Mr. Hopkins said I can finally buy his 48!!

[Silo-rodncycle]

The name is Justin I'm 35 years old and live in Hudson Wi

I've been a welder and fabricator for 15 years.

I specialize in tig welding

I love 50's cars a truck's, rat rods as well

Also vintage Harley's

This seems like a great forum !

My projects are

75 scout 2

58 f100

And now a 48 pilot house panel truck

I've been eyeing this 48 panel truck for 10 years now

Finally Mr Hopkins said I could buy it for a fair price 800.00

He has always wanted over twice that

The truck has been parked since 79

Do to a hot spot in the motor from a cracked block repair

For being sunk in the ground for years, the truck is in a solid condition ....

Doors are in great shape,open and close sweet

Floors are solid

Wood bed is not rotted

The panel truck has two dents - one the size of a baseball

Some rot through on the lower rear qrtr's

I get to dig it out of there this Sat!

My plan for the truck is to ....

Lower it 4"

Disc brakes up front

Chevy 350 Turbo 400

Patch panels in all rotted area's

Clear coat on the original paint

I will post my pics as I'm digging this gem out..

What do you guys think ?

Edited October 8, 2013 by Silo-rodncycle

[Todd B]

Welcome,  Looks awesome, You will find after you get it out that there will be a lot of rust on the floor boards.  Sitting on the ground in WI climate draws all the moisture in.  Hopefully I am wrong about this one because it does look cool.

 

What is the School bus behind your truck?  I got dibbs if its a dodge. 

 

Todd B, also a wisconsin native.

[Mark D]

Welcome aboard, Nice find! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Silo-rodncycle]

Todd I'll be over at the property tomorrow

I'll take a look at that bus

Also I did notice a pilot house 1 ton with a flat bed

I'll snap some pics

The flatbed truck looks like its touched some salt roads

It's a little rough

Mr Hopkins is in his 80's he now wants to sell se stuff

Keep you guys posted

Justin

[41/53dodges]

Welcome Justin,

Theres actually alot of us wisconsinites on here, probably at least a half dozen! Nice looking truck, if its in sandy soil definately beware of rust though!

-josh

[GlennCraven]

Good luck with the truck and it's cool that you finally got one you've been eyeballing for awhile.

 

My only comment would be that its just as cheap and easy to perform a Mopar LA-series small block swap on these things as a 350 Chevy. Mopar Performance magazine built a 400-horse 318 from the factory parts catalog and Hot Rod built a 400-horse 318 out of a junkyard block and with some swap meet parts (and some new) for under $1,500.

 

Butch's Cool Stuff, which advertises at this site, makes a swap kit with all the parts you'll need to weld or bolt in for $199 to $299 depending on your year/make/model of Mopar. I just bought one and the workmanship is excellent. So unless you like reinventing the wheel (and some guys do), that's a good solution.

 

They also provide kits for putting a 350 Chevy into these things, but then everybody does that, right? 

 

Whatever route you go, enjoy it.

[P15-D24]

Welcome to the site and keep posting your progress!

[Scruffy49]

Nice starting point. If the chassis, axles, springs and such are in decent shape, run with it. If not, C4 Corvette stuff is within 1/16 inch of drilling a few holes in the frame and bolting the parts on. 1/32" shim stock on each side of the frame will get you spot on perfect... That's according to the Art Morrison chassis guys, used to work down the road from them, measurements taken off my 49 B1B truck.

[Hawkeye]

Great find!   You are right, this is a great forum, lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here

 

Looking forward to seeing the progress.

[RodFru2u]

Great looking Project, Good Luck with it.

[Ram Man 02]

Hi Justin, i live about an hour west of you. just wanted to say it looks like a cool project. there are a few others around the cities as well.

[Desotodav]

Welcome aboard Justin. The panel truck looks like a great find - only wish I could find one the same here in Oz !

[ggdad1951]

Welcome! Looks cool. There are a few of us guys in the Cities if you need any local advice.

[1952B3b23]

Welcome, you've found one of the most friendly forums on the web and the best place for PH knowledge! Sounds like you have a decent plan for the old girl. What are your plans for lowering it 4"?

 

-Chris

[ruff1148kr]

Wow Looks great I agree with the comment about a 318. Working on 48 truck with 360 also. If I had a dollar from everyone who stopped by and thanked me for trying to keep it MOPAR I could afford to finish it now rather than later LOL seams to help if you ever sell it too.

[Silo-rodncycle]

Yep ok ! Im gonna do a mopar engine !

Even Mr Hopkins convinced me to keep it Mopar

Probable a 318

With a 727

Anyone have an idea what I would get for gas mileage ?

We have the truck dug out and rolling

I will post more pics of today's events ASAP

[Silo-rodncycle]

Ok here are the dig out pics

The man who looks likes he's doing all the work is "wolf king "

Denny brown !!

My go to guy when it comes to Mechanicing !!

Edited October 6, 2013 by Silo-rodncycle

[48Dodger]

Very cool Panel Truck!.....Both sets of fender bolts are rotted out (bolts on the side by the door jam), but you can deal with that. I prefer the look with the those bolts, some don't, but they do serve a purpose. There is a L-Bracket that rests on another L-Bracket of which there is a rubber spacer used as a shock absorber, etc. The best part of your Panel Truck are the inner fenders. I'm still looking for a pair for mine. If you try to remove them, be prepared to snap off the bolt heads to get them out. Otherwise its a solid looking ride. 360/904 with a 8 3/4 will be awesome...no problem with a 350 engine, you won't get hate mail here....just need to keep it fun. Not like Mopar is gonna send you a check for keeping it that way. lol. Welcome to "the club" my friend.

 

48D        

Edited October 1, 2013 by 48dodger

[GlennCraven]

Sweet that you got it out and rolling. And I applaud the picture you took with Mr. Hopkins. That's a great addition to the documentation of your project.

 

Glad to hear about the 318, too.

 

Someone else will have to tell you what you might get mileage-wise, with a carburetor anyway. I had a 318 in a 1997 Ram 1500, but it was FI and routinely got 18 mpg highway; 21 once on a long (loaded) trip right after being tuned by my distant cousin, a former ASE master technician of the year.

[Apittslife]

Welcome,

Nice Aquisition!

I am jeliious! My first PH was a panel, & I regret having sold it.

It is great that you have taken a picture of the Original/Former owner with the truck.

In yrs past it was easier & cheaper to go with a GM drive train, But today it is not that difficult, or exspensive to keep it all Mopar.

The kewl factor will be greater if you keep it Mopar, But in the end, She is yours to do as you wish!

 

At the moment, we have a 54 PH in the shop for brakes & an exhaust, & it has a bigblock ford engine. 

[pflaming]

I'm the patina enthusiast on this forum. I would keep that paint job, at least for a year or two after you get all the mechanical and body work completed. Was on the road with mine on Sunday and everyone likes the old paint. It's really interesting the comments I get.  

 

That is the original paint, non waxed. Your would look as good or better. 

 

 

Enjoy the journey, you will get a lot of good advice and support from this forum. 

[Scruffy49]

You should realistically see 16-18 with a 318/727 in a Pilot House. My 69 Sweptline (and dozens of other on that board) usually gets around 11mpg on a good day, much less on an average day. You want a 4bbl intake off a 273, a 450 cfm carb, and a light foot to get decent fuel economy. The current crop of aluminum 318 intakes are all the wrong sized ports, they are spec'd for 340/360 big port heads, and most 318s had small (teeny tiny microscopic) intake ports. 

 

I plan to pull the perfectly good 318/727 out of my Sweptline and toss in a 413/727 or a Ford 352-390/C6 combo. Won't  own a rear mount dizzy engine anymore. Even the 262 V6 in the 85 C10 is going to be swapped for a 292 straight 6 to get rid of the rear mount dizzy. Hate them, whoever designed that system should be burned in effigy, his descendents sterilized and lobotomized, and when they die spread their ashes as fertilizer to purge such defective genes...

[Jeff Balazs]

You should realistically see 16-18 with a 318/727 in a Pilot House. My 69 Sweptline (and dozens of other on that board) usually gets around 11mpg on a good day, much less on an average day. You want a 4bbl intake off a 273, a 450 cfm carb, and a light foot to get decent fuel economy. The current crop of aluminum 318 intakes are all the wrong sized ports, they are spec'd for 340/360 big port heads, and most 318s had small (teeny tiny microscopic) intake ports. 

 

I plan to pull the perfectly good 318/727 out of my Sweptline and toss in a 413/727 or a Ford 352-390/C6 combo. Won't  own a rear mount dizzy engine anymore. Even the 262 V6 in the 85 C10 is going to be swapped for a 292 straight 6 to get rid of the rear mount dizzy. Hate them, whoever designed that system should be burned in effigy, his descendents sterilized and lobotomized, and when they die spread their ashes as fertilizer to purge such defective genes...

Scruffy;

Jeez......I had well over 500k miles on my 76 Jimmy with a 4 bolt 350 in it. Replaced the module once in all that time Cost $22. Other than that if you use Delco caps and rotors they run and run and run. When I sold it it still ran fine with the original bottom end and pistons. I kinda wish I had gone that route with this truck........would have been a lot simpler and infinitely cheaper.

Jeff

[Dave72dt]

Nothing wrong with the 318, 904 and 2 bbl combos found in almost everything Chrysler produced for many years.  If you swap one in, just be sure to leave enough room at the rear to service the distributer.  One with the factory breakerless distributer will require almost no service for thousands of miles.  They may not be a tire smoker but they run forever.

Edited October 1, 2013 by Dave72dt

[Silo-rodncycle]

Hey guys thanks for the support !!

Here that 54 with duallys

Kinda rough has bondo and mismatched running boards

Oh and that bus is Chevy

Sorry guy let me know if anyone want the 54

I can give you mr Hopkins #

Also I will post more detailed pics of the 48

Now that is dug out and heading home .