Jim Gaspard

Anyone want to bet me there aren't more than 57 rings on that tree.

Jim in Dallas

Never mind! Alvin, Texas. Hometown of Nolan Ryan.

www.yourpowdercoating.com. Never did get your location in southeast Texas?

Jim in Dallas

My canisters all have the spherical domed cap which fits over the contour of the sock filter to hold it down. My spherical caps do not screw on, but slip freely over the center oil line where the canister cap screws on.

Yours may be rusted tight, a surprise with all the oil captured in the canister.

I will post some pictures tonight.

Jim in Dallas

I had the same problem on all three B series truck tanks. I saved and reconditined two of them, one for my driver and one for my frame-off. I have the third one which has cancer at the front gusset area as Greybeard described. You're welcome to it for the cost of shipping. Jim in Dallas 75214

I just read Grey Beard's technical paper on replacing wood in a Pilothouse bed. I'm thinking of cutting and routing red oak boards myself to the proper dimensions. I have length and width dimensions as posted. Does anyone have the section profile of the 3/4 inch wood planks. The edge flanges of each plank are routed 1/2 inch thick and 3/4 wide on both sides for the five center boards. Questions are:

1. Inner boards (5 each) - 7 3/8 inches wide. Are the edge flanges routed 1/2 inch flat or is it a V cut to grab the metal strip?

2. Outer boards (2 each) - 7 3/4 inches wide. Are the 1/2 inch edge flanges equal on both sides, or does the outer side have a wider flange cut?

Can some lead me to a prior post with the two boards section profiles, or post a hand sketch?

Thanks...Jim in Dallas

The engine cast date stamp is on starboard side of engine. Clock shows probably 3 pm shift. September 9, 1952. My truck is a 1952 B3B by vin number, so it was assembled sometime in the fall of 1952 and could have sold in late 1952 or early 1953.

Jim in Dallas

While the vin number can pin down the model, where that number falls in the model series is only an educated guess of when it was assembled, then sold. I got a much better sense of when mine was built by the motor date stamp, which is to the hour, day, month and year. Assuming the engine did not sit very long in inventory and that you have the original engine in your truck, you can narrow down the assembly date as well as when it hit the dealer network. Not that this means anything, but it brought me a little closer to my truck's history.

Jim in Dallas

Manchild, are you interested in selling your old B3B grill. I don't need the Job Rated badge.

Jim in Dallas

Dodgeb4ya, wow! Your original PilotHouse owner must have really been an uptown kind of guy. In my four years of hunting parts on this forum and e-bay, some of the rarest parts were dealer options. Not many buyers forked over the cash for passenger side rear-view mirrors, arm rests and sunvisors. They are not interchangeable with the driver's side part. The few pieces that were specified on custom trucks have long ago gone to accessory heaven.

Great looking interior. Thanks for sharing. There still may some hope for me of finding these parts someday.

Jim in Dallas

........and my frame has no markings on it either so I'm kinda SOL here for now

Believe me, your truck number is there, probably under 59 years of crud, paint or rust. Take some steel wool and work around the area. Suddenly a number will show up and then you can eventually make out the vin number. Visit this post.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=4039&highlight=location+of+vin+number

Blohmiller, plug your vin number here and find out your model, year and factory.

http://www.t137.com/registry/help/decode.php

If your driver's side ID plate is missing, the number is stamped on the driver's side frame directly behind the front left wheel.

Jim in Dallas

I wanted to re-rubber my B3B (51) driver glass in 2006. I bought the rubber from Roberts and then drove my truck to an glass installer to get a quote. He blew me away with a $500 labor estimate (I had all the glass and the rubber). I said, I can do this myself. I read all the historical postings on this forum and blocked out a few hours on a Saturday. After five hours trying every technique possible, inside mount, outside mount, rope pull, soap soak, WD 40, Windex, I gave up. I took it back to the glass installer this January, and the first thing he said with a smiley smirk, "It was harder than you thought, wasn't it. That's what all my vintage customers say".

There are PH owners on this site who have successfully replaced their glass and rubber. My hats off to them. I don't give up easily but in the end it was worth every penny to have it installed.

Jim in Dallas

I have two B3B's and one B3C, all with deluxe cabs. Only the '52 B3B has a hood ornament. I suspect the chrome hood ornament was a dealer extra due to cost, particularly since there were US Govt restrictions on chromium and pot-metal due to the Korean conflict. The B2 chrome grills were changed to painted sheet metal in the B3 series models for this reason. Once the crisis ended, US cars and trucks became more tricked out with chrome in the mid-and late fifties, the beginning of the muscle car era.

Jim in Dallas

Aaron, your B1B external bypass water pump may be worn out. If it's the original pump it's had several million revolutions of wear on the fan/pulley shaft bushing/bearings, so water may be coming out here. It will slowly get worse as the pump shaft starts to wobble. I believe there are rebuild kits, but you can replace the entire waterpump at Napa or other auto parts stores. Napa used to have an internal bypass number 55-713 for around $70-80 bucks. There should also be an external bypass equivalent for the older Pilothouses. Use the Search Mode on the forum for waterpumps. There is a lot of discussion on the subject here.

Jim in Dallas

Haha! Funny!

Here is the plug in my B3B gas tank.

My B3B stock gas tank plug can be removed with a 1/2" socket bar. The plug is an 8 sided female recess and the socket bar is a square male insert.

Reg, will this head work on the standard B3B 218 ci flathead six? I assume this was not a stock head, and was an aftermarket 'high performance' add-on for the Mopar flatheads. Sounds pretty cool and rare!

Jim in Dallas

Thanks that's a new one for me. I had no idea it existed. I will look on my parts truck to see if the axle vent cap is still there. If not, I will have to improvise.

Jim in Dallas

I discovered my axle vent when I was replacing my brake lines. I could see the axle turning through the hole in the vent. Is there supposed to be a cap on the vent to keep out debris. I attached a rubber PVC nipple to the vent, but now I'm worried it will not "vent" if capped. What is the purpose of the vent. I thought it was some kind of overflow vent. I could look at my parts manual but I love to hear comments from the forum.

Jim in Dallas

Duh! My bad! Got me!

Merle, we're full of questions. As you recall I have the same Fluid Drive transmission set-up on my B3B other than I have column shift. However, my drive shaft is not near the beefy diameter as the one that appears in your photos below. What's the story. Is yours a one ton or 116 wheel base?

Jim in Dallas

Welcome to the forum Lavonne. We look forward to seeing your 48 panel There's one for sale on Dallas' Craigslist if your interested. It may make a good parts truck if not a project. You'll find the forum members both warm and helpful as we share the same generic truck components except for rear body.

Jim in Dallas

I just replaced all my B3B cylinders and bought parts from Andy Bernbaum www.oldmoparts.com/u.htm Let me know what you want and I can send to you. The old brake cylinders worked ok, but I wanted a 100% restore to go with my frame up restoration. Bernbaum also sells brake kits for refitting cylinders as well as miscellaneous brake system parts.

Jim in Dallas