W350 Crew Cab - The ultimate first gen - Pics and history

[RSchwarzli]

I'll give you 10k PLUS a kidney if it becomes too much of a burden... Just let me know if you want the left or right one lol!!

If you want a real shock, just add up time only at minimum wage :--)

Aaaaaahahahahaha. Spare kidneys are always wanted! Oo.

Yeah, I added up the minimum wage.... then I hugged a toilet.

Robert you need to call a magazine as your truck needs to be in one its really that nice

Thanks Donovan. Not sure if they would have an interest in the truck or not but I guess I could try one day.

 

[RSchwarzli]

Next went in the ride height control for the driver’s side. Originally the truck had a single rear height control valve but I found with one side of the truck heavier than the other (fuel tank) it was making the truck lean lower on the drivers side. So the system is being split with two control rods, thus allowing each side of the truck to be controlled independently. This is a Haldex height control valve off a semi with my custom bracket to hold it:



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And the mud flaps got installed… Ooooh. Sexy. Makes me like her *** that much more.



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And the big *** horns go in…



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And we have an exterior that is starting to look like a finished truck!




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[HHhuntitall]

Man, that's looking good Robert.... That tailpipe is going to make noise flopping on the highway, though....

Are you going to trim the rear fenders in black, too? Not sure I like the black on the front fender wells, without it on the rear.... Like my opinion matters!! :-laf

What about the Hella's in front? How are those going to be wired in? Independent switch? God help the poor jackass that bright lights you!!

Ahhh, Air Chimes..... nothing like the sound of train horns in the morning!!

 

[DVolk]

I know this is after the fact but are you or did you put a under coating on the cab ?

 

[RSchwarzli]

Man, that's looking good Robert.... That tailpipe is going to make noise flopping on the highway, though....

Hahahaha. Smart butt.

Are you going to trim the rear fenders in black, too? Not sure I like the black on the front fender wells, without it on the rear.... Like my opinion matters!! :-laf

Wait till you see it done then decide....no, I was not planning to but there is more black going on the truck. The vision in my mind that I have played with for 10 years I think will still work out. I do agree it looks awkward as it currently sits.

What about the Hella's in front? How are those going to be wired in? Independent switch? God help the poor jackass that bright lights you!!

Yup. Runs off a separate rocker switch. Aaaaand if they feel my lights are bright, well, I will show them the sun.

Ahhh, Air Chimes..... nothing like the sound of train horns in the morning!!

:-laf

 

[RSchwarzli]

I know this is after the fact but are you or did you put a under coating on the cab ?

Nope. Its just paint under there. No under coating. I prefer to be able to wax it.

 

[Shadrach]

What??? All that work on those boards and there not even power operated :-laf

David

 

[RSchwarzli]

Power operated is for wimps. lol

 

[HHhuntitall]

Oh, they're power operated! Kinda like wings on an airplane!! :-laf

 

[RSchwarzli]

Oh, they're power operated! Kinda like wings on an airplane!! :-laf

LMAO Shouldn't you be out breaking something? lol

 

[HHhuntitall]

LMAO Shouldn't you be out breaking something? lol

HA! Done broke enough this week to keep myself busy for three months.... lost an air tank on the '93 Pete, as well as batteries and the turn signal controller, then a head gasket in my Cherokee 4.0, the batteries in one of the '07s, the batteries in the '95, a fuel leak on my '01, antifreeze leak on one of the 876 Versatiles, a plow frame section broke on one of my chisel plows, the trailer frame on my hay trailer broke, and the '01 with the fuel leak has slippage in the torque convertor when locked up......,.......... so............... I'm sitting here in my chair debating on what to burn for insurance, and what to actually fix. Gas is expensive. But so is Orielly's.....

And while my internet is actually working during the day, I thought I'd manage my sulking by checking in on the gang over here. I'm glad to see you are making progress! That's gonna be a bad mama jamma! Might have to make a road trip to meet up when you get it out and going. (if I still have a driver's license by then....)

 

[RSchwarzli]

Figured it was time for an update...

For the interior, it was time for wiring and fabrication of gauge pods. The A pillar pods were first, followed by the dash, and then the roof panel.


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And the result of those two:



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Next is the roof pod, designed for the gen 3 trucks. It requires a LOT of cutting and hacking to make it fit the gen 1 roofline. First is cut out the back end reinforcing panel, then shave down the sides while continually testing it against the roof curvature. To do that required headliner test fitting so trim was installed and a temp headliner was stuck in:


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And what it looks like hacked:



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[RSchwarzli]

The running boards were first to finish off. The back of the board stone guard had to be the first to be finished. So a template was made from cardboard so I could see what I wanted to do angle wise with the outer edge as well as so I knew how to cut the stainless itself.



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So once the cardboard was made, I traced the shape to the material:



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Add some cutting, forming…



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Then rubber trim so the material doesn’t rub on the body but can also provide a flexible contact surface to keep the dirt and debris off the running boards themselves.




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Now once the board was mounted, the bottom side had to be dealt with. The mounting surface is round, but we curved the shield with the gen 1 dually fender. So we had to add spacers so it would be solid:



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Took tubing and cut it:



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Giving us these snappy angled washers/spacers.




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And that gave us:



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Next up was the underbody back up lights. As they are being mounted off the running board mounts so they would hang long enough to light the ground during nighttime trailer backing, they couldn’t be tackled till now.




So I started with some flat stock, formed, drilled, and simply mounted.




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And there we have it!!




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[RSchwarzli]

Next up was to try to get my engine sealed up. So fabrication of the intercooler piping was tackled. I started off with the passenger side hot pipe, then worked on the driver’s side cold pipe. Lastly, I was then able to tackle the cold air box air filter feed to HT3B.

So I started with a 2nd gen pipe hot pipe I had here. As I have some compound angles and different distances, I would have to make the angles and lengths I needed.


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Tack weld…


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Test fit:



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The cold side feed pipe I had leftover from the twin ram intake. As you can see, the 2nd gen pipe again doesn’t fit the gen 1 setup…. So back to cutting and chopping…




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Slice and dice!! Cucumber anyone?




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After a few tests, I did a clean cut before welding:




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Bottom half looks about right with its angle so the top half was welded on. As you can see here, I have about the right amount of gap for the boot to still be installed.




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So now came the time to test fit the intake. As the intake has to clear the hot feed pipe, now is the time if changes have to be made. So I started with putting the trim edge onto the sharp sheetmetal I had cut out last year to allow this extra clearance I knew I would need. This gave not only give a cleaner look, but also saved my hands while digging in there.




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I then started with this 4” pipe. I started with measuring the angels and lengths, and then went to town choppin and cutting.



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The result was a two piece pipe in order for it to fit. Part one is an S shape that feeds the HT3B to the elbow, the elbow then feeds to a spacer pipe that goes from elbow to filter.



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Enter some sandblasting of the pipes….



And this is what we had ready for powder!




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3 weeks later……



I got the pipes back! Holy moley, das ist sexy pipen!



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So I started with this for under hood bland yucky…



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Freshly washed and prepped boots…




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And ended up with this sexy engine bay:



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[RSchwarzli]

Next was the rear bargeman plug set. As I have a winch connect jack, an airline jack, and a standard 7 pin/4 pin bargeman pin out I needed to make a special set up that would reside under the bumper.

So I started with some flat stock:


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Machined the measured out bargeman shape:



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I will weld all three forms to a common plate for ease of mounting under the bumper. This will keep it clean.



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Add a few more brackets….. Air line on left, winch connect in center:



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And this is the result:



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[RSchwarzli]

Some of the other smaller things we got to:

Rear cargo light:


Brand new from the Mopar package, we have a cargo light!


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Take note how yellowed the old one is!!



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First goes on the seal with new bulbs and then the lense gets mounted.




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Cruise Control:



As the cruise control bracket was bending the cable too tight to be able to connect to the P7100, I had to relocate the mounting location to further up the fender. As is the case, I needed to modify the bracket.



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Angle is marked to form to the same curvature of the fender in the new location:



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Test fit. As you can see, it is in the same general spot, just a few inches over:



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And the final install:



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Radio:



Radio was then installed. My god I hate wires:



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Radio is now in, but covered with tape to keep the dust out:




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Heater controls:



For the HVAC controls, I didn’t like the fact that all of the gauge faces on the truck are white but the HVAC was black. Part of what makes or breaks a restoration is attention to details. So an overlay was done so all would match.




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Speakers:


As the radio was now in and we had a lot of wiring run, my buddy tackled speakers. He started with the door Infinity 6x9s and then took the factory water shields and modified them to work the speakers wouldn’t fit:



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He started with cutting the mesh out and then cleaning up what was left:




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The sub was easy. It mounted right to a truck box:



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For the rear seat 6x9s, they were installed into speaker boxes for optimum sound.


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[RSchwarzli]

Wiring:

While the other things are going on, dad was working on the wiring. He made custom wiring harnesses for the rear doors. He started with wire:


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Then the length was measured in all required colors:



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Rear door was removed for ease of wires being run:



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Same for passenger side:



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Door is reattached:



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And wires pulled in:



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Seatbelt Anchor Bolt:




When pulling the truck apart, the seat belt anchor nut fell off and was forgotten about. So we had to feed a new nut up from the rockers, and weld it in. We started with the clean B pillar:




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Then ground the welding surface clean:



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And then it was welded on:




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Rear window regulators:



Yes, from a long time ago, the window regulators finally got finished up. These are the now painted brackets:



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Center console is also starting to be wired:



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Rear amps also being wired:



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[RSchwarzli]

And that brings everyone up to speed!

Robert

 

[Mikey-KE7LBB]

Thanks!! I just went over my data limit... Looking good BTW!!

 

[MMeier]

Very nice, do have to ask though... where did you find that cargo light at, or was it readily available back when you started the project ??