On Pilothouse Body Fits

[grey beard]

On Pilothouse Body Fits

My last restoration was a 1971 Mustang convertible. I welded in new quarter panels, hung the doors and fit them to the new quarters. Then I hung the nose and fit it to the front door edges. The hood floated in the center of the fenders, and all was happy. No problems.

This approach does NOT work with Pilothouse trucks. When I did my 1948 B1B, I took apart a very rough truck that had seen sixty years of hard life. I then did body work on each panel individually, working on saw horses, and finally painted each panel. All in all, I filled more than one hundred drilled holes that had been put into body panels on the two doors, the roof and the tailgate and lower panel. It was a real mess.

When I put things back together, my education really began. First I fit the doors to the cab and then hung the fenders. These were fit to the front door edges, and all looked okay. Then I hung the hood, and the problems began. It seems the hood panels on these trucks have absolutely no adjustment and no forgiveness for adjoining panels that are in less than perfect alignment. Things were so far out of kelter that I had to actually disassemble much of the nose and elongate body panel bolt holes in order to get the whole assembly to work together like it should. In the process of all this reassembly, I had to move the doors in directions I thought were impossible.

If your truck is a 1948 or 1949, it will have radiator support rods between the cowl or firewall and the top of the radiator support. I’m not sure about 1950 models, but the later trucks did not use these rods. I don’t know how one would handle these adjustments, but they were the key to getting my own body fits on the nose worked out properly.

The hood must fit well at the cowl area and at the grille. The hood center panel has absolutely no adjustment feature at either end, and it is this panel that the two hood halves hinge from. The distance between the grille panel that holds the headlights and the cowl must be exactly right for the hood panels to fit properly.

Because the hood panels hinge on the center panel, this adjustment must be right before you worry about door-to-fender fits. This area must then be addressed by adding or subtracting shims or washers at the radiator support-to-crossmember area and at the individual door hinges.

In the process of all this tuition-type learning, I predictably skinned up several places on the new paint. Thankfully, this finish was rolled on and is easy to repair. Had I paid the going rate for a new paint job, I may have thrown in the towel. If your truck is a pristine example with low mileage and straight panels, you may not encounter any of these problems, but my own truck had much body work done to it before it came into my possession.

[MBF]

GB-right on! I don't think the fit and finish on these were very good from the beginning. I remember seeing pics of a restored Spring Special in a magazine a few years ago and the guy had rolled up paper towels under the front hood corners to protect the paint! And Happy Thanksgiving. Mike

[Guest Kuster13]

I have been working on the body of my truck for the past few months and was wondering how well it's all going to go back together.

New body mounts are on the way and once they are installed I'm going to back track and pre-assemble to front end and make all the adjustments like what you mentioned. I'm not that good with bodywork so making it fit right will be a challenge for me.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Tom

[buds truck]

I have been working on the body of my truck for the past few months and was wondering how well it's all going to go back together.

New body mounts are on the way and once they are installed I'm going to back track and pre-assemble to front end and make all the adjustments like what you mentioned. I'm not that good with bodywork so making it fit right will be a challenge for me.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Tom

Tom, let me know if you need help, the border is not that far away. Bud

[Guest Kuster13]

Seeing what you've been doing makes an offer like that to be like a winning lottery.

I have a friend helping with the fenders and hood center and once they are ready I'm going to reassemble the front clip.

If I understand Grey Beard the rad support to the cross member is a critical point for lining hood to cowl and fender to door gaps. Mine being a 50 does have the support rods and I can see already how they help with making everything fit. I want to get the fit as close as possible before paint.

Bud if and when I need your experience I won't hesitate to call.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tom

[grey beard]

In hindsight, had I done at least one DRY FYTMENT of the nose sheetmetal BEFORE I commenced with paint work, I would have saved a whole buncha' time that I will how spend in repairing damaged paint. I've always been too impaient to see results. Guess this should teach md some more paience . ..

It's good to know that the 1950 models also had the radiator support rods. These appear to have been eleminated in the 51 - 53 models that my son in Monana has - unless they were discontinued only on the 1 1/2 ton and larger stuff, which is what he has. I know that when this change was made they also changed the hood prop system from the pivoting prop on the support rod to the hinge-type prop that pivoted from the firewall area.

Mike, I beliveve you are right on about factory body fits in thiese areas. These trucks were made to work, not look pretty. I am discovering that I can change the position where the hood halves close against the fenders by tweaking the hood clamps that stick up from the inner fenders. Moving these in or out affects the position where the hood edge winds up hitting the fender gutter when the hood is closed.

My greatest problem in all this fitment issue is getting the correct gap where the rear fender edge meets the front door edge. This really looks bad if the space is shaped like a pie wedge instead of two parallel lines.

For any of you who have completed Pilothouse restorations, I am very willing to sit and listen to advice or suggestions on any or all of these issues.

Happy Thanksgiving. One of the things for which I am truly thanbkful is all the friends I have made on this forum. It's amazingly helpful to compare notes with others who are going through the same process, sorting this stuff out.

Again, Thanks