file a slot in the head so you can use a big screwdriver to turn it most of the way in or out. Makes things so much easier in the future. Jeff

Exactly. And it is going to vary quite a bit depending on what model and condition truck one has and how far he wants to take things. I think it is very important to thoroughly assess how one intends to use a vehicle like this before getting to deep into the process of putting it back onto the road. I don't know how many others use their trucks as their only vehicle but that is my situation. And you know what it works out just fine. But getting one of these to that point requires a lot of attention to details that are outside the stock specifications. I am sure they are fine as is to go to a few car shows a year. If you intend to drive them safely at speed in traffic like we have here then some sensible mods need to be incorporated. At the least that is my position on the topic. Jeff

Fred; It is a free country..... And the OP does not have a running Pilothouse at this time. So it might be a good idea to give him a realistic picture of what he has to look forward to. it is what it is. And that is with a fair amount of mods. Jeff

Why is this so important to you? Anyone who has spent time in one of these great old trucks knows they are never going to be totally comfortable running much above the speed limits. It is outside of their true character and has nothing to do with enjoying the experience. Out of necessity mine will cruise at 65 or 70.........but it is much happier at 55. And that is with a GPS speedometer.

Yes start with cleaning up that connection. Quality of ground depends on good mechanical connections. If you find you have a problem with ground you can always add jumper straps between components. Jeff